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We crash!

I recently picked up a copy of Pocket-DVD Studio for Palm. It converts DVD's to AVI's that can be played on Palm OS devices, but I was having problems getting the program to convert an entire DVD (it often aborted before a movie's end). Thinking it might be a software conflict, I made an image of my hard disk using Norton Ghost 2001, rebuilt the drive using an old image of a stripped-down drive, installed the program and gave it a shot.

The story here is not whether the program eventually worked (a newly released version works well), but that the Ghost image I made of my drive was corrupt and I can't recover my data. Fortunately, I had a copy the My Documents folder, but a year's worth of emails in Outlook Express are locked in that corrupt image, and I save emails that contain software keys, purchase information, business correspondence...

So there are two jobs ahead. The first is to rebuild the drive, which is an interesting job since it gives me the opportunity to re-evaluate my system security applications and services. I'll also end up with a cleaner machine (I tend to install and uninstall a lot). The second is to find an affordable data-recovery service and have them give the Ghost disks a shot. So far I've been quoted a $350 attempt fee, to which the actual work fee is added.

I will never, ever, again rely on a backup without first double-checking its integrity.

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Last Update August 10 2004

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My Tungsten T3

My T3 has become a portable library and game room. In addition to the bundled programs (calendar, contacts, task list, memopad, & on) I've installed the following programs:

Applications

  • Plucker, a free rss feed/web site/doc reader. The pre-sync document conversion is a bit awkward, but it does the job nicely otherwise. JPluckX is the PC-side document converter, and the Palm OS reader is included in the distribution set.
  • Checklist from Handmark. Simple, straighforward and easy to use.
  • MegaClock by MegaSoft 2000. Clock skins plus calendars, world times, phases of the moon, sunrise/sunset times, alarms and stopwatches.
  • eWallet by Ilium Software. Stores sensitive information behind good encryption.
  • Documents To Go, bundled with the T3. Reads and edits MS Office documents as well as Palm DOC files.
  • Resco Viewer. Better than the bundled image viewer in almost every way. Doesn't require image conversion, allows image storage anywhere, and doesn't automatically resize images to fit the screen.
  • Converter from Matt Marsh. Converts just about measurement, including numbers (binary, octal, etc.) and clothing sizes. Also, it's free!

Reading/Reference

  • Avantgo for CBC News, BBC News, The New York Times front page, books and technology sections, The Guardian front page, books and film sections, Wired, and more. I also like the Radio-Locator Travel Guide.
  • Palm Reader Pro from Palm Digital Media. In addition to the ebook(s) I'm reading at the moment, it carries: the NY Times Style Manual, Websters College Dictionary, and Roget's New World Thesaurus.
  • Vindigo Installed: Chicago Central, Chicago North, Chicago West, Chicago South and Madison, Wisconsin. All features for all areas. Except bars.
  • DataViewer from Pocket Directory. I've installed the 2003 Columbia World Book Encyclopedia (the whole thing), the World Almanac 2003 US Edition, and the 2003 CIA World Factbook.
  • Although I still carry TomeRaider's port of the Internet Movie Database (from MemoWare), I rarely refer to it, prefering instead VideoHound's Movie Guide or Leonard Maltin's Movie Guide. Which is better? Looks like VideoHound, but the jury's still out.
  • Lexica Viewer from Qvadis. Installed: English-Spanish-English Dictionary; English-French-English Dictionary.
  • Kinoma multimedia viewer, bundled with the T3. Used only to read the Familiar Birds of Illinois Field Guide from eNature.com.

Games/Entertainment

  • MMPlayer media player for Palm OS. Beats Kinoma, I say. I can encode a full length movie from a DVD using Pocket-DVD for Palm, put the AVI on a 256mb expansion card, and watch it using MMPlayer. With subtitles and low volume, there's battery life to spare!
  • Word Mojo for Palm OS from Astraware. I have a serious problem with this game and probably need an intervention.
  • Chroma Games from Astraware. Handsome basic games collection: chess, checkers, backgammon.

Utilities

  • File Man File and folder manager from Bits & Bolts.
  • TimeSync from Blue Nomad. Sets the T3 clock to the PC clock, which I set using NIST's NISTIME 32.
  • Speedy 3.1 Performance benchmark utility from Laurent Duveau.