Moving Windows 7 64bit to a new harddrive

 English, tech  No Responses »
Mar 132011
 

My setup is somewhat unusual:

I have three primary partitions and one extended partition with Windows (C:) residing in a logical volume on it.

Apparently logical volumes can't be made bootable, so the boot files reside on the E: partition.

I used the awesome tool EasyBCD to set up the booting. Unfortunately you need a running Windows 7 / Vista to be able to use this tool. It seems to me you can't start it from Windows XP. This rules out using Bart's PE or similar tools which are based on Windows XP.

easy-bcd-winxp

The recovery console you can use from Windows 7's installer (or rescue) disk does not allow you to execute EasyBCD either. ("Image subsystem not loaded" or a similar error occurs)

In my first attempt I have used the free EASEUS DIsk Copy tool (a bootable standalone CD copying entire partitions sector by sector) to copy my Windows partition to my new harddrive (using a big external HDD as intermediate).

Unfortunately the copied Windows on the new hard drive did not boot. The boot setup was missing. I started to search for more information on the net.

This is a very good guide if your setup is a bit easier, most probably you will be able to fix your booting problems with it (following the Nuke solution).

Unfortunately there were errors at different stages for me. I did not manage to make my Windows bootable again.

My theory is that it has been recreated as a logical volume on an extended partition – and logical volumes are not bootable (at least under Windows) (? correct me if I'm wrong).

The solution

Just use Windows' built-in tools.

  • Attach a big external harddrive to backup to
  • Control Panel -> Backup and Restore -> Create a system image
  • Select all partitions for backup
  • Burn the System Rescue CD it offers you to burn after the backup is complete
  • Power off the system
  • Change the harddrive
  • Boot with the CD you created (and the external harddrive attached)
  • Restore all partitions
  • Reboot into your Windows installation

This takes care of a lot of headaches … but it takes quite a while. Get a good book to read, or get busy cleaning up your room (as I have :-)

BTW, I also had Windows XP mode setup on another partition. Had I copied only one partition, Windows XP mode would have been broken. Just one example of problems you could run into trying to merge to a new drive manually.

 Posted by at 9:39 pm

Shoulder Dystocia

 English, medical  No Responses »
Mar 082011
 

a wonderful and illustrated resource covering the topic of shoulder dystocia can be found here: http://www.shoulderdystociainfo.com/

I wish there would be more pages like this!

There's also a (commercial) tool available online, which calculates the risk of shoulder dystocia during birth.

http://www.lmsmedical.com/4105/03_04_04_calm_shoulder_screen.asp

The tool seems to have a very low false positive rate (under 3 %) and recognizes 50 – 70 % of all actual shoulder dystocias correctly.

 Posted by at 4:42 am

Evolution am Beispiel

 German  No Responses »
Mar 052011
 

Pferde haben nicht schon immer das gleiche gefressen. Die Umgebung verändert sich, die Nahrungsauswahl verändert sich auch. Um andere Nahrung fressen zu können, müssen die Pferde "ihre Zähne anpassen", d.h. die natürliche Selektion verschiebt das Pferdegebiß in die benötigte Richtung.

Wie lange dauert so ein Vorgang? Ab der Veränderung der Nahrung, bis hin zu dem veränderten Gebiss eine Million Jahre. Endlich mal eine handfeste Zahl, die auf einer handfesten Untersuchung von tausenden von Pferdegebissen aus ihrer langen Geschichte stammt.

 Posted by at 10:19 pm

Eine einzige Liebe fürs ganze Leben?

 German, philosophy  No Responses »
Mar 052011
 

Gibt es nur eine "perfekte" Partnerin pro Mann?

Die Evolution sagt nein – und die hohe Scheidungsrate gibt ihr recht.

Wären Beziehungen nur mit "perfekten" Partnern möglich, wären wir nicht mehr hier – die Wahrscheinlichkeit die "perfekte" Partnerin aus allen Frauen dieser Welt zu treffen wäre nämlich sehr niedrig.

Oder sollten wir Metaphysische Effekte bemühen, und sagen, dass man sich, wo immer man sich befindet zu einander gegenseitig hingezogen fühlt, dass man in Situationen gerät, durch die man sich findet?

Die Einstellung, es gibt nur "eine" Frau für einen Mann, durch das ganze Leben lang hindurch, kann sehr lähmend wirken. Man(n) klammert.

Die Illuminatus-Trilogie (Shea / Wilson) öffnet einem durch verschiedenste Beispiele die Augen, wie sehr man auf bestimmte Muster konditioniert wurde, und andere Muster primär ablehnt, ohne rationale Begründung.

Das Festfahren, das Fixieren auf bestimmte Frauen – in Fachkreisen als "One-Itis" bezeichnet, schafft viel Leid und bringt einen der gewünschten Beziehung nicht näher, distanziert eher noch.

 Posted by at 8:47 pm

Apple could use this story …

 English, tech  No Responses »
Mar 012011
 

http://it.slashdot.org/story/11/03/01/0041203/Infected-Androids-Run-Up-Big-Texting-Bills

Basically some Chinese hackers added a rogue Android App to a third-party "app store" which keeps running up big texting bills to premium numbers for the unsuspecting users.

To justify their closed AppStore, Apple could cite this story of an example what could and will happen if they would allow stores run by third parties.

This is one side of the coin. On the flip side of the coin, Apple can decide which app will be available on the SmartPhone.

Usually it is beneficial for both sites to have an application available: Apple earns its commision, and the vendor takes the remainder, does not have to worry about sales infrastructure, etc.

But, in some instances, the deal may be bad for other interests of Apple. Take their music store for the iPod (iTunes) for instance. Streaming applications, such as Grooveshark, allowing you to play an unlimited selection of music for a flat rate, are tearing into the sales of the iTunes store. Grooveshark actually had an app on the Apple AppStore once, but it was taken down citing copyright infringement issues. Good for Apple, bad for GrooveShark, and bad for the users which actually want to use this app on their iPhone.

The more you aim to control the less freedom you have. Usually the things in life, which provide more freedom, have disadvantages (i.e. steep learning curve, spam, flame wars, …) but they offer a huge reward by far outweighing the downsides. The Internet, Wikipedia, Linux, … would not be a reality if someone somewhere had not decided to relinquish control over all aspects.

Although the iPhone and iPad may have advantages associated with them, I see it as a very dangerous development that even governments and other official agencies are developing for this platform. What happened to second sources? Android runs on devices of many different vendors – Motorola, Sony, Samsung to name a few. iOS is bound to the iPad, the iPhone and other iApple products. Apple decides what gets on the train and what does not. Should one company, how benign its intentions may be, be allowed to wield such power over our computing future? For you to decide.

 Newer Entries