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Why it's a good idea to own a USB-to-SATA adapter The USB-to-IDE/SATA adapter the most indispensable tool in my PC repair kit. Just this weekend, it once again proved itself worthy of that title. In a nutshell, the adapter allows you to connect an internal hard drive to your PC-externally. What would an internal drive be doing outside your desktop or laptop? Funny you should ask. About a week ago, my media-center PC starting displaying this message during boot-up: "Hard drive failure imminent." And you know what? It was. In short order, the machine wouldn't boot at all. Long story short, I had to replace the drive, reinstall Windows, etc. But I wondered if I could salvage any/all of my recorded TV shows. To find out, I connected the old, non-booting drive (now "naked" outside the system) to a USB port via my adapter. Huzzah! The machine was able to read the drive and copy over the recordings. Except for the hassles (and expense) of actually replacing the drive, no harm done. There's another reason to keep one of these adapters on hand, and that's if you're planning to upgrade to a solid-state drive (SSD). Unless you buy a kit that comes with an adapter, you'll need one so you can image (i.e. clone) your existing drive to the new SSD. Then you'll remove the old drive, install the new one, and presto, you're back in business. (Much faster business: SSDs rock.) Unless you have a pretty old desktop or laptop, you can skip buying a USB-to-IDE/SATA adapter and just go for USB-to-SATA. At the same time, I recommend one that supports USB 3.0. You may not need it now, but it's a good bet your next PC will have USB 3.0 ports -- and that'll make for much faster copying between drives. Trust me: When the time comes that you need to upgrade or replace a hard drive, you'll be glad to have a USB-to-SATA adapter on hand. By-The Xpert Crew @ http://techvedic.com

In springtime, people's fancies may turn to love, but their to-do list turns to cleaning. Make this the year that you finally recycle all the ancient MP3 players, toner cartridges, ethernet cables, and bulky monitors out of the closets, garages, and spare rooms where they've been lurking. Your home will feel more modern, and you'll be doing your part to boost the 27 percent electronics recycling rate. Just in time for another spring constant, Earth Day. Before you get rid of any of your electronics The first step on your recycling journey: Make sure that none of your personal data will be leaving the house along with your soon-to-be-discarded electronics. If you're using Apple's iTunes to manage your digital music and video, be sure you deauthorize any device you're recycling. "But that computer is dead" is no excuse: Apple expects you to simply deauthorize all your devices via the iTunes app, then reauthorize the ones that are still alive If you're recycling a smartphone, do a complete reset of your phone to wipe out its data and restore it to its factory settings. Before you do this, however, make sure that you've got your data backed up someplace else If you're recycling a computer or a hard drive, don't just assume that deleting files will wipe the data off your system, because it won't. All it does is reformat the space on the drive, and the data can be snagged using tools designed for disaster recovery. Now, on to recycling Broadly speaking, you have three recycling options: You can drop off your unwanted stuff in person somewhere; you can ship it away; or you can donate it to a willing organization. Drop it off in person. The advantage to dropping off your gear is that you don't need to really plan ahead and print out prepaid labels (as you would if you were shipping things away); you just toss your stuff in the car and go Another option that's cropping up across the U.S. is the electronics recyc

Where once there was the geeky passion for the new and novel, now it all looks like echos of the old.  Before there were late nights playing with the latest toys, now it's just getting the darn thing to work.

"Last year, Nicholas G. was 12-years-old. He convinced his dad to get him a developer account from Apple, and began to learn how to program apps. Nicholas is now 13, and the second update to his first app, Quick Notes!!, is out on the App Store. Version 1.0, says Nicholas, has already accrued over 3,000 downloads. How many downloads did your app have when you were 13? Mine didn't have any. It still doesn't."

Sometimes funny, sometimes fascinating, other times shocking!

"Solve ye olde traveling salesman problem to help Santa Claus deliver his presents"

The source code of the classic Apple II game Prince of Persia has been published on GitHub by Jordan Mechner, the original author. The game, which was first published by Broderbund in 1989, was developed in 6502 assembly. With the help of Apple II enthusiast Tony Diaz, the code was recovered recently from a 22-year old floppy disk.

The FBI is investigating an incident where pictures of teen girls were taken from Facebook and placed on a pornographic website. The victim's ages range from 14-17 years old.

Internet Explorer is a browser that is nearly as old as the Internet and the browser is going to be moving on to its 10th iteration here in the near future. In this post, we take a look back at all of the versions of IE, and give a brief look at each version of the platform and what it brought to the table in terms of functionality and support.

This is the new home for App Inventor programming. Material at their old site will be moving here.

Every day, more and more teachers are using the world-building game Minecraft to engage and educate. The game is a true phenomenon and gamers young and old are using it in countless creative ways. Practitioners of Games Based Education have realized the potential and have embraced Minecraft in classrooms around the world. Now you can too!

When he's not at school, 15-year-old Cim Stordal spends his time playing the Team Fortress video game, shooting his Airsoft pellet gun, and working in a fish shop in Bergen, Norway. But his real passion is finding bugs in software used by millions of people on the Internet.

You've heard the word "server" thrown around a lot, but usually in the context of web sites or big companies that have a lot of data to store. In reality, a server can be just as useful in your home. In this guide, we'll walk through how to create your own server at home that you can put in the closet and leave on 24/7, ready to do any streaming, downloading, or backup you might need at a moment's notice.

Whether you love to play DOS games or want to use DOS for some other reason, you need to download the latest version as it supports both old and new DOS commands. Here is this tutorial for you to install DOS operating system.

Want to get rid of your old computer? But, remember to erase all your personal information from its hard drive before discarding it. In this tutorial, follow the steps to wipe out the hard drive of your computer for cleaning its data.

Threats related to Java programming language are increasing day by day. It also reminds about the old whack-a-mole arcade game. With the vulnerable version of Java, your computer becomes prone to malware or other threats.

The History of Programming Languages Infographic http://t.co/bCg9BUNUny In a world of increasing inter-connectivity, programming languages form the foundation. Did you know that the first programming language is over 100 years old and was written by a woman, Ada Lovelace? Join as us we delve into the history, evolution, and prevalance of programming languages over the years. In addition to outlining the history of languages and how each is traditionally used, you'll find information on what type of vulnerabilities are most common in programs developed in each language and which flaws are most typically fixed once discovered.

"Invent Your Own Computer Games with Python" is a free e-Book that teaches you how to program in the Python programming language. Each chapter gives you the complete source code for a new game, and then teaches the programming concepts from the example. "Invent with Python" was written to be understandable by kids as young as 10 to 12 years old, although it is great for anyone of any age who has never programmed before."

In November 1999, Douglas Edwards became fledgling Google's first "brand manager," making him employee No. 59. In this excerpt from his new book, "I'm Feeling Lucky," Mr. Edwards gives an inside view of the company's early days, starting with his job interview with co-founder Sergey Brin, then 26 years old.

If your PC's been humming along under your desk for more than a year or two, I've got news for you: Chances are inside that case, half a dozen dust bunnies are dancing around your hard drive, leeching onto your CPU fan and fluttering about your motherboard having a grand old time. This is not good.