Today, we will be using rsync to make daily, weekly, incremental backups and then a full compressed/archived backup once a month. We will then use cron to automate the process. Lets face it us humans get lazy sometimes and most backup systems loose complete effectiveness if they are not completely automated. Read more »

Want to make an exact copy of a CD without installing k3b or some other burning software? You can do it in Linux/Freebsd with one line of code using dd. The nice thing about dd is that it will make a disk level duplicate of the CD. It should be a 100% exact copy. Read more »

A common assumption is that deleting or formatting a hard drive will be enough but in fact the data is still recoverable. In fact is fairly trivial and the process is quite easy to restore them. For this reason security is a great concern, especially for those who are selling or donating their old computers. I am going to show you a simple technique for erasing the entire drive. This is the same procedure that the US Government DoD uses to secure their own drives. Read more »

Dd is a tool that is often used in computer forensics because it is extremly low level and effecient at creating exact duplicates of hard drives. For this reason it is often the tool for which all other tools are compared to. But is it useful for us regular Joes?. Can we use dd to create digital copies of our hard drives for backup reasons? Yes we can, and I actually find that it is easier to use than commercially available solutions Read more »

Recently I wanted to control my computer from a remote location. Problem was that the destination computer was behind a NAT and a firewall. Almost all large networks (corporate and universities) including home routers are now using some sort of NAT (Network Address Translation). Read more »

If you have a huge collection of DVDs you want to backup than this guide is for you. After burning about 600 DVDs I have come to learn the ins and outs of dvd burning. What works great, what media works in all dvd players, why labeling your DVDs will cause them to start skipping half way through watching, how to properly store your DVDs, and how to defeat the new evil copy protection that prevents dvdshrink and DVDDecrypter from successfully backing up your DVDs. Read more »

OK, ever want to send a file to someone in a very sneaky way? Or want to files on your sever cleverly disguised as a jpeg? Here is a way for you to bind these files in windows so that it looks like a normal jpeg image. If you open it by means of a double click, it will open in your default image viewer. If however, you open the jpeg with WinRAR the file will act as a compressed archive! Read more »

Recently I purchased a Sandisk Cruzer micro 4GB flash drive which I use for storing some of my favorite applications and files. Immediately after using it for the first time it came up with this annoying interface that was geared towards Windows only. Knowing that I hate any software that excludes other operating systems. I tried formatting the drive in Linux and Windows only to find the U3 program was still there taking up space and annoying the hell out of me. After doing some searching I found that you can remove the U3 software that comes bundled. When I heard this news I was thrilled. Read more »