Best Data Recovery Tools

I recently faced an interesting challenge of recovering data from my 1TB portable external storage device. The device's MBR somehow malfunctioned and I was left with almost 700GB of raw data. As per Windows, the only option to access the storage device was to format it but before doing that I wanted to recover the data first!

I majorly used the following tools for recovery:

• Easeus Data Recovery
• Recuva
• TestDisk

As per my experience:

• Easeus was the fastest tool to recover data
• Recuva was the fastest tool in detecting data on the malfunctioned device
• TestDisk was the best tool in recovering data that both Easeus and Recuva tools were unable to find

Inguinal Hernia Surgery

To have surgery or not is same as to marry or not...

I am going to jot down my experience related to the recent surgery experience I had for right inguinal hernia. Interestingly, my hernia was congenital (or that is what the doctor said) and appeared quite late in life (though I am still sweet 16! *winks*).

To ensure readiness for the surgery - I had all the needed routine blood tests and even had an Ultra Sound for abdomen and lower abdomen to ensure if it really was hernia. Blood tests came back positive and Ultra Sound revealed hernia and nothing else. Yes, the medical technology helps.

So, I was okay and ready for surgery (the first-times really are memorable! No?). :)

March 22, 2014

The open surgery was scheduled for March 22, 2014 at 7 PM. I was pretty upbeat for the challenge and had only green tea and boiled egg around 10 AM and nothing else. Felt pretty hungry through-out the day but you have to follow the doctor's advice no matter what!

I reached the hospital around 3 PM and was escorted to a quiet room for (ever so needed) rest before the surgery. Blood pressure was checked -- which was below normal level (because of the lack of food in my system), but not of much concern.

Around 6 PM, a cannula was inserted into my right hand for series of injections and drips that were going to be passed onto the body. A drip was given, soon afterwards, albeit which flowed slowly but seemed to provide good deal of energy.

As soon the clock struck 7 PM, I was taken into the Operation Theater (OT sounds much better!). A spinal anesthesia was given which made my lower body senseless. The surgery began and was pretty much painless throughout, however, I did feel some pain in the left kidney while the Surgeon was doing his business. I complained a little but he assured that was normal and it would be fine in a little while (and, yes he was right -- the pain went away in couple of minutes). The drip flow was increased as soon as the surgery started and the bottle was empty within 30 minutes (I felt like superman! But without the sensation in lower body, ha!).

Because of the nature of congenital hernia (or the surgeon's expertise) - I was out of the Operation Theater in about roughly 40-45 minutes. My lower body was pretty numb and remained so for the next couple of hours.

Around 10 PM, when the anesthesia wore off, I started to feel excruciating pain and it increasingly became unbearable with each passing minute. I was given three to four injections from the cannula to calm down the pain for the night. The injections made the pain bearable and soon afterwards, I was given another drip for the night to keep the body energized. The doctor advised not to eat anything until 6 AM in the morning.

I tried to get some sleep and was quickly driven to the land of dreams.

March 23, 2014

After couple hour sleep -- I was awake again (this time to get the taste of after-shocks of surgery!). A little lower body movement resulted in increased pain even laughing (yes, when you have cousins with you, this can happen!) intensified the pain. So, I soon realized -- less talking the better (the life mantra of sages!). The pain was manageable till 1 AM and started to increase slowly but surely.

When the clock struck 3 AM, the pain became unbearable and I asked the nurse for pain relieving injections. She was only authorized to give one injection and injected it directly into the drip which had a slow flow, again. The pain did not recede and needed a doctor's intervention to calm it down.

Around 6 AM, I called for a doctor, who after assessing the situation, gave me four injections (three went in through the cannula) and one directly into the shoulder. The flow of drip was increased as well and the bottle emptied in 15 minutes. The pain decreased considerably and I was ready to have my first walk after the surgery. The getting up part from the bed, with assistance, was intense. After painful couple of minutes, I was on my legs and started to take little steps. I took this opportunity and went to the toilet as well -- all went well there.

After taking a little more slow steps, I went to bed and slept till 9 AM. When I woke up, I was feeling a lot better. The pain was there but it was manageable. The doctor came around 10 AM and advised to start taking liquid -- which I obliged by taking juice instantly. Afterwards, I slept till 1 PM. When, I woke up, I got up from the bed, this time myself, and took little steps and went to the toilet as well. I walked a little more and with little assistance sat down on a chair, took more juice and went to bed - when the pain started to hurt a little more.

At 2 PM, I was given the regular dose of injections to control the pain. Soon afterwards, I went to sleep and woke up at 4 PM. I took some green tea, which felt refreshing and stayed on the bed to keep the pain minimal. Around 9 PM, I got up from the bed, with some assistance, went to wash-room. I had first bowel movement and thankfully it was without any pain. At 10 PM, I had simple liquid soup as dinner. A routine dose of four injections were given and I slept around 11 PM.

March 24, 2014

I woke up at 3 AM, the pain was manageable, and went to toilet without any assistance, thankfully, all went fine there. Afterwards, I sat on a chair for couple of minutes and then went to bed again. The sleep was peaceful and woke up feeling more healthy around 7 AM. I took juice as breakfast and did a little walk around my room as well. Routine dose of injections was given at 10 AM and doctor was ready to have me discharged. The cannula was removed and I was advised to remain on liquid food till next routine doctor check-up scheduled for March 27, 2014 for bandage change.

I reached home around 1 PM - the day went a bit uncomfortable because of change of environment. I was given pain killers and infection related tablets to keep everything in check.

March 25, 2014

I was almost back to my normal self but with restricted movement.

March 26, 2014

I started increasing my movements -- still took anti-biotics and pain-killers to stay safe.

March 27, 2014

Doctor advised to start taking normal food. That was a new well-taken!

After taking real food -- I was almost back to normalcy. In a week time -- the bandage was removed and I re-joined office again!

To conclude, the surgery was not that bad for an experience. :) 

Plugged In, Not Charging - Solution

I have seen this error message a lot in laptops of all brands and sizes.

More than often the problem is with the battery related drivers than the hardware itself.

Here is the solution that works absolutely 100% of the times:

1. Right click on 'My Computer'
2. Go to 'Properties'
3. Click 'Device Manager'
4. Click the '+' sign on the 'Batteries'
5. Delete all instances of 'Microsoft ACPI-Compliant Control Method Battery'
6. Restart the laptop
7. Log-in
8. The status of battery now would be 'plugged in, charging'!  

Learning - The Learning Ability

The learned is not the one who has learned a lot but actually the one who has learnt the ability to learn, unlearn and learn back again. How do you gain such an ability? Is it god-gifted or can you actually learn it starting fresh and ultimately become an expert?

I know more than few people who are prodigiously good at what they can do and that too without any formal education. These few people are either brilliant researchers or have such an amazing mind that they are able to grasp the complex of concepts within a blink of an eye.

We all think -- but most never analyse our thinking process. Why do we assume, perceive, take, mind, view and even idealise things as we do? Yes culture, peers, society, knowledge and education plays its part but in the end all this adds into our own thinking and we come to a certain liking, disliking, opinion and conclusion.

Let's take an example of one of my friends. She would shop or eat from a place where everyone is shopping or eating. The sole reason being, masses cannot be wrong. When this friend buys an eatable from some not so famous place -- she would start complaining about the taste, quality, quantity etc.

We are learning constantly amazingly even when we are taking a nap. It is nearly impossible not to learn even if you are trying not to learn. Learning is easy -- but unlearning what we have already learnt and learning a totally new concept over it is pretty hard.

If we can unlearn our notions and develop new notions over them then we can be classified as learned in real sense. How can you achieve such learning ability? It is not simple but you can try by being open-minded, ready to challenge your norms, accept being wrong, ready to being corrected, ask others for help and lastly but more importantly never becoming an expert. 

Or Something Similar

There comes a time in your daily routine life -- when whatever you do ends up being a mistake or something similar. You become frustrated and want to scream and cry out loud or something similar. What should you do when everything you touch becomes dust and evaporates in thin air or something similar, you get the idea. Right?

Life's full of curvy ups and downs. The thrills, twists, turns and climaxes depend mostly on your instant reactions and counter actions or something similar. The spoken word and the sped arrow or something similar like spent time cannot return but the after-thought feeling actually does to haunt and taunt. In matters of mere seconds you lose it if you do not control it -- your temper, temptations, anger or similar wave of emotions.

Yes, controlling your self is the hardest task to perform and executing it perfectly is near to impossible or something similar. Day-in and day-out you have to sweat like a champion sports-person to control your own self. The self that can instantly destruct like a nuclear bomb ready to shred everything into pieces that comes in its way. There are commonly two results of your actions. Either you win or you lose. Let me tell you the hidden third result which would make you a master of your self. An action that results in a win-win situation. Yes, neither you nor anyone else loses -- try it or something similar and see for your self.  

Words Will Not Rhyme

Up this time and thinking about
Time lost with a furious clout

A human can err, so what?
Angels cannot, so bait!

Nothing is over and out till
You believe in miracles still

You live in matter of seconds
The moment that fast descends

Let's face it with vigour
Destinies that keep rigour

Waiting for that exact time
When words will not rhyme

See you soon in cloud nine
Always you were, are mine!

The Pakistan Saga!

What follows is just my individual thinking, analysis, observation, view, opinion and by no means I am promoting and marketing some or any doctrine what so ever! 

Pakistan recently banned quite a few sites for the blasphemous content that were displayed on Internet. Some one who is in my social circle asked a question which went like this, "Should we use Facebook now as the government has lifted the ban?" A heart throbbing question indeed.

Okay! Lets be a little logical here. Internet was the mean used to spread such hatred. Does that mean we should ban Internet in Pakistan? It is not just about Facebook. Why do the Pakistanis think they are the owner of Islam? Why did not the Muslims in other countries come out of their homes in protest? Why do we think we have to save Islam in our own righteous ways? So now what can be the solution to such issues? Well in my humblest opinion we should simply ignore. The less we care about such heinous displays of mediocre mindset the better would be the end result! We should focus on constructive solutions rather than hiding from the problem on hand. The blanket ban is not ignoring it is like what the Ostrich does to protect itself from the sandstorm. I think ignoring is the best solution. You can come up with better one.

I would also like to shed some light on the plight of Ahmadies in Pakistan. How many of us have read the religious books of Ahmadies? For that very matter how many of us have read our own religious books? Going into further granularity how many of us have really read Quran with translation? So who do we think we are to label someone as Kaafir?

Lets now just for the sake of our own well being start treating each other as mere humans and do not go into sects and divide ourselves and become prey to others! If I am Abbasi, you are Syed, she is Chaudhary and he is a Khan... What does it have to do with me being superior than others? In the very same manner, if I am Brelvi, you are Deobandi, she is Wahabi and he is Ahmadi... Please let them live and they will let you live. These are all different paths to the same destination. Let them have their path. Let us go on our path. In the end we will meet at the same place. Lets do it without pointing fingers at each other.

“Darkness can not drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.” 

- Martin Luther King

Let's all live in peace and harmony! :)