HDD Prices

When do you think the prices of HDD’s will go back down from the floods?

Different analysts are making different predictions.

Hard Drive Prices to Remain Inflated Throughout 2012(Tomshareware.com)

In Q4 2011, HDD shipments dropped by 26 percent over the same period in the previous year. Shipments will by 13 percent in Q1 and 5 percent in Q2 on an annual basis, IHS believes. In Q3, the market will stabilize and grow by 2 percent and bounce back with 49 percent in the fourth quarter of this year. Sequentially, HDD shipments are predicted to climb 14 percent in Q1, 11 percent in Q3 and 4 percent in Q4.

“The recovery of global HDD manufacturing has begun and will continue during each quarter of 2012, however, the recovery will be prolonged for at least two more quarters, as supply constraints keep unit shipments from climbing on an annual basis until third quarter.” The shortage will translate to continued inflated prices throughout 2012, the firm said.

HDD makers and component suppliers have resumed only partial production in Thailand and have shifted some of their manufacturing to other countries to alleviate the impact of the supply shortage.  According to IHS, Western Digital has been the HDD manufacturer most impacted by the floods and is not expected to return to full production until September.

IHS said that the Thailand flood has caused the global average selling price (ASP) for HDDs to jump by 28 percent in Q4 2011. Prices are forecast to decline by 3 percent in Q1 and by 9 percent in Q2.

“Prices will remain high for a number of reasons, including the higher costs associated with the relocation of production, as well as higher component costs because of flooding impacts among component makers, furthermore, PC brands have signed annual contacts with HDD makers that have locked them into elevated pricing deals for the rest of the year.” noted Fang Zhang, storage analyst for IHS.

Read More

Learn Computer Forensics on Your Own

Expertise in examining computers and networks for evidence can not only lead to a well-paying career, it can be an exciting field to work in. Many people who work in computer forensics have received training through their employer as a law-enforcement professional or corporate sponsored training. This does not mean that someone can’t learn these skills on their own. Thanks to online training, hands-on practice, and dozens of books on the subject, anyone with an interest in computer forensics can learn the skill set needed for this job.

  1. Learn the basics. Before getting started in computer forensics, you need to have a foundation in what it entails.
  2. Download forensic software and see how it works. There are many different tools available that don’t cost anything; some of these can be found at Open Source Forensics. These solutions provide a perfect opportunity for someone to learn how to use different forensic software.
  3. Create virtual machines to use as target computers when learning the software. Virtual machine software, like VirtualBox allows you to create a virtual computing environment that you can use for testing.
  4. Locate online forensics training. Once you have a grasp of computer forensics, it is time to take your training to the next level. There are many tutorials that can be found online that will help you better learn the different forensic software. Additionally, you can look into training packages that for a price will teach specific skills and software.
  5. Read books on forensics. There are many different books written on the subject that cover software packages like EnCase, methodologies used in forensic cases, and certification study manuals.

Obtaining certification in computer forensics can show potential clients and employers that you have expertise in the field.

Check with law enforcement agencies in your area to see if you can shadow them on investigations.

Understand the chain of custody when dealing with computer evidence.

Certain states require someone who is performing a computer forensic investigation to be a licensed private investigator. Make sure you understand the laws of your state before you move forward with an investigation.

Read More

Recover Deleted Files From Recycle Bin

If you deleted an important file from recycle bin that you really needed, do you have any way to get it back? Some people hit the fan and begin to drastically panic if the file they deleted was very important. In fact, you can recover deleted files from the Recycle Bin. The file you deleted from the recycle bin hasn’t actually been permanently erased yet, it is still hidden deep within your computer’s hard drive. All you need to do is know how to find it, and with the aid of new advanced software’s, finding and recovering that deleted file can be as simple as a few clicks of your mouse.

A common misconception is that once you delete a file from the Recycling Bin it has been erased forever, and it is no longer present on the Hard Drive. Luckily for you this is not true, you see when you click empty recycle bin, windows does not actually delete the files, Those commands just generally delete a file’s name from the directory so it won’t show up when the files are listed. But the information itself can live on until it is overwritten by new files. Therefore the file has not actually been deleted; instead the space that it occupied has been freed up and listed as re-use space. Now until that file is overwritten by new data your file is still there and can be retrieved.

The first thing you should do if you want to get your files back is to stop downloading or installing any new data on the hard drive. The reason being, that once you install new programs or download new data onto the Drive it could use up the space created by your deleted file and it will be a lot harder to recover. Having more available space on your hard drive will increase your chances of recovery, as Windows avoids using up space that has recently been freed; therefore if you have plenty of room on your hard drive it will use that before it touches the space from the deleted file. Although I still strongly recommend you act as soon as possible and do not download any new material to your hard drive, that way you will most certainly have your deleted files back.

Therefore in order to recover deleted files from the recycle bin you must obtain a good Undelete Software, these software’s can recover data from almost any data drive like hard disks, USB drives, Zip drives, SD Cards etc.. The software’s can also recover data from data cards in digital cameras and cell phones. The good news is that most Undelete Programs offer a Free Download, so you can try out their software at no cost to see if you are able to recover your deleted files from recycle bin.

Read More