Gizmodo: Recovery

Lenovo IdeaPad Y710 and Y510 Laptops Have Facial Recognition, Touch Controls, Frameless Screens

Jason Chen — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 00:00:00 EST

You'd think that most companies are going down the cheap, low-end laptop route (Eee PC) in order to differentiate themselves and bring in more customers, but Lenovo is one brand that still focuses on shoving in as many features as possible. Their IdeaPad Y710 and Y510 laptops are focused at both entertainment and general-use users, but have some very interesting unique features such as VeriFace facial recognition and a frameless screen.

Both laptops offer that frameless screen and a hinge that offers a larger separation between the keys and the screen so the display doesn't get in the way as much. They also have touch-sensitive controls at the top, which are designed more for multi-media functions than for no-look typing.

Then there's the built-in webcam with VeriFace facial recognition, which is present on both models. The Y710 has Halo Lighting, which is side bezel and logo lighting, and can hot swap a secondary hard drive in. The Y510 has a projected LED battery life indicator, and a light weave texture on top. Both models have OneKey recovery and battery management (don't all laptops?). There are also Dolby Speakers (two main, two secondary and a sub). The 710 has a 17-inch LCD and the Y510 has a 15.4-inch LCD, and both have a 1.3 megapixel camera.

Internally, there's a Intel Core 2 Do T5450 and T9300, ATI Mobility Radeon HD2600 with 256MB RAM, 250 or 500GB hard drive, and up to 4GB RAM on the Y710. The Y510 has an Intel Core 2 Duo T2330, T545 or T5550, Intel X3100 graphics, 160GB or 250GB hard drive, and up to 4GB RAM. The 710 will be $1199, and the 510 will be $799.

Hardcore Data Recovery: Double Boil Your Drive?

Sean Fallon — Mon, 26 Nov 2007 21:50:24 EST

If your hard drive is seriously f*cked, and you have some big shiny balls (or you're dumb as hell), you might be interested in how a fellow from Mandible Games claims that he recovered data from his drive. According to the article, he noticed that his drive would spin, but it would not show up in BIOS and there was a distinct and repetitive clicking noise.

After a little experimentation, he realized that it the heads may have gotten misaligned or stuck, and if he could jar the heads loose, it might work again. Naturally, when you heat something up, it expands —so, in theory, if the drive was heated, it should have the same effect. Apparently, by double boiling your drive you can achieve the proper amount of heat without doing any further damage —and the guy claims that the drive worked perfectly after the procedure.

Would I do this? Hell no—but then again I'm not a lunatic and I'm not willing to screw around with important data. However, if your idea of troubleshooting is to bang on it with a hammer, or your are too cheap to pay someone to recover your data, this may be something to try. [Mandible Games via Spluch]

Sony Introduces Free File Recovery Service for Memory Sticks

Travis Hudson — Thu, 25 May 2006 11:10:31 EDT

Sony has announced the Memory Stick Data Rescue Service. This is a free, downloadable program. Customers just have to register their memory stick before downloading. Supposedly the software can recover picture, video and office data files. The program is compatible with all Sony Memory Sticks sold since 1998. Hooray for fixing fuckups that aren't your fault! Travis Hudson

Download Site [Via TechDigest]