Undeleting

I'm pretty sure a lot of us have either accidentally deleted photos or data from our memory cards or hard drives and wish we could take back what we'd just done right?  Or the storage device just suddenly failed on us or gets corrupted?  I used to think all is lost whenever something like that happens until I read an article in a computer magazine some years ago.

There is such a thing as "undeleting" or rather recovering those deleted or lost data from your storage medias (i.e. hard drive, USB drives, memory cards) as long as the data has not been overwritten with new data or information.  So the key thing to keep in mind when something like this happens is to make sure you refrain from using the storage media prior to recovering your files.

If you're wondering what this magical solution is, it's actually pretty simple.  The answer (at least for me) is Data Recovery Softwares.

Subsequent to reading the computer magazine, I did a quick search for the recommended software(s) and tried out PC Inspector Smart Recovery which worked wonders!  It helped me to recover as much or the deleted photos as it could (unfortunately I'd already used the same memory card to take photos).

PC Inspector Smart Recovery

(Freeware)

A couple of years back, I was having some problems with my laptop and I ended up missing a partition.  And woe is me, that particular partition was where I had a lot of my documents, photos and other data (without back up) and for some odd reason, the OS just wasn't recognizing the partition.  I tried the software above but unfortunately, it can't search for items in a "ghost" drive.  So I ended up on another search for a software to help with my situation.  Thank goodness, I managed to find one that actually worked, DiskDigger.  It totally saved me!  It managed to recover the data from the entire hard disk (not just by partitions) and I got my data back. Yay! It is available free for personal use but you'll have to deal with some annoying pop ups which personally I didn't mind as long as it could scan and retrieve.  The license, should you choose to purchase it, is priced at $14.99.

DiskDigger

(Free for personal use)

Another nifty little piece of software is by Piriform (I love their CCleaner and Defraggler softwares) and it's aptly called Recuva.  The software can be downloaded and used for free but if you like, feel free to send a donation to the development team at Piriform without obligations.  If you click the "Download" button on the website, you'll be brought to the Download page showing another button with a price tag on it.  This is only if you want to download the software with Priority Support (which they recommend).  Otherwise, just scroll down a little and there should be links to download it free.

Recuva by Piriform

(Freeware with option to donate)

And there you have it.  Don't fret if you wiped out your memory card by accident or was hit by plain bad luck and there was a power failure while you were in the midst of cutting and pasting your files between storage medias.  Just download one of these softwares (or other similar ones) and you should be all set.  I'm not saying that these softwares will be able to retrieve every single thing for you but it will help to retrieve most of them (which is better than nothing right?).  There are still certain files that these softwares are unable to recover though.  And unfortunately, all the softwares mentioned here are for Windows OS only I believe.  Care to share ones that has worked for you (and for other platforms too)?

Hope this little bit of info helped some of you. *smiles*

Online Shopping Just Got Better

I love almost every form of shopping.  Window shopping, retail, groceries and online shopping, I love love love it.  Not everything in Malaysia is cheap and not everything is sold in or shipped to Malaysia.  So in comes the wonderful world of online shopping.

Online shopping is big in the US and looking at the country geographically, online shopping is probably one of the most convenient ways to go these days.  So how'd I get sucked in to this modern day shopping experience?  Well, it developed from looking for cheap finds on eBay and Lelong to international sites that shipped to Malaysia (like Amazon.com) to checking out sprees & blogshops and then to getting so frustrated a lot of the things I wanted to buy were sold on sites that shipped internationally but didn't include Malaysia in their list or shipped only to the US and Canada.

eBay & Lelong

Image from Lelong

This is probably one of the most popular forms of online shopping available.  There are typically 2 types of sales on these sites, auctions (highest bid wins the product) and buy now sales (direct purchases without the need to bid).  Lelong was previously also known as BuySell.com.my and is quite popular locally.  It is used by both commercial users (store owners, small business owners) as well as the regular customers (who occasionally sells second hand goods).  What I like about Lelong is that they offer an option to verify your account with them via phone and NRIC verification so sales activities feels a bit more secure.  Now, Lelong has a few other sister sites to further complement their existing services among which are Superbid.com.my (a 12 hour bidding fest held every Wednesdays) and Superbuy.com.my (an online store offering a host of different products to consumers at sometimes lower prices).

Image from eBay Malaysia

While Lelong is geared more towards the local scene, eBay has a much wider network of sellers and buyers.  You can purchase from sellers abroad who accept international payments and offer to ship here.  There are however a lot of scammers floating around on the site so there are some precautions to take to avoid having someone dishonor the sale.  I'll talk more about what to look out for in another post.

Bags Made With Love

A few months back my cousin started posting pictures of bags she made for her daughter, family and friends.  Her bags were clearly beautifully made and you could see she put a lot of thought into the materials used and all the other little details (like adding swivel clips for keys inside the bags).  She started out making bags with remnants of fabric from other sewing or craft projects but has now invested in various designer fabrics.

She used to sew clothes for her daughter but has now found a new love in sewing bags.  Her design method is very simple is based on what anyone would need from a bag and how the bag will be able to fulfill that need.  Since then, she has started her own little business selling these gorgeous bags and you can check them out online.

Click on the image above to view her blog