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Self Sufficient computer repair and maintenance

detron · 402 · 62183

wales Offline Smashie

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Re: Self Sufficient computer repair and maintenance
Reply #330 on: January 08, 2018, 08:24:39 PM
actually no I can't.

the first thing I did was disable all the cloud based services as he is using it for work, and it cannot be accessed outside the LAN, which if I read correctly is the only semi safe state without an update.

I thought you might have done, I forced an update on mine and I'll replace it this year with another raid 5 nas. It was part of my old backup routine and is nowhere near large enough any more.
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fr Offline Whoey

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Re: Self Sufficient computer repair and maintenance
Reply #331 on: January 08, 2018, 08:41:05 PM
I'm actually doubly glad I disabled that on the initial setup.

He had mentioned that some of his colleges in the field had setup remote access, and I suggested that if I were to set it up it is risky since due to privacy issues the data it contains should not be accessible and that to be sure we should not allow that even though it was a built in feature of the NAS.
The difficult we do immediately, the impossible takes a little longer.


us Offline detron

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Re: Self Sufficient computer repair and maintenance
Reply #332 on: January 08, 2018, 09:00:17 PM
I have a My Cloud EX4100,  all cloud based features are dissabled.

I have to really try and figure out what is going on, and devote some time to ensuring I do not assume anything
If I can help, let me know 


wales Offline Smashie

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Re: Self Sufficient computer repair and maintenance
Reply #333 on: January 08, 2018, 09:00:44 PM
I'm actually doubly glad I disabled that on the initial setup.

He had mentioned that some of his colleges in the field had setup remote access, and I suggested that if I were to set it up it is risky since due to privacy issues the data it contains should not be accessible and that to be sure we should not allow that even though it was a built in feature of the NAS.

I also don't do remote access
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us Offline detron

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Re: Self Sufficient computer repair and maintenance
Reply #334 on: January 08, 2018, 09:26:42 PM
I do not use remote ANYTHING into my network.  actually, I have taken steps to make it more difficult to access my internal network (beyond the typical firewall, etc.

I have my public facing router, feed into another router.  so instead of a Network Address Translation of public to private address which most people have, I have a Public to Private, then the private is treated as a public, and translated into a private again.  the only traffic that can make its way in is any session that is initiated from inside. I know where there is a will there is a way, and Hackers will always find a way (I am a Certified Ethical Hacker, and Network Security professional). 

this little dead network between the outside and the inside, with no inbound routing is a tricky little obstacle.
If I can help, let me know 


wales Offline Smashie

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Re: Self Sufficient computer repair and maintenance
Reply #335 on: January 08, 2018, 09:36:41 PM
I do not use remote ANYTHING into my network.  actually, I have taken steps to make it more difficult to access my internal network (beyond the typical firewall, etc.

I have my public facing router, feed into another router.  so instead of a Network Address Translation of public to private address which most people have, I have a Public to Private, then the private is treated as a public, and translated into a private again.  the only traffic that can make its way in is any session that is initiated from inside. I know where there is a will there is a way, and Hackers will always find a way (I am a Certified Ethical Hacker, and Network Security professional). 

this little dead network between the outside and the inside, with no inbound routing is a tricky little obstacle.

It's a sound solution :salute:
“Strong minds discuss ideas, average minds discuss events, weak minds discuss people.” - Socrates
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Complaining is mental preparation for failure.
Si vis pacem, para bellum


fr Offline Whoey

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Re: Self Sufficient computer repair and maintenance
Reply #336 on: January 09, 2018, 01:25:21 AM
sounds like a good setup, obviously if someone is really determined to find a way in, they will eventually no matter what. I assume that for the most part they are going more for easy targets than the tough ones
The difficult we do immediately, the impossible takes a little longer.


wales Offline Smashie

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Re: Self Sufficient computer repair and maintenance
Reply #337 on: January 09, 2018, 01:33:24 AM
sounds like a good setup, obviously if someone is really determined to find a way in, they will eventually no matter what. I assume that for the most part they are going more for easy targets than the tough ones

I would have thought they'd go for large commercial targets first, maximum impact
“Strong minds discuss ideas, average minds discuss events, weak minds discuss people.” - Socrates
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Complaining is mental preparation for failure.
Si vis pacem, para bellum


us Offline detron

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Re: Self Sufficient computer repair and maintenance
Reply #338 on: January 09, 2018, 02:15:50 AM
sounds like a good setup, obviously if someone is really determined to find a way in, they will eventually no matter what. I assume that for the most part they are going more for easy targets than the tough ones

totally agree,  I do have a honeynet with its own wide open WiFi that is air-gaped from all other stuff.   that is the easy target.
If I can help, let me know 


us Offline SteveC

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Re: Self Sufficient computer repair and maintenance
Reply #339 on: January 10, 2018, 11:49:35 PM
After win10's update today my computer won't boot up. Blue screen



I went to office depot to talk to a tech there and he said that he's got four computers in in the last hour with the same problem. He hasn't come up with a fix yet.



fr Offline Whoey

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Re: Self Sufficient computer repair and maintenance
Reply #340 on: January 11, 2018, 12:13:24 AM
replied to the other thread... http://www.howto-connect.com/fix-inaccessible-boot-device-windows-10/ seems relevant towards fixing
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wales Offline Smashie

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Re: Self Sufficient computer repair and maintenance
Reply #341 on: January 11, 2018, 12:21:56 AM
replied to the other thread... http://www.howto-connect.com/fix-inaccessible-boot-device-windows-10/ seems relevant towards fixing

Thanks, I couldn't find that link  :tu:
“Strong minds discuss ideas, average minds discuss events, weak minds discuss people.” - Socrates
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Complaining is mental preparation for failure.
Si vis pacem, para bellum


ie Offline Don Pablo

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Re: Self Sufficient computer repair and maintenance
Reply #342 on: August 04, 2018, 10:43:21 AM
Well, I took the plunge and installed Linux on my laptop in a dual boot configuration with Windows. :salute: My first experience with Linux, excluding some I-don’t-know-what-I’m-doing messing around with a Raspberry Pi.

It took me long enough accomplish, I had to do a few BIOS configuration changes in order to get the Linux usb installer to stop crashing and recognise my SSD upon getting to the partition setup screen... and in addition, I had to make a 500 MB efi (still don’t quite understand what it is) partition for Grub (whatever that is, something boot related?) to install correctly.
Googling solutions when you don’t understand the terminology takes quite a bit of time.  :D I wish I had remembered this thread.  :facepalm:

I went with Linux Mint 19, because I heard it was noob-friendly, and Cinnamon because that’s the first option I encountered when searching for the download.  ::)

I do have an unsolved problem. I’d like to devote more of my SSD space to the Linux /home partition, which is currently about 8GB, but windows won’t allow me to shrink the C: drive beyond a certain point, despite having dozens of gigabytes of free space on it? :crash: Can anyone help? :cheers:
« Last Edit: August 04, 2018, 10:46:55 AM by Don Pablo »
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gb Offline Fuzzbucket

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Re: Self Sufficient computer repair and maintenance
Reply #343 on: August 04, 2018, 11:39:49 AM
Dear Pabby,

I'd love to help... am, if you could just explain/clarify the following in red, I'll get my thinking cap on... and I'm sure I could nail something together for you...

Love n kisses,
Fuzzy

Well, I took the plunge and installed Linux on my laptop in a dual boot configuration with Windows. :salute: My first experience with Linux, excluding some I-don’t-know-what-I’m-doing messing around with a Raspberry Pi.

It took me long enough accomplish, I had to do a few BIOS configuration changes in order to get the Linux usb installer to stop crashing and recognise my SSD upon getting to the partition setup screen... and in addition, I had to make a 500 MB efi (still don’t quite understand what it is) partition for Grub (whatever that is, something boot related?) to install correctly.
Googling solutions when you don’t understand the terminology takes quite a bit of time.  :D I wish I had remembered this thread.  :facepalm:

I went with Linux Mint 19, because I heard it was noob-friendly, and Cinnamon because that’s the first option I encountered when searching for the download.  ::)

I do have an unsolved problem. I’d like to devote more of my SSD space to the Linux /home partition, which is currently about 8GB, but windows won’t allow me to shrink the C: drive beyond a certain point, despite having dozens of gigabytes of free space on it? :crash: Can anyone help? :cheers:


« Last Edit: August 04, 2018, 11:43:44 AM by Fuzzbucket »


fi Offline AlephZero

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Re: Self Sufficient computer repair and maintenance
Reply #344 on: August 04, 2018, 11:51:38 AM
Well, I took the plunge and installed Linux on my laptop in a dual boot configuration with Windows. :salute: My first experience with Linux, excluding some I-don’t-know-what-I’m-doing messing around with a Raspberry Pi.

It took me long enough accomplish, I had to do a few BIOS configuration changes in order to get the Linux usb installer to stop crashing and recognise my SSD upon getting to the partition setup screen... and in addition, I had to make a 500 MB efi (still don’t quite understand what it is) partition for Grub (whatever that is, something boot related?) to install correctly.
Googling solutions when you don’t understand the terminology takes quite a bit of time.  :D I wish I had remembered this thread.  :facepalm:

I went with Linux Mint 19, because I heard it was noob-friendly, and Cinnamon because that’s the first option I encountered when searching for the download.  ::)

I do have an unsolved problem. I’d like to devote more of my SSD space to the Linux /home partition, which is currently about 8GB, but windows won’t allow me to shrink the C: drive beyond a certain point, despite having dozens of gigabytes of free space on it? :crash: Can anyone help? :cheers:

Just a question, have you defragged the C: drive?
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ie Offline eamo

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Re: Self Sufficient computer repair and maintenance
Reply #345 on: August 04, 2018, 12:45:45 PM
Well, I took the plunge and installed Linux on my laptop in a dual boot configuration with Windows. :salute: My first experience with Linux, excluding some I-don’t-know-what-I’m-doing messing around with a Raspberry Pi.

It took me long enough accomplish, I had to do a few BIOS configuration changes in order to get the Linux usb installer to stop crashing and recognise my SSD upon getting to the partition setup screen... and in addition, I had to make a 500 MB efi (still don’t quite understand what it is) partition for Grub (whatever that is, something boot related?) to install correctly.
Googling solutions when you don’t understand the terminology takes quite a bit of time.  :D I wish I had remembered this thread.  :facepalm:

I went with Linux Mint 19, because I heard it was noob-friendly, and Cinnamon because that’s the first option I encountered when searching for the download.  ::)

I do have an unsolved problem. I’d like to devote more of my SSD space to the Linux /home partition, which is currently about 8GB, but windows won’t allow me to shrink the C: drive beyond a certain point, despite having dozens of gigabytes of free space on it? :crash: Can anyone help? :cheers:

Just a question, have you defragged the C: drive?

Pabs in case you're wondering you use a file for that - but you can't do it on a Wednesday   :pok: :pok:

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ie Offline Don Pablo

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Re: Self Sufficient computer repair and maintenance
Reply #346 on: August 04, 2018, 12:46:10 PM
Just a question, have you defragged the C: drive?
Do SSD's need to be defragged?  :think:
In any case, I THINK I did. I might have done it wrong.  :rofl:

See the attached screenshot.


In the big window, is the Disk management tool.
Partitions 1 and 7 are a mystery to me.
Linux is on partitions 8 (efi), 9 (home), 10 (swap), and 11 (root).
D: is where the Laptop drivers are. It used to be 25 GB but I shrunk it to make space for linux.
C: is, well, C:.
LENOVO_PART and WINRE_DRV are also a mystery.

The hidden lower-right window is the result of right clicking C: in the Disk Management tool and going to properties.
The left window called "Optimize drives" is from clicking Optimize in properties. The "defrag" button I used is the Optimize button in "Optimize drives".

The lower middle window is from right clicking C: and going to Shrink. As you can see, although there is lots of free space on C:, I cannot shrink it farther.
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ie Offline eamo

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Re: Self Sufficient computer repair and maintenance
Reply #347 on: August 04, 2018, 12:56:39 PM
Just a question, have you defragged the C: drive?
Do SSD's need to be defragged?  :think:
In any case, I THINK I did. I might have done it wrong.  :rofl:

See the attached screenshot.
(Image removed from quote.)

In the big window, is the Disk management tool.
Partitions 1 and 7 are a mystery to me.
Linux is on partitions 8 (efi), 9 (home), 10 (swap), and 11 (root).
D: is where the Laptop drivers are. It used to be 25 GB but I shrunk it to make space for linux.
C: is, well, C:.
LENOVO_PART and WINRE_DRV are also a mystery.

The hidden lower-right window is the result of right clicking C: in the Disk Management tool and going to properties.
The left window called "Optimize drives" is from clicking Optimize in properties. The "defrag" button I used is the Optimize button in "Optimize drives".

The lower middle window is from right clicking C: and going to Shrink. As you can see, although there is lots of free space on C:, I cannot shrink it farther.

I think a few years back i hit a similar problem, if i remember correctly i used a linux partition manager to shrink the windows partition.

When you're in this kind of territory make sure you have everything backed up, it can go pearshaped real easy
It is never too late to be what you might have been - George Eliot


ie Offline Don Pablo

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Re: Self Sufficient computer repair and maintenance
Reply #348 on: August 04, 2018, 04:59:09 PM
I didn’t forget about you, Fuzzy! Since you asked so nicely:

My computer is not working as I want it to.
Hooked, like everyone else. ;)

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ie Offline Don Pablo

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Re: Self Sufficient computer repair and maintenance
Reply #349 on: August 04, 2018, 05:05:22 PM
I think a few years back i hit a similar problem, if i remember correctly i used a linux partition manager to shrink the windows partition.

When you're in this kind of territory make sure you have everything backed up, it can go pearshaped real easy
Ok, I’ll try using a Linux program.  :salute:

Regarding the backups, I have no data that I wouldn’t mind losing on my laptop, but I am worried about the possibility of reinstalling everything from windows to Linux from scratch again if I mess up something important.  :ahhh
Any suggestions?
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us Offline detron

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Re: Self Sufficient computer repair and maintenance
Reply #350 on: August 05, 2018, 12:36:48 AM
I think a few years back i hit a similar problem, if i remember correctly i used a linux partition manager to shrink the windows partition.

When you're in this kind of territory make sure you have everything backed up, it can go pearshaped real easy
Ok, I’ll try using a Linux program.  :salute:

Regarding the backups, I have no data that I wouldn’t mind losing on my laptop, but I am worried about the possibility of reinstalling everything from windows to Linux from scratch again if I mess up something important.  :ahhh
Any suggestions?

one easy solution is Parted Magic.  it is a $10 purchase, but is a great tool to have on hand.
https://partedmagic.com/

it is a bootable CD, focused on partition resizing and other administrative tasks.  I carry this with me everywhere, (on a usb)
the nice thing about this type of solution, is no partitions are in use while you resize and reconfigure those partitions.

Windows may complain after it boots the next time, and may want to scan the disk, but it is an easy one stop solution.

this disc also has backup solutions and virus scan solutions that may come in handy
If I can help, let me know 


us Offline detron

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Re: Self Sufficient computer repair and maintenance
Reply #351 on: August 05, 2018, 12:40:08 AM
the second screenshot on this page shows the partitioning software in action
If I can help, let me know 


us Offline raistlin65

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Re: Self Sufficient computer repair and maintenance
Reply #352 on: August 05, 2018, 06:34:20 PM
No reason to pay for partition software. Gparted is a free open source partition program. Been around over a dozen years:
https://gparted.org/

Create a live USB version to run it without being in your Windows or Linux boot: https://gparted.org/liveusb.php. The USB will have a mini version of Linux on it, just enough to support gparted. It won't be installing it to your hard drive. Just to the USB so it can boot from it.


us Offline raistlin65

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Re: Self Sufficient computer repair and maintenance
Reply #353 on: August 05, 2018, 06:37:22 PM
And here is a tutorial for using gparted with Windows 7 and Vista. I have not used gparted recently, but I'm betting it's very similar.

https://www.howtogeek.com/howto/windows-vista/using-gparted-to-resize-your-windows-vista-partition/
« Last Edit: August 05, 2018, 06:39:04 PM by raistlin65 »


ie Offline Don Pablo

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Re: Self Sufficient computer repair and maintenance
Reply #354 on: August 05, 2018, 07:09:32 PM
Yeah, when I was installing Mint from a live USB, gparted was the application the installer gave me to make the required partitions. :tu:

I think MagicParted does a bit more than that though? Detron said the disc has tools on it to help with backing up.  :think:

I can try to resize my C: drive with gparted anytime I like, but I would like to backup windows before I do anything, just in case, and that’s what I’m trying to figure out now. :tu:
Hooked, like everyone else. ;)

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fi Offline Antti Lammi

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Re: Self Sufficient computer repair and maintenance
Reply #355 on: August 05, 2018, 07:09:47 PM
I had similar problems with my dual boot first time, i solved problem uninstalled linux first completly and reinstalled mint with allready higher partition. Second time i used gparted to resize hdd but theres risk that you may loose some crucial data resizing hdd. Safest way is unistall mint and free space back to windows and then reinstall mint with higher partition

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ie Offline Don Pablo

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Re: Self Sufficient computer repair and maintenance
Reply #356 on: August 05, 2018, 07:50:07 PM
Thanks for chiming in.  :cheers:
I’m afraid that I omitted a few details.  :oops:
My problem started before I tried to install Linux, when I was shrinking partitions via the windows Disk Management tool to produce enough unallocated space for the to-be-made Linux partitions..

My problem is that the Windows Disk Management tool won’t allow me to shrink the C: partition, despite it having lots of space and being able to successfully shrink other partitions.

Probably the gparted tool will be able to shrink the C: partition once I try.  :tu:
But I was wondering if this problem has some important cause that I don’t know about, that could cause big problems when I shrink the C: partition.

In any case, I’m making a Windows backup with the included windows Backup and Restore tool, just in case.  :tu:
Is that tool good enough, or should I use a third party tool?
Hooked, like everyone else. ;)

All hail the hook!


us Offline raistlin65

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Re: Self Sufficient computer repair and maintenance
Reply #357 on: August 05, 2018, 07:52:43 PM
If you want to keep going the open source route, Clonezilla is a popular open source program for creating images.
https://clonezilla.org/clonezilla-live.php
Use it to make a backup of your Windows installation:
https://win10faq.com/how-to-clone-windows-10-with-clonezilla/


us Offline detron

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Re: Self Sufficient computer repair and maintenance
Reply #358 on: August 05, 2018, 08:08:52 PM
No reason to pay for partition software. Gparted is a free open source partition program. Been around over a dozen years:
https://gparted.org/

Create a live USB version to run it without being in your Windows or Linux boot: https://gparted.org/liveusb.php. The USB will have a mini version of Linux on it, just enough to support gparted. It won't be installing it to your hard drive. Just to the USB so it can boot from it.

I agree there are free options, and I do use those as well, but where Parted Magic has earned my money, is constant improvements, and simplifying the tool for the average user.
gparted and some other partitioning programs sometimes need configuration to resize NTFS partitions.  Parted Magic has done the proper work to enable this by default, as well as work with UEFI and secure boot configurations.

Parted Magic was free, but the developer decided to work on it full time.  I buy a new version once a year, and I feel good supporting him.

in the past, I have also received great support when I had one system that could not boot the distro,  within 2 days, I was provided a fix, and a guide to making it work on that very odd system.

If I can help, let me know 


ie Offline Don Pablo

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Re: Self Sufficient computer repair and maintenance
Reply #359 on: August 06, 2018, 12:09:28 AM
Problem figured out.  :think: :tu:
Went ahead and used gparted on a live USB version of Mint to shrink the C: drive, and figured out how to get it to move the newly unallocated space around to where it needed to be, to allow me to grow the partitions I wanted to make bigger.  :tu:

Sorry for any trouble I caused.  :facepalm:
Hooked, like everyone else. ;)

All hail the hook!


 

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