Oh no! More boring computer problems! Oh no!

(unless you use a non-destructive partitioning program like Partition Magic, of course)

Control Panel->Administrative Tools->Computer Management->Disk Management

If it does, you should be able to assign a drive letter to it here. I don't follow why you would need to use a special program to recover data from the disk... It should still be there.

I need to compare two folders and delete from the first folder everything that also exists in the second folder. I can't find a flag in rsync for doing this it's not really what it's for. Any ideas anyone?

cd to second folder
find . -printf "rm -i /firstfolder/%P\n"

pipe this to a file then run the file (can do this in one go but i always check the output just in case). will delete everything in first folder that has the same name as that in the second folder

will give you a list of common(ly named) files

in any case, i would recommend getting into the bios settings at bootup and see if the computer sees the drive on that level, before even getting into windows

also are the jumpers on the drives set correctly for their positions on the ide channels? (is the slave drive set to slave or auto)

1) write the list of commands in a file
2) put this at the top:

#!/bin/bash

or, more generically, "#!" followed by the path to the shell you want to use.

(-d stops rsync recursing)

xpost

> How do I turn a list of commands into a shell script?

you don't need to, really. just

sh file_full_of_commands

btw chmod +x file_full_of_commands makes it executable

does the copying with no intermediate file.
the {} token in rsync command will expand to the found directory.

I lost the data by converting the disk from Dynamic to Basic - I had it all backed up though so no problem. Have assigned a letter to it and will be using it purely for sharing media. Thanks to Caitlin and Keef for the help here.

Any ideas?

Unplug the mouse, login and plug it in again.

No PS/2, tried unplugging it but Cursor remains frozen in middle of screen.

I have also had to relearn the harsh lesson that the solution to almost all windows problems is to reinstall the OS.

can I chain my ipod through the back of the lacie via the second firewire port?

As for the exclamation marks, what you need to do is "touch" all the songs in the library so that iTunes checks them out. There's an applescript to do it, but I can't find it from work. I'm sure I've got it at home, so give me a yell if you need it. What might also work is "consolidate library" from the Advanced menu, even though it has nothing to actually move.

If all that fails, select all the songs in the library (Apple-A) then get info (Apple-I). Put "Stet is topp" or something in the comment box, and click OK. Then wait. And wait. It'll go through each track in the lib, and should hopefully sort it out.

(do yours or Mark's computer have networking? If all else fails, you can connect two computers together using a "null modem" cable and make a copy of your files that way. A null modem cable plugs into the serial port of each computer and should only get a few quid; but check what connectors your computers have before you get one, because serial port connectors can be either 9-pin or 25-pin.)

I've got most of the important stuff (eg latest thesis draft) backed up via emailed copies, although at this point I know there are misc. documents still on there that I refer to maybe once a month and haven't backed up, also lots of photos, and I should really transfer everything if possible. Fingers crossed it will turn on again long enough to transfer everything. It will pain me to lose photoshop though. (The CD for it is somewhere in storage in the US.)

Follow the guide from microsoft and get your files over ASAP and then stop creating new files on your laptop.

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;304040

The hardisk will die at some point in the future, so you will need to buy and fit/have fitted a replacement hdd, if I was doing this I would buy a new disk now and using adapters on a standard PC ghost (make an exact copy, using Norton Ghost) your old drive onto the new one while it was still working this would be seamless, you may find a computer shop willing to do this for you. If not you'll need to resinstall Windows and all your applications onto your new HDD.

Pash, pour water on it.