The Advice Thread

[chasfh]

10 hours ago, oblong said:

Yes that's correct.  I don't remember installing Google Photos, I guess it just is part of their suite now because I had the gmail account.  All my photos are there.  If I delete a photo from the Google Photos app, it deletes it from my photos library on my iphone and thus my icloud library too.  I just went in now and the message, in Google PHotos, when I delete a photo says "This photo will be deleted from icloud photos on all your devices.  It will be in recently deleted for 30 days".

It's not a business connection but just an extortion racket to get me to pay Google for what I am already paying Apple for.

Do a search on it on the interwebs and you'll see lots of people talking about it.  Google has cloned the iCloud in terms of photos and you can't get around it.

Amazon has a photos app too and it does the same in terms of syncing but I can delete from Amazon Photos without worrying about it being deleted off iCloud.

 

So much for "don't be evil". 😕

[gehringer_2]

7 minutes ago, chasfh said:

So much for "don't be evil". 😕

Jeez. I hate all them all  trying to tell me how to manage my files. I have my files, I have my filespaces in various places, I have sync software that puts what I want where I want it. It anybody messes with that it's the end of the business relationship. 

The other day I started up Windows backup just to see if anything was different in 24H2 and it started writing files to one-drive before it ever gave me a chance to configure what I might have wanted (end the end - zero). They can all go pound sand.

Edited December 14, 2024 by gehringer_2

[oblong]

2 hours ago, gehringer_2 said:

Jeez. I hate all them all  trying to tell me how to manage my files. I have my files, I have my filespaces in various places, I have sync software that puts what I want where I want it. It anybody messes with that it's the end of the business relationship. 

The other day I started up Windows backup just to see if anything was different in 24H2 and it started writing files to one-drive before it ever gave me a chance to configure what I might have wanted (end the end - zero). They can all go pound sand.

 I noticed about 18 months ago at work that anything in documents or the desktop automatically went to OneDrive. These are company laptops.  It took me about 2 days to figure it out.  A piece of software I had quit working. It’s because the config path changed.  There needs to be two modes. “Let me decide, I know what I am doing” and “ok you do it.  I will just click icons”

[gehringer_2]

8 hours ago, oblong said:

 I noticed about 18 months ago at work that anything in documents or the desktop automatically went to OneDrive. These are company laptops.  It took me about 2 days to figure it out.  A piece of software I had quit working. It’s because the config path changed.  There needs to be two modes. “Let me decide, I know what I am doing” and “ok you do it.  I will just click icons”

Right. Speaking of MS, they have some up with another new one that  also really frosts me. At some point since the release of W11 they made Bitlocker the standard install. That's not that hard to turn off but bitlocker uses the little 16M hidden partition that MS used to install on any windows system drive. But now that bitlocker is standard, the windows disk manager will write the 16M hidden partition to every drive it thinks is empty  - again, on start up of the disk manager and without ever asking. The problem is DM is too stupid to recognize some linux disk arrays and so corrupts them willy-nilly. So the work around is you can never start DM if you have a dual boot box, if you need to change the drive letter on a disk you have to use Diskpart from the command line. Unacceptable.

Edited December 14, 2024 by gehringer_2

[Motor City Sonics]

I had a hard drive die on me. I can feel it power up but it does not get recognized. Does anyone know a place that does Data Recovery without charging an arm and a leg?

[gehringer_2]

1 hour ago, Motor City Sonics said:

I had a hard drive die on me. I can feel it power up but it does not get recognized. Does anyone know a place that does Data Recovery without charging an arm and a leg?

My nephew used to work for these guys and he knew what he was doing, now that he's gone on to bigger and better things  I couldn't say.....

https://www.bestbuy.com/site/geek-squad/geek-squad-data-recovery/pcmcat748300502324.c?id=pcmcat748300502324

When you say does not get recognized do you mean it's offering to format it because it doesn't see anything on it, or it doesn't even assign a drive letter (assuming windows here.....) or if Mac doesn't mount it?

Edited December 22, 2024 by gehringer_2

[Deleterious]

First thing to do.  Figure out what you are doing to kill drives.  I have built computers for 30+ years.  I have 4 running in my office 24/7 and have never had drive issues.

Current issues, check your connectors.  

Try this if it isn't the connectors.   Looks like they have a free and paid version.  

https://www.cleverfiles.com/data-recovery-software.html

[gehringer_2]

1 hour ago, Deleterious said:

I have built computers for 30+ years.  I have 4 running in my office 24/7 and have never had drive issues.

Back in the day when laptops had spinning rust I had a number of 2.5" laptop drives give up the ghost - rough handling usually, but agree I've don't think I've ever had a drive die in a desktop. Then again, if you are like me when you build your own you don't use low quality drives! There are plenty of them out there in OEM stuff.

Edited December 23, 2024 by gehringer_2

[Motor City Sonics]

3 hours ago, Deleterious said:

First thing to do.  Figure out what you are doing to kill drives.  I have built computers for 30+ years.  I have 4 running in my office 24/7 and have never had drive issues.

Current issues, check your connectors.  

Try this if it isn't the connectors.   Looks like they have a free and paid version.  

https://www.cleverfiles.com/data-recovery-software.html

I should clarify that it's an external and I may have dropped it because it sounds like something is loose.  I don't remember dropping it, however.     We had a power outage at one point when I was at work because my oven and microwave clocks were off by several hours and it's possible when the power kicked back on something happened to it.  

[Motor City Sonics]

6 hours ago, gehringer_2 said:

My nephew used to work for these guys and he knew what he was doing, now that he's gone on to bigger and better things  I couldn't say.....

https://www.bestbuy.com/site/geek-squad/geek-squad-data-recovery/pcmcat748300502324.c?id=pcmcat748300502324

When you say does not get recognized do you mean it's offering to format it because it doesn't see anything on it, or it doesn't even assign a drive letter (assuming windows here.....) or if Mac doesn't mount it?

Many years ago (about 2006 or so) I got a credit card from Best Buy.   Within a day of it being issued someone had used it to charge over $1500 of merch at several stores in the Novi area.  I hadn't even received my physical card yet.    A second card was issued (without my approval) and the name on the card was someone with my mother's maiden name.  There was no address attached to that second card.   So, I think I was safe in assuming that someone who worked for Best Buy saw my application and saw my mother's maiden name and used the card number that had been issued.  I brought this to their attention and they didn't really care.   I have never shopped at Best Buy since.  Had to be one of their employees for it to be done so quickly.  

[gehringer_2]

55 minutes ago, Motor City Sonics said:

I should clarify that it's an external and I may have dropped it because it sounds like something is loose.  I don't remember dropping it, however.     We had a power outage at one point when I was at work because my oven and microwave clocks were off by several hours and it's possible when the power kicked back on something happened to it.  

well, there is almost no way something inside the actual harddrive could possibly be rattling short of being run over by a truck. OTOH, something in the housing certainly could be broken, and possible something that holds the interface card on the drive. Many external USB drives have a pretty ordinary SATA harddrive inside them with normal SATA connectors, and a little PCB board plugs into the SATA interface and carries the USB/SATA interface and the USB connector that mounts in the housing. If something is rattling and the drive doesn't read, you might be lucky enough to have just broken the interface. You might be able to open up the housing, remove the drive and plug it into a SATA port of some other computer (or put it in a new $10 on ebay SATA/USB case) and be good to go or maybe just reconnect it properly to the exiting interface. Or not  - depending on what you find when you open the box - if you care to try. There is no guarantee it's going to be a free standing SATA drive inside A little research on the model of the drive might tell you.

Edited December 23, 2024 by gehringer_2

[Deleterious]

Americans need to embrace the bidet. We bought one during COVID and it's over of the best purchases we ever made.

[CMRivdogs]

8 minutes ago, Deleterious said:

Americans need to embrace the bidet. We bought one during COVID and it's over of the best purchases we ever made.

Is yours heated. We've been considering, just don't want to reroute an electric line.

Also, do you have a brand recommendation

 

Edited January 4 by CMRivdogs

[Deleterious]

Over= one 

[Deleterious]

1 minute ago, CMRivdogs said:

Is yours heated. We've been considering, just don't want to reroute an electric line.

No. Unfortunately, we completed a remodel a few years before buying one.

I admit heated would be nice. The one complaint is it can be pretty cold.

[Screwball]

Good as place as any I guess.

Anyone into 3D printing or 2D laser etching/cutting? Once can buy some neat stuff to do some neat things for not a lot of money.

[gehringer_2]

39 minutes ago, Screwball said:

Good as place as any I guess.

Anyone into 3D printing or 2D laser etching/cutting? Once can buy some neat stuff to do some neat things for not a lot of money.

I've done a fair amount of 3d printing - about to buy my 2nd gen printer. Haven't done any laser cutting though.

[Screwball]

8 minutes ago, gehringer_2 said:

I've done a fair amount of 3d printing - about to buy my 2nd gen printer. Haven't done any laser cutting though.

I almost bought one. Decided against it. Why buy one? Maybe make a little money? Maybe, maybe not. But it's fun stuff, and if it trips your trigger, why not?

I made some stuff and had a local guy print it. He has access to a print farm best I can tell, then violates copyright laws and sells trinkets for cash out of a local video game type shop. I don't care. I got my stuff.

I find it interesting they now sell these machines, which is what they are, for the prices they can sell them for. Another example would be drones. Technology brought to the retail world at an affordable price. That's a good thing.

[gehringer_2]

1 hour ago, Screwball said:

I almost bought one. Decided against it. Why buy one? Maybe make a little money? Maybe, maybe not. But it's fun stuff, and if it trips your trigger, why not?

I made some stuff and had a local guy print it. He has access to a print farm best I can tell, then violates copyright laws and sells trinkets for cash out of a local video game type shop. I don't care. I got my stuff.

I find it interesting they now sell these machines, which is what they are, for the prices they can sell them for. Another example would be drones. Technology brought to the retail world at an affordable price. That's a good thing.

the 'arty' (and some biomedical) stuff is done mostly with SLA(Stereolithograpy) printers. They achieve  better accuracy and stunning intricacy, but material choices are limited, and more expensive. They were initially a little pricey for hobbyists but have come down a long way. FDMs (Filament/Fused deposition modeling) are the workhorses, lot of materials available and with higher end machines that can handle the temps you can use higher performance materials to get reasonably well engineered mechanical parts. (nylon, ABS, polycarb, PEEK etc). And there is a bit of an art to designing parts for FDM since it's best to deposit material where you already have material, it's generally not optimal to just print out into space, though it can be done to some degree.

Edited January 5 by gehringer_2

[oblong]

On 1/4/2025 at 3:06 PM, Deleterious said:

Americans need to embrace the bidet. We bought one during COVID and it's over of the best purchases we ever made.

We went on vacation in 2021 and the condo had them. Before unpacking my suitcase I ordered the same model from Amazon. I got one just to make sure I could do it.  The. I ordered the rest.  I’ve convinced several friends since to get them.  I have no idea why they didn’t take off sooner here.  
It’s not just cosmetic.  They are healthier in terms of both the “ick” factor and for our shoulders and back as we age. My wife recommends for her patients who have shoulder surgeries.  
 

think about it.  You are changing a diaper.  You get **** on your wrist or arm. Would you just wipe it with a dry towel and carry on?  

[CMRivdogs]

18 minutes ago, oblong said:

We went on vacation in 2021 and the condo had them. Before unpacking my suitcase I ordered the same model from Amazon. I got one just to make sure I could do it.  The. I ordered the rest.  I’ve convinced several friends since to get them.  I have no idea why they didn’t take off sooner here.  
It’s not just cosmetic.  They are healthier in terms of both the “ick” factor and for our shoulders and back as we age. My wife recommends for her patients who have shoulder surgeries.  
 

think about it.  You are changing a diaper.  You get **** on your wrist or arm. Would you just wipe it with a dry towel and carry on?  

Just curious, what brand do you have. We've been discussing one for the master bath. Not interested in doing the required wiring for a heated one, I'll get used to the cold water

[Deleterious]

28 minutes ago, CMRivdogs said:

Just curious, what brand do you have. We've been discussing one for the master bath. Not interested in doing the required wiring for a heated one, I'll get used to the cold water

We have this Tushy (Single temp).  We had something different that was the entire seat, but we felt the seat wasn't very comfortable.  So we went back to the attachment type that sits under your seat.  

https://hellotushy.com/products/classic-affordable-bidet?variant=32135870939178

[oblong]

I bought a Biobidet elite 3.  That was in 2021 so I’m sure they have newer models.  It’s not heated. Pretty easy to install.  It’s an attachment to your existing seat. I recall having to buy a new seat because they give you these spacers to make the seat even with the toilet bowl edges as the bidet lifts it up an inch or so. Our existing seat wasn’t flat on the bottom so they wouldn’t fit.  That was the only complication.  I was able to do it myself and am not Mr Handy. 
 

I have bought travel bidets (like an accordion type device) from Tushy so I am sure their stuff is good.  I only went with my model because that’s what was in the condo in Florida. 

[Deleterious]

There is a big negative about using a bidet. You will hate life when you use another bathroom that doesn't have one.

[oblong]

50 minutes ago, Deleterious said:

There is a big negative about using a bidet. You will hate life when you use another bathroom that doesn't have one.

It’s one reason I never want to go back in the office.  
 

I am not exaggerating either. I count having to take a **** one major advantage of being at home vs in the office.  Normally I’d have to walk around to one of our 4 bathrooms on our floor to find an open stall.  That could be 5 minutes there and back. Then the time you spend wiping and cleaning up.  At home it’s could be over in less than 2 minutes.