Data Recovery for Samsung Hard Drives

Samsung offers a wide range of internal and external hard drives that have an excellent performance record. Despite this, occasionally drives do fail and when they do you'll need a data recovery specialist to help retrieve your important information.

Data recovery is the process of salvaging data from a corrupted hard disc. The most common data recovery situation occurs due to operating system failure, but there are many other reasons why your hard drive could potentially fail.

If your hard drive stops working or begins to function erratically, it could be due to one of the following problems:

Physical damage: This can occur from impact (i.e. if the drive is dropped), or from other physical problems such as excess moisture, general wear and tear, or mechanical failure. These types of problems cannot be fixed by the average computer user. You'll need to send your computer to a data recovery specialist who has the facilities and knowledge to repair your hard drive sufficiently to be able to retrieve your data.

Logical or software damage: This type of damage can often be recovered by using data recovery software. There are a number of data recovery software programs available that can help you retrieve your data. You may also wish to contact a data recovery specialist for logical hard disc problems to give you a better chance at success. One of the problems with do it yourself recovery is that the more you use your hard drive, the more likely your key data will be overwritten and lost forever.

Signs of Impending Hard Drive Failure

When a hard drive fails, often you will get some subtle and some not so subtle signs that a failure is imminent. Some of the signs include:

1. Your computer freezes often. In this instance, nothing works and you have to restart your computer to get it to boot properly.

2. You start to notice that some of your files unexpectedly go missing.

3. Your computer frequently locks up during the booting process. This happens to all computers occasionally, but if it becomes a regular pattern, it may be a sign that your drive is heading towards a failure.

4. It takes an extremely long time to access your files. Saving or opening files suddenly starts to take forever.

Signs of Hard Drive Failure

1. Strange clicking or grinding noises coming from your drive. This is often a sign that the read/write heads are no longer working properly.

2. The "Blue Screen of Death", also called stop error screen. Your computer screen turns blue and lists a long series of error messages on the screen.
3. A "disk not found" error message when you try to boot the computer.

What to do if your Samsung hard drive fails

With Samsung, any attempt to dismantle your hard drive will void your warranty, and in any case, the vast majority of computer users will be unable to repair a drive and recover lost data.

The first thing you should do is to power down your computer. The more you use your computer, the more likely it is that your data will be overwritten and lost forever. To pack up your hard drive to send out for repair you should:

1. Carefully remove the drive from your computer.

2. Place the hard drive in its original packaging, a freezer bag will do if necessary.

3. Pack the hard drive in its original box, or another box of similar size. The box should be at least twice the size of the hard disc to leave room for sufficient packing materials.

4. Make sure you use enough bubble wrap to properly protect the drive.

5. Send the drive to a data recovery specialist, making sure that you have purchased sufficient insurance on the package in case it is damaged.

6. Include as many relevant details as possible, including your contact information, the make and model of your drive, the type of problem you're encountering and the data (specific files, email etc.) you would like to recover.

7. Once the drive has been shipped, call or email the data recovery company with the tracking information so that they can be prepared to receive it and let you know if there are any delays in the shipping process.

Repairing Samsung 153V LCD Monitor With Dim Display Problem

One of the common problems in Samsung 153v LCD Monitor was display dim. If you get closer to the screen and begin to observe the display under dark environment you actually could see the display but it was very dim. If you press the front panel button, the on screen display (OSD) would appeared and this proof that the main board, driver board and LCD panel is working and the problem is in the inverter board. The function of inverter board is to generate an ac wave from dc voltage to power up the lamps which was located at the top and bottom of the LCD Monitor. If the inverter board has problems it would not light up the lamps and what you could see only a dim display.

I still could recall when I first encountered such problems long time ago and because of lack of information, I could not solve it. I did call up my repair friends to asked about the solution but no one able to give me an answer. Even if you surf the internet for "Samsung 153V LCD Monitor dim display repair", you would not find it. Due to this I have to do my own research to find the answer and I've never give up. Winston Churchill once said "Never, never, never give up". I'm releasing the solution only to my loyal members or subscribers only-thanks for your support.

Let's start now! Once the cover and the internal aluminum casing were opened I saw two bulged filter capacitors at the secondary side of switch mode power supply. The value was 470 and 1000 microfarad 25 volts. I saw four more electrolytic capacitors located at the inverter board have changed color and the value was 47 micro farad 25 volts. Browsing through the whole board with my ESR meter I found another capacitor faulty (220 uf 25 volts) which was near the fuse (3amp). Since this capacitor was located at the same line with the fuse, I presumed that the fuse may give way as well. True enough, checking the fuse with an ohmmeter revealed that it has open circuit.

Now, the real problem faced by many electronic repairers who deals with this model was, after replacing all of the components above the LCD Monitor still would not work-it's still dim! First you have to ask yourself why the fuse blown? Could it be caused by the defective capacitors or something shorted beyond the fuse line? The nearest circuit to the fuse was the start circuit that consisted of a pair of NPN and PNP digital transistor (4k7 +4k7 resistor built into the transistor). Some other LCD monitor designed used the combination of C945 and A733 in start circuit. By the way the part number for Samsung 153V start circuit transistors were the A6J (PNP digital transistor) and the A8J (NPN digital transistor) as shown in the picture.

Sometimes only these transistors have problems (shorted) that caused the fuse to blow but in the above case both digital transistors are tested okay. Since both transistors were working, now the concentration have to be in the four ic's that drive the high voltage transformers because the 12 volts voltage was supplying to each of these ic's. These 4 ic's have many part numbers and the most common one that the manufacturer used was 4532m. Some board used the AD4E10 and BBD3N13 part number. At the moment it is quite hard to get the datasheet or technical specification for this number even from the web search.

Do you know what is inside these IC's? It is actually a pair of P-channel and a N-channel mosfet built into it. And do you know that it can be test with a meter? Yes, if you use the Peak atlas component analyzer, it would prompt to you the result. From the result what you get are N channel FET located at pin 1 (source), pin 2 (gate), pin 7 & 8 (drain and both pins joint together internally). As for P channel FET, pin 3 (source), pin 4 (gate) and pin 5 & 6 (drain and both pins joint internally). From the above test I found two of these ic's have shorted. Replacing these two shorted IC with the capacitors and fuse put the LCD Monitor back to life!

One more thing I would like to share on this model was that the inverter PWM IC BIT1305 was quite robust and rarely gave problem.

Samsung Troubleshooting for LCDs

If you are here then you have probably run into a problem with your Samsung LCD TV. We all know how expensive LCD TVs have become over the years and nobody remembers to buy the insurance plan that comes with the TV. You figure you spend that much money on a TV it should last forever. Well sorry to tell you but that is not the case. Electronics break everyday and manufactures charge you an arm and leg to fix the simplest things. What can you do to fix the problem?

You can troubleshoot your LCD TV yourself and fix anything that is wrong with it. Most malfunctions are simple to fix all you need is the knowledge to do so. When you send your TV to those expensive repair shops the people that fix your TV do not have a clue on how to fix it. The technicians use a secret technique.

They read a simple manual that gives them step by step instructions on how to fix your television. All they do is follow the pictures and repair your TV and charge you almost as much as the TV originally cost you to begin with.

Now why would you pay anybody to fix your expensive TV when you can do it yourself with the right guide that will explain everything to you?

Big manufacturing companies would lose money if they gave you information on how to fix and troubleshoot your own TV. The electronic repair business is big business to major companies. Some companies even go to the existent to install small faulty parts that the common person does not know how to fix.

While learning how to fix your on TV, with the right techniques, you could be on your way to fixing Samsung televisions everywhere. You could even start your own business in the lucrative LCD TV repair industry.

Samsung 713N LCD Repair with SE7889-Lf ic Problem

This Samsung 713N LCD monitor came in with no display symptom and no power. In other words, once you switched 'on' you could see the power LED lights up (no display) and then for couples of seconds the power led light goes off. When I removed the signal cable and switched 'on', now I could see the check signal cable OSD appeared at the screen. This proved that the inverter board, lamp and power supply is working. Again, I plugged in the signal cable, the display and power LED light went off.

After opened up the cover, I check the on/off signal from the mainboard to the inverter board. With signal cable in, there was no on/off signal to the inverter board but when the signal cable was disconnected, you could see clearly from your meter there is a on/off signal going into the inverter board thus the display appeared with the check signal OSD present at the display. From this test, it is very obvious is the main board problem.

To confirm whether is the main board problem, you have to use a similar Samsung 713N model to confirm it. True enough, after substitution with a known good board, the monitor is okay. So now we can confirm is the mainboard faulty. The real problem now is at where we can find this board or the suspected part number SE7889-LF ic for replacement? Checking the components surrounding the SE7889 ic yield no result.

As mentioned in previous articles, to troubleshoot LCD monitor is easy but to get the part is a little bit difficult. Samsung don't sell you the mainboard, if you send to them for repair, they will charge a very high price which is not worth to repair.

As I'm writing this article, I still could not locate the suspected ic, but if I found it I will let you all know. Samsung 510bn lcd monitor also have this kind of problem which is the mainboard spoilt.

Although in this article I could not pinpoint to you the exact faulty component, at least you would use my procedure to confirm which board is giving problem. In other words, whether you are troubleshooting the Samsung 713N LCD monitor or other brand, the testing method is the same.

Cheap Tablets: A Powerful Tool for Today

Tablets are a great tool that enhances the online experience and increases productivity, not only in respect to business, but in regard to life as a whole. It's smaller than a laptop, but larger than a Smartphone. The tablet is just right size, so you can keep them with you whenever you are. You can look a the internet, complete business tasks, video chat with clients, and check your email. You can also download games, books, and videos, and you can enjoy movies, share photos and much more on your personal tablet.

Now, it's time to decide which tablet is best for you. Before you buy one, you first need to figure out what you'll be using your tablet for. This is how you can figure out which tablet will be best for your own needs. Here, we look at some of the key areas you'll want to think about. You can easily compare the features of different tablets by looking at the information pages of certain tablet on the internet.

There are amazing tablets available in the market that are breathtaking and offer professional grade performance. If your budget allows you to be able to splurge a little bit, then you can try for products from BlackBerry, Toshiba, Acer, Samsung, and Amazon. But, if your budget is smaller, you'll still be able to find a plethora of cheap tablets.

Leader International launches cheap 4.0 tablets. There will be a dual launch of their company during the first part of the year. The Impression 10A tablet has a display of 9.7", 1024 x 768 pixels, and has a dual core processor of NVIDIA Tegra 2. The price of the tablet is $299, at the same time, the Impression 7A possesses 7", 1024 x 600 pixel demonstration and a processor of 1 GHz. This spec will sell for $179. Both tablets are featured with Adobe Flash Player and 10.3 Android. They both have the display of a capacitive touchscreen.

It's not that you wouldn't find most of these features in a tablet that price less than $400. But Google has freed the source-code for Android 4.0 that permits tablet and phone manufacturers to put the system on operating systems of all kinds of devices. NVIDIA is also proceeding with its next-generation Tegra3 quad-core processor, so it can be inferred that Tegra 2 might be cheaper for the device builders.

When the Android and iPad tablets begun striking the streets, a number of people started to weigh it against other net books. After all, they were both reasonably priced manageable devices that you could utilize to surf the web or carry out other active jobs. But present day tablets are in fact a completely innovative device that's hard to evaluate with the other predecessors. Before there were also PC tablets, but they were luxurious, influential, and had fantastic battery time.

You might like to buy the following cheap tablets: Samsung Series 9 Ultra look with 1080 p display, HP Envy X2 Windows 8 Hybrid tablet. It is wise to get the latest updates about the availability of latest cheap tablets by internet surfing.

Tips to Buy Cheap Tablet PCs

The advancement in technology along with competition among manufactures has ensured that there are many cheap tablet models available for consumers. In the past few years the tablet computer market has come a long way and you may be able to find all brands offering cheaper variants of their products.

Customers prefer getting the best products at cheap prices and you may be surprised to know the amount of money you may be able to save when you compare and choose the tablet you want to buy. Most of us tend to have a misconception that cheap means bad quality products but the fact is that you may be able to get good quality products at reasonable prices.

Top tips to buy cheap tablets

• When choosing to buy cheap tablets you need to determine its use. Do you intend to use it for personal or professional purposes? The features that you may want may vary depending on your choice of use. The cost may vary depending on the features you want. If you opt for the basic features the cost may be low. However if you opt for the premium features the cost may go up significantly.

• The operating system that you choose is also important and you need to make the choice depending on the work you want to do. Android, iOS and Windows are the popular operating systems and they can be found on different tablets depending on the brand you choose. You need to understand that each of these operating systems have their own unique features and it is best to make the choice depending on your individual preference.

• After you have decided on the operating system it is best to look at the many features available. Compare features like battery life, storage space, Wi-Fi connectivity, processing speed, camera and other similar features. Choose those features that you may use instead of choosing many premium features that you may never use.

• The size and appearance of the tablet is also important. Depending on whether you want a large or small screen, you can make the choice. If you want to use it regularly for work or other activities, it is best to choose those that are light so that you may be able to work with it comfortably.

As there are different manufactures offering tablets with unique features at cheap prices, choosing the best one may not be as easy as you think. You need to ensure that the one you choose meets your specific needs and requirements so that you are able to utilize it in the best possible way. The prices may vary depending on the type of operating system and features you want.

The competition among tablet manufacturers has ensured that there are different models available depending on your budget. So irrespective of what your budget is you have one available for you. Gain knowledge about the different models available and compare their features and prices so that you are able to buy cheap tablet as per your choice.

Cheap Phones Master Class, 8 Common Questions and How to Answer Them

There really is no reason to overspend on a cell phone. People love great deals and in today's advanced internet age, they no longer need to feel locked down to a limited resource of cell phone inventory. Hence, those looking to sell such phones venture to eBay where sellers can connect with all those customers looking for great deals.

If you are an online seller, you do need to protect your reputation because you will be facing a lot of competition.

Sellers need to be primarily concerned with maintaining a high DSR (Detailed Seller Rating) since this is what will display previous customers' dealings with you.

A weak DSR will make consumers less likely to buy from you. It is as simple as that. As such, you need to put a lot of emphasis of pleasing customers with good customer service.

This will boost your reputation and improve your DSR ratings. How can good customer service be achieved?

Promptly shipping items, for example, would be one of the best ways to keep customers happy.

And, of course, only dealing with high quality merchandise is advised since this will reduce a great many complaints or unsatisfied customers.

You will also need to be ready to handle customer inquiries about cheap phones.

This can work wonders towards improving perceptions of your business as a solid company to purchase from.

What are some of these common questions and how can you find the answer? Here is a brief list:

Question 1: Will this cheap phone work with my..... phone number?

Solution: This problem is usually caused by the frequencies the phone operates on and requires a little foresight on your part.

Ask the customer to provide the specific name of the network and the plan and then Google the name of that network with the term 'frequency' (for example AT&T frequency) call the network and provide them with the model number of the phone. This will deliver the answer almost immediately.

Question 2: Will the TV function work in....?

Answer: This depends on the region the buyer is from and the phone in question. First go back to the cheap mobile phone's product description and see whether it is an analog signal receiver, or whether it works on DVB-T, ATSC or ISDB-T.

Then Google the frequency of the television signal in the potential cheap mobiles customers' range. This will reveal the answer.

Question 3: Can I put iPhone Apps on this phone?

Answer: If it's not an iPhone then the answer will be no. iPhone Apps run on the iOS operating system, just like Android Apps run on Android and Window APs run on Windows Mobile. However there are a large number of Java apps out there that have a good chance of working on all cheap mobiles which usually run on the Nucleus RTOS

Question 4: Will this come with minutes/which contract will this work with?

Answer: No, it probably will not come with minutes but you can use it with any network. If the phone you are listing is a cheap China mobile then there is a good chance it comes unlocked and the customer will have to supply their own SIM.

This can really be sold as a feature of the phone as it allows the customer to choose who they give their money to and doesn't lock them into a contract with one phone provider.

Question 5; Does the phone have wifi?

Answer: The answer to this - like most answers - will be found on the phone's instruction manual or in an online version of the manual found at the manufacturer's website.

Question 6; How can I put my own ringtones on the phone?

Answer: Providing that you have your own ringtones then these are the steps you have to follow.

The first step is to get it onto the phone, which is done by either connecting the phone to the computer with a USB cable or taking out the mini SD card or TF card, putting it into a reader then putting it into their computer.

Once that's done it should show up as an external drive and the customer should see a 'music' folder that they can put the ringtone in question into.

Once the files are on the phone they can be selected as ringtones by going to the 'profile' menu and selecting 'edit' or going to the 'settings' menu and selecting ringtone settings.

Question 6: How do I put files onto the phone?

Answer: Either connect the phone to the computer with a USB cable or taking out the mini SD card or TF card, putting it into a reader then putting it into their computer.

Once that's done it should show up as an external drive

Question 7: How can I change the ringtone?

Answer: Go to the 'profile' menu and selecting 'edit' or going to the 'settings' menu and selecting ringtone settings.

Question 8: How do I make the battery last longer?

Answer: You will want to take care of it as best as possible. One of the easiest ways to ruin a battery would be to expose it to moisture or extremes in temperature.

Also, using the battery too frequently can degrade it. That means you may wish to keep the phone plugged into a wall socket whenever possible. And always keep the phone stored in a safe place - preferably an approved case.

Another way to keep phones running for longer is to reduce the drain on the battery. Some ways to do that include

* Reducing the time the screen is on with the sleep function
* Switching off the Bluetooth when it is not in use
* Switching off the WiFi function when it is not being used
* Turning down the overall screen brightness

Answering such questions effectively will help your ratings.

It is also advised to look over the listings of other sellers and see what positive and negative things customers are saying about them.

This will go a long way towards boosting your ability to arrive at the right conclusions as to how to cell your phone via eBay and provide tremendous customer service while doing it.