Category Archives: Uncategorized

Data Recovery on Mac

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After Apples release of Yosemite  we have seen several of the software upgrades go bad. The users files structure can get deleted by the upgrade and the files are not longer accessible. This is a panic situation that the apple Genius are telling the users that it was not Apples Fault but a coincident that it happen when they upgraded.

This problem places the user in a difficult situation. Since Apple Genius said try buying DataRecovery 4 software or they can lose all there data or in a very special case pay dearly to the tune of 1000 or so for a data recovery service. One such student approached the Student Help desk asked what we might be able to do since they are not ready for a thousand dollar bill with no recourse if it does not work.

As I thought about this problem I did a little research on various data recovery software using apple recommendation but the cost was prohibitive for our meager budget. I then went to CNET a reliable industry source I used for years and in the middle  of listings for mac recovery software was a trial version of “Amazing Mac Any Data Recovery” software.. hmmm.. Amazing

I selected it after reading  that It had a unique feature that it would allow up to twenty files to be recovered before buying. While the hard drive would not mount to the iMac I was using, the software was able to use the USB to SATA Adapter to read the Hard drive this was a good sign. This started looking like it had a chance so I ran the software and and it was able to read the drive. Next with the user, we selected a group of 20 documents and had the software recovered them. I was impressed that the files were recovered and in  the proper format fully usable with any editing ( note the original names did comeback).

The client was impressed and wanted to see if we could get any more beyond the original twenty files. Well since that was not possible they decided to purchase the software for 49 dollars..
Overnight the software ran with a total of something in the range for 270, 000 files recovered. The success of this is the recovery pulled out the Senior thesis ,  important the pathway documents necessary for graduation and several hundred more essential documents..

So in the end I recommend this software as an alternate to the 1000 dollars you might have to pay for recovery service. “Amazing Mac Any Data Recovery” with a funny

 

 

Chromecast not supported on our network, no plans to support it

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We heard from SCU Network Engineer Wilfredo Hernandez about support for Chromecast on our network: “Chromecast depends on uPNP and multicast features that we currently restrict on wireless for security and performance reasons. There are currently no plans to implement support for Chromecast, but we are aware that it is becoming a more popular streaming device for our campus users.”

iOS 8

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As many of you know iOS 8 was recently released this past week. With its release came many new features and capabilities. Although the look and feel of iOS 8 is very similar to that of iOS 7, it has many tricks up it’s sleeve.

**Another thing to note is that iOS 8 is very resource intensive and should not be installed on an iPhone 4S. When put on the 4S it can cause performance issues due to a lack of RAM and processor speed.

The first and most important new feature of iOS 8 has to do with privacy. No longer does a user have to fret over the idea of Apple handing over your data or information to the government. Even in the presence of a search warrant it will not be possible for Apple to hand over any information that is stored on the device. With the newest version of the software the company is no longer able to bypass a clients passcode making it impossible to retrieve data on the device. Any data or information stored in iCloud is still available to Apple.

Beyond this major privacy feature there are a number of small features that make up the updates to iOS 7.

These features are:

1. Ability to install 3rd party keyboards.

2. Ability to see which apps are using your battery

3. Can shoot timelapse video

4. Exit group chats. ( Can now leave group chats by choice)

5. Track your health

6. Set timed Photos

7. Answer calls on an Ipad. (Using OS X Yosemite)

8. Edit Notification Center

This is just a small number of the many features that have been added into iOS 8.

 

Sorting Gmail Inbox by Size

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Of all the weird functionality that has been left out by Google in the current version of Gmail, this one struck me as very funny. For some reason, Google didn’t think to implement any way for you to easily sort your entire inbox by size. Sadly, the amount of space that you can store in your Gmail inbox is limited – SCU student accounts only get 30 gigabytes total. This means that when you’re about to run out of data due to a relatively small number of large emails, Google hasn’t implemented an easy way for you to solve this problem.

Luckily, there are a few options that have been added by some great people to help solve this issue.

The first, less functional solution has recently been added by Google to filter emails that are above a certain size (although this method doesn’t allow you to see the actual size of each email, so it isn’t all that helpful right up front). In order to filter your Gmail inbox messages and see only those messages above a certain size, simply type size:#m into the search box at the top of the window – replacing ‘#’ by the number of megabytes you want to set as the low-end cap on your filter. For example, size:5m will show you all of your messages that are over five megabytes in size.

For a complete list of Gmail filter commands, see:

https://support.google.com/mail/answer/7190?hl=en

Luckily there is another method to filter your Gmail inbox by size which creates a list of all large (over one megabyte) emails that you currently have. This fantastic method involves a quick script that scans your inbox and imports information about all large emails into a spreadsheet that is stored on your own Google docs, making it safe and easy to use.

Detailed information on this method can be found at:

http://www.labnol.org/internet/sort-gmail-by-size/21191/

Basically, copy this formatted spreadsheet into your docs by following this link:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Aofk8L6brI_edDJMeXBoRTNTdzA4RVE4MzUtTlV0cmc&newcopy=true

Then in the menu tabs across the top of the page, click on ‘Gmail(click here)’ and press ‘Reset Canvas’. Wait a moment for the canvas to reset and then you will recieve a popup asking for authorization to access your inbox. Hit accept, since this is simply YOUR Google Docs asking to read YOUR Gmail information with no information from either getting into anyone else’s hands. Finally, choose ‘Scan Mailbox’ from the same ‘Gmail(click here)’ menu and, after a brief pause, all of your large emails will appear in the spreadsheet displaying sizes and other information! The last step is to click on the letter D above the column labeled ‘Size (in MB)’ and choose ‘Sort Z -> A’ which will sort your emails largest to smallest and allow you to follow a link back to those emails rather than searching through your inbox for them.

New Deal for Microsoft Word

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Microsoft HUP is no more, but fear not! Although it’s no longer a ten dollar steal, CollegeBuys still offers a nice forty dollar deal on Microsoft Office at the following link:

http://www.foundationccc.org/CollegeBuys/ForStudents/tabid/468/Default.aspx

It is important to remember that when purchasing Microsoft Office through this site, after choosing your school and getting through the initial forms, you have to make sure that you use an SCU email address for the link to be sent to so that it will work for sure.

At this time, this is the best deal that we can get for students, faculty and staff. A ‘dot’ edu email address is required for this to work, so if you are talking to visitors or guests about this, just tell them that all they need is an @(someschool).edu address.

 

SmartPrint Revamp Tips

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One issue IT Student Services will be facing for the coming school year is transitioning students, faculty, and guests to our revamped SmartPrint system. Here are some tips for solving common problems people have had so far. This should also serve to bring those of us who are away for the summer up to speed.

For personal computers, new printing drivers must be installed via it.scu.edu/SmartPrint.

When printing, you choose either BW or Color for a print destination. You can pick up your documents at any printer of the corresponding type connected to our network.

For Macs, the new SmartPrint drivers require OS 10.7 to install. If he or she does not want to upgrade, visit it.scu.edu/connect/smartprint-mac-os-x-manual-install-instructions or search the IT website for OS X Manual Install to set up printing on 10.6 or earlier.

For a quick fix, one may use sp2.scu.edu/MyPrintCenter/ to upload documents and print from the web.

Non-students/faculty must create a guest account using the My Print Center app on the guest machines or sp2.scu.edu/MyPrintCenter/ and then log in to that account at a printer monitor.

The SmartPrint system does not work on computers connected to Wi-Fi networks other than BroncoWiFi. If students or faculty are having issues with the popup prompt not appearing, make sure they are properly connected to BroncoWifi with SafeConnect and anti-virus.

Good luck!

Mobile Printing

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How to use MobilePrinting

 

  • submit print jobs from mobile devices (smartphones, iPad, tablets, laptops)  via email
  • submit print jobs without installing any print drivers
  • release mobile print jobs at any SmartPrint printer

If your mobile device (or computer) can send email, you can send print jobs to SmartPrint!

Note: Print jobs remain in the Print Pools for 2 hours. If they are not released within that timeframe, they will be removed from the Print Pool.

Compatible Files Types

MobilePrint will accept the following compatible file types:

  • PDF file
  • Microsoft Word file (.doc, .docx, .dot)
  • Microsoft Excel file (.xls, .xlt, .xlsx, .xltx, .xlsm, .xltm)
  • Microsoft PowerPoint file (.ppt, .pptx, .pptm, .pot, .pps, .potx, .ppsx)
  • Microsoft Visio file (.vsd, .vss, .vst, .vdx, .vsx, .vtx, .vdw)
  • Microsoft Outlook file (.msg, .eml)
  • Open Office document (.odt, .ods, .ott, .odp, .odg, .odf)  *tested with OpenOffice 4.0 only
  • image file (.bmp, .jpg, .gif, .tif, .png)
  • Rich Text File (.rtf)
  • Plain Text file (.txt, .csv, .ini, .cfg)

Send EMail to MobilePrint

To submit a print job through MobilePrint, simply compose an email to the address:

mobileprint@scu.edu

Attach files of compatible type to the email, send the email, and wait for an email response from MobilePrint.  If your email has a message body, the message body will be submitted as a separate print job.  If you just want to print an email message, simply forward the email message to mobileprint@scu.edu

MobilePrint EMail Responses

After emailing and submitting files to MobilePrint, the MobilePrint server will retrieve the email, process the email file attachments, and send  an email response with the status of your print job(s).  You should receive an email response from MobilePrint in one to two minutes.  You may receive one of the following responses:

  • Documents are ready for release  – Your files were submitted successfully.  You may go to a SmartPrint Release Station as usual, and swipe your ACCESS card. You should see your MobilePrint jobs on the display.  Select your print job(s) and print.
  • Documents were unable to be processed – You attached an incompatible file in your email.  MobilePrint did not know how to read the attached file and failed to submit it for printing.  Please refer to the MobilePrint compatible files on reverse of document.
  • Register your Non-SCU email address – MobilePrint/SmartPrint already knows your Santa Clara scu.edu email address.   If you submit files from your scu.edu email, there is no need to register your scu.edu email address.  However, if you use your personal, non-SCU email address to send files for printing, MobilePrint needs to register your personal email address and associated it with your SCU Network ID.   To register your personal email address, you must be on-campus using the SCU network.  Click on the “Click to register your email address” link in the email response.  This link will take you to the Print Center and ask you to login.  Enter your SCU Network ID (eg. JSmith) and password.  Once you login correctly, MobilePrint/SmartPrint will associate your personal email address with your SCU Network ID.  After registering your personal email address, you can send files for printing from either your scu.edu email account or your personal email account.  You should get another email response from MobilePrint saying your documents are ready for release.

If you are a Guest

Click on the My Print Center icon on the desk top, or open a web browser and go to the site:

it.scu.edu/guestprint

Click on “I am a guest.” Fill out your account information; first and last name, email address you wish to use, and new password for your guest account. Note: your email address will be your account Username.  Click the create button. You will now log in with your new account and proceed to print your document.

*If you already registered your guest email, you will not have to

re-register your email, just log on at it.scu.edu/guestprint