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External hard drive internals.

A tip for those of you with broken or faulty external hard disks: Open them up and see if anything is salvageable!

If your external drive has stopped functioning, the chances are that either the disk has died OR the controller board has fried. It’s unlikely to be the case that they’re both bust, so you may be about to throw away a perfectly good disk or the basis of a hard disk “caddy”.

I recently managed to catch a Maxtor Personal Storage 3200 external drive just before it headed bin-wards. The owner said didn’t work and had already chucked out the power adapter. After pulling it apart, i discovered that the original 320gb disk contained within was dead but found, once i had a suitable power supply (taken from a monitor, if you’re interested), that the little controller board was fine.

So, a “broken” one of these…

Maxtor Personal Storage 3200

Became this…

Markstor Personal Storage

Like i said, ugly. But i now have an extra USB IDE hard disk caddy that cost me nothing but 15 minutes of my precious time.

How popular is the O2 Joggler?

Remember the O2 Joggler? It’s been many months since O2 advertised the thing and quite a while since i mentioned it, yet that post is by far the most popular on this blog and terms like “o2 joggler”, “joggler” and “joggler hack” still bring more visitors here from search engines than any other. This leaves me constantly wondering what that means with regards the device’s popularity. Is it selling well? Is it selling at all?1 Or is the “concept” more popular than O2’s realisation of it?

There definitely seems to be “mindshare” for the joggler, even if the stock remains on O2’s shelves. Furthermore, the number of other companies that are coming up with similar devices means that there must be consumer interest in digital-photo-frames-that-are-more-than-just-digital-photo-frames.

I’m really struggling to see why don’t O2 fix the problems with the Joggler (ie. remove the software restrictions) and reap the rewards? They might prevent reviews like this if they did…

  1. I’d love to see some sales figures – anyone know where i might find such a thing publicly? 

That Palm Pre.

Last week i said i was no longer interested in the Palm Pre. The Register’s review of the new GSM-compatible Pre doesn’t help change my mind…

This was the phone that was supposed to turn around Palm’s fortunes and provide the iPhone with something to truly worry about and, in its current form, with its current price, it does neither.

Unless (or until) the price drops, those who have been waiting to see if Palm’s best can match the iPhone should be following in the footsteps of the Apple fans.

Admittedly this final verdict is more negative than the rest of the article (where the hardware design and webOS in particular are praised) but it does sound very much like most other reviews of the device: Good, but no iPhone 3GS.

PS. If you are still interested though, the Pre is available from today through O2

Letmein.

So, the login details of around 10,000 Hotmail accounts were posted to the web and subsequent analysis reveals that the most commonly used password is “123456”. Clearly that’s a terribly silly password to use but let’s look at the details: There were 64 instances of “123456” in 10,000 records. 0.006% is not a significant number. Also, we have no idea how many of these Hotmail accounts were “genuine”, by which i mean, those used regularly by the same person. After all, there must be quite a percentage of accounts (larger than 0.006%?) which are simply setup and used once to get through some online registration wall or other, no?

I think what i’m trying to say is that, as stupid as we tech types like to imagine they are, most people actually aren’t that thick.

However, if it is a revelation to you that “123456” is a bad password to employ, i suggest you read these password tips from Google and F-Secure.

Also, don’t use anything you find on defaultpassword.com or from this “List of passwords that should NEVER be used” (originally posted on PClinuxonline.com but no longer available, as far as i can see)…

Alpha

Weak Passwords

A

a, A.M.I, A52896nG93096a, aaa, aammii, abc, abcd, academia, academic, accept, access, ACCESS, account, accounting, action, adam, ADAMS, adfexc, adm, admin, ADMIN, Admin, admin2, administrator, Administrator, adminttd, ADMN, admn, adrian, adrianna, adtran, adult, Advance, ADVMAIL, aerobics, alfarome, ALFAROME, ALLIN1, ALLIN1MAIL, ALLINONE, aLLy, ALLy, alpha, AM, AMI, AMI!SW, AMI.KEY, AMI.KEZ, AMI?SW, AMI_SW, AMI~, AMIAMI, AMIDECOD, amipswd, AMIPSWD, AMISETUP, anicust, anon, anonymous, any@, ANYCOM, AP2SVP, aPAf, APL2PP, APPLSYS, APPS, AQDEMO, AQUSER, ARCHIVIST, Asante, ascend, Ascend, asdf, asdfgh, at4400, attack, AURORA$ORB$UNAUTHENTICATED, AURORA@ORB@UNAUTHENTICATED, autocad, AUTOLOG1, Award, award, AWARD?SW, AWARD_SW, awkward

B

BACKUP, BATCH, BATCH1, BATCH2, bbs, bciim, bciimpw, bcms, bcmspw, bcnas, bcnaspw, bell9, BIGO, bin, bintec, BIOS, BIOSPASS, biosstar, biostar, Biostar, BIOSTAR, BLAKE, blue, bluepw, boss, BRIDGE, browse, browsepw

C

c, cablecom, cable-docsis, CAROLIAN, cascade, CATALOG, cc, CCC, ccrusr, CDEMO82, CDEMOCOR, CDEMORID, CDEMOUCB, central, CHANGE_ON_INSTALL, changeme, checkfs, checkfsys, checksys, CHEY_ARCHSVR, circ, cisco, Cisco router, CLARK, client, CLOTH, cmaker, CMSBATCH, CMSUSER, CNAS, COGNOS, Col2ogro2, comcomcom, COMPANY, Compaq, Compleri, computer, CONCAT, condo, CONDO, Congress, CONV, CPNUC, CPRM, cr0wmt 911, craft, craftpw, Crystal, CSPUSER, CTX_123, CTXDEMO, CTXSYS, cust, custpw, CVIEW

D

d.e.b.u.g, d8on, daemon, Daewuu, Database, databse, DATAMOVE, Daytec, DBSNMP, DCL, DDIC, death, debug, DECMAIL, DECNET, default, DEFAULT, Dell, DEMO, demo, DEMO1, DEMO8, DEMO8, demos, deskalt, deskman, desknorm, deskres, DESQUETOP, dhs3mt, dhs3pms, diag, diamond, DIGITAL, DISC, disttech, D-Link, dn_04rjc, dni, DS, DSA

E

EARLYWATCH, echo, EMP, enable, eng, engineer, enquiry, enquirypw, enter, ESSEX, EVENT, Ezsetup

F

fal, FAX, fax, FAXUSER, FAXWORKS, FIELD, field, FIELD.SUPPORT, FINANCE, FND, foobar, friend, ftp

G

g6PJ, games, ganteng, GATEWAY, GEN1, gen1, GEN2, gen2, glftpd, gnumpf, god, godblessyou, gonzo, gopher, GPLD, gropher, guessme, guest, GUEST, Guest, guest1, GUESTGUE, guestgue, GUESTGUEST

H

h6BB, hacker, halt, HARRIS, hax0r, HELGA-S, HELLO, hello, HELP, help, HELPDESK, HEWITT RAND, hewlpack, HLT, home, Home, HOST, HP, hp, HPDESK, HPLASER, HPOFFICE, HPOFFICE DATA, HPONLY, HPP187, HPP187 SYS, HPP189, HPP196, HPWORD PUB, hydrasna

I

I5rDv2b2JjA8Mm, ibm, IBM, ibmcel, ihavenopass, ILMI, inads, indspw, INFO, informix, INGRES, init, initpw, install, Internet, IntraStack, IntraSwitch, INTX3, INVALID, IPC, IS_$hostname, ITF3000, iwill

J

j09F, j256, j262, j322, j64, JDE, Jetform, JONES

K

kermit, kiddie, komprie, ksdjfg934t

L

l2, l3, laflaf, lantronix, LASER, LASERWRITER, last, lesarotl, letacla, letmein, LIBRARY, lineprin, LINK, lkw peter, lkwpeter, LKWPETER, Lkwpeter, llatsni, locate, locatepw, login, looker, LOTUS, love, lp, lpadm, lpadmin, lucenttech1, lucenttech2, lynx

M

MAIL, mail, MAILER, maint, maintain, maintpw, man, manager, Manager, MANAGER, MANAGER.SYS, Master, MASTER, masterkey, MBIU0, MBMANAGER, MBWATCH, mcp, MDSYS, me, merlin, mfd, MFG, MGR, MGR.SYS, MICRO, MILLER, mirc, mlusr, mMmM, MMO2, MODTEST, monitor, MOREAU, mountfs, mountfsys, mountsys, MPE, mtch, mtcl, MTYSYS, my_DEMARC, mypass, mypc

N

n/a, naadmin, NAMES, ncrm, NETBASE, NETCON, NETFRAME, NetICs, netlink, netman, NETMGR, NETNONPRIV, NETOP, netopia, NETPRIV, netrangr, netscreen, NETSERVER, NETWORK, NEWINGRES, NEWS, news, NeXT, NF, NFI, NICONEX, nms, nmspw, nobody, noway, NONPRIV, ntacdmax, nuucp

O

OCITEST, oem_temp,op, OP.OPERATOR, operator, OPERATOR, OPERVAX, oracle, ORDPLUGINS, ORDSYS, OUTLN, OutOfBox, owner

P

PAPER, pass, PASS, Pass, passwd, Passwd, PASSWORD, password, Password, pat, patrick, PBX, pc, PCUSER, PDP11, PDP8, PFCUser, PHANTOM, phoenix, piranha, pmd, PO, PO8, poll, Polrty, POST, Posterie, postmast, POSTMASTER, postmaster, POWERCARTUSER, powerdown, PRIMARY, prime, primenet, primeos, primos, primos_cs, PRINT, PRINTER, PRIV, private, prost, PSEAdmin, public, PUBSUB, pw, pwd, pwp

Q

q, Q54arwms, QDI, qpgmr, qsecofr, qserv, qsrvbas, qsvr, qsysopr, quser, qwer

R

raidzone, rcust, rcustpw, RE, read, readonly, readwrite, REGO, REMOTE, replicator, REPORT, RJE, rje, RM, RMAIL, rmnetlm, RMUser1, ro, ROBELLE, ROOT, root, Root, ROOT500, ROUTER, router, RSBCMON, RSX, rw, rwa, rwmaint

S

sa, SABRE, SAMPLE, san fran 8, SAP*, satan, SCOTT, script, scriptkiddie, SECDEMO, secoff, secofr, secret, secure, security, SECURITY, SER, sertafu, server, service, SERVICE, servlet, SETUP, setup, sex, shutdown, signa, SKY_FOX, sldkj754, smile, snake, SnuFG5, software, sp99dd, Spacve, spcl, speedxess, SPOOLMAN, spooml, star, STEEL, STUDENT, su, Super, super, SUPERVISOR, support, SUPPORT, supportpw, switch, SWITCHES_SW, Sxyz, SY_MB, sybase, sync, synnet, SYS, sys, sysadm, SYSADM, sysadmin, sysbin, SYSDBA, SYSLIB, syslib, SYSMAINT, SYSMAN, Sysop, system, SYSTEM, system_admin, SYSTEST, SYSTEST_CLIG, syxz, SZYX

T

t0ch20x, t0ch88, TCH, teacher, tech, technolgi, tele, TELEDEMO, TELESUP, temp, temp1, TEST, test, testing, teX1, tiara, TIGER, tini, Tiny, tlah, topicalt, topicnorm, topicres, Toshiba, toshy99, tour, TRACE, TRACESRV, trancell, trouble, TSDEV, TSEUG, TSUSER, TTPTHA, tutor, TzqF

U

uClinux, UETP, umountfs, umountfsys, umountsys, unix, User, user, USER, USER_TEMPLATE, USER0, USER1, USER2, USER3, USER4, USER5, USER6, USER7, USER8, USER9, USERP, uucp, uucpadm, uwontguessme

V

VAX, VESOFT, Vextrex, VMS, VNC, VRR1

W

WANGTEK, web, WebAdmin, WebBoard, webdb, weblogic, webmaster, win, WINDOWS_PASSTHRU, WINSABRE, winterm, wodj, WOOD, WORD, WP, wradmin, write, www

X

xljlbj, XLSERVER, xo11nE, xp, xxx, xxxx, xxxxx, xxxxxx, xxxxxxx, xxxxxxxx, xxxxxxxxx, xyzall

Y

YES, youwontguessme, yxcv

Z

zbaaaca, Zenith, zeosx, zxcv

Numeric

0, 1, 1.1, 2, 5, 7, 12, 30, 110, 111, 123, 1111, 1234, 2002, 2003, 2222, 2600, 8429, 12345, 54321, 111111, 121212, 123123, 123456, 166816, 256256, 654321, 1234567, 1322222, 7061992, 11111111, 12345678, 19920706, 22222222, 88888888, 123456789, 1. 1, 1234qwer, 123abc, 123asd, 123qwe, 1RRWTTOOI, 240653C9467E45, 24Banc81, 3098z, 3ep5w2u, 4Dgifts, 4getme2, 4tas, 57gbzb

Other

!@#$, !@#$%, !@#$%^, !@#$%^&, !@#$%^&*, !root, $ALOC$, $secure$, $system, %username%12, %username%123, %username%1234, (none), ?award, }

Got that?

Underfoot.

Another one for the “i thought of that” catalogue it seems…

Core77 report on Elizabeth Redmond’s POWERleap tiles which generate electricity from being walked over.

A simple but brilliant idea (if i do say so myself) with massive potential (imagine if this sort of technology was able to be set into road surfaces). It’s an idea that is probably quite difficult to realise but I really, really hope this one bears fruit.