Recently, I faced a situation whiling moving fairly large image sharing website from shared hosting to a dedicated as it was taking too much resources. there were few challenges in this site transfer:
- Number of images were over 90,000 and size of about 95GB which rules of conventional method of first downloading everything from old server on your own machine and then uploading to new server is not feasible.
- Shared hosting provider only gave FTP access. so it rules out rsync,scp,bittorrent or anything similar based transfers. host even refused to achieve the 90,000 files.
In short, you will have to move all files and database via FTP. Here is how: Read the rest of this entry »
Ever wanted to use Facebook chat without logging into Facebook website? Looking are a Desktop application for Facebook chat? Do you hate Facebook chat because it makes your browser go crazy ? If answer is “Yes” then Read On…
Recently, Facebook has enabled support for XMPP/Jabber protocol which means that now you can using standalone Instant Messengers like Pidgin(Works on Windows,Mac & Linux),iChat(Mac only). This works on Windows,Linux and Mac on any application that support jabber protocol.
here I would demonstrate to do this on Windows with pidgin. Read the rest of this entry »
Ever wondered why Hard drive model carry 10-14digit string, why not simple names. because model number of a hard drive can say lot of information about it e.g storage capacity,cache size & connector interface.storage companies use a set of conventions
Understanding a model no. would help you know about features of it by simply checking it label & you would no longer have to be dependent on not-so-informed salesman in your local shop. many times there are different model no. of exact same capacity but they differ in cache size which has a direct result on performance. more cache means faster performance
Now we will try to understand model number of various hard drives from different manufacturers.
Note: i would discuss only about consumer series internal hard drives from popular manufacturers. discussing others are beyond the scope of this guide.
Where do i find model no?
Its written clearly on faceplate of hard drive with bold characters along the serial no and other information like date of manufacturing etc.
1)Seagate
sample model number:ST3500630AS
we break is as: ST-3-500-6-30-AS
- ST: Company initials. ST= “Seagate Technology”, STM – Seagate Technology Maxtor(Maxtor Hard drive).
- 3: Form factor. 3 = Standard 3.5″ inch drives; 9 = 2.5″ inch Laptop drive.
- 500: Total Capacity in Gigabytes(1000mb = 1GB). this is a 500GB model.
- 6:Cache Size. 0 = 2MB, 2 = 2MB, 3 = 8MB,4 = 16MB, 6 = 16MB and 8 = 8MB. Note:the cache is the buffer memory between the controller and the mechanical hdd. the more cache it has – the more data it can store to transmit off to the controller. the faster data access on the hdd will be.please don’t confuse it with CPU Cache.
- AS: Connector Interface type, A= 40pin PATA or IDE and AS=SATA interface.
2) Western Digital
sample model number::WD6400AAKS
we break it as: WD-640-0-A-A-K-S
WD:Company initials
640: drive capacity in Gigabytes. its a 640GB drive
A:Form factor.
A:Brand/Series
K:RPM/Buffer Size or Attribute
S:Interface Type
Google’s blogger software for blogging is easy to use and effective. But the major drawback is that, blogger is not fully flexible to suit everyone needs, it does not support additional static pages. In short, with blogger you can’t have full control over your blog. this is where wordpress scores the most. Being of Open Source nature, you can modify it to your needs & extend its functionality further with help of plug-ins.
I myself have migrated to a self-hosted wordpress driven blog and would share my experience; the most seamless way to make the switch.
Please Note: As i was running blogger with a custom domain(gaurishsharma.com) so switch was relatively easier for me, as i didn’t have to use any dirty scripts to redirect traffic from old blogger blog to new wordpress blog.
Aims of this Guide:
- Move all the posts and comments data from old blogger blog to your new wordpress blog.
- Maintain the permalinks of your old blog, so links from search engines and bookmarks don’t get broken in process.Thereby maintaining backlinks for a good Page Rank
- Carry Over your RSS feed subscribers to new blog.
- Making the switch as seamless as possible with least amount of downtime possible.
Assumptions while making this guide:
- You use feedburner service, for feed syndication
- you are publishing your blog on a custom domain(eg. yourname.com) and if you are still stuck on sub-domain of blogspot(like xxx.blopspot.com) its time to take the plunge, go register your own domain(yourname.com).A custom domain helps build a unique online identity and shows that you are really serious about blogging. these days Domain are really affordable around Rs.350INR per year.
The Procedure Explained, Step-by-step:
- Moving to custom domain: If you are publishing on subdomain of blogspot(xxx.blogspot.com). First step is switch to a custom domain, instrutions can be found on Google Help page.After changing to a new address, kindle wait for atleast 3-6months, so all traffic from your old blog’s URL its automatically your new custom domain. I realize 3months is a long period but its necessary for making a smooth switch, but if you are less patient then try this hack.
- Importing Data: Since, all of your traffic is coming to your new custom domain(yourname.com). its time make a switch. Go to WordPress.com and sign-up for a free blog. choose whatever address you like as that’s gonna be temp. Now, Import data from your blogger blog by logging into wordpress dashboard & Tools –> Import –> Blogger.Next authorize wordpress to access your blogger blog and press magic Import Button. importing post would take some time. so please be patient.after importing completes, set the author name.
- Exporting Data: Now navigate to Tools –> Export.Save this file to your computer.now all your posts & comment are saved on your computer disk. at this point we no longer require that free wordpress blog we registered in step 2
- Installing WordPress:Login to your webmaster’s Control Panel. most webhost have Cpanel installed which has feature, with its help you can install wordpress in few clicks. else you could The famous manual install, the only extra step in manual method is database creation by phpadmin.
- Importing final data: Login into your newly installed wordpress’s dashboard. Goto Tools –> Import > WordPress. broswe to the location of file which you saved in step-3.
- Maintaining Permalinks: Now we need to use the exact URL stucture as we had in our blogger blog. First Install plugin called – Maintain Blogger Permalinks by uploading this to your wp-content/plugins/ dir. Activate the plugin once and run it via Tools > Permalinks. This is one time task and you can safely remove this plugin afterwards.
- Next go to Settings –> Permalinks –> Custom & enter the following stucture:- /%year%/%monthnum%/%postname%.html
- Importing feed: Login to your feedburner account. and click on Edit Feed Details. In feed url enter http://www.your-domain-name-here.com/feed/rss eg. http://www.gaurishsharma.com/feed/rss
Thats all.
Now you change update NS records of your domain, to redict visitor to your new wordpress blog. Remember: It takes about 24-48 in Dns propagation.
Happy Blogging
Unhappy with your bank’s crippled net banking facility? How many times have you have wished that you had a fully featured Internet banking service which has all the features which would help you transact on the Internet smartly. want to change to another bank’s net banking service but don’t want ditch your old savings account.
ICICI bank has product which they call “b2 Branch Banking“.It is a fully online direct banking service in which everything is done online, zero transaction charges on the savings account, no cheque book, no branch access, savings account with quantum optima facility. It is too simple, easy and saves your time
- What a b2 account offers:
- Zero Balance and Zero Transaction Charges – There are no charges on transaction done in b2 savings account. Also, unlike regular savings account you don’t have maintain a minimum amount in your account.
- Virtual Credit Card(VCC) - It enables to transact online with a credit limit of your choices. This card has limited balance which user specifies while generating so even if it fails in wrong hands you stand no risk.
- No Penalty for premature withdrawal of FDs – you can make a premature withdrawal(breaking it before its full term) in your b2 saving account without having to incur the 1% penalty applicable on regular FDs.
- E-wallet – An e-wallet gives you the conform of using a debit card online without having to expose your entire savings account for online transactions.
- Greater Acceptability - ICICI payment gateway is supported by most e-commerce Website. where as name of your good old bank may not appear while you are shopping on your favorite Website .
- Online Prepaid Mobile Recharge – you can recharge your mobile right from your b2 account itself and money would be automatically debited from your account. not a big feature but still useful. maybe you can use to refill when your talktime runs out in middle of night while talking to your girlfriend.
- Absolutely No Making Charges on Demand Draft
- No Charges on NEFT
- SMS Alerts
Now, we know that B2 savings account is not a regular savings account. then obviously we must not be getting facilities of normal savings account. below is the difference between normal saving account & b2 savings account
- What a b2 account does not offer:
- No branches, no cheque books – You will not have access to any ICICI Bank branches. For instance, you won’t be able to withdraw cash from a branch. since, you can move money online in easy ways, there will be no cheque book with account.
- No debit card, no ATM access – Since this is a truly online account – you can move money from your b2 account to your other bank(S) very easily as and when you wish – you will not need a debit card or access to an ATM
- No physical statements and passbook – you will not get any passbook or statement. instead you can see them, in your b2 account itself.
To Apply for ICICI b2 account, you have to visit ICICI B2 Page and click on Apply Here. A simple online Application form has to be filled with all your details. After filling up the form an ICICI bank executive would come to you for collecting required documents.
One problem you might face is in step-3 that name of your employer might not be on the list. no problem, simply click on “O” and select “Others”. if you are unemployed like you are still studying then simply write “NOT APPLICABLE”.
- How to move money into your b2 account: there are many ways of doing that but the best one is dropping a cheque into any ICICI bank ATM’s Dropbox. just write your name and b2 account no in pay field and the amount would be debited to your account in 5 days.
- How to move money out of b2 account: Again, there are many ways. the best is to transfer money into some other account by NEFT.
This service is useful for people you do lot of electronic transactions on regular basis.b2 can exist in perfect harmony with your regular savings account. use b2 for electronic transactions and your regular account for other offline transactions.
It is a real Internet banking facility which is absolutely free to use. I wonder how ICICI plans to earn from this service. I have been using this service from past 2months and I am very happy with it. I would certainly suggest you to sign up for it.
Links: ICICI b2 Home Page | Apply for ICICI b2 | ICICI b2 in the news
Orkut has started a new service called “Orkut SMS” by which you can receive latest scraps from your scrapbook as text sms on your Mobile. It means, now you would be able to get scraps from your orkut profile right onto your mobile phone. so it would work on crappiest mobile phones which don’t have fancy features like GPRS or EDGE. Further you can also reply to scraps from your mobile itself.
Its Advantage is that this service does not require GPRS connection on mobile. It is entirely SMS based.if you are looking for GPRS based service try http://m.orkut.com.
It is to be noted that Receive SMS is entirely free but you would be Charged Rs.2/- per SMS(1/- for MTNL) for sending a SMS. In my opnion the best utilization of service is to Receive scraps, sending scraps from mobile should be generally avoided unless urgent as its charged.
What is orkut SMS?
orkut SMS allows you to stay in touch with your orkut friends using text messages from your mobile phone.
How does orkut SMS work?
| 1. |
Register your phone on the orkut website. |
| 2. |
Send SMS commands from your phone to the appropriate orkut SMS number. Number for India:- 56555 |
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SMS Commands
I am Using this on my Vodafone Mobile number from past week. I must say its very fast, i am getting scraps on SMS even before e-mail notifications.
If you are a Orkut user, you should try it at-least for receiving scrap which is free.
Currently Supported Operators:
- TATA
- BPL
- Aircel
- Reliance
- Spice
- MTNL
- Vodafone
More Details
Recently, I faced a situation whiling moving fairly large image sharing website from shared hosting to a dedicated as it was taking too much resources. there were few challenges in this site transfer:
