Vista: Backup Fails with I/O device error (0x8007045D)

One of Vista Ultimate’s advertised virtues over other Vista versions are its Backup features. Why is it then that my first attempt to do a complete PC backup with Vista’s Backup and Restore program failed miserably?

 

What I wanted was simple: select the C:\ drive and make an image of that drive so that I can restore it in the unfortunate event if one of my RAID 0 drives fails. The image size was around 100GB and was to be backed up on one of the (many) SATA drives in the computer. After proceeding with the backup, all went smoothly until the very end, when the backup job failed with the following error:

The request could not be performed because of an I/O device error (0x8007045D)

I/O device error?? Where, why? My initial thoughts were that I may have corrupted hard drives or some other serious problem with no easy fix to it. Fortunately, the fix is easier than you’d think, if you know it that is. The problem seems to be with the contents of the shadow copies System Restore creates.

To overcome the I/O device error and be able to complete the backup succesfuly, you must reset the shadow copies. Here’s how to do it:

-          Press Windows Key + Pause/Break to bring up the System Properties window (or right click Computer and choose Properties or go to Control Panel, then System and Maintenance, then System).

-          On the left, click on Advanced System Settings.

-          In the next small System Properties window that appears, go to the System Protection tab.

-          On this tab, you most likely have Local Disk (C:) checked. To stop creating shadow copies, you must uncheck it and click apply.

-          Now to reset the contents of the shadow copies, you must enable it again. So put a checkmark back next to Local Disk (C:) and click OK.

Try to do the backup again. It should work now.

He was a hacker for the MPAA

Read on for insight into the practices of the Motion Pictures Association of America (MPAA), in its battle against online movie piracy. An actual battle alright since they are employing the same piratous techniques as those they are accusing of being pirates; pirates that cause the movie industry billions in lost sales every year.

In an exclusive interview with Wired News, gun-for-hire hacker Robert Anderson tells for the first time how the Motion Picture Association of America promised him money and power if he provided confidential information on TorrentSpy, a popular BitTorrent search site.

At Wired news.

iPhone: Corrupted Pictures Fix

In case you get some errors in iTunes while syncing your pictures saying something along the lines of "The "image" was not transferred because it could not display properly", and then you found corrupted images in the respective folder in your iphone, try the following:

- With your iPhone connected, in the Pictures folder of iTunes, remove the checkmark next to the folder containing the problematic images and click Apply. This will unsync the respective images.
- Then open up My Computer, navigate to the image folder in question and rename the folder differently.

- Go back to iTunes and place that checkmark back again and click Apply to let iTunes sync those images back to your iPhone.

This should solve it or at least this did it for me. Let me know if you've had success with it as well.

Give your iPhone a paint job

Even the most expensive and impressive devices can become unspecial and boring. The more people have it, the less special your special gadget gets. So if you've had your iPhone for a while and you're tired of its sexy looks, send it in for a brand new paint job.

ColorWare is the company that's been know to put new life into Apple products. They are now offering iPhone painting services, complete with a very nice website that allows you to entirely customize and preview every aspect of the iPhone: the back, the bottom, the frame, the button, the logo, the earbuds and the dock.

The cost? Not cheap. Depending on how heavily you want your iPhone customized, it can go up to $219. That is more than half of the cost of the phone itself!

Here's an image of how i might customize mine were I to go crazy one of these days.

Go and customize your own or read a review about the paint job quality here.

Firefox: the amazing PicLens extension

A worthy Firefox add-on writing about, the PicLens extension is a blessing for those who often look at pictures on the web. And who doesn't?

What does it do? It completely changes your picture browsing experience on the popular image websites. As of the date of this post, it is compatible with Flickr, Facebook, Google Images, Yahoo Images, Friendster and Personal and commersites enabled for PicLens with MediaRSS (learn more about MediaRSS here, and learn how to use it here).

PicLens instantly transforms your browser into a full-screen slideshow experience. With just one click, PicLens makes photos and images come to life via an immersive presentation that goes beyond the confines of the traditional Firefox browser window.

So wait no more, install it today then go to your favorite supported web album and be amazed.

What? You don't have Firefox? Shame on you. Click here to install Firefox NOW!