If your system gets a malware infection, booting can be next to impossible — and even if you’ve followed all the best security precautions, sometimes hardware or software failures can render your system inaccessible. Make sure you’re prepared by setting up a recovery USB stick ahead of time.
Windows only: Whether you’ve suffered a hard drive crash, an Outlook error, or an over-eager “Delete” click, losing your entire Windows Address Book (WAB) can be painful. DiskInternals makes a free tool that can help you get it back.
You should never feel like your hard drive is holding out on you. Anyone should be able to back up, recover files, boot multiple systems, upgrade, or otherwise improve their storage space. These tips explain the possibilities and procedures.
Windows only: HD Hacker is a free application which allows you to backup and restore sectors on your hard drives. You can backup and restore the master boot record, the boot sector from logical drives, or any other user specified sector you need to backup. Backing up the master boot record is an advised step before messing around with repartitioning or installing a new operating system to create a dual boot system. For other boot record magic, check out how to fix your master boot record with an Ubuntu Live CD. HD Hacker is freeware, Windows only.
HD Hacker [via gHacks]
