Author: Vivi The Mage

E6420 SSD benchmark ATA vs AHCI – Samsung 128GB SSD Model: MZ-7PA1280/0D1

Post author By Vivi The Mage
Post date September 1, 2011
2 Comments on E6420 SSD benchmark ATA vs AHCI – Samsung 128GB SSD Model: MZ-7PA1280/0D1

There’s not a lot of informationon these drives, but this is what Dell gave us, and charged us an extra $300~ for (rip off)…but at least it makes for some pretty benchmarks for you guys :).

It was a bit difficult to find specifications for this drive, but I did find an ebay listing with some specifics :

Manufacturer: Samsung
Model: MZ-7PA1280/0D1
Manufacturer P/N: MZ7PA128HMCD-010D1
Made in: Korea
DP/N: 0MG6KH
F/W: AXM06D1Q

Main Features
Connectivity
Connector Serial ATA 7-pin
Connector Type SATA 3.0 Gbps
* Capacity: 128 GB
* Form Factor: 2.5 inch
* Interface: SATA
* NAND Flash: Samsung 32 nano
* Shock: 1500G, duration 0.5ms, Half sine wave
* Vibration: 20G Peak, 10~ 2000Hz, (15mins/Axis) x3 Axis
* Performance:
Sequential Read Rate: 250 MB/s(max)
Sequential Write Rate: 200 MB/s(max)
Random Read Rate: 25K IOPS
Random Write Rate: 7K IOPS
* MTBF: 1,000,000 hours
* Power Supply: 5V ± 5%
* Dimensions: 69.85 x 100.2 x 9.50 mm
* Weight: 68g

So Dell gave us a Sata II drive for a Sandy bridge system with Sata III, nice and cheap of them. All I did to test ATA vs AHCI was test/install under ATA, and then run the fix for ATA -> AHCI which cab can be found here

Here’s a picture of the laptop (E6420) :

[zp src=”e6420.JPG” album=”blog/e6420/” width=”600″]

and the SSD itself :

[zp src=”samsung-ssd.JPG” album=”blog/samsungSSD/” width=”600″]

Here are the ATA benchmarks :

[zp src=”atto-ata-samsung.jpg” album=”blog/samsungSSD/” width=”600″]

[zp src=”crystal-ata-samsung.jpg” album=”blog/samsungSSD/” width=”600″]

And the AHCI benchmarks :

[zp src=”atto-ahci-samsung.jpg” album=”blog/samsungSSD/” width=”600″]

[zp src=”crystal-ahci-samsung.jpg” album=”blog/samsungSSD/” width=”600″]

I also did a test on new, from scratch build with this laptop/samsung SSD :

[zp src=”atto-ahcifresh-samsung.jpg” album=”blog/samsungSSD/” width=”600″]

[zp src=”crystal-ahcifresh-samsung.jpg” album=”blog/samsungSSD/” width=”600″]

I think there was a fluke during the 4k read with the crystal benchmarks, but the bump is impressive. There’s almost a loss when doing a fresh install (which is a dell factory image), interestingly enough. Good information, hopefully helps people move towards AHCI for the performance gains!

Operating Systems Software

How Do I change from IDE to AHCI in windows 7?

Post author By Vivi The Mage
Post date September 1, 2011
1 Comment on How Do I change from IDE to AHCI in windows 7?

There is a very simple way to do this, Microsoft has it all laid out.

1) Exit all Windows-based programs. 2) Click Start, type regedit in the Start Search box, and then press ENTER. 3) If you receive the User Account Control dialog box, click Continue. 4) Locate and then click one of the following registry subkeys:


 HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\Msahci

          HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\IastorV

5) In the right pane, right-click Start in the Name column, and then click Modify. 6) In the Value data box, type 0, and then click OK. 7) On the File menu, click Exit to close Registry Editor.

The only one I saw was Msahci with the “name” option, so I changed that from 3 to 0 (hexdceimal), rebooted, and changed BiOS over to AHCI, and I was good to go. Rebooted, and it was live in ahci!

Enjoy 🙂

Uncategorized

How to crack Windows XP local account passwords with a USB/Jump drive

Post author By Vivi The Mage
Post date August 31, 2011
No Comments on How to crack Windows XP local account passwords with a USB/Jump drive

I browsed the web, found a few failed attempts, and then found the one that worked great, and I liked. The only issue that i’ve seen is that it can only decrypt passwords less then 15 characters, but I have not tested that.

Find a jump drive, at least 1GB in size (data will be erased, so copy anything pertinent off).

Download ophcrack livecd XP 2.3.1 (note, if you want to do a Vista/Windows 7 recovery use ophcrack livecd VISTA/7 2.3.1)

Download tazusb.exe

Now that you have everything needed, we can go through setting up the jump drive as a bootable device, using the ISO’s you just downloaded. This step is very simple, you will not have to install anything, that tazusb.exe is a portable “run once” application.
So start/run tazusb.exe
hit next
browse out to the ISO you downloaded
Select the destination drive
Hit install

You should see things being copied over, and once completed, you should be safe to reboot, or plug it into the machine you do not know the password to. What I like about this ophcrack, is that once it is set up, it is 100% automated. All you need to do now is :

Boot to USB (typically pressing F12 before splash screens will get your boot device options)

Select your jump drive

Select automatic

[zp src=”ophcrack1.jpg” album=”blog/ophcrack/” width=”600″]

You’ll see some text go by

[zp src=”ophcrack2.jpg” album=”blog/ophcrack/” width=”600″]

Now you just wait, while it brute forces the passwords for you. What I like about this, is that you do not even need to select what you want, it will brute force all of the accounts on the computer.

[zp src=”ophcrack3.jpg” album=”blog/ophcrack/” width=”600″]

Enjoy!

SOURCE :

ophcrack project homepage

Windows Media Center

How to rename and remove menu options for Windows Media Center and Extenders

Post author By Vivi The Mage
Post date August 31, 2011
No Comments on How to rename and remove menu options for Windows Media Center and Extenders

I love my Windows Media Center setup, and my 360 running as extenders. I use Media browser for my movie playing, because it displays movies much better then the default option. TO make things more streamlined I wanted to rename MediaBrowser and also remove Movies. So what I did was use Media Center Studio to rename Media Browser, and Media Center Strips Removal Tool to remove the Movies option!

Works great for Windows 7 x64 windows media center and extenders. I uploaded the versions I use, just in case the creators remove them.

Enjoy!

SOURCES :
Media Center Strips Removal tool” target
Media Center Studio

Uncategorized

To the Minneapolis “The Hub” and back!

Post author By Vivi The Mage
Post date August 30, 2011
No Comments on To the Minneapolis “The Hub” and back!

So I got my new bike, and had an issue with the new disc brakes, so we biked to The Hub and back. It was fun, even with the brakes holding me back a bit!

[fitmap id=”48332434″ type=”ride”]

Tags Biking

Operating Systems Software

ISO image to flash drive

This operation assumes your machine can boot from a USB enabled device. Check your BIOS to make sure. You also MUST have a DVD copy of Vista to install the source files from the DVD to a USB flash drive:
1. Insert your USB flash drive and enter the following commands:
(please note this list assumes that your USB flash drive will be seen as disk 1. To confirm that it is type “list disk” after you’ve entered the DISKPART command) Otherwise you may wipe a different drive (such as your hard disk drive!)
2. Type:

diskpart
select disk 1
clean
create partition primary
select partition 1
active
format fs=fat32
assign
exit
At this point your USB drive is formatted. DO NOT format the drive from within Windows. You MUST have a DVD copy of Vista to copy the source files from.

The final preparation step is to copy the installation files to your flash drive, this can be done by running the following command:
(Please note D: is the drive letter for the source files and E: is the drive letter for your flash drive, if they are different on your system you need to change them accordingly).
Exit DISKPART. Type:

xcopy d:\*.* /s/e/f e:\

That’s it, configure usb device as primary boot device in your bios and select it as your boot device!

Enjoy.

iTunes

How to change itunes account brithdate

Post author By Vivi The Mage
Post date August 18, 2011
No Comments on How to change itunes account brithdate

I ran into an issue where a game decided I was only 18, and then wanted to verify that I did put in the right brithdate. I basically found a method to change my birth date for my iTunes account, which should prove helpful for some.

1) In a browser of your choice, go to : appleid.apple.com

2) Select Manage your account, which prompts you to log in.

[zp src=”itunes-manage.jpg” album=”blog/itunes-brithdate/” width=”600″]

3) Once signed in, select “Password and Security” option on the left.

[zp src=”itunes-passwordsecurity.jpg” album=”blog/itunes-brithdate/” width=”600″]

4) Then use the drop downs to change your brith day, month, and year if needed and hit save.

[zp src=”itunes-birthdate.jpg” album=”blog/itunes-brithdate/” width=”600″]

Voila! Hopefully someone finds this useful.

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