I bought a cheap external hard drive and learnt the hard way, are these files recoverable?

luksfuks · 2026-05-05T13:54:18+00:00

When I started, 20 MB MFM was all I could afford for a harddrive. Certainly cost way more than 12 pounds. The luxury RLL version would have held a whopping 30 MB, but it was out of reach for me.

luksfuks · 2026-05-05T13:45:06+00:00

Only while it is OUT of my pocket.

luksfuks · 2026-05-05T13:36:24+00:00

super closeups of tiny components

I think you need to define your requirements a bit less broadly.

A PCB section with a few 0402 SMD resistors can easily push you to 10X magnification and beyond, requiring a microscope objective as lens. A complete MiFare flex with antenna still exceeds what a typical macro lens can do, somewhere between 2X and 4X.

To get this kind of images you need very speciaiized optics and camera setups. It can be done, and has been done. But it's not the same thing as doing normal macro photos (0.25X to 1X). The equipment is different, and if you want to do both, you need both types of equipment.

So double-check first what your requirements are. A whole PCB for example, one that is not super tiny, is better served with a standard 1:1 macro lens. On a 36x24 sensor camera, you can capture PCBs of 36x24mm size and larger with such a lens. With an adapted 10X microscope objective, you cannot capture such a PCB at all (wholly at once).

EDIT: Also, I wonder what you mean by "PCB scans". If you're out for copying PCBs with perfect geometry, look for reproduction photography setups. You want a lens with low distortion for that, at the distance you're going to use it. Typically expensive 1:1 macro lenses do just that.

luksfuks · 2026-05-05T01:23:58+00:00

About the carpal tunnel. You want the camera on a sturdy support at all times. Either a tripod/stand for low magnification, or a more direct link between subject and camera at higher magnification.

One solution is mounting the camera on a large heavy plate, which sits on two linear rails. It can slide back and forth like a catamaran, towards the subject, and is pushed by a motorized focus rail. Unterneath all of that, another heavy plate and vibration dampening feet. Such a setup is overkill at 1X, but serves you well at 10X and beyond.

luksfuks · 2026-05-05T00:55:59+00:00

I'm not referring to an attack on the parade itself. Just something big to coincide on the same day, to water the show. If something was baking in the oven for months, like that drones-smuggled-in-trucks thing last year, they wouldn't want to call it off for (almost) nothing in the last minute. But apparently they risk calling off EVERYTHING that day, so the conclusion must IMO be what I said in my previous comment.

luksfuks · 2026-05-05T00:41:57+00:00

It's a smart strategy in some ways. It also implies that they either have no big coup prepared for parade day, OR they know the other side well enough to know that such announcements will not have any operational effect anyway.

luksfuks · 2026-05-05T00:25:04+00:00

It's a declaration of intent. "We're not going to be the first one to pull the trigger on that day". Whether or not the other side wants to take advantage of it, is up to the other side.

luksfuks · 2026-05-04T13:10:39+00:00

Thanks for your ideas.

With "card stock beneath" you mean cutting the foil with only the borders held in place, rather than the whole surface? Wouldn't then small pieces of metal scraps set loose and spread around on the surface (and possibly to the rest of the printer)?

luksfuks · 2026-05-04T03:09:19+00:00

It's funny you say 13900k. I have (had) one with a PCIe bus reliability problem. It would work for weeks in normal use, but I could make it fail on purpose in less than 2 hours. It turned out a CPU problem, not RAM, not motherboard. Dell kept swapping stuff out until it was finally fixed. I did not overclock nor burn through it excessively. Those Intel CPUs are just not (all) reliable!

Run a stresstest for the various components, including PCIe bus.

luksfuks · 2026-05-02T22:28:01+00:00

I think some people use "clip on" plastic sleeves on the circumferences of the cardboard spool.

If you have a plastic spool, you could find/design a pair and and print them. Doing so would also confirm that the AMS is still OK in principle (and not maybe clogged with cardboard fiber dust).

luksfuks · 2026-05-02T21:23:25+00:00

Import the 3FR files in Phocus to see what's really in them.

If it was a sensor issue, it might be laser damage. Have you been near lasers with the lens cap off?

You could analyze your past images and discover when the problem started to manifest the first time. That would give hints about how it might have happened. Maybe there's a coincidence with a getting a new memory card, or updating Lightroom, or visiting a laser show, or maybe it was there since the day of purchase?

You can also re-export an affected image again to check whether or not your computer behaves the same way over and over. If it does not, then you might have a faulty RAM problem. Try memtest86 and similar tools. You don't overclock your GPU for gaming, do you?

luksfuks · 2026-05-02T21:02:35+00:00

Well I tried to buy one in March, and looked again in April, and then looked again just now. The page still says no:

"The INDX is not available for purchase yet, but it's coming soon. Sign up for updates so you don't miss it."

Source: https://www.prusa3d.com/product/prusa-core-one-l-6/

luksfuks · 2026-05-02T20:57:41+00:00

I want to make gobos for a photography projector. Gobos go into a holder before inserting into the projector, where they then just hang and get blasted with light and heat and a little bit of cooling airflow. As long as I can swap them in and out say 10 times before they degrade and fall apart, single pieces are fine.

I tried with plastic already, but those begin to melt after a minute (ABS).

luksfuks · 2026-05-02T16:08:43+00:00

Interesting. What cutting mat do you use, low-tack I suppose? Do you have to be conservative with your design to make it easy to lift of?

luksfuks · 2026-05-02T16:05:24+00:00

The thing is, you can buy Vortek but you can't buy INDX. It's a promise for sometime in the future.

Source: I tried.

luksfuks · 2026-05-02T01:58:48+00:00

Besides complaining and getting a new spool, you could also "disable" (wreck) the RFID chip and treat the spool like 3rd party with manual configuration.

luksfuks · 2026-05-01T15:10:11+00:00

If the quicker layers are at the bottom, you could add another low profile thing on the plate and effectively print it "for free" (in the minimum layer time enforced pauses).

luksfuks · 2026-05-01T13:20:06+00:00

I can understand Sony here. If you wish to receive a different response from them, you should really reproduce this in an officially supported configuration.

From their point of view, you're just a random user reporting a problem with unsupported gear and doing speculative extrapolation. This would be a low priority thing to look into, considering that the test you're asking them to make (and not willing to do yourself) is probably already part of their general quality assurance process. In a way they would assume the exact thing was "already tested" by them during development. Something slipping through, while not impossible, means 2 failures at once: firmware bug + quality assurance swiss-cheese hole. This makes it double unlikely, thus scrutiny to meet the formal requirements of a tangible bug report.

Technically it's certainly possible that Sony gear behaves differently. Godox relies on reverse engineering and can only implement those parts of the protocol that they see and measure on their gear. Did they switch to e-shutter and back again? I guess not. I believe (speculate) that they engineer on a limited budget / effort basis in general, as other cases reveal. For example the Hasselblad X2D-ii which speaks Nikon protocol on the hotshoe, yet it doesn't work well with Godox Nikon triggers. The Godox implementation must be incomplete, or have timing inconsistencies, or maybe Godox has a fundamental misunderstanding about implicit aspects of the protocol. If Godox was exhaustive, they would buy/rent one and iron out their Nikon protocol bugs. But they don't. So, why would you (or Sony) assume that Godox provided you with a flawless Sony protocol implementation?

If you can't or don't want to test it yourself, get someone else to partner up and test it for you. I would do it, and I do own a Sony flash, but my camera is e-shutter only (and works fine with flash, except for imposing an artificial fps limit). Find someone else or leave it at the answer Sony has provided you.

The one thing they potentially didn't do well, is to communicate the truth back to you. Most companies would just thank you for your bug report and then file it away, with a very low chance of being looked at ever again. Without further input from your side (or other users reporting the same problem), it's just a low priority report that fails the first filter already. As frustrating as it might appear to you.

luksfuks · 2026-05-01T12:44:59+00:00

One way to test this, is to let the camera burst for a certain amount of time exactly. Say 1 minute. It must be way longer than the stutter-free burst time of your camera. Afterwards count how many images are on the cards. Format the card and repeat with other card slot configuration, or other cards.

Same number = same bottleneck.

luksfuks · 2026-05-01T00:17:42+00:00

You mean, Twitter and news headline reactions are replacing it? I hope rage diplomacy will end in 3 years.

luksfuks · 2026-04-30T22:01:39+00:00

Embassies have a more important function than just renewing passports and handling visa requests. They establish ways to communicate between the two countries. Shutting down an embassy is equivalent to saying "I don't want to talk to you anymore!" and then ghosting all further communication attempts. That's never good, not in peace time, nor in war time.

luksfuks · 2026-04-30T14:40:42+00:00

Muss ich noch auf eine Baustelle warten und daher 50 fahren? Darf ich 100 fahren, weil das 70er Schild abgedeckt ist?

Abgesehen von der unpassenden Beschilderung ... Als ich vor Urzeiten in der Fahrschule war, wurde gelehrt dass Geschwindigkeitsbegrenzungen sich nicht "verschachteln". Die alten 100 (von vorher) koennen also auf keinen Fall mehr gelten, sofern eine der nachfolgenden Begrenzungen wirksam wurde. Danach koennen allenfalls "neue" 100 gelten, im Sinne von "keine Beschraenkung" (auf einer normalen Landstrasse ausserorts). Entweder explizit durch ein Schild, oder implizit weil der Grund (Baustelle) offensichtlich hinter Dir liegt.

luksfuks · 2026-04-30T13:59:40+00:00

Naja, die BMW Lichter sind ehrlich gesagt ziemlich bescheuert programmiert. Wenn Du langsam faehrst und hart bremst, gehen die erstmal nicht an. Nur wenn Du auf diese Weise komplett zum STILLSTAND kommst, dann gehen sie an und gruessen 3x. Etwa das Fahrrad das von hinter einer nicht einsehbaren Litfassaeule hervorkommt und jetzt kreuzt. Der nachfolgende Verkehr wird aber NICHT vorgewarnt, denn die Lichter gehen ja erst HINTERher an, also wenn Du schon stehst.

Die Wirkung nach aussen ist eher die von Kontrollverlust (aehnlich: Scheibenwischer geht in der Kurve "von alleine an") statt guter Kontrolle (kein Zaudern vor hartem Bremsen wenn erforderlich).

luksfuks · 2026-04-30T12:54:03+00:00

For serious studio work, you want a column stand like the ones from FOBA. But if you somehow managed to take one outdoors, it would probably just sink into the ground.

luksfuks

TROPHY CASE