Algae removal instructions from the Bosch Ecologixx 7 Dryer

STEP-BY-STEP CLEANING INSTRUCTIONS

1. Remove the Condenser Tank from top left corner of the machine

2. Pour 2½ dl of raw white vinegar down the drain opening on the front floor of the Condenser Tank cavity into the Water Reservoir

3. Run the dryers Warm-program without the Condenser Tank in place for a few minutes and observe with a flashlight that the vinegar is circulating up from the Water Resevoir back up into the the Condenser Tank (eject hole at the back ceiling in the Water Tank Cavity).

The solution will drain down the secondary drain in the middle of the cavity back to the Water Reservoir while the Condenser Tank is not present.

4. Half fill the Condencer Tank with hot water to rince and dilute the vinegar out of the system

5. Reinsert the Condencer Tank with hot water and run the Warm-program for 30min

6. You might experience mild vinegar smell in the first few dryerfuls of clother but after that it will subside.

7. Repeat treatment every 3-6 months and before leaving the dryer unused for multiple weeks at a time.

8. If the algae clog is bad enough to result in the indicative ”Condencer Tank Full”-warning even thou the tank is nearly empty you might need to first have the pump changed by a Bosch technician for a clean one.

HOWTO: Run a mixed release Debian or Ubuntu Distribution

By inserting the following statements into your APT preferences file you can tell APT to prioritize the testing-repository and only if there are no suitable packages in testing to dip into the unstable-repository for the missing dependencies in testing.

/etc/apt/preferences

Package: *
Pin: release testing
Pin-Priority: 900

Package: *
Pin: release unstable
Pin-Priority: 600

To enable this prioritization to work you must download both testing and unstable package lists. You do this by adding both repositories in your sources.list -file.

/etc/apt/source.list

deb ftp://ftp.fi.debian.org/debian/ testing main
deb ftp://ftp.fi.debian.org/debian/ unstable main
deb-src ftp://ftp.fi.debian.org/debian/ testing main
deb-src ftp://ftp.fi.debian.org/debian/ unstable main
deb http://security.debian.org/ stable/updates main

Note: Security updates are released against the stable-repository and your geographical mirror will depend on your location. The above example uses Finland as the FTP mirror.

After running apt-get update you will be able to install packages directly from unstable by issuing the command:

apt-get install <package_name> -t unstable

Now the dependencies will be fulfilled primarily from the testing repository and secondarily from the unstable repository. This prioritization is also valid for running normal apt-get update && apt-get upgrade.

HOWTO: Add capasity to an existing hardware raid-5 set on a Areca ARC1220 8-channel PCIe raid-array running Ubuntu 7.10 64bit, LVM2 and ext3?

Preparation

First order of business is, as usual, BACKUP ALL DATA on the array.

After this you might want to insert the new disk into the array either with a hot-swap carrier (like in my case a IcyDock MB455SPF) or incase you are running the array with permanently attached drives by shutting down the computer and adding another drive to the controller.

Begin Hardware Volume configuration

The raid controller will begin automatic detection of the new drive instantly after insertation (or after boot if not hotswap). The new drive will be marked as unused free space / unallocated.

At this point you should be in a running instance of Ubuntu. Fire up the Areca Linux Control HTTP-service 

bash #> archttp64

in my case since I'm running Ubuntu 7.10 64-bit Alternative install.

Connect to the WebManagement interface at http://localhost:81 if you have the management daemon running with defaults.

Default values for console authentication are admin:0000

Once you have successfully authenticated to the console check the status of the array from the front page. You should see the new drive(s) as free space and unused.

Now begin the array expansion by selecting

RaidSet Functions -> Expand Raid Set

Select the RaidSet you want to expand and click the submit button -> select the free volumes you want to add to the RaidSet and check the confirmation tick-box and click on submit.

Wait for the RaidSet to rebuild. This will take a long time depending on the size of your array. With a 1TB expansion the rebuild time is around 24h.

After the RaidSet Expansion is complete (you'll see progress from the WebAdmin Console in the Volume State field) you will need to add the new space to the current VolumeSet by selecting

VolumeSet Functions -> Modify Volume Set

and entering the new volume size into the size field and if you are expanding the array over 2TB you might need to set the 2TB limit circumvention to off depending on your OS and filesystem.

Wait for the VolumeSet expansion to complete. This will take about 3-4h for 1TB expansion.

LVM2 and ext3 resizing

You may resize your LVM2 volumes online with atleast LVM v2.02.26 shipping with Ubuntu 7.10.

Issue the command

bash #> pvdisplay

to view current volume information. Then you issue the command

bash #> pvresize /dev/sda

This will happen almost instantly.

At this point you will want to reboot the server to update the kernels view of the logical volumes.

Now you may check the new size of the physical volume by issuing the command

bash #> pvdisplay

again. Write down the available PE-count (Physical Extents) of the resized volume. This information will be needed in the next step.

Next we will expand your logical volumes to max available size by issuing the command

bash #> lvresize -l (insert Total PE-number) /dev/areca/volume-name

Wait for volume resizing. This will take abt. 3h per TB.

After stopping of all networking services that use the volume and unmounting the volume

bash #> umount /dev/areca/volume-name

(not strictly nescessary since resize2fs supports nowadays online resizing) you may begin priming the system for the expansion of the ext3 filesystem by issuing the command

bash #> e2fsck -vtf /dev/areca/volume-name

This will run a filesystem check on the current filesystem and reset all check-bits so that the resizing utility will run. This will take about an hour per terabyte of data in the array. e2fsck is very bad at telling what it's doing so don't panic if it seems to hang.

Resize the ext3 filesystem by

bash #> resize2fs -p /dev/areca/volume-name

This will take another 30 min - 1h.

After the resize successfully completes reboot the server.

Same as above in a flow chart format

HOWTO: Move the Users-tree to another drive in Vista/Windows 7

WHY MOVE THE C:\Users -TREE TO ANOTHER DRIVE?

Why would someone want to move the C:\Users-directory tree to another drive?

One reason: Storage Capacity.

Windows Vista and 7 store all user- and shared data under the C:\Users -tree and therefore a fast system drive like a smallish SSD or a Velociraptor will inevitably lead to the filling of the whole C:\ -drive because user data like home videos and digital pictures will consume easily hundreds of gigabytes of storage space.

So say you've invested in a fast 64GB SSD-drive and would like to play World of Warcraft and tryout the occasional Public Test Realm versions of it. Your WoW-installations alone will consume 35GB of your limited storage capacity and ass Windows Vista/7 data at about 15-20GB and a few hundred RAW-images and you're out of space badly.

Installing Windows Vista or Windows 7 will replace the old 'Documents and Settings' directory tree as the repository of system users home directories as well as the shared Public-directories like C:\Users\Public\Games\World of Warcraft.

Unfortunately the directory tree contains the user registry and other system files so you cannot just move it to another drive and walk away with a working Windows installation.

As a matter of a fact, your Windows won't be able to logon if something gets screwed-up during the following instructions. -> So make a full image backup NOW!

STEP-BY-STEP INSTRUCTIONS

Here are some step-by-step instructions on how we do this - I don't claim authorship to any of these - I collected the different ideas together that were floating around the blogosphere and tried the different methods until I got it right.

1. Make a full backup image of your system drive (C:\) before you proceed

I found out the hard way that System Restore CANNOT restore a broken linkage of C:\Users nor will renaming the original directory back to its original name fix the error that Windows will crash & burn with if something goes awry.

So you'll want to make a full system backup-image with the Windows Vista/7 Backup/Restore -tool or another similar backup utility that support full volume imaging to get back up after a failed attempt.

2. Make a System Repair Disc with the Vista/7 backup tools for yourself or have the install DVD handy for command shell

Start Control Panel -> System and Security -> Backup and Restore -> Create a system repair disc. You will be asked to insert a CD or DVD into your DVD-burner (either will work since the image is small enough to fit on a normal CD-R disc). Make the disc and label it.

Alternatively, albeit a slower way of getting to a command shell is to boot from the original installation media and select 'Repair system' from the installation menu -> Use recovery tools -> Command Prompt.

3. Make sure your second drive where you're relocating the C:\Users -tree is in such a place that it will be given the same drive letter during a System Repair Boot as it has during normal boot.

This is imperative since the hard linking used in the guide requires you to be able to give the whole drive path including the destination drive letter to link to the new destination and this will fail if the drive letter during SysRepair is different from normal runtime.

In practice this means you need to make the secondary drive the D:\ -drive since the SysRepair command shell will boot to X:\ itself, have an empty C:\ -drive, D:\ will be in its normal place and the ordinary boot drive will be located at E:\ in a two hard drive and a DVD-drive scenario.

I found out this the hard way too with the secondary drive mapped to Z:\ normally and during the System Repair command shell it would end up being D:\ and mess the linkage totally and result in a full restore.

4. Boot into the command shell with the System Repair disc or your original Windows intallation DVD and do the following:

1. Type 'E:' and press 'Enter' to go to your normal boot-up drive

(this may be a different letter if you have a different drive configuration)

2. Type 'robocopy E:\Users D:\Users /MIR /E /XJ /COPYALL DCOPY:T'

(possibly also 'robocopy E:\Users D:\Users /MIR /E /XJ' will be enough - tried both when I succeeded) and press 'Enter'

3. Type 'rmdir /S /Q E:\Users and press 'Enter'

4. Type 'rmdir E:\"Documents and Settings" and press 'Enter'

(Documents and Setting is a hidden hard link (Junction) to C:\Users that won't work if it is pointed to a hard link Junction)

5. Type 'mklink /J Users D:\Users and press 'Enter'

(Note: here the originating link point i.e. C:\Users must and can be given as a relative reference without a drive letter so it can be done even thou the C:\-drive will reside as E:\ -drive during the System Repair command shell.)

6. Type 'mklink /J "Documents and Settings" D:\Users and press 'Enter'

(Note: Same goes for this relink. Also here we link Documents and Settings directly to the real new Users-directory tree to avoid the nested linkage.)

7. Type 'Exit' and press 'Enter' to exit the command shell
8. Reboot the computer normally and you should have a working hardlink to D:\Users from C:\Users and all the space consuming data will end up on the secondary larger drive transparently to the OS.

There are some rumors that this linkage might confuse some backup utilities to make an image backup of both drives and breaking the image doing that.

HOWTO: Install Windows Vista from a high speed USB 2.0 Flash Drive

WHY INSTALL FROM USB FLASH DRIVE?

Why would someone want to install a client OS from a thumb drive instead of a DVDROM or over the network?

One reason: Performance.

Installing Windows Vista from a high speed USB flash drive is in my experience the easiest & fastest way to complete a Windows Vista install.

This is much faster than using a DVD, gigabit ethernet, or possibly even some external USB 2.0 hard drives, due to differences in access speed & transfer rate.

To put this into perspective, y'know how installing Windows on a Virtual PC virtual machine from an .ISO CD image is really, really, really fast? Imagine something roughly just as fast, except for doing installations of the OS on to actual workstations.

STEP-BY-STEP INSTRUCTIONS

Here's some step-by-step instructions on how we do this, some of which was adapted from Josh's instructions, again, kudos to Josh.

1. Acquire an ultra-fast USB 2.0 flash drive

The drive I and my coworkers recommend is the Apacer 4GB Handy Steno USB Flash Drive HT203, 200X Hi-Speed USB 2.0. It's the fastest USB 2.0 Flash Drive that we've found - it has a read speed of 25MBytes/sec. & a write speed-14MBytes/sec and also works great as a ReadyBoost cache.

Incidentally, once you've got Windows Vista up and running, you may want to consider getting an ultra-fast SDFlash card, installing it into your laptop or desktop, and leaving it there as a ReadyBoost cache. Why? It can't hurt and they're so cheap that it's worth getting. I personally got a SDFlash card for every one of my machines - the A-DATA 2GB Secure Digital Memory Card, 150X Turbo SD Card has a read speed of more than 22.5MB/s and a write speed of more than 15MB/s.

2. Format the Apacer Flash Drive

Run CMD.EXE and type the following.

Note: This set of commands assumes that the USB flash drive is addressed as "disk 1". you should double check that by doing a list of the disks (type "list disk") before cleaning it. If you have multiple hard drives, like an SDFlash drive or a Multibay drive, you could end up wiping your second drive using this command. (This was a warning that Josh added to his post along with the following commands that I copied from him, so kudos to Josh)

1. diskpart
2. select disk 1
3. clean
4. create partition primary
5. select partition 1
6. active
7. format fs=fat32
8. assign
9. exit

3. Copy Windows Vista's DVD ROM content to the Flash Drive Simply issue the following command to start copying all the content from the Windows Vista DVD to your newly formatted high speed flash drive.

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

And that's it. Boot up the machine, have it boot off the USB drive, and watch how fast the installation completes. If you thought Windows Vista installed quickly before then let's see how you like it now. The slowest part of the install will probably be the computer waiting for you to type in information in the setup fields, and even that can be automated using the "Windows Automated Installation Kit".

(Original Blog Entry Copied from http://kurtsh.spaces.live.com/blog/cns!DA410C7F7E038D!1665.entry)