Association Puzzle

Guest Blog: Saving a Dead Hard Drive by Joanna Pineda

Editor’s Note: This amazing story was shared on an ASAE & The Center listserv and I asked the author to please share it here too. Obviously, it’s not just people that get crazy from the heat.

 

 

A couple of weeks ago, my son's preschool director had a dead drive.  I took it home to my husband who looked at it, ran diagnostics, tried a boot disk -- nothing, the drive could not be recognized.  Our senior network administrator tried, too -- nothing.

 

So we decided to put it in the freezer, as the old urban legend says.

OMG -- wouldn't you know it, it worked! We put it in the freezer for over 24 hours and when my husband remounted it, the drive was recognized and he was able to get ALL of the data.

*Put your hard drive in a freezer bag -- buy a good one to keep out moisture

*Keep the drive in the freezer long enough for the parts to cool down; we kept it in for over 24 hours

*Be sure you have a spare drive ready to copy all data

*Document drive details like partitions, OS, etc.

*Don't rely on the drive to keep working more than once; pull the data and run

*Make sure you have plenty of time to work on the recovery; you probably won't have more than one shot at getting the data

 

 I have more details on my blog, but I just had to share!!!!!

 http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/cryogenics-for-the-terminally-dead-hard-drive/

 

Joanna M. Pineda

CEO/Chief Troublemaker

Matrix Group International, Inc.

Phone: (703) 838-9777

Fax: (703) 838-9799

E-mail: jpineda@matrixgroup.net

Web: http://www.matrixgroup.net

Blog: http://www.TheMatriXFiles.net

 

 *** Award-winning Web design, application development, hosting and integration services. ***

Guest Blog: Get the Right Files to Your Printer and Designer

Editor's Note: Guest Blogs is a new category where Association Puzzle shares the experience and insight from a variety of people in the association community. Today's Guest Blog is by Sherry Stoner, a freelance graphic designer, and she clearly explains the best way to get that art to the printer or designer without making everyone crazy. Sherry's contact information is at the end of the blog.

If you need to send “print ready” files to your printer or designer, here are some things to note in preparing your materials:

If there is text involved, the best format is the native format (program that was used to actually create the ad) along with all fonts and supporting art (pictures, logos, etc.) that were placed in the document.

If you don’t want to send native files, you can send a pdf, or eps file – if the files are created correctly.

EPS files are actually best for vector-based ads (ads with text) because it keeps the text clean. However, if sending files in this format, the text will need to be outlined in order to eliminate any font issues that may arise.

The danger of requesting a jpeg or tif file is that the client will most likely not understand what is meant by "high res" and send a low-quality image file. The text will be rasterized on jpeg files and tif files, and unless the resolution is high enough, the text will be fuzzy and pixelated.

A pdf will be just fine – if the pdf is generated correctly. These things need to happen in a pdf to make it correct and deliver the high quality you want to see in print:

1. Make sure the quality setting is set to "print quality." Do not use "screen quality" or “smallest files size” setting.
2. Make sure to tell it to "embed all fonts" (otherwise, the fonts will default to something whacky!)

That’s all it takes to create a high quality print file that will be easy to use for both your designer and printer of choice. If these settings are used, and the artwork that is actually placed in the native files was high res to begin with, then the pdf will work just fine.

If, however, low res images were used in the layout (which happens often) then, the text will look good, but the images will not be sharp.

A few other things to note:

*Make sure all of the images you use are in the correct color mode – cmyk if you are printing cmyk and grayscale if you are printing black and white.

*Make sure the original images placed in your artwork are high res (usually 300 dpi or greater) at the final scaled size (that means, if you blow up an image, you will decrease your resolution by whatever percentage you have increased).

Example: if you have an image that is 300 dpi at 1” x 1” and resize it to be 2” x 2”, then it will decrease the resolution to 150 dpi. However, if you have an image that is 72 dpi at 12” x 12” and scale it down to 2.8” x 2.8”, then the effective resolution will be 300 (that’s why some of your 72 dpi images work and some don’t).

While the world of design and print can be confusing, today’s technology makes it easy for everyone to work together and share files. A few simple steps can make your print project a breeze!

Sherry Stoner
Graphic Designer
sherrystnr@yahoo.com
304-676-3243