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Tech News & Commentary
Larry in Metamora, Michigan listens on CKLW 800 asked us: “Looking to reformat a hard drive that had Windows 7 on it and I noticed that “fdisk” was not available and it did not have a saved partition that had the backup.. How would I go about reformatting the hard drive and using the Windows 7 OS?”
Larry, Fdisk couldn’t handle NTFS partitions, so it never made it onto Windows 7. Windows 7 does come with a tool that will let you format your drive, but it will not let you wipe the partition that Windows lives in.
If you want to do a clean Windows install, to get around that limitation, you need to boot into the Windows installer, as you would if you wanted to install a fresh copy of Windows. After accepting the license’s terms of use, you should be able to choose to do a Custom installation, and that should allow you to select an existing partition and select to delete it under “Drive Options.”
If you just want to wipe a secondary drive, do a search for Storage, then under that, go to Disk Management and you should have the option to format the drive without any trouble.
Booting into the Windows installer is a process that requires you to have one of two things: a bootable Windows CD or DVD, or a bootable USB flash drive. How you do that depends on how you originally purchased Windows.
If you bought Windows from an online store, such as Microsoft’s own, then you can go back there and download the ISO (that’s a disk image file of the Windows DVD) and something called the “Windows USB/DVD Download tool.” That program can create bootable drives.
If your copy of Windows came with your computer, then you need to find another place to download the ISO. We’ll have a link in this week’s show notes to a page that explains where you can get the ISO. But you will also need a Windows 7 key, and if you don’t have that, you won’t be able to reinstall no matter WHAT you do.
We wish that this could be easier for you, and frankly it’s not hard if you’re a tech-savvy guy, but for the average person we recognize that it’s quite fiddly.
For more information tune in to Hour 2 of our podcast.
“This Week in Tech History” Weekly Feature with Chris Graveline
Facebook Participation: “Do YOU have a new 4K Ultra HD TV? You’ll definitely WANT one of these UltraFlix Gift Cards for movies and documentaries and a ton of other cool 4K content. Just ‘like’ this page and then tell us what YOU watch on your 4K Ultra HD TV … and we’ll send you one! (Hurry, while supplies last!)”
Here are some of the responses we shared on the air:
Buddy: Can’t wait for G.I. Joe on Ultraflix! The Armada Channel Rocks!
Austin: I love watching interstellar on ultraflix
Andres: I love watching any sports
Jody: Ultraflix is amazing! Watched Interstellar on UltraFlix 4 times and will watch it many more times! It’s stunning in 4k!
Chris: UltraFlix is fantastic! Interstellar was awesome indeed!
Alan: Just watched Interstellar on UltraFlix!!!
Craig: Love 4k action flix
Chad: I want to watch Interstellar again. And now GI Joe sometime!
Al: Let me get this straight: I like the page and say I like to watch….and you send me one? How much? And there isn’t much ULTRA HD programming yet is there? Not to mention is there anything broadcast over the air yet or on cable? Oh, a “Gift Card”…. Sorry. Great Deal for anyone with a 4K Set.
Guest Segment:
John C. Havens, Author, Hacking Happiness – Transitional Media Consulting
CEA Update with Allison Fried:
Next month, the Consumer Electronics Association will hold its inaugural “CES Asia.” And in addition to bringing the magic of CES to the Asian market, CEA will also co-locate its CEO Summit there. Allison Fried (Freed) explains in this week’s CEA Update.
Sharon in Kansas City, Missouri asked us: “Bluetooth headsets for stereo listening – The ones I find up here are out of my price range. I am hard of hearing, so I can’t really hear the speaker on my iPhone, so I’d like to get a Bluetooth headset for my listening.”
It’s hard to tell what may fit your needs without knowing what price point you’re aiming for. There are a lot of inexpensive bluetooth headsets, unfortunately, they also tend to be terrible.
You should easily be able to find lots of bluetooth stereo headsets online for between $10-15, but you can expect them to be uncomfortable and sound less than great.
If you can stretch to around $40, you’ll start running into well known brands like Plantronics and LG, they won’t be the highest end models, but at least they should sound and feel much better than they cheap $15 generic chinese versions.
If you prefer over the ear sets, they’re usually a little more, but you can still find them starting around $20 or $30, and the great ones will likely be closer to $400.
The question is, what are you looking for? will you be satisfied with mediocre sound? is the volume more important to you than the quality of the audio? If you don’t mind less than stellar sound and don’t plan to wear them for hours at a time, some of the cheaper options may work well for you.
For more information tune in to Hour 2 of our podcast.
This Week’s Prizes for Our Listeners
Education.Com: Several “Brainzy” 12-month codes for online early-learning programs for math and reading. If you’ve got Kids … you WANT one of these!
HD Radio: “Into Tomorrow” branded Portable AM/FM/HD Radios – these are in high demand and give you more FREE radio — the way it should be!
LG: An LG ‘G’ Vista Smartphone with an extra large display and good battery life.
NanoTech: Several UltraFlix Gift Cards for 4K Content, like movies and a ton of other cool stuff. Let us know if you have a 4K Ultra HD TV!
NovaPhotos: A couple of their cool Bluetooth off-camera FLASH units for iPhone (that we featured in a recent ITTV piece). Perfect for Selfies. They have 40 LEDs!