Computer Hardware Servicing NC II Tutorial

These days, storage capacities of devices are becoming larger and larger. About four years ago, a 512 MB USB Flashdrive was a star. As of today, we have Kingston 128 GB DataTraveller that is so unimaginable. So as portable data storage devices are becoming extremely spacious, the need for users to copy large amount of data and files are also increasing proportionately. That means to say that when copying very large large, a very much longer time will it take to copy those files.

Such a problem can however be solved using programs or software that can make copying of files a lot faster. These programs are extensions that can really make copying of files easier and faster. To be able to enjoy the benefit these programs, all you need to do is to install it.

Here are some of the programs that I personally use in my computer and in our school.

• TeraCopy
  This was the first of the programs that I love to install to speed up copying of files in my computer. TeraCopy is free and easy to use. When you try to copy bulk files or large files, Teracopy automatically runs upon pasting in of the copied files to the new location or directory.



• TotalCopy
  It is more like a Windows addon that will give you options when you click right on a a file or folder to copy. The best thing with this is that you can actually change the copying speed, or even have he pause-resume option. I have heard that this doesn't run well in Windows 7 but I need to verify it myself.



• FastCopy
  This is one of the oldest softwares to make copying fast. It is another windows addon similar to Totalcopy. It has options on which to paste in the copied files. This is my favorite tool of choice when trying to backup very very large files like to backup a hard drive because it seldom fails or gives errors.

I have also noticed that when you install both TeraCopy and Fastcopy, the dialoue box that will appear when you copy is that of Teracopy's but the color of the status bar is blue (FastCopy's) instead of the default green of TeraCopy's.

The programs above mentioned can drastically make copying of files faster. Even faster than how Linux can copy files. Copying large files will be a lot faster and easier eliminating the long wait. Though there are many other programs that can make copying of files faster, the programs mentioned above are freeware. It's free to use and free to download!

How important is hiding files in a picture? Sometimes we need to keep our files not easily accessible to others by hiding them using a program or software . We use encryption and simple giving of attributes to files and folders. But there is also a tricky and easy way to do it by using WinRar and some simple NT command syntax.

Yup using WinRar and simple NT command syntax will do the job easily. Let us now start binding files into your picture.


What You Need to Hide Files in a Picture

File or Files to be hidden
WinRar should be installed in your computer
An image file which I prefer you use .jpg file


Procedure on How to Hide Files in a Picture

1. Create a folder in Drive C: and name it as "embed"

2. Copy the files you wish to embed to folder embed which you have created earlier.

3. Select or highlight all the files inside folder embed and click right on one of the items and choose 'Add to "your_files.rar"'. You should see an archive in this directory.

4. Add a jpg file. Let us assume we have placed clhidohsr.jpg (which you can have your own filename of course) inside folder "embed".

5. Go to "Run" from the start menu, type "cmd" and press "Enter"

6. Once you are inside command, type "cd\" then "cd embed". The purpose of typing "cd\" is to bring you to the default root directory. Typing "cd embed" lets you go in to directory embed or the going inside the folder you created earlier named "embed" in drive C:

7. Once you are inside directory "embed", type the following :

copy /b clhidohsr.jpg + your_files clhidohsr.jpg

8. You're done! Piture clhidosr.jpg now has the rar files with it. Changing filename clhidohsr.jpg into another filename is ok. You can extract your files by clicking right on the clhidohsr.jpg image and choose "Open With" then "Choose Program" and finally choose WinRar.


Using Command to Archive and Extract Files


To Add an Archive using WinRar Command

1. Go to "Start" then go to "Run" then "CMD"
2. As the command prompt windows appears, set a path to be able to use command prompt in archiving files. Be sure to have winrar installed on your computer.

set path=%programfiles%\winrar\;%path%

3. Prepare the files or files for archiving and use the code below :

rar a my_compressed_files kagome\*.*


That's it! folder"my_compressed_files" will be your archived files name and "kagome" will be your folder name that contains your files


To extract a rar file using command

If the rar path hasn't set yet, set it. Do follow instruction number 2 at archiving files using command.

1. Once the path has been set, use the following syntax

unrar e my_compressed_files.rar


That's it! You can really do archiving using rar's command. I even made a batch file (TSL) to archive then embed the files in a picture. TSL or Tago sa Litrato are Visayan words meaning Hidden in a Picture.


Using TSL to Hide Files in a Picture

1. Download TSL

2. Run TSL. Upon executing TSL, a folder named "keeper" will appear. Folder "keeper" should then contain all the files you wish to embed - so copy your files in it. An image file ( secret.jpg ) will also appear and this will be the image that your archived files be binded with. You can however delete this image and replace it with your own image but please rename your new image first as "secret". Only jpg files are used for this tiny batch file.

3. After having a secret.jpg file and had already copied files to folder keeper, go to the TSL window and read the menu.

Option 1 asks you if you want to embed the files from folder "keeper".
Option 2 asks you if you want to extract the files from an image named "secret.jpg"
Option 3 asks you if you want to quit or exit
Option 4 asks you if you want to visit our blog.

Since we want to embed the files, we choose 1. After the files are successfully embedded or binded in picture "secret.jpg", we can now exit by choosing option 3.

You can now also rename the secret.jpg to whatever name you want.

4. If however you want to extract the files from your file binded image, you must have TSL in the same directory as your image file. Please rename your file to "secret.jpg" or simply click right on the file binded image and select "Rename" then rename it to "secret".

5. Run TSL and choose 2 to be able to extract the files. A folder will be created named "extracted_files" which now contains the files having been extracted from your secret.jpg file.

Hope our little TSL batch file script helps you with your hiding files in pictures. Just a caution, use only .jpg files and please do not forget to rename your .jpg picture to "secret.jpg" before extracting and DO NOT OVERWRITE image or surely you'll lose your image and files. Enjoy hiding files in pictures!