Invalid Characters in File Names

I have a mixed environment with OSX, OpenSuSE, and Windows. Invalid characters in file names always trouble me. Things got more complex when using with online storage service. That’s why I create this page to share my experience.

Use ext4 in External Storage among Linux, MacOSX, and Windows

My Buffalo HD-LX2TU3 comes with NTFS pre-formatted. Because I have Linux and Windows PC, and maybe a OSX later, I decide to use ext4 to minimize invalid characters in filenames. : ” \ / * ? < > | are not allowed in Windows NTFS but only / in ext4 and : in OSX.

Fix Windows 8 Hidden Recovery Partition

ClonZilla refused to create disk images because it found something wrong with the file system in two partitions. One of them is PBR_DRV which is a recovery partitions. I cannot see it in Windows 8.

After running a disk check on the visible partition, ClonZilla may create disk images for it but still stops for error in PBR_DRV. It seems I must do a disk check on PRB_DRV. But how can I check a non-visible partition?

Connect NAS to your Computer Directly

My Lenovo ThinkCentre Edge 72z comes with USB 2.0. Its maximum throughput is 480Mbit/s but the effective is about 35 MB/s or 280 Mbit/s. I want to improve file transfer speed between my computer with external hard disk by replacing USB 2.0 with Gigabit Ethernet which provides higher bandwidth.

If I connect my QNAP TS-112 which has a gigabit ethernet to TL-WR842ND which supports wireless 802.11n with maximum 300MBit/s and wired fast ethernet with maximum 100Mbit/s, the bottleneck will limit the transfer speed to 100Mbit/s. There are two solutions to improve: get a faster wireless router or connect TS-112 to ThinkCentre Edge 72z directly.

Because my ThinkCentre Edge 72z connect to TL-WR842ND via wireless 802.11n, I have an empty gigabit ethernet. Therefore, I choose to connect TS-112 with gigabit ethernet directly. TS-112 may access internet through the wireless connection on ThinkCentre Edge 72z when it is working.But nobody may see it, even we share the same wireless router.

Boot Process in Windows and Linux with BIOS or UEFI

I still have many questions about the boot process. There are still many things confusing me, especially with UEFI. Here is what I understand and summarized:

How to Fix Windows 8 Boot Error

When I was setting up my new Lenovo C440, Windows 8.1 refused to boot after a restore from ClonZilla. and complains about error in boot partition. It try to fix automatically but still fail to boot.

I can see my Windows partition but not sure what’s the problem. It was recovery by fixing master boot record (MBR), boot sector, and rebuild the boot configuration data (BCD).

If you have the same boot fail problem like me, try to fix them first.

Shutdown, Hybrid Boot, and Hibernate in Windows 8

When I was configuring my Lenovo C440, sometimes the select boot device menu won’t be available after shutdown Windows 8.  It becomes available again after I choose reboot instead of shutdown.

After some googling, I realize the shutdown feature has changed in Windows 8. You may switch between complete shutdown or hybrid shutdown.

Partition Error and Fail to Install GRUB on Windows 8 Hard Disk

I have install Windows 8 Professional on my hard disk. It works fine until it is moved to another computer for Linux.

At first, I use Clonezilla to do drive-to-drive copy. It fails to copy grub to destination disk. Even I use GPartrd to delete all existing partition, it’s the same.

svhost.exe in Windows XP keep on running 99% of CPU Usage

After a fresh install of Windows XP on my VirtualBox, I notice some program keep on using CPU while I am installing other programs. Windows Task Manager identify it is svhost.exe who  use 99% of CPU time.

Install Windows 8 in VirtualBox

When I try to install Windows 8 on my VirtualBox in OpenSuSE, it stops the booting and hows error message: