Kernel for Windows Data Recovery - Your best friend in need!

In this digital era, when most of our activities, including personal photos, videos, work related documents, important files are kept in form of soft copies in some hard disk.
We all have that one fear, or rather, our worst nightmare that, what if the hard disk is corrupted one day?! All these documents are gone?! Hmm. Some of us would have experienced it already! :(

One of my friend, who was working in some government office, suddenly called me one day, and asked me for suggesting some data recovery software. He lost some important official document, His hard disk got corrupted and he didn't had any backup.

So I started searching a bit on these data recovery software available. I came across this: Kernel for Windows Data Recovery.

Let us first check how to use it.
I will start with, how to install Kernel for Windows Data Recovery.

Installation is way too simple.
1. Click on this link to download Kernel for Windows Data Recovery officially.
[ Link: http://www.nucleustechnologies.com/Windows-Data-Recovery-Software.html ]
2. You will get Nucleus-Kernel-FAT-NTFS.exe. Click on file to start installation.
3. Accept the agreement and click next, next, next and install. Once finished, you can launch the software.

How to use?
Usage is also fairly simple and very straightforward. Usable by any individual PC user also.

Open the application
If you have not registered, either register or apply the key that you got when you purchase the product.
Click here if you want to buy now!

Front page of Kernel application

Click on your choice. You can
1. Quick Scan
2. Extensive Scan
3. File Scan.

I did a quick scan on my hard disk. I can see many my old deleted files.

Select the needed hard disk.

Click Next

Click next.

Click on needed files that you need to recover, and click "Recover"! That's it. The rest will be taken care by Kernel! :)

You can see progress bar.

My some 700MB file took less than half a minute to recover.

There are many user settings available for power user.

In my opinion, this is one of the best data recovery software available for Windows recovery, especially for those individuals who have limited technical knowledge.

Here is the official website of Kernel for Windows Data Recovery.
[Link : http://www.nucleustechnologies.com/ ]

They have many other products such as:
Kernel for Exchange Server Recovery
Kernel for Windows Recovery
Kernel Exchange Suite
Kernel Outlook Suite

etc..

If you have used the product, or any other recovery tool, please let us know your experience, by commenting below. Thanks for reading

Low cost development boards for experimenting/DIY purposes with Windows OS support

There are many low-cost, tiny, but yet powerful development boards available for general use or development purposes. The main pro of these boards is that, with few add-ons, can be used as a tablet or as a PC also.

Here I’m listing few such boards or PCs. These PCs supports latest version of Windows that is Windows 10. Few of these boars uses ARM based processors, which supports Windows 10 IoT core, a version of Windows 10 that is optimized for smaller devices.

RaspberryPi:

The RaspberryPi is a low cost, credit-card sized computer that plugs into a computer monitor or TV, and uses a standard keyboard and mouse. It is a capable little device that enables people of all ages to explore computing, and to learn how to program in languages like Scratch and Python. It’s capable of doing everything you’d expect a desktop computer to do, from browsing the internet and playing high-definition video, to making spreadsheets, word-processing, and playing games.

What’s more, the RaspberryPi has the ability to interact with the outside world, and has been used in a wide array of digital maker projects, from music machines and parent detectors to weather stations and tweeting birdhouses with infra-red cameras. We want to see the Raspberry Pi being used by kids all over the world to learn to program and understand how computers work.

Latest version of RaspberryPi is RP3. See specs. All these for just within Rs. 3000 in India.

1.       A 1.2GHz 64-bit quad-core ARMv8 CPU

2.       802.11n Wireless LAN             

3.       Bluetooth 4.1

4.       Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE)

5.       1GB RAM

6.       4 USB ports

7.       40 GPIO pins

8.       Full HDMI port

9.       Ethernet port

10.   Combined 3.5mm audio jack and composite video

11.   Camera interface (CSI)

12.   Display interface (DSI)

13.   Micro SD card slot (now push-pull rather than push-push)

14. VideoCore IV 3D graphics core

Website: https://www.raspberrypi.org

Buy now: https://www.element14.com/community/community/raspberry-pi

Coming to Windows support part, go to link: https://developer.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/iot

Quoting it here:                                              

Raspberry Pi 3 now available

Get your hands on the new Raspberry Pi 3 board with Windows 10 IoT Core, now part of the NOOBS installer. We've released a new Windows 10 IoT Core Insider Preview through Windows Insider that will let you take full advantage of Raspberry Pi 3.

·         Purchase Raspberry Pi 3

·         Become a Windows Insider

·         Get started with NOOBS

A link on RP.org: https://www.raspberrypi.org/blog/windows-10-for-iot/

You can also get one open source Windows CE BSP for RaspBerryPi on codeplex: https://ceonpi.codeplex.com/

MinnowBoard MAX:

MinnowBoard MAX is the second generation MinnowBoard (released in July 2014), updating and replacing the original MinnowBoard. The MinnowBoard MAX board has an upgraded 64-bit Intel®Atom™ E3800 (Bay Trail-I) processor with better graphics and revised I/O, shrinks the footprint by more than half, supports additional operating systems (Linux, Android, and Windows) and significantly improves on the original board on price, performance, and energy consumption.

Official website: http://wiki.minnowboard.org/MinnowBoard_MAX

Where to buy: http://www.mouser.in/MinnowBoard/

The price is around Rs. 15,000

BeagleBone Black:

High-performance, low-power world with the tiny, affordable, open-source Beagles. Putting Android, Ubuntu and other Linux flavors at your fingertips, the Beagle family revs as high as 1GHz with flexible peripheral interfaces and a proven ecosystem of feature-rich "Cape" plug-in boards.

Official Website: https://beagleboard.org/black

1.       Processor: AM335x 1GHz ARM® Cortex-A8

2.       512MB DDR3 RAM

3.       4GB 8-bit eMMC on-board flash storage

4.       3D graphics accelerator

5.       NEON floating-point accelerator

6.       2x PRU 32-bit microcontrollers

Connectivity          

7.       USB client for power & communications

8.       USB host

9.       Ethernet

10.   HDMI

11.   2x 46 pin headers

Software Compatibility

12.   Debian

13.   Android

14.   Ubuntu

15.   Cloud9 IDE on Node.js w/ BoneScript library

Plus much more

So, there is no official Windows OS available for this. But you can get an open source Windows CE BSP for BeagleBone! Get it here on CodePlex: https://beaglebonebsp.codeplex.com/

Where to buy: http://in.element14.com/PFCMSContentRequest?isRedirect=true&bespokepage=e14/common/wp/promotions/beaglebone.jsp

Price is around Rs. 4000

LattePanda:

This one is very recent project, backed by many backers on KickStarter, “LattePanda”!

LattePanda is featured with quad-core 1.8Ghz, 2/4G RAM, 32/64 GB eMMC, WIFI, Bluetooth 4.0 and USB 3.0, plus onboard Arduino processor!

You will get pre-installed Windows 10, with license key, total price is around 8000 INR!

Official Website: http://www.lattepanda.com/

Kickstarter Campaign: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/139108638/lattepanda-a-45-win10-computer-for-everything

Where to buy: http://www.dfrobot.com/index.php?route=product/category&path=153_157

Intel Galileo:

The Intel® Galileo Gen 2 board is the first in a family of Arduino-certified development and prototyping boards based on Intel® architecture and specifically designed for makers, students, educators, and DIY electronics enthusiasts.

• Intel® Quark™ SoC X1000 application processor, a 32-bit, single-core, single-thread, Intel® Pentium® processor instruction set architecture (ISA)-compatible, operating at speeds up to 400 MHz.

• Support for a wide range of industry standard I/O interfaces, including a full-sized mini-PCI Express* slot, 100 Mb Ethernet port, microSD slot, USB host port, and USB client port.

• 256 MB DDR3, 512 kb embedded SRAM, 8 MB NOR Flash, and 8 kb EEPROM standard on the board, plus support for microSD card up to 32 GB.

• Hardware and pin compatibility with a wide range of Arduino Uno R3 shields.

• Programmable through the Arduino integrated development environment (IDE) that is supported on Microsoft Windows, Mac OS, and Linux host operating systems.

• Support for Yocto 1.4 Poky Linux release.

• 6-pin 3.3V USB TTL UART header replaces 3.5-mm jack RS-232 console port for Linux debug. New 6-pin connector mates with standard FTDI* USB serial cable (TTL-232R-3V3) and popular USB-to-Serial breakout boards. 12 GPIOs now fully native for greater speed and improved drive strength.

• 12-bit pulse-width modulation (PWM) for more precise control of servos and smoother response.

• Console UART1 can be redirected to Arduino headers in sketches, eliminating the need for soft-serial in many cases.

• 12V power-over-Ethernet (PoE) capable (PoE module installation required).

• Power regulation system changed to accept power supplies from 7V to 15V.

• The Intel® IoT Developer Kit for Intel® Galileo Gen 2 adds C, C++, Python, and Node.js/Javascript support for developing connected sensor Internet-of-Things applications.

• Intel Galileo also supports the Wyliodrin platform that provides C, Python, Node.js, and Visual Programming environments from a remotely-connected browser.

• In addition to open source Yocto Linux, Intel Galileo Gen 2 supports VxWorks (RTOS), and now Microsoft Windows is supported directly from Microsoft.

Official Website: http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/do-it-yourself/galileo-maker-quark-board.html

Where to buy: http://www.intel.com/buy/us/en/product/emergingtechnologies/intel-galileo-gen-2-board-462661

Arduino development boards:

The Uno is a microcontroller board based on the ATmega328P. It has 14 digital input/output pins (of which 6 can be used as PWM outputs), 6 analog inputs, a 16 MHz quartz crystal, a USB connection, a power jack, an ICSP header and a reset button. It contains everything needed to support the microcontroller; simply connect it to a computer with a USB cable or power it with a AC-to-DC adapter or battery to get started. You can tinker with your UNO without worrying too much about doing something wrong, worst case scenario you can replace the chip for a few dollars and start over again.

"Uno" means one in Italian and was chosen to mark the release of Arduino Software (IDE) 1.0. The Uno board and version 1.0 of Arduino Software (IDE) were the reference versions of Arduino, now evolved to newer releases. The Uno board is the first in a series of USB Arduino boards, and the reference model for the Arduino platform; for an extensive list of current, past or outdated boards see the Arduino index of boards.

Official website: https://www.arduino.cc/en/Main/ArduinoBoardUno

Where to buy: https://store.arduino.cc/

So, all these boards are very useful for students or individuals who want to experiment with, or do some DIY Projects or want to do small academic projects with embedded system and embedded software such as Windows, Android or Linux. These boards are not only low-cost but also very powerful and compact in size.

These are also useful for individuals who want to use low-cost and compact PCs, as, with some add-ons these boards will work as a simple tablet or PC!

A quick-start guide to build, setup, boot to, and use the UEFI shell

My new task is on UEFI (Unified EFI or Unified Extensible Firmware Interface).

What is UEFI?

UEFI (Unified Extensible Firmware Interface) is a standard firmware interface for PCs, designed to replace BIOS (basic input/output system). This standard was created by over 140 technology companies as part of the UEFI consortium, including Microsoft.
Source code is made open source and available in Tianocore GitHub and EDK2 SourceForge.

Some quick links on UEFI:

Official Website: http://www.uefi.org

Definition: http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/Unified-Extensible-Firmware-Interface-UEFI

Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unified_Extensible_Firmware_Interface

Technical Wiki: http://wiki.phoenix.com/wiki/index.php/UEFI

Tianocore GitHub: https://github.com/tianocore/

EDK2 project on SourceForge: https://sourceforge.net/projects/edk2/

Intel FW develop: https://firmware.intel.com/develop

As title indicates, this post is mainly about, “Quick-start guide to build and setup the UEFI shell”, for developing and testing some simple UEFI applications.

I have used UDK2014 for my work. So, here goes the steps that I have followed.

Step 1: Get UDK2014 from this link: https://sourceforge.net/projects/edk2/files/UDK2014_Releases/UDK2014/UDK2014.Complete.MyWorkSpace.zip/download

 (You can use UDK2015 as well, which is latest release from this link: https://sourceforge.net/projects/edk2/files/UDK2015_Releases/UDK2015/UDK2015.Complete.MyWorkSpace.zip/download , but I have tested UDK2014.)

[Note: Your PC should have Visual Studio 2008 or 2010 installed.]

Step 2: The downloaded zip file contains two more zip files. ie: BaseTools(Windows).zip and UDK2014.MyWorkSpace.zip.

First, extract UDK2014.MyWorkSpace.zip. You will get MyWorkSpace folder which contains folders: Conf, CryptoPkg... etc.

Step 3: Now Unzip BaseTools(Windows).zip. You will get two folders: BaseTools, Conf and edksetup.bat file. Copy and paste these files to MyWorkSpace folder that you have got in step 2. If asked for replace, you can either keep old files/folders or replace with new. Both are same.

Step 4: Copy this MyWorkSpace folder to any location of your choise. In my experiments, I used C:\efi

The tree will look like below:

   C:  

      |

      |--à   efi

                     |

                     |--à MyWorkSpace

                                                      |

                                                      |--à BaseTools

                                                      |--à Conf

                                                      |--à CryptoPkg

                                                      |--à etc....

Step 3: Open command prompt and cd to MyWorkSpace\

cd C:\efi\MyWorkSpace

Step 4: Type the command

edksetup --NT32

to initialize the build environment.

You may see below error:

!!! ERROR !!! No tools path available. Please set EDK_TOOLS_PATH !!!

or similar.

Step 5: Type the command:

                                set EDK_TOOLS_PATH=c:\efi\myworkspace\basetools

ie: Path for your BaseTools folder (myworkspace\basetools).

Step 6: Run the command

edksetup --NT32

again to initialize the build environment.

You will see something like these lines:

C:\efi\MyWorkSpace>edksetup --NT32

          PATH      = C:\efi\MyWorkSpace\BaseTools\Bin;C:\efi\MyWorkSpace\BaseTools\Bin\Win32;C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 9.0\Common7\IDE;C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 9.0\VC\BIN;C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 9.0\Common7\Tools;C:\Windows\Microsoft

.NET\Framework\v3.5;C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v2.0.50727;C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 9.0\VC\VCPackages;C:\Program Files\Microsoft SDKs\Windows\v6.0A\bin;C:\ProgramData\Oracle\Java\javapath;C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Windows Live;C:\Program Files (x86)\

Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Windows Live;C:\Program Files (x86)\Intel\iCLS Client\;C:\Program Files\Intel\iCLS Client\;C:\Windows\system32;C:\Windows;C:\Windows\System32\Wbem;C:\Windows\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\;C:\Program Files\Intel\Intel(R) Management Engine Components\DAL;C:\Program Fil

es\Intel\Intel(R) Management Engine Components\IPT;C:\Program Files (x86)\Intel\Intel(R) Management Engine Components\DAL;C:\Program Files (x86)\Intel\Intel(R) Management Engine Components\IPT;C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SQL Server\90\Tools\binn\;C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Live\Shared;C:\Pr

ogram Files\TortoiseSVN\bin;C:\Program Files\Microsoft Network Monitor 3\;C:\Program Files (x86)\Skype\Phone\;C:\Program Files (x86)\Atmel\sam-ba_2.16\drv\;C:\Program Files (x86)\Atmel\sam-ba_2.16;C:\Program Files (x86)\Google\Chrome\Application;C:\Users\keshavagn\AppData\Local\Programs\Git\cmd

               

     WORKSPACE      = C:\efi\MyWorkSpace

EDK_TOOLS_PATH      = C:\efi\MyWorkSpace\BaseTools

Rebuilding of tools is not required.  Binaries of the latest,

tested versions of the tools have been tested and included in the

EDK II repository.

If you really want to build the tools, use the ForceRebuild option.

!!! WARNING !!! No CYGWIN_HOME set, gcc build may not be used !!!

C:\efi\MyWorkSpace>

Step 7: Build the virtual BIOS environment:

build -t VS2008x86

for Visual Studio 2008. (build -t VS2008 for 32 bit machines)

build -t VS2010x86

for Visual Studio 2010. (build -t VS2010 for 32 bit machines)

Note: alternately, you can edit C:\efi\MyWorkSpace\Conf\target.txt, change

TOOL_CHAIN_TAG        = VS2008x86

[or any applicable value], Save, and then just run command

build

You will see lines like below:

C:\efi\MyWorkSpace>build -t VS2008x86

Build environment: Windows-7-6.1.7601-SP1

Build start time: 10:12:46, Jun.30 2016

WORKSPACE        = c:\efi\myworkspace

ECP_SOURCE       = c:\efi\myworkspace\edkcompatibilitypkg

EDK_SOURCE       = c:\efi\myworkspace\edkcompatibilitypkg

EFI_SOURCE       = c:\efi\myworkspace\edkcompatibilitypkg

EDK_TOOLS_PATH   = c:\efi\myworkspace\basetools

Architecture(s)  = IA32

Build target     = DEBUG

Toolchain        = VS2008x86

Active Platform          = c:\efi\myworkspace\Nt32Pkg\Nt32Pkg.dsc

Flash Image Definition   = c:\efi\myworkspace\Nt32Pkg\Nt32Pkg.fdf

Processing meta-data ...

etc

At the completion of compilation, you will see below window:

Step 8: Now build is completed. You can open UEFI emulator!

cd to Build\NT32IA32\DEBUG_VS2010x86\IA32

cd Build\NT32IA32\DEBUG_VS2010x86\IA32

and open SECMAIN.EXE

                   secmain.exe

It will open emulator as shown below.

A virtual machine will start and you will boot to an EFI shell.

So here comes UEFI shell, on emulator window:

Type “help” to see all supported commands:

Type “helloworld.efi”, to open helloworld.efi application. (The code resides at: C:\efi\MyWorkSpace\MdeModulePkg\Application\HelloWorld)

Step 9: How to boot an UEFI-compatible (?) PC to UEFI shell?

i.                     Copy the file: C:\efi\MyWorkSpace\EdkShellBinPkg\FullShell\X64\Shell_Full.efi to a pen-drive (thumb-drive) as: \EFI\BOOT\BOOTX64.efi .

ii.                   Boot the PC with this pen-drive connected to PC’s USB port.

iii.                  Press F12. You will see screen below.

iv.                 Navigate to your pen-drive name (“UEFI: Generic-SD/MMC 1.00” in my case).

v.                    Press Enter. You will see UEFI shell (same as above emulator pics)

Step 10: So, my intention was to (create and) open one helloworld application. There is one helloworld application already. But in all these steps, we built the binary for IA32. Not x86. So you won’t be able to run helloworld.efi on actual UEFI shell.

For this, we need to build helloworld.efi for x86. Do the below changes for doing this:

For building, use this command:

Build -t VS2008x86 -a X64 -p MdeModulePkg/MdeModulePkg.dsc

[Alternatively, you can also edit “target.txt” as explained already, with above parameters]

You will see below lines:

C:\efi\MyWorkSpace>Build -t VS2008x86 -a X64 -p MdeModulePkg/MdeModulePkg.dsc

Build environment: Windows-7-6.1.7601-SP1

Build start time: 10:51:38, Jun.30 2016

WORKSPACE        = c:\efi\myworkspace

ECP_SOURCE       = c:\efi\myworkspace\edkcompatibilitypkg

EDK_SOURCE       = c:\efi\myworkspace\edkcompatibilitypkg

EFI_SOURCE       = c:\efi\myworkspace\edkcompatibilitypkg

EDK_TOOLS_PATH   = c:\efi\myworkspace\basetools

Architecture(s)  = X64

Build target     = DEBUG

Toolchain        = VS2008x86

Active Platform          = c:\efi\myworkspace\MdeModulePkg\MdeModulePkg.dsc

Processing meta-data ...

.

etc.

.

Generating code

Finished generating code

        "GenFw" -e DXE_SMM_DRIVER -o c:\efi\myworkspace\Build\MdeModule\DEBUG_VS2008x86\X64\MdeModulePkg\Universal\Acpi\SmmS3SaveState\SmmS3SaveState\DEBUG\SmmS3SaveState.efi c:\efi\myworkspace\Build\MdeModule\DEBUG_VS2008x86\X64\MdeModulePkg\Universal\Acpi\SmmS3SaveState\SmmS3SaveState\DEBUG\SmmS3S

aveState.dll

        copy /y c:\efi\myworkspace\Build\MdeModule\DEBUG_VS2008x86\X64\MdeModulePkg\Universal\Acpi\SmmS3SaveState\SmmS3SaveState\DEBUG\SmmS3SaveState.efi c:\efi\myworkspace\Build\MdeModule\DEBUG_VS2008x86\X64\MdeModulePkg\Universal\Acpi\SmmS3SaveState\SmmS3SaveState\OUTPUT

        1 file(s) copied.

        copy /y c:\efi\myworkspace\Build\MdeModule\DEBUG_VS2008x86\X64\MdeModulePkg\Universal\Acpi\SmmS3SaveState\SmmS3SaveState\DEBUG\SmmS3SaveState.efi c:\efi\myworkspace\Build\MdeModule\DEBUG_VS2008x86\X64

        1 file(s) copied.

        copy /y c:\efi\myworkspace\Build\MdeModule\DEBUG_VS2008x86\X64\MdeModulePkg\Universal\Acpi\SmmS3SaveState\SmmS3SaveState\DEBUG\*.map c:\efi\myworkspace\Build\MdeModule\DEBUG_VS2008x86\X64\MdeModulePkg\Universal\Acpi\SmmS3SaveState\SmmS3SaveState\OUTPUT

c:\efi\myworkspace\Build\MdeModule\DEBUG_VS2008x86\X64\MdeModulePkg\Universal\Acpi\SmmS3SaveState\SmmS3SaveState\DEBUG\SmmS3SaveState.map

        1 file(s) copied.

- Done -

Build end time: 10:54:40, Jun.30 2016

Build total time: 00:03:02

C:\efi\MyWorkSpace>

After build is completed, go to folder: C:\efi\MyWorkSpace\Build\MdeModule\DEBUG_VS2008x86\X64 . Helloworld.efi resides here.

Just copy this to your pen-drive. Boot into UEFI as explained already, and type command: helloworld.efi. Congratulations. You have successfully opened one UEFI app! ;)

I will write about how we can create new application package and build your first UEFI app in a new blog post. :) Thanks.

[Disclaimer: The name of this blog is WEC7 (Windows Embedded Compact 7). WEC7 was my first project, and I was working on different versions of WinCE (Windows CE) from last four years. But I write any article related to Embedded Software, as my work includes not just WinCE, but any OS or BIOS or boot loader. This is one such post. J This blog post is not related to WinCE in any manner. ;)

The UEFI source code is open source, and so is this blog post :) Many parts of post may be taken from somewhere on internet, and put together by me as I went on working. :P

 Thanks . :) ]