Automated photo scanner?

[GreyGeek]

At the dept of revenue we photographed every document (tax returns, mail and various filings) that was received at the dept. The hardware, IIRC, was a 1995 Xerox server running a Sun Solaris and specialized software which controlled Beckman cameras which photographed both sides of a document simultaneously as each document was fed into the machine and pulled between two plates of glass. Clerks entered the date and description of the files and the resulting index was linked to the jpg photos automatically as batch files which were later processed and verified by other clerks before each batch was committed to the server. The jpg photos averaged 50-100Kb, depending on the size of the documents. As it turned out the system hung up or crashed on occasions and instead of doing a safe shutdown or an fsck on startup they just booted it up and worked away. Eventually it refused to boot. The It folks reduced it to an HD problem. They knew I was using a SuSE 6.3 system in my office so they brought it to me and asked if I could recover the data on it. While the OS was corrupted and wouldn't run, the HD could be mounted just fine. I used dd to create an a 2GB image of the file and then used a hex editor to isolate large blocks of text and jpg images. There were about 15,000 documents and associated index files containing identifying info. I was able to recover all but a couple hundred images and index sections.

A few years ago the daughter of a friend of my son lost her desktop HD and all the 1,400+ photos of her Wyoming vacation AND her senior year thesis paper, which she needed to submit to get her BS in Biology. A recovery company gave her an estimate of over $300 to recover them. She couldn't afford it. I used an early version of PhotoRec to restore ALL of ther jpg files and her thesis. It took about 5 hours, but I was asleep while it ran. My bill? $0.

You have to love the power and affordability of Linux

[DoYouKubuntu]

At the dept of revenue we photographed every document (tax returns, mail and various filings) that was received at the dept. The hardware, IIRC, was a 1995 Xerox server running a Sun Solaris and specialized software which controlled Beckman cameras which photographed both sides of a document simultaneously as each document was fed into the machine and pulled between two plates of glass. Clerks entered the date and description of the files and the resulting index was linked to the jpg photos automatically as batch files which were later processed and verified by other clerks before each batch was committed to the server. The jpg photos averaged 50-100Kb, depending on the size of the documents. As it turned out the system hung up or crashed on occasions and instead of doing a safe shutdown or an fsck on startup they just booted it up and worked away. Eventually it refused to boot. The It folks reduced it to an HD problem. They knew I was using a SuSE 6.3 system in my office so they brought it to me and asked if I could recover the data on it. While the OS was corrupted and wouldn't run, the HD could be mounted just fine. I used dd to create an a 2GB image of the file and then used a hex editor to isolate large blocks of text and jpg images. There were about 15,000 documents and associated index files containing identifying info. I was able to recover all but a couple hundred images and index sections.

A few years ago the daughter of a friend of my son lost her desktop HD and all the 1,400+ photos of her Wyoming vacation AND her senior year thesis paper, which she needed to submit to get her BS in Biology. A recovery company gave her an estimate of over $300 to recover them. She couldn't afford it. I used an early version of PhotoRec to restore ALL of ther jpg files and her thesis. It took about 5 hours, but I was asleep while it ran. My bill? $0.

You have to love the power and affordability of Linux

Great stories, GG; thanks for sharing. The 'scanner' setup with the dual cameras sounds really interesting, and innovative.

You're absolutely right about loving the power and affordability of Linux. At least...well...MOST of us here feel that way, you know? (It's nice and quiet in this thread now.) Although I'm somewhat OCD about backing things up, I've still had occasion to salvage files from dead hard drives, more because I wanted to than needed to. It's fun poking around and seeing what can be salvaged, even though I know I have perfectly good backups just waiting to be used. There's just something SATISFYING about saving files from a dead drive.

[GreyGeek]

...
Although I'm somewhat OCD about backing things up, I've still had occasion to salvage files from dead hard drives, more because I wanted to than needed to. It's fun poking around and seeing what can be salvaged, even though I know I have perfectly good backups just waiting to be used. There's just something SATISFYING about saving files from a dead drive.

Along time ago I purchased a Zip Drive and used its 100Mb compacitgy to back up my desktop files. When I got a PC with a CDROM I transfered over everything from the Zip drive cartridges to the DVDs. A short while later the Zip drive gave the click of death and died. I backed my home account to CDs and DVDs regularly and accumulated over 200 of them dating back to around 2002 or so. Around 2010 I began reading them to see how many could be read. About 1 out of 3 failed to read! I found that RW DVDs worked better and lasted longer than DVD W only. In fact, a DVD RW has never failed to load. Then I switched to pen drives/memory sticks. So far, only one, an old 2GB Toshiba stick, failed to read. I reformatted it and it appears to be working fine. Now, memory sticks are getting up to 64, 128 and 256Gb in size and function as additional drives. Before I deleted Win7 off of this box I used memory sticks to expand my btrfs. Now, I am using Google's Drive.

[DoYouKubuntu]

Along time ago I purchased a Zip Drive and used its 100Mb compacitgy to back up my desktop files.

Oh, wow. I had a variety of Iomega drives back in the day, both at work and at home, including Zip drives and...what the heck was that other kind I had? Jazz drive, that's it. I remember at one point having this *HUGE* piggyback, daisy chain thing going on with my computer (singular, I only had one computer at home back then), including: a software dongle [for the data entry software we used at work], a printer, a scanner, two Zip drives and maybe something else. Ah, the good old days!

When I got a PC with a CDROM I transfered over everything from the Zip drive cartridges to the DVDs. A short while later the Zip drive gave the click of death and died. I backed my home account to CDs and DVDs regularly and accumulated over 200 of them dating back to around 2002 or so. Around 2010 I began reading them to see how many could be read. About 1 out of 3 failed to read!

That's a frightening statistic! I have...oh...about a zillion...CDs and DVDs around here, some easily dating back to the earliest days of writable CDs. That's the bad news. The GOOD news is that since I haven't felt the slightest need to even THINK about them for a long time, I probably don't need whatever's on them. Seriously, though, I long ago backed up all those same files on other media, including [but not limited to] off-site storage like Dropbox and my domains.

Not long ago I was looking for a specific game CD, and came across my copy of Hoary Hedgehog (Kubuntu 5.04). I felt all warm and fuzzy remembering how I fell in love with Kubuntu at that point and chose it as my de facto Linux around here.

I found that RW DVDs worked better and lasted longer than DVD W only. In fact, a DVD RW has never failed to load. Then I switched to pen drives/memory sticks. So far, only one, an old 2GB Toshiba stick, failed to read. I reformatted it and it appears to be working fine. Now, memory sticks are getting up to 64, 128 and 256Gb in size and function as additional drives. Before I deleted Win7 off of this box I used memory sticks to expand my btrfs. Now, I am using Google's Drive.

The way storage has evolved just blows me away. The UNIX server I put together at work in the late '80s had a 230MB hard drive and 3MB of RAM. That's THREE megabytes of RAM. Total cost, after adding peripherals including ~20 Wyse 60 & 150 terminals, ~6 printers, 2 modems, 2 short-haul modems, and a Stallion multiplexor: $25,000.

[GreyGeek]

The capacity increases and price drops during the last 30 years is certainly amazing, DYK!

I bought the first Apple ][+ sold in Nebraska in Aug or Sept of 1978, from Team Electronics in Grand Island. I lusted after it all summer and drove 30 miles to the store every Saturday to study the Apple BASIC manual and write the software I wanted to use at the HS where I was teaching. I ended up getting the Apple, two Disk ]['s, a tape recorder and a TV as a monitor at cost. All I had to do was continue doing each staturday what I had been doing all summer. Writing and testing my software while a crowd gathered around me and asked questions. I remember my first sale: A 64Kb Apple ][+ with two disk drives, rfkit, monitor and Centronics 749 line printer. Retail: $5,000 in 1979 dollars. !!! My commission was 50% of the profit, which was $1,200. As the highest paid teacher at Clarks, NE, I was bringing home $700/mo!

The tail started wagging the dog and in the spring of 1980 I resigned from teaching and started selling Apples at Team. That lead to SAVVY, which lead to a partnership with the Team owner, which lead to a $350K income for 9 months, which lead to the owner of Team swindling me and his son (we were the partners) out of all of the SAVVY profits, about $1M, which lead to him creating a dummy corporation in his wife's name,, which lead to her running off to California on a motorbike with all the money, leaving the Team owner penniless. It get's worse, but enough of that.

[DoYouKubuntu]

The capacity increases and price drops during the last 30 years is certainly amazing, DYK!

I know, and it continues to amaze me. The young whippersnappers who are around now have NO CLUE that storage space used to be a precious commodity. You and I do, so I think we appreciate today's gigantic storage options a lot more than they ever can.

I bought the first Apple ][+ sold in Nebraska in Aug or Sept of 1978, from Team Electronics in Grand Island. I lusted after it all summer and drove 30 miles to the store every Saturday to study the Apple BASIC manual and write the software I wanted to use at the HS where I was teaching. I ended up getting the Apple, two Disk ]['s, a tape recorder and a TV as a monitor at cost. All I had to do was continue doing each staturday what I had been doing all summer. Writing and testing my software while a crowd gathered around me and asked questions. I remember my first sale: A 64Kb Apple ][+ with two disk drives, rfkit, monitor and Centronics 749 line printer. Retail: $5,000 in 1979 dollars. !!! My commission was 50% of the profit, which was $1,200. As the highest paid teacher at Clarks, NE, I was bringing home $700/mo!

The tail started wagging the dog and in the spring of 1980 I resigned from teaching and started selling Apples at Team. That lead to SAVVY, which lead to a partnership with the Team owner, which lead to a $350K income for 9 months, which lead to the owner of Team swindling me and his son (we were the partners) out of all of the SAVVY profits, about $1M, which lead to him creating a dummy corporation in his wife's name,, which lead to her running off to California on a motorbike with all the money, leaving the Team owner penniless. It get's worse, but enough of that.

Another great story, GG. Wow...what an ending. I'm assuming there was nothing that could be done, right? Pity.

[GreyGeek]

Not any more. While I and his younger son were ripped off, part of the money he stole from us he used to set up his older son in a bar in southeast Nebraska. After his wife left him high and dry, he went to that bar and told his son he was taking over. With the business in his name, the son had the upper hand and told his dad he could keep the bar clean and sleep in a room on the second floor if he wanted. He ended up drinking himself to death within five years.

In 1982 I computerized a parts store using an Apple ][+ with two Disk ]['s as storage for the software and app, which was an POS with Customers and Inventory. He decided to expand and it took only a couple months to exceed the capacity of the 250Kb combined storage. He purchased a 5MB Corvus HD (the size of a video cassette recorder) and I moved the software and data over to it. Compared to the Disk ]['s the 5Mb was an empty barn. I thought he'd never fill it. But, he expanded his inventory to 30,000 items to draw more customers because my app reduced his order filling time from 3/4ths of a day with several people to under 30 minutes by one person. That 5Mb was consumed within six months. IBM announced it's 10Mb XT personal computer and he moved to that box, taking less than a year to fill it up, IIRC. He replaced the 10Mb wwith a 20Mb as soon as it was released, increased his inventory, and kept upgrading as the HD sizes continued to expand. I taught his son how to program, and that kid ended up getting a PhD in software engineering. The last I heard the parts store was filling 3/4ths of a 1GB HD, but that was over 15 years ago.

[DoYouKubuntu]

Not any more. While I and his younger son were ripped off, part of the money he stole from us he used to set up his older son in a bar in southeast Nebraska. After his wife left him high and dry, he went to that bar and told his son he was taking over. With the business in his name, the son had the upper hand and told his dad he could keep the bar clean and sleep in a room on the second floor if he wanted. He ended up drinking himself to death within five years.

Sad ending.

In 1982 I computerized a parts store using an Apple ][+ with two Disk ]['s as storage for the software and app, which was an POS with Customers and Inventory. He decided to expand and it took only a couple months to exceed the capacity of the 250Kb combined storage. He purchased a 5MB Corvus HD (the size of a video cassette recorder) and I moved the software and data over to it. Compared to the Disk ]['s the 5Mb was an empty barn. I thought he'd never fill it. But, he expanded his inventory to 30,000 items to draw more customers because my app reduced his order filling time from 3/4ths of a day with several people to under 30 minutes by one person. That 5Mb was consumed within six months. IBM announced it's 10Mb XT personal computer and he moved to that box, taking less than a year to fill it up, IIRC. He replaced the 10Mb wwith a 20Mb as soon as it was released, increased his inventory, and kept upgrading as the HD sizes continued to expand. I taught his son how to program, and that kid ended up getting a PhD in software engineering. The last I heard the parts store was filling 3/4ths of a 1GB HD, but that was over 15 years ago.

Fascinating!

It reminds me of that old adage, "work expands to fill the time allotted to it"--only, in this case, it's "STUFF expands to fill the space allotted to it!" I know that's true in my life. No matter how much storage space I have, no matter how big each new hard drive is, the STUFF just keeps coming! Next thing you know I'm thinking, oops, better start cleaning up a little.

[GreyGeek]

...the STUFF just keeps coming! Next thing you know I'm thinking, oops, better start cleaning up a little.

That's for sure! My wife and I owned an 1,800 sq foot three bedroom to bathroom home that got to be too much to maintain. We decided to sell and invited the kids over to take anything they wanted. After they were done whe ended up filling nearly a dozen 50 gallon trash bags with stuff we took to Good Will, and two dozen bags to the dump. That left us with a moving van full of furniture and two U-Haul truck loads of other stuff, like a power generator, a deep freeze, hospital bed, and tools.

One month after my wife and I were married, on Dec 16, 1962, we moved from Kearney, NE to Abilene, Tx to continue college. We put everything we owned inside and on top of a 1949 Chevy fast back. Mainly cloths, and the ironing board I strapped to the roof as a carrier for several suit cases. During the last 50 years every time we moved it took more and more ruck loads to move, but the last move involved the most STUFF.

[DoYouKubuntu]

I hear you, GG!! I don't know what it is, but STUFF just has a way of accumulating, whether in the real or virtual world. Your story about the small amount of possessions you had way back when reminds me of my early days with my husband. We could pick up and move at the drop of a hat. And did! That's how we ended up living in several states in a short span of time. Now? Good grief...I'm determined to NEVER move again...ever...

I have tons of boxes in my garage I haven't even bothered unpacking since I moved back here. The fact that I haven't missed much, if any, of that stuff makes me wonder just how important it actually is.