Search files in a flash with SwiftSearch

Windows 8 has pretty decent file-search capabilities built in, especially if you learn a few tricks for smarter searches.

Of course, not everyone has (or wants) Windows 8, and even those who do may find Microsoft's search engine lacking.

Check out SwiftSearch, a free, portable search utility that's remarkably small and remarkably fast. With it you can find just about any file, on any drive, in about the time it takes to read this sentence. In fact, forget sentence; the time it takes to read this word!

SwiftSearch has nothing to install; it's a fully self-contained executable, which explains its "portable" nature: You can run it from your hard drive or keep it on a flash drive if you're looking to build out your portable toolset.

Either way, it loads in seconds. All you do is type your search parameters and then click Search. I'm not sure how the program returns results so quickly giving that it doesn't index your drive (which is how Windows Search operates), but it does.

SwiftSearch also supports a variety of expressions you can use to perform more exacting searches, though these will definitely take a bit of study if you're not accustomed to searching this way. Click Help, Regular expressions for a cheat-sheet of the expressions you can use.

Once you've got your results, you can right-click any item for a menu of options, including Open and Open Containing Folder.

Much as I'm loving SwiftSearch, the program isn't perfect. Although you can sort your search results by clicking any of the column headers (Name, Directory, etc.), there's no file-type option. I want that for grouping things like Word documents and JPEG images.

Also, it would be nice if you could focus searches on a specific folder, but SwiftSearch works only with entire drives.

That said, if you find that it's meeting your search needs, you could even consider turning off Windows' search indexing, which may make your PC run faster. See Chris Null's "Software Speed Boosts for Your PC" to find out how.

Contributing Editor Rick Broida writes about business and consumer technology. Ask for help with your PC hassles at hasslefree@pcworld.com. Sign up to have the Hassle-Free PC newsletter (which is included in the Power Tips newsletter) e-mailed to you each week.

For more than 20 years, Rick Broida has written about all manner of technology, from Amigas to business servers to PalmPilots. His credits include dozens of books, blogs, and magazines. He sleeps with an iPad under his pillow.
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NAND flash prices are sliding on low demand

Computerworld - The manufacturer's price for NAND flash chips slid 5% to 10% in the second half of August, and they're expected to continue downward over the next few months.

The average price for NAND flash is now $4.90 for a 64Gbit chip and $2.90 for a 32Gbit chip, according to TrendForce.

According to DRAMeXchange, a research division of TrendForce, NAND flash contract prices from manufacturers are weaker due to lower demand by laptop, tablet and even smartphone makers.

Mobile system makers who over the past year increased inventory of NAND flash for their systems are now backing off on new flash purchases, according to DRAMeXchange.

Currently, DRAMeXchange is projecting that fourth quarter flash capacity will grow by approximately 10% even as NAND Flash manufacturers continue to restrict supplies as a way to control prices. That's because many device manufacturers have already stockpiled NAND flash in preparation for higher sales, and as new flash plants come on line, supply will surge as demand will falls.

Even with new smartphones and tablets expected to launch this month September -- Apple has an event scheduled for next week at which it's expected to unveil new iPhones -- embedded flash capacity growth is still expected to be slack.

"This is mostly due to the conservative buyer attitude and the rise of low-cost smartphones and tablets," DRAMeXchange said in its research summary. "TrendForce believes it is highly likely that the September prices will continue to drop."

Lucas Mearian covers storage, disaster recovery and business continuity, financial services infrastructure and health care IT for Computerworld. Follow Lucas on Twitter at  @lucasmearian or subscribe to Lucas's RSS feed . His e-mail address is lmearian@computerworld.com.

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Small and midsize businesses are moving to the cloud to host their communications capabilities. Learn how enterprise-quality phone benefits, online management, conferencing, auto attendant, and ease of use are built into a system that is half the cost of a PBX.

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Flash Professional CC review: Solid improvements but no flashy new features

Absent flashy, headline-grabbing new features, Adobe's updates for Flash Professional CC are simply improvements to the program's existing core features and functions. Alongside the app's enhanced user interface, Flash CC's new ability to export projects to HTML, to full HD video and audio, and to test animations directly via USB on mobile devices, are designed to benefit the vast majority of users.

Need more space to work on your animation? Use Flash CC's full screen editing mode. Adobe has overhauled the familiar Flash user interface in this version. It is now a fashionable dark gray, which looks very professional (but can be switched back to light gray). The timeline and code editor have also been improved, alongside numerous other interface elements. A full screen editing mode, which shows only the canvas, hiding all the palettes, is a great addition.

The workspace canvas has also been adjusted. In the past, you were limited to a maximum size. That limitation is now gone, so you can import large graphics for a scrolling background—great for game developers creating a jump-n-run (side scroller) game.

Flash's new 64-bit architecture works well with late model MacBook laptops and will surely scream with the recently introduced Mac Pros. Adobe has rewritten most of Flash's code to convert it to a native cocoa application. For artists who like to work anywhere from a client's workspace to their home office, Flash CC automatically syncs preferences of your Flash installations through the Creative Cloud.

Dark grey or bright grey: You can decide which color theme works best for you. Flash Professional CC's ability to export video and HTML are the most intriguing and important features of this upgrade. That's because, with the growing mobile and tablet market, many companies are migrating the front end of their websites away from Flash to HTML5.

At the same time, companies are installing digital signage, which works best with video, so for some users, the new version of Flash might have multiple uses. Exporting a Flash Animation as Video (.mov file) is straightforward, and while this feature was available in CS6, Adobe Media Encoder is now integrated into the workflow, allowing conversion to different formats.

In combination with the new unlimited workspace, it is now possible to create videos with an almost endless scrolling background.

The HTML export feature works fine if you create an animation in a timeline—just open the Toolkit for CreateJS palette, select the output path, and click Publish, and if you have Preview selected, the animation will open in the browser and play. However, sometimes you want to have several animations running simultaneously on one page. If you add the HTML code and the generated JavaScript on one page, then one of the animations won’t work because of conflicts with the JavaScript. It is possible—with some editing—to get it to work, but it would be great if Adobe improved this feature to make it easier for non-programmers. Nevertheless, the generated animation is a great start if you are creating a website or a mobile app using DreamWeaver, Flash and PhoneGap.

Exporting animations as HTML5 is a step in the right direction, but that feature might not be useful for everyone. I would also like to generate videos in an SWF file through ActionScript. You know those viral marketing campaigns that allow you to add yourself to a video and share it with your friends? Adding the ability to export a video from within an SWF would allow you to create such an application. It would also allow you to record video in a Flash App that requires interaction.

Adobe has put a lot of effort into supporting mobile developers. In the previous Flash version you had to go through Apple iTunes to upload your app; now you simply connect your mobile device and set the target to Air for iOS or Air for Android. This little improvement is a huge timesaver.

Testing your mobile app just got easier: Publish directly to your iPhone for testing without having to go through iTunes.

While there's much to praise in the new version of Flash, there are some missing items. For example, the Bone Tool (Inverse Kinematic), one of my favorite new features in CS4, has been removed from the program. According to Adobe, the Bone Tool had several bugs that led to user complaints. It was dropped from Flash Professional CC, though it will likely be reinstated at a later point with an improved workflow.

Adobe Flash Professional CC looks fresh with its new and improved interface. With updated support for HTML and Video Export, the new version of Flash seems to move in a new direction as an all-in-one video/animation tool. New features work mostly as expected, though with room for improvement.

The question now is: Who is the target audience? Movie editors will certainly stay with After Effects or Premiere Pro and Web Developers have likely set their sights on Adobe Edge Animate. Where does Flash Professional CC fit in? Flash still has the great advantage of being a solid developer platform equipped with a powerful programming language (ActionScript 3.0). If Adobe pushes Flash further toward game-and mobil-development, it will find a new user base. For such users, the new features are nice to have, but not as fundamental as the sprite sheet generator introduced in CS6. For most users, this update might not offer enough to justify an upgrade. Those who are planning to buy a new Mac Pro later this year, the performance boost of 64-bit however might be tempting.

Michael Baumgardt is a consultant and project manager for large scale Web projects.
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Toshiba takes step toward 3D flash memory chips

Toshiba kicked off a project Friday that is the first step toward a new type of memory chip that could provide vastly greater capacity at a lower cost for digital gadgets such as cameras, smartphones and tablets.

The company held a groundbreaking ceremony to begin expansion of its number-five chip fabrication building (fab 5) in Yokkaichi, a state-of-the-art chip production facility in central Japan operated by Toshiba and SanDisk under a joint venture.

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The construction, which is scheduled to last a year, will see the production line expanded to accommodate additional chip fabrication capacity for NAND flash memory, including more advanced conventional manufacturing processes and early generation 3D production techniques.

3D chips are tipped to be the next big thing in the memory market and provide greater data storage capacity by stacking memory cells in layers. Using this method, greatly higher storage capacity can be realized while keeping the chips small enough to fit inside flash memory cards and the cramped insides of modern gadgets.

The project also indicates Toshiba's intention to remain a leader in the competitive flash memory market and also the company's belief that the market will continue to expand.

"After giving careful consideration to the balance of product supply and demand, and noting a recovery driven by growing demand for smartphones, tablets, SSD for enterprise servers, Toshiba now anticipates further medium- to long-term market expansion," the company said in a statement.

Martyn Williams covers mobile telecoms, Silicon Valley and general technology breaking news for The IDG News Service. Follow Martyn on Twitter at @martyn_williams. Martyn's e-mail address is martyn_williams@idg.com

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Toshiba takes step toward 3D flash memory chips

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Toshiba takes step toward 3D flash memory chips

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Startup PernixData virtualizes server-based flash

PernixData, a startup founded by VMware veterans, says its software can turn server-based flash storage into a resource shared across a standard VMware cluster of as many as 32 systems.

Making that cache available across a whole cluster will let enterprises scale out their storage capacity with consistently fast access to data, according to co-founder and CEO Poojan Kumar, who previously managed VMware's data products. PernixData's product, called PernixData FVP (Flash Virtualization Platform), works without modifications to the hypervisor or applications and is designed to coexist with SANs (storage area networks), he said.

Putting flash storage directly into servers is a growing solution to the need for faster access to data, but the technology's been limited to individual servers, so virtualized environments can't fully take advantage of it, according to PernixData. Clusters of virtualized servers typically share data over a SAN, which can raise performance problems, Kumar said. Multiple network hops and contention over a shared SAN link can all slow down access to the data that applications need.

PernixData's software can turn flash cards on all the servers in a virtualized cluster into a shared cache, which serves as a tier of storage above a SAN for the most-used data. It's a software-only product and can use on-server flash that customers already have deployed. Announced on Tuesday, PernixData FVP is available immediately for US$7,500 per host for an enterprise package. It's initially for VMware environments, though ultimately it will work with multiple hypervisors, including KVM and Microsoft's Hyper-V, Kumar said.

The software is designed to allow fast access to data while virtualizing server resources. The virtual machines on a given server mostly will get their data from the cache right on that system. But even when they need to tap into another server on the cluster, that will be faster than going out to a SAN, the company said: Delays can be measured in microseconds rather than milliseconds. And PernixData works with all features of VMware, such as movements of VMs using VMotion, making management easier, Kumar said.

Another advantage to PernixData's approach is that administrators can control which VMs can use which flash resources, giving preference to the jobs that most need the performance. It does this by taking advantage of both the VM and the storage being on the cluster, so that kind of control isn't possible with flash that's on a SAN, Kumar said.

Christopher Greater Area Rural Health Planning Corp. (CRHPC), which operates 13 clinics in southern Illinois, sees PernixData's software as key to implementing VDI (virtual desktop infrastructure) for its doctors and other employees.

VDI should cut maintenance and energy costs while helping ensure security and giving workers more flexibility, said Jason Rolla, chief technology officer. For example, doctors frequently move between their offices and examination rooms, he said. "Technically, they could carry their office everywhere they went," Rolla said.

CRHPC has an almost four-year-old Dell EqualLogic storage array in its headquarters data center that's connected to its servers via iSCSI. But when it tried to set up VDI using just the array for storage, application response times were much longer than the 3 milliseconds that CRHPC was aiming for, Rolla said.

Tests with 10 virtual desktops showed that using the cache with PernixData will cut down on response time by about three-quarters, and CRHPC now plans to implement the software in its full VDI rollout, Rolla said.

PernixData should be useful for databases and big data analytics, as well as VDI, said Gartner analyst Chris Wolf. Virtualized storage products from some other vendors, including VMware, have been hard to sell because they were too expensive for what they did, he said.

"As long as the product holds up to what it appears to do on paper, Pernix is going to put a lot of price pressure on some of the more industry heavyweights here," Wolf said.

Stephen Lawson covers mobile, storage and networking technologies for The IDG News Service. Follow Stephen on Twitter at @sdlawsonmedia. Stephen's e-mail address is stephen_lawson@idg.com

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Flash breakthrough promises faster storage, terabytes of memory

In the ongoing quest for faster access to data, Diablo Technologies has taken what could be a significant next step.

Diablo's Memory Channel Storage (MCS) architecture, expected to show up in servers shipping later this year, allows flash storage components to plug into the super-fast channel now used to connect CPUs with memory. That will slash data-access delays even more than current flash caching products that use the PCI Express bus, according to Kevin Wagner, Diablo's vice president of marketing.

The speed gains could be dramatic, according to Diablo, helping to give applications such as databases, big data analytics and virtual desktops much faster access to the data they need most. Diablo estimates that MCS can reduce latencies by more than 85 percent compared with PCI Express SSDs (solid-state disks). Alternatively, the flash components could be used as memory, making it affordable to equip servers terabytes of memory, Wagner said.

Other than on-chip cache, the memory channel is the fastest route to a CPU, Wagner said. Not only do bits fly faster over this link, there are also no bottlenecks under heavy use. The connection is designed to be used by many DIMMs (dual in-line memory modules) in parallel, so each component doesn't have to relinquish the bus for another one to use it. That saves time, as well as CPU cycles that would otherwise be used managing the bus, Wagner said.

The parallel design of the memory bus also lets system makers scale up the amount of flash in a server without worrying about diminishing returns, he said. A second MCS flash card will truly double performance, where an added PCIe SSD could not, Wagner said.

Diablo, which has been selling memory controllers for about 10 years, has figured out a way to use the standard DDR-3 interface and protocols to connect flash instead of RAM to a server's CPU. Flash is far less expensive than RAM, but also more compact. The MCS components, which come in 200GB and 400GB sizes, will fit into standard DIMM slots that typically accommodate just 32GB or so of memory. The only adaptation manufacturers will need to make is adding a few lines of code to the BIOS, Wagner said.

Enterprises are more likely to use MCS as high-capacity memory than as low-latency storage, said analyst Jim Handy of Objective Analysis.

"Having more RAM is something that a lot of people are going to get very excited about," Handy said. His user surveys show most IT departments automatically get as much RAM as they can for their servers, because memory is where they can get the fastest access to data, Handy said.

"Basically, you'd like everything to be in the RAM," Handy said. Virtualized data centers, where many servers need to share a large set of data, need a shared store of data. But in other applications, especially with databases and online transaction processing, storage is just a cheaper and more plentiful -- but slower -- alternative to memory. "Everything that's on the storage is there just because it can't fit on the RAM," he said.

To implement the MCS architecture, Diablo developed software and a custom ASIC (application-specific integrated circuit), which it will sell to component vendors and makers of servers and storage platforms. Flash vendor Smart Storage Systems, which earlier this month agreed to be acquired by SanDisk, will be among the companies using the MCS technology, Wagner said. In addition, a tier-one server vendor is preparing about a dozen server models with the technology and will probably ship the first of them this year, Walker said.

For the most part, Diablo doesn't expect consumers or small enterprises to install MCS flash on their own computers. However, Diablo may work directly with enterprises that have very large data centers they want to accelerate, he said.

Using MCS flash to supplement DRAM would dramatically reduce the per-gigabyte cost of memory but also would allow for further consolidation of the servers in a data center, Wagner said. A large social networking company with 25,000 servers analyzed the MCS technology and said it would make it possible to do the same amount of work with just 5,000 servers.

That's because the current DRAM-only servers can be equipped with just 144GB of memory, but MCS would allow each server to have 16GB of DRAM and 800GB of flash. With that much memory, each server can do more work so fewer are needed, Wagner said. Fewer servers would mean savings of space and energy, which would translate into lower costs, he said.

Stephen Lawson covers mobile, storage and networking technologies for The IDG News Service. Follow Stephen on Twitter at @sdlawsonmedia. Stephen's e-mail address is stephen_lawson@idg.com

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