Ask MetaFilter posts tagged with mac

Help me backup my system.

arniec — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 09:39:08 -0800

Data Backup Filter: I have about 6TB (yes TB, not GB) of data. I need to back it up BEFORE it crashes. I also need a good way to share it on the network. How can I do this? Details within... Yes, this topic revisited again. None of the questions asked so far have helped in my situation.

It seems the era of digital video and digital audio has created a storage nightmare for me. I have 6TB of data spread across 5 external hard drives (3 500GBs and 4 1 TBs, not all full). They are all currently connected to a Windows PC.

I have 1 blank 1TB drive which I just attached to my Mac Mini as I'm trying to retire my Windows PC and migrate all data to the Mac FS so I can run it off my Airport Extreme's USB port (the Airport Extreme won't read NTFS).

I've looked at "mirroring" my external drives nightly using a backup program but this does not safeguard me in case of electrical storm, fire, angry wife, etc. Besides, there must be a limit to the number of external drives I have...I'm running out of outlets quickly.

But I cannot imagine putting all of this information on DVDs, the time and expense would be insane. Online backup systems are not optimal as there is sensitive personal data in the files and I don't trust the privacy of online backup solutions, but the cost for 6TB is prohibitive.

I do have a lot of "redundant" files that I am attempting to clean up (previous hard drive crashes in my Windows PC resulted in panicked "copy off all my files!" moments, and as such I'm sure at least 1TB of my data is redundant, but the time it's taking me to sort this out file by file is crazy). Are there any programs (Windows or Mac) that can find these and only back them up once, saving me on DVDs?

Do I have any other options besides "buy a lot more external hard drives"?

Old XP Install to Boot Camp Partition?

nokry56 — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 09:37:11 -0800

Is there a way to convert my current Windows XP install to a Boot Camp install for my just ordered Mac Pro? I'm currently running a 3 year old Windows XP machine that I am replacing with a 8 core Mac Pro. What I would like is to have my old Windows XP install available to dual-boot into via Boot Camp. Then I'll run that Boot Camp install via VMWare Fusion for times that I don't need to reboot.

Hopefully this makes sense. If it doesn't let me know and I'll try to explain it in a different way.

Thanks!

Play a WMV on a Mac

tommasz — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 07:23:02 -0800

I've got a Mac G4 running 10.4.11 and I've been experiencing worsening problems playing WMV files. I realize this is a kludge to begin with, but things are getting weird... When I doubleclick a WMV file in the Finder, it appears to start the Quicktime Player, but nothing happens. I can view the file in VLC with no problem. This has been an on-going issue.

Now, and this is recent, in both Camino and Firefox certain embedded WMV files download but instead of playing in the browser window, I get a black window with a white bar across the top and "(no video)" in the center of the window. Nothing plays.

I had both Perian and Flip4Mac installed so I uninstalled both with no change in behavior. I have the latest Quicktime and my system software is up to date. I can work around all of this but it bugs me that it's supposed to work and doesn't. Any ideas?

Lightweight MP3 app for OSX?

rathikd — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 08:09:37 -0800

Looking for a lightweight MP3 app for OS X, any suggestions? I'm looking for something, preferably free, to preview MP3s in OS X in a way they don't automatically get dumped into iTunes. And before you jump on VLC, no. Nothing wrong with VLC, it's just not the droid I'm looking for. While we're at it, anyone know of any good ID3 editors for OSX? Bonus points if these two apps are the same but not necessary.

Thanks.

How do I back up a large amount of data to DVDs?

david06 — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 23:50:01 -0800

Can you suggest improvements and help me work out the details of my plan to back up several hundred GB using the Mac? I just dug a box of CD-Rs from 1998 out of a box - the first CDs I burned just after I got a burner. On them are files going back to when I started using computers, and out of 20 discs or so, only a few files on one disc were corrupted. I wouldn't have been heartbroken if any of these files went missing, but I would if a lot of files I've created since were to disappear, especially because photography has become digital. Additionally, I've recently had several thousand negatives of old family photos scanned.

My data is fairly well backed up across multiple hard drives, but I still feel somewhat vulnerable without having any backup which is not a hard drive. I have several hundred GB of data at this point for which I would like a backup I can toss in a box for 10 years like my CDs from 1998 -- something off-line, permanent, with at least several decades expected realistic lifetime.

My plan:

1. Create a DMG as large as I anticipate the total amount of data to be.

2. Copy everything I'd like to back up to this DMG.

3. Using some sort of standard terminal commands built into OS X which I forget (any help here?), split this huge DMG file into parts sized to fit onto DVDs (haven't decided between single and double layer yet).

4. Using MacPar create parity files sized the same as the regular part files. The advantage of doing this is that I can say "as long as less than 10%, or any percentage I decide, of discs are corrupted when I want to restore my files, I can restore all of my data bit-for-bit." The disadvantage of this is that if too many discs are corrupted, I lose EVERYTHING, as opposed to if I had just put files on discs without enclosing them in an image.

I feel that the tradeoff described in #4 is worth it, considering that it is a royal pain in the ass to manually split up a ton of files onto separate discs.

Another thing that I have thought about is that this scheme relies entirely on formats which are pretty standard, maybe even open source. PAR, DMG, and the unix-based split/join commands (hopefully someone will remind me what these are) will be possible to access for a very, very long time. The weird proprietary format for some random backup program, not so much.

I anticipate that it will take a few hours at once to create the split image files, perhaps overnight or more to create the PARs (but this time is unattended), and then I can burn them over a few days/weeks. Not too bad.

Can anyone comment on this, or suggest an easier/better way to create an optical backup of 200 GB of files or so?

What's the best calendar option for a 50-person, Mac-based company?

chefscotticus — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 14:40:15 -0800

What's the best calendar option for a 50-person, Mac-based company? My company is currently very unhappy with our calendar software: Now Up-to-Date. It's consistently sluggish and unresponsive, has an unintuitive interface, has a habit of losing events, and doesn't integrate well with online calendars that some of the staff keep for personal calendars.

We are almost exclusively (but not entirely) a Mac-based shop, with most staff on newish MacBooks. We have 50 staff, and are continuing to grow. We need functionality that includes viewing other people's calendars, allowing for proxy access (ie, allow an assistant to edit their manager's calendar), online and offline functionality, and an integrative and intuitive interface, as well as good stability.

Do you have experience with other alternatives? Can anyone speak to specific experiences with other software?

decoding 10bit video

shino-boy — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 11:14:58 -0800

Decoding a 10bit video file ain't easy... I own an HD camera mod that records uncompressed 8bit and 10bit video files directly to a Mac's HDD. The camera company provided software to capture and render the video files. The rendering software never worked correctly with the 10bit files and we were waiting for an updated release. The company was sold and the rendering software was *not* updated and is now no longer supported.

:(

I wondered how hard it would be to write a Quicktime component under OS X 10.4 to directly read both the 8bit and 10bit files.

I bought some red, green and blue felt from the art store and recorded 8bit and 10bit clips of each color on an overcast day.

Starting with the 8bit files, I used a hex viewer to examine the "red" video file, and saw numbers like this (converted to decimal):

114 31 32 112 29 32 [...]

Well, that was easy. A quick check of the "green" video file confirmed that the byte order of each pixel is stored R G B. And indeed, my codec can now open successfully open an 8bit file. Hooray! But wait...

Using the same hex viewer I peek at the 10bit "red" video file, which was recorded using the same exposure as the 8bit file so I kind of know what numbers to expect, and I get this (again converted to decimal):

212 245 129 137 120 123 44 130 156 32 142 136 71 200 34 [...]

The italics are mine, they are (kinda) the R G B values I'm looking for, I just didn't expect them to show up like that. I've seen examples of how 10bit DPX image files are packed but the pattern I see in my files just doesn't make sense to me.

Do they make sense to anyone else? I really want to use these 10bit files, and if I can figure out the R G B pattern I'll be good to go.

For the record I did email the rendering software's developer asking for a hint. He did not reply.

Help me bring my comic to life.

lpsguy — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 06:22:30 -0800

Help me bring my comic to life. What's the best software for me to use most efficiently animate a 2D comic? I'm a dinosaur. I'm a syndicated newspaper cartoonist doing a weird daily single-panel cartoon. It's time for me to bring some of these babies to life for the web. The reflex action is to go to Flash, and I'm prepared to buy it and get cracking. But is Flash overkill? I'm going to scan already drawn images, separate the figures into pieces, do some slight movement and add voices and a little music. I'll probably never use all of the capabilities of Flash. So is there something cheaper and more to my needs? I'm using a MacPro and have some background in video and audio editing if that helps. I also have Photoshop and Illustrator. Remember, though I hope to animate one or two a week, I have to do it while still producing a comic every single day for, well, ever. Googling leads me to software that can do more and I wonder if I need software that can do less. What do you think?

Rain rain go away, although this game is moderately fun to play

Your Time Machine Sucks — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 06:29:06 -0800

Awesome but slightly rambunctious 8th grade class going on a school trip to the country. Rain is possible. Possibility of ultra-rare recreational computer access is likely to be a highly compelling reward for good behavior. The kids speak German. With all of these givens, what non-crack-like game should I install on the beater iBook G3 12" running 10.4 that I'm sending the teacher off with? Disclaimers: there is already a no-tech primary rain strategy involving books, indoor sports, board games, the lost art of conversation, etc. For those folks who feel that every second of a trip out of the city should be technology-free, I think the goal here is that nearly all of the seconds should be technology-free, but only a newbie teacher wouldn't keep an ace in the hole on a weeklong trip. For those folks who feel that every second of kid technology exposure should be educational, I'm mostly setting up the computer so the kids can take and store photos and blog their trip if they get antsy, [see last clause of previous sentence]. Just write me privately if you're bothered by the underlying premise, that's totally fine and I won't bite.

So, Mac-compatible non-system-demanding games which don't specifically require English skills (a few words are fine or even possibly beneficial), ideally which don't have unusually addictive qualities, with bonus points for having a cooperative mode. If you can further suggest something with redeeming virtues, I'd be most indebted. Thanks!

Befuddled wannabe games maker

popcassady — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 05:45:55 -0800

Ignoramus wants to make games for his Mac. Adobe Actionscript, Cocoa... What choices do I have? I've got an itch to scratch. I want to be like the Oliver twins. I want to make games for my Mac. Thing is, I don't know how.

I know a little BBC BASIC -- that's the limit of my programming knowledge. I want to make simple, 2D games; ones that hark back to the halcyon 8-bit days. Think, 'Chucky Egg'; four colours, and blocky graphics.

My research has led me to two options:

1. Cocoa. (i.e. learn Obj-C)

2. Adobe Actionscript.

It seems that Cocoa is great for applications and such, but when it comes to games programming, it looks to get a little tricky. I'd be easily put off.

On the other hand, Adobe Actionscript seems like the perfect tool for what I want to do -- looks like alot less work on the graphics side of things -- and there's plenty of resources on the net. The thing is, Flash is so darn expensive! £550! Doesn't it come in cheaper versions?

Being a poor hobbyist, it looks like Flash would be out of the question and I would have no choice but to turn to X-Code.

What do I do? Where do I turn? Which tool should I choose? Does anyone know any better?

How do I program for OS X?

DMan — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 10:20:01 -0800

My new Intel iMac is coming in the mail in a day or two, and I'd really like to learn how to program software for OS X and for my iPod Touch. Where can I learn how to do this? So, as the question says, I'm getting a new Mac and I'm really interested in learning to write programs for it. I also got an iPod Touch free with the Mac, and I want to learn how to use the SDK to write programs for it. What resource can I use to learn this? Obviously, a free internet source would be great, but I'll buy a book if it's really good and will help.

I know C++, C#, and by extension a fair amount of C. Definitely willing to learn a new language to do this; I'm just not sure where to start.

So, AskMeFi, what's the definitive source for programming OS X?

Anyone had any success using Apple's portable home directory feature without OS X server or a linux server?

Brian Puccio — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 16:09:00 -0800

I've read this, this, this and a bunch of other sites. I've got a Mac Pro and a Powerbook I'd like to share home directories over, but I'd rather not purchase OS X Server or get a small machine up and running Linux to deal with authentication (LDAP). Anyone authenticate locally, but still use the portable home directories? Alternatively, anyone just unison their entire /user/ directory? Thanks!

Researching going legit with dubiously sourced music collection

superfurry — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 03:55:59 -0800

Legitimizing iTunes Library. I have *ahem* a friend. This friend has a reasonably large digital music collection being managed by iTunes on a Mac. He would like to understand the cost of ensuring this collection is 100% legal, having realized that the vast majority of it is not. Purely out of curiosity, this *ahem* friend, has decided that maybe it would be a worthwhile thing to look into the cost of legitimately purchasing all the music in his digital collection. When this friend thinks about the fact that his largely ill-gotten music is being managed by iTunes, and that the iTunes Store probably 'stocks' a large proportion of this music, there might be a cool iTunes plugin that can do some amazing trick to give him a very good idea what the cost would be of purchasing all this music. Seems like a great opportunity for Apple to develop something like this.

Is there such a thing ? No matter whether it uses the iTunes Store, Amazon, etc.

It should be a plugin for iTunes or some other clever techy thing rather than manually doing an album count and then working it out from there.

Would also be ideal if it were OS X compatible.

Getting started on my own

Bunglegirl — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 19:12:53 -0800

How do I best set up space to work as a solo graphic designer (furniture, computer equipment, etc.)? I am in a position where I might be able to work as a freelance graphic designer (or my own, single person company) instead of looking for a full time position at a studio. If I go this route I definitely want to upgrade my work environment (new table & chair, mouse, computer & monitor). I am mainly a print designer, mostly working in InDesign & Illustrator with the occasional retouching in Photoshop. I don't often need to work on photos with 100+ layers and am not interested much in motion work. Think Corporate Identity work, logos, books etc.

My experience includes 6 years at a tiny design studio with everything (including Herman Miller chairs) already set up. We used G4 towers, regular mouses and Apple displays. I've been freelancing on and off for a few years, making do with the equipment I have. I'll be renting a new apartment with, hopefully, an extra room to use as a work space.

Computer:
I am currently on a Mac G4 tower, but am in the market for a new machine (and all the $oftware) this summer. I loved my 12" iBook and would like to have a laptop again. I was planning on getting a new MacBook or MacBook Pro, a good, large monitor and mouse. My tower is okay but I don't think it could run CS3. I feel that a laptop would be enough to run the programs and files I would need. I prefer not to buy a tower and laptop for financial reasons, although the portability is mostly for personal use. It may be handy to take my computer to a client every once in a while.

Mouse:
My current mouse is a small old Fellowes mouse that was free. Although my hands are really small, even for a woman, it's uncomfortable to use and my wrist and outside hand have been getting more sore/numb/clicking.

Do I really need a wireless mouse? What about tablets? They look cool but I think it would definitely take some getting used to. I might benefit from a mouse that keeps my hand in a more natural position (thumb up) might help my current wrist problems. I've never really liked those mouses with the huge ball. I recently used a new Mac mouse for the first time but it seems I've become accustomed to my trackwheel and extra buttons (without hitting a key to use them).

Keyboard:
I have a new extended Mac (wired) keyboard so I'm not worried about that.

Monitor:
My current monitor is way too small for all my pallets and is slowing me down. I think it's around 17" so I imagine I need at least a 22" monitor. I usually leave color correction up to printers so I wouldn't think color would be terribly important, but I probably couldn't get the cheapest model out there. I've looked around at reviews of LaCie monitors, but I'm not sure if it's worth it or if it's better than Mac displays. I always felt that Mac displays were overpriced, but I'm not sure.

Backup:
I plan on getting some sort of external hard drive. Everyone has bad luck with every brand so I'll probably just go with Western Digital or something. I was thinking 500Mb, if I need more space I could buy another 500Mb drive.

Printer:
I definitely need at the very least a black and white laser printer. A color printer would be nice, but I'd like one that doesn't make me replace color cartridges to print black. One of those printer/scanner/faxes would be nice, but I remember spending so much time dealing with printer issues at my studio that anything cheap seems too good to be true. I have a fax machine I could use separately already, if I need it. I do scan things sometimes, but not often. I probably wouldn't scan anything for print myself, I can't afford something of that high quality.

Furniture
Table: I'm currently using an old desk and chair which don't fit together well. The chair is too high for the desk and the table too shallow for my monitor. I have an old library table that I'd like to fix up, but it has the legs cut down. I was planning on replacing the legs so it was about waist height when I stand. I loved the tables in high school art class and would like something similar that's sturdy and has lots of space so I can work around all sides of it, spread projects out and use it for other projects (painting, sewing, bookbinding or whatever) too. I was planning on putting wheels on the table with 2-4 locking wheels. I usually see tables have only 2 locking wheels but I want to make sure it stays put when I need it to.

Chair: I like being "high up" and am excited about working in a stool with foot rest. But I also have a bad back and posture problems. I need a good stool. If I could afford a stool Aero chair I would. The used chairs I've seen are still $300+ and I'm going to be putting down a lot of cash at once.

What else? I suppose I need some file cabinets. I have book shelves. Am I missing anything?

I'm currently small but as I take on more projects my paper system of recording hours, invoices etc. is starting to seem silly. I will probably use some sort of program to do this and have looked at a few. I'm putting this in computers/internet instead of work because it's so computer heavy. Any insight would be appreciated.

Video capture with iSight under Tiger?

sparrows — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 15:11:11 -0800

I want my Mac's iSight camera to capture video, not just still photos. I'm running Tiger (10.4), not Leopard (10.5). Will anything other than upgrading to Leopard let my Mac do this? (Is there any hack or third-party software that lets the iSight act as a video camera under Tiger?)

Macster Chief where art thou?

neuron — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 14:58:30 -0800

Halo Mac: where are all the game servers? After playing Halo on my PC for years, I decided to get a copy of Halo for Mac (iMac 2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo). I installed it from a CD that I bought used on ebay, then downloaded and installed the universal binary. It's build 1.00.06.0612.

When I look for game servers, it finds only a small fraction of the number of servers that I find on Windows. All the game servers I see on my Mac are apparently also present in Windows. I even joined a server from both computers at the same time to confirm that it's not exclusive. Gameplay is fine, although I need to tweek the graphics.

It's not an issue of being banned, since servers one is banned from still show up in the server list. I know this all too well.

Will Firefox 3.0 finally allow inline viewing of pdf's on an intel mac?

ericbop — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 10:31:59 -0800

Yippee - Firefox 3.0 has landed. Will this solve the most glaring problem with Firefox 2.x - unlike native Mac app Safari, Firefox can't load pdf's inline. One separate question: The other feature I love about Safari is how well spotlight handles indexing and searching web pages saved using Safari. What's the best way to archive web pages using Firefox so that I can find them with spotlight? I love Scrapbook, but spotlight doesn't.

Digital noise recording to Mac Pro

wubbie — Sun, 15 Jun 2008 19:24:44 -0800

I'm trying to record audio on my Mac Pro from a hardware source using the digital Line In on the Mac, but am only getting "digital noise" as the recording. I'm trying to record audio from a hardware source (in this case, an Xbox 360) by hooking up the Xbox's digital Audio Out to the Mac Pro's digital Line In via optical cable.

However, when I set the Mac's Input to Digital In and record, only noise is recorded (it's a loud, fast-tempo clicking sound, like a baseball card flapping in a bicycle spoke.)

I've tried recording with a few different apps, including Audacity, Garageband, and Audio Hijack Pro, all with the same result.

The strange thing is that Audio Hijack's preview (and a shareware app like LineIn's) passthrough "preview" of the input is fine. I can hear the audio source from the Xbox 360 playing through the Mac, but the recording is still just digital noise, with no sign of the actual audio intended to be recorded.

Is there some reason this shouldn't work? Do I need to use specific frequency settings for the recording? Is there some sort of "protection" in OS X (or 360) in place to prevent this sort of recording? Or is it a bug in the Mac Pro and/or OS X?

Mac desktop alternative to Backpack

dyslexictraveler — Sun, 15 Jun 2008 12:52:21 -0800

Free or low-cost Mac alternative to 37Signals Backpack for storing personal information in? I’ve been a paying member of 37 Signal’s Backpack for several years now, and while I’m happy with what Backpack does for my needs, I’m thinking about transitioning my data off of the service to something that’s cheaper or free.

What I like about Backpack: I like the UI, and I like that it’s super easy to make a project page about something I’m doing or planning where I can just throw information at it and create lists and notes and link to other pages on the web. I’ll occasionally upload files and images to backpack pages, but for the most part I use it for text data of one sort another.

Why I think I should change systems: While I like it, it’s not free if you want to have more than 5 pages, and a lot of the things that make Backpack appealing to others as a paid service don’t apply to me: I don’t use it as a GTD system (I use OmniFocus), I don’t use the calendar feature (I’m locked into my work’s Exchange system) I don’t share my pages with others, and I don’t think I get a lot of benefit out of having all my data online.

So, I’m thinking I should be able to setup something similar on my (Mac) laptop that accomplishes the same thing and does not require a monthly subscription. I know there are a lot of solutions out there, so I’d love to hear your recommendations. (To be clear I’m not opposed to an online solution, I just don’t want to pay for one)

Pimp Mom's clambook!

mdonley — Sat, 14 Jun 2008 21:08:23 -0800

What free/low-cost/simple kinds of things can be done to the clamshell G3 iBook my mom uses for really basic web stuff to make it function better? So mom got this thing from a friend of my teenage brother for, like, a hundred dollars or something. The friend wiped it, installed OS 10.2.8, and handed it over; she started using it. And she loves it! She's never had a computer of her own before. It runs pretty smoothly when she checks her e-mail or reads the news, considering its advanced age: Firefox can have multiple tabs open, starts up pretty quickly, no huge, glaring technical issues - day to day, it does what it says on the box, so to speak.

However (according to her):

- Things are slooooow...not achingly slow, but enough to be frustrating for her. It's got 128 MB of RAM, a 4 GB hard drive, and has a 366 MHz PowerPC processor. Are we doomed, or can we quicken things a bit?

- There's no word processor, so .doc attachments to e-mails aren't readable (as far as we know). Lightweight (but .doc-friendly) apps to solve this? Could the thing run a version of Microsoft Word that wouldn't paralyze it or be incompatible with what's around today?

- Lots of streaming web content doesn't work. She says that videos, audio, that kind of thing have caused problems or just been invisible. This isn't too surprising, but can anything be done? Are there plugins we can get to ameliorate this, or are we hosed?

Any other advice? We're happy to invest some money in this if it keeps it usable for a while. The primary uses of this machine are, again:

1) E-mailing (web-based only - not using Mail, etc.)
2) News reading
3) Pretty light web browsing: buying the odd plane ticket, reading a New Yorker article, looking at a Flickr album, that kind of thing.

Thanks!

How can I make Firefox work like it did before Leopard.

4ster — Sat, 14 Jun 2008 09:21:24 -0800

I'm using Firefox 2.0.0.14 on a second-generation Macbook on which I just installed Leopard. When I was using Tiger, I could simply go to a URL by typing "apple" or "metafilter" into the address bar. Now I have to enter the .com/.org/etc. at the end, or I get taken to Embarq's annoying search page. How can I fix this?

Help me understand Boot Camp and its limitations, please!

DMan — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 18:09:42 -0800

I'm purchasing an iMac sometime this weekend (yay!) and I'm trying to figure out how I want to partition the drive for Boot Camp... So I'm getting a new iMac, and as a computer engineering student I can definitely see where I'll want to test hardware or software on multiple platforms--Windows XP is a necessity, and I'd love to have Vista and Linux if possible.

So, first off, is this possible? I've seen some stuff recently about Linux being difficult to install on a Mac with Boot Camp, is that true? And also, can I have both a XP and Vista installation on my computer, on separate partitions? I have OEM versions of both OS's.

If this is possible, what's the best way for me to partition the drive, space-wise? Out of the 3 I'd like to install (XP, Vista, and Linux) I know for a fact I'll be using XP the most, mainly for gaming but also for Office and a few other Windows-only apps. So I was thinking about 60GB for XP, and the bare minimum for Ubuntu. So assuming I can install all those OS's, how much space should I save for each one? I'd rather partition it all at once rather than go back and do it later.

My final question is a bit more simple. Would I be able to create a separate partition on the drive to store my music? Rather than create a new copy of the music on each partition, I'd rather have a separate "Music" drive. I can't use an external because the only one I have is going to be used for Time Machine.

To recap:

- Can I install Windows XP, Vista, and Ubuntu on my iMac along with Leopard?

- What's the minimum space I'd need for Vista and Ubuntu? Drive is a 500GB; I'd like to leave, at bare minimum, 300GB free on the Leopard partition.

- Can I easily create a separate partition for music? About 20 GB would be all I'd need.

Thanks for all the help! I'm new to Apple computers, so this should be interesting.

Animator in need of assistance

AsRuinsAreToRome — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 16:06:35 -0800

Halp! Need advice on a storage solution for a man with media! So I'm having issues figuring out a hard drive setup for my personal/work network.

About my setup:

Here she is.

I'm a 3D animator. My day job is at a large animation studio in Los Angeles, CA, but at home I also do some freelance animation from my Macbook Pro C2D 17" running the latest Leopard. Right now I have two drives - a 250GB Western Digital that I use SuperDuper to nightly back up my 160GB internal Macbook Pro hard drive to. And a 500GB Western Digital MyBook which stores all my project files and media (photo library, movies, and music).

I'm quickly filling up the 500 GB Mybook and I'm looking for a cost-effective solution for what I should do with my media server. My plan is to move everything thats non-project oriented to a new 1TB drive while leaving the MyBook to run my animation files off of.

Would I benefit from getting a hard drive that supports FW800? Its seems like 99% of the enclosures or external drives I look at support USB2, but I'm looking for something that I can boot from. From my understanding, getting an eSATA card for my Express 3/4 slot isn't an option because you can't boot from external eSATA drives.

I've looked at the Drobo, which looks like a great deal but a) its expensive as hell and I'd want to use DroboShare and b) it only supports USB at this point.

Any suggestions for a stable and fast 1TB hard drive solution that would work ?

Looking for computer/productivity tips for users - share yours!

disclaimer — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 15:10:22 -0800

I'm writing an article for my local chamber of commerce newsletter: "Here are the top 5 things you can do right now to make using your computer a better experience". But I keep overcomplicating things. The article covers any and all tips for using your computer, but the criteria are:
- A general-purpose computer user should be able to handle the task (no recompiling the kernel - this is the Chamber of Commerce, think "realtors").
- Not necessarily willing to reconfigure the registry, either. Many don't have user rights to make big changes.
- No lead time - the user should be able to pick up and use this tip without getting up or buying stuff.
- Think convert a simple user to a power user: something really effective.

Tip samples:
- Get comfortable: Stop slouching, sit up and get the keyboard at the right height, stretch once in a while, turn off the fluorescents, adjust your display settings to fit your eyesight, etc. etc.
- Using keyboard shortcuts, screenshots, quick paths to common tasks, etc.
- Application dependent tips are fine as long as the applications are common. Bonus if the tip in question deals with feisty software (i.e. Entourage or Outlook) and solves a common frustration or dilemma (categories in Outlook, for example).

The trouble is, I'm a tech and while i know some of these from common issues I see, I'm completely unable to "think simple" enough to come up with good tips. Please share something you have found that fundamentally and quickly made using your computer a better experience for you.

Thank you!

Tips for optimizing my Macbook Pro for work AND personal use: OS 10.5 Leopard

ISeemToBeAVerb — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 14:28:36 -0800

I've had my Macbook Pro for a year now and I originally used it just for personal activities, the problem is, now I use it for work as well. I'm looking for some tips that can help reduce the amount of personal crap that mingles with my work crap. My main problem is that I have certain applications, folders, preferences, etc that I use specifically for work and nothing else; I'm finding myself getting distracted by having nonessential work items cluttering up my computer and making me less efficient.

I've thought about trying to create a new user account just for work, but I'm hung up on the fact that I cannot use the same .Mac account for two users on my computer. (correct me If I'm wrong on this, but when I tried to enter my .Mac account for the new user it wouldn't allow me.)

So... any tips?