3/03/2013

[macsupport] Digest Number 9411

15 New Messages

Digest #9411
1a
Re: SSD vs. Thunderbolt drive performance by "James Robertson" jamesrob328i
1c
2a
Newby silly question by "Carol" floridabouvs
2b
Re: Newby silly question by "John Ross" maltcote@btinternet.com
2c
Re: Newby silly question by "Earle Jones" earlejones501
2d
Re: Newby silly question by "Barry Austern" barryaus
2e
Re: Newby silly question by "Jim Saklad" jimdoc01
2f
Re: Newby silly question by "Otto Nikolaus" nikyzf
2g
3a
Re: Mac vs PC software prices by "T Hopkins" todhop
4a
Re: Wi-FY connection timed out. by "bobbystar" bobbystar
5.1
5.2

Messages

Sun Mar 3, 2013 12:43 pm (PST) . Posted by:

"James Robertson" jamesrob328i


On Mar 3, 2013, at 10:15 AM, Tim O'Donoghue tjod@runbox.com> wrote:

> Or rather, an SSD drive will be faster than a spinning drive in the same
> enclosure - USB, FireWire, Thunderbolt, etc.

That ultimately will be the ticket. Thanks!

Sun Mar 3, 2013 3:05 pm (PST) . Posted by:

"Jim Saklad" jimdoc01

> The "minimum" spec for Windows boxes to install Epic is a 500 GB drive, Intel i3, 4 GB RAM. I'm OK on all but the hard drive. It appears the options will be to replace my SSD with a much larger one, or perhaps put ALL my data on a Thunderbolt drive.

Are you aware that the SSD in a Retina Macbook Pro is *NOT* a replaceable item?

You can put an SSD (or a spinning hard drive) in an external case and connect it (inexpensively) by USB3 or (expensively) by Thunderbolt.

MacSales (Other World Computing) has several videos comparing SSD boot-ups or program starts with spinning hard drives here:
http://eshop.macsales.com/owcpages/ssd-bootest-mbp-101112.html>

--
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Jim Saklad mailto:jimdoc@icloud.com

Sun Mar 3, 2013 4:20 pm (PST) . Posted by:

"Otto Nikolaus" nikyzf

On 3 March 2013 20:43, James Robertson jamesrob@sonic.net> wrote:

>
> That ultimately will be the ticket. Thanks!
>

But you realise that a *large* SSD (500 GB) would be *very* expensive? I'm
not clear how this makes any sense.

Otto

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Sun Mar 3, 2013 2:06 pm (PST) . Posted by:

"Carol" floridabouvs

1.) I have a new 27" iMac and bought a WD 1T external backup drive. It is formatted for a Mac but came with no instructions. I assume I just plug it in and it will start automatically backing up. Or do I need a program to get it to do that? Like Time Machine, whatever that is.
2.) I have lotsof important photos on an external Book drive from a Windows 97 PC. I thought someone said I could just plug it into the iMac to get the photos off, but it isn't formatted for Mac, so wouldn't that be a problem? It would hate to have the photos destroyed.
Thanks.
Carol

Sun Mar 3, 2013 2:09 pm (PST) . Posted by:

"John Ross" maltcote@btinternet.com

Carol,

1.) Yes. Time machine will prompt you.

2.) -

On 3 Mar 2013, at 22:06, Carol floridabouvs@gmail.com> wrote:

> 1.) I have a new 27" iMac and bought a WD 1T external backup drive. It is formatted for a Mac but came with no instructions. I assume I just plug it in and it will start automatically backing up. Or do I need a program to get it to do that? Like Time Machine, whatever that is.
> 2.) I have lotsof important photos on an external Book drive from a Windows 97 PC. I thought someone said I could just plug it into the iMac to get the photos off, but it isn't formatted for Mac, so wouldn't that be a problem? It would hate to have the photos destroyed.
> Thanks.
> Carol
>
>
>
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Sun Mar 3, 2013 2:12 pm (PST) . Posted by:

"Earle Jones" earlejones501


On Mar 3, 13, at 2:06 PM, Carol floridabouvs@gmail.com> wrote:

> 1.) I have a new 27" iMac and bought a WD 1T external backup drive. It is formatted for a Mac but came with no instructions. I assume I just plug it in and it will start automatically backing up. Or do I need a program to get it to do that? Like Time Machine, whatever that is.
> 2.) I have lotsof important photos on an external Book drive from a Windows 97 PC. I thought someone said I could just plug it into the iMac to get the photos off, but it isn't formatted for Mac, so wouldn't that be a problem? It would hate to have the photos destroyed.
> Thanks.
> Carol
>

*
Carol: "Time Machine" is in your "Applications" folder. (I assume you have a late model OS X.)

Just double click on "Time Machine" and follow the instructions. You will have to designate your external 1 TB drive as the backup. After that, it is all automatic.

Sorry! Can't help you with the photos.

earle
*
_______________________
Earle Jones 
501 Portola Road #8008
Portola Valley CA 94028
Home: 650-424-4362
Cell: 650-269-0035
earle.jones@comcast.net

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Sun Mar 3, 2013 2:46 pm (PST) . Posted by:

"Barry Austern" barryaus


On Mar 3, 2013, at 5:06 PM, Carol wrote:

> 1.) I have a new 27" iMac and bought a WD 1T external backup drive. It is formatted for a Mac but came with no instructions. I assume I just plug it in and it will start automatically backing up. Or do I need a program to get it to do that? Like Time Machine, whatever that is.
> 2.) I have lotsof important photos on an external Book drive from a Windows 97 PC. I thought someone said I could just plug it into the iMac to get the photos off, but it isn't formatted for Mac, so wouldn't that be a problem? It would hate to have the photos destroyed.
> Thanks.
> Carol

Others have answered no.1. The Mac can read Windows drives. There are two different Windows formats that I can think of. One is FAT-something. The Mac can write to that too. The other has a different name that I forget. This is a newer method that allows larger drives. The Mac can read it but cannot write to it. However, if you are running Windows 97 chances are it is the older format and a smaller drive, so you probably will have no problems.
--
Barry Austern
barryaus@fuse.net

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Sun Mar 3, 2013 3:10 pm (PST) . Posted by:

"Jim Saklad" jimdoc01

> 2.) I have lots of important photos on an external Book drive from a Windows 97 PC. I thought someone said I could just plug it into the iMac to get the photos off, but it isn't formatted for Mac, so wouldn't that be a problem? It would hate to have the photos destroyed.

Given the most likely format of the Book drive, the Mac should read the files without problem, presuming they are not somehow "hidden" on the drive, like in a database file.

Attempting to read a disk format foreign to the Mac should never cause a problem, as long as you don't try to *write* to the disk, *re-format* the disk, or *re-partition* the disk.

--
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Jim Saklad mailto:jimdoc@icloud.com

Sun Mar 3, 2013 4:29 pm (PST) . Posted by:

"Otto Nikolaus" nikyzf

Others have already replied but please, *please* copy your photos from the
Windows backup drive and disconnect that drive *before* doing anything with
the new drive and Time Machine.

There's an unofficial law in IT/computing that data does not really exist
unless it is in at least 2 places at once.

Otto

On 3 March 2013 22:06, Carol floridabouvs@gmail.com> wrote:

> 1.) I have a new 27" iMac and bought a WD 1T external backup drive. It is
> formatted for a Mac but came with no instructions. I assume I just plug it
> in and it will start automatically backing up. Or do I need a program to
> get it to do that? Like Time Machine, whatever that is.
> 2.) I have lotsof important photos on an external Book drive from a
> Windows 97 PC. I thought someone said I could just plug it into the iMac to
> get the photos off, but it isn't formatted for Mac, so wouldn't that be a
> problem? It would hate to have the photos destroyed.
>

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Sun Mar 3, 2013 4:46 pm (PST) . Posted by:

"N.A. Nada"

Carol,

If you just want to use it as storage, not as a Time Machine, then you just plug it in and use it.

If you want to use it as a Time Machine, then you have to set it up.

Plugging in the external Book drive to a Mac will not harm it. It will either be recognized and you will be able to see what is on it, or not. If it is recognized and you can view the content, then you can either use it that way or move it over the the drive that is formatted for a Mac.

Brent

On Mar 3, 2013, at 2:06 PM, Carol wrote:

1.) I have a new 27" iMac and bought a WD 1T external backup drive. It is formatted for a Mac but came with no instructions. I assume I just plug it in and it will start automatically backing up. Or do I need a program to get it to do that? Like Time Machine, whatever that is.
2.) I have lotsof important photos on an external Book drive from a Windows 97 PC. I thought someone said I could just plug it into the iMac to get the photos off, but it isn't formatted for Mac, so wouldn't that be a problem? It would hate to have the photos destroyed.
Thanks.
Carol

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Sun Mar 3, 2013 2:37 pm (PST) . Posted by:

"T Hopkins" todhop

On Mar 2, 2013, at 12:54 PM, neelie wrote:
> .I'm so tired of the premium prices we sometimes have to pay for software!

Actually, we should be very thankful for OS X, unix, and Open Source. Over the life of OS X, the imbalance between the availability and cost of software between Windows and Mac has all but reversed. Open Source projects, generally built for Linux first, are as likely to be ported to Mac as Windows and this drives down Mac prices dramatically. And so has the iPhone.

All this has driven the price of Mac software way down, often to zero. Ten years ago, the idea of "free" Mac software was pretty much laughable. While there is still a lot more Windows software and it is cheaper, the cheap stuff is also largely crap. The percentage of good software in the Mac world is much, much higher and there is much closer parity in pricing. For most applications, there are as many, if not more excellent choices on Mac, and they do not generally cost more if you compare similar quality.

There is still a "luxury tax" on Macs. It makes some sense. Mac users are generally paying twice as much for their machines as Windows users. Why wouldn't software developers expect to benefit a bit from this culture.

Cheers,
tod

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Sun Mar 3, 2013 4:27 pm (PST) . Posted by:

"N.A. Nada"

Randy,

Thanks for the lists.

Tod,

Very good point, it is definitely something to look for. And something I usually look for.

I just found an old FileMaker Pro 5 file that I am having problems moving forward to Bento 4, even though there is a pathway. Thankfully it is small and I could probably re-enter it in less than an hour, while watching TV. (I don't need any help for this.)

In a later post, you, Tod, comment on cheap software often being crap. I agree and would like to add that I prefer single or few purpose software, rather than all-in-one, "swiss army knife" software. The all-in-ones often do one or two things well and the rest passably or horribly. When it comes time to move forward at the EOL, they often have no pathway to move forward.

Brent

On Mar 3, 2013, at 4:29 AM, T Hopkins wrote:

Cool looking program, but I ask you this. There appears to be a way to get your ScrapItPro notes in using PDF printing, but how will you get them out when GrowlyNotes reaches EOL?

For the three decades I've looked for the perfect note taking program and this has always been my concern. The vast majority of modern programs take data in nicely, but give it up poorly. In the early years, I used simple database apps that could export, at a minimum, comma delimited. Data exchange is getting better with widespread format standards like SQL, XML, and RTF, but many programs still must use complex custom formats to store there data.

As a result, I've only ever used programs that have some common format export. It's the very first thing I check. My current pick is "nvALT," mostly because it saves all data as independent RTF files in a folder. Elegantly simple. You can even "Reveal in Finder."

Cheers,
tod

On Mar 3, 2013, at 1:50 AM, Randy B. Singer wrote:

>
> On Mar 2, 2013, at 4:52 PM, Bob Cook wrote:
>
>> I really wish Randy would tell us his secret to being so organized to have
>> all this information at his fingertips.
>
> It's not a secret and I think that it's come up on this list before.
>
> I've been on a bunch of Mac discussion lists, for about 27 years now. I keep a database of answers to questions (most of them my own answers to other's questions.) This is handy because many of the same questions keep coming up. I use ScrapItPro for this, but it has been discontinued, and I'm still auditioning replacements. I'm leaning towards:
>
> GrowlyNotes (free)
> http://growlybird.com/GrowlyBird/Notes.html
> which is sort of a clone of OneNote for Windows.
>
> I especially hate it when folks (usually Windows bigots) go around saying that there is "no software for the Macintosh." I love to show them how wrong they are. Over the years I've keep lists of some of the most common types of software for the Macintosh, adding to them as I come across software that I didn't know about previously.
>
> In any case, I highly recommend using a program like GrowlyNotes for to-do lists, organizing things that you have to write, storing research, keeping a catalog of tips, etc.
>
> ___________________________________________
> Randy B. Singer
> Co-author of The Macintosh Bible (4th, 5th, and 6th editions)
>
> Macintosh OS X Routine Maintenance
> http://www.macattorney.com/ts.html
> ___________________________________________
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>
>

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

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Sun Mar 3, 2013 4:23 pm (PST) . Posted by:

"bobbystar" bobbystar

It could be interference from another device or network wifi router. Do you see your neighbor's networks in the drop down menu? Can you change your channel or frequency? Maybe borrow a different wifi router to see if that eliminates your issue.

Is there any large metal objects between your router and your computer? Consider file cabinets and heating ducts and metal wall studs. All can cause your kind of problem especially with a weak radio signal.

In my daughters apartment I had to change channels, routers and finally went to a wired network to clear up her problems. She has a large hospital across the street with microwave antennas on the roof. Once one of her neighbors moved out all her wifi problems cleared up most of the time. Still get some occasional interference from the hospital.

I have used the Netgear wall plugged network devices. They work. They plug into your home wiring.

--- In macsupportcentral@yahoogroups.com, "myavid76"; wrote:
>
> Hello. My name is Dave. I am using a 21 in. I mac with OS X Mountain Lion. Many times when I wake my computer it will not hook up to my Wi-FY. I get a connection time out warning after about a min. I have to turn the WI-FY off and back on several times to connect. When this happens I click on my WI-FY symbol at the top right and there is no network selected. Even when my network is in the drop down menu and i click on it I still will get the warning. This problem only happens about 50% of the time i wake my I mac up. My router is only about 15 ft. away in the next room. But it seems like my computer can't find it. Any suggestions would be helpful.
>

Sun Mar 3, 2013 4:36 pm (PST) . Posted by:

"N.A. Nada"

Sorry, Jim.

I don't read tone or sarcasm well in posts. Even from regular list members. My apologies.

We all have a bird's nest of cables under our desks. Try a small travel USB hub at the AEBS. You can probably find a brand name under $15.

Brent

On Mar 3, 2013, at 7:59 AM, James Robertson wrote:

On Mar 2, 2013, at 8:44 PM, "N.A. Nada" whodo678@comcast.net> wrote:

> It is not up to us to invent a new way for you.

Um, Brent, that was a joke (the bit about the tangles behind my desk).

It obviously IS a good idea, even though it will increase the number of electronic residents back there (adding a USB hub), because I have BOTH my Laser Printer and my inkjet all-in-one announced to episodic WiFi clients via Bonjour, and my AirPort Extreme N (Gigabit Ethernet) has only one USB port.

Thanks for everyone's help.

Jim

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Sun Mar 3, 2013 4:39 pm (PST) . Posted by:

"N.A. Nada"

Try a little rubbing alcohol to clean that up.

Or a little piece of tape or a label maker will take care of that.

On Mar 3, 2013, at 8:02 AM, James Robertson wrote:

On Mar 2, 2013, at 10:58 PM, "Randy B. Singer" randy@macattorney.com> wrote:

> If, like me, you have a large collection of bread bag closures, this tip can be implemented essentially for free.

Around here, the bread companies long ago recognized that was wasted real estate that could be used for advertising!

Jim

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

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