Hard drive polling seemingly solved

A while back I asked for advice about what might be causing intermittent HD access. For quite a while I have had one of my external drives make a sound roughly every 6 seconds as if a small bit of data were being written. Recently I did a backup to that HD, not unlike what I have done in the past, using Superduper. It has only been an hour or to but I note that I am not hearing the same, regular HD polling. Quite the interesting puzzle, and a much better one that constant crashes or my screen regularly going black.

I open Hardware Monitor occasionally but that has not been open recently. It appears the culprit was SMCfancontrol. Like many others, I have my Energy Saver option unchecked for Allow Hard Drives to Sleep (whatever the exact wording is) but it doesn't stop my drives from spinning down after some period. That also was entirely unrelated to this issue, which was an audible polling, if that's the right term, of the hard drives nearly every 6-8 seconds. At times it would stop, so even now I'm not 100% sure it's solved, but since turning of SMCfancontrol and restarting without it loading, all has been quiet. I think there is another similar program that I'll have to check for if the machine here continues to run without that audible thunk.

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I moved my entire iPhoto Library to an external hard drive, which seems to have worked. But now my Mac Pro shows a backup of the same size in the storage info and has not freed up any space. help!

I moved my entire Iphoto Library from my Macbook Pro to an external hard drive. (Prior to this, I also copied the entire library to a different ehd, plus I have 2 other ehdrives with backups). I was trying to get more space on my hd. It has a capacity of 500GB, but was down to 70GB usable, with about 300GB used up by photos. I moved the library by going to Finder, using Command+Drag+Drop onto the new Seagate ext hard drive icon. The move seems to have worked, as the library shows up on the ehd, plus will open from there. My problem is that now my Macbook Pro shows that I STILL have only 70GB available out of the 500, and that 300GB is used up by "Backups", which it did not indicate before.
I cannot find this 300GB "Backup" in the Finder, only in the Storage info when I check "About This Mac".
I have restarted my computer, but the information remains the same. How do I reclaim the use of the 300GB? Why is it showing up as "Backups" when it used to indicate "Photos"? Are my photos safe on the external drive?
Thanks for any and all help!

I cannot find this 300GB "Backup" in the Finder, only in the Storage info when I check "About This Mac".
You are probably using Time Machine to backup your MacBook Pro, right? Then the additional 300 GB could be local Time Machine snapshots. Time Machine will write the hourly backups to the free space on your hard disk, if the backup drive is temporarily not connected. You do not see these local backups in the Finder, and MacOS will delete them, when you make a regular backup to Time Machine, or when you need the space for other data.
See Pondini's page for more explanation: What are Local Snapshots? http://pondini.org/TM/FAQ.html
I have restarted my computer, but the information remains the same. How do I reclaim the use of the 300GB? Why is it showing up as "Backups" when it used to indicate "Photos"? Are my photos safe on the external drive?
You have tested the library on the external drive, and so your photos are save there.
The local TimeMachine snapshot probably now contains a backup of the moved library. Try, if connecting your Time Machine drive will reduce the size of your local Time Machine snapshots.

Max memory, defragged hard drive, still seems slow

My 2GHz Core Duo Macbook seems to be running slow. I have 2 gigs of good ram, I defrag the hard drive and I don't use video software/ other rendering applications. I'm on 10.4.11 whatever could be the issue?

Which you can check by opening Activity Monitor. It may be that something you've put on is sucking up CPU. Printers can do this. Some widgets. Some system extensions.

Hard Drive size seems to include Files on time capsule

I recently used Whatsize to measure my hard drive space. I was surprised to see it includes some files i have copied to my time capsule as a backup. This measurement is the same with the about this mac hard drive measurement. Is it usual for these files to be included?

Yes, it should be OK to delete the folder - even if it contains some stuff that never got to the real Time Capsule, they should just be backup files for what should still be on the source drive. Just for added safety, though, don't empty the Trash for a while, until you know that the Time Capsule is functioning properly and you again have two copes of all your stuff.
There may be an additional issue accessing the Time Capsule after you do delete that folder. I'm not familiar with network drives, but in the case of local drives the presence of a ghost folder can cause the real external drive to mount on a path containing an extra number in the volume name. In other words, now, with wi-fi back on, the current paths in the file system might be:
/Volumes/timecapsule/ - the ghost folder
/Vollumes/timecapsule 1/ - the real Time Capsule
when you delete the ghost folder and restart, the Time Capsule will now be able to mount "normally",
/Volumes/timecapsule
It's possible, though, that Time Machine and Deja Vue will still be looking for their backup targets at /Volumes/timecapsule 1/, a path which no longer exists, and will thus be unable to find the files on their previous backups. You could probably check for this in Time Machine just by entering it. If this does happen, I think you could probably recover just by re-choosing the target disk in Time Machine and in Deja Vu, but I don't really know the inner workings of Time Machine.
Again, this may not be an issue at all, but it's something to be aware of.

I transfered my itunes to an external hard drive and seemed to have lost my apps. Any ideas?

I thought I could just drag and drop my iTunes library to an external hard drive. After doing this and finding out that it would not work I took my itunes folder and moved it from my music folder on my hard drive to my desktop. After doing that I realized what I needed to do to get my itunes on the external hard drive. I got the itunes on the hard drive alright, lost my playlists which is OK, I will just re-do those, but I also lost my apps for my iPad. I still have all my original files though on my desk top. Does anyone have any suggestions?

davidfrombillings wrote:
I thought I could just drag and drop my iTunes library to an external hard drive.
it'll work ... if done properly ☞
copy the entire iTunes folder (not just the iTunes music or media folder) from <MacintoshHD>/users/<yourname>/music on your Mac to the external, then launch iTunes while holding the option (⌥) key, click on choose library when prompted, and select the iTunes folder on the external.
if I already have my iTunes going to the incorrect files how is it going to find the correct files again.
you could try if this script helps:
iTunes Track CPR v1.3
This script attempts to locate the files of so-called "dead tracks"--iTunes tracks designated with (!)--that you assume are not actually missing but are still located in the iTunes Music folder in their "iTunes File Order" (Music -> Artist -> Album -> file.xxx)."
Eric Ross wrote:
When you moved the file back did you go back into iTunes in your preferences and select the advance tab and then selected the location again or where your files are
the iTunes media folder location in preferences > advanced tells iTunes where to put new additions to your library, not where your content currently is.

Hard drive not recoginized [solved]

my new har drive under is dected by
fdisk -l
but is read only under my file manager-- dollphin
Last edited by shoelesshunter (2015-01-13 01:13:10)

#/dev/mapper/tux-lvroot / ext4 defaults 0 1
UUID=99445bdb-fb6f-4286-b126-657ff5bff083 / ext4 rw,relatime,data=ordered 0 1
#/dev/mapper/tux-lvvar /var ext4 defaults 0 0
UUID=41b35064-b9fb-4117-898c-6a3c3586b53f /var ext4 rw,relatime,data=ordered 0 2
#/dev/mapper/tux-lvtmp /tmp tmpfs defaults 0 0
UUID=2df1d2e7-0f65-457c-8d57-e0a4b2e956cb /tmp ext4 rw,relatime,data=ordered 0 2
#/dev/mapper/tux-lvhome /home ext4 defaults 0 2
UUID=dbadb7bd-a20b-4342-9bfc-dc01a45a01e0 /home ext4 defaults 0 2
#/dev/sda1 /boot ext2 defaults 0 2
UUID=3a233d37-f4e4-4679-9b28-fe59f1adb0c6 /boot ext2 rw,relatime 0 2
#/dev/mapper/tux-lvswap none swap defaults 0 0
UUID=5282e236-a122-4dd9-b463-1d3dd6b9b88a none swap defaults 0 0

How can I get albums back that are on my hard drive that seem to have

uninstalled from iTunes. I have some songs that are on my iPod, but no longer in iTunes....why did this happen, and can I correct it without having to do each song or album individually?
Thanks!

" I have some songs that are on my iPod, but no longer in iTunes"
If you are using iTunes version 7 or later, then you can transfer purchased iTunes store music from the iPod to an authorized computer by using the "file/transfer purchases from iPod" menu. Note that the maximum of 5 authorized computers applies here.
For all other non purchased music (your own CDs etc) try this method which works on some Windows PCs.
Enable your iPod for disk use.
See: iPod Disk Use.
Open iTunes and select edit/preferences/advanced/general. Put a check mark in the box marked "copy files to iTunes music folder when adding to library" and also "keep iTunes music folder organized", then click 'ok'.
Connect the iPod whilst holding down the shift/ctrl keys to prevent any auto sync, and if you see the dialogue window asking if you want to sync to this itunes library, click 'no'.
Then go to file/add folder, open 'my computer', select your iPod and click 'ok'.
The music files should transfer to your iTunes.
If this doesn't work (and it may not because officially it's not supposed to), check out the instructions/suggestions here.
Music from iPod to computer (using option 2). This a manual method using "hidden folders" and although it works, it can be messy.
Much easier ways are to use one of the many 3rd party programs that copy music from the iPod to the computer.
One of the most recommended is Yamipod. This is a free program that transfers music and playlists etc from iPod back to the computer. However, it does not transfer playcounts/ratings etc.
Another free program is Pod Player.
There is also CopyPod. This does preserve ratings/playcounts etc if those are important to you but this program is not free. It also supports video transfer.

Would this new hard drive work on my MacBook?

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=5566988&st=seagate&lp=2&type=produ ct&cp=1&id=1055388011277
Just thinking about upgrading my MacBook a bit, and wondering if this hard drive (which seems like a great deal) would work out in my MacBook or whether it would cause problems.
This is kind of a silly question, but I don't know all that much about computers. Increasing the hard drive will just let me have more room for music, photos, etc, right? I would have to increase the memory to make it operate at a faster speed?
Also, does anyone know if the Genius Bar would install a new hard drive for me?
Thanks!

No. First, it's an ATA drive and the MB requires a SATA drive. Second, that drive is a 3.5 inch full-size hard drive. You need a notebook drive (2.5 inch) for the laptops. See the these New Egg notebook drives.
Adding a larger hard drive will provide increased storage capacity. Adding RAM will not make the computer run faster. Adding RAM simply enables you to run more applications simultaneously without the slowdown caused by virtual memory.
Installing a hard drive in a MacBook is a DIY project. You can find instructions at http://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Mac/MacBook/Hard-Drive. You will need a very small (#00) Phillips screwdriver and a T8 Torx driver. You should find them at a hardware store.
As for whether your local Apple store will install a drive you purchase on your own is something you will need to ask them.
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Members may reward you with 5 points if they deem that your reply is helpful and 10 points if you post a solution to their issue. Likewise, when you mark a reply as Helpful or Solved in your own created topic, you will be awarding the respondent with the same point values.

Hard drive space being eaten

I don't have File Vault on yet my hard drive space seems to be vanishing before my eyes. I'd appreciate any thoughts on how to work up and solve this problem. Thanks.
MacBook Mac OS X (10.4.9)

Download WhatSize and scan your drive to see what's eating up your hard drive space.
-Bmer
Mac Owners Support Group
Join Us @ MacOSG.com
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Note: I receive no compensation for product endorsements.

Memory modules and hard drive not recognized

I removed and reinserted the factory installed Satellite L505D-LS5007 laptop hard drive and memory modules just as practice for installing a hard drive upgrade and an 8GB memory upgrade. The problem is obviously with the memory and not with the hard drive.
After the first practice try, one memory module was recognized. Also for a few seconds after the first practice try, I ran the PC with the battery installed, but no memory installed. I did not look in the User's Guide first to see that I should have removed the battery before removing the memory.
Now the System Indicator Lights for the HDD Activity and Memory Card Reader do not light up. The PC turns on and the display is solid black with no messages.
Before buying new memory modules, what possible ways might there be to get the PC to recognize the factory installed memory modules and hard drive again?
Solved!
Go to Solution.

When troubleshooting, I always change one variable at a time. I would hate to miss a solution by being in a hurry. In this case, you may have damaged either the RAM or the RAM slot. I would stick with the Toshiba specifications for the RAM, making sure it is the correct size, speed and type recommended. I also recommend that when you replace the RAM that both modules be from the same manufacturer, size, and specification. Try one RAM module in one slot and then the other. And then try both RAM modules in both slots. After the testing you should be able to figure if this is a RAM problem or a RAM slot problem.
In the case of hard drives, the real test is whether or not the Bios sees the hard drive. If the Bios doesn't see the hard drive, it's not going to work. The Bios should see the hard drive whether or not the hard drive is partitioned, formatted or has data on it. My experience has been that many Toshiba laptops will work fine with larger capacity hard drives provided they are the same speed in RPMs, have the same interfacing connection and physically the same size.
Again, prior to doing any work on your computer, make sure that both the AC power has been disconnected and the battery has been removed. Be careful out there. A blown repair job by a non-Toshiba tech is NOT covered under warranty.

Missing Files in Finder from External Hard Drive - PLEASE HELP

Hi everyone, found myself with a bit of a problem and feeling a little stressed out.
I have an external, Thunderbolt hard drive which seems to be working ok. Suddenly, after a reboot I am unable to see any files on the drive and the finder says 0 files. The disk size however remains the same, indicating the files are still somewhere on the drive. I am running 10.10.1 (14B25).
Before the reboot I was writing to the drive using Compressor, I cancelled the export and then rebooted. Since then I have attempted the following with no luck:
1. Rebooted the computer / PRAM and SMC reset.
2. Tried accessing the drive on another computer and account. No luck.
3. Verified the drive with Disk Utility
4. Repaired system permissions
5. The external TB drive is a raid, I have checked the raid with the software for error and no errors are present and the Raid looks in good shape. No red lights, flashing, warning sounds etc.
6. I re-indexed spotlight.
7. I made all hidden files visible, and couldn't see the files but i found the following hidden files in the attached picture.
Could someone please give me some advice which could lead to the recovery of the data?
Many, many thanks in advanced, I look forward to hearing form you.
Best, Jim.

A small update:
I have tried using DiskWarrior - it sees the files and folders are there, confirms there is no physical disk problem but after a rebuild of the directory there are still no files present.
Is there a preference file or hidden file I could try and remove?
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Jim.

How does an external hard drive compliment Time Capsule?

Hi, I am relatively new to iMac and time capsule. I am a novice computer and Mac user so things have to be simple. I have been reading a number of threads in the forums gleaning as much information as I can. Any thoughts or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
My iMac is running OS 10.6.4 with a 313 GB HD and my time capsule is 500 GB. I purchased my first iMac 2 years ago. Shortly thereafter I decided that I needed to be backing up files that I have been creating and building especially my photos and music files so I purchased a time capsule which I have been using as an external hard drive not as a wireless router. It is hard wired to my Mac. I use another wireless network. I have used Time Machine a few times and it has worked well for me. So far this simple set up has met my needs.
Just recently I got two error messages, one that "Your startup disk is full." and "The disk containing your iPhoto library is running low on space.
While I was exploring my memory capacities and possible ways of freeing up space on my computer my Time Capsule croaked. Apparently all hardware has an expiry date. It has since been replaced under an extended warranty and the new one reinstalled. I have done a complete back of my hard drive and deleted some useless stuff on my computer's hard drive to create 17 free GB. I am pondering what further steps I should take to safeguard my data. I hopefully will be building a much more extensive photo library both in iPhoto and Aperture. I wonder whether I should be looking at an additional external hard drive which seems to be the easiest thing to do. My Time Capsule (500 GB) is not quite twice the size of my computer's hard drive. Maybe it is too soon to invest in an external hard drive seeing that it may have a shot life span such as my first Time Capsule did.
Does Time Machine only work with Time Capsule or will it work with other external hard drives? The folks at my Apple store tell me that Time Capsule can be used just to store data but I have heard otherwise in the forums. How would an additional external hard drive will work with Time Capsule? What is the difference is between USB and firewire? Is it possible to open files stored on the Time Capsule to see exactly what they are?
I do realize that Time Capsule only backs up new files and any changes so I wonder how long I can continue with this arrangement.

curious r wrote:
Does Time Machine only work with Time Capsule or will it work with other external hard drives?
Yes, Time Machine works with external HDs. That's how most folks back up. Connecting directly via USB or FireWire is much faster then Ethernet, but you're right -- all disk drives fail, sooner or later.
The folks at my Apple store tell me that Time Capsule can be used just to store data but I have heard otherwise in the forums.
It can be used for Time Machine backups and other things, but trying to use the same one for both presents problems, because of the way Time Machine works (filling-up all the available space before deleting the oldest backups) and the fact that you can't partition a Time Capsule's internal HD to separate your backups from the other data. Plus, you can't back up the other data.
How would an additional external hard drive will work with Time Capsule?
It won't extend the TC's internal HD -- backups can't "span" the two. In your setup, you'd be much better off connecting an external HD directly to your iMac. The advantage of a TC is, since it includes a wireless router, you can use it to make a wireless network and do backups wirelessly. That's what a lot of laptop owners do.
What is the difference is between USB and firewire?
FireWire is faster and more reliable for large amounts of data transfer. It also requires less use of your Mac's CPU, since the FireWire chipset does some of the work that your CPU has to do with USB.
Is it possible to open files stored on the Time Capsule to see exactly what they are?
Yes. Files you put there (other than Time Machine backups) are just like files on any other disk.
I do realize that Time Capsule only backs up new files and any changes so I wonder how long I can continue with this arrangement.
Yes, that's a concern. It varies greatly depending on how you use your Mac, but our general "rule of thumb" is that it needs 2-3 times the size of the data it's backing-up.
There's another consideration: Time Machine can back up FROM your internal HD and external HDs that are directly connected via USB or FireWire (if they're formatted for a Mac), but it cannot back up from any network drive, including a TC's internal HD or a USB drive connected to it. So if you move some data from your internal HD to an external HD connected to the TC, you'll need some other way to back it up.
Forgive me, but I'm not sure why you have a Time Capsule in your setup, if I understand it correctly. You have one iMac, no laptops or other computers, and you use a different router for your network, right?
Your best bet may be to get one external HD for the "overflow" of things you don't have room for on your iMac's internal HD, and another, much larger one, for Time Machine backups of both.
I'll press my luck here and also suggest yet another external HD, perhaps a portable, for "secondary" backups. With a portable, you can take it to a secure off-site location, such as your safe deposit box, workplace, relative's house, etc., and also be protected against fire, flood, theft, direct lightning strike on your power lines, etc. See #27 in [Time Machine - Frequently Asked Questions|http://web.me.com/pondini/Time_Machine/FAQ.html] for more.

How do i move a file from my mac to an external hard drive?, how do i move a file from my mac to an external hard drive?

how do i move a file or folder from my mac book pro to an external hard drive? the hard drive is formatted just for the mac.
i backpacking and taking loads of RAW pics so i need to get them off my mac onto the hard drive. it seems i have to copy them, only some times then some pics dont work!!!!!!!! pain in the arse!!! im quite new to the mac and loving it, but on the old p.c it was easy as!!!!!!!!!!!! help please

You just drag them and drop them where you want them to go. If you don't want to keep the original on the source drive, you'll want to delete it afterwards.
What do you mean "some pics don't work?" Don't work how?

Hard Drive is "Dead", any way to get my data?

My hard drive has seemingly "died." I get a clicking sound from it, which I'm assuming is the heads clicking together. It happened once before but I was able to fix it by re-installing OSX and starting from scratch, but not before getting my files via Firewire mode. Unfortunately, now I can't get back to Firewire mode. I've tried EVERYTHING to get something, but it looks like my hard disk isn't being recognized at all.
I already called AppleCare and they're going to fix it, but I'd like to save some docs before I have to send it in, any ideas?
Thanks,
Brandon Kea

If Applecare is going to fix it and the documents aren't needed immediately, you can have Apple do a data recovery service for ~$50 last time I checked.
Unfortunately, I too learned the hard way when my iBook's hard drive (G3, 700Mhz) died unexpectedly. I'd certainly recommend an external HD for backup if you have the money. It'll certainly pay off and be worthwhile for important documents
Best of luck!
-Ryan

External Hard Drive - Partition or Not?

Ok, I have looked everywhere for the answer and everyone has a different opinion. So, I'd like to get opinions on my situation because the Discussions have always been the most helpful.
I recently had a post about whether I should upgrade my Powerbook's hard drive or just get an external Firewire drive to transport files here and there. In the end, I decided to get a 400GB internal drive (for storage) and bought an enclosure for it, since my hard drives only seem to be shrinking. I got an amazing price so I went for it - the other thing will just have to wait. I decided to keep my iPhoto Library on it, backup of important files (also burned to cds)... you get the point.
Up until now, I have only been backing up my user folder because I was only interested in keeping those files. After visiting the Discussions, I've learned a lot (what can I say, I'm young and I know my way around a computer, but I still have A LOT MORE to learn). Ok, so now I guess it's time to make a bootable copy of my hard drive (at least the Mini, because that's where all of the files are).
To the point... Should I partition my 400GB drive into 2 sections: one for a backup and one for all the other storage? Can I boot from this if my Mini's hard drive fails? Or is it best to leave the 400GB as storage and get an 80GB solely for bootable backup?
The problem is I don't have a lot of money to spend on this. I was looking forward to getting the new 30GB iPod (for music and files), but protecting my files is more important. There are so many options, but they are expensive options (to me, at least). I would be so grateful if anyone has suggestions on the best way to go about this. Thank you!!
12" Powerbook G4, Intel Mac Mini, iPod Nano Mac OS X (10.4.7)

Personally I would choose no. 2 primarily because I like to keep backups separate from regular working drives to minimise risks of mishaps, problems, theft etc.
If something happens to the single 400GB drive you could, potentially, lose both stored data as well as the backup. Ultimately it might cost more to have two drives but when it comes to backups I prefer not to cut too many corners.
15" 1.25GHz/12" 1GHz PBs, 2xPPC Mac minis, 12" iBook G4, Mac OS X (10.4.6) Cube, 2xTAMs, iPods 2G/4G, iPs, AEBS, AX

Hard drive polling seemingly solved

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