HT1529 Which file (or .plist) contains the info found in the About This Mac window?

I am looking specifically for the serial number belonging to a Mac Air. The computer is no longer in my possession, I only have the hard drive. And please do not infer that I am doing something nefarious - I am not. Thanks for your time.

Lightstrife wrote:
I am looking specifically for the serial number belonging to a Mac Air. The computer is no longer in my possession, I only have the hard drive. And please do not infer that I am doing something nefarious - I am not. Thanks for your time.
You need the actual computer to get the serial number.
Cheers
Pete

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Why is "more info" greyed out in the About This Mac window?

RE: MacBook Air running OS X 10.6.8
The More Info... is greyed out in the About This Mac window... how can I ungrey it to get info?

Reinstall OS X without erasing the drive
1. Repair the Hard Drive and Permissions
Boot from your Snow Leopard Installer disc. After the installer loads select your language and click on the Continue button. When the menu bar appears select Disk Utility from the Utilities menu. After DU loads select your hard drive entry (mfgr.'s ID and drive size) from the the left side list. In the DU status area you will see an entry for the S.M.A.R.T. status of the hard drive. If it does not say "Verified" then the hard drive is failing or failed. (SMART status is not reported on external Firewire or USB drives.) If the drive is "Verified" then select your OS X volume from the list on the left (sub-entry below the drive entry,) click on the First Aid tab, then click on the Repair Disk button. If DU reports any errors that have been fixed, then re-run Repair Disk until no errors are reported. If no errors are reported click on the Repair Permissions button. Wait until the operation completes, then quit DU and return to the installer.
If DU reports errors it cannot fix, then you will need Disk Warrior and/or Tech Tool Pro to repair the drive. If you don't have either of them or if neither of them can fix the drive, then you will need to reformat the drive and reinstall OS X.
2. Reinstall Snow Leopard
If the drive is OK then quit DU and return to the installer. Proceed with reinstalling OS X. Note that the Snow Leopard installer will not erase your drive or disturb your files. After installing a fresh copy of OS X the installer will move your Home folder, third-party applications, support items, and network preferences into the newly installed system.
Download and install Mac OS X 10.6.8 Update Combo v1.1.

How do you edit the 'About this mac' window?

Hi,
I need to edit the about this mac window - pictured here to remind you of what exactly it is ( http://www.pluggedinmac.com/Picture%201.jpg )- in order to further my understanding of how this aspect of Macintosh works.
I will be extremely greatful of all replies
Thanks
James

You'll need to be a bit more specific about what you mean by "edit".
If you want to edit the actual .nib file (the archive which describes the window), it's at
/System/Library/CoreServices/loginwindow.app/Contents/Resources/English.lproj/Ab outThisMac.nib
Nib files can normally be edited by using the Interface Builder application that's part of the Xcode developer tools.
However, since you're on an Intel-based Mac, you won't be able to edit the nib unless you first find a version from a Power PC Mac. The reason for this is that .nib files aren't actually a file, but a package that includes different parts inside the primary folder. For example, if you Control-click on the AboutThisMac.nib mentioned above, and choose Show Package Contents, a new Finder window will open which shows a single item "keyedobjects.nib". That is an actual file which holds the archived user interface objects (using key/value coding/archiving, hence the "keyed" in the name). To be able to open and edit a .nib file in Interface Builder, however, you need two additional files inside named "classes.nib" and "info.nib". These provide Interface Builder with the information necessary to properly open the nib. By removing those two files from the nib, a developer can essentially make the nib "read-only", meaning it will work fine when the application it's a part of needs to use it, but an end-user (or their competition) cannot open the nib file in Interface Builder to see how the objects were constructed. Most nibs that are part of an OS X install on PowerPC-based Macs include the necessary files and can be opened in Interface Builder. Most of the nibs included with Intel-based Macs, on the other hand, do not include those files and can't be opened in Interface Builder without first copying the "classes.nib" and "info.nib" files from a PowerPC-based Mac's nib to the Intel version of the nib.
Hope this helps....
Dual 2.7GHz PowerPC G5 w/ 2.5 GB RAM; 17" MacBook Pro w/ 2 GB RAM - Mac OS X (10.4.7)

Macbook pro 15 discrete graphics not showing in the about this mac tab

I am new to osx. I was wondering why I couldnt find the discrete graphics info in the about this mac window. It simply says intel hd 4000. I was wondering whether or not I need some drivers for it.

I assume you mean under the "Display" tab when you click "About this Mac" > More Info...
This only shows the active graphics card. To see the full specs, open "System Information," either under "Overview" Tab > System Report, or from the Apple Icon in the menu bar by holding down the option key and clicking "System Information." Under hardware > Graphics/Displays

HT1529 Where do i find the serial No on a IMac 4.1 please? I have looked on the "about this Mac" but it does not have the serial No on it!

Where do i find the serial No on a IMac 4.1 please? I have looked on the "about this Mac" but it does not have the serial No on it!

Until last July, the model identifier on every Intel Mac would tell you exact minimum and maximum expansion in terms of RAM, retail operating system, and any system specific required firmware updates, video and audio expansion capabilities, and patches for Wifi available. The serial number is only of consequence if you wish to date a Mac down to the week. This can help in determining system specific disks, available warranty, and exchange/repair program eligibility. Outside of that the year and month can usually be narrowed down to a six month period with model identifier alone on all except MacPros. So my question is, is it really that relevant for your needs?

HT1750 What about TWO different numbers in MacOs (about this mac window) and on the bottom of the foot of the iMac ???

What about TWO different serial numbers in macOs (about this mac window) and on the foot of the mac. This mac was not purchased as a refurbished nor has been sent for servicing on any time since purchasing...
The one in MacOs is answering : "This is not a valid Apple Product serial number" when i try to check the iMac 1TB Seagate Hard Drive Replacement Program...

You will need to check with Apple - might be a good idea to take it to a Genius Bar so they can see it for themselves (and the diagnosis is free).

I was wondering if I could use Boot Camp and install Windows 7 on my black Macbook. I don't see where I can tell what year it is from in the about this mac option either...? Please help. I am afraid that my mac is considered vintage now :(

I read somewhere earlier that if my macbook is vintage, then I can't install windows/bootcamp. Maybe this is too big a venture for me to undertake anyway, but just in case I wanted to get a little help before I dig too deep... I think it was late 2006 or early 2007 when I purchased my black Macbook.

To see which model you have go to the Apple in the upper left corner and select About This Mac, then click on More Info. When System Profiler comes up check the Model Identifier and post it back here.
model 1,1 (Early 2006)
model 2,1 (Late 2006 & Mid 2007)
model 3,1 (Late 2007)
model 4,1 (Early 2008)
model 5,1 (Late 2008, Aluminum Unibody)
model 5,2 (Early 2009, 2.0GHz Model Only)
model 5,2 (Mid 2009, 2.13GHz Model Only)
model 6,1 (Late 2009, White Unibody)
model 7,1 (Mid 2010)

What does "Backups" mean in the "About this Mac" storage graphic?

I just migrated the contents of one Mac to a new MacBook Air and discovered something I had never seen before. I had 37MB of storage taken up with "Backups." What is that? What is the best way to reduce or manage it?
One other question, while I am at it. What is included in the category of "Other?"

OS X: What is "other" space in About This Mac? - Apple Support
About Time Machine local snapshots - Apple Support
The local snapshots should take care of themselves if you have a backup drive in place and Time Machine activated.

What does 'backup' mean in the 'about this mac,' 'storage' window? Where would I find those files?

I need to delete some files to create space and noticed that 'backup' files are taking up a lot of space. Where are these backup files located?

Those are local snapshots if you're using Time Machine - how much space are they using? See http://pondini.org/TM/30.html.
Clinton

How do I find out what "Other" is, in the "About this Mac", storage details bar graph?

My new Mac Book Pro with 250 GB Flash Storage is already full with only adding a few apps. I purchased the new Final Cut Pro X, but store all video data on an external drive. Whats up? Why is 146 GB used up with "Other"? What is "Other!?" How can I find out the details of what's in other, and get rid of what I don't want or use?

First, empty the Trash if you haven't already done so. If you use iPhoto, empty its internal Trash as well:
iPhoto ▹ Empty Trash
Then reboot. That will temporarily free up some space.
According to Apple documentation, you need at least 9 GB of available space on the startup volume (as shown in the Finder Info window) for normal operation. You also need enough space left over to allow for growth of your data. There is little or no performance advantage to having more available space than the minimum Apple recommends. Available storage space that you'll never use is wasted space.
If you're using Time Machine to back up a portable Mac, some of the available space will be used to make local snapshots, which are backup copies of files you've recently deleted. The space occupied by local snapshots is reported as available by the Finder, and should be considered as such. In the Storage display of System Information, local snapshots are shown as "Backups." The snapshots are automatically deleted when they expire or when free space falls below a certain level. You ordinarily don't need to, and should not, delete local snapshots yourself.
To locate large files, you can use Spotlight. That method may not find large folders that contain a lot of small files.
You can more effectively use a tool such as OmniDiskSweeper (ODS) to explore your volume and find out what's taking up the space. You can also delete files with it, but don't do that unless you're sure that you know what you're deleting and that all data is safely backed up. That means you have multiple backups, not just one.
Deleting files inside an iPhoto or Aperture library will corrupt the library. Any changes to a photo library must be made from within the application that created it. The same goes for Mail files.
Proceed further only if the problem isn't solved by the above steps.
ODS can't see the whole filesystem when you run it just by double-clicking; it only sees files that you have permission to read. To see everything, you have to run it as root.
Back up all data now.
Install ODS in the Applications folder as usual. Quit it if it's running.
Triple-click the line of text below to select it, then copy the selected text to the Clipboard (command-C):sudo /Applications/OmniDiskSweeper.app/Contents/MacOS/OmniDiskSweeper
Launch the Terminal application in any of the following ways:
☞ Enter the first few letters of its name into a Spotlight search. Select it in the results (it should be at the top.)
☞ In the Finder, select Go ▹ Utilities from the menu bar, or press the key combination shift-command-U. The application is in the folder that opens.
☞ Open LaunchPad. Click Utilities, then Terminal in the icon grid.
Paste into the Terminal window (command-V). You'll be prompted for your login password, which won't be displayed when you type it. You may get a one-time warning not to screw up. If you see a message that your username "is not in the sudoers file," then you're not logged in as an administrator.
The application window will open, eventually showing all files in all folders. It may take some minutes for ODS to list all the files.
I don't recommend that you make a habit of doing this. Don't delete anything while running ODS as root. If something needs to be deleted, make sure you know what it is and how it got there, and then delete it by other, safer, means. When in doubt, leave it alone or ask for guidance.
When you're done with ODS, quit it and also quit Terminal.

HT201402 What is the Content "other" category in the "about this mac" Storage information?

I have 250 Gig MacBook Pro. My Audio is 21G, Movie 33G Photo 13G, App 17G Backup 0G, Other 124G. What is the content of "Other"

Hi,
Can anyone help me with this: (see attached picture)
I suppose there is a (preference) file to reset in order to display correctly the storage information ?
Thank you for your help.
Stan.

How do I locate info "about this Mac"?

Trying to locate info about this MAC i'm on.
I can't locate the "about this mac " window.
Thx

Apple symbol, far left on the top menu bar

About This Mac/Storage/Other - what's the starting point?

I have a very new MacBook Air. After a fairly abortive migration (it carried over lots of stuff from my iMac which I didn't want - I only wanted settings, not files) I scoured the discussions and picked up a thread that suggested setting up a new administrator profile and deleting the old one, thereby getting rid of all the files and so on. (now why didn't I think of that?).
However, I've made the mistake of checking the "About This Mac"/storage info, and it shows as follows:
Audio 656.8MB
Movies 42.3MB
Photos 112.7MB
Apps 3.73GB
Backups zero
Other 9.45 GB
Now it's bugging me enough that I can't track down the audio, movies and photos (although I concede that these are very small and may be system related?).
BUT the "Other" section is really annoying me. What is it?
I'm aware that I might reinstall OS and start again only to discover that I STILL have 9.45GB in Other.
Can anyone who knows about these things help?
Does anyone have a brand new MacBook Air on which they haven't yet done anything at all and can check what it says under their "Other"?
Thanks!
Margo

Hi Margo:
Ultimately, you may want to perform a complete do over--which given your circumstances might require you to perform a clean install. More on that later if you want to do so eventually.
I am assuming you transferred your data, etc., from your iMac using either Firewire Target Disk Mode for over a network. It doesn't matter much, but which did you do.
Regardless, for now, I would do a repair install of Lion and see how things look after doing so. A repair install should leave installed apps, files, and settings alone. And, such an install very well sort out any issues of how much of what you have where. There are several ways of doing so. first, if your Lion Recovery HD partition is present or you have set up a Lion Recovery Disk Assistant, then either will work. Let's see if you can do either of these before going any other route.
Try starting up holding down the option key. Once done, see if there is a "recovery" option. If yes, then I would choose it and ultimately choose to reinstall Lion from the Apple site. If you have unbacked up files, etc., then be sure and back them up to your iMac before doing any kind of install.
If you want to read more about what I am talking about, then go here (read from the top).

I recently used SuperDuper! to transfer my hard drive, setting etc to an SSD to replace in my MBP. When I placed the SSD in and went to "About This Mac" I came upon this in the Storage section. My question is where can I find my Backups and delete them?

I recently used SuperDuper! to transfer my old MBP hard drive and its settings to a new SSD. Everything went smoothly. When I opened the "About this Mac" section and looked under Storage it showed this:
Where are the "Backups" (purple) located? I want to delete these files to free up disk space on my new SSD. Thanks in advance for all of your guys help!

These are the "Local Snapshots" Time Machine makes when the actual Time Machine harddisk is not connected/avaiable.
OS X Lion: About Time Machine's "local snapshots" on portable Macs
Mac OS X 10.7 Help: About local snapshots
Stefan

System Profiler won't launch/ About this Mac more info button grayed out

Panther 10.3.9 on 1.25 imac G4. I recently restored this mac to get ready to sell it and after the restore and Panther upgrade (from system discs) System Profiler no longer launches. I have run disk utility to repair permissions. The area in the dock opens up for the System Profiler icon but it just shuts right back down. I can't launch it directly from utilities and the "more info" button on the about this mac menu is grayed out. Anyone have a solution? Thanks!

Hi cornelius,
I posted the link to the thread due to the fact that there were a number of suggestions of troubleshooting the user could try to resolve their issue.
One was the standard Repair Disk/Repair Permissions, one was to reset PRAM (not sure why that was suggested in this particular case), and one was to check to see if it could be a font issue and one was to test with a new user account to see if the problem was system wide. And one was for reinstalling System Profiler by using Pacifist.
The OP in that thread did not post back to indicate if any of the suggestions helped but I thought that the OP here might benefit.
I wasn't suggesting anything specific as I personally have never had the problem but I thought those suggestions might help the OP.
Or am I misunderstanding what you are asking?
best as always,
littleshoulders

HT1529 Which file (or .plist) contains the info found in the About This Mac window?

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