I've read similar questions and answers, but I am still terrified to upgrade from leopard to snow leopard. The only reason I want to is because I received an iPad which requires an updated system. I have an external hard drive. I have the disks to upgrade
I've read similar questions and have studied the answers, but I am still terrified to upgrade from leopard to snow leopard on my macbook pro. The only reason for doing it is in order to sync my macbook pro with my iPad. I do have an external drive which automatically backs up every hour. BUT.......I am techno-ignorant as well as techno-paranoid. I have the disks to update to snow leopard but knowing doing so may likely change/alter/lose/obliterate my current set-up, it actually makes me feel sick to think of it.
Years ago when updating via Apple Protection Plan tech support, my screen actually went blank, everything gone! The tech told me not to worry, that "we" would be able to restore things, but several hours later I was still looking at a primitive looking screen that wasn't anything like what I had before. His language was too technical, in that there was an assumption I understood things I had zero understanding of. Example: partition my external drive.
Anyway, living hundreds of miles from an Apple service provider, and no Apple techs in my community, I had to wait for a trip to an Apple Store where one of the wonderful guys at the genius bar spent a ton of time getting things back to normal and actually explaining it enough that I had a vague understanding.
So now I am in the predicament again and won't know what to do after installing the new disks and finding a likely mess or absence of documents etc. on my computer. I don't know how to access the external drive, and even if I did I wouldn't know how to move stuff from that to my computer.
Anyone have any suggestions?
I'm in the same boat as you, I've used Mac's since day one and neglected my Windows education and now it has come to haunt me as I have to learn it like a school kid.
Nearly 99% of all businesses and nearly 95% of everyone use Windows, Steve Jobs declared "The desktop wars are over, Microsoft won" a long time ago.
By 2015 tablets are going to be selling to consumers more than traditional computers, your living proof, you got a iPad.
Apple has already discontinued the Xserver, the Xraid, the MacBooks and the 17" Macbook Pro.
Apple has introduced BootCamp in OS X 10.6 and up, this allows a partition and drivers so one can install Windows on a Mac.
https://www.apple.com/support/bootcamp/
Why do you think they named it "BootCamp"
You can't run a older OS X version longterm like you have with 10.5 anymore, Mac's are being targeted for attacks and older OS X versions are dropped for security updates.
In fact your Mac might still be part of the 750,000 Mac strong Flashback botnet or infected.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trojan_BackDoor.Flashback
http://arstechnica.com/apple/2012/04/how-to-check-forand-get-rid-ofa-mac-flashba ck-infection/
See here, Apple has no security updates for 10.5 users and soon 10.6 is going to be ignored next.
https://support.apple.com/kb/ht1222
1-1.5 years is the OS X upgrade cycle. Change everytime like it or not.
So I'm thinking about your long term future and how you obviously don't like change, need local assistance like it appears you first claimed.
So buy a new Mac and upgrade your OS X version whenever Apple shows it in AppStore.
When your machine can no longer upgrade to the newest OS X version, then you've got about another 2 more years of security updates before you have to buy a new machine or risk running a insecure one.
Learn here how to go about fixing your own machine and creating backups/bootable clones this way your not having to drive several hundred miles for a software or boot drive repair. Simply reverse clone your troubles away.
Most commonly used backup methods
https://discussions.apple.com/community/notebooks/macbook_pro?view=documents
I'm of the maturity and experience that I know a Mac isn't always the best solution for everyone and even Apple doesn't provide the proper hardware, support or features for everyone. Why only store locations in high traffic ritzy areas?
Our SteveJobs fan here is under 18 years old with good eyes, he's not older like we are with bad or failing eyesight.
The new Mac's have hard to see glossy screens and the type/UI can't be scaled up easily to accomadate our older eyes, however a Windows 7 machine does allow up to 150% scale of the UI, type etc., and also there are anti-glare screen PC's and just about no more anti-glare screen Mac's.
I wrote this User tip in case you have trouble seeing the screen, at least you can scale the web browsing up
Web browsing for hard of seeing users
Apple might still be selling the anti-glare 15" non-retina on their online store, it's the "high resolution/anti-glare model"
But I can get a 17" 1080i HD anti-glare Windows 7 laptop at Sager for a lot more performance and screen size for the price than a Mac.
https://www.sagernotebook.com/index.php?page=category_browse&selected_cat=2
Screen size is important as the UI and text can be scaled up for easier reading.
Of course you do now have the option of having Windows pre-installed alongside OS X to begin your transition to the dark side.
Just call and they will accomondate, hold the option/alt key at boot time to swtich operating systems.
http://www.macmall.com/
Windows 7 looks just as good as OS X, the secret is having a good monitor with most PC's come with don't.
Good Luck and I hope I've given you a lot to think about.
Similar Messages
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Hi, Can anyone recommended software to import dvd to iMovies. I need to import about a dozen homemade DVD's and edit them into a single DVD comprising the 'best bits'. How best can I do this. I have an external hard drive available for the job
You need to convert the VOB files in the TS-Folder of the DVD back to DV which iMovie is designed to handle. For that you need mpegStreamclip:
http://www.squared5.com/svideo/mpeg-streamclip-mac.html
which is free, but you must also have the Apple mpeg2 plugin :
http://store.apple.com/us/product/D2187Z/A/quicktime-mpeg-2-playback-component-f or-mac-os-x
(unless you are running Lion in which case see below))
which is a mere $20.
Another possibility is to use DVDxDV:
http://www.dvdxdv.com/NewFolderLookSite/Products/DVDxDV.overview.htm
which costs $25.
For the benefit of others who may read this thread:
Obviously the foregoing only applies to DVDs you have made yourself, or other home-made DVDs that have been given to you. It will NOT work on copy-protected commercial DVDs, which in any case would be illegal.
And from the TOU of these forums:
Keep within the Law
No material may be submitted that is intended to promote or commit an illegal act.
Do not submit software or descriptions of processes that break or otherwise ‘work around’ digital rights management software or hardware. This includes conversations about ‘ripping’ DVDs or working around FairPlay software used on the iTunes Store.
If you are running Lion or later:
From the MPEG Streamclip homepage
The installer of the MPEG-2 Playback Component may refuse to install the component in Lion. Apple states the component is unnecessary in Lion onwards, however MPEG Streamclip still needs it. See this:
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3381
To install the component in Lion, please download MPEG Streamclip 1.9.3b7 beta above; inside the disk image you will find the Utility MPEG2 Component Lion: use it to install the MPEG-2 Playback Component in Lion. The original installer's disk image (QuickTimeMPEG2.dmg) is required.
The current versions of MPEG Streamclip cannot take advantage of the built-in MPEG-2 functionality of Lion. For MPEG-2 files you still need to install the QuickTime MPEG-2 Playback Component, which is not preinstalled in Lion. (The same applies to Mountain Lion even though that has it preinstalled.) You don't have to install QuickTime 7. -
I have an external hard drive from my time capsule that stopped working on me. I am attempting to access the data with a hard drive reader on my MAC. I am able to see the drive in disk utility and under system info USB. But I am unable to access the data and it does not show on the desktop when connected.
Ok if disk utility was able to verify the drive I doubt there is any problem.. are you trying to open a TM backup??
You need to mount the sparsebundle then check the actual info inside the bundle.
Don't use disk warrior.. if the disk has verified then unless you deliberately deleted files there is nothing that is going to do.
Pondini has a lot of stuff about getting access to the sparsebundle.
http://pondini.org/TM/17.html
But if you have copied info to the TC that is now gone.. and the disk is ok.. I am not sure.. the TC will not have deleted the files itself. -
I have an external hard drive, from Iomega. that I can open and see my files. However, I cannot copy or save any file to it. On my PC I have it says that is possible to read and write in it, but in my Mac, it says I can only read. can somebody help me?
Also, Im a photographer, so I like to name a lot of files at the same time (used to do in on PC and it was very usefull.) cannot find out how to do it on my Mac. Really appretiate if some one can give me a solution! ThanxYour drive is formatted with the NTFS file system. OS X can read but not write to the NTFS file system. There are third party drivers available that claim to add the ability to OS X to write to an NTFS partition. I have not tried them and don't know if they work.
The only file system that OS X and Windows can both write to natively is the FAT32 file system. -
I converted from a PC to a Mac Mini. I have my PC documents backed up on a DVD disk. I have an external DVD drive connected to the Mac Mini. I want to open these documents up from the DVD storage and save them to the Mac, BUT....when I put the DVD disk in the Mac is NOT reading it!
Hi Joe,
Thanks for your quick response. I should add....it worked before. When I previously inserted the two DVDs into this remote drive, and I went into finder, I could click on the "remote device" line and see all my saved documents (excel, word, etc) on the DVD and open them on the Mac. Now I cannot see them, when I try to open them on the Mac, nothing happens, nothing is displayed. I just re-tested the remote DVD drive with a CD and, no problem, it opened up the CD via iTunes and I cold play the CD. SO......I know the remote DVD drive (it's an LG by the way) is fine, it's something to do with some settings on my mini mac,especially where I could open it previously. I do not remember changing any settings since then.
When I go into system preferences and click on CD/DVD it gives me options of how to open up a music CD (default is iTunes), a DVD (default is iMovie), etc. The problem is my DVD is all miscellaneious files/documents. I just want to be able to see them in the finder. I also tried to open them via microsoft word, from the remote disk and again, it could not open the drive, even though some of the documents were microsoft word documents. Again, I was able to open them previously and the DVD is not corrupted in any way.
Any additional advice?
Thank you! -
I have an Intel Desktop iMac and I am upgrading from Tiger to Snow Leopard. I keep getting an error when it tries to load the Mac OS X update combined. It says that it was corrupted during download. Have try loading from Apple website Mac OS X V10.6.7 upgrade combined but it still won't do it? Any other suggestions. The printer is not working either - I am not sure if they are connected. Everything else is fine.
Please excuse, but I have to ask an obvious question: Did you already update using the Snow Leopard Retail install DVD? (You must do this first; 10.6.7 is just an update if you already have 10.6.) Are you, then, trying to update from whatever version was on the install DVD to 10.6.7?
Otherwise, I'd keep trying. The 10.6.7 Combo is a huge update. -
Am replacing airport extreme with Time Machine and want to upgrade from Tiger to Snow leopard. Am told I should manually back up into T Machine before OS update but set up utility won't allow anything with OS below 10.5 and I'm 10.4.11. What to do?
I think you mean you are replacing your Airport Extreme with a Time Capsule. Time Machine is software integrated into OS X 10.5 & 10.6 used to automatically backup a system to an external HD. Time Capsule is an Airport Extreme that has a hard disk integrated into it that can be used for storage or as a Time Machine backup drive.
Because you are currently on Tiger 10.4.x you can backup to a external HD using SuperDuper or Carbon Copy Cloner. Having a backup is very wise before doing any major system update. After you have created the backup and have successfully upgraded to Snow Leopard you can still use the external HD for many things. The strategy I'd recommend is to use the new Time Capsule as your Time Machine backup and then use the external HD as backup using SuperDuper or CCC. Redundant backups is wise because backups can (and do) fail too! In addition both SD and CCC are bootable clones, this is useful in that if your internal HD crashes you can boot from a cloned drive and continue working until the internal HD is replaced.
Below are some links to some articles from MacWorld, I would recommend reading them where you find a common theme, redundant backups. Backup Plan I, Backup Plan II & Backup Plan III.
Roger -
I accidentally updated iPhoto on my (now) external hard drive and now it won't let me access any of my photos. What can I do?
So, you have two versions of iphoto? One from the old machine and one from the new?
If so, forget about opening with the older version of iPhoto.
For the newer version:
Download iPhoto Library Manager and use its rebuild function. This will create a new library based on data in the albumdata.xml file. Not everything will be brought over - no slideshows, books or calendars, for instance - but it should get all your albums and keywords back.
Because this process creates an entirely new library and leaves your old one untouched, it is non-destructive, and if you're not happy with the results you can simply return to your old one. -
I have an external hard drive but it is read only on my macbook.
I have an external hard drive but it is read only on my macbook. I have tried my friends which works on his macbook but this is also read only on mine. Do I need to change any settings?
Here's my lo-tech solution (if you have Parallels) to this frustrating problem:
Eject your hard drive.
Unplug (USB) your hard drive from the MAC .
Start Parallels.
When Windows has started, plug your drive back into the MAC.
You should get a little screen asking if you want the drive to be utilized by MAC or Windows. Select Windows.
Use Windows to copy your files over to the hard drive.
This is less than ideal and not a long-term solution, but I was afraid of attempting any reformatting since I have many files on my hard drive.
Just remember that Windows has to be running first, before you plug in your hard drive. -
Hi, do you know how I can migrate my iphoto and itunes libraries from my over-filled laptop to an external hard drive then point the programs to read from that location instead? I'm trying to make some space available on this old computer
To move iTunes...
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1449?viewlocale=en_US
...and iPhoto.....
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1229 -
I've moved iTunes to an external hard drive now have massive duplication of albums
Recently moved my iTunes folder to an external hard drive. Used the Itunes preferences to transfer the itunes folder to a new location. Didn't transfer it manually or by drag and drop! Followed this - I hope correctly - by using the iTunes/File/Library/Organise Library tool. May have got this bit wrong....
Result?.........
Here we see, in the second column, that I have both an 'iTunes Music' folder and a folder simply called 'Music' (Highlighted in red). You'll have to take my word for it but these folders have different amounts of music in them. Some is duplicated, some albums are split across the two folders. Howwever, most empty folders are in the 'iTunes Music' folder, whereasost complete folders are in the 'Music' folder! In addition, There's a 'Compilations' folder within the 'iTunes Music' folder (highlighted in blue with a red arrow) which has a small number of compilations most of which I've never selected as compilations.
Note the repetition of folders called 'Automatically add to iTunes' in both the 'iTunes' folder and the 'iTunes Music' folder. There's another one of these in the 'iTunes Media' folder.
Going further in.....
Here we have the 'Music' folder in the 'iTunes' folder. It has its own 'Compilations' folder which is even larger and more irrelevent than the previous one. It also has way more album folders than the 'iTunes Music' folder itself.
If I use the iTunes/File/Library/Organise Library procedure the splash screen that comes up allows me to choose the first optiuon but the second one is greyed out.
One of the results of this is duplicated albums on my iPhone, another is randomly missing tracks in my collection. In addition, my iTunes screen saver now has duplicate album covers and many album covers that I know I've downloaded at high resolution have just gone missing making my iPhone look like its been populated by a chimp! (no offence to our cousins) Where I've discovered a missing track I've used the 'File/ Add to library' procedure. In one case it copied an album folder from the 'iTunes Music' folder where I found it into the 'Music' folder on another occasion exactly the same procedure left the album precisely where it was.
BTW, I have another iTunes folder on my Mac with all the normal stuff in it but only music that I had to add whilst nopt connected to my hard drive.
How can I remove this massive duplication safely?
How can I consolidate my files efficiently without having to go through each folder separately?
How can I remove all these albums from 'Compilations' and prtevent other albums being added?
How can I get all my album artwork back in sync?
Phew!
Thanks!The folders and files are all normal to a basic iTunes library. They would be there even if you didn't have a single media file. Until you start up with the option key held down, iTunes will keep on looking for your library on the internal drive and will repopulate that folder with those basics if you delete them. You should have a similar folder with contents on your external and that is the one you want iTunes to use. As long as you keep it all intact while copying from one drive to the other, iTunes will be internally consistent and you won't even have to change preferences.
Preferences window
iTunes Media folder location: Just that; where iTunes keeps media. This is not necessarily where the library files (which are what ties the whole thing together) are to be found.
Keep Media Folder Organized - put all your files in folders according to type and name and album etc.
Copy Files to iTunes Media Folder - put it this way, if you didn't have that checked itunes would leave the files wherever you had them when you added them to the library. this one makes sure there is a copy (though not necessarily the only one, but the only on iTunes uses) in your media folder.
What actions take place when itunes "consolidate library" is used?
When you consolidate iTunes looks at all the files you have listed in iTunes and puts them in the location indicated by your media file preference. I don't think it hunts around your drive looking for things that aren't in the library, it just places a copy of those that are innto your media folders. If you want a searching tool you'll have to use a script that does that kind of job.
Your original images are not showing for me so I can't tell what exactly you are seeing.
Again, what I would do given what you have told me is I would make sure iTunes is using the library on the external by holding down the option key while starting iTunes (you only neeed to do that once). If you find there are files on your internal drive that are not in the library on the external then add those and iTunes will place a copy on hte external if you have that "copy files..." preference checked. You'll lose a few things such as playcounts, ratings, on those. If you absolutely must keep those there are a few tricks that can be performed but that's another very long post. -
So my MacBook Pro collapsed one day, and it turns on but only "Restarts" and shuts itself down on the procesa. The only thing I have access to is that 'Command + R' thing. There I tried "Verifying" and "Reparing" the Diak but the message of "Cant repair disk backup as many files as possible, reformat the disk and restore" popped up. So I have am external hard drive with more than enough space to put all of my files in there. my question is: HOW DO I DO THAT? from disk utility. Can somone please help me? Please! Step by step cause ptherwise I will mess it up and I really dont want to lose all the memories I have in my computer.
After you restart so you have access to Disk Utility, with the external drive connected, choose the external drive from the left sidebar of the DU window. If the drive has not been formatted for the Mac, choose Partition from the buttons top center of the main window. Give the drive a name, you can leave it as one partition if you like, make sure the format is set as Mac OS X Extended (Journaled), and the partition table is GUID. Then Apply and acknowledge that you know this will erase the disk.
Then go to the button that says Restore. Drag and drop the internal drive, Macintosh HD is most common, to the Source box, and drag and drop the external drive to Destination box. Then Restore.
That will create a clone of the internal and that will be a bootable clone. -
When i run Time Machine to back up my computer on to an external hard drive, i have no way of knowing when the back up process has been completed. This is necessary to know because i don't leave my external hard drive connected to the computer. I routinely disconnect it after backing up the hard drive, and then i store the external hard drive in a different location from the computer. So, knowing when the back up process has been completed would be a very helpful thing to have the computer specify.
Just enable Time Machine's menu extra (System Preferences -> Time Machine -> Show Time Machine in menu bar.
This will add a little Time Machine icon to your menubar. When Time Machine is actively backing up your data, the icon will spin as a visual indicator. You can also click the menu icon to see the backup status, including how much data is left to back up. -
I cannot drag my Itunes folder to my external hard drive, despite following the unhelpful help exactly. I get a "no way" sign Circle with a line though it. I have lost a fortune in purchased goods (audio books) because I cant do it. Itunes have said they cant reimburse me and they dont have those books anymore, so cannot redownload them for me. Please remind me NEVER to buy apple products again.
I am scared I am going to lose more money seeing I cant BACK ANYTHING UP.If you used the hard drive with another Mac then it is likely Mac formatted. It was because you posted in the iTunes for Windows forum (kind of the equivalent to taking a VW to a Ford dealership for service) I thought you might be using a Windows formatted drive.
Thumb drives are not universal. There isn't a "universal" drive format. Some work partly with both systems but are not fully compatible.
Click once on the hard drive icon on the desktop. Fo to File then Get Info. It will say the drive format.
Frankly I have never had your problem with a drive so I can't help too much except in general experience. The prohibitory sign is pretty universal and for some reason you are not allowed to copy to that drive.
I think if you had a Windows computer you'd be unhappy with it too and probably be posting on a forum that your machine was virus ridden and crashing and you didn't know anything about registries... To be honest, I was doing a presentation on a friend's Windows computer and wanted to get it to display a simple image file. There was no way we could get the .jpg image file to open with anything but Windows Explorer which is a web browser! I mean, that's really bad, and of course he was so used to using it without knowing anything about computers that he could not help me. I did my presentation in front of 30 people using Explorer. -
I keep getting "error occurred while attempting to import file *******. The disc your are attempting to use is full." I have an external hard drive that I moved files over to, but apparently they're also still on my hard drive? HELP!
So you have backed up the content of the computer's hard drive, too?
That usually is a great idea since it is possible to lose use of the system
if parts of it have accidentally been removed or get over-written, or the
main system files get corrupted, when the hard disk drive gets too full.
If you have not trashed the originals of your created content, that remain
after you made copies on an external hard drive or other device, then
that is what you'd have to do to reclaim the capacity still in use by them.
What are specifications of the hard disk drive? The unused capacity
verses the used, in GB? If the hard drive has less than 15 to 20%
free or unused capacity, you could run into trouble. Mine are 40-50%
unused hard drive space, so ample room is available for automatic
Virtual Memory to use that capacity as temporary swap file space.
This is helpful when the computer could use more physical RAM
memory capacity, but doesn't have it. Or if the RAM is maxxed out
and you can't add any more. Virtual Memory is part of OS X and the
system automatically can use as much as is available, but it is better
to be sure there is plenty of resources available to include chip RAM
as well as unused or free hard drive capacity for use as VM.
If for some reason your files in Trash won't go away when you empty
it, you may have to restart. Be sure you have not included any System
files in the content in the Trash, or the Mac may not start up later on.
You may have to boot the computer from the install-restore OS X DVD
and run Repair Disk from its version of Disk Utility, to be sure it's OK.
I'm guessing that by now you know enough about the vintage system
in the older hardware to figure it out, so I won't write about it now.
In any event... hopefully you can simply trash the files, but check them
carefully, & you may need to remove (copy to archive first) even more.
Good luck & happy computing!
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