Monitor for external drive activity?

I want a monitor to see how maxed out my external fw400 lacie drive is when I am using final cut to see how much data is going through the system. Do they have such a thing?

AJA makes a free one you can download that will test a drives cabable bandwidth. There are some live ones out there if you look around. If you're editing video, FW400 is getting maxed out for sure, no question. FW800 barely keeps up for HD, no question. What is your exact goal in having a data read/write measurement?

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Substitute variables for external process activity in process flows

Has anyone used with success substitute variables such as ${Working.Rootpath} for external process activity?
I can't get it working. Variables aren't substituted and my scripts fail.
Sample value for parameter_list parameter for external process I use is:
|${Working.Rootpath}|
and in the script I get:
${Working.Rootpath}
which is of course not what I expected.

In documentation is Working.Rootpath so there is a bug in documentation. It is ugly because it's hard to guess.
Thank's for your reply Michael. I checked all that you described. Previously I had Working location set to "Use default location". When I changed it to actual location substitute variables started to work properly.
If I correctly understand "Use default location" means: use location associated with process module. And for execution it works but for substitute variables doesn't. So I think it is a bug.
Next thing is variables in the script itself. From examples sent by Mark (script: cd ${Working.RootPath}...) they should be set in environment and accessible to shell. This doesn't work for me but it is not described in documentation and can be easily achieved by passing parameters. So that's not a problem.
One more question: Should I open tars and file bugs describing what we found?

Logic for Activity Qty and its unit of meas for external network activity,

Hi,
For external network activity, controlling key PS02. I want to read Activity Qty and its unit of measure.
Is there any function module or Bapi for this or any selection table logic?
I have tried BAPI_PROJECT_GETINFO and BAPI_NETWORK_GETDETAIL but I am not able to get this field?
If anyone has solution please let me know.
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Got the alternative solution

Can I disable trash for external drives?

Hello,
Is it possible to disable the Trash for external drives so that files from external drives are completey deleted automatically, or else moved to the trash on my internal hard drive? The problem that I am trying to solve is, for example, when I download pictures from my camera, if I want to make more space available on the camera, I have to first delete the pictures from the camera, and then empty my trash, since deleting the pictures from the camera only moves them to a hidden folder called ".Trash". I would prefer if I didn't have to empty the trash every time I wanted to free up room on my camera external hard drive.
Thanks very much,
Adrian
PowerBook G4 Mac OS X (10.4.1)

It isn't without its risks, but another option may be to ⌘-drag the files to the hard drive, which will simulate a "move" by copying the files to the hard drive then deleting them from the external. If something goes wrong during the transfer, it may be difficult in some situations to determine which files were being copied at the time - ie. which ones were potentially corrupted. It might be ok as a cleanup procedure after the files have been imported normally, but then you end up sitting through the process of copying them to the hard drive a second time - you might as well just toss them in the "Trash". Also, if a large number of files is involved, just don't accidentally drop them on the "Desktop" because the "Finder" can't handle it. Obviously, I'm not a fan of the method, but it's there as an option...

UPS Energy Saver on MacBook Pro for External Drives

A search here has shown this topic come up before -- such as at https://discussions.apple.com/message/1886738#1886738 and https://discussions.apple.com/message/8162836#8162836 -- but I can't find a resolution, so I'm bringing it up again.
I have multiple FW drives connected to my MacBook Pro. The MBP is connected to an APC Back-UPS RS 1200. OSX does not make the UPS Energy Saver autoshutdown preferences available on the MBP, the reasoning being that a laptop shouldn't need UPS autoshutdown because it has its own battery which is likely to run for far longer than the UPS would.
That's all well and good for the MBP itself, but it doesn't account for the multiple FW drives which are attached to it for backups and other purposes. In the event of a power outage, without UPS autoshutdown, the UPS will run down, and the drives will abruptly power off, exposing them to potential data loss and damage.
It's also not a solution to suggest that I manually power things down once there's a power outage, because the power can go out while I'm away for more than the few minutes of UPS battery back up time. The only real solution is to have UPS autoshutdown available on all portable machines. Unless and until Apple offers a (surely very simple) OS update to make that happen, I'm still interested in a solution.
APC's own software for autoshutdown stopped being updated long ago, so there is no version compatible with Snow Leopard.
The only potential solution I've found so far is http://www.apcupsd.org/ -- but its documentation is overwhelming and it appears that it may need other supporting software, a fair amount of Terminal usage, etc., all making it not very user-friendly for the very simple usage I'd want to make of it.
Does anyone know of any other solutions, software that can run on a MBP to add UPS autoshutdown functionality?
Re: Apcups, is anyone using it successfully on a MBP? If so, does anyone know if the version listed here -- http://mac.softpedia.com/get/System-Utilities/Apcupsd.shtml -- is a simple application that I can easily install and configure like regular Mac apps? If yes, then I'll likely be very happy with no need for the following question. If no, can anyone provide simple instructions to set up Apcupsd to do what I want?

"You are not doing anything on the computer so no files should be writing to the drives."
Big assumption there. With today's notebooks so capable of acting as desktop substitutes, they are often left running unattended to complete demanding tasks overnight or while the user does other things.
To be able to suspend such activities and gracefully power down an external drive or drives in the event of a power outage, the Mac would have to have instructions from each third-party application or process that is running about how to interrupt its activity safely and without jeopardizing the integrity of whatever hard disk directories are in use. Then it would need to unmount the drive(s) and, if they were bus-powered drives, turn off the power to each of them at the port to which it was connected. I bet it would be possible for all app developers to write such instructions into their apps' code, but where's the incentive for them to do so? This isn't a feature that most users would gladly pay extra for, I suspect, and the cost of adding it to apps that don't have it now and testing it for reliability and proper function under all conceivable circumstances would not be trivial.
If the drive(s) were AC-powered, the computer wouldn't be able to power them down itself -- the UPS would have to do that, or simply leave them on and power them until its battery was depleted or the AC was restored. It wouldn't matter which happened as far as the drives and their contents were concerned, because once the computer stopped using them, powering them off would be safe at any time.

Step by Step Guide needed for external drives.... Help!

I know this has probably been done to death already but I can't seem to make any of the suggestions work in this case. I guess what I need is someone to tell me like I'm a 5 year old on how to do this.
I want to move my music library to an external drive as my main drive is getting full. I have iTunes on my c: drive and want to move my music to an external drive (h:) so it can play and be stored there. I have tried a couple of times to move it and tell iTunes where to find it but for some reason a couple of things happen...
1. iTunes changes the location back to the c: drive, even after I have pointed it to a folder created on the external drive.
2. if it does look to the external drive it doesn't find the library... the music is there but iTunes doesn't display it in the library.
I must be doing something really wrong or this isn't possible... any advice would be a great help.

You might find this article useful: iLounge - Transferring your iTunes Library to Another Drive

How do I use iMac as monitor for external DVD player (HDMI to Mini DisplayPort)

iMac 27" (late 2009). Internal DVD is region locked. I would like to use an external DVD player to watch DVD's from other regions.
I can't use the new Apple SuperDrive because they say it's not compatible with iMac's before 2012. (Is it??)
My iMac doesn't have Thunderbolt. It has mini displayport.
I have resigned to getting a generic DVD player and plugging it into the screen.
I have found this in Apple support pages...
Can I use the iMac in TDM as a display for my gaming console, DVD player, or other device?
The Mini DisplayPort port on a supported iMac can receive DisplayPort compliant video and audio signals. Converters not made by Apple may provide options to convert other electrical, video, and audio protocols to Mini DisplayPort or Thunderbolt compliant signals.
( http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3924 )
What is DisplayPort compliant video and audio signals? Does HDMI fit into that signal type?
Is it possible to get an HDMI to Mini DisplayPort converter?
Will it work if I get a generic DVD player with HDMI output? (and connect it to the iMac through MiniDisplayPort)

First try VLC.
<http://www.videolan.org>
On many Macs, it will play DVDs even if the region codes don't match.
The Apple SuperDrive should work if you use the terminal (Utilities foldsr) command:
sudo nvram boot-args="mbasd=1"
There are also non-Apple USB or FireWire external DVD (and Blu-ray) drives, such as:
<http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/optical-drives/superdrives/>
Apple's DVD player may not work with external drives, but you can use VLC or Blu-ray™ Player
<http://www.macblurayplayer.com>
There is a converter to connect HDMI to the iMac via TDM
<http://www.kanexlive.com/xd>
but it will run at 720p (1280 x 720) and may have problems with HDCP (High-bandwidth Digital Content Protection) on HDMI from Blu-ray or DVD players.

Second Monitor and External Drive

Hi everyone, first..sorry in advance if this is in the wrong place but I felt like this covered two topics.
So I have an old ibook g4 thats just collecting dust in my closet and I thought to myself "why not put it to use" so my question is this; can I use it as an external drive and a second screen at the same time?
I already know that if I plug in a firewire cable to both my macbook and ibook and boot it hold (i dont remember what key) it will boot as an external drive and i found this; http://www.screenrecycler.com/ScreenRecycler.html
which looks like it will make my ibook into a second monitor, but how can i do those both at the same time.
All help is appreciated
Thanks!

Your old FW drive is FW 400. New Mac's come with FW 800 ports. You need an adapter from FW 800 to FW 400.
You will also need a Thunderbolt/Mini Displayport to HDMI adapter.
Both of these adapter should be available from your Local electronics store or online retailer, including Apple stores, Online and brick and mortar

Best setup for external drives and backup

I'm using Aperture to organize several thousand photos. I've gotten good advice her before about how to get started on this. I'm not a professional and I'm not an experienced user of Aperture, so don't assume a lot of knowledge when you answer. I'm wondering what the best way to set up the file storage would be. I use a MacBook Pro, so obviously that's out for storage, and financially, purchasing a more powerful desktop is out for the time being. I was thinking of purchasing a mirror drive system, like this: http://www.newertech.com/products/gmax.php
But then, there still remains the problem of backing up the photos in case of a fire or theft, etc. I have many of them on DVD, but not with all the metadata that I've added. Can I back the external drives up to a cloud-based storage system through the wireless on the MacBook?
Or, is the answer none of the above? What recommendations do you folks have for managing this?

more:
Paula-
Mirror drives are very much less than ideal for images backup. Mirroring occurs in real-time, so errors, breaks, etc. simply get copied. With images work (unlike fanancial work, for instance) we do not need real-time backup we just need regular accurate backup. Just have 2-3 external drives and rotate them regularly, always having one drive off-site (could be in your car or whatever). Back up manually rather than automatically so that you can be reasonably certain that the backup is not backing up something that just broke.
I suggest the below workflow. Note that most important is that original images from the camera card are copied to two locations before reformatting the card and before importing into Aperture or any other images management application.
Original images never change, so I prefer to manually copy them to two locations asap after capture: one location is the computer drive and the other is an external backup HD that itself gets backed up off site regularly. That assures me that "the pic is in the can." Until two digital files exist on different media I do not consider the pic in the can.
Then reformat the card in-camera, not before.
The Masters then get imported into Aperture from the Mac internal drive by reference (i.e. "Storing Files: in their current location" on the Mac internal drive). After editing is complete (may take weeks or months), from within Aperture I relocate the referenced Masters to an external hard drive for long-term storage.
I do use Time Machine routinely on the MBP, but for the daily-volatile activities going of the MBP. I prefer not to have TM be my backup-of-originals protocol. Instead TM backs up the Mac internal drive on the TM schedule and I back up original images asap based on my shooting schedule. Also the TM drive is a different drive than the drives used for long-term original image files archiving.
TM does back up my Library because the Library lives on the Mac internal drive but I do not assume that TM works for Library backup. I back the Library up to Vaults (on the same drives I put archives of Masters on) independent of TM. IMO one should back up image files and back up Vaults manually after verifying that what is being backed up is not broken, because automatic backup will just back up a broken Library or whatever.
Note that Masters need only be backed up once (but to multiple backup locations) and that backup should happen immediately after copying to the hard drive from the camera card, before involving Aperture or any other images management app.
Sorry for the redundant verbosity above but some was copied from previous posts. Also, I reinforce what Léonie said about DVDs. DVDs are way too slow, unreliable, etc. Instead rotate multiple hard drives to achieve redundancy.
HTH
-Allen

Best monitor for external playback?

I have never used an external monitor before for playback, and now that I'm going to start color grading HD footage, I find that I'm probably going to need one.
I have heard that most computer monitors have their own "look" in terms of contrast, brightness, and color. My question is this: what should one get for external playback and color correction? I'm assuming an HDTV, or a 1920x1080 computer monitor, but what specifically should I look for in terms of specs? Affordability is also an issue here. Thoughts?

Thanks for getting back to me, Shane.
I'm a little new to all of this, so bear with me. It seems from what I just read about the Matrox MXO, and the like devices you mentioned above, that their main advantage is that they output broadcast quality, correct? Is there more to it than that?
Since that kind of thing isn't in my price range yet, I was thinking more along the lines of computer monitors/hdtvs that I would just hook up with the mini-display port. Nothing too fancy.
What should I look for in terms of inputs? From mini-display, what's best: dvi, vga, or hdmi? What should I look for in terms of contrast ratio? Is LED backlit a must?
Budget is <500. With a computer monitor/hdtv, will I have to have my display settings on extended desktop, and then drag my canvas over onto the new screen?
Thanks for the help!

Looking for external driver hp555s updatewon't work with windows 8

hi, my dvd/cd rewritable external drive will not work with windows 8, is there an upgrade for this writer, had it for a few years, was working fine with win.7 but can use with win.8, need help!!!! Thanks Gloves54
This question was solved.
View Solution.

Hi, My external dvd/cd driver problem has been resolved, I chatted with the support assitants from Acer (my laptop with the problem) they gave me a microsoft driver link which fixed my problem. my dvd/cd external drivers are now recongnized by my computer and can be used. Thanks to Honor Student for trying to help me with my problem. Happy Holiday's!
Gloves54

Icon for external drive??

I've been noticing when booting off of my external drive, the icon for the external drive doesn't appear at the top of the icons in the right hand corner of the finder. Should this happen? It's a little confusing to determine which disk is the startup.
Thanks,
Richard

Richard Skover1 wrote:
I've been noticing when booting off of my external drive, the icon for the external drive doesn't appear at the top of the icons in the right hand corner of the finder. Should this happen?
no. it used to always do that but there were a lot of complaints and this was changed in leopard. now it lets you arrange the drives as you want and keeps finder preferences on reboot.
It's a little confusing to determine which disk is the startup. to see the boot drive go to apple menu->about this mac. the current startup disk will be listed at the bottom.
Thanks,
Richard

I have Home Movies from iMovie to back-up. What format for external drive?

Hello,
I have Home Movies imported into iMovie 11 on my iMac 3.06 Ghz Intel Core 2 Duo.
I am saving the cpmleted movie projects onto an external hard disc. A Seagate 1TB.
I have had problems with file sizes as I keep getting the message that a movie project is too large for the medium. It seems that I can't store anything in HD.
I've looked at the disc and it's formatted as MS-DOS (FAT32)
Am I right that this imposes a maximum file size that I can save?
If so I have looked at the Disc Utility on my iMac and I can see that I can reformat the external drive.
I have a choice of -
Mac OS Extended (journaled)
Mac OS Extended (Case-sensitive, journaled)
MS-DOS(FAT) is this the same as MS-DOS (FAT32) it already is formatted as?
ExFAT
Windows NT Filesystem (Tuxera NTFS)
I'm guessing I should choose the MAC OS Extended (jounaled) or the Mac OS Extended (Case- sensitive, journaled)?
The Seagate Hard Drive is model SRDOSPO
I don't understand the differences between the above formats and would like help on chosing the right one for my Home Movies.
I also have an Apple TV3 which I use to watch the movies on my tv.
Are the home movies stored both in the iTunes file on my iMac, so I can see them via AppleTV, and the external hard drive.
If so can I just use the external hard drive without having these large files filling my iMac disc?
Hope that all makes sense.

The difference between case sensitive and non-case sensitive is self-explanatory. Non-case sensitive iis easier to work with as it can avoid confusion with files names.
The others are weird and wonderful/partly useless Microsoft formats only of interest to Windows users, or those who want to have both Apple OS and Windows on the same computer. Not all of them can be read by a Mac at all, some of them have inconvenient file size limitations.
More info here:
http://formatharddrive.net/types-of-hard-drive-formats.html
Message was edited by: Klaus1

Recommendations for external drive?

I'm looking for recommendations for an external hard drive to add to my iMac G5, 17" flat panel. I want to have enough GBs to use it as a backup AND to be able to store graphics such as my photos, videos and the like — all the components of making DVD movies. Ideally, I will be able to use the external to transfer things from my computer to other computers.
My G5 has a 250 GB hard drive. I'd like the external to be large enough to contain things I haven't even thought of yet.
I'm not that savvy when it comes to the workings of computers, so ease of use/simplicity is paramount.
All recommendations (and reasons why) will be much appreciated. Thank you.
ccCarol

Get a firewire drive and use SuperDuper! to make a clone and then regular backups (it's easy). As far as what make of drive, I have always had good luck with LaCie, and there are others who swear by Maxtor or OWC, which you can find here. In terms of size, get the largest one you can afford, in your case I would think at least 500GB. Transferring your video etc can be done to a second partition on your external drive by simply dragging and dropping the data. Partitioning is straightforward, using Disk Utility.
Let us know what you decide, hope this has been helpful,
Miriam

Recommendation for external drive for time machine

I just got my new iMac today, and it has a 1 TB hard drive. I've read that I need at least 1.5 TB to run Time Machine. Since the largest drive I own in 1 TB, it's time to upgrade. Suggestions for a good, stable drive that plays well with Time Machine?

luba petrusha wrote:
Pondini,
Thanks. I use my computer for, among other things, photography, and tend to fill the drive. I had to move my music files to an external drive to free up space. My current computer (the one that's being replaced) has a 500 GB hard drive and almost that much data. So I'm looking for a drive that will last me as long as the computer does.
You're going to have a choice, then, whether to get a relatively-inexpensive external, that probably won't last that long, or a relatively-expensive one that will. All hard drives fail, of course, sooner or later, and since most of us buy largely on price, the low-end externals aren't exactly bullet-proof.
My other drives (LaCie 250 GB, used only for iTunes, and OWC 500 GB, used for back-up with SuperDuper) are Firewire, and work well.
Is there an advantage to Time Capsule? I am still using an old Airport Extreme given to me by a friend years ago. Does it warrant replacing, or is Time Capsule an unnecessary expenditure?
Wireless is fairly slow, but TM can back-up without having a drive physically attached, so it's a bit of a trade-off.
A Time Capsule, of course, is a combination wireless router and disk drive. So if you already have a reliable router, it may not make sense to get another one. I've never had a TC, but prefer a separate Airport Extreme and external disk drive for it; when the drive fails, I can just get a new one.
Depending on which Mac(s) you're talking about, there may be another solution as well. If you're going to have both an iMac and a laptop, you can share a drive on the iMac with the laptop. Thus the iMac can back-up directly, and the laptop wirelessly (both have to be running Leopard or Snow, of course, and be on the same local network).
Just for comparison, doing a small (about 30 gb) full backup, I get about 40 gb/hr via F/W 400 or USB; about 21 gb/hr to a USB disk on my AEBS via Ethernet; about 13 gb/hr wirelessly. That all varies greatly, of course, depending on load, contention, interference, etc.
And you can do the large initial backup via Ethernet, then shift to wireless. There's also a fairly involved procedure where you can do the first directly-attached, then change, but it's a bit tricky and involves a lot of back and forth.

Monitor for external drive activity?

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