New Mac user, addind hard disk drives - to raid 0 or not?

How should I set up my hard drives for best performance. I will backup data only to a large 4th drive in the enclosure, or externally.
Should I use Raid 0, or have my 2nd drive loaded with CS3 and other applications? Where would I install windows for Bootcamp? Scratch disk?
Lots of questions, can't wait to join the apple team!
Thanks for your help!
Todd

Get a faster boot drive and scratch disk. Use your slowest drive for data. And 4th for Windows.
I would not put Windows on my OS X boot drive.
Focus on having enough memory for CS3.
Leave all your applications with the system boot drive, too. No benefit.
1: boot drive (750GB WD RE2 or SE16 $200)
2. scratch - WD RE2 also.
RAID if you later find you work with huge files and already have 8GB RAM.
If you later want to RAID then plan ahead and get two identical RE2 series.
3. Windows
I would keep backup external.

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New Mac user-External Hard Drive question...

Just purchased my 1st Mac/the new Mac mini. Arrived today & am very impressed.
Set-up, right out of the box, was incredibly SIMPLE and I cant believe what a little dynamo this thing is! I've thought about 'switching' to a Mac from PC for quite a while, but was always a little nervous, so I've patiently watched & waited from the sidelines- until now - and it was well worth the wait.
My 'question' is, can anyone recommend a good external hard drive I can use interchangeably between my PC & my new Mini? Still using the PC until I get completely acclimated with Mac platform/etc - I'd like something with at least
1TB storage. Thanks!

derosky wrote:
I'm a new Mac user. My question is: Do I need a external hard drive to create a back up? Can I create abackup on a DVD or Hard Drive in MB. Please explain this to me. When I want to configure Time Machine it displays me no Drives to create a back up.
Time Machine requires an external hard drive
You can back up by other means to CDs or DVDs
If you are a .MAC customer you get a decent backup program that backs up to your iDisk and/or to CD-DVD
You would NOT want to back up to your internal drive since that would accomplish nothing - a dead or messed up HD is no good for either the beginning part of the other part where the backup is
LN

I have an external hard drive with a shared music folder, which I can access (from Home Sharing) and play music on my Windows computer. On my new Mac, I can see the drive in Home Sharing but not play any music. What's the solution?

I have an external network hard drive with a shared music folder (WD MyBookLive), which I can access from Home Sharing and play music on my Windows computers. On my new Mac, I can see the drive and the music in Home Sharing but the tracks will not play. All the other authorized computers in my home network show up in Home Sharing and I can play the content. What's the solution?

Troubleshooting Home Sharing - http://support.apple.com/kb/TS2972

Verify physical hard disk drive health MCS 7825-H3 that installed CUCM inside it

Hi Everyone,
I have Cisco MCS 7825-3 that installed CUCM ver 6.1.1 inside it. A few days ago the system was crashed and have been recovered. And the symtomp why the system crashed is because corrupted hard disk drive. Now the system is running well.
I want to verify the health status of hard disk drive MCS 7825. The logical drive is RAID 1 with 2 chunks (channel 0,1 and channel 0,2). So that i did the test to shut down the cucm and unmount on of the physical hard disk drive. After that i power on the server and running the system with just 1 hard disk drive (example just channel 0,1 and after verify channel i do the same task with channel 0,2). With just 1 hard disk drive if i show hardware in cucm cli , it showed that status of logical drive is degraded. But the system can run well (IP Phone registered and can do pbx features). And after do verify test with 1 hard disk drive, i mount the physical hard disk drive again so that the system running with all of hard disk drive mounted (2 chunks).
At first it showed in cucm cli that status of logical drive is degraded, but with current operation rebuild (indicated RAID 1 is rebuild again by the system). After up to 1 hour the process finished and the status of logical drive is optimal again.
The question i wanna ask, is there any method to know if the health of physical hard disk drive of MCS good or not beside the task i have done ?
Maybe we can show in the BIOS or cucm cli because i didnt find diagnose of physical drive in cucm cli but it can diagnose status of RAID, hard disk space and list file in hard disk drive.
Thanks for your help.
Best Regards,
Luthfi
- See more at: https://supportforums.cisco.com/message/3871634#3871634

Hi Luthfi,
Do you find a way to check the hard drives and RAID of this CUCM server. I have also 7825-H3
Or it is as I think that I need to create remote access configuration ?
Thanks
Haitham

Verify physical hard disk drive health MCS 7825-H3

Hi Everyone,
I have Cisco MCS 7825-3 that installed CUCM ver 6.1.1 inside it. A few days ago the system was crashed and have been recovered. And the symtomp why the system crashed is because corrupted hard disk drive. Now the system is running well.
I want to verify the health status of hard disk drive MCS 7825. The logical drive is RAID 1 with 2 chunks (channel 0,1 and channel 0,2). So that i did the test to shut down the cucm and unmount on of the physical hard disk drive. After that i power on the server and running the system with just 1 hard disk drive (example just channel 0,1 and after verify channel i do the same task with channel 0,2). With just 1 hard disk drive if i show hardware in cucm cli , it showed that status of logical drive is degraded. But the system can run well (IP Phone registered and can do pbx features). And after do verify test with 1 hard disk drive, i mount the physical hard disk drive again so that the system running with all of hard disk drive mounted (2 chunks).
At first it showed in cucm cli that status of logical drive is degraded, but with current operation rebuild (indicated RAID 1 is rebuild again by the system). After up to 1 hour the process finished and the status of logical drive is optimal again.
The question i wanna ask, is there any method to know if the health of physical hard disk drive of MCS good or not beside the task i have done ?
Maybe we can show in the BIOS or cucm cli because i didnt find diagnose of physical drive in cucm cli but it can diagnose status of RAID, hard disk space and list file in hard disk drive.
Thanks for your help.
Best Regards,
Luthfi

Hi Luthfi,
Do you find a way to check the hard drives and RAID of this CUCM server. I have also 7825-H3
Or it is as I think that I need to create remote access configuration ?
Thanks
Haitham

HELP!~ new mac user with MAJOR external hard drive/iTunes problems

Hi everyone,
I hope you can help me out. I just got my new Powerbook Pro 2.0. It is really nice, but I am having a **** of a time with iTunes. I had an old Sony Viao and my friend turned me on to mac. So here I am, new computer and new 80G iPod. I have 120G of music on my external hard drive that played music right from the HD on my Vaio with no problems (until I upgraded to iT7.0, then the music ran choppy, but thats another issue). No, thinking that the Mac and iTunes will work perfectly together, I plugged in my External HD, turned on all the equipment, the mac finds the HD and I can see the music. Good. So, I change the location on the preferences to find the music on the ExHD and nothing. Then, I read all the forums and all and try EVERYTHING, moving the .xml file to the dektop, restarting iTunes, changing the location again, NOTHING works. I am about as frustrated as I can be. With over 26,000 songs that I cannot listen to.... I am about to regret this discision to get the mac. Any ideas? I also tried copy the files in the iTunes folder on the mac to the folder on the ExHD, but i don't know how on mac (there is no copy and paste command when you right click the mouse). I know my frustration is because I am new and dont know all the tricks yet.
I wish I could just call my buddy, but I am in Afghansitan fighting the taliban and he is in Hawaii. Any help is GREATLY appreciated.
Thanks
MBP 2.0 Mac OS X (10.4.8) Brand New Mac user.......

Select your ext HD and do a key board command - CMD+I (Get Info - File Menu). Under the Ownership & Permissions tab - do you have read and write access? If not give yourself that access. You may be prompted for your admin password.
If your ext HD is the same one you used with the Vaio then I am thinking your ext HD is formated as a FAT32 and not a NTFS. Mac can read NTFS but not write to a NTFS format disk. If it is FAT32 then Mac can read and write. If it is a HFS+ format (Mac format) then there is no issue of read and write unless the disk is locked.
To copy files from one HD to anorther on a Mac - all you need to do is select and drag to the new location.
Check the Help Menu's of iTunes and the Finder. There is wealth of info built into your Mac OSX.
MJ

I'm a new Mac user. I imported photos from my PC they ended up in iphoto library on the hard drive, but when I open iphoto from my dock its empty. How do I import those photos to the dock file?

I'm a new Mac user. I imported photos from my PC through a jump drive and they ended up in my iphoto library on the hard drive but when I open iphoto from the dock its empty. How do I import those photos to the dock file from the iphoto library?

Paragon Software has the most reliable NTFS driver for Mac
tips on importing and organizing, transferring from Windows etc
http://www.apple.com/support/itunes
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I have apple macbook pro mid 2009 ... my hard disk stopped working and i had mac os 10.6.8 in it ... i bought a new hard disk drive but i didn't have my CD so i installed my friend's mac os 10.5.8 in the new hard disk ... i want to get my 10.6.8 back

I have apple macbook pro mid 2009 ... my hard disk stopped working and i had mac os 10.6.8 in it ... i bought a new hard disk drive but i didn't have my CD so i installed my friend's mac os 10.5.8 in the new hard disk ... i want to get my previous 10.6.8 back ... hope there is a way to do so

Upgrading to Snow Leopard
You must purchase Snow Leopard through the Apple Store: Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard - Apple Store (U.S.). The price is $19.99 plus tax. You will be sent physical media by mail after placing your order.
After you install Snow Leopard you will have to download and install the Mac OS X 10.6.8 Update Combo v1.1 to update Snow Leopard to 10.6.8 and give you access to the App Store. Access to the App Store enables you to download Mountain Lion if your computer meets the requirements.
     Snow Leopard General Requirements
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       2. 1GB of memory
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       5. Some features require a compatible Internet service provider;
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       6. Some features require Apple’s MobileMe service; fees and
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How does one SUCCESSFULLY transfer Time-Machine backup to a new (larger) hard disk drive using OSX 10.5.8

I have read a number of articles about how to transfer a complete Time-Machine backup to a new (larger) hard disk-drive. Some of these articles are specifically for OSX10.6 users, which are not applicable to me since I am operating with OSX 10.5.8.
However, I have tried several times to use the Disk Utility 'Restore' function, dragging my old time-machine volume into the 'Source:' box and my new volume into the 'Destination:' box. This works, of sorts, BUT the newly created volume on the new larger hard disk-drive remains the same size as the original volume on the old Time-Machine HDD, with no apparent way of increasing the new volume's size. So I am not really any better off:
E.g. the total capacity of my new HDD is stated by 'Disk Utility' to be 465.8 GB, of which I'm told 228.2 GB is used for the Backups.backdb folder, but only 4.6 GB of free space is actually available. Yet under the 'Partition' tab of 'Disk Utility' it tells me that there is still 236.4 GB of available space.
Does anyone know how to resolve this issue without upgrading to OSX 10.6?

First, how did you prepare your new drive? See:
Drive Preparation
1. Open Disk Utility in your Utilities folder. If you need to reformat your startup volume, then you must boot from your OS X 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.
2. After DU loads select your hard drive (this is the entry with the mfgr.'s ID and size) from the left side list. Note the SMART status of the drive in DU's status area. If it does not say "Verified" then the drive is failing or has failed and will need replacing. SMART info will not be reported on external drives. Otherwise, click on the Partition tab in the DU main window.
3. Under the Volume Scheme heading set the number of partitions from the drop down menu to one. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Options button, set the partition scheme to GUID (for Intel Macs) or APM (for PPC Macs) then click on the OK button. Click on the Partition button and wait until the process has completed.
4. Select the volume you just created (this is the sub-entry under the drive entry) from the left side list. Click on the Erase tab in the DU main window.
5. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Options button, check the button for Zero Data and click on OK to return to the Erase window.
6. Click on the Erase button. The format process can take up to several hours depending upon the drive size.
If you plan to partition this new drive then be sure you create a larger partition for TM than your old volume.
Next, clone your old TM volume:
Clone using Restore Option of Disk Utility
1. Open Disk Utility from the Utilities folder.
2. Select the destination volume from the left side list.
3. Click on the Restore tab in the DU main window.
4.Check the box labeled Erase destination.
5. Select the destination volume from the left side list and drag it to the Destination entry field.
6. Select the source volume from the left side list and drag it to the Source entry field.
7. Double-check you got it right, then click on the Restore button.
Destination means the external backup drive. Source means the internal startup drive.

Transfering music from pc to mac using iPod as a hard disk drive

I just got MacBook Pro and iPod which I have formatted for a mac, however, I want to get the songs from my IBM thinkpad to my mac. I transfered a bunch of them with a friends external hard drive, but forgot about all my purchused songs from the music store. I am pretty sure there is a way to use the iPod as a hard disk drive but everytime i attach it to my thinkpad it asks if I want to format the iPod and then won't transfer. So I guess my question is can I do this and if I can do I have to format it to windows and then transfer the files to the iPod and will I be able to put the files from my thinkpad to my mac?
thanks!!!

An iPod formatted for Mac won't run natively on a PC because the Windows OS does not support the HFS Plus file system and therefore will not see the drive. You can reformat your iPod on Windows if you want to use it on both platforms as Macs can read Windows formatting, then you could enable it for disk use on the PC: How to use your iPod to move your music to a new computer

HT4889 Migration Assistant to update my new Mountain Lion iMac from an external USB hard disk drive, it is constantly saying that it is "looking for other computers". It doesn't find the external drive. Why is it looking for other computers?

I'm trying to use Migration Assistant to update my new Mountain Lion iMac from an external USB hard disk drive. I told it to look for a drive, yet it is constantly saying that it is "looking for other computers". It doesn't find the external drive ... it just endlessly looks for other computers. Why is it looking for other computers at all, when I told it not to?

Wow, the wording in Migration Assistant is misleading. I've never used it before, so I thought I would try to copy my files from the external drive ... my old iMac died, but I managed to get everything I need off it, using the 'cp' command in single-user mode. So I guess I'll just have to manually copy the files from the external drive to the new machine. I was hoping that Migration Assistant might help somehow, but obviously not.
Thanks for the quick reply!

Copy address book from old hard disk drive to new

I'm trying to transfer the address book from a hard disk drive (HDD) that crashed to the new HDD that has a fresh install of Leopard 10.5.8. I was able to transfer the contents of the old HDD to the new HDD, so all the files (old and new) are on the same, new HDD. I've tried was several people have suggested, which is to copy the folder "Address Book" from the location /Users/YOU/Library/Application Support/ on the old HDD to the same location on the new HDD, but only the 2 default users appear in the address book when I open it. Surely this cannot be that difficult. Any help is appreciated.
Thnaks!
UM

Hi, see if this helps...
For Address Book, quit AB...
Files...
/Users/YourUserName/Library/Preferences/com.apple.AddressBook.plist
/Users/YourUserName/Library/Preferences/com.apple.AddressBook.abd.plist
Folders...
/Users/YourUserName/Library/Application Support/AddressBook/
/Users/YourUserName/Library/Caches/com.apple.AddressBook/

I have a hard disk drive with data that i want to back up onto another hard disk drive. I tried just copy and it won't let me paste it in the new drive. I have also tried to drag the files across and they won't go across. Does anyone know how to do this?

I have an external hard disk drive with data that I want to back up onto another extrnal hard disk drive. I have tried to copy and paste but this wont give me a paste option. I have also tried to click and drag but it wont let me either. I have reformatted the external hard drive to accept both mac and pc files and this did not make any difference. Can anyone help me with this?

How did you reformat the drive? If you formatted it as NTFS, your Mac will not be able to write files to it unless you use a small application such as Paragon's.
Please reply as to how you formatted the drive.
Clinton

Mac OSX wont reognise my internal hard disk drive

I have a problem where for some reason when I start up my Macbook Pro (intel core duo) it does not detect the internal hard disk drive at all. I have run a hardware test and it shows no problems whatsoever. I have tried resetting the PRAM etc and to no avail. Yesterday the system hung and I tried to force quit and it wouldn't do anything so eventually I held down the power key and when it tried to reboot this is the problem I was faced with (it would boot up with the "no entry" sign). I accepted complete defeat and went to completely re-install OSX however it doesn't even show the internal hard drive when I wait for it to give me install destinations. I had tried seeing the hard drive through disk utility however it only shows the install DVD and that's it in the sidebar. I resigned myself further to thinking either the logic board or the HDD had packed in all and I took it round to my brother in law to see if there is anything he could do without opening the machine (he is Oxford educated and writes programmes etc so is very knowledgable), now this is the part that has miffed us both, he started it up using a Linux disc and once running, Linux see's the hard drive with no problems. He has been able to access the HDD with absolutely no problems under Linux both reading and writing to it. I even took my Mac Mini round and he booted them both up in Linux and completely copied Mac OSX from the mini to the macbook pro but still when I try booting up its as if the HDD isn't even there. Why can Linux see the drive and not Mac OSX? Please don't be affraid to get very technical in your answers as they may mean nothing to me but will probably all make sense to my brother in Law. Any sugestions at all would be greatly accepted.

Dear mcdkev,
You guys may have made a big error cloning the Mini HD into the MBP. They both have very different drivers and hardware settings and their OS X versions are customized to fit the hardware. That is why each mac comes with it's own version of OS X and their backup disks. That's a reason why it did not work.
Ok, so now that you do not have any of the original info on the MBP try the following:
Use linux to scan the disk surface & repair any problems.
Reformat the drive as DOS or FAT 32. (I wouldn't go into any linux specific format unless you can "Apple" format it, which I don't think linux has that option.)
Now, the MBP should be able to see it's drive...
boot from the OS X DVD , from the Utilities menu choose Disk Utilities, partition the drive as GUI file system (in case the linux format made the drive a "system boot record", you do not want that... )
Then format the drive as "OS X Extended Journaled"
Now go back to install and install your original basic set of OS X (the factory default).
*If nothing works, please do take your MBP to the Apple store or to a certified tech before you do more damage to the drive and it becomes unusable ...*

I'm a new MAC user and I'm trying to transfer my iTunes music files to my Mac, however when I attach the external drive that contains the music files, they aren't visible on the MAC (but they are visible on my old PC). How do I get my music loaded?

I'm a new MAC user and I'm trying to transfer my iTunes music files to my Mac, however when I attach the external drive that contains the music files, the music files aren't visible on the MAC (but they are visible on my old PC). How do I get my music transferred? I have already exported the purchased music from the iTunes library, but I have thousands of songs from my private CD collection that I had previously loaded through iTunes.

Paragon Software has the most reliable NTFS driver for Mac
tips on importing and organizing, transferring from Windows etc
http://www.apple.com/support/itunes
http://www.ilounge.com

New Mac user, addind hard disk drives - to raid 0 or not?

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