New to Mac...Need advice...MBP and My Book external drive

I'm new to Mac. Getting my MBP 2.4GHz/15" in tomorrow and this will be a migration from the Windows world to the Mac world for me. So I need some advice.
I received my My Book Pro 500GB external HDD in today and have a friend's MacBook running the current version of OS X to do any work I need to do to this HDD.
I'm going to have Windows XP Home available via Boot Camp and Parallels (depending on whether I need to run natively or not) in case that matters.
Here's what I have in terms of data:
- about 2GB of data files (Word, Excel, etc.)
- about 6GB worth of photo files
- about 85GB of home movies that are in .avi format at this time
I'm a little overwhelmed with all that I've been trying to digest regarding this move and just found out my laptop will be here tomorrow. I thought I had some extra time but that hasn't turned out to be the case.
What doesn't make sense to me right now is how to get my data over to my new machine, move what isn't critical to have on the laptop's HDD out to external, and how to figure out which file system I'll need on this external drive. My laptop will be partitioned with 30GB available to Windows and the other 130GB for Mac. Do I need to format this external drive with the Mac file system only? Or do I need to leave some space formatted FAT32 in case I need some overflow on the Windows side? Will the Windows environment be able to see any of the Journaled space on either the internal or external drive? I assume not.
I'm so confused right now, I can't even put anything down but these fragmented thoughts. Hopefully somebody knows where I'm at and can give me some advice.
Thanks-
John
MacBook Pro 2.4GHZ Mac OS X (10.4.10)

Start with Switching from Windows to Mac OS X and Basic Tutorials on using a Mac.
Since I don't have an ICBM (Intel-chip-based Mac), I can't help with the external HD stuff. However, you should be aware that file system formats and partition mapping schemes are two different things.
OS X requires the Mac OS Extended (HFS+) file system formatting—applies to both PPCs and ICBMs. Details on file system formats are in http://developer.apple.com/documentation/Performance/Conceptual/FileSystem/Artic les/MacOSXAndFiles.html
ICBMs the GUID Partition Table scheme. Details on partition mapping schemes are in http://developer.apple.com/documentation/MacOSX/Conceptual/universalbinary/universal_binary_tips/chapter_5_section10.html
Whether or not you can use both the Mac OS Extended and FAT-32 formats on separate volumes, I'll leave to the other experts.

Similar Messages

New To Mac, How to move/copy files from external drive

Just got my first Mac computer. My music files (about 140 gb) are on an external drive.
When setting up iTunes the process of transfering and organizing the files took over 24 hours--more than twice as long as on my old PC.
I would like to keep the files on the Mac itself. I have plenty of space now, and I think not using an external drive improves performance. Then I could use the hard drive as a back-up, as nature intended.
Problem is, due to my inexperience with Macs I'm stumped as to how to do this.
Any suggestions would be greatly aprecciated!

I believe you would simply copy your iTunes Music folder from your external drive into the main iTunes folder on your Mac, then open Preferences, and in the Advanced section use the 'Change' button next to eh 'iTunes music folder location' window to find your copy of the iTunes Music folder and let your Mac know that's where all your tunes are.
That's pretty much the exact reverse of what I had to do!
Hope that helps (and isn't wrong)!

New to MAC - need advice on WEB site maintenance

Hello switched to mac from windows very recently. I need to find an easy to use wysiwygI software which will allow me to maintain my template based website , previously maintained in expression web. IWEB appears to only work with sites created in IWEB. I downloaded CODA which is nice but appears not to be WYSIWYG. Can someone recommend a really simple intuitive yet powerful web site editor with wysiwyg functionality. Appreciate any help

Try taking a look at RapidWeaver which is available via the Mac App Store. You could also look at Sandvox and Sandvox Pro from http://www.karelia.com.
You are correct that iWeb cannot open a previously published website.

I have an existing mini mac and 4 tb external drive. My iTunes library exists on the external drive under /itunes... I have purchased a new mini mac and I want to leave the library where it is but move to new mini mac.. what do i need to do ?

I have an existing mini mac and 4 tb external drive.
My iTunes library exists on the external drive under /itunes...
I have purchased a new mini mac and I want to leave the library where it is on the external drive but move to new mini mac and have it show as it did on the old mini mac..
what do i need to do ?
I have found multitude of articles about moving itunes to external drive or other similar things but I don't want to move itunes from the external drive, just change mini mac machines and have everything in itunes the same..
Thanks

I had already tried that one and got this...
below is screen shot of what is on the new mac mini
and what is on the external drive now connected to the new mac mini..
There are no media files on the mac mini just the library files and on external just media files..
Do I need to copy anything over from the old mac mini ? xml files ? .. the itunes folder on old mini is about 840mb in size which looks to have artwork ect ? .. I am fairly computer literate, but this one has me stumped.. ?
thanks for help

I'm using Time Machine and a LaCie external drive to backup. I also have a 8 GB LaCie flash drive I want to use for small jobs. If I plug the LaCie flash drive in, is my Mac going to think it is the LaCie external drive and start trying to backup?

I'm using Time Machine and a LaCie external drive to backup. I also have a 8 GB LaCie flash drive I want to use for small jobs. If I plug the LaCie flash drive in, is my Mac going to think it is the LaCie external drive and start trying to backup?

no.

I interrupted a software update and my macbook pro will not boot. I have tried to reboot using the startup disc, I have tried to verify the disc, and repair the disc. It tells me I need to erase and reformat the hard drive then reinstall the operating sys

I interrupted a software update and my macbook pro will not boot. I have tried to reboot using the startup disc, I have tried to verify the disc, and repair the disc. It tells me I need to erase and reformat the hard drive then reinstall the operating system. I do not have a back up of all my applications, my garageband music and other things. I also do not have time capsule set up on this machine, but I do have a 2 TB time capsule.
Is there anyway to back up this corrupted drive so I can restore my applications later?

There's an old saying. If you don't have a backup disc, then there must be nothing important to backup. That's just lesson #1. Lesson #2 is to never interrupt a software update. Not a good thing.
OK, I'm sure you know this. It just upsets me to read your story, knowing you have a lot of important stuff on your hard drive, and didn't use time machine.
You're pretty much in a bad place. My only hope for you is to boot to your Installation Disc, then using disk utility see if you can save the internal hard drive (by fixing what can be fixed). You might be able to see your user folder and some of your apps. I wouldn't even consider copying the library, because who knows what's been corrupted in there.
Good luck.

Will Mac allow you to boot from an external drive...specifically for windows programs?

Will a new Mac allow you to boot from an external drive...specifically for windows programs?

ps...I've read the threads on Bootcamp.

Need a good recommendation on an external drive

Digitizing DVCProHD footage. Our internal 3TB Raid keeps getting filled up. Wanted to capture straight to an external Drive. Was going to use LaCie bigdisk quadra via FW800 but FCP kept dropping frames during capture and would bust the capture. Currently capturing to Internal Raid (using Apple Pro Rez(HQ)) Then transferring files to external drives. Would like to skip this step.
If I use the eSATA connection with this drive can I capture straight to it or is there another external drive that would be fast enough to capture directly?

Why are you capturing DVCPRO HD as ProRes HQ? That is a HUGE waste of space. Capture DVCPRO HD as DVCPRO HD...zero quality loss. You gain nothing by going to ProRes from DVCPRO HD.
And ProRes HQ is for 2K workflows...all you are gaining over regular ProRes are files twice the size.
http://forums.creativecow.net/faq/applefinalcutpro#75
You are wasting a lot of space needlessly. And the ONLY external drives that can play back HQ are eSATA, Fibre and miniSAS. Firewire won't cut it.
Shane

Brand new iMac 23.GHz Intel Core i5. Mounts external drive for time machine, then dismounts after backup is complete.

brand new iMac 23.GHz Intel Core i5. Mounts external drive for time machine, then dismounts after backup is complete.

The warranty entitles you to complimentary phone support for the first 90 days of ownership.
If you bought the product in the U.S. directly from Apple (not from a reseller), you have 14 days from the date of delivery in which to exchange or return it for a refund. In other countries, the return policy may be different. If you bought from a reseller, its return policy applies.

New to Mac. Advice needed on partitoning the hard drive

Hello all.
I am new to Mac having purchased a MacBookPro 13 inches with i7 processor and 750GB hard drive this month. I was using windowsXP since the last 9 years. In the windows system I had my hard drive partitoned to four units. I want to continue to save files in the same pattern i.e in four partitions. I do a lot of work with video/image editing. So here are the things that I want to know
Does partitioning bring down efficiency of the machine ? (More likely to "hang" or otherwise become less responsive)
How much hard drive space should I give to my operating system?
Should I partiton and migrate or vice-versa ?
Thanks for all answers. I actually dont know a thing in the Mac universe and therefore many of the earlier discussions on partitions in these forums (using words such as boot camp etc) were way above my level

1) No not really
2) Since OS X is slight different then Windows as far as installing programs, in OS X you must install programs to the Application folder which is in the ROOT of the OS partition, I would allocate at least 100-150GBs of space. Also all the User files are store in the /Users/Username folder which is also on the OS partition. Things like the iTunes and iPhoto libraries are initially store there but can be moved. That is a later topic.
3) Personally I don't use any built in Migration system. If you do a search of these forum you will see a lot of posts about how it really doesn't work. Yes it will copy your data but it places it in a second User folder. It's hard to explain.
I would just copy your files over and put them where you want.
So the answer is, it is up to you. But I would partition first then copy over.
You may not like the Mac. It is a different beast then Windows. It takes time to get use to, that is if you can get use to it.
Remember this. Apple has a 14 day No Questions Asked return policy. So if after a short time, less then 13 day, you find the Mac way of doing things isn't to your liking you can take it back and get a full refund.
IMHO there is no real difference between Windows and OS X. They both do the exact same thing, write ones and zeros to a hard drive and display stuff on a screen so you can interact with it.
One is no better then the other, they just do some things slightly different. One is not easier to use then the other. They both use the exact same hardware and they both have software and hardware glitches. Only PCs cost less.
Good luck

Best way to manage new library with new hdd. Need Advice.

I am new to this whole aperture thing. i've been reading about aperture for a few months now. there's just so much to soak in at this moment. i'm about to put in a 320gb hdd in my 1st gen mbp and i would like the best or really just the most efficient way to managing my images. what i am trying to do is import all my images (20gbs right now just family/friend stuff) into my mbp on the new hdd. i am also in the process of getting a 30d or 40d for my photo work.
should i partition out the new hdd for aperture or just keeping it one partition. one of my partitions will be for bootcamp. i just dont want to partition it and run out of space in the partition. i also have 2 externals (300gb and 400gb) that i will use one of them for vault?, external backup. im also trying to scan all my film stuff and put it in there and manage that too. i also want to use iphoto too so is there a way to use one library for both without one or the other making doubles?
i read about the manage and referenced masters methods, but i'm still a little confused on it. i would like to know how you guys manage your libraries and how u organized your folders. i read about people setting up raids on their mac pros but i would like to know more about people who doing the managing on their mbps. i running on leopard but are not using time machine. i currently have my folders setup in this way, i.e. 20080224-vacation pics day 1. there's prolly more to ask but i cant think of any right now. any help is appreciated.

On a laptop generally you do want to manage by Referencing image Masters. Hard drives slow as they fill, so at some point - perhaps immediately - you will want your Masters on one or more external Firewire 800 hard drives. OWC <http://www.owcomputing.com/> "Mercury to go" FW800/USB2 drives are a good external solution if you need portable.
A good rule of thumb is not to fill any drive more than 70%, and for best speed keep important drives no more than 50% full.
With Referenced Masters, simply Finder-copy each batch of images to the external hard drive and eject the camera card. Then (after backup of images) from within Aperture Import the images by Reference (when you go to import, on the right hand side of the import window select "Store files in their current location").
Existing images on your hard drive can similarly be imported selecting "Store files in their current location" however personally I would move the originals to an external drive prior to importing into Aperture because trying to keep originals on a laptop drive will sooner or later overfill the drive.
During the import process is a good time to assign all manner of keywords, so take some time in advance thinking about keywording.
Also, I recommend the US$35 tutorial CD Apple Pro Training Series: Aperture 2 (Apple Pro Training Series) by Ben Long, Richard Harrington, and Orlando Luna (Paperback - May 8, 2008), Amazon.com. Note that the value is in the tutorial, not in using the book as a manual.
Good luck!
-Allen Wicks

Add RAM or buy a new machine? Need advice please.

Hello,
I am asking this question for a friend who owns a 5 year old iMac. It only has a 500GB hard drive, and it is almost full (475 GB are in use, and we recently had to dump some items because it had reached it's limit). It has the factory-installed 8GB of RAM, but there are two empty slots which can hold 4GB each (or a grand total of 8GB of additional RAM, for a total of 16GB of RAM).
He also is a HUGE user of iTunes, and he has a 1.5 TB external drive that contains all of his iTunes files (we have iTunes set to automatically place all iTunes files onto the external hard drive so that it does not take up hard drive space on the iMac).
He is running OS 10.8, Lion (and wants to upgrade to Mountain Lion).
So, here is my question.....Will adding 8 GB of RAM make this machine "faster"? This machine has gotten very, very slow over the last year. When you launch any application, you get the spinning beach ball for a few minutes and then eventually, sooner or later, the app will come up. But everything moves very slowly----everything.
I was thinking that if we added the 8GB of RAM, that would fix a lot of our slow problems. Am I correct here, or would this not do anything? I was wondering if a 5 year old iMac with 8GB of RAM even has sufficient power to be running Lion in the first place.
Any thoughts on this? Thanks much!

smitty195 wrote:
Will a full hard drive slow down a computer? I was under the impression that it was RAM. This might be very important, because his hard drive is extremely full. Last week, he was getting messages that his hard drive was full, so we took lots of "stuff" out and put it into the trash can and deleted it.
Yes for a couple of reasons. OS X needs plenty of room to move around and work in, plus read and write becomes slower on that part of the hard drives platter.
At this point your friend really needs to backup if he is not already doing so and
1. Farm out his photo's, movies and/or music to an External HD, as per the following article's:
iPhoto '11: Move your iPhoto library to a new location
iMovie '11: Copy or move a project to an external hard disk
iTunes for Mac: Moving your iTunes Media folder
or
2. Have an Apple Authorized Service Provider replace the 500GB Hard Drive with a 1T or larger Hard Drive.

New iMac or new Mac Mini... and iPhoto Library separate drive?

I have a 2007 iMac Intel Core Duo 2.4Ghz (4 meg RAM) with a hard drive in need of repair, according to Disk Utility (and repeated by DriveGenius 3.) The Repair option is not available. I have had occasional difficulty with this particular Mac, and this is actually my second hard drive,and it is out of warranty. I had already planned to replace this computer later this year.
In attempting to download and install Lion OS, the install failed, and the computer became essentially inoperable. I was able to use Time Machine to get it back running, but cannot repair what is surely a damaged HD. Apple Support came to the same conclusion.
I have become interested in a few goals: (1) To purchase a Mac Mini along with an Apple Thunderbolt monitor (when available) in order to separate my CPU from my monitor. (2) I want to separate my media files from a CPU hard drive for safety, for the very problem I am experiencing now. (3) I want to make my iPhoto library and iMovie library available to my wife – perhaps on an external dedicated drive - for her newer iMac, to various iPhones and iPads, and to two Apple TV units.
We have a home network with an Airport Extreme, and several Ethernet outlets. Both iMac’s currently use Western Digital external drives for Time Machine backups. I have another external Seagate drove solely for my iMovie files. I just purchased a Time Capsule 2TB (but have not yet opened) with the idea that this would be where the “shared” iPhoto library resides.
My questions –
Would you recommend using a Mac Mini + monitor, or go with a new iMac (my current iMac is my third and the only one that has given me some problems.) I do not have any specialized use of my computer beyond the common iLife applications.
I want my photos and videos to be easily available to my family on their Apple devices (I’m the only one with the significant family photo library) and I haven’t quite devised a plan to accomplish that. Can you make suggestions?
Thanks for any assistance you can offer.

Currently the Library is on EHD 1 and you want to copy it to EHD2?
Connect them both to the iMac. Make sure EHD2 formatted Mac OS Extended (Journaled) and drag the iPhoto Library from EHD 1 to EHD 2
To open either Library with iPhoto 11: Hold down the option (or alt) key key and launch iPhoto. From the resulting menu select 'Choose Library'
It will update the Library to the new formats. Remember once you do this the older versions of iPhoto will no longer be able to read it.
Regards
TD

Need User Name and Password for External Firewire new hard drive

In the past, I've worked with two 250 GB PATA drives in my G4, one inside and one in an external Firewire enclosure. I used Carbon Copy Cloner to copy and maintain all system and user files from the internal drive to the external drive. The external drive would boot just fine. These two drives were both partitioned with 74.5 and 158.4 GB partitions with the system files on the smaller.
The internal drive died so I bought a new 500GB drive and installed it in the external enclosure and moved the former external drive inside the G4.
I again used CCC to copy the system and user files to the new 500GB drive.However, I only gave it one 465.8GB partition. I cannot make the external drive complete the boot process. It stops and demands a user name and a password. I've not been able to supply ones which work.
I have remembered and entered the user name and password which were installed when I partitioned the 250 GB drives years ago. The window thinks a few seconds and then shakes back and forth and then clears the data entry boxes so that I can try again.
I do have an Install DVD for Tiger 10.4 (bought from Apple) and have been able to use that to go back and change the root or administrator password and the User password on the computer. That has not solved my problem.
I have read about 25 pages of this forum and not seen any posts that referred to password problems with only the external hard drive. But I've seen some very knowledgeable answers to other people's posts.
Please help.
Gil

Generally, when Mac OS X is asking you for a username and password, it is when you are doing something that requires an Administrator password, such as repairing a hard drive's Directory or making major changes to quasi-System things.
So Carbon Copy Cloner and Disk Utility are likely asking for an Administrator user_id and password. It will not take a simple carriage return as an answer -- the operation will not complete without that Admin authorization.
If you are among the \[estimated five or six] people who actually read the manual and followed the advice to use a non-admin password for your day-to-day computer work, you may not even remember the Admin username and password.
If you have an Installer CD, you can boot to the Installer CD and choose Reset Password off the Installer menu (10.3 and earlier) or the Utilities menu (10.4 and later). There is also an Installer-compatible version of Disk Utility there, and while booted from the CD is an ideal Time to Repair your main Hard Drive, while it is not being used for booting the System.

Previously installed Aperture3 on an iMac and a MBP. I Bought a new MBA to replace the MBP and I want to install Aperture3 on the new MBA. The installer says the serial code is invalid? What do I do?

I previously bought Aperture 3 and installed in on an iMac and a MBP. I just bought a new MBA to replace the MBP, but the MBA doesn't have enough memory for me to do a complete restore of the MBP on the MBA. So I am trying to find a way to deactivate the serial code or Aperture 3 on the MBP so I can reinstall Aperture 3 on the MBA. I have been searching forums and google and I have not been any answers. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

How did you buy Aperture? Did you buy it from the App Store? Then you can download it again on your MBA, if you sign into the App Store.
If you bought Aperture buy buying a licence key to unlock the trial, try if this download link for the trial version still works: if yes, you can unlock it with your serial number:
http://appldnld.apple.com.edgesuite.net/content.info.apple.com/Aperture/061-8328 .20101020.AprE3/ApertureTrial3.1.dmg
And if you own the boxed DVD installer , use the DVD to install Aperture on your MBA. If the installer does not work - and you get the message
"check with the developer to make sure Aperture works with this version of Mac OS X"
you may have a problem with an expired developer certificate (they expired mid march).
To fix this, set the Date in " SystemPreferences -> Date&Time" to a date well before March 2012 and run the Installer again. If that succeeds and Aperture now runs, reset the date to the current date.
You can see your serial number in the "About" panel in the main Aperture menu bar on your MBP:
Aperture > About Aperture.
For the "invaldid serial number" see these links: You may have read the letters incorrectly - some are look alike, "1" or "I", "0" or "O"; your shift-lock key may be set.
- Pro Application Replacement Serial Numbers: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1861
- Troubleshooting Professional Application Serial Numbers:
http://support.apple.com/kb/TS2005
Regards
Léonie

New to Mac...Need advice...MBP and My Book external drive

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for