Why can't Macs write to NTFS drives?

What's preventing Apple from making a driver for Mac that allows them to read and write to NTFS drives instead of just reading? Is there some legal issue?

NTFS is a proprietary file system of Microsoft and its inner workings are a closely guarded secret. any kind of support on a nonwindows operating system is therefore quite tricky. this is not limited to OS X. be thankful there is any support at all.
there are 3rd party tools like ntfs-3g and Paragon ntfs for mac that will make NTFS writable from OS X.

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Can the mac osxlion usb jump drive be used after as a external drive for storing media files

can the mac osxlion usb jump drive be used after as a external drive for storing media files

If you are talking about the Lion install USB thumb drive sold by Apple then no it can't. it has some specail formatting that makes it show up as a DVD drive and is securely locked from any changes.
But I must ask why would you want to. That would destroy that drive and wipe out the Lion installer.
USB thumb drive can be bought for $8.

Why does my Mac say my hard drive is full, but that's not true?

Why does my Mac say my hard drive is full, but there should be plenty of space on it?

You need to get a program like OmniDiskSweeper, it will check your drive and see what is taking up the space. From there you can decide what to do.

Why can one mac access the internet and not the other?

Hi I have just installed a 2nd generation Airport Express base station. I have setup a network and I can connect to it to access the web. Here's the rub, only my Macbook Pro can connect. My Macbook Air cannot connect? A weird error message says (translated from Swedish): Airport has the selfapplied/selfselected IP adress 169.254.67.130 and will not be able to connect to the internet.
Why can one mac access the internet and not the other? Is there something simple that I can do to get more macs to be able to use my Airport Express to access the internet?
Tech details:
Airport Express 2nd generation (just purchased) model 1392
Macbook Pro running 10.8.2
MacBook Air running 10.6.8

It seems the Airbook assigns a dummy IP address so somehow it doesn't reach and receive an IP from the Express. I deleted the previous Express setting restarted the Air connected again, restarted the modem, restarted the Express nothing....
I spoke to the internet provider and the cable modem does not require any username or pw. from the modem to the cable it's one public ip, pure internet is flowing from the modem to the Express but the express doesn't seem to assign any IP address apart from the one assigned to the Macbook Pro.
Do you need a screendump of the settings on the functioning Mac or the faulty one? What settings are you interested in i.e. which tab should it shot?

How can my mac air reading NTFS

I know some apps which is not free can provide this function...but I want to know if there is a free way to do so. I just want to read and write. I dun care more functions.

Mac OSx can read and copied from NTFS natively however you can not write back.
You need third party software such as Paragon
http://www.paragon-software.com/home/ntfs-mac/
There are others such as Dave by Thurby
http://www.thursby.com/products/dave.html
Other ways is to use a FAT32 flash drive or even intermediate partition if you dual boot. This can be written and read from both NTFS and HFS+ systems.
Also you could use a virtual machine within Parallels VM Fusion or Virtualbox as these install MacFuse which does the conversion and allows files to be seamlessly swapped.

Trying to write to NTFS drives - No Joy

I have a new iMac, purchased after my PC motherboard fried. I salvaged the two hard drives from the PC and have connected them to the iMac via USB. I also purchased Parallels to run legacy Windows programs in a VM.
All of this works fine except for one legacy program that wants to see XP SP3. When I set Parallels up, I installed XP off my original boot disk and it exists at SP2 level. I have my original Windows environment on one of the hard drives, but I have been unable to access it.
My plan was to copy the folder containing my XP SP3 environment to the "C drive" used by Parallels but I have only "read" privileges on the NTFS drives. I downloaded an NTFS driver for Mac, but have not seen a change in privileges.
I would actually like to migrate my entire PC environment to Parallels, but to do so, I must install a migration app on the "PC" which does not exist outside of the data on the drives.
So, I'm looking for help from all of you guru's out there. Thanks in advance.
Douglas

use http://www.seagate.com/support/downloads/item/ntfs-driver-for-mac-os-master-dl/
program to format read partitions as NTFS
youcan write as well

Help! Why can't I erase my hard drive?

I'm trying to erase an 80GB internal hard drive that came with my MacBook. However, the erase button is completely greyed out. I have an external drive connected waiting with Leopard on it and it recognizes that so why can't I erase this thing? I don't think it's damaged because it works perfectly aside from this.

Hi,
I think your problem is that you are booting from the disk you are trying to erase. If you have an external disk with Leopard, go to the startup disk preferences (under System Preferences) and choose to boot from the external disk. After installing from the external disk you should have the option to erase your internal disk.
I'm sure you know that, but I thought it worth mentioning that erasing your disk will cause your system not to be able to boot from this disk (which in many cases is the default option).
Ziv

Installed SSD in Mac Mini to split as bootcamp drive, why can't I format the original drive?

I just bought a Mac Mini. Before I even booted it up I installed a 256 GB SSD along side the stock 1 GB hard drive, and reinstalled Mac OS and Windows 8 on the new drive using bootcamp. Everything is working fine, but I'd like to reformat the stock drive as one big NTFS partition so I can use it as shared storage between the OSes.
When I view the drives in Apple's Disk Utility, it shows the following partitions:
256 GB SSD:
SSD - Mac OS Extended (Journaled) (A silly name for my new Mac OS partition)
Bootcamp - NTFS (A silly name for my Windows 8 partition)
1TB Apple HDD
Macintosh HD - Mac OS Extended (Journaled) (The original Mac OS install from the factory)
When I view the drives in Windows Disk Manager, it shows the following partitions:Disk 0 (1TB hard drive)
200 MB Healthy (EFI System Partition)
930 GB HFS Healthy (Primary Partition)
620 MB Healthy (Primary Partition)
Disk 1 (256 GB SSD)
200 MB Healthy (GPT Protective Partition)
(E:) 118 GB HFS Healthy (Primary Partition)
620 MB Healthy (Primary Partition)
BOOTCAMP (C:) 119 GB NTFS Healthy (System, Boot, Page File, Active, Crash Dump, Primary Parition)
When I try to erase the 1 TB drive in Apple's Disk Utility, it gives me an error saying "Disk Erase failed with the error: Couldn't unmount disk". Is my old drive still holding something important, like a master boot record or whatever the modern equivalent to that is? Should I use Windows to try to erase the 1 TB drive? I'm pretty confident I'm booting into the copy of Mac OS on the new SSD, because the bootcamp startup screen shows the OS partition on the old drive as well, and I'm selecting the new one. The EFI partition on the old drive seems suspicious to me, is bootcamp using this or something?

I just bought a Mac Mini. Before I even booted it up I installed a 256 GB SSD along side the stock 1 GB hard drive, and reinstalled Mac OS and Windows 8 on the new drive using bootcamp. Everything is working fine, but I'd like to reformat the stock drive as one big NTFS partition so I can use it as shared storage between the OSes.
When I view the drives in Apple's Disk Utility, it shows the following partitions:
256 GB SSD:
SSD - Mac OS Extended (Journaled) (A silly name for my new Mac OS partition)
Bootcamp - NTFS (A silly name for my Windows 8 partition)
1TB Apple HDD
Macintosh HD - Mac OS Extended (Journaled) (The original Mac OS install from the factory)
When I view the drives in Windows Disk Manager, it shows the following partitions:Disk 0 (1TB hard drive)
200 MB Healthy (EFI System Partition)
930 GB HFS Healthy (Primary Partition)
620 MB Healthy (Primary Partition)
Disk 1 (256 GB SSD)
200 MB Healthy (GPT Protective Partition)
(E:) 118 GB HFS Healthy (Primary Partition)
620 MB Healthy (Primary Partition)
BOOTCAMP (C:) 119 GB NTFS Healthy (System, Boot, Page File, Active, Crash Dump, Primary Parition)
When I try to erase the 1 TB drive in Apple's Disk Utility, it gives me an error saying "Disk Erase failed with the error: Couldn't unmount disk". Is my old drive still holding something important, like a master boot record or whatever the modern equivalent to that is? Should I use Windows to try to erase the 1 TB drive? I'm pretty confident I'm booting into the copy of Mac OS on the new SSD, because the bootcamp startup screen shows the OS partition on the old drive as well, and I'm selecting the new one. The EFI partition on the old drive seems suspicious to me, is bootcamp using this or something?

Why can't I write to my external hard drive?

I have a new Macbook pro, but when I plug in a USB hard drive it is "Read Only." I can find various places to change this, but they are never active for me. Anyone know what to do? Thanks!

How is the external drive formatted?
If it is formatted as NTFS and your Mac doesn't have third party software to support wrting to NTFS then it will be read only.
Allan

Why can't I write to a removable drive

I hav a removable drive I store photographs on and want to add more from the Mac. I have tried using Photoshop bridge CS4 and also fined to move copies to this drive but it will not allow me. I can do this on my WIndows 7 system pc but not on the Mac. How do I do this please.

Thanks for replying, I suddenly had a though went intoParalle /Windows 7 and check the sharing. Set them to allow all and give full permission. Then back to to Bridge and it all worked.
By the way I have check the drive and it is formatted as NTFS, this was done as there is a file size restriction on FAT 32. I can access it now with both Windows and Mac.
Shelagh

Why can't I write ID3 tags?

Hi gang. Odd problem. Just very recently noticed it.
With some files, but not all, when I go to bounce them, it won't let me write ID3 tags.
I click the Bounce icon. The bounce box comes up.
I overtype the file name at the top.
I select destination MP3. Stereo mode is joint stereo. Write ID3 tags is ticked, so are use best encoding, filter frequencies below 10Hz , mode offline and include audio tail. Bit rate mono is 80kbps. Bit rate stereo is 160kps. Bit rate VBR is not ticked.
I click ID3 settings. The Bounce box goes out and then after a very short moment comes back set back to the PCM destination with the file name missing.
I go through the whole routine again. This time the bounce box goes out and stays out.
The only way it will bounce is without changing the ID3 tags. It flatly refused to edit them. Just no way, I can't get at them, that's it.
Version is 9.1.5 (1 7 0 0.9) 32 bit. Yes I have tried saving the file, shutting the program down and restarting it, it still does it. Once a file starts doing this, that's it, it always does it.
The only thing that's changed recently is DwellClick. Every file created after that seems to have the problem. Every one before it is still OK, even with DwellClick running. However, if I create a new project now, the problem doesn't happen, it's fine. Something must be happening during the project that stops the ID3 tag dialogue box being accessible.
Is this a software incompatibility? a software bug? suggestions??

Hi
Erm, excuse me asking a really stupid question, but how would I do that?
and why is it affecting some files but not others? The latest file here does not seem affected. If it was a global preferences issue would it not affect all files? is it not more likely that it is the project itself that has the issue?
I notice that the project file can be examined as a package which apparently contains a folder LgDoc, which itself contains
displayState, which appears to contain coding instructions and data
documentData, which is mostly unintelligible coding with odd bits in clear text
windowImage.jpg, which is just the graphic for the icon.
This for example is a displayState file from a project that does not allow access to the ID3 tags:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
    <key>displayDataVersion</key>
    <integer>1</integer>
    <key>docPreferences</key>
    <dict>
        <key>EXSEditorGlobalPersistency</key>
        <dict/>
    </dict>
    <key>screenVisibleFrames</key>
    <array>
        <string>{{0, 97}, {1440, 781}}</string>
    </array>
    <key>screensetCurrSlot</key>
    <integer>1</integer>
    <key>screensetDictArray</key>
    <array>
        <dict>
            <key>layoutDictArray</key>
            <array>
                <dict>
                    <key>docwWindowState</key>
                    <dict>
                        <key>currentDocwListID</key>
                        <integer>1</integer>
                        <key>docwEditorTabIndex</key>
                        <integer>-1</integer>
                        <key>docwListTabIndex_events</key>
                        <integer>0</integer>
                        <key>docwListTabIndex_media</key>
                        <integer>1</integer>
                        <key>docwListTabIndex_notes</key>
                        <integer>0</integer>
                        <key>focusedElement</key>
                        <integer>0</integer>
                        <key>inspectorIsVisible</key>
                        <true/>
                        <key>listsAreVisible</key>
                        <false/>
                        <key>markerTextIsExpanded</key>
                        <true/>
                        <key>markerTextSplitPosition</key>
                        <real>33.333000183105469</real>
                        <key>mediaListIsCurrent</key>
                        <true/>
                        <key>screenSpaceRect</key>
                        <string>0 97 1440 781/0 0 1440 900 0 97 1440 781</string>
                        <key>tabViewPercentMixer</key>
                        <real>100</real>
                        <key>tabViewPercentOther</key>
                        <real>76.597442626953125</real>
                        <key>toolbarIsVisible</key>
                        <true/>
                        <key>transportBarIsVisible</key>
                        <true/>
                        <key>transportLayoutDict</key>
                        <dict>
                            <key>CLgTransportBtnsDisplay</key>
                            <array>
                                <integer>18</integer>
                                <integer>19</integer>
                                <integer>21</integer>
                                <integer>22</integer>
                                <integer>23</integer>
                                <integer>24</integer>
                            </array>
                            <key>CLgTransportBtnsModus</key>
                            <array>
                                <integer>29</integer>
                                <integer>38</integer>
                                <integer>39</integer>
                                <integer>42</integer>
                                <integer>43</integer>
                                <integer>45</integer>
                                <integer>30</integer>
                            </array>
                            <key>CLgTransportBtnsTransport</key>
                            <array>
                                <integer>6</integer>
                                <integer>5</integer>
                                <integer>11</integer>
                                <integer>12</integer>
                                <integer>13</integer>
                                <integer>14</integer>
                                <integer>15</integer>
                                <integer>16</integer>
                            </array>
                        </dict>
                        <key>udataArrange</key>
                        <data>
                        HAFJcASnAgA4AQAAAADdBEUCAAAA
                        AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAADbACcA
                        SXAAAAAABACAAAAAAAAAAIARAAAA
                        AQoAIADbAI+IAAAAAAAAgAAAAAAB
                        AQAAAABAAAAAAAAAAADkAAAAAAAA
                        AMaYAAAAAAAAAAB43/+/8HwAAAAA
                        tACAAQAAAAAAAAMAAAACAAAADA5/
                        cQBjFgBXADAAQAAWABYAGwAAAAAA
                        AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
                        AQQDBgUCAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
                        AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
                        AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
                        AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
                        ACBCAAC4QQAAAAA=
                        </data>
                        <key>udataBin</key>
                        <data>
                        HAEVEABAAgCdAQAAAABlARUCAAAA
                        AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACZABEA
                        FRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACEgAA
                        AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
                        AAAAAABAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
                        AMaYAAAAAAAAAADY7f+/8HwAAAAA
                        9AGAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAADAD/
                        AABjFgAbABYAFgAWABYAGwAAAAAA
                        AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
                        AQQDBgUCAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
                        AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
                        AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
                        AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
                        AJBBAAAAAAAAAAA=
                        </data>
                        <key>udataMixer</key>
                        <data>
                        HAEhIFjyAgCMAQAAAADdBOEBAAAA
                        ACMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAfAAAA
                        ISAAAAAABAAAAAAAAAAAAAATAAAA
                        AAAAAAAAAPCvEBgAAAAAABgAAAAS
                        EgAAAABAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
                        AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
                        0QGAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAADAD/
                        AABjFgAbABYAFgAWABYAGwAAAAAA
                        AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
                        AQQDBgUCAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
                        AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
                        AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
                        AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
                        AABAAACAPwAAAAA=
                        </data>
                        <key>udataPianoRoll</key>
                        <data>
                        HAFCcFjyAgDpAQAAAABxA5wB4i4A
                        ADYBAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAABCACcA
                        QnAAAAAABAAAAA4A//2AAAQVAAAA
                        AAoAIAAAAPz/UAAAAAAAuAAAAA4p
                        KQAAAABAAAAAAAAAAABRAQAAAAAA
                        AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAQAAAAAA
                        ZQGAAQAAAAAAAAMAAAACAAAADAD/
                        AABjFgAbABYAFgAWABYAGwAAAAAA
                        AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
                        AQQDBgUCAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
                        AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
                        AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
                        AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAABI
                        4RJCAAAgQQAAAAA=
                        </data>
                        <key>udataTransport</key>
                        <data>
                        HAEKAAAAAgACAQAAAAAlAigAAAAA
                        AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
                        CgAAAAAABAAAAAAAAAAiAAAAAAAA
                        AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAqAJgADQAAAAAA
                        AAAAAABAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
                        AMaYAAAAAAAAAADo3/+/8HwAAAAA
                        GACAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAADAD/
                        AABjFgAbABYAFgAWABYAGwAAAAAA
                        AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
                        AQQDBgUCAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
                        AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
                        AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
                        AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
                        AABBAAAAAAAAAAA=
                        </data>
                        <key>windowFrame</key>
                        <string>0 143 1440 735 0 0 1440 878 </string>
                        <key>windowIsZoomed</key>
                        <true/>
                    </dict>
                    <key>docwWindowType</key>
                    <integer>1</integer>
                </dict>
            </array>
            <key>screensetLocked</key>
            <false/>
            <key>screensetName</key>
            <string></string>
            <key>screensetSlot</key>
            <integer>1</integer>
        </dict>
    </array>
</dict>
</plist>
Question - is this corrupt, or is the other (mostly unintelligible one) corrupt?

Can the Mac mini's Super Drive (Early 2006) *read* DVD-R discs?

I made a back-up of a movie and burned it on to a DVD-R. I took the burned DVD and popped into my DVD player in the living room and it played just fine. I then put the burned DVD back into my mini, DVD Player.app opened and when I clicked play said the disc was invalid/unsupported (I’m not in front of my mini so don’t have the exact wording of the error). The DVD never even mounts on my desktop or Finder side bar. I went back and referenced the tech specs for my model and it reads:
Slot-loading SuperDrive with double-layer support (DVD+R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW)
That just seems strange that it would burn to a DVD-R with no problem, but then not be able to read it.
I’ve put other DVD-R’s in the drive to test and the same thing. I had a back-up copy of my iPhoto library that I burned on my PowerBook on a DVD-R and this disc never mounted. I can only push the eject key on my keyboard to get the DVD out.

I think I found my answer over at 123macmini.com
Slot-loading SuperDrive with double-layer support (DVD+R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW):
writes DVD+R DL discs at up to 2.4x speed,
writes DVD-R and DVD+R discs at up to 8x speed,
writes DVD-RW and DVD+RW discs at up to 4x speed,
reads DVDs at up to 8x speed,
writes CD-R discs at up to 24x speed,
writes CD-RW discs at up to 16x speed,
reads CDs at up to 24x speed

Why does my Mac Pro late 2013 drive both monitors with one GPU?

System report shows both of my WQHD monitors are running on one GPU. When I add an HDMI display, it also runs on the same GPU. Why would it not split the load? This makes me wonder about when both GPUs are working, if ever. Since Activity Monitor does not report GPU activity, does anyone know of an app that gives real-time reports on GPU usage?

If you add six displays, they will all be supported by one GPU -- the display GPU. The second GPU is reserved for un-interrupted GPU computing and has no Display output Hardware.
Anandtech has a discussion of this in his review of the late 2013 Mac Pro.
Under OS X the situation is a bit more complicated. There is no system-wide CrossFire X equivalent that will automatically split up rendering tasks across both GPUs.
By default, one GPU is setup for display duties while the other is used exclusively for GPU compute workloads. GPUs are notoriously bad at context switching, which can severely limit compute performance if the GPU also has to deal with the rendering workloads associated with display in a modern OS. NVIDIA sought to address a similar problem with their Maximus technology, combining Quadro and Tesla cards into a single system for display and compute.
from section 9:
http://www.anandtech.com/show/7603/mac-pro-review-late-2013/9

[bug] why can't mac OS tell the difference between mac volumes

i've also posted this in the Snow Leopard forum as i was not sure where would be best:
i have been experiencing what seems like a very bad bug and i am wondering if there is something particular to my setup. now that i have two HD's running Mac OS's on my mac pro i can see it clearer but it also manifests itself when i am using my SL OS on the laptop to access the SL OS on my mac pro. in the scenario below however i am describing accessing the SL OS on one hard drive in my mac pro from the Lion OS on another hard drive in my mac pro.
the problem is that if I SELECT the Snow Leopard volume I see - for instance - "DESKTOP" listed, however if i OPEN A NEW FINDER WINDOW by doubleclicking on this Desktop icon (again shown with the Snow Leopard HD highlighted under DEVICES) Finder will bring up a window with the LION Desktop. This means that Finder is getting confused between the Desktop folder icon when i am in one volume with the Desktop folder icon on the volume that i am ACCESSING IT FROM. this is very dangerous and i am realizing that i have been experiencing this while accessing the Lion OS on my mac pro from my MacBook Pro on a regular basis.
this issue is even manifested when i am attempting to DELETE DATA from the Snow Leopard OS. when i am in the SNOW LEOPARD volume (and attempting to delete files and folders from Snow Leopard desktop that have now been migrated to the Lion OS - and are now on my Lion Desktop) finder gets confused about the fact that i am telling it to delete the items that are in the SL Desktop and it is instead DELETING items from my LION DESKTOP.
this seems extremely buggy to me (again it is happening when i access my mac pro from my macbook pro) and i am wondering if there is a good reason for this or if i have not set a switch somewhere that will allow it to work more intelligently than this.
seems extremely dangerous to me...and booting into the Snow Leopard drive /every/ time i want to do something in there seems extremely impractical...
thanks.

scratch this. i am in snow leopard for some very odd reason and it doesn't appear that anything has migrated to the new Lion disk. something very odd is going on and i am wondering if it had to do with keeping the short name the same...

Satellite M30-861: why can i not write to DVD?

Hi I bought Satellite M30-861 about 15 months ago and until now have only tried to burn CDs - no problem. Now I want to try to burn onto a DVD but it doesnt seem to be recognised (I tried drag n drop and also NERO). I can see on the drive unit that it says DVD R/RW and according to my warranty info on Toshiba website I should be able to burn DVDs (this was a question I asked when buying!). Any ideas what I am doing wrong??!
Thanks!
Marving

Hi Marvin,
According to the specifications for your notebook you should be able to burn DVD-R/RW only. Are you sure that you are using the correct media ( -R/RW and not +r/rw).
Also if you are using RW media then these will need to be formatted before you can burn to them. (you can use Nero INCD to do this).
regards,

Why can't Macs write to NTFS drives?

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