fixed : installing a new hard disk (option 1)

Posted on by
2

Here’s a simple 3-step way of replacing a HD in a Mac :

[ in this example a new HD is put into a Mac mini (version mid 2007) ]

1- clone the internal HD directly onto the new HD
These instructions assume you have another Intel-Mac and a USB-enclosure for a SATA-harddisk (that you will afterwards use to turn the old internal HD into an external one) available :
– put the new harddrive into the USB-enclosure
– connect the USB-cable to your other Intel-Mac
– connect the Mac mini to the Intel-Mac using a FireWire-cable
– (temporarily, just during startup) connect a USB-keyboard to your Mac mini
– startup the Mac mini while pressing the T-key on the keyboard (“Target Mode”)
– both the Mac mini and the USB-connected new HD will now show up in your Finder (on the Intel-Mac)
– open Disk Utility
– click on the Erase-tab
– select the USB-connected HD list on the left, and erase it in MacOS Extended (Journaled) format
[ BEWARE : do NOT format your HD in MacOS Extended (“Case-sensitive” Journaled) mode ! As that will prevent some applications to run ! e.g. Adobe Photoshop 10 Editor ]
– click on the Restore-tab
– from the list on the left drag the partition of your Mac mini onto the “Source”-field
– then drag the new partition from your new HD onto the “Destination”-field
– click the Restore-button, and wait

2- replace the HD
– open the instructions on how to replace the HD from the iFixit-website (or print them out) and read them

http://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Installing-Mac-mini-Model-A1176-Hard-Drive/1108/1

– get the new HD out of the USB-enclosure
– now gently open the Mac mini enclosure
– blow the dust of the interior using a compressed air blower [ do NOT use a hair dryer ! ] or using a vacuum cleaner with a piece of thin cloth (e.g. a napkin) tightly fit to the suction tube (to prevent anything from actually being sucked in)
– replace the HD (make sure the connectors are clean and fit thight)
– while you’re at it, you might also check the AirPort-card connector
– and finish up (all using the iFixit-instructions)

3- test the new HD
– restart

Note : if you would like an alternative procedure for replacing a hard drive in a Mac, look here :

https://macmanusnl.wordpress.com/2012/06/12/installing-a-new-hard-drive-2/ 

fixed : a (relatively) quick fix for Photoshop not wanting to install on Case-sensitive formatted HD

Posted on by
4

Question :

Today, I wanted to install Photoshop on my Mac, but the installer refused because I have my Mac HD formatted in “MacOS Extended (Journaled, Case-sensitive)” format.

How can I easily fix this ?

Answer :

Photoshop (both Photoshop Elements and Photoshop CS) can not be installed on a Mac that has a “MacOS Extended (Journaled, Case-sensitive)” formatted internal HD. It just can’t. There is only one route to fixing this that will help here : you need to reformat your HD.

So here’s the quickest way to reformatting and restoring your Mac’s internal HD without loosing data :

– make a Time Machine backup of your HD
– plug an OSX 10.7 installer (USB-stick or DVDrom) into your Mac

Note : if you don’t have an OSX-installer, here are directions on making one :

– make sure you have a new DVD-writable or a completely empty 4GB USB-stick

– download Lion Disk Maker and follow the instructions that come with it :

http://blog.gete.net/lion-diskmaker-us/

– restart while pressing the ALT-button
– choose the OSX EFI volume to boot from
– open Disk Utility
– click on the Erase tab
– select your internal HD, and “MacOS Extended (Journaled)”
[ and NOT “MacOS Extended (Case-sensitive, Journaled)” !!! ]
– click Erase (a new name for the HD is not important)
– when the erase (reformat) is finished, exit Disk Utility and go to “restore from Time Machine backup”
– make sure your Mac is connected to the Time Machine disk by a cable connection (either Ethernet/UTP, USB or FireWire)
– select the volume called Data and continue
– select the subvolume that has your previous HD’s name
– click Restore and wait
(restoring can take up to one hour)
– afterwards restart your Mac normally
– do a quick check to see if things work properly
– put in the Adobe Photoshop Elements installer DVDrom and follow the installer instructions
– done !

fixed : quickly share your Mac’s internet connection to your iPad

Posted on by
Reply

Question :

I just got myself a WiFi-only iPad, but I have no WiFi reception in my living room (that’s why my Mac in my living room is connected to my network through an Ethernet/UTP-cable). Is there an easy way to get internet connection on my iPad in my living room ?

Answer :

Yes, there is.

Your Mac can share it’s internet connection from one of it’s internal network-connections to another. So from Ethernet to WiFi in your case.

To get it working is easy :

– turn on your Mac (if your Mac isn’t running, this won’t work)

– go to System Preferences (under the Apple-dropdown menu in the upper left corner of the desktop/Finder-menu)

– in the window that opens, click on “Sharing”

– in the screen that opens, click on “Internet Sharing” in the list on the left

– then, on the right, select your incoming network/internet connection at “Share your connection from:” (so, in this case select “Ethernet” there)

– and then select your outgoing internet connection at “To computers using:” (so, in this case put a check mark at “Wi-Fi”)

– if you want your shared internet to be password protected, click on the “Wi-Fi Options…”-button and choose your preferred network name, the preferred password protection protocol and your preferred password. If you don’t need protection, just leave everything as-is.

– then put a check-mark at “Internet Sharing” in the list on the left and quit System Preferences

– now you will see that your AirPort/WiFi-pie icon in the upper right of the desktop / finder-menu has turned into a new icon with an arrow pointing upward.

– then, on your iPad (or iPhone or any other WiF-connectable device) go to Settings, click on WiFi and select your new local WiFi-network

– done ! enjoy !

Note : you’ve just turned your Mac into a local WiFi-router (also), so remember that your Mac has to be switched on to sustain the WiFi-network connection

fixed : get the WMA-recordings from an Olympus voice recorder into iTunes

Posted on by
Reply

Question :

I have an Olympus VN-88500PC voice memo recorder and I can get the WMA-recordings onto my Mac, but not into iTunes – what can I do ?

Answer :

iTunes for Mac doesn’t import WMA audio files (even though it seems like for some reason iTunes for PC does…).

So you will have to convert the WMA into a file format that iTunes does understand like MP3 or AAC, before you can import the recordings into iTunes.

There are a lot of audio converters available on the Mac, but a lot of them won’t allow you to convert WMA-files. Others might suggest Switch or Tunesify,  but I would recommend Smart Converter, as it’s FREE, it has a simple user interface and it creates small MP3s.

FYI :

my source was a 30MB WMA-file,

Switch (FREE version) turned it into a 225MB MP3-file, even though I was using the “small file” option

Tunesify (the €3 version) turned it into a 180MB MP3-file,

and Smart Converter (FREE version) turned in into an MP3-file of only 45MB (using the “Music” conversion option)

Smart Converter is available in the Mac App Store :

http://itunes.apple.com/nl/app/smart-converter/id447513724?mt=12

…and after the WMA-to-MP3-conversion is done, you can just drag & drop the MP3-file onto the iTunes window to import.

fixed : get the embedded video from my Opendisc-enhanced audio-CD into iTunes

Posted on by
Reply

Question : I just got a new audio-CD that I imported into iTunes, but this CD also has extra video-content on it when you put it in your Mac (or PC). The system used for this is called Opendisc®. Though it seems impossible, is there a way to rip this video of the CD and into iTunes on my Mac ?

Answer : Yes, and you don’t even have to rip or hack for it.

1- download HideSwitch :

http://www.macupdate.com/app/mac/36771/hideswitch

2- install HideSwitch and run it – in the small window that appears, click the “Show All Files” button, now your Finder will refresh, and you will be able to see all so called ‘hidden files’ on your Mac

[ CAUTION : do NOT touch or mess with any greyed files (= normally hidden files) when you’re in “Hidden Files Viewable” mode ! …as it will very probably cause you software problems that can only be restored doing a complete system reinstall ! ]

3- put the Opendisc-enhanced audio-CD into your Mac – on your Desktop it will be visible twice : once as a regular audio-CD which has the name of the actual CD, and once as a (greyish) CD named “Opendisc”

4- when you double-click on the “Opendisc”-icon, a folder wind will open, in there go to the (greyed out) folder called “CDEXTRA”, inside that one go to the (greyed out) folder called “OPENDISC”, on to the folder called “MEDIA” – in there you will find a file called “video.mov” (yes, that’s a regular QuickTime-movie) – drag that file called “video.mov” to your Desktop

5- go back to the HideSwitch window and press the “Default” button, wait for the Finder to refresh and close HideSwitch

6- download and install Miro Video Converter (for free) either from the Mac App Store or from the developer’s website :

http://www.mirovideoconverter.com/

7- run Miro Video Converter and drag the file called “video.mov” onto the red window – select “Apple Universal” from the drop down menu and put a check mark in front of “Send to iTunes” – then click on the “Convert!” button

8- after the conversion is done, open iTunes and in the video section the converted video can be found as “video.apple” – now adjust that name to whatever you want it to be

9- to clean up you can now drag both the “video.mov” and “video.apple.mp4” files from the Desktop into the Trash and empty the trash

Done !

Enjoy !

tip : surfing the internet while in Rescue Mode

Posted on by
Reply

Question : My Mac’s network connection is messed up, and I need to download software to update of fix this – what can I do ?

Answer : Since OSX 10.7 Lion, there is an easy way to do this if your networking-problem is software-related, not broken hardware.*

1- restart with the ‘CMD’ + ‘R’ keys pressed (‘Rescue Mode’)

2- then use Safari (listed as ‘online help’) to go online

3- go into Safari’s preferences and change the download folder to a USB-stick or external hard drive (just make sure it has enough space to hold the file you’re going to download)

4- go to the site you need to get the download from, and download

5- restart your Mac normally and install the download from within OSX

* = in Rescue Mode you will be able to connect to the network (and the internet) both though a UTP/Ethernet-cable or WiFi/AirPort-wireless, so only if BOTH your Ethernet-hardware card AND your AirPort-hardware card are broken, this will not work…

BEWARE ! : FBI warns not to upgrade software through free-WiFi !

Posted on by
Reply

The FBI has reported that users of ‘out-of-home-WiFi’ (free-WiFi hotspots, hotel WiFi, etc.) have become infected with malware, while upgrading ‘a widely used software product’.

http://www.fbi.gov/scams-safety/e-scams

The original report states :

“Recently, there have been instances of travelers’ laptops being infected with malicious software while using hotel Internet connections. In these instances, the traveler was attempting to set up the hotel room Internet connection and was presented with a pop-up window notifying the user to update a widely used software product. If the user clicked to accept and install the update, malicious software was installed on the laptop. The pop-up window appeared to be offering a routine update to a legitimate software product for which updates are frequently available.”

Even though the software product is not mentioned by name, it is good to inform you that one of the most common software products using this type of upgrades is Adobe Flash… so watch out when upgrading Adobe Flash (and any other software upgrade that is offered) when you are not on your own private WiFi-network.

So… here are some useful guidelines regarding software updates while traveling :

1- if you can do without upgrading, don’t upgrade while traveling ; wait until you’re back home on your own trusted WiFi-network

2- if you really need to upgrade, take these precautions : when you are prompted to upgrade any software while on an ‘out-of-home-WiFi’-network, click to close the pop-up window that is urging you to upgrade. Then either use OSX’s built-in “Software Update…” feature, or open the (Mac) App Store to download your updates from there, or manually type the URL of the known software-maker and download the software update directly form their site (after having double checked that your installed version is not the latest one).

Note : in the case of of the Adobe Flash browser plugin, the software-maker’s website is Adobe.com