Tag Archives: Mac

fixed : update Seagate Momentus XT firmware from TD27 to SD28

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Question :

To keep my aging MacBook Pro up-to-date and up-to-speed, I’ve replaced the internal harddisk with a Seagate Momentus XT hybrid-harddisk. I’ve found on the internet that Seagate’s SD28 is the latest firmware for the Momentus XT, and since Seagate claims it’s an essential upgrade, I would like to install in also. I’ve followed the instructions from Seagate, but when I run the firmware update, it refuses with a “Specific model not found”-error and quits…

In “About This Mac”, I’ve found that my version of the Momentus XT is the ST95005620AS and the current firmware is TD27. I’ve searched the internet and can only find info on firmware versions SD24, SD25, SD26 and SD28, but not on SD27 (or TD27, what’s the difference anyway ?)…

Is there any way to upgrade my Momentus XT to the SD28 firmware ?

Answer :

Yes !

First a little background info :

The Momentus XT hybrid-harddisks have not only been released by Seagate, they have also been issued by Toshiba as OEM-harddisks. Where it gets confusing is that the Toshiba issued ones still have “Seagate”-branded info stickers on them… The main thing Toshiba seems to have done is install a Toshiba-version of the firmware named TD27… (TD seems to mean Toshiba Drive, as opposed to SD for Seagate Drive…)

Seagate itself has skipped version SD27 of the firmware for unknown reasons, but Toshiba has (only ?) issued their version of exactly that skipped firmware revision : TD27…

More info can be found here :

Momentus-XT-Secret-Code-Names-Model

So much for the confusion…

Now let’s get to the solution…

Here’s how to upgrade your Momentus XT from TD27 to SD28 firmware on a Mac :

[ NOTE : doing firmware updates is potentially very risky for your hardware, software and data !! not following the instructions to the letter is even more risky !! every thing you do is at your own risk !! ]

– download the SD28 firmware upgrade (in .ISO format) from Seagate :

 Momentus XT firmware upgrade SD28

– after the download, find the “MomentusXT-ALL-SD28.iso” disk image and mount it on your Mac

– burn the (Windows/DOS) files that are on the disk image onto a CD-r

– eject the freshly burned CD-r and label it “Seagate Momentus XT firmware upgrade SD28”

– now back-up the entire current contents of your Mac’s harddrive (= your internal Momentus XT) ; the easiest way to do this is to choose “Back Up Now” from the Time Machine menu (assuming you have Time Machine back-up installed)

– now print this manual for reference during the actual firmware upgrade

– when the back-up is finished, re-insert the CD-r (with the SD28 firmware installer), disconnect all cables (USB, Ethernet, DisplayPort, Thunderbolt, FireWire, etc.) from your Mac, only to leave the power-cord in (that’s essential !) and reboot your Mac while pressing the [ALT]-key

– once you see the Apple logo with the spinning gear, you can release the [ALT]-key

– now you will see about three tiles of possible startup-drives to choose from, select the CD-rom (that will probable be titled “Seagate” of “Windows”) and click [ENTER]

– now your screen will go entirely black and then display Windows/DOS-like white texts (if you do not see white text appearing and you are on a MacBook, open your MacBook and look on the MacBook’s own screen ; this would mean you did not follow the instructions to unplug your second screen… as mentioned before : doing firmware upgrades is potentially very risky and completely at your own risk !! do yourself a favor and follow the instructions to the letter to minimize your risk !! )

– just follow the on-screen instructions (press [ENTER] when suggested, and press the [D]-key to select the firmware upgrade)

– everything will seem to go fine, until you get this text :

“Error: Specific model not found. Various expected   ************************   Turn off the power now.”

– if you see that, don’t power down your Mac, but press the [CTRL] + [C] keys on your keyboard instead, and you will get this text :

“Control-Break pressed. Terminate batch file ‘C:\FLASH-M.BAT’ (Yes/No/All) ?”

– then, press the [CTRL] + [C] key-combo again, and you will get this text :

“(Seagate boot) C:\>”

– that’s your command-prompt (just like in DOS or in OSX’s Terminal-app), now type [exactly as shown here, but without the quotes] the following command :

“FDL497A -m ANAK -f ANSD28.LOD -i Seagate -s -x -b -v -a 20”

– then press the [ENTER] key, and the firmware upgrade process will start

– during the upgrade process, a text like this will display :

“Model SEAGATE ST95005620AS SN xxxxxxxx FW TD27 on Generic PCI ATA Bus 0 Device 0

Model SEAGATE ST95005620AS SN xxxxxxxx FW SD28”

– after about 1 minute, the word “SUCCESS” will be displayed in big blue letters, followed by “(Seagate boot) C:\>” in regular white letters

– now, the firmware upgrade is complete and you can reboot your Mac

– when your Mac has restarted in OSX, eject the CD-r and have a look in “About This Mac”, there you will find that the firmware of your internal harddisk is now SD28

…that’s it

Enjoy !

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fixed : place a picture behind an Excel chart or graph

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Question :

I am using Excel (from Microsoft Office) and I want to put the chart I’ve just made on top of a picture. How can I do that ?

Answer :

In Excel v14 (from MS Office 2011 for Mac), this can be done like this :

1- create the chart

2- select the chart area (you will see a bold, light blue frame around the entire chart area), then click the “Charts>Format”-tab (the purple tab in-between the green tabs), then in “Current Selection” click the “Format Selection”-button

3- in the window that opens select “Fill”, then the “Solid”-tab, and set the “Color:”-dial to “No Fill” and click “OK”

4- select the chart itself (inside the chart area – you will see a black lined square with light blue dots on the corners around the actual chart), then again, click “Charts>Format”-tab (the purple tab in-between the green tabs), and again, in “Current Selection” click the “Format Selection”-button

5- in the window that opens, again select “Fill”, then the “Solid”-tab, and set the “Color:”-dail to “No Fill” and click “OK”

6- then de-select the chart

7- in the upper Excel menu bar that’s fixed in the Finder, select the “Insert”-tab, and from the drop down menu that appears, select “Photo > Picture From File” and in the “Choose a Picture”-window that appears, select the image you need and click “OK”

8- the image will appear on top of your chart, now first resize it (by dragging the light blue corner-dots) and place it over your chart area

9- select the image (again, if it’s not already selected), click the “Format Picture”-tab and remove the background color(s) of the image if you need (using the “Remove Background”-option from “Adjust”)

10- then, also in the “Format Picture”-tab, select the “Reorder”-option from “Arrange”, and select “Send to Back” from the 4 options that appear in the pulldown menu ; your image will now be behind your chart

11- for fine-tuning, if needed, you can now resize or rearrange the image and the chart until the align exactly as you need them to

12- if you want the Excel-cell-grid behind your chart to disappear also, select the area of cells behind and around your chart and select WHITE (or any other color you need) from small triangle-shaped arrow just next to the “Fill Color”-button (the paint bucket icon)

That’s it !

Enjoy !

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fixed : I get a Track Following Error using Roxio Toast

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Question :

Each time I’m trying to burn a DVD+/-R in Roxio Toast, the DVD won’t get burned and I get this error :

The drive reported an error:

Sense Key = HARDWARE ERROR

Sense Code = 0x09

TRACK FOLLOWING ERROR

I can read any DVD or CD on my Mac without a problem, but when I try to record a blank DVD (or CD), I keep getting this error…

…what can I do ?

Answer :

The solution to this Track Following Error is rather simple, even though I couldn’t find it available on the internet anywhere :

this just means your burning laser’s lens is dirty (even if your reading laser’s lens might be clean…)

so…

just get a cleaning DVD of the type that las a small soft brush on it (either with or without cleaner fluid), use it to clean your DVD burner (a.k.a. your SuperDrive) and when done, try burning with Toast again…

that’s it !

———————————————————————————————

some examples of the cleaning DVDs that you could use :

Hama CD/DVD Lens Cleaner

Allsop Ultra ProLens Cleaner

Hama DVD Laser Cleaning Disc

…but, you could also get one from you local electronics shop, just make sure on these :

– get the DVD-version, not the CD-only version

– get the version with the small brush on it ; no need to get one that also requires cleaning liquid, neither for multiple brushes, just make sure the brush is not too hard

– read the fine print on the product description, if it says “not for use in laptops”, it won’t mean that it will definitely not work, it just means it might not work (or even get stuck in) slot-loading SuperDrives like the ones in iMacs, MacBooks and MacBook Pros

– keep in mind that in this case, it’s not “more expensive = better product”, so get the cheapest one you feel comfortable with…

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tip : Shared Photo Stream on unsupported Mac

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Question :

I would like to use Photo Stream and the Shared Photo Stream feature on my Mac running MacOSX 10.7, is that possible ?

Answer :

The answer is NO, officially not, but…

…if you’re willing to ‘risk everything’ for it, read on and there just might be an option for you…

Photo Stream is a great feature of iCloud, to upload your iPhone and iPad pictures straight to iCloud. Too bad, that on a Mac, it’s photos are only accessible from iPhoto 9.2.2 (or Aperture 3.2.3) or newer running on MacOSX 10.7.5 or newer…

And on top of that : Photo Stream is only supported for your primary iCloud account.

If you want to import/view photo’s from another iCloud account, you need to do that from a ‘Shared Photo Stream’. Only when running iPhoto 9.4 (or Aperture 3.4) or newer on OSX 10.8.2 or newer, you have the option to subscribe to a ‘Shared’ Photo Stream besides your primary iCloud account’s Photo Stream.

so… if you’re desperately seeking Photo Stream feature for your Mac, and you are even prepared to ‘risk everything’ (kind of) to get it, you might want to install a patched version of OSX 10.8 Mountain Lion on your ‘old’ Intel-Mac to get it.

For more info, look here :

fixed : install OSX 10.8 Mountain Lion on unsupported Macs

Beware : installing a patched version of OSX 10.8 is unsupported, and not for beginners ! you should not install it on your ‘one and only’ Mac !

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fixed : install OSX 10.8 Mountain Lion on unsupported Macs

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Question :

I read somewhere that it is possible to install the latest version of OSX 10.8 Mountain Lion on my Mac, even though the official installer refuses to install.

Can you give me any directions ?

Answer :

Updated answer :

MLPostFactor has been succeeded/replaced by MacPostFactor, and is now being updated by a new crew of programmers. MacPostFactor also supports installing OSX versions up to OSX 10.10 Yosemite on older Macs. And a new version that supports installing OSX 10.11 El_Capitan is in the works.

For more info (and downloads), go to the info page on MacRumors.com :

http://forums.macrumors.com/threads/os-x-yosemite-on-unsupported-macs-guide.1761432/

 

Original answer :

Yes, thanks to the guys from MLPostFactor, it’s now possible to install OSX 10.8 Mountain Lion (even 10.8.4) on these older Intel-Macs :

Early 2006 (and newer) versions of the iMac and Mac mini

Late 2006 (and newer) versions of the Macbook, MacBook Pro, Mac Pro and Xserve

Early 2008 (and newer) versions or the Macbook Air

…and I must say : “(in my case) it runs smoother than MacOSX 10.7”, but there are a few downsides, especially these ones :

– regular OSX updates are disabled, you can only use a special OSX-update routine

– some (but very little) software is not compatible due to various reasons ; e.g. PhotoBooth, Little Snitch

– the SMB client is not working properly (the SMB server is), so file transfer is crippled

– it’s provided “as-is”, so no support from anyone (neither the developer nor me), and no guarantee it will fully or even partially work in your case (especially not if you do not strictly follow all of the directions !!)

…in short :

!!! THIS IS FOR (RATHER) EXPERIENCED MAC-USERS ONLY, AND SHOULD NOT BE DONE ON YOUR ‘ONE AND ONLY’ MAC !!!

What you need :

– one of the Intel-Macs mentioned above (running MacOSX 10.7 Lion and at least 2GB of RAM)

– an official version of the OSX 10.8 installer, (re)downloaded from the Mac App Store inside your Applications Folder (sorry, pirated versions don’t work…)

– the 32-bit MLPostFactor v3.0 installer-patcher (should be put inside your Applications folder also) you can download from here :

http://www.osxhackers.com/Download.html

or alternatively :

http://mac.softpedia.com/get/System-Utilities/MLPostFactor.shtml

– a full backup of your current harddrive running OSX 10.7 Lion and all your personal files (simply put : “a Time Machine backup of your Mac”)

– a partition of 8GB to create the patched OSX 10.8 installer on ; according to the official directions this should be a partition on your main harddisk called “Install”, but it turns out that ‘if you dare’ you can also use an 8GB USB-stick or an 8GB partition on an external USB- or FireWire-harddisk for this [simply put, MLPostFactor does what Lion DiskMaker does AND includes a patch that’s needed for older Intel-Macs]

– a partition of at least 10GB called “ML” to install the new (patched) OSX 10.8 Mountain Lion onto ; this is will to be your final, ‘new’ harddrive for your ‘old’ Mac… it turns out that ‘if you dare’ you can assign this to your current MacOSX 10.7 Lion harddrive [provided you have a good (TimeMachine) backup]

Exact directions on how to install can be found here :

http://www.osxhackers.com/Installation.html

…or the video that HackerWayne (one of the MLPostFactor developers) has issued :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YqMgrPKfrqM

You should follow the step-by-step instructions above, but just to give a quick impression of the routine :

– make a Time Machine backup and make sure both the OSX 10.8 installer and MLPostFactor are in you Applications folder

– run MLPostFactor to create the patched installer (8GB) for OSX 10.8.4 (or an other version if you prefer that one for some reason…)

– reboot from the patched installer and install the patched OSX 10.8 onto (the desired partition of) the internal harddrive

– this will either end in an error or a white screen (seemingly ‘hung’)

– reboot from the patched installer and run MLPostFactor from there onto the partition you have just installed OSX 10.8 on (= your internal harddrive)

– then reboot from the fresh OSX 10.8 partition (= your internal harddrive)

– if you get a “WiFi: No Hardware Installed”-error, get the KextUtility for OSX 10.8 and install the Edited Atheros Kext for Lion*3

!! REMEMBER : DO FOLLOW THE COMPLETE INSTRUCTIONS THAT CAN BE FOUND HERE :

http://www.osxhackers.com/Installation.html

or the ‘official’ video :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YqMgrPKfrqM

…that should be it !

enjoy !

😉

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info : I can’t get write-permission to external harddisk from Windows-user

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Question :

A Windows-user asked me to put some file on his external harddisk, but when I try to do so, I get a message that I only have ‘read-only’ permissions to the harddisk.

How can I copy the files over ?

Answer :

If you get this problem, it usually caused by the fact that MacOSX does not support NTFS-formatted disks ‘out of the box’. [ NTFS = Windows NT File System ; a format that, mainly for server, has replaced the old DOS-originating formats FAT16 and FAT32, which are fully supported by MacOSX, but are less suited for use on large volume harddisks ]

There are 2 main solutions to this :

– 1 –

If you are going to frequently swap this external harddisk between your Mac and a Windows-PC, you’ll be best off reformatting it to FAT32 :

– connect the external harddisk to your Mac

– copy the entire contents over to your Mac (or to another external harddisk or to a diskimage on your Mac)

– check and make sure you have copied everything over

– then reformat the external harddisk to DOS-format (= FAT32) using OSX’s Disk Utility app

– when finished, copy all content that originally was on the external harddisk back on to it

– that’s it !

– 2 –

If it’s only a one-off for you to use this NTFS-formatted harddrive, you’re probably better off installing a special NTFS-driver/utility for OSX.

– download Tuxera NTFS (to use in demo-mode) :

http://www.macupdate.com/app/mac/33122/tuxera-ntfs

– install Tuxera NTFS, and open it (NOTE : it’s not a regular application, so it can’t be found in your Applications folder, but it’s a Control Panel in the System Preferences)

– now the external NTFS-disk should appear on your Mac in read&write-mode, and you can start copying files onto it

If you run into problems using Tuxera NTFS, read the FAQ :

http://www.tuxera.com/products/tuxera-ntfs-for-mac/faq/#startup-disk

And if you do exceed the 15 day free Demo-mode of Tuxera NTFS and are not willing to upgrade to the full payed version, you can start using the FREE open source program that is at the origin of Tuxera NTFS ; it’s called  NTFS-3G and can be downloaded here :

http://www.macupdate.com/app/mac/24481/ntfs-3g

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