I am using Carbon Copy Cloner to backup my MacBook. Any suggestions on how to confirm the stuff is there?
You bet. First of all, whether you are using it manually or on a scheduled basis, you’ll get an error if things don’t go well. You can go to the Window menu and to CCC Log, and while the log might look a little geeky, you can see if there were any errors.
Also, open external the hard drive on your desktop, go into Users, then into your home folder (probably has your name on it). Go to the View menu and view as List, then click at the top of the Date Modified column to sort the folders in date-order. If you see files with the same date as your last backup, you should be golden.
March 6, 2008 | Filed Under
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Funny how situations seem to arise in groups: I received several calls from folks these last couple of weeks whose automatic backups were not working. One of them LOST THEIR DOCUMENTS.
Fortunately they were able to retrieve the important stuff with the help of
FileSalvage, which thankfully most of us will never need.
When I put a backup solution in place, I ask that our client be sure to check regularly to see that the backups are happening. It’s the one place where, regardless of how comfortable or tentative someone is with their Mac, I kind of insist that they become familiar with the setup, at least enough to know when it’s broken.
Backups can fail for any number of reasons:
~ The external backup drive (the box sitting outside your computer) can fail.
~ Power can go out and confuse the backup software.
~ The software can get broken by an update to the Mac.
Suffice to say that it’s crucial that you not assume that your backups are happening. If you’re not sure how to check them, or which backup software we installed, please give me a call. We should set up at least a short appointment to go over that stuff. Erick or I can write up very quick instructions — 5 to 10 clicks and you’ll be golden.
Thanks for reading!
March 6, 2008 | Filed Under
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I need to FTP some files and I was wondering if you had a recommendation for a cheap program to use on the Mac (or maybe there is something already on here?). I used to use Cute FTP, but the version I have is for Windows.
Pardon a longer response, but there’s some more general info below that may help in your mastery of the Mac:
Whenever I need software for the Mac, I go straight to
Versiontracker or
Macupdate, and search for the thing I need, in this case “FTP.” Then I sort the results by “Product Rating.” The user reviews are so helpful. Then I might sort by “License” to see if any of it’s freeware, or at least cheap.
Even though I had a recommendation for you already, I just tried that search at Versiontracker, and found I needed to narrow it down a little further to “ftp client.” (In software terms, “client” is one side of a “client/server” relationship, where a server provides services, such as FTP, web, email, what-have-you, to clients. The terms could refer to the application itself or to the computer it’s running on. Examples: “We have a file server in our office.” or “The FTP server software needs to be updated.”)
You’ll see that only four of the top 10 packages fit the bill precisely by having “FTP” and “client” in their description and are “freeware” or “shareware,” and only
Cyberduck is free. (Plus, its icon is a frickin’ cute rubber duck, and you just want to squeeze it. One of my other oft-used Mac apps is a
chicken. Y’know, you can’t call many Windows programs adorable.)
I also found that Yummy FTP got good reviews, and I also know Transmit is very very popular. You’ll see both of those list “advanced features,” which you may not need, but if for whatever reason you find Cyberduck lacking, you may find those features, or just their interface or organization, worth the $25 or $30, respectively.
So, all you have to do is click on the link to one of those programs, and click “Download Now” over on the right. Your web browser will download and extract the installer. (Since you’re in Leopard, you’ll find the file in your Downloads folder, which is in your home folder and shortcutted in the Dock.) You want to make sure you install the app properly, which may mean just dragging its icon to the Applications folder, or double-clicking an instaler. After that you can throw out the installer file if there’s one left in Downloads.
February 26, 2008 | Filed Under
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1 Comment By accident, I started typing when I was in the message list, and it
went to the nearest best guess. So if I wanted to find "Rodney" I can
type R O D. Sweet!
February 21, 2008 | Filed Under
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Leave a Comment 
Here are a couple of screenshots from iCal. In each case, one event on
one calendar got duplicated a gazillion times between four different
calendars.
It happened a couple of different times. one time I fixed it by doing a search for the title, selecting all results and deleting; the second time I just deleted the offending calendars, which got spuriously created by the syncing process anyway — between iCal, Entourage, Plaxo, .Mac, a Treo, an iPhone, and maybe some other devices or services. Having this mass of baloney records in a database just makes syncing go slower and worse over the course of months.
I hope somebody (everybody) fixes this soon. There should be warnings or alerts or errors or something when potential duplication is going to happen.
February 13, 2008 | Filed Under
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Leave a Comment As I mentioned in my last newsletter, since 10.5.1, Leopard has been fairly stable. But a couple of computers I manage, especially servers, have run into some pretty dire problems with Leopard.
So I’ve been waiting for this with baited breath:
Leopard finally updated to 10.5.2
Basic info
here, and there’s a complete list of fixes
here. But what I really want you to know is that, as with any major OS X update, you should download the combo update, rather than letter Software Update do the work for you. I promise, it does a much more thorough job, and keeps your Mac happy.
The 10.5.2 Combo Update can be found
here. And the one for OS X Server,
here. Just click the blue-underlined file size over on the right.
Macfixit.com, the go-to site for Mac troubleshooting, hasn’t released any reports about 10.5.2. Please let me know if you have questions about the update.
February 12, 2008 | Filed Under
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Leave a Comment Want Apple Mail to unlearn your friend’s defunct email address?
In Mail, go to Window > Previous Recipients.
Click on the one you want to ditch, and click Remove from List.
Alternately, if you have someone’s old address in the To: field of a message, click the white drop-down triangle to the right of the address (inside the blue oval). Remove from Previous Recipients List is in there, too.
January 20, 2008 | Filed Under
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Leave a Comment Did you know about the built-in dictionary? This is in OS X since Tiger: It’s a weird key combo, but it’s sooooo cool: In Mail or TextEdit or Safari — any good Mac app (which excludes, par exemple, MS Office 2004 but includes Office 2008) — put your cursor over any word, and hold down ctrl-command-D. Cool, huh? (The “command” key is now called that on newer keyboards; it used to be the key with an apple and a squiggly thing.)
Now move your cursor over other words while holding down those keys. Notice that there’s a thesaurus in the drop-down that says “Dictionary.” Now tell me that’s not friggin’ sweet.
January 18, 2008 | Filed Under
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3 Comments Shipping in February. It’s by the folks who did the less-than-perfect iListen, but it’s based on the Dragon NaturallySpeaking engine. This is really great news.
January 17, 2008 | Filed Under
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Leave a Comment My impressions are the same as everybody else’s, I suppose. So here’s a quick recap.
Yay, movie rentals!
Boo, 24 hours to watch ‘em!
Yay, movie rentals and other shit on Apple TV, justifying the money early adopters (including your humble) paid.
Yay, iPhone updates!
Boo, lame iPhone updates!
Yay, MacBook Air!
Yaaaaaaaaay, MacBook Air, although the maximum of 2Gb RAM is a smart move by Apple to prevent it being used for serious work like graphics or photo manip. (I make grandmas buy 2Gb for their Macs.)
Yay, Time Capsule!
Boo, not letting existing Airport Extremes use their Air Disks for Time Machine backups! (Although one can do it with Mac OS X client or server.)
Yay, Manhattans at Jilian’s next door to MacWorld…………!
January 16, 2008 | Filed Under
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