Everything Apple (the Mac heads thread)

Thanks @ExTra! I'll give that a try

Anyone familiar with iDraw?

I'm trying to get a friend in a design agency to get their tech bod to liberate a Mac Pro 5.1 from their offices for me.

It has been quiet, I am not living in hope...

No one familiar with iDraw then?

They're ignoring their support queue, so I'll apply for a refund on the grounds of "does not work" this evening I guess.

Anyone know why my clients are unable to open my compressed files? I'm on Yosemite, I doubt they are.

Their IT told them my files are encrypted, but they ain't. I use the built in utility, as I always have. Nothing fancy.

WD My Cloud can have a problem with Macs. I had to give mine away to a PC owning relative as it was too slow on my Mac. Oddly it was pretty fast on the phone app, but not in finder.

I think I may have that issue too. Client said the same thing to me.

Is there an easy way to keep my two usb hard drives identical? As in if I copy pictures to one the other will get them too.

1 - If you're quite disciplined, you can run a cloning/backup app like ChronoSync or CarbonCopyCloner as often as you feel like - daily, weekly, etc. If you're not so disciplined, with ChronoSync you can schedule the backups to perform automatically on a schedule of your choice.

2 - If you want to take some time to set up a (hopefully) truly-redundant system, you could create a RAID 1 array. This would mirror data between the drives in real time.
I've never tried it with USB external drives, but if they're attached to your Mac all the time you could try configuring the RAID within OS X Disk Utility, or by using a piece of software such as SoftRAID (which claims to be way ahead of Apple's own RAID solution).
The problem with RAID is that the disks will usually need to be formatted (ie erased) to set up the array. That means temporarily finding somewhere else to store both copies of your stuff.

I prefer option 1.

Would the "RAIDed" USB-Sticks still work as regualar USB Sticks on other machines?

Not sure what to do. Can't find anything online. Most threads end with "use X utility instead" which isn't WHAT I WANT TO DO GODDAMNIT.

Not sure. I know that in order for a RAID array to exist, all disks in that array must be present whenever the system is running.
What I don't know is whether you can remove a disk (after shutdown), take it to another machine, add/remove data, reinsert it into the array and expect the RAID setup to take care of everything next time you power on.

Might be worth trying with a couple of USB sticks for a laugh.

you can schedule ccc for middle of the night backup sessions, and itll turn itself off after.

Hopefully a straight forward question. Using my Windows laptop I rip my DVDs and watch mp4s on the move on laptop and android pad. Is this something I would be able to do as easy with Mac Air? and I pad? (work long service award has Mac package available). And will I be able to watch my already ripped films? Itunes has always been a bit of a stay away for me. On searches online Handbrake seems to be a the tool. Is it as straight forward as it looks.

It's pretty easy. I've ripped my entire dvd collection to my mac mini.

Check out a thread on macrumors on ripping automation: http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=805573

I use ripit, handbrake & identify.

Thanks for the link, that about sums the decision making up.

So I want to work from home and applied for the company software to login from home.

Trouble is, its not compatible with Yosemite. Any way I can roll back to 10.9 or is it boot camp / Windows 7/8 ?..

If its the bootcamp option, are copies freely available online (wink wink, nudge nudge)

btw - MBP Retina - i5, 8GB, No Superdrive...

Parallels?

(or virtual box for a free version https://www.virtualbox.org)

i OS 8.1.1 is out and it drastically improves performance on the iPad 2 and iPhone 4S.

My iPad was borderline unusable after downloading 8, with Safari crashing all over the place and generally being slow. Overall responsiveness like switching apps is now pretty fast.

So I'm looking to upgrade my girlfriend's mid-2011 2.5 GHz (Core i5) iMac next week, I'm going to replace the mechanical drive with a 256GB SSD and add another 2x2GB sticks of RAM, bringing the total from 4GB to 8GB.

@amey @Soul you guys mentioned you've done the HDD/SSD swap; I have a couple questions if you don't mind?

1. Did you guys buy the suction cups? Care to point me in the direction of some that'll do the job?
   
2. Did you replace the optical drive or the hard drive?
   
3. Did you require a 2.5>3.5 drive adapter? Any recommendations? The reviews for those on Amazon are terrible.
   
4. Will I require any additional cables or can I reuse the existing one(s) from the mechanical drive?
   
   

Cheers for any help!

PS. I'll be following this guide: https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/iMac+Intel+21.5-Inch+EMC+2428+Hard+Drive+Replacement/5954

Another SSD question... I'm planning to put an SSD into my Feb 2012 MBP, what's all this 'SSDs won't work with Yosemite' business? I know I need to do some research of my own but any tips in the meantime would be awesome... TIA...

1. Don't need suction cups, its just magnets holding the screen on so get your fingernails out.
   
2. personal choice. I know on the 27" iMacs theres a bit of dead space behind the main board which you can use so you'd have an SSD, HDD and disc drive, but its a pita and I don't think you can on this one
   
3. You'll need an adaptor as the SSD probably won't come with one
   http://www.amazon.co.uk/TRIXES-Mounting-Adapter-Bracket-Holder/dp/B00HFSMHDI/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1417041772&sr=8-5&keywords=2.5+3.5+adapter
   
4. If you're just swapping HDD for SSD no additional cables, with optical drive you'd need an extension i'd imagine and some re routing and you have to set up the SSD as the main drive.
   

The trim problem? Either:

1. Deal with it being slower
   
2. Try and find a 3rd party fix
   
3. Buy an apple/trim enabled SSD
   
4. Don't use Yosemite
   

slower? How much slower?

Thanks! Will get on and order an SSD and adapter today then.

Anyone got a preferred drive for these machines? If not I'll go by best Amazon review.