Geek and Gadgets

Harddrive Smart Tips

Well, as more technology gets bigger and bolder, there are a few primary basics that we must adhere to. This one is from experience.

I have a WD 1 TB external harddrive, that uses FireWire 800, FireWire 400, USB 2.0 and is really great! However, a few days ago, the fans sounded loud and lo-and-be-hold, it died. Now, with 1 TB drives, this may be an issue if it is really composed of 2 x 500 GB drives. The data is essentially split onto both drives, not neatly, some files on one, and some files on another either. In fact, some of the same file may be on both, therefore, you need to put it into an enclosure that can fir 2 x 500 GB drives and hope for the best.

That is where I am now. It has al of my iTunes music on it and some other important stuff, not work files of course or software. Just stuff I realy want. It is the only drive I did not have a copy of yet, of course.

So, I will buy an enclosure for them, start it up, and hopefully it was not the drives themselves but the chip that moderates the external hardrive. Fan still works, and it is clean inside.

Anyone else out there fallen into the same very large external harddrive syndrome?

Stay tuned. I will post the result when I have a moment to see what I can do. Thoughts, suggestions, would love to hear them.

The lesson: if using a very large external drive that is really composed of 2 or more harddrives, make sure you have a RAID copy of them or a complete clone on anoter set of drives exactly like the main one.

You can never be too careful with your backup methods.

Lesson learned.

Pressing F5 in a text field

More Mac 101 tips for new and returning Mac users. If you’re typing in a text field (in Safari, TextEdit, or most any Mac OS X app), you can press F5 while your cursor rests in a particular word to see a list of words that begin with the letters after the last space.

Holding down Option and Pressing Escape works, too.

So, for example, if you type create, you get a list of words including create, created, and creates.

If there are a lot of words in the list, it only shows the first 100 results, sorted alphabetically. The results come from Mac OS X’s built-in dictionary.

This trick is useful for when you have a word on the tip of your tongue, need help with possessive apostrophes, or are stuck on a crossword clue.

Keyboard Shortcuts in OS X

Here is a list of all the shortcuts in Mac OS X.. Perhaps useful if you switched to the mac or forgotten certain shortcuts..

It’s a pretty long list, but perhaps useful..

Startup

* “Press X during startup” = Force Mac OS X startup
* “Press Option-Command-Shift-Delete during startup” = Bypass primary startup volume and seek a different startup volume (such as a CD or external disk)
* “Press C during startup” = Start up from a CD that has a system folder
* “Press N during startup” = Attempt to start up from a compatible network server (NetBoot)
* “Press T during startup” = Start up in FireWire Target Disk mode
* “Press Shift during startup” = start up in Safe Boot mode and temporarily disable login items and non-essential kernel extension files (Mac OS X 10.2 and later)
* “Press Command-V during startup” = Start up in Verbose mode
* “Press Command-S during startup” = Start up in Single-User mode

Finder window

* “Command-W” = Close Window
* “Option-Command-W” = Close all Windows
* “Command-Right Arrow” = Expand folder (list view)
* “Option-Command-Right Arrow” = Expand folder and nested subfolders (list view)
* “Command-Left Arrow” = Collapse Folder (list view)
* “Option-Command-Up Arrow” = Open parent folder and close current window

Menu Commands

* “Shift-Command-Q” = Apple Menu Log out
* “Shift-Option-Command-Q” = Apple Menu Log out immediately
* “Shift-Command-Delete” = Finder Menu Empty Trash
* “Option-Shift-Command-Delete” = Finder Menu Empty Trash without dialog
* “Command-H” = Finder Menu Hide Finder
* “Option-Command-H” = Finder Menu Hide Others
* “Command-N” = File Menu New Finder window
* “Shift-Command-N” = File Menu New Folder
* “Command-O” = File Menu Open
* “Command-S” = File Menu Save
* “Shift-Command-S” = File Menu Save as
* “Command-P” = File Menu Print
* “Command-W” = File Menu Close Window
* “Option-Command-W” = File Menu Close all Windows
* “Command-I” = File Menu Get Info
* “Option-Command-I” = File Menu Show Attributes Inspector
* “Command-D” = File Menu Duplicate
* “Command-L” = File Menu Make Alias
* “Command-R” = File Menu Show original
* “Command-T” = File Menu Add to Favorites
* “Command-Delete” = File Menu Move to Trash
* “Command-E” = File Menu Eject
* “Command-F” = File Menu Find
* “Command-Z” = Edit Menu Undo
* “Command-X” = Edit Menu Cut
* “Command-C” = Edit Menu Copy
* “Command-V” = Edit Menu Paste
* “Command-A” = Edit Menu Select All
* “Command-1″ = View Menu View as Icons
* “Command-2″ = View Menu View as List
* “Command-3″ = View Menu View as Columns
* “Command-B” = View Menu Hide Toolbar
* “Command-J” = View Menu Show View Options
* “Command – [" = Go Menu Back
* "Command - ]” = Go Menu Forward
* “Shift-Command-C” = Go Menu Computer
* “Shift-Command-H” = Go Menu Home
* “Shift-Command-I” = Go Menu iDisk
* “Shift-Command-A” = Go Menu Applications
* “Shift-Command-F” = Go Menu Favorites
* “Shift-Command-G” = Go Menu Goto Folder
* “Command-K” = Go Menu Connect to Server
* “Command-M” = Window Menu Minimize Window
* “Command-?” = Help Menu Open Mac Help
* “Command-Space” = Open Spotlight (Mac OS X 10.4 or later)
* “Command-Alt-Space” = Open Spotlight Guide (Mac OS X 10.4 or later)
* “F12″ = Opens Dashboard (Mac OS X 10.4 or later)

Universal Access and VoiceOver

* “Option-Command-* (asterisk)” = Turn on Zoom
* “Option-Command-+ (plus)” = Zoom in
* “Option-Command– (minus)” = Zoom out
* “Control-Option-Command-* (asterisk)” = Switch to White on Black
* “Control-F1″ = Turn on Full Keyboard Access When Full Keyboard Access is turned on, you can use the key combinations listed in the table below from the Finder.
* “Control-F2″ = Full Keyboard Access Highlight Menu
* “Control-F3″ = Full Keyboard Access Highlight Dock
* “Control-F4″ = Full Keyboard Access Highlight Window (active) or next window behind it
* “Control-F5″ = Full Keyboard Access Highlight Toolbar
* “Control-F6″ = Full Keyboard Access Highlight Utility window (palette)
* “Command-F5 or fn-Command-F5″ = Turn VoiceOver on or off (Mac OS X 10.4 or later)
* “Control-Option-F8 or fn-Control-Option-F8″ = Open VoiceOver Utility (Mac OS X 10.4 or later)
* “Control-Option-F7 or fn-Control-option-F7″ = Display VoiceOver menu (Mac OS X 10.4 or later)
* “Control-Option-; or fn-Control-option-” = Enable/disable VoiceOver Control-Option lock (Mac OS X 10.4 or later)

Mouse Keys

* “8″ = Move Up
* “2″ = Move Down
* “4″ = Move Left
* “6″ = Move Right
* “1, 3, 7, 9″ = Move Diagonally
* “5″ = Press Mouse Button
* “0″ = Hold Mouse Button
* “. (period on keypad)” = Release Mouse Button (use after pressing 0)

Other Commands

* “Option-Command-D” = Show/Hide Dock
* “Command-Tab” = Switch application
* “Command-Up Arrow” = Move up one directory
* “Command-Down Arrow” = Move down one directory
* “Page Up or Control-Up Arrow” = Move up one page
* “Page Down or Control-Down Arrow” = Move down one page
* “Option-Drag” = Copy to new location
* “Option-Command-Drag” = Make alias in new location
* “Command-Drag” = Move to new location without copying
* “Command-C” = Show Colors palette in application
* “Command-T” = Show Font palette in application
* “Command-Shift-3″ = Take a picture of the screen
* “Command-Shift-4″ = Take a picture of the selection
* “Command-Shift-4, then press Control while selecting” = Take a picture of the screen, place in Clipboard
* “Command-Shift-4, then Spacebar” = Take a picture of the selected window
* “Option-Command-esc” = Force Quit
* “Control-Eject” = Restart, Sleep, Shutdown dialog box
* “Control-Command-Eject” = Quit all applications and restart
* “Option-Command-Eject or Option-Command-Power” = Sleep
* “Command-click window toolbar button (upper right corner)” = Cycle through available views for the window’s toolbar (dependant on the nature of the Finder or application window)
* “Command-`” = Cycle through windows in application or Finder (if more than one window is open)
* “Function-Delete (PowerBook, iBook only)” = Forward Delete (delete the character to the right of your cursor)

Pretty long list =)

Source: The Apple Support Page

Forcing a Document on an App

Sometimes docked apps don’t want to open your document, even though they may be able to, so you have to coax (okay, force) them to give it a try. For example, let’s say you created a document in WordPerfect for Mac a few years back. if you drag that document to Microsoft Word’s icon in the Dock, chances are it won’t highlight (which would be the indication it can open that document). If that happens, just hold Command-Option, then drag the document’s icon to the Word icon in the Dock, and you can force it to try to open that document.

Extend your battery life.

Laptop productivity on the cold, cruel and often electrical outletless road often depends entirely on how much juice you’ve got left. The screen draws the most power from your battery. When you don’t have access to an outlet, dim your screen to the lowest setting to make your battery last as long as possible.

Also, disable unnecessary CPU-cycle-eating processes – like auto Bluetooth device and wifi network detection – to save juice and make your battery last longer.

Locking your computer screen

If you want to stay logged in to your computer while you are away from it, but need to prevent others from using it, you can lock the screen. When you return to the computer, type your login name and password to continue working.

Open System Preferences, and then click Security.
Select “Require password to wake this computer from sleep or screen saver.”
A person with an administrator account can use their name and password to unlock the screen.

Locking the screen does not prevent other users from turning off the computer and restarting it, then logging in to their own account. If you think this could happen, be sure to save your work before you leave your computer.

If your computer has multiple users and you want more than one user to stay logged in at a time, select “Enable fast user switching” in the Accounts preferences. To lock your screen quickly with fast user switching enabled, choose Login Window from the menu with your username. You applications will remain open and undisturbed but your computer will be locked.

Print CD Inserts

You can print a list of the songs in your library or a selected playlist to use as a CD jewel case insert, or simply to have a song or album list. Select your library or a playlist and choose File > Print. Choose whether you want to print a CD jewel case insert or song or album list. Select a printing theme from the Theme pop-up menu. Themes allow you to change how the information is printed. When you’re done, click Print.

CD Track Info

If you insert a new CD in your computer and the song names appear in iTunes as “Track 1,” “Track 2,” “Track 3,” and so on, you’ll want to add the real album information before you import the CD. There are two ways to do so.

First, if you’re connected to the Internet you can go to Advanced in the menu bar and select Get CD Track Names. But perhaps your CD is rare and the album information is not in the database online. In that case, you can click the song name twice and then type the title manually. The same applies for the artist and album names.

Text Navigation

This is a basic tip that is extremely powerful if you work a lot with long text. All the basic text navigation functions work one character at a time, such as arrow left and right to move the cursor, with shift and arrow to select text and the backspace and delete buttons to delete text left and right to the cursor. If you press the Alt button you will change these behaviors from one character to one full word plus the space behind it. Here is the full list of functions:
• Left/right arrow moves the cursor one character left and right.
• Shift and left/right arrow selects text increasingly by one character.
• Alt and left/right arrow moves the cursor one word left and right.
• Alt, Shift and left/right arrow selects text increasingly by one word.
• Backspace/delete deletes one character to the left or to the right of the cursor.
• Alt and backspace/delete deletes one word to the left or to the right of the cursor.

Mac OS X Startup Tips

Mac OS X keyboard shortcuts that can be used during Startup
———————————————————–

Press X during startup:
Force Mac OS X startup

Press Option during startup:
Select startup drive using graphical interface

Press Option-Command-Shift-Delete during startup:
Bypass primary startup volume and seek a different startup volume (such as a
CD or external disk)

Press C during startup:
Start up from a CD that has a system folder

Press N during startup:
Attempt to start up from a compatible network server (NetBoot)

Press R during startup:
Force PowerBook screen reset

Press T during startup:
Start up in FireWire Target Disk mode

Press Shift during startup:
start up in Safe Boot mode and temporarily disable login items and
non-essential kernel extension files (Mac OS X 10.2 and later)

Press Command-V during startup:
Start up in Verbose mode.

Press Command-S during startup:
Start up in Single-User mode