Admittedly there aren’t many peripherals that use Thunderbolt, or many Macs that have Thunderbolt ports, but as Apple gears up for a whole slew of new Thunderbolt-enabled computers, a bunch of new peripherals are also in the pipeline. And in order to tap that opportunity, Apple introduced a new Thunderbolt cable today, available in the online store for $49.

In the product description for the new cable, Apple talks about the Thunderbolt’s ability to transfer data using two channels of 10Gbit/s each, and how it lets you use peripherals like hard drives. But the $999 Promise Pegasus 4×1 TB RAID drive, also now available for sale in the Apple online store, is currently the cheapest way to start using Thunderbolt storage. Other Pegasus RAID arrays are available in configurations ranging from 6×1 TB to 6×2 TB, costing up to $2,000.

It’s no surprise that both the cable itself and the Pegasus drives have such a high starting price point. Thunderbolt always seemed destined to appeal to professional users first, since the new technology will require more time on the market and a wider reach before it can bring production costs down. Apple seems to be working on expanding the potential pool of Thunderbolt users, however, as reports suggest that we’ll see new Mac minis, Mac Pros and MacBook Airs with Thunderbolt in the very near future.

With all those Thunderbolt Macs around, the new cable will become even more useful, as it also provides users a simple way to establish a very high-speed connection between computers using Target Disk Mode. Plus, you can use the cable to connect a Thunderbolt-equipped MacBook Pro to the latest iMac in order to use the iMac’s screen as a second display. Those features alone might be worth $50 to some multi-Mac consumer households.

If you own Thunderbolt-equipped Mac, are you planning on getting one of these cables, or will you wait until there’s more third-party gear available to use it with?

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The new Hitachi offering joins the Seagate GoFlex Satellite  as yet another device that is trying to make external storage relevant to user who are increasingly using mobile devices to consume content. Like the GoFlex, the G-Connect offers 500 GB of storage, and the ability to simultaneously stream to multiple devices. The G-Connect offers some nice advantages over the GoFlex, however, like the ability to stream to up to five devices, instead of just three, and an Ethernet port that lets it plug into a wired Internet connection and act as a wireless access point. But it also carries a major drawback: it lacks an internal battery, so unlike the GoFlex, you’ll have to plug the G-Connect into a power source if you want to use it, which for some might limit its utility as a mobile support device. Still, when a power source is available, as they often are on trains, planes and coffee shops, it should greatly expand the media library available to your iOS devices.

When iOS 5 arrives, iPads and iPhones will finally be cut loose from their PC tethers. That will mean that users can depend on them as their only computing devices, if they wish. But owing to the limited local storage options on iOS devices, they might run up against space constraints when doing so. iCloud aims to help with some of that, by making music, apps and books available on-demand from Apple’s servers, so that you can delete them as needed when you’re running out of room, and grab them again when you need them. But that solution depends on relatively unfettered access to an active Internet connection. Users without mobile data plans for their devices, or those with caps like Verizon’s new tiered plans will have a harder time taking full advantage of a cloud computing future.

Devices like the G-Connect and the GoFlex could be just the start of a flood of supplemental hardware designed to provide a local alternative remote streaming for users who either don’t have the bandwidth to take advantage of the latter, or who’d rather own their content than rent access to it from content providers. External local wireless storage also offers more privacy, which is a selling point for some.

While I expect the general thrust of computing in general to continue to favor remote cloud options, I think the personal cloud stands a good chance of developing at a similar pace at the same time, albeit on a smaller scale. Physical storage is cheap and getting cheaper, while the same can’t necessarily be said for broadband access. As Apple and other device manufacturers move to make the cloud the centre of its universe, it’s only natural that a percentage of consumers will opt to find an alternative centre for their own gadgets that allows them to remain autonomous and possibly save money.

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Don’t replace the hard drive

The fans-gone-wild issue and the failed AHT warning is a result of the logic board losing communication with the sensor. Thermal sensors have been included in Macs for as long as I can remember to help the system adjust fan speed to maintain acceptable temperatures. If these sensors do not report any temperature information, the firmware will turn the fans up to full to prevent a core breach in the warp engines, and/or red-hot CPU’s flowing like molten slag all over your pretty blue logic board. It’s a precautionary measure to prevent an overheating problem. The AHT warning is there to tell you which sensor has failed so you can replace it.

What makes this sensor different is that it is integrated into the custom hard drive. A lot of the earlier thermal sensors were stick-on affairs that attached to the hard drive or other locations with tape. I presume that Apple asked manufacturers to bake them into the drives to reduce both additional component costs and assembly steps.

Wires from the thermal sensor are taped to this hard drive

Unfortunately, this change means repairing a failed hard drive out of warranty (I think hard drives are designed to fail just after AppleCare expires) means paying Apple to do it instead of a cheaper DIY solution. This also means you can’t upgrade your drives because Apple will only replace drives with the exact same part. Under their current policies, you simply cannot get a bigger hard drive (or replace it with a SSD) even if you were willing to pay Apple’s prices. You better order your new iMac just the way you want it, because it’s going to stay that way for a long, long time.

Even more concerning than the design change to force the use of genuine Apple replacement drives is the absolute travesty that Apple has allowed this design flaw of the iMac to continue for so long.

The iMac is the hardest piece of Apple kit to work on yourself on by a long shot. The Mac Pro is designed to be easily opened. MacBooks and MacBook Pros provide easy access to the hard drives and RAM. The new Mac mini has a twist off access panel. Even the old Mac minis are not that bad as long as you have the right putty knife. It’s certainly not as bad as the old iBook (about 50 screws to get at the hard drive!), but it’s the worst of the current Macs. I don’t even think most people need access to the other components inside the machine, but access to the hard drive is important. The old iMacs were designed so that you could remove the back and get quick access to the drives. The aluminum iMacs were designed to open from the front so that you have to remove the glass panel (it pulls off with suction cups) and the LCD screen behind it to get to the drives.

The front glass panel is removed with suction cups

The worst part is that you often put it all back together only to find a piece of hair or lint or a stray thumbprint on the back of the glass. Takes me straight back to the days when I ran a frame shop and would turn a framed photo back over after papering the back only to find a small piece of dust emerge from the dark suede mats, staring at me from under museum glass like a blazing signal fire warning of imminent customer dissatisfaction or framer’s rage. That glass on the front of the iMac is likely responsible for more referrals to Apple’s generous mental health programs than any other item that has ever sat on a Genius Bar.

It does make for a very pretty iMac though.

Which is, I suppose, the reason why Apple has kept roughly the same iMac design for so long (since 2007). Maybe the drive could be relocated from where it is now, smack dab in the center of the machine, out to the edge where it could be accessed with a removable panel. But you can’t add an access panel for the drives to the top or bottom because that has to be kept open for the convection cooling airflow to pull air in at the bottom and vent out the top. So maybe, the side opposite the optical drive. But that would mess up the unibody look of the iMac with no visible seams in the aluminum (just the RAM slot at the bottom). Okay, so maybe adding easy hard drive access is too much of a design sacrifice, but now even if you manage to get at the hard drive, you can’t replace it.

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Dead or on Life Support

It’s been a little over a month since the last Apple Media event. The aftershock in the tech industry from that has yet to be fully felt, and there are some additions to the casualties I listed in September.

If Apple and Facebook can work things out regarding Ping, the final nail in MySpace’s coffin may be struck. Some of the new features in iTunes, like the artwork viewer, make certain add-ons like Sophiestication’s CoverSutra a little less appealing. Rogue Amoeba is sitting on the fence waiting to see if it’ll be able to participate in the updates to iOS 4.2 regarding Apple’s new AirPlay. While competition is still healthy among GameCenter’s competing services, iAd is starting to pick up some steam as it continues to innovate in the smartphone advertising space.

Next in Line for Execution

That’s what happened last time around. Here’s a short list of what’s on the chopping block after yesterday’s revelations:

The End of Disks (and Discs, Too) — A Timeline

• The floppy drive was the first to go in 1998 when Apple released the iMac G3. Rather than pursue disk-based alternates like the Ultra High Density Floppy disk, Zip disks or an Imation drive, Apple opted for a USB port.
• In the last several releases of iLife, one of the original cornerstone software programs, iDVD, has not seen any new features or updates.
• Apple has also been very vocal in its reluctance to support Blu-ray.
• Earlier this year, the icon for iTunes was updated, removing the disc from the icon entirely.
• When the iPod lineup was refreshed this year, the only model not updated was the iPod Classic, the one with an HDD inside.
• Then, following the quarterly earnings call where Steve proclaimed Apple’s love of flash, Apple announced an update to a drive-less MacBook Air: a MacBook which already lacks a SuperDrive.

See the pattern? Hard drive manufacturers sure do.  Western Digital has warned investors that with the advent of the iPad and the decline in low-end notebooks, the hard drive market is slowing drastically.  The MacBook Air announcement couldn’t have helped matters much.

Online Software Version Trackers for Mac

As developers flocked to iOS, many OS X development efforts were left high and dry. There was a notable dearth of new titles on the market, and bundle programs like MacHeist started offering wholesale pricing to boost sluggish sales. App discovery, purchase, download, install, and update are what Apple sees as missing. Yet that’s exactly what I use MacUpdate for. We’ll have to see how quickly developers adapt to Apple’s Mac App Store, and also what value-add sites like MacUpdate and CNET’s Downloads.com (formerly Version Tracker) can offer in order to stay afloat.

Apple Desktop Widgets

This one isn’t quite as clear as it could be. It appears as if iOS apps or something like an iOS app could run in some capacity on OS X. Changing the paradigm and allowing for multi-touch gestures and full screen apps could spell the eventual end of dashboard widgets as we know them today on OS X.

There’s a good reason everyone pays attention to Apple when they decide to speak to the media. Apple’s successes spell success for other companies as well. Samsung, a major flash supplier, no doubt benefits. And LG, supplier of the iPhone’s Retina Display, makes out pretty well. But not everyone comes away a winner when Steve Jobs opens his mouth. For some businesses, in fact, Apple’s idea of progress marks the end of the line.

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Checking Your Current State of Affairs

First, go to the Finder, right-click on your hard drive, and select “Get Info.” Under the General heading, you’ll find the details on your drive’s Capacity, Available, and Used space. It seems like I’m always shocked at how low that Available space number is, despite my best efforts to keep my Mac’s storage well-groomed. Media files (music, movies, photos) tend to be the main culprit, but Applications and other documents and support files may be to blame as well. The key is in identifying exactly what is taking up that space before you take any sort of action.

Disk Visualization

Disk visualizers are the way to go. They give you an easy way of looking at which folders contain the heavyweight files that you may or may not need (or can at least backup to an external drive if your hard drive space is at a premium). Grand Perspective and Disk Inventory X are somewhat old-school in their visuals, but are free. JDiskReport is a long time favorite of mine (also free) but in 10.6, it requires Rosetta to be installed as it’s not a Universal app for OS X. (The OS installs Rosetta for you, but if you don’t want extra background chaff, this may be a deal breaker for you.) OmniDiskSweeper is also free, but doesn’t have much in the way of visuals. WhatSize has been around for a while, and has a nice user interface and some great features to remove files once they’ve been found. It’ll set you back $12.99. Then there’s DaisyDisk, which looks stunning and works very nicely, although doesn’t have all the nice-to-have removal features. DaisyDisk goes for $19.95

Getting Rid of the Extras

As an extra tip, there are some system type files that are notorious for taking up lots of unnecessary space for many users, a major one being language packs. OS X ships with support for many different languages. There are some solutions out there for easily getting rid of those language packs to reclaim some storage space — just make sure you read the fine print so you don’t break anything!

Printer drivers are another thing that OS X comes loaded-down with. The premise is noble — make it easy for Mac users to use nearly any printer, but that convenience comes at a cost. If you regularly use only a couple of different printers, you may want to look into removing the dead weight drivers.

And lastly, a tip for iPhone/iPod/iPad users: iTunes keeps full backups of your iDevice stored within iTunes. I discovered recently that as I’ve upgraded my iPhone hardware over the years, my number of backups as grown, and taken up several extra gigabytes of storage. It’s probably worth curating those out-of-date backups while you’re at it.

Maintenance

Great! By now you’ve hopefully identified many of the files that are eating up space on your precious hard drive. You’ve either determined them deletable, necessary, or candidates for backup. So how do you maintain the space that you’ve reclaimed and/or have left? Unfortunately there’s no all-encompassing solution (that I’ve found yet), but the following are some applications which offer good solutions for keeping on top of your hard drive using maintenance practices.

Hazel (which we’ve written about plenty) can watch folders for you and perform intricate actions that you decide upon and build based on your criteria, and costs $21.95 — well worth it! AppZapper ($21.95) is the uninstaller that OS X lacks. CleanMyMac is a well-rounded system maintenance solution for cleaning out unused system caches, and other bloat-type files that build up over time. It costs $14.95 for six months or $29.95 for lifetime use. A smallish shareware utility called Singular identifies duplicate files on your hard drive. It was updated recently, but the developer’s main website is currently down, and I don’t recall the cost. Lastly is Squeeze. It doesn’t remove files like the rest, but it does work on compressing your drive’s files to save space. It’s sort of magical, and costs $12.95.

Bloated hard drives — whether from your own files, or the system’s — can impact the performance of your system. Using these tools to maintain that available space will not only help keep your Mac running well, but also keep you informed of the space you have, so you’re not caught by surprise when you run low on storage. Good luck waging war on your hard drive!

I’ll go through how to open the iMac up, just enough to replace the hard drive. There is risk involved with this but if you take your time, you should be just fine. If you want to transfer your data to the new drive before you begin, I recommend using a USB drive adapter such as this one by Apricorn and Carbon Copy Cloner.

Parts Needed

Suction cups: I am using suction cups from our server room floating floor but you can use any kind of suction cups you find at your local store.

Phillips Screwdriver: This is to remove the memory door on the bottom.

T8 Torx Screwdriver: The internal screws require this bit.

Canned Air: This is to remove any dust that may settle on the screen before you reassemble it.

Disassembly

1. The glass is held in by magnets so use your suction cups to pull the glass off the iMac.
   
   
2. Remove the memory door on the bottom of the iMac.
   
3. Remove the Torx screws that are holding the metal case on.
   
4. Pull the metal case off by starting at the top. You will see a connection by the iSight that you need to disconnect. After that, the case will slide right off.
   
5. Now the remove the screws on the sides of the actual LCD screen.
   
6. Gently rock the LCD screen forward from the top and you will see the hard drive behind it. You may need to disconnect the two wires running to the LCD.
   
7. Pull on the back plastic bar  on the left side and it will swing out.
   
8. Remove the heat sensor by pulling off the foam and sensor carefully. Set the foam aside so we can use it to re-attach the sensor to the new drive.
   
9. The drive is ready to be come out by rocking the top out of the frame and then pulling it up.
   
10. Once out, we need to transfer the Torx screws to the new drive.
    

To reassemble, just follow the same steps in reverse. Go slowly and don’t force anything. All the pieces should slide back together without much effort. Some people like to take the LCD screen all the way off and that’s fine. You will need a T7 bit to disconnect the LCD screen from the board and just remember where each connector goes. Before you put the glass back on, use some canned air to blow off any dusk that may have settled on the LCD screen.

On the support page created to describe the problem and the resulting warranty extension, Apple doesn’t mention which brand of hard drives are affected by name, which could mean that the problem doesn’t lie with the hard drives themselves, but with some other system components. Another indication that this is indeed the case is that all capacities of hard drive are also affected.

If you’re wondering whether or not you have an affected unit (Apple says only a “small percentage” of users will experience problems), it’s very easy to identify. Your MacBook will just stop working altogether, and any attempts to boot it will result in a screen that displays a folder icon with a question mark over top of it, as in the image below. As someone who’s seen this screen many times while fixing up old PowerBooks, I can tell you it isn’t a heartening experience.

Apple describes what you should do if you’re greeted with such a screen:

Please take your MacBook to the Apple representative most convenient for you:

• Apple Authorized Service Provider – Find one here.
• Apple Retail Store – Set up an appointment with a Genius.

If Apple or an Apple Authorized Service Provider confirms that your hard drive is affected, Apple will replace it with a new hard drive. You will need to have the original OS installation discs that were shipped with your product in order to re-install your operating system, other applications, and any backed up data.

If you need assistance finding the best service option in your area, you may contact Apple Technical Support for more information.

It sounds like any data you may have stored on the drive will be irrevocably lost if this does happen to you, so if you have one of the affected models and you haven’t yet implemented any kind of backup system, you should probably consider doing so.

If your machine has already had this problem, and you’ve already paid out of pocket to get it fixed or replace your drive, you can contact Apple Technical Support and inquire about a reimbursement process. No word on whether that extends to at home HD replacements, which is how I would’ve tried to solve the problem, but if you haven’t kept your old faulty drive, I highly doubt it would. Mostly I expect this will apply when people have taken their machines through official Apple repair channels to correct the problem.

The extension period covers affected Macs three years from the date of purchase, for this specific problem alone, or until August 15, 2010, whichever comes last, so you still have about six months in which your HD can fail and you’ll still be covered. It may seem like an arbitrary window, but Apple does include a caveat that it will be evaluating the repair need on an ongoing basis and extend that deadline if circumstances require.

Anyone experienced the symptoms Apple is describing with this model MacBook?

I’ve been partitioning my hard drives since my very first Mac — a used Mac Plus back in 1992. Yes, I divided the Plus’s commodious 20MB external SCSI HD into two partitions so I could boot either System 6 (for speed) or System 7 (for Internet support).

I’m not as big an aficionado of partitioning as I once was, although all of my Macs since the Plus have had partitioned hard drives, including the unibody MacBook I’m typing this on, which has two HD partitions. That’s down from the four or five I used to configure back in the days of PowerBooks and OS 9.

Reasons to Partition

Partitioning means formatting the hard drive with two or more virtual volumes, which appear on your Desktop and function as if they were separate drives. I have a number of reasons for using multiple partitions.

• I like to be at least potentially able to install two different bootable operating systems on the same Mac — for instance, I have both OS X 10.5.8 Leopard and OS X 10.4.11 Tiger installed on my old G4 PowerBook (plus OS 9.2 to support Classic Mode in Tiger). Installing multiple boot systems makes version upgrades less of a dice-roll or leap of faith. Retaining a known-reliable older system installed is good insurance against disrupted work flow if the upgrade doesn’t go as smoothly as hoped. Also you may have favorite apps that aren’t supported by the latest OS version, of do a lot of testing of beta and/or alpha software, which has the potential to bollix things up.
• Troubleshooting is easier if you have two bootable partitions. For instance, you can usually run diagnostic and repair utilities from one partition on another, which goes much faster than booting from a CD or DVD, and diagnostically if a problem goes away when booted from a different system install, it’s more likely a software issue.
• By dividing up critical data, there’s less likelihood of catastrophic data loss due to file corruption. For example, a partition used strictly for document storage is unlikely to be affected by a serious system crash. Also if you have files that you want sharable without hassle among multiple users or across a network, you can create a partition volume for them with “Group” and/or “Others” read or read and write access.
• Partitioned drives make it easier to find particular files if you always store certain types of files on particular volumes.

Boot Camp Requires Partitioning

• If you’re running Boot Camp or one of the third-party virtualization solutions for Windows support, having Windows installed on a separate drive partition is a tidier way to proceed. In fact, Apple’s Boot Camp obliges you to have two (but no more) partitions. Boot Camp Assistant (OS X 10.5 Leopard and newer) automatically creates a discrete FAT 32, NT, or NTFS formatted Windows partition, but an important caveat is that Boot Camp Assistant doesn’t work on already partitioned disks, so with Boot Camp you’re limited to two partitions.
• Since OS X supports both the Apple HFS+ file system and the standard Unix UFS file system, creating a UFS-based partition will allow the drive to be accessed by Unix systems over a network.

Downsides to Partitioning

Some folks tout using a partition for file backups, a practice I’m less enthusiastic about as it will be no help if the hard drive itself fails.

Other potential disadvantages of partitioning are that as smaller volumes fill up, fragmentation can increase, there will be less free space for swap files when running applications that depend a lot on virtual memory, and partitioned drives are more complex to restore after serious crashes.

As I mentioned above, while I still partition, I don’t go as ape with it as I used to, partly because there are fewer advantages to multiple partitions with OS X’s excellent support for multiple users and today’s drive formatting schemes than there were back in Classic Mac OS and HFS formatting days, and partly because hard drives are so much bigger and faster than they used to be (plus there’s the two-partition Boot Camp limitation, if that applies).

The most convenient time to partition your hard drive is when you first set up the Mac, although these days you can partition and change partition sizes without erasing and re-initializing the drive using OS X Disk Utility or third-party partitioning software like Prosoft Engineering’s $99 Drive Genius 2 or Coriolis System’s $44.95 iPartition.

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The Mac Pro got a new option in the processor customization department, a 3.33GHz quad-core Intel Xeon processor for an additional $1,200. As of yet, there’s no option to double up the 3.33GHz version of the quad-core to create a more powerful 8-core machine on the more expensive configuration of the Mac Pro.

You can also now outfit your Mac Pro with 2TB hard drives, instead of the 1TB option at which capacity previously maxed out. That means the official total capacity of the Mac Pro, as configured in the Apple Store, is now 8TB, which is nothing to sneeze at. Each 2TB drive will set you back $550.

The only reason to hesitate if you’re thinking about picking up a Mac Pro is that the last time they were updated was back in March 2009. Chances are another major upgrade isn’t too far around the corner, possibly involving Intel’s forthcoming i9 processor, so if you can wait, you probably should.

The configuration options for the Xserve were also updated, allowing for use of the same 2TB drives that are now available to the Mac Pros. That means max capacity for the Xserve is now 6TB. RAM options also got upgraded, with 4GB modules now available, so that the max configurable memory is now 24GB on the quad-core Xserve, and 48GB on the 8-core.

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The Dell Experience

Client #1 comes in because Windows won’t boot. The minute she turns on the PC, I know the problem. It’s that horrible high-pitched clicking noise that is worse than nails on a chalkboard to any technician. It’s obvious the drive has failed and the solution is to replace it. I booted off a test CD and verified the hard drive failure.

Fortunately the computer is under warranty. No big deal, Dell should replace the hard drive. I call Dell. After 20 minutes on hold, I’m not getting a live person, so I try the online chat and wait and wait and wait. Eventually, someone comes online. The first obstacle is that the client is a student and the father bought the computer via his work. Dell will not assist us until we tell them the owner of the computer and the shipping address. Arrrgh. So we play a multiple choice game for about 20 minutes trying to find out which name and address it was under.

We are now at about an hour. When we get the “correct” answer to the shipping address, our tech then begins to help us. I explain that the hard drive is making a high pitched clicking noise and the system doesn’t show a hard drive. First, the tech wants me to try a special diagnostic that is preformed off the hard drive. Of course the hard drive is dead, so we go back and forth with that I must be doing something wrong. His English was so shaky that I often didn’t understand his questions. (How does one answer  ”Is this issue not facing now?”) Eventually the tech believes I’m doing it right and then asks me to boot off a CD that come with the system, which of course the client doesn’t have. We’re supposed to look for the disks and contact them again, but I refused. The client didn’t know where the disk is and we needed this resolved.

Eventually, the support person realizes we don’t have the disk, but he now wants us to open up the computer and reset everything. We’re now at the 1.5 hour mark. Eventually the agent agrees the hard drive should be replaced. Thank you! However, they must ship the hard drive to one of their contracted field techs per her warranty. Actually, that’s lucky; sometimes you have to ship the computer back to Dell. Her warranty was “upgraded” to include on-site repair. The tech will then contact her to set a time to install the hard drive. Three days later, there was no contact from the tech, no hard drive. Fortunately, I gave her a loaner and got her up and running.

We tried calling Dell to no avail. There was no record of the request for the hard drive. Eventually we contacted Dell “Unresolved Issues” and the hard drive was shipped. Total time on the phone: three hours. Delay in hard drive replacement: almost two weeks. The time involved on the chat I assure you is very typical and it’s not just Dell. I see it with HP/Compaqs as well. Service is simply not part of their deal.

The Apple Experience

My next client had a Macbook. I could hear it was the same problem immediately. Ironically, it was the same brand and size of hard drive as was in the Dell. I entered her serial number on Apple’s support web site, and it showed the computer was still under warranty. We then set up a “Speak to an Apple Expert” call-back for about 20 minutes later. On the dot, the technician called. I explained the loud noise and told the tech I booted off the Leopard DVD and the hard drive showed errors. He agreed to ship a new hard drive the next day. Total phone time was less than five minutes and it was 30 minutes from problem diagnosis to closure and less than 24 hours from the time I called until the new hard drive arrived on her doorstop. Again, this interaction was very typical.

For the sake of argument, let’s say these clients didn’t use a consultant to solve their problem. The Mac client could have made an appointment with a genius if an Apple store or an Apple Authorized Service Provider for the repair. The PC client has no physical store she could go to unless she bought that PC at a store that also offered warranty repair.

The phrase “Penny wise and Pound foolish” comes to mind. Did the first client end up saving money because she bought a PC?

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Traditional OS X users may be familiar with some of the more advanced installation options beyond the usual “Upgrade Mac OS X.” Options such as “Erase and Install” and “Archive and Install” have been changed for Snow Leopard. To prevent users from accidentally erasing their hard drive, the erase and install functionality has been relegated to manual formatting via Disk Utility.

Should one need to archive and install (which is where your previous system files are archived in a separate location and a new system is installed in their place), the installer will it automatically when it detects an attempt to install the same operating system as is currently found on the Mac. When installation is complete, Snow Leopard cleans up after itself and doesn’t leave users with an ugly “Previous System” folder as before.

Trickery With Versions

With Snow Leopard’s “behind the scenes” archive and install process, it now automatically installs the current OS version number. For example, if someone is running 10.6.3 and reinstalls, when installation is complete they will still be using 10.6.3 instead of 10.6. This removes the need to run an hour of software updates, but it does present a potential problem. When “dot releases” come out, compatibility is sometimes affected, and users archive and install to revert back to a previous system version. Beyond erasing and installing, this doesn’t seem possible with Snow Leopard.

Wither Rosetta?

By default, when you install Snow Leopard, it will not install Rosetta, Apple’s technology to allow older PowerPC apps to run on Intel processors. As most applications are Universal and Snow Leopard itself requires an Intel processor, Apple is finally making big strides to leave behind the world of PowerPC. Should users still need Rosetta, it is available as an optional install.

QuickTime X vs QuickTime 7

Snow Leopard introduces Apple’s redesigned version of QuickTime, dubbed QuickTime X. Though several of the more popular third party plugins will work with QuickTime X out of the box, users may need to resort to QuickTime 7 and any plugins they’ve used with it for playing more specialized content (or you could just turn to the much more robust VLC).

Snow Leopard will include QuickTime 7 as an option, but will not install it by default unless users already have QuickTime 7 Pro on their system. Should you try to open a file in QuickTime X that requires QuickTime 7, Software Update will automatically download it for you if it’s not already present on the system.

Unanswered Questions

As mentioned earlier, it remains unclear whether Apple has a solution in place in case users install a “dot release” like 10.6.4 and wish to revert back. What we’ve heard about the archive and install seems to infer you would end up with 10.6.4 upon completion.

There’s also still some question as to how Snow Leopard will behave with fresh installs and with older operating systems. Will users need to install Leopard first when swapping in a new hard drive, for example? Recent evidence points to no, but we won’t know for sure until tomorrow.

I’m sure many of you are going to have questions about the installation process, upgrade requirements, and the like. Feel free to use with the comments below to help the process along as the Apple faithful adopt yet another new operating system.

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Back in July, users started posting on support forums and message boards about audible clicking and beeping noises being made by the faster, optional 7200RM drives. While the update seems intended to fix these issues, reading Apple’s official blurb, it would seem like resting easy might actually be a tad premature. Apple Support claims that it “reduces certain infrequent noises.” Just “reduces?” We’ll have to wait and see what effect the update actually has, but it doesn’t sound to me like it will provide a total fix.

The other update released yesterday affects a wider selection of Mac owners. It’s a Bluetooth firmware update designed to eliminate connectivity issues with Apple-branded peripherals (didn’t 10.5.8 address the same issues?), including the Mighty Mouse and the Wireless Keyboard. It also includes bug fixes — standard practice for any Apple update. Mac owners who have computers that include Bluetooth on a built-in Broadcom chipset will be prompted to install this update.

So far, I’ve installed the Bluetooth update on my Mac mini, and it does indeed appear to lessen the frequency of “Connection Lost” messages related to my Apple Wireless Keyboard. I don’t use a Mighty mouse for reasons of extreme dislike, but if you’ve got one, let us know how performance is affected by the new update, if at all. Both fixes are available now via Software Update.

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There is yet another catch. You’ll need to fork over nearly $300 for a new 1.8″ Toshiba hard drive, which makes it essentially like buying a brand new iPod. Still, it was an intriguing prospect, and I always like to try to refurbish or repurpose old hardware rather than throw it out or let it lie idle. The mod, offered by Rapid Repair, does involve some prodding and prying, though, something which I’m not often keen to take on myself, being all thumbs.

Adding the Rapid Repair installation option to the order didn’t seem to change the price, although I didn’t actually complete the purchase, so I can’t be sure that some kind of cost isn’t incurred. The drive actually comes with a free iPod disassembly tool, although I would have to pay an extra $10.00 to get the thicker backing, since my iPod Video is only a 30GB model. Rapid Repair plans to extend the mod to newer iPod Classic models as well.

If you’re a braver man or woman than me, and are planning on trying this, let us here at TAB know how things went.

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Provided there is open, unwritten space left on your hard drive, using Disk Utility you can add a new partition, remove a partition thereby merging two adjacent partitions, or shrink an existing partition.

You can, in most instances, also achieve more flexibility in resizing or creating new partitions by running a disk defragmentation/optimization using a third-party utility like AlSoft DiskWarrior or ProSoft’s Drive Genius, the latter of which also incorporates a full-featured disk reformatting function and many other drive maintenance, optimization, repair, and troubleshooting features.

I used Drive Genius to repartition the hard drive in my G3 iBook a few years back, needing more breathing space on the primary partition with introduction of OS 10.4 Tiger. The entire operation went smoothly, I encountered no problems, and the computer is still in daily use by my wife.

The latest Drive Genius version 2.1 has, among other enhancements, added DriveSlim, a feature that can free up hard drive space by identifying unnecessary files cluttering your hard drive and allowing you to mark them for deletion.

A Slim Plan Options menu lets you, by adjusting sliders and checking various options, fine-tune your data reduction and filter out specific duplicate or unnecessary files that may be bloating your hard drive, after which you may not need to repartition.

Incidentally, Drive Genius is currently offered till December 18 as part of the MacUpdate Holiday Bundle of 10 applications. The bundle has a retail value of $450, but is available for $49.99, or half the regular price of Drive Genius alone.

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The Duo Pro supports a variety of different backup options, including Apple’s OS X 10.5 Time Machine as well as SimpleTech’s own Fabrik Ultimate Backup, and its aluminum and grey colored plastic case harmonizes with Apple’s array of aluminum enclosures.

With its 1 Terabyte capacity (pre-formatting, 500 GB and 750 GB are also offered), the Duo Pro drive has ample capacity to accommodate Time Machine backups for a long time for most users. The 500 GB drive I’ve been using with Time Machine for the past year still has more than 200 GB free space.

However, that drive, a SimpleDrive Pininfarina unit, has a couple of shortcomings: first mine is USB 2 only (a USB/FireWire version is optionally available) — real-world slower than FireWire 400, and not conveniently and dependably bootable like a FireWire drive would be, and secondly the Maxtor 3.5″ drive inside it does a passable impression of a 767′s fanjets throttling up for takeoff. Not a problem for occasional backups, but tiresome when you keep it plugged in.

This Duo Pro Drive addresses both these issues satisfactorily. First, the Quad interface supports USB 2.0, FireWire 400, FireWire 800, and 3Gb/sec eSATA connectivity. Most Macs built over the past eight years have FireWire 400, and many higher-end models support FireWire 800 as well. FireWire is the no-hassle speedy choice for these machines. USB 2 is slower, and bootability is an iffy proposition, but evidently it’s the protocol Apple has chosen for going forward. USB 3, which will be backward compatible for connectivity, will hopefully address at least some of USB’s deficiencies compared with FireWire.

The Pro Drive is quiet, not inaudible but definitely subdued and no hardship to live with. The internal drive is reportedly a Seagate FreeAgent XTreme 3.5″ unit, although I didn’t open the case to verify that visually. Build quality appears to be excellent, and the drive is backed by a three-year warranty.

The front of the Pro Drive Housing, which is designed to be used in either upright or horizontal (stackable) orientation, is simple, with just a product logo and a power-on/read/write activity light. The back panel is busier, with a power switch, ventilation ports, the AC power adapter jack, a Kensington lock, plus USB 2.0, FireWire 1394a, FireWire 1394b and eSATA ports.

In use, I found the Pro Drive a bit slow to mount over the FireWire 400 interface on my G4 PowerBooks, but speedy copying flies once up and running. FireWire 800 offers even faster throughput, and desktop users with PCI expansion slots can take advantage of Pro Drive’s eSATA interface, which delivers up to 3X the speed of USB 2.0. If your desktop computer doesn’t already have an eSATA port, you can add support with an eSATA PCI ExpressCard such as Fabrik’s SimpleTech ProSpeed eSATA card.

The Pro Drive comes formatted NFTS, which is read-only on the Mac, so Mac-users will, in most instances, want to reformat the drive before using it. Illustrated, “Getting Started” walk-you-through instructions for drive formatting are included on the drive, but of course must be backed up elsewhere if you don’t want to lose them when you reinitialize the drive.

The Pro Drive comes with bundled USB and FireWire 400 cables, a power adapter, and 2 GB of free online Fabrik Ultimate Backup space (more capacity available for a fee), and free unlimited tech support. FireWire 400 and/or eSATA connection cabling must be purchased separately.

The SimpleTech Pro Drive is available from most major computer peripherals resellers. Prices at Amazon.com are $200.99 for the 1 TB unit, $153.18 for the 750 GB model, and a relatively modest $117.02 for the 500 GB variant.

Disclosure: SimpleTech provided a sample unit for this review.

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But in this month’s Macworld I was thrilled to read about GrandPerspective, a handy little (free) utility that shows your disk space usage graphically. You can set it to scan a particular folder or your entire disk, find the space eaters, and reveal them in Finder for removal. After running it once I was able to reclaim a couple gigs.

It’s a great little utility, a must have for your laptop. Did I mention it’s free?

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