Comparing two folders contents with automator (quick action) I work in a video company. Very often, we copy a heavy load of files from SD cards to our own folders, and before we format the SD cards, we want to check for contents on both directories if they are the same.
I've done some "Quick actions" earlier but this one is too tricky for me. What I want to do is compare the SD directory and the media folder (each one has different structure) and check if both contains the same files, regardless of folders.
Is it possible?
This might sound like it has been asked before, but the solution 've seen is extracting folder contents in another folder, which is not efficient.

What I want to do is compare the SD directory and the media folder (each one has different structure) and check if both contains the same files, regardless of folders.

The fact that you want to compare the contents of, I'm assuming, a single folder on the SD card against another folder on the, e.g., Macintosh HD containing an entirely different hierarchical directory structure ... IMO a shell script is the better way to go.
The example shell script code, shown below, get saved as an executable and placed within the PATH passed to the shell in, e.g., Terminal, and does the following:

Creates a list of filenames on the SD Card containing the original files to loop through, attempting to find the duplicate files in the hierarchical directory structure of the directory designated as the parent directory containing the duplicate files on the e.g. Macintosh HD, regardless of where within the hierarchical directory structure they may be located.
If the original files do not exist somewhere within the parent hierarchical directory structure that supposed to contain the duplicate files, then the original files that don't already exist get copied to the parent directory that's supposed to contain the duplicate files.
If a filename exist in both locations, regardless of their hierarchical directory structure, a binary comparison is preformed, and if there is a difference it's reported.

Any differences will need to be addressed manually.
Note that because there may be a possibility that a file with the same name exists more than once in the parent hierarchical directory structure that supposed to contain the duplicate files, any reported difference in the binary comparison will need to be manually verified that the file on the SD Card also exists elsewhere in the local media folder.

In Terminal, assumes pwd is your Home directory, run the following compound command:
f="sdcheck"; touch "$f"; open -e "$f"; chmod 0755 "$f"

In the opened sdcheck document, copy and paste the example shell script code, shown below, into the document. Modify the value of dupdir variable to an existing local folder containing the duplicates from the SD Card. Then save and close the document.

Note: I'd move the sdcheck  file to a location that's within the PATH passed to shell scripts, then you'd not have to preface the command with ./, or include it's fully qualified pathname.

Back in Terminal:
% ./sdcheck
Parameter missing!... e.g.: /path/to/directory
Example: sdcheck '/Volumes/SD Card/Media' '/path/to/local_folder'
%

Example test:
% ./sdcheck '/Volumes/SD Card/Media' /Users/me/Pictures/SD Cards
NOTE: /Volumes/SD Card/Media/IMG_0004.JPG AND /Users/me/Pictures/SD Cards/Card 2/IMG_0004.JPG DIFFER!...
/Volumes/SD Card/Media/IMG_0005.JPG -> /Users/me/Pictures/SD Cards/IMG_0005.JPG
%

Example shell script code:
#!/bin/bash

if [ -z "${1}" ] || [ -z "${2}" ]; then
    echo "Parameter missing!... e.g.: /path/to/directory"
    echo "Example: sdcheck '/Volumes/SD Card/Media' /path/to/local_folder"
    exit 1
fi

oridir="${1}"
dupdir="${2}"

if [ ! -d  "${oridir}" ]; then
    echo "The directory \"${oridir}\" does not exist!..."
    exit 1
fi

if [ ! -d  "${dupdir}" ]; then
    echo "The directory \"${dupdir}\" does not exist!..."
    exit 1
fi

while IFS= read -r orifile; do

    while IFS= read -r dupfile; do

        if [ -z "${dupfile}" ]; then
            cp -av "${orifile}" "${dupdir}"
        else
            if ! cmp -s "${orifile}" "${dupfile}"; then
                echo "NOTE: ${orifile} AND ${dupfile} DIFFER!..."
            fi
        fi

    done <<< "$(find "${dupdir}" -type f -name "${orifile##*/}")"

done < <(find "${oridir}" -type f ! -name '.DS_Store')

Using the example shell script code in Automator
To adapt the example shell script code for use in an Automator workflow, application and or Service/Quick Action, it needs to be modified with some additional code added, and is done so below.
The example Automator workflow uses AppleScript to choose the target folders, the SD Card and the local folder to be compared.
The example shell script code and example AppleScript code, shown below, was tested in Automator under macOS Catalina with Language & Region settings in System Preferences set to English (US) — Primary and worked for me without issue1.

1  Assumes necessary and appropriate setting in System Preferences > Security & Privacy > Privacy have been set/addressed as needed.

The Automator workflow outline:

Run AppleScript action
Set Value of Variable action

Variable: theSDCardMediaFolder

Run AppleScript action

Options -- [√] Ignore this action's input

Set Value of Variable action

Variable: theLocalMediaFolder

Get Value of Variable action

Variable: theSDCardMediaFolder
Options -- [√] Ignore this action's input

Get Value of Variable action

Variable: theLocalMediaFolder

Run Shell Script action

The Automator actions, code, and settings:

In the first Run AppleScript action, replace the default code with the following example AppleScript code:
activate

set theMsg to ¬
    "In the next Choose Folder dialog, select the target folder on the SD Card..."

display dialog ¬
    theMsg buttons {"Continue"} default button 1 ¬
    with title "Select the SD Card Media Folder"

set theSDCardMediaFolder to ¬
    the POSIX path of ¬
        (choose folder with prompt ¬
            "Select the SD Card Media Folder:" default location "/Volumes")

set theSDCardMediaFolder to ¬
    characters 1 thru -2 of ¬
    theSDCardMediaFolder as string

return theSDCardMediaFolder

In the first Set Value of Variable action, set the value the variable to: theSDCardMediaFolder

In the second Run AppleScript action, replace the default code with the following example AppleScript code:
activate

set theMsg to ¬
    "In the next Choose Folder dialog, select the Local Media Folder."

display dialog ¬
    theMsg buttons {"Continue"} default button 1 ¬
    with title "Select the Local Media Folder"

set theLocalMediaFolder to ¬
    the POSIX path of ¬
        (choose folder with prompt ¬
            "Select the Local Media folder:" default location "/Users")

set theLocalMediaFolder to ¬
    characters 1 thru -2 of ¬
    theLocalMediaFolder as string

return theLocalMediaFolder

Options -- [√] Ignore this action's input

In the second Set Value of Variable action, set the value the variable to: theLocalMediaFolder

In the first Get Value of Variable action:

Variable: theSDCardMediaFolder
Options -- [√] Ignore this action's input

In the second Get Value of Variable action:

Variable: theLocalMediaFolder

In the Run Shell Script action:

Shell: [/bin/bash]
Pass input: [as arguments]

Replace the default code with the following modified example shell script code:
oridir="${1}"
dupdir="${2}"

logfile="/private/tmp/SD_Card_File_Check_Log.txt"

[ -z "${2}" ] && exit

echo "Begin: $(date -j)" >> "${logfile}"

while IFS= read -r orifile; do

    while IFS= read -r dupfile; do

        if [ -z "${dupfile}" ]; then
            cp -av "${orifile}" "${dupdir}" >> "${logfile}" 2>&1
        else
            if ! cmp -s "${orifile}" "${dupfile}"; then
                echo "NOTE: ${orifile} AND ${dupfile} DIFFER!..." >> "${logfile}"  2>&1
            fi
        fi

    done <<< "$(find "${dupdir}" -type f -name "${orifile##*/}")"

done < <(find "${oridir}" -type f ! -name '.DS_Store')

echo "End: $(date -j)" >> "${logfile}"
echo  >> "${logfile}"

open -e "${logfile}"

Notes:
For the use in Automator the workflow was saved as an application.
When the Automator workflow finishes, it opens the logfile in TextEdit for one's review. Here is a sample of what it could look like:
Begin: Thu May 27 14:29:59 EDT 2021
NOTE: /Volumes/SD Card/Media/IMG_0004.JPG AND /Users/me/Pictures/SD Cards/Card 2/IMG_0004.JPG DIFFER!...
/Volumes/SD Card/Media/IMG_0005.JPG -> /Users/me/Pictures/SD Cards/IMG_0005.JPG
End: Thu May 27 14:29:59 EDT 2021

I did not have an SD Card handy to review its hierarchical directory structure and as such I use a DMG image mounted and pathed as shown in the logfile output above.
The testing set of images was a very small sampling, nonetheless the code logic works as expedited as coded.
In the example Automator workflow image below, there is an obvious disconnect in the center between some of the actions. This is wanted and due to: Options -- [√] Ignore this action's input

Note: The example shell script code and example AppleScript code is just that and sans any included error handling does not contain any additional error handling as may be appropriate. The onus is upon the user to add any error handling as may be appropriate, needed or wanted.
For AppleScript error handling... Have a look at the try statement and error statement in the AppleScript Language Guide. See also, Working with Errors. Additionally, the use of the delay command may be necessary between events where appropriate, e.g. delay 0.5, with the value of the delay set appropriately.


How to send an arrow key in iTerm2 Is it possible to send an arrow key in iTerm2? I've been able to send almost any other character, by using either an escape character, such as \<C-a> or entering in the character directly, such as ‰, but I haven't been able to figure out (or find on Google) how to send one of the arrow keys. For example, I would like to configure pressing

⌘↑

to send a tmux command of:

ctrla↑ (ctrl-a being by prefix)

In other words, pressing cmd-up would navigate to the pane above the current one. How would I do this in iTerm2? That is, what "action" should I select (send hex codes? send text? send text with vim escape chars?) and text/code should I send?

If you're trying to send an ↑ to the terminal, I've been able to accomplish this using the Send Text with "vim" Special Chars option and then using the escape sequence \u000d[A. For example, I'm using it to clear the console and repeat the last command, so the full sequence I'm sending is:
clear\u000d\u001b[A\u001b[A\u000d

This first writes clear to the console and then submits with Enter as \u000d. Then, ↑ is sent twice to get the command submitted before the last clear command, and Enter is sent again to submit the retrieved command.
Hope this helps you. Cheers!


I forgot my Encrypt Local Backup password. How can I start over? In iTunes (Windows 7) Encrypt local backup is checked, and I can't remember the password. I don't need to restore my iPad; I just want to be able to back it up. If I attempt to uncheck this, iTunes prompts for my password. How can I start clean (without losing any data from my iPad, which has not been upgraded to iOS 6)?

From Apple Support:

Warning: If you encrypt an iPhone backup in iTunes and then forget your password, you will not be able to restore from backup and your data will be unrecoverable. If you forget the password, you can continue to back up and use the device, however you will not be able to restore the encrypted backup to any device without the password. You do not need to enter the password for your backup each time you back up or sync.

If you cannot remember the password and want to start again, you must perform a full software restore and when iTunes prompts you to select the backup from which to restore, choose set up as a new device.

I assume it applies also to iPad, and yeah that's a terrible inconvenience for you, but at least it's a definitive answer from the source.

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4946?viewlocale=en_US&locale=en_US


External disk as system volume on different macs password issue I have few macs (office, home, macbook) and decided to use external disk as system boot volume (thunderbolt) for convenience purposes (web development, macports, etc, very hard to maintain same versions/databases across different computers).

It works well, BUT.. each time I login on different computer - Macos ask me to re-authentificate iMessage/iTime, then when I try to use any software bought from Appstore, it asks for password, very annoying.

I thought about changing serials to make it same across different computers, but not sure its good practice, maybe it could be done by changing UUID or so on.

Anybody have experience with situation like that?

I believe the files in ~/Library/Preferences/ByHost are computer-specific. For instance, iTunes stores the volume of each computer there.
Hope this helps!


Can I use an iTunes gift card to sign up for the developer program? I want to develop apps for Apple devices but I can't get them there as I do not have a credit card. So, can I use an iTunes gift card to sign up for the developer program or, do I really need to use credit card?

I always use iTunes gift cards to pay for the developer fees. Usually manage to get them with some rebate (20% often) which makes the developer account 20% cheaper.

The long version: Your developer account is connected to an AppleID, and the developer fees are charged to the iTunes account for your AppleID. If you added a giftcard or giftcards to your iTunes account, the money is taken out of your account. If you have a credit or debit card connected to your account, it is taken off that credit card. Just like any app purchases or music / video / book purchases.


Where is Chrome Extension's Setting Files/Databases? I don't seem to find Chrome Extension's Setting Files/Databases in OSX, it is not in the extension folder aka ~/Library/Application Support/Google/Chrome/Default/Extensions.

~/Library/Application Support/Google/Chrome/Default/Extensions is for the static extension files only. Storage space for Extensions is found in ~/Library/Application Support/Google/Chrome/Default/Local Storage:

IanCsiMac:~/Library/Application Support/Google/Chrome/Default/Local Storage |ruby-2.1.2|
> ls | grep redditenhancement
http_redditenhancementsuite.com_0.localstorage
http_redditenhancementsuite.com_0.localstorage-journal


Macbook Pro Mid-2012, ethernet heating I am a Mac newbie and I have a new 13" Macbook Pro.

I used the Ethernet connection for wired Internet in my dorm room, but after using it for half an hour or so, the Ethernet port and the area nearby started heating up. After it got considerably hot, I unplugged the Ethernet cable. The cable is CAT5e (not CAT6 for gigabit ethernet) and a rather cheap one and I sincerely hope that this is the reason for the heating problem. Is it so? Any ideas?

It depends on what you were doing on the Mac. For instance, if you were doing a lot photo editing the heat build up in that area is normal. This is where the power adapter plugs in and the internal heat-sink is located. The more power processor needed the hotter that area becomes. Not to worry though, the built cooling system in the Mac will take care of the heat buildup.


Mac Office 2011 - Exporting a Color Palette Just got into using Mac "full time" for work, and as I'm a bit of a nit-picker, I want to get things looking/behaving just so.

Thanks to the help of the group, I've been able to get my Category list looking "right" (see Outlook 2011 category colors - Windows Color Palette?) but now that I have my "Office 2010 Categories" Color Palette, I have had a couple of co-workers ask about getting it into their systems:

The thing is, looking at the "gear" menu in the Palette, I can see options to IMPORT new palettes, but not to export/save them:

Any idea of how to export them for re-use? Or how to create a "palette" file I could import in several systems?

Thanks!

Javier

PS: BTW, I wonder why Outlook Mac doesn't import the categories from Exchange as it does in Windows -- I've set up Outlook 2007/2010 in several computers and in all of them the Category list is "synched" automagically...

Not a nice GUI way that I could find (bad on Apple)   but the palette file is in ~/Library/Colors/xxxx.clr

Pick it up from there and distribute the file can load with the dropdown on the gear.   Loading it effectively moves the file into this directory on that machine.


How can I enable and/or disable OS X's power nap feature from within Terminal? I can deal with it using some command-line commands such as defaults write … etc, but don’t know what the exact command and argument names to use?

Use pmset to change the darkwakes parameter:

sudo pmset -c darkwakes 1

The darkwakes parameter is not mentioned in the man page, but it is shown by pmset -g if your Mac supports Power Nap and is operating on an AC power.

-c is AC power (or charger or wall power), -b is battery power, -u is UPS, and -a is all.

You can also edit the plist directly, but you have to restart to apply the changes:

sudo /usr/libexec/PlistBuddy -c 'Set "Custom Profile":"AC Power":DarkWakeBackgroundTasks 1' \
    /Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration/com.apple.PowerManagement.plist

Or using sed:

sudo sed -i '' '/DarkWakeBackgroundTasks/{N;s/false/true/;}' \
    /Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration/com.apple.PowerManagement.plist


Creating A Bootable USB Of Windows 8.1 On OS X? Reasons for wanting create such a usb include:

PC is unbootable and you want to prepare a bootable USB using the ISO file that you have on your external hard drive.
to install Windows 8.1 on Mac without Boot Camp.

What are the necessary steps to create such a Windows 8.1 bootable usb on a Mac ?

I am not really sure why you would want to install Windows 8.1 without BootCamp.

The USB stick needs to be a little bigger than the .iso file you are going to be burning. It doesn't matter if there is any data on it, this will totally erase the whole thing.

Steps To Achieve Victory

Download the ISO you want to use
Open Terminal (in /Applications/Utilities)

2.1 Navigate to the path where the .iso file is located

2.2 Use ls to list all the folders

2.3 cd /path/to/iso to dive in to folder or cd .. to go back the path
Convert .iso to .img using hdiutil:
hdiutil convert -format UDRW -o /path/to/target.img /path/to/source.iso
Rename if OS X gave it a .dmg ending:
mv /path/to/target.img.dmg path/to/target.img
Type diskutil list to get a list of currently connected devices
Insert USB drive you want to use
Run diskutil list again to see what your USB stick gets assigned
eg - /dev/disk3
Run diskutil unmountDisk /dev/diskN (where N is the number assigned to your USB stick, in previous example it would be 3)
Run sudo dd if=/path/to/target.img of=/dev/diskN bs=1m (if you get an error, replace bs=1m with bs=1M
Run diskutil eject /dev/diskN and remove your USB stick
The USB stick will now be ready to use

IMPORTANT For the step #9 you can use the destination to /dev/rdiskN to reduce the copy time.

NOTE: Sometimes, not always, Step #4 will be necessary. Not all the time. I am not sure why it will add the .dmg ending and other times leave it alone.

NOTE 2: Might I suggest you learn the name of the .iso you downloaded, or just rename it win8.1.iso or something, and put it on your Desktop folder. That way, when you are typing commands like #3 and #4 etc, etc, you can type it like this:

hdiutil convert -format UDRW -o ~/Desktop/win8.1.img ~/Desktop/win8.1.iso

and

mv ~/Desktop/win8.1.img.dmg ~/Desktop/win8.1.img

and step #9 would look like this:

sudo dd if=~/Desktop/win8.1.img of=/dev/diskN bs=1m

IMPORTANT - You can track the progress by pressing CTRL + T It will show the process info and records in and out, since we use the bs=1m each record is 1Mb in size so you can easily track the progress.

I don't mean to be insulting with Note and Note2, I am just making sure that you know what all these commands mean. It's the simplest method. Unless someone else comes up with something better.


WD external USB disks intermittently showing OS = Catalina
System = iMac 2013
Problem Disks = WD Passport 4TB X 2
Some days you plug in the disks all folders and files shows up.
Next day you might connect both disks - nothing shows up. This exact problem is happening with both disks.
No evidence of disks failing. Disk Utility finds no problems.
I am thinking this is an OS problem.
I would appreciate if anybody had some ideas on this - any ideas at all :)?

I am thinking this is an OS problem.

There's no evidence of this.  But if you want to be sure you can do either/both of two things:

Boot into Safe Mode where it's a clean version of macOS - no 3rd party apps or kexts (drivers)

Try on a different computer

Intermittent issues are usually hardware related:

Physically a bad port.  For instance, there may be dry solder joints connecting the USB port to the PCB.

Failing USB controller

Failing external drive enclosure

The best way to test this would be to take it to another computer.  If the problems exist there, then the issue is with the external drive, not your iMac.

No evidence of disks failing. Disk Utility finds no problems.

Your disks may be fine, but there are two major components to an external USB drive:

The disk drive itself (already tested as good)
The USB-SATA bridge (controller chip)

If the chip (or any of the electronics on the adapter) are failing or have failed, you will get errors like what you're seeing.  To verify this, you need to remove the enclosure from the equation.  If you can open them up, use an inexpensive USB to SATA adapter to verify.
Use this method to narrow down what the cause can be.  I'm hoping it just the enclosure which is most likely to fail.  The worse case scenario is the USB port(s) on your iMac are going bad.  And...when testing the ports on your iMac, make sure you try them all and not just one.


Moving Parallels Desktop 8 to 9 I was happily using PD 8.0 . Then I upgraded to Yosemite 10.10 and now Parallels 8.0 does not work anymore.
Did some search and looks like they have fixed it for Parallels 9.0
So I have to upgrade, Ok Fine.
BUT is there is a way I can skip re-installing everything again on PD 9.0 and somehow copy whatever I have from 8.0 to 9.0 ?

It just worked :)
Upgraded to 9.0...It automatically just worked. I needed to do nothing really.


Transfer of Songs/Playlists from PC to iPod How can I simply transfer songs/playlists (including non-iTunes songs) from my pc laptop to my iPod (purchased in June 2014)?

The easiest way is to just dump everything into iTunes and sync the iPod with it. Is there a particular reason you can't do that?


External display color changes when MacBook lid is closed I have no idea how, as the color profile remains the same, but whenever I close the lid on my MacBook, the external monitor changes to a blue tint.

I've tried changing the monitor's settings, as well as ensuring the right color profile is on.

If you update to macOS 10.15.4 it may now detect that you have a HDR screen, and makes your external screen colors look weird.

To fix this:

Go to Display settings
Uncheck "High Dynamic Range" for your external display
Everything should be back to normal.


What are the best mnemonics to remember important short cuts? In my job I teach a lot of people to use macs. Since you use what you remember I'm always on the look out for funny or memorable ways to remember keyboard or system shortcuts (like you have the option to command escape, I know it's corny, but it works for newbies!).

What are the mnemonics you use to remember important keyboard or system shortcuts? Funny is a bonus.

EDIT / UPDATE

Sorry I've been away for a bit and haven't updated my question for a bit. A bit more info - I'm teaching a digital class of 8,9 and 10 year olds (who have a MacBook each) this year; and I'm looking for funny ways for them to remember the things you commonly do on your mac. Kids love learning shortcuts (for some reason) and any thing I can do to help them build confidence and have a laugh is great.

Here are the shortcuts that would be handy:

Force Quit (That was my example, you
have the option to
command escape).
Search (command space)
Command Tab
Expose (Four fingers down on the mouse pad!?)
Command ShiftK (Connect to a nearby server in finder)
Apple ShiftA for Applications
Anything else you might think is handy.

I know it's a bit of a vague question, I'm just looking for any fun and easy way to teach these shortcuts.

Spotlight:
I've heard it remembered as 'space command'. Like you're the commander of a futuristic spaceship and you're talking to the computer, asking it to look for something or open something. You're commanding the space ship.
Press command-space to access Space Command.


Dark spot appearing on the Screen , MacBook Pro 13 When screen brightness is low I get this dark spot in my screen. Is this something serious ?

It seems to be a dead backlight LED.

If your computer is still under AppleCare I would suggest to bring it to an Apple Store or to an Apple Premium Reseller.


How to update GCC version via Homebrew? The current version of GCC on my mac is 9.3.0, and the latest version is 10.2 now. I want to update GCC to the latest version via Homebrew. How can I do that?

The standard command brew upgrade gcc should work. The formula for gcc points to the latest version. You can also install a specific version, ex. brew install gcc@10.

I did this, but after upgrading when I checked the gcc version (using gcc --version), it shows me the Clang version. What’s the problem?

If you installed Xcode and/or the Command Line Tools, it ships with its own gcc.
~$ xcode-select -p
/Library/Developer/CommandLineTools

~$ /Library/Developer/CommandLineTools/usr/bin/gcc --version
Configured with: --prefix=/Library/Developer/CommandLineTools/usr --with-gxx-include-dir=/usr/include/c++/4.2.1
Apple clang version 12.0.0 (clang-1200.0.26.2)
Target: x86_64-apple-darwin19.6.0
Thread model: posix
InstalledDir: /Library/Developer/CommandLineTools/usr/bin

That's the same output as
~$ which gcc
/usr/bin/gcc

~$ gcc --version
Configured with: --prefix=/Library/Developer/CommandLineTools/usr --with-gxx-include-dir=/Library/Developer/CommandLineTools/SDKs/MacOSX10.15.sdk/usr/include/c++/4.2.1
Apple clang version 12.0.0 (clang-1200.0.26.2)
Target: x86_64-apple-darwin19.6.0
Thread model: posix
InstalledDir: /Library/Developer/CommandLineTools/usr/bin

As with most Homebrew installations, Homebrew's gcc is in the Cellar:
~$ ls /usr/local/Cellar/gcc/10.2.0_1/bin | grep gcc
gcc-10
gcc-ar-10
gcc-nm-10
gcc-ranlib-10
x86_64-apple-darwin19-gcc-10
x86_64-apple-darwin19-gcc-10.2.0
x86_64-apple-darwin19-gcc-ar-10
x86_64-apple-darwin19-gcc-nm-10
x86_64-apple-darwin19-gcc-ranlib-10

~$ /usr/local/Cellar/gcc/10.2.0_1/bin/gcc-10 --version
gcc-10 (Homebrew GCC 10.2.0_1) 10.2.0
Copyright (C) 2020 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
This is free software; see the source for copying conditions.  There is NO
warranty; not even for MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.


How do I setup iMessage to correctly deliver to multiple devices? I have an iPad, an old iPhone 3GS and a new iPhone 4S. When someone sends an iMessage to me it appears simultaneously to both my 2 iPhones but does not appear on the iPad. When I respond from the iPad the message appears on the iPhones.

A friend has a worse problem where his new iPhone 4S does not receive any iMessages, instead the are only received by his old 3GS.

Is there a trick to setting this up? I have tried making sure that all the "Receive At" email addresses are synchronized on all devices. Could this be a bug in iOS 5.0.1?

It's less a bug than getting the people to send you an iMessage to your email and not your phone number.

The database actually has two accounts for you and since they are not merged / unified on the server end, you will end up with two accounts / two endpoints and messages to one are not combined with messages to the other.

iMessage in iOS6 does a much better job of unifying several emails and phone numbers, but in 5.0.1 there is no unity. I still like to have one address for my "caller ID" so that contacts tend to reply to my preferred account.


How do I batch convert a lot of .doc file to .html? I have some archive documents in .doc format, and I want to convert them to a searchable data base. I know that .pdf is searchable, but PC users seem to find .html documents more easily searchable ( I don't understand this).

How can I do this conversion, preferably as a batch conversion?

Open terminal and navigate (cd) to the directory containing the .doc files and run the following:

for i in *.doc; do
textutil -convert html $i;
done

I am using zsh so not sure if that would execute right in default bash shell. However, you can always invoke zsh for this purpose by just typing zsh at the prompt and hitting enter. The textutil command line has many options and capabilities. Just type textutil to see the options or look up the manual pages.

Or:

textutil -convert html *.doc

That also does the trick in default shell settings from within the directory containing the .doc files.


Need to update Make on Catalina, other brew related answers are out of date I am trying to run make using a script given to me by my new employer. The script relies on a feature present in gnu make v4.2+, and of course the only installed version is 3.8.

I used brew to install 4.3, but it's installed as gmake not make, and that breaks the script, which I could modify, but I'm still new here and our devops guy will likely have something nasty to say when he gets back.

The other mac machines in our office are not yet upgraded to Catalina, so nobody else has this problem yet. Brew used to have a feature where it would hack something to make this work, but it's gone now. That also means all the other stack exchange answers no longer apply, because Apple broke things in Catalina.

Does anyone know what I can do now? I have enough linux experience to get by in a terminal, but I've never so much as looked at MacOS until this morning.

In the link I posted, a user provided this simple fix:

for gnuutil in /usr/local/opt/**/libexec/gnubin/*; do
ln -s $gnuutil /usr/local/gnubin/
done
echo "Add /usr/local/gnubin to /etc/paths"

I assumed this was a shell script, ran it, and it spat out:

ln: /usr/local/gnubin/: No such file or directory

Does anyone know how to achieve upgrading the built in make to 4.3?

Or is there a way to replace the built in make with the version installed by brew?

MacOS version:                    Catalina 10.15.2
out of the box make version:      3.81
brew installed  make version:     4.3

GNU "make" has been installed as "gmake".
If you need to use it as "make", you can add a "gnubin" directory
to your PATH from your bashrc like:

 PATH="$(brew --prefix)/opt/make/libexec/gnubin:$PATH"


How can I find the files being used by System? (where is my disk space going?) If I go to About This Mac and click on the Storage tab, it tells me that I have 500 GB of Flash Storage and that 15.49 GB of 399.57 GB is free.

It will also tell me that 226 GB is for System, 130 GB is for Documents, and 25.8 GB is for Apps.

If I do: sudo du -hx -d 0 /*

 19G    Applications
2.5M    bin
 15K    dev
4.0K    etc
1.0K    home
1.9G    Library
1.0K    net
1.0K    Network
 16G    private
1.1M    sbin
6.6G    System
4.0K    tmp
157G    Users
848M    usr
4.0K    var
 36K    Volumes

Tools like OmniDiskSweeper or Disk Inventory X will report the same basic information. They will generally account for the space that the Storage tab says is being used by Documents and Applications, but I cannot seem to figure out where the 226 GB of files are that the "System" part is using. I had this situation come up once before and rebooting the machine cleared out the used space and I got a couple hundred GB back. I could do that again, but I would like to be able to track down what these files are.

Any suggestions?

My problem is related to the question What is the correct way to eject a APFS dmg from the command line?

What was going on is I was mounting APFS DMGs via hdiutil attach and only ejecting one of the disks. The disk left behind was taking up hard drive space. After I fully ejected the volume, my hard drive space came back.

The way I was able to spot this easily was by using Apple's Disk Utility application and saw a bunch of grayed out Disk Images.


Browse to /tmp in file dialog How can I browse to /tmp to select a file in a file dialog window, such as the one Chrome uses to select an attachment? I am aware of how to browse to other folders as explained here. I could probably drag and drop, but I would prefer to simply select the file from a list in the appropriate folder.

In file dialogs you can press Cmd-Shift-G (just like in Finder) to enter the path to any folder/directory you want to open.


Internet Sharing won't show under Share settings on OS X Server 10.6.8 I need to use the Mac Mini Server running 10.6.8 as an access point for my team at the office.

When I go under System Preferences>Sharing there's no Internet Sharing Option.

What to do?

The server OS doesn't offer the one-click Internet Sharing.  It can be done, although the server OS wants to be much more involved than the client OS.

Go to your Server Admin.
Select your server and click NAT (if you don't see it, click your server name, then click the Services tab at the right, then put a check-mark at NAT.  Now, back at the left hand panel, click the NAT service you just enabled.
On the Settings tab, make sure IP Forwarding and Network Address Translation (NAT) is selected, and choose the proper External network interface.
On the Overview tab, click the Gateway Setup Assistant... button.

At this point, unfortunately, I can't provide the details.  My 10.6.8 mini server is a DHCP client, so I can't continue with the assistant without altering my setup :(

Do reply though with the results of the Gateway Setup Assistant...


iTerm2 number conversion I right-clicked on a number, and iTerm2 shows me the number conversion in hex. But what is the 168.64 Ki number? What does Ki denote?

Short answer

Ki refers to the binary prefix kibi which denotes 210, or a value of 1,024. For more info refer to the Kibibyte article on Wikipedia.

Long answer

At first glance I thought this was referring to Kilobytes as in KB and not kB, because there’s an old convention since the 1970s that we use kB for 1,000 Bytes and KB for 1,024 Bytes.

So, what the iTerm2 conversion seemed to be doing was assuming that the 172,688 figure referred to bytes and therefore it was basically equivalent to 168.64 KB (i.e. 168.64 x 1,024).

However, upon reading the 'Kilobyte' article on Wikipedia and referring to the additional 'See also' articles, it appears that iTerm2 is using the symbol for Kibi (which itself is shortened for kilobinary, a term originally proposed in 1995 to denote a value of 1,024).

The International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) after consultation with the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE) and the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) published a number of standards during the period 1999 to 2012. According to the BIPM standard JCGM 200:2012 "International vocabulary of metrology – Basic and general concepts and associated terms (VIM), 3rd edition"

  SI prefixes refer strictly to powers of 10, and should not be used for powers of 2. For example, 1 kilobit should not be used to represent 1024 bits (210 bits), which is 1 kibibit.

The following table lists specific units, names, symbols etc:

Source: Wikipedia

So, while the value of a kibi (Ki) is 1,024, it is not necessarily representative of a Kilobyte (which represents 1,024 Bytes), because it can also refer to 1,024 of something else.


How do I save podcasts to the new Apple podcasts app? This seems like one of those dumb questions, where the answer is, "that happens automatically, silly!"

But as far as I can tell, while my podcast subscription shows the last 10 or so episodes, they don't seem to be saved on the device.

I came to this conclusion when one stopped playing as soon as the buffer ran out after losing signal, and the others all became unplayable (greyed out).

Is there some way to save episodes on-device int he Apple app?

If not, is there an app that can (which also handles subscriptions and works with the device-wide audio UI, so headphone controls work, etc.)?

The podcast app is a bit convoluted to know which episodes are unplayed but available for streaming and unplayed and downloaded. I haven't been able to tell visually which is which and am in the habit of turning on AirPlane mode to check which podcasts are actually downloaded then going back and downloading them if needed before leaving Wi-Fi or wireless range.

The manual for iOS 6 is actually great for things like this.  (If hit that link your phone, you can save it as a webapp on your home screen for other issues.)

Here's the relevant section on your question:

  • Download an episode so you can listen to it when you’re not connected to Wi-Fi: Tap the "down-arrow" icon next to
  any episode.


Bootcamp Problem. Unable to partition the disk I'm using a Macbook pro 13 (2015) with 256G SSD. High Sierra 10.13.1.

I'm trying to use bootcamp to install a windows 10 on my laptop.But I encountered the following problem.

I tried to delete snapshots of Time Machine as told by an answer here, but it didn't work.

So I wonder if there is any other solutions than erase the whole disk? I thought this should have relationship with the APFS file systems?

Looking for your help!

So, looks like Bootcamp can't properly partiton your solid state drive.
If something doesn’t work, comment it so I can fix it.

Before continuing, make sure that you have a backup!!! I am not responsible for any damage caused by this guide. You have been warned.

These two steps are required for both methods, so do them.
Step 1: Open Disk Utility inside "Other" folder in the Launchpad, or simply type Disk Utility inside Spotlight.
Step 2: Select APPLE SSD SM02... (if you changed the name over the time, select your disk instead) from the list at the left, but NOT the containers, and press Partition located at the top.
From here, choose one of these methods to continue. Method 3 is the best method if you only have one partition, but if you have more than one, such as Linux DualBoot, then go for Method 1.

Method 1 (Manually installing Windows 10, Better for your case)

Step 3: A pie of your disk should have appeared now. From here, select your macOS partition and click + (plus) button. There is a new partition now. Arrange it's size either from the properties, or by dragging it from the borders. This is going to be your Windows 10 partition. Give it at least 40GBs of size and leave at least 10GBs of space for macOS. Name the new partition (not macOS partition) with a name that you will remember, such as BOOTCAMP, but make sure it is all in capital letters. Lastly set it's type as MS-DOS (FAT) and press Apply. You'll be warned that you are resizing your boot partition, just press OK.
You need a USB formatted as FAT32 with at least 8 GBs of free space to continue...
Step 4: After you have created your Windows partition, download and install unetbootin from here. Then run it and select Disk Image option on the screen. Select ISO option from the dropdown menu next to Disk Image text if it is not already selected. Then press the button with three dots (...) and select your Windows ISO image (assuming you already have one). Lastly, select your USB from the dropdown menu next to Drive text and press OK. This will burn the ISO image to the USB.
Step 4.1: To learn what your USB is called, open up a Terminal from Spotlight and type:
diskutil list

This will show you all of the drives connected to your computer. Your USB is something like /dev/disk1s1 or /dev/disk1s2 (but definitely not /dev/disk0). You can understand which one is your USB by searching for your USB's label.
Step 5: Now open up the Bootcamp assistant for the last time. Once it's opened, select Action > Download Windows Helper Software or something like that. This will download Bootcamp helper. Select the target as your desktop and continue.
Step 6: Once your bootcamp software is downloaded and unetbootin is done, copy the WindowsSupport folder from your desktop to the USB's root directory.
Step 7: It's time to begin the installation! Reboot your MacBook and when it's powering on, press and hold Alt (option) key on your keyboard. Once a menu with boot options appear, select the EFI Boot or Windows option with a USB icon on it. This will start the installer. Give it a few minutes and once the button to begin the installation appears, press it. Wait for it to start. Once it started, select Special option. This part is important!!! A list of volumes should have appeared now. Select the partition you created earlier for Windows and click Format. When it's done, re-select the Windows partition and press Install. Now just relax and wait for it to finish.
Step 8: After you fully setup Windows, select your USB from Windows Explorer and go to WindowsSupport folder. In that folder, run the setup program. Install it as a normal program and you are done!

Method 2 (Removing any partition other than your macOS partition)
Be careful! Doing this will destroy any data on any other partition that is not macOS partition. I do not recommend this method since there is no way to know if Bootcamp assistant will be fixed or not. Also this method may not be helpful for you since you only have one partition.

Sometimes Bootcamp fails to partition the drive itself (which does this method automatically) and you need to do it manually to continue.
Step 3: This step may be dangerous if not done properly, so be careful! A pie of your disk should have appeared now. From here, delete every other partition that are not your macOS partition one by one by pressing the - (minus) button. After you are done, press Apply.
If step 3 failed, try it again. It usually fails at first try.
If the only partition is macOS partition, try method 1 instead.
Step 4: Now try running Bootcamp assistant again. If this method didn't fix your problem, try method 1 instead.

Method 3 (Converting APFS back to HFS+, best for everyone)

Step 3: Backup your installation with Time machine (but not any other software). This is not optional.
Step 4: Reboot your computer into recovery mode. To do this, press Command+R after you hear the startup chime.
Step 5: You will be presented with a list of some utilities. Select Disk Utility.
Step 6: In the disk utility, select “Macintosh HD” (or your system partition) and select Erase. Select Mac OS Extended (Journaled) as the type and select Erase.
Step 7: Quit the disk utility. From the list, select Restore from Time Machine backup. Go through the instructions and restore your backup to disk.
Step 8: After you restarted your machine, retry the Bootcamp Utility. It should work now. If not, try method 1.


What does the "Suggest" menu item do, on iOS 5? What does the "Suggest…" menu item do? I am referring to the one that comes straight after the "Paste" item.

It suggests spelling corrections for the selected word.


How to get automount and sshfs (osxfuse) working with yosemite I'm currently trying to get Apple's automount working with osxfuse and sshfs.
The result should be that a specified folder gets automatically mounted if it is used.

What I've done so far:

installed osxfuse and sshfs from the official packages
(versions are osxfuse: 2.7.3 / sshfs 2.5.0)
created a symlink /sbin/mount_sshfs -> /usr/local/bin/sshfs
appended the following config line to /etc/auto_master : /-    auto_ssh    -nosuid
created the /etc/auto_ssh config file:

/mnt -fstype=sshfs,sshfs_debug,allow_other,idmap=user,follow_symlinks,max_read=65536,rw,nodev,cache=no,IdentityFile=/Users/myUsername/.ssh/sshfs remoteUser@remoteHost:/path/to/folder

afterwards reload automount via : sudo automount -cv

If I now try to cd into mnt i get the following error:

bash: cd: /mnt: Operation not permitted

The console contains the following:

04/12/14 01:27:50,418 automountd[1965]: MOUNT  REQUEST: name=/mnt [] map=auto_ssh opts=nosuid path=/mnt direct=1
04/12/14 01:27:50,631 KernelEventAgent[69]: tid 54485244 received event(s) VQ_DEAD (32)
04/12/14 01:27:50,632 automountd[1965]: MOUNT  REPLY  : status=1, AUTOFS_DONE
04/12/14 01:27:50,632 automountd[1965]: mount of /mnt failed: Operation not permitted

Does anyone have any idea how to make this work, or what to try next?

FWIW, if anyone else stumbles across this old question, the best guide I have found for mounting sshfs using apple's automounter is here -

http://virtuallyhyper.com/2013/07/mount-various-file-system-with-autofs-on-mac-os-x-mountain-lion/#mount-sshfs-with-autofs


Accidentially broke a header - but do I really need to worry? I was upgrading the memory, SSD and optical drive (modded a blu-ray drive with the original upper shell from the SuperDrive) in a MacBook 2010 White Polycarbonate a1342 when I realized that one of the headers was...gone.

It turns out I may have accidentially broken it off, I think. So I took the cable and taped it somewhere else for the meantime.

The hader I think I have broken off is in the corner between the battery and optical drive. There are two very flat, slim headers with cables coming from - seemingly - the battery part, and they both plug in there. I somehow broke the other header, whilst not having even touched it after putting the plug back in (and it took me forever to do this with my fingers...). But when I was leaning back, I noticed that the bottom cable was loose again and when I tried to re-insert it, the corresponding header for it seemed to have disappeared.

I tried to find out what header it was, but unfortunately, all that shows up is the "Power on Pads" related topics and pinouts, with the MagSafe adapter included. But it does not tell me what header is on there, and if it is important or not.

After putting it together, I booted the laptop and it seemingly had no errors turning on. True, I have no OS on there right now but it still seems to be fine. The optical drive also seems to be powered and lets me insert stuff into it.

What do you think the broken header is, and how can I find it out? The cable seems to have two pins, whilst the other looks like having three. The 2-pin one has no socket anymore.

EDIT: I shared these pictures on Discord as I tried to get some additional help.

Header area:
* https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/516146586263486499/654435822237646849/IMG_0999.jpg
* https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/516146586263486499/654435825441964053/IMG_0998.jpg

The now header-less plug: https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/516146586263486499/654435822631649290/IMG_0997.jpg

The broken header appears to be the right speaker connector (or the sleep LED connector).

Comparing it with the "left side" (and considering the two cables only) I tend to the speaker connector. The accompanying text is not very precise.

Both links/pics from: iFixIt's MacBook Unibody Model A1342 Logic Board Replacement


Can't turn on wifi on Mac OSX Mountain lion MBP 2012 The WiFi interface won't turn on when i press "Activate wifi" from the preferences neither from the status bar.

I tried restarting the mac,and reset the pram.

The Ethernet works fine and this is the result of ifconfig in the terminal:

en0: flags=8863<UP,BROADCAST,SMART,RUNNING,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST> mtu 1500 options=2b<RXCSUM,TXCSUM,VLAN_HWTAGGING,TSO4> ether a8:20:66:37:81:d9  inet6 fe80::aa20:66ff:fe37:81d9%en0 prefixlen 64 scopeid 0x4  inet
192.168.1.131 netmask 0xffffff00 broadcast 192.168.1.255 media: autoselect (100baseTX <full-duplex,flow-control>) status: active

en1: flags=8863<UP,BROADCAST,SMART,RUNNING,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST> mtu 1500 ether 5c:96:9d:89:fe:09  media: autoselect (<unknown type>) status: inactive

Is there anything I can try before initialize OSX?

Cycling the network setup has worked for me. Run the following in Terminal:

networksetup -setairportpower en0 off
networksetup -setairportpower en0 on


Is it possible to send/receive faxes directly on the iPhone? Is it possible to send and receive faxes directly on the iPhone?

The goal is to try to avoid paying an additional 5 or 10 bux a month to use a 3rd party service.  I'm hoping the functionality can be either bought through an app or configured.

Looks like you're looking for the iFax app (Unfortunatlly I don't have a link here at work, but if you search for it in the store it should pop up), however I've got the next best thing!

http://www.macnn.com/articles/09/07/20/ifax.iphone.app.released/


Is iMovie available on the MacBook Air 11 inch? Is iMovie available on the MacBook Air 11 inch? The iMovie system requirements say that the minimum resolution is 1280x800, while the 11 inch Air has 1366x768.

It will run. It should even be pre-installed. Might not be the best user experience, though, with limited window size. Get as much RAM as you can afford.


How to differentiate between Terminal scripted launch and manual launch for .bash_profile settings I have some .bash_profile settings that restore my last working directory every time I log in to my shell. However, I also use a program that opens a terminal window in the current directory open in Finder, and it does this by sending an event to Terminal using SBApplication.

Is there a way I can detect which way the Terminal was opened in my .bash_profile? Right now the bash settings override the cd to app.

# Setting PATH for Python 3.4
# The orginal version is saved in .bash_profile.pysave
PATH="/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/3.4/bin"
export PATH

# My settings
trap 'printf %s "$PWD" > ~/.storepwd' EXIT

cd "$(<~/.storepwd)"

You can display BASH variables on your .bash_profile. Then compare the output when you manually open the terminal with output when cd to app opens the terminal.

I meant append at the beginning of your .bash_profile the bash variables listed on the website:

echo $BASH
echo $BASHOPTS
echo $BASHPID
...
echo $TMPDIR
echo $UID

Then open manually the terminal and save the output.
Open the terminal from cd to and save the output.

Compare the files.

The proper variable for the above example is DIRSTACK.

Here are the new settings for those passing through:

# My settings
if [ $DIRSTACK = "~" ]; then
    trap 'printf %s "$PWD" > ~/.storepwd' EXIT
    cd "$(<~/.storepwd)"
fi


Could not log in; restarted MacBook Air; icons exchanged position; Got a login warning at my iPhone I took my MacBook Air offline and put it to sleep. After some 4 hours, I opened the lid, entered the password wrongly, corrected it and hit enter. The password field and the "next" arrow were greyed out. This remained for some 10 seconds when I tried clicking on cancel button but nothing happened.Battery was at 35%.

Then I held the power button, it went to whatever state it goes into. I pressed the power button after a minute and logged in normally. A box appears asking if I want to open the applications that were open before the computer restarted because of a problem. I said No. Nothing more than Safari was open as far as I remember. I do have Ps, Acrobat, Lr, Tor VSCode, Spotify and a lot of RAW photos. I am at 15 GB free out of 128. Three windows of Finder opened when I reached the Desktop. Battery at 33%.

I noticed that the menu buttons of Wi-Fi and Bluetooth in menu bar exchanged their positions with all others at their original places.

Then I turned on Wi-Fi hotspot in an other android phone and connected both of them to it. I got a notification on my iPhone about my Apple ID being used somewhere but I didn't read it completely and pressed the only button shown "OK" by mistake.

Then to open Safari, I pressed cmd + space bar, typed "Sa" and it took time as it was indexing. I waited for the process to complete(for no reason).

Year and a half old MacBook Air running MacOS 10.14.2.

How to change the position of the aforementioned icons?

Expected behaviour would be:

1 Smooth login

2 Icons as they were

3 No notification on my iPhone as I have done the same sleep wake cycle so many times already.

4 No indexing time in spotlight as no major changes on disk were made.

Sometimes things unexpectedly happen and won't occur again. The alert on your iPhone was probably related to iMessage communicating with Apple's servers after the restart in an odd way and not something to worry about if it happened right at that time.

  A box appears asking if I want to open the applications that were open before the computer restarted because of a problem

This happens whenever an unexpected or forced shutdown occurs, and is to prevent the cause of the shutdown from reappearing if it's an application, etc.

You can reorder the icons in the menu bar by holding the command key and dragging them to the appropriate location.

Spotlight indexing also sometimes occurs after a restart. Unless it is completely losing your indexed state (which would take a long while to reindex!), then this is also expected behavior.

If you're worried about the computer, then restart it and see that it restarts smoothly. If it does, I would take no further action unless it happens again.


iCal Sync with Google Apps Other Calendar Our companies email/calendering is run through Google Apps and we all share everyone elses under "Other calendars" within the web interface of Google Cal. So my calendar syncs fine and has no issues with iCal, but invitations/alerts/reminders from the shared calendars show pending actions for each one. I can click on all the normal options "Maybe" "Decline" "Accept" but they just come back as I have read only access to them.

Things I have checked:
1.) In Google Calendar - they are all set to not receive notifications for anything.
2.) In iCal I have checked each calendars settings and "Ignore alerts" is checked for each calendar.
3.) In iCal I have checked the Alerts settings for my account and everything is set to None.

So even though i've checked those I have currently got 40+ pending Notifications pending action.

Has anyone had this before and found a solution?

Thanks in advance and my apologies if this has been asked before.

I solved this issue by going to https://calendar.google.com/calendar/syncselect and unchecking my teammate calendar from the sync.

This is not totally fine because I cannot see my teammate calendar from Calendar but at least I can use it for my different pro and personnal calendars without being bugged by notification when my teammate are invited to an event.


Is it possible to reduce the disk space required to install Mac OS X 10.6? I was hoping to install Mac OS X on a flash-based drive I have, but it's only 4GB. The installer tells me there's not enough free space, but it doesn't specify how much I need free.

Does anyone know the exact minimum?
Is it possible to create a custom install with only the bare basics and install within 4GB?

The minimum install that comes off the DVD is ~6 gigabytes. If you want to make a smaller install, the easiest thing to do is install it on another partition, trim down the installation, then copy it over to the target drive using ditto or Carbon Copy Cloner.

Though I do not recommend doing any of these, there are a couple of thing installed in the default system that can be trimmed out to save space:

All app binaries are installed 2 way fat (32 bit Intel, 64 bit Intel), and you can conceivably remove 32 bit Intel. The only Intel Macs shipped that do not support 64 bit userspace are the original MacBook Pro, Mac Mini, and MacBook 2006. You can use a program like Xslimmer to do this.
All frameworks are installed 3 way fat (32 bit and 64 bit Intel, and 32 bit PPC). The PPC bits are there for Rosetta even if you do not have the emulator installled. You can remove PPC if you are not going to use any appc apps. Again, Xslimmer does this.
All Mac OS X installs include the complete set of drivers necessary for all Macs supported by that OS at the time it shipped. A number of drives may not be necessary for your particular Machine, and could be trimmed out, but doing so is moderately complicated.
If you have multiple localization installed you can remove them. Xslimmer can do this, as can Monolingual.
If yo are really gutsy you can build an mkext and delete OS X's drivers directory entirely. An mkext is a bundle of kexts generally used as part of netbooting, but the bootloader can use it to boot off a normal disk as well. It will omit any driver not needed to boot a system, and be trimmed down to a single architecture. On my system that would save ~300MB. If the full drivers aren't there, then some devices might not work, but anything needed to boot should be.
You can start deleting programs in /Applications, but the system assumes those are there, some stuff may not work properly.
Disk Utility by default leaves extra space for certain things on drives larger than a certain size. It is documented here. On a 4GB drive there there is ~328 MBs lost that way.

200MB of it is for the ESP partition. The ESP is scratch space used under rare circumstances for the boot process. Removing it might cause difficulties installing firmware updates, but it probably won't, and you probably won't notice it.

There is also 128MB of unformatted space after the HFS+ partition. That is that there to aid in LVM operations (resizing partitions), and may be necessary in certain edge cases when running the installer (if the installer needs a chunk of contiguous space for something that is not a normal file during an OS upgrade, and it can't find the space within the FS it can extend it). You can probably get rid of it, but it might make it difficult to run the installer directly against the drive. Of course, given what you have to do to get 10.6 onto the drive, the odds that you could just run a 10.7 updater against when that comes out seem very low anyway.

In order to layout the drive this way you will need to hand build the partition map with the commandline gpt tool.

Having said that, the above will probably not trim down OS X enough to fit into a 4GB flash drive. Even if it did, OS X needs some temporary space (a couple hundred megs) to work, and by default that is on the boot drive. While it is conceivable you could write a boot script to find a drive inside the system and use it for temp space (point /private/tmp there, and setting the up the default pager), that is moderately complicated. I am guessing this is a recovery drive for a lab or something, in which case you don't want this install to perturb drives in the system it boots. If you need to boot on a range of machines it also means trimming out drivers is substantially more complicated and limited.

Ultimately, you are much better off just buying a 8GB flash drive. That is large enough to clone a normal installation, and will save you days of work.


16G memory or an SSD to upgrade a Macbook? I'm deciding on whether to spend the money to upgrade my RAM or add an SSD to my Macbook Pro.  Here's the stats...

Early 2011
MacBookPro8,1
i7 2.7Ghz
8G RAM
STBD1000400 Seagate Hybrid 1TB drive

I could spend about $130 on either...

16G RAM
250G Samsung EVO 850 SSD (replacing the DVD drive)

The machine is mostly used for coding, compiling, web browsing, watching movies and listening to music.  It is rarely CPU bound.  The OS and applications and home directories should fit easily into 250 gigs with my media going onto the 1TB drive.

Thoughts?

I would go with the SSD.

First you can check to see how much benefit you would get from upgrading the RAM. You can look at the Activity Monitor.app memory section. The last several versions of Mac OS X have a graph describing "Memory Pressure", which is a way of describing how hard you are pushing the RAM. The OS will naturally try to make use of ALL of the available RAM, so don't be surprised if you see that your are using it all up. What you want to note is if you have "High" memory pressure, this means that you could benefit from adding more RAM.

Moderate Memory pressure can often be just as well addressed with upgrading to a SSD to speed up swapping to disk. Low Memory pressure will mean that there is no significant benefit to adding RAM.

There are a number of downsides to adding RAM:

You will double the amount of disk space used by swap files.
You will double the amount of disk space used when you put the system to sleep and the RAM is stored to disk. (This is in addition to the swap space)
You increase the time to put the system to sleep.
You will shorten the battery life, while the system is sleeping but still powering the RAM

On the SSD side, it is really all benefits. If you are RAM constrained SWAP is much faster. Everything that reads/writes to the drive will be much faster. Boot/wake times will be a fraction of the current times.

The only downside of SSD's is that when they fail, the usually fail catastrophically without warning or ability to recover. But that is why you have a backup.i

For myself, I have the same MacBookPro8,1 with an Intel i5 with a 500GB SSD and 16GB of RAM. I am a very heavy user of RAM for some of my development tasks. I would much rather be reduced on RAM than not have a SSD. Last year, I had to have the motherboard replaced and ended up using a MacBook Air with only 4GB RAM and an SSD for a week. I was actually impressed how well that MacBook Air stood up to what I threw at it even when the RAM pressure was getting fairly high, I am sure that I would not have felt the same about system with a spin disk hard drive.


How to edit the /etc/hosts file? When I open the file with TextEdit (I don't want (truly, I am not able) to use vim), it is seen as "locked", even if I modify the permissions of the file via the "Get Info" window.

How can I modify the hosts file with TextEdit?

In one line, from Terminal:

sudo -b "/Applications/Textedit.app/Contents/MacOS/TextEdit" /etc/hosts

Make your changes, save and close.


AppleScript to choose item on web page Is it possible with AppleScript to choose a clickable element in a web page and click it and if so, can you give me an example?

Yes, generally speaking, it's possible, however it can depend on the browser and the web page, there is no one method fits all, if you will.

Examples:

Using this particular web page, looking at the question title line, to the far right is a blue button with says: Ask Question

The following line of AppleScript code will click that button in Safari if Allow JavaScript from Apple Events is checked on the Safari > Develop menu, which is hidden by default and can be shown by checking [√] Show Develop menu in menu bar in: Safari > Preferences > Advanced

tell application "Safari" to tell document 1 to do JavaScript ¬
    "document.getElementsByClassName('ws-nowrap s-btn s-btn__primary')[0].click();"

With Google Chrome the following example AppleScript code does the same thing, without having to modify any of the default settings:

tell application "Google Chrome" to tell active tab in front window to execute javascript ¬
    "document.getElementsByClassName('ws-nowrap s-btn s-btn__primary')[0].click();"

Note that the JavaScript code portion, within the double-quotes, of each of these is the same while the basic AppleScript code is different for how each of the two applications work with the code.

I should also point out that while this is AppleScript, albeit running some JavaScript, it's really the JavaScript that's doing the real work of clicking the target button. Basic vanilla AppleScript without executing some JavaScript cannot really click a button on the web page content unless it's done through the very kludgy use of UI Scripting.

UI Scripting example:

On my system, in macOS High Sierra using Safari, version 11.1.1 (13605.2.8), the following example AppleScript code works to click the button that the other examples click.

tell application "System Events" to click UI element ¬
    "Ask Question" of group 5 of UI element 1 of scroll area 1 of group 1 of ¬
    group 1 of tab group 1 of splitter group 1 of window 1 of application process "Safari"

On my system, in  Safari on macOS Catalina you'd have to change of group 5 of UI element 1 to of group 6 of UI element 1, and while that seems minor, nonetheless, it will depend on what you're trying to click and where and some objects on a web page may not be clickable at all with this method, yet will most likely be doable with JavaScript calls.

This wouldn't work in Google Chrome as it does not expose that particular UI element to click in this manner.

One of the issues with UI Scripting is the hierarchical structure to the object is subject to change between versions of the application or the versions of macOS and would need to be modified, where the use of AppleScript with JavaScript will typically continue to work without modification.

By the way, none of this is doable in Firefox.


Can I upgrade my VMware 6.0.3 without losing my data? I already upgraded to Yosemite I have VMWare Fusion 6.0.3 and I upgraded to Yosemite. Oops. I can't open VM because its not a compatible version. Can I still upgrade the VM without losing my data?? I really need to NOT lose my data. Note: I did not backup my computer before this...

I know that when I upgraded VMWare to 7.0 after my Yosemite 10.10 upgrade I did not experience any problem with loss of data in my VMs.  After upgrading VMWare, the app did reconfigure the .vmwaremv files, but after that everything was the same.

I do not store data exterior to the VMs and I think that all my data is within the .vmwarevm itself.  Like the other user pointed out, contact VMWare to be sure.  Hope this helps.  Just my experience is all...


How can I delete all message attachments? I have years of messages on my iPhone 5s.  Associated attachments are taking up many GB on my phone.  I can see them in my Settings >> Messages >> Documents & Data, but I can't find an easy way to remove them from my phone.  As far as I can tell the UI would require me to individually click on every single item in order to delete it.

Is there any way to bulk-delete the Messages attachments from the phone without removing the message text?  (I.e., "Auto Delete Old Conversations" is not what I want.)

Source.  This can be done with both Attachments and Images:

Launch the Messages app and open a conversation that has attachments you want to get rid of.
Tap on the blue “i” button at the top right of the app.

In the new interface that appears, scroll down and then tap and hold on one of the attachments in the grid view to reveal an Action Menu.
Tap on the More… button to select the attachment you were just tapping and holding on.

A blue check mark will appear, and so will several empty circles on the rest of the attachments; tap on each of the attachments you wish to delete to select them and this will put a blue check mark on those attachments as well.
Once all of the attachments you want to delete have been selected, tap on the blue trash can icon at the bottom right of the app.
In the pop-up menu that appears, tap on the red Delete … Attachments button to confirm deletion of your selected attachments from your conversation.
All those attachments will now be removed from the conversation, but your conversation itself will remain; double-check the conversation to verify.


Is the 9-pin "Lightning" connector faster than the 30-pin? The 9-pin "Lightning" connector used with the iPhone 5 and 2012 iPods offers many advantages over the old 30-pin connector, including a smaller size and reversibility. However, does it offer faster data transfers? Was this update only for aesthetics? Or does the 9-pin actually offer something more?

The lightning cable in terms of USB speed is not any faster than the cable it replaces according to the Apple Store product description for the Lightning to USB Cable

  This USB 2.0 cable connects your iPhone or iPod with Lightning connector to your computer's USB port for syncing and charging or to the Apple USB Power Adapter for convenient charging from a wall outlet.

It is still only rated to be a USB 2.0 cable, so that implies all the currently just released devices with the new Lightning connector are still USB 2.0.

So as far as USB connectivity and transfers go  it can only go as fast as USB 2.0 allows, which should make it an equal with the old 30-pins usb interface.

The all digital aspect might be a plus for some users / uses, eg outputting to digital audio devices directly, but even that is unclear, it not really clear what all you can do with the new interface.

Although one point taken from the Media event slides is "Adaptive interface", not sure what that means exactly, but it may mean that hardware & software developers may be able to program how the pins can be used to interact with devices and accessories. If that is true that could be a huge long term benefit from this major re-factoring of the interface connector for iOS devices.


How do I copy music to my iPhone using iTunes 11? I've always managed my iPhone/iPad/iPod Manually, I recently updated to iTunes 11 and now I can see no way to get my music onto my device.

I used to be able to just drag songs from my library to my device, now there is seemingly no way to do this.

I can view the music on my device by clicking on it on the top right corner of iTunes, but I can't seem to get to a state where I can drag music from my computer onto my device.

I'm using iTunes 11.0.1.12 for Windows if that makes a difference.

If you start draging arround tracks or albums there should open at the right a bar within your iPhone/iPad/iPod. Drag the track/album on it.


how to resend a imessage containing URLs on IOS 12.4? I can only execute the links but not copy the message.
I'm also able to copy a single link (but not the entire message).

On a message, simply touch and press lightly while holding until Copy and More comes up at the bottom of the screen. Select More, then check the message(s) you want to resend and then in the lower right of the screen, tap the curved arrow. Fill in the To field and then send the new message.

Once you get used to the right touch pressure and holding it, this will become second nature for you.


Mac OS Sierra System Settings won't stay set I just got a new 15" MBP with Mac OS Sierra. I've changed the System Preferences to allow me to drag and drop things with the touchpad (under accessibility) and to prevent tap clicking.

But after I leave the system preferences pane, and return to check it out, the preferences have changed. Is this a known issue with Mac OS Sierra? Or did the method of confirming changes, change? I'm at a loss for this one.

It’s possible your Accessibility preference file is corrupted.

Open Finder, then press ⇧ shift ⌘ cmd G. In the popup textbox, type in ~/Library/Preferences.

Locate com.apple.universalaccess.plist and delete it. Now restart your system.

If the issue persists, you can delete the new preference file, then pull the original file back out of the Trash before restarting one more time.


Turn off Safari 9 blinking in web inspector? The web inspector in Safari 9 seems to have added this new "blinking" thing which I find somewhat annoying although it can be useful. How can you turn it off and on? Here is what I mean.

This can be done in the Elements tab by disabling this little brush icon:


How to tell Apple if there are spelling mistakes in its application document? For example I just installed some Apple software on my iPad. Before I start using it I need to agree its terms & conditions.

While I was reading the terms & conditions there are spelling mistakes I found in the document.

How should I report this to Apple?

Apple Bug Reporter is the essential site to report these issues.

You'll need to have a developer account though which you could always setup for free and that should gain you access to the Bug Reporting tool.


Is it possible to add description of an app when creating by Platypus? I am creating an app by Platypus. Is there any way to add description of an app that would be visible in About menu? Or how it might be done?

It seems I have found the solution:
"If you add a file named Credits.rtf or Credits.html to the bundled files list, it will be displayed in the About window of your application.":
http://www.sveinbjorn.org/files/manpages/PlatypusDocumentation.html#817


Can I move Xcode and Android Studio to SD card I'm planning to buy a 64GB SD card to supplement the storage on my MacBook Air 128GB (early 2015)

I wanted to know if I can move my Xcode and android studio to it as both have them take a significant part of the memory.

If this can happen, I wanted to know how can I move these two to the SD card. I'm fairly new to macOS and have no idea how to do this.

Can you? Yes.

Is it wise? Perhaps not.

Flash storage is notoriously frail. Once it fails, that's, it, it's gone, usually taking everything on there with it.

The adage "Any data not stored in at least three distinct locations ought to be considered temporary" is not one to take lightly.

Other than that - it will run like molasses from an SD card.

Flash on USB sticks/SD cards is not the same as on an SSD drive - this has a better explanation than I could possibly compete with -
SuperUser - What's the technical difference between a flash drive and an SSD?

In the end, it’s your choice what you store externally, so if other things are more vital than code, keep them on the internal storage. If code is the priority, move photos or music or video files to SD storage.


Is it possible for an iPad to get a virus? I was using Safari on my iPad and suddenly a pop up message saying "your device has a virus" appeared. I just clicked okay because that was the only option and then it redirected me to youradexchange.com. Is it possible for my iPad to get a virus?

I'm using iPad mini Retina with iOS 7 and it is not jailbroken.

Yes, you can get malware on an iPad if you install apps from untrusted sources (Anything outside of the App Store).

However, you cannot get a virus from simply going to a website, as the process of installing an app from a third-party requires your interaction and can't be done in the background.


What files are accessed when an app starts up? I am wondering if there is a way to see which files an application accesses (reads or writes) when starting up.

/usr/bin/fs_usage seems like one tool, but I wondered if there are others.

I am trying to make it easy to copy preferences between two computers, and I figured that this was one step approaching that goal, but I'm interested in the question for several reasons. I know preferences are usually kept in ~/Library/Preferences/ and ~/Library/Application Support, but how do I find out which files/folders specifically?

I think there's a couple of options. You could use a launchd script with a WatchPaths property that triggers on those directories.

You can also use the command-line tool lsof to list open files of a process.

You can inspect open files per-process using Activity Monitor. If you click on the process and click "Inspect", it should bring up additional information. One of the tabs here should be for open files (see below).


Renaming the startup disks shown during boot I'm dual booting OS X (Lion) and Arch Linux, and when I hold down "option" during the boot process, I am presented with both of my startup disk options (i.e., OS X and Linux); however, they are named "IluvatarHD" and "Windows". Does anybody know of a way to rename the "Windows" option to something more accurate.

I assume this is on the Mac OS X side as nowhere on my Arch install is the label "Windows"  applied.

In an ideal world, I would be able to change the disk icon as well...

NOTE: I've uninstalled refit as it's unnecessary once Arch has been installed and would rather keep using the Apple boot loader.

Any help would be appreciated!

Maybe I'm missing the subtleties here, but it should be as simple as:

diskutil rename /Volumes/oldvolumename newvolumename


How to synchronize photos from MacBook to iPad without erasing photos in iPad? I used to synchronize photos between PC and iPad. Recently I have a new MacBook and I imported some new photos into iPhoto of the MacBook. Now I need to copy the new photos to the iPad. Can I do this via synchronization (or some other ways) without erasing contents in the iPad? Do I have to first copy the photos from iPad to Mac?

If you try to synch your iPad with the new iTunes on your new machine, your pictures on the iPad will be erased and replaced with the new pictures. You have to copy pictures from iPad to your MacBook then sync with it.


Would you be able to see from my iphone if someone is reading my imessages on an ipad I lent them? I let a friend borrow my ipad that has some imessages saved. I signed out before lending it to him, but I got a notification that my ipad is signed into my imessages now. When I asked if they signed into it, they said their kid hit the button on accident, but if it's signed in now, will I get a notification if they are reading through my messages? Or is there a way I can find out?

You will see that the "unread" status of the message changes, if they're the first to read the message.

Apart from that you cannot really tell if they read the messages or not.


HP ScanJet 4070 Photosmart produces just stripes after OS upgrade My HP Scanjet 4070 stoped working after an upgrade to the current MacOS. It scans the pictures but then the saved PDF only contains stripes:

This happens on two machines. What can I do?

I asked in the HP support forum. They sent me on to another support forum and in the second forum nobody cared.

From HP forums:

  The ScanJet 4070 software will not be updated to work with Mac OS
  10.9.

  You might be able to successfully connect to the scanner but using the
  HP Scan software results in file saving errors or all gray output.

  You might try a third party solution like VueScan.

  You will need to install the HP Software and 10.8 patch first....

It costs $40 -- $80 depending on your choice.

You can still try and download this driver, but I doubt it will help.


Friend Dropped iPhone. Is it okay? Okay, so I have a speck candy shell grip on my phone, I have never dropped my phone before but yesterday I let my friend do something on it in the YMCA and he dropped it. It was only from no more than about two feet and it fell on the spongy-soft floor. I'm really paranoid something may have happened but there is no damage and it functions no differently. 100% perfect. Any way anyone can put my mind at ease?

Your phone is fine. The Speck CandyShell cases offer excellent protection. In general, the iPhone often takes falls quite well with the particular exception of shattered screens if it falls onto concrete/rock. I dropped my previous iPhone 4S multiple times and it was still in great condition. One time it fell from about 3' onto concrete and survived with just some scratching and minor dings to the metal.

As a side note, my personal opinion is that the Speck CandyShell (while they last) is not at all far off from the Otterbox Defender that many people have: so you phone was well protected. I suspect you wouldn't notice a difference even if there was no case, though with that fall.

So, don't worry about it and your phone is just fine.


Close menu bar menu with applescript tell application "System Events" to tell process "SystemUIServer"
    tell (menu bar item 1 of menu bar 1 where description is "system sound volume")
        click
    end tell
end tell

will open the sound menu bar item, but I want to delay one second then close it.

I tried:

tell application "System Events" to tell process "SystemUIServer"
    tell (menu bar item 1 of menu bar 1 where description is "system sound volume")
        click
        delay 1
        cancel
    end tell
end tell

but that didn't work

You almost had it.  This works for me.

tell application "System Events" to tell process "SystemUIServer"
    tell (menu bar item 1 of menu bar 1 where description is "system sound volume")
        click
        delay 1
        key code 53
    end tell
end tell


networksetup -disconnectpppoeservice not working I love doing stuff on terminal, a lot. Thats how I found this command to connect to my PPP service:

$ networksetup -connectpppoeservice HUAWEIMobile-

And its works successfully to connect my PPP service. But, when I'm trying to disconnect my PPP using

networksetup -disconnectpppoeservice HUAWEIMobile-

It's not working. Is there something with my command?

I am going here on a hunch !

sudo networksetup -disconnectpppoeservice HUAWEIMobile-

sudo networksetup -showpppoestatus HUAWEIMobile-

You confirmed it says

  connected

I further assume when you activate the PPoE service it will respond with user + password request.

Since that information was not supplied it will wait for it and refuse your disconnect request.

So we can try the activate with user name and password, then do the disconnect, you can find the appropriate command set here.


Macbook Pro Freezes when waking from sleep/hibernation When I open my MacBook Pro after it has been closed (usually for more than 1 hr) I get a slow response.

One of the following happens:

I hear a mechanical startup sound, and grey screen appears.

Then once that loads I get my login screen, but it's frozen. Mouse won't move and can't type. If I don't touch anything then the screen will turn off after 1 minute. Then if I do anything, touch the trackpad, or the keyboard, it will open like it should. Instantly to the login screen and I can type my password no problem.

This takes about 2–3 minutes to get up and running.
The screen is opened and the computer goes straight to the frozen login screen.
Screen does not respond. Stays black. I have to hold down the power button to do a hard restart.
This happened for the first time yesterday. The grey screen shifted to a darker grey and took me to a welcome page where I could choose the language and then it had options for a forgotten password etc.

MacBook Pro 13″, Mid 2012

What you describe indicates a failing disk. Here are 3 methods to fix that.

If you can start in Safe Mode then use Disk Utility to try to repair it.

Alternatively use the cmd+r to boot in to the recovery mode and use the Disk Utility

If that did not work start in Single user mode and run fsck -fs to try to repair it.

See this Apple KB article here: https://support.apple.com/kb/HT203176


How to install gource with homebrew? I am trying to install gource via homebrew. It yields in the following error:

$ brew install  gource
==> Downloading https://github.com/acaudwell/Gource/releases/download/gource-0.41/gource-0.41.tar.gz
Already downloaded: /opt/boxen/cache/homebrew/gource-0.41.tar.gz
==> ./configure --prefix=/opt/boxen/homebrew/Cellar/gource/0.41 --without-x
checking for IMG_LoadJPG_RW... yes
checking for boostlib >= 1.46... yes
checking whether the Boost::System library is available... yes
checking whether the Boost::Filesystem library is available... yes
configure: error: Could not link against -lGLU !

How can I install gource?

Brew issue #22025 discusses problems installing grouce and a work around.

Do the instructions in this issue help you? If not, please follow the brew troubleshooting guide to report the problem.


Flycut icon disappears when I open Word My Flycut clipboard icon in the top ribbon disappears when I open Word - the program where I most need it! I think it's just lack of space. The large icon in the bottom dock doesn't hold my cuttings.

How can I access the missing icon? Can I change the position of other items in the top ribbon (date, volume, etc.) so the ones I need in Word are available? Or can I remove my name, which I don't need?

MacBook Air, OS X 10.11.5

If you don't need your name shown in the menu bar, go to System Preferences → Users & Groups → Login Options and either uncheck ‘Show fast user switching menu as’ or change it to Icon to make more room.

If you update to macOS Sierra 10.12, you can rearrange all menu bar items by ⌘-dragging them.


Where has my GarageBand gone? I own a 2011 MBP, which came with GarageBand installed. I am not complaining, but suddenly I don't get updates for it anymore. The AppStore lists GarageBand as having an update, but when I click the update button it tells me that there are no updates for this Apple ID.

Looking at the AppStore page for GarageBand, I can see it available for 4,99 EUR. I don't really mind, since I got it for free and don't use it really, but I am still wondering how this could happen? Did Apple change the terms on when I am eligible for updates?

There is a small print at the bottom of the download info page for the GarageBand ver 10.1.

- Requires Apple Music Connect Account

Do you have one ?

But here is the good news. I do not have the Apple Music Connect and was able to get the GarageBand 10.1 update.

I have a MBA 2012 with Mavericks (10.9.5) and here is the process I had to do.

need to accept this then continue with download

You will be asked to log in again to complete the download/installation.

And it is ready to go:


Media player that plays .m4v files? If I wanted to play some .m4v files (non-DRM Apple TV as they're produced through Handbrake), what would be the best HD Media Player to play back the files?

Would this one work?

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/249286

I've heard bad things about this player though, so wondering if there's one that would play .m4v as well as the usual .avi, .mpg etc. and codecs as shown in that link?

Just looking for something reliable that will play those sorts of files.

Thanks

A PS3 will do a great job of it. That's what I use. The only downside is that a PS3 won't natively play mkv files, but you can use PS3 Media Server to live-transcode and stream from your computer to the PS3.


Cant remove windows partition from mac(not BOOTCAMP) I have a windows partition(not a bootcamp one) and would like to remove it.This was obviously not possible with bootcamp.I tried using Disk Utility but all buttons there are inactive.

I have programs like NTFS 3G,reFit installed.Any way to remove windows now?

I just had a similar issue and solved it by following @VDR's answer but it required slight modifications.

Open Terminal and run

$diskutil list

diskutil will return something similar to

/dev/disk0

:                       TYPE NAME                   SIZE      IDENTIFIER
0:      GUID_partition_scheme                        *128.0 GB   disk0
1:                        EFI                         209.7 MB   disk0s1
2:                  Apple_HFS MountainLion            64.0 GB    disk0s2
3:       Microsoft Basic Data                         31.8 GB    disk0s3
4: 21686148-6449-6E6F-744E-656564454649               1.0 MB     disk0s4
5: 0FC63DAF-8483-4772-8E79-3D69D8477DE4               14.7 GB    disk0s5
6:                 Linux Swap                         17.2 GB    disk0s6

/dev/disk1...

The NTFS volume I want removed is at 3, run

$diskutil **eraseVolume** JHFS+ old_win /dev/disk0s3

You'll see output similar to...

Started erase on disk0s3
Unmounting disk
Erasing
Initialized /dev/rdisk0s3 as a 29 GB HFS Plus volume with a 8192k journal
Mounting disk
Finished erase on disk0s3 old_win

Your empty volume will now be manageable from the graphical Disk Utility app.


Preparing my Mac for sale: deleting/clearing disk in Disk Utility I am preparing to sell my 2012 Macbook Pro, which runs 10.12 (Sierra). I have erased my hard drive using Disk Utility, but am a little confused on where to go next. I'm following this official Apple guide, but my screen shows this:

In Apple's official guide, no disks are listed at the left of the Disk Utility interface. How can I get rid of this disk1 object? Or is this something I need not worry about? Why is this appearing?

That is the recovery image that you reinstall macOS from in recovery mode (assuming you don't have anything else plugged into your Mac).

You can safely ignore it as it is just an installer.

You have wiped the drive. Boot into recovery mode and reinstall macOS. That will have the added benefit of overwriting the disk with new data making recovering your personal data all that more difficult to recover by the next owner.


Use laptop keyboard as an external keyboard for my ipad I just bought a new ipad amidst the lockdown and i just can't get hold of the keyboard for it
Is there any way i can use my old laptop's keyboard and mouse with the ipad (pro 2020)

The 1Keyboard app allows you to use your Mac keyboard to control an iPad or iPhone. It's great app that I have used for years on both devices. It doesn't allow you to use the a mouse or trackpad, though, but for typing it works flawlessly. (Disclaimer: I have no affiliation with the app maker.)


Text not displaying correctly We just recently got new iMacs at work, and we're all having the same issue

Not only do we get characters like those in all web browsers, but even some apps!

Is there a way to fix the characters? We've tried changing default fonts without success :(

I'm running 10.9.2

The problem happens in local apps as well, not just browsers. How can I check fonts integrity?

In your Applications folder, there is an app called Font Book.

Open this app and go to File → Restore Standard System Fonts. This will remove any non-standard fonts on your system and reinstall any missing standard fonts.


Stop prompting to unlock disk I have two hard disks on my 2012 Mac Mini. The first disk is partitioned with Mac HD and Data HD. The second drive has OS X Public Beta and Windows partitioned.

I want to prevent OS X on my main disk from auto-mounting OS X Public Beta and Windows 7. Both are encrypted (FileVault 2 and Bitlocker).

I tried to edit /etc/fstab and /private/etc/fstab which seem to be replicated but it doesn't work. I thought I was doing something wrong, so I added a line for Data HD which is not encrypted and it didn't mount.

sudo vifs

UUID=NUMBER none hfs ro,noauto

That's the line I'm issuing for Public Beta. I'm assuming its not hfs because of FV2 so is there another file system I need to enter? I also tried hfs+ and it didn't work, I still get prompted to enter passcode.

For Windows 7, I'm assuming I would use ntfs? I'm not using BootCamp so I don't think it would be fat.

Instead of using UUID try using LABEL. This will help to rule out UUID problems.

The following line in /private/etc/fstab stops the drive named SpareSSHD from mounting on OS X 10.10:

LABEL=SpareSSHD none    hfs rw,noauto

My drives are encrypted with FileVault2 and this works.

The following links provide more detail:

How can I tell OSX NOT to mount some of the drives in my computer?
fstab(5) manual

/private/etc/fstab and /etc/fstab are the same file. As @forquare confirms, they are symlinked. You can edit either.


Is it possible to reset FileVault password in recovery mode? I have problems with my startup volume, and it's encrypted with FileVault. I don't remember the pasword, but have the recovery key. Is it possible to reset the password?

If you have the recovery key (assuming it's the alphanumeric kind), you can reset your account password in the following way:

Boot your Mac to the FileVault 2 login window.
Enter your password incorrectly three times
It should prompt you for your recovery key. Enter it and hit return.

Your Mac should boot and stop at the OS's login window.

When prompted, reset your account's password.

If your Mac isn't able to boot from its regular boot drive and you can only start from the recovery drive, you should unlock and then decrypt your Mac prior to trying to fix your Mac. I have a post available here showing how to unlock and decrypt your Mac using your recovery key:

Unlock or decrypt your FileVault 2-encrypted boot drive from the command line


iPod classic battery life I have an iPod classic and tend to keep it plugged into a mains charger while playing music up to 4 hours a day.  Will doing this damage the battery?  Is it better to use all the battery power and then fully recharge it each time?  Perhaps somewhere inbetween the two options above?

And when the battery finally gives up the ghost, can I still use my iPod by plugging it into the mains charger and running it off the mains rather than the battery?

Thanks for any replies.

Not a real answer, but a fair comparison...

I have a 10-year old iPod [iPod photo, I think] that lives in my car glove-box, hooked up to power & connectivity on my car audio system. It only gets used when I'm driving. When I'm not out & about it gets no power, sometimes up to 2 weeks at a time. I bring it into the house & update it from iTunes every month or so.
Don't know how much longer it may last, nor have I ever tested how long the battery charge may last if used unpowered, but it's been no prob so far for my usage needs.

Based on current wisdom [google for refs, too many to list, idk if any of them are true or just copied the info from another site], it would appear to be best to keep the battery at somewhere between 50% & 80% charge.
Leaving it plugged in shouldn't damage the battery, as the charger system is smart enough to not allow that - but I don't know how that would affect overall battery life.

As mentioned above, mine gets charged when I'm in the car, sometimes goes weeks between charges, sometimes it's on 8 hours a day.
So far, all is still well.


Applescript to emulate key strokes I want applescript to input into microsoft excel "No, (tab, tab again), Yes". I can't seem to make this work. I would preferably like it to start whenever I press a hotkey or something, but having to swipe over and activate the script should be ok.

Thanks, Nick

There is a lot of information about how to write Applescript code in general and how to use it to send keystrokes available on the net. System Events, Key Code and Keystroke looks kind of interesting in your case and should get you started.


How to check installed OS X version from the command-line on each partition? I'm managing a lot of Macs and each machines has several partitions with different OS versions.

I would like to create a script that I could run to do an inventory of all partitions of all machines and take note what OS is installed on each partition.

On the active partition, it would be easy to get it via the sw_vers command. But what about on a different partition?

The following command will give you the OS X version installed on  volumeName:

defaults read /Volumes/volumeName/System/Library/CoreServices/SystemVersion ProductVersion

To get a list of each volume's OS version, you need a simple script that will get a list of volumes, search each one for the SystemVersion.plist, and report any that are found.

I found a script on on Mac OS X Hints, by Hal Itosis, that does just that (reposted below for convenience).

#!/bin/bash -
PATH=/bin:/usr/bin
export PATH
IFS=$'\n'

vList=$(df -l | sed '1d;s:^.*%[[:space:]]*::')
sPath=$(find -x /Volumes -maxdepth 1 -type l -not -inum 2)
pFile=/System/Library/CoreServices/SystemVersion

SysVers ()
{
   if [ -e "${1}${pFile}.plist" ]; then
      n="$1"; if [ "$1" = '/' ]; then n="$sPath"; fi
      x=`defaults read ${1}${pFile} ProductVersion`
      b=`defaults read ${1}${pFile} ProductBuildVersion`
      printf '%-16s %-8s %-8s\n' "${n##/*/}" "$x" "($b)"
   fi
}

if [ $# -eq 0 ]; then for v in $vList; do SysVers "$v"; done
else while [ $# -gt 0 ]; do SysVers "$1"; shift; done; fi
exit


Accessing other user’s files/browser cookies and logins on Mac with root access? I was wondering if the root user on a Mac (Mavericks) can freely access any other user account and use a browser like they do? This means being automatically logged in their browser with all cookies/accesses for Facebook, Emails etc without a need of entering the password. Does OS X support this?

In OS X your login credentials will be stored in Keychain by default. This can be accessed by the admin only.
For more reference you can refer this.

`


How can I change the view options for all subfolders at once? I want to adjust the view options of a folder and all of its subfolders, the end result being that they have identical view options.

I'm not sure where to start with this. I normally launch View options using Command—J, but the settings I specify do not always carry over to a subfolder.

A bit of Google revealing some success with people using Automator, but the solutions appear outdated.

I am using Mountain Lion (10.8.2)

One option is to use the Set Folder Views action in Automator:

There's no way to change the size or position of windows though.

You could also use a script like this, but it's just as slow Automator when applying window properties is checked.

tell application "Finder"
    folders of entire contents of (POSIX file "/Users/username/Folder/" as alias)
    repeat with f in result
        open contents of f
        tell Finder window 1
            set toolbar visible to false
            set sidebar width to 0
            set statusbar visible to false
            set current view to column view
            set bounds to {474, 250, 1318, 750}
            tell its column view options
                set shows icon to false
            end tell
            close
        end tell
    end repeat
end tell

Use as Defaults applies to all normal folders, but folders that have been opened before have .DS_Store files which can override some of the defaults. You could also delete the .DS_Store files:

find ~/Folder -name .DS_Store -delete
osascript -e 'quit app "Finder"'

It also removes Spotlight comments. Once you change some view options or the sorting modes, they are saved to a .DS_Store file which overrides the defaults again.


Free OS X solution for getting screenshots, cropping and annotating them I am looking for a simple/fast, free solution that will allow me to get screenshots from different windows, crop areas that are interesting to me and adding some comments to them.

It's main use case would be to track UI changes in applications, so it would be a good idea to support layers.

On Windows I was using Paint.NET but this is not available on OS X. Also, do not recommend GIMP, it's free but not simple and loads really slowly.

Use Apple's built-in Grab.app to capture screenshots, Apple's built-in Preview.app to crop, and the open-source Inkscape to annotate the bitmap.


Books not appearing in iBooks on iPad I have several books in my iBooks app on my iPad, but when I'm without wifi, ibooks doesn't even show the books are sitting in my library, why?

If the books don't show up when offline that means that they have not actually been downloaded to your iPad. You should see a little cloud icon in the corner of the book icon to say that it's on the cloud rather than the device.