MacBook air is messed up, can't erase the hard drive from recovery Something happened when installing El Capitan and now I have only one partition in my hard drive with only 30 gigs of space when it's supposed to be 128. I can't seem to erase anything. Any advice?

Try to boot in safe mode to fix any minor disk problem


How to get videos and music in the same screen? The last version of iTunes I liked was around 2010 when I had all my music and videos in the one menu list. Now if I want to change to videos from music I have to go to the dropdown tab (via mouse) at the top of the page. Is there an easier way?

iTunes 12.5.4 Mac

Although the concept of 'easier' is subjective, the simple answer is no. You can get the identical result (bringing up the movies) by going to the View menu > Media Kind > Movies.

The View menu also shows the associated keystroke commands to accomplish mouse-based actions. Cycling to the Movies window is Command-2.

If keystrokes are 'easier' for you, then perhaps the answer is 'yes'.


Deploy iOS app on personal devices I've been working on a small iOS app, intended as a gift to some family members. To my dismay, I'm finding a lot of barriers to attempting to deploy the app. It largely revolves around signing the app to actually be runnable on devices in question, which aren't rooted/jailbroken, and don't have any other particular reason to be.

From my research thus far, I've gathered that the free provisioning Apple provides for can only produce certificates valid for 7 days. Since the app depends on persisted, user-generated data, even were the recipients willing to reinstall every week this would still be a non-starter. On top of that, the Apple ID associated with said devices is a very old ID that a known issue has Xcode being unable to verify the ID. So the free provisioning is not an option.

To an extent I'm balking at the Apple Developer Program subscription fees. However, I'm wondering whether that would even fix the issue? Is there a method within the (paid) Apple Developer Program to deploy directly to local iOS devices, for long-term use, without publishing to the App Store or going through any sort of approval process with Apple? Is this supported by the Ad Hoc deployment provisions of the program? And in that case, would there be a way for an installation of the app to be able to survive later ceasing to renew the Developer Program subscription?

I'd really appreciate if there were a way to deploy as such for free that can work with a legacy Apple ID, but I've already gotten the impression that's not the case - correct me if I'm wrong.

If you're willing to pay the 99$ yearly Apple Developer Program enrollment fee, the easiest option for you would be to use "Ad-hoc Distribution". This is slighly more involved than TestFlight, but will allow your users to use the app for a full year instead of 90 days.

Essentially you need to get the UDID (unique ID number visible in iTunes or on the device) for each of the devices that you want to deploy to. You add those UDIDs to in the Developer Portal and then you sign the app with your certificate and add your provisioning profile with the UDIDs in (these steps are automatically done by Xcode). It is really much simpler than it sounds like.

You can then install the app on all the devices for which you had UDIDs. They will last a year before you need to renew your enrollment in the developer program.

Note that you do not need the Apple-IDs used on the devices you want to deploy on (in contrary to TestFlight). Therefore you will not have the same problems with Apple-IDs here.

Another option is to use the more expensive (299$) Enterprise Program (note that you need to own or otherwise be entitled to sign for a business to enroll). Here the signing certificate is valid for 3 years, however the actual provisioning profile still expires after 1 year. So you would need to pay the fee every year, and users will need to be online to renew the profile, etc.


can't install xcode, issue with MobileDevice.pkg I am trying to install xcode on my mac version : Mac OS X Lion 10.7.5 But I'm having a problem,

i download xcode version 4.6.2 from Appstore after i installed the app i clicked on the icon in the launchpad and it just opened and ask me to install device support so i click install and it ask for my password so i entered the pass and it wrote:

An unknown error occurred. See the install log for more details.

so i looked for this problem and i found that i can go to xcode icon, click on the option and click on "Show Package Contents" and than on Contents->Resources->Packages than i click "MobileDevice.pkg", again i entered my password and nothing happend like really nothing, the password is right and i dont know why it is like that

thank you for your help ilan.

I came across this issue in another post but not certain if the errors you are getting are the same but here it is. Source is provided below:

Use Pacifist to install MobileDevice.pkg!!!
Simply open the file with pacifist
click the top right Lock button that says Not Authorized
Type your password
and hit install
once thats done install itunes normally
or with pacifist worked great for me

SOURCE:
http://www.tonymacx86.com/general-help/98821-xcode-itunes-mobiledevice-pkg-fix.html


Can I get my Touch Bar to play sounds to acknowledge my Touch Bar key presses? I love my MBP and the Touch Bar is pretty cool, but sometimes I find I’m second-guessing myself. Did I press the ESC key or not? Did I press that function key? Well you get the idea. There’s just no physical feedback and sometimes I keep tapping where I think something is, but it’s not!

I know there's no tactile feedback, but then it hit me - maybe there’s a setting somewhere for sound. You know, like the beeps you here when pressing buttons on some devices.

My guess is this is just not possible, but before I make the suggestion to Apple I wanna make sure!

Any ideas?

Actually you’re in luck. A while back I came across Haptic Touch Bar.

This software not only offers the sound feedback you’re looking for, but actually provides tactile feedback by activating the trackpad magnets to vibrate the MBP when you're using the Touch Bar.

NOTE: I am not affiliated with the developer or this software in any way.


OS X Yosemite version is a weird number A friend of mine has something weird going on on his Mac. When he's in the overview tab in the "About this Mac" section his version of OS X is displayed in a weird form - with numbers. The screenshot will explain more:

How do I restore the proper name of the OS X?

I noticed that your friend's installation appears to be in Dutch, so I suspect that this is a localization / language issue. If you search the web a bit for "yosemite 135122" you will find others with non-English OSX installations reporting the same issue. It seems like this particular string was not properly "translated" into other languages. So other than a strange "About This Mac" screen, this should not cause any issues.

10.10.3 is out already; maybe upgrading will fix it?


Can I use a jailbroken iPhone on Virgin Mobile? I am no longer on a contract with AT&T. Virgin Mobile has an awesome Beyond Talk plan for $25 (unlimited text, data, web, well I guess a max of 5.5Gb). Can I use a SIM card from a Virgin Mobile phone on my jailbroken iPhone?

Also, is it possible to buy just a SIM card from Virgin?

TIA

No. Virgin Mobile is a part of Sprint (they used to be a Sprint MVNO). Sprint uses CDMA, not GSM, so they do not have SIM cards.

So, no iPhone on Sprint at least until Apple makes a CDMA iPhone and sells them for Sprint.


Script copy the content of the clipboard into a file I want to write a shell script which copies the contents of the clipboard (plain-text only) when the previous content changes. When I launch the script each time I copy something (so the content of the clipboard changes) the script copies the new values into a file.

I wrote a script which works correctly:

#!/bin/bash
prev=" "
while true
do
curr=$(pbpaste)
if [ "$curr" != "$prev" ]
then
   echo -n " " >> /Users/davide/desktop/file
echo -n $curr >> /Users/davide/desktop/file
fi
done

I don't like this solution very much. There must be different ways to solve this problem.

1) Get the content of the clipboard, store into a variable and compare this value with the current value of the clipboard (my solution.)

2) Detect key pressed CMD+C. When the user presses CMD+C (shortcut for copy something into the clipboard) almost certainly the content of clipboard changes, but I don't know if is possible to detect the keystroke without installing additional libraries.

3) See the process.

Can monitor the cpu or mem usage of the pboard process (when copying something into the clipboard the value of this percentage change)?

Or (I don't know if is it possible) I can see to address space of the process?

So my question is this:

In your opinion, is there a better alternative to the script which I wrote, considering the alternatives 2 and 3?

A product like this already exists and is available free on the App Store - Flycut.

From their Github project page:

  Save the clipboard history item currently displayed to a file, closing
  the Bezel. Delete the item from the clipboard history if capital S was
  pressed. Clipping is saved to a file on the Desktop, akin to how
  Screen Shots are saved by OS X. e.g. "Desktop/Clipping 2015-07-15 at
  08.35.10.txt


Easiest way to browse iPhone filesystem What method of browsing the root filesystem is least likely to make any modifications to it?  Hooking to a pc is an option.  Jailbreaking is not an option for this question.

Despite the fact Steve Jobs didn't support this idea because it's making things complicated for the users, there are some apps which will allow you to do so.

There is i-FunBox which allows you to browse through your iPhone files on your Mac. And if you're a Windows user, you've more options. There is iPhoneBrowser or iPhone Folders.
All of these solutions will allow you to browse the iPhone file systems using your computer.

If you want to be able to browse on your iPhone yourself, I'm afraid I only know one solution, called iFile. But this is only accessible on a jailbroken device...


is 8GB enough for iOS dev and occasional VM? I'm going to buy a rMBP 13'' (i5, 256gb) exclusively for iOS\OSX development. I might run a windows VM occasionally (visual studio).

I plan on keeping it for ~2-3 years.

Should I go for the default 8GB ram, or is the $270 (that's how much it costs here) upgrade to 16GB ram worth it (in my situation)?

According to Visual Studio's system requirements, it requires 1.5GB when in VM.
Usually you will assign a max of 4GB on the windows VM which should be sufficient for a satisfactory operation of Windows inside the VM with the Visual Studio.

In this case there will be 4GB left for the hosting OS. Which usually is again adequate.

Also, Yosemite does a really good job in handling CPU and Ram, so in my opinion you should be ok.

My personal experience with a 2009 MBpro, 8GB Ram on Yosemite running windows on VM shows that there are very rare the occasions where I am out of RAM.


How to automatically delete mail from specific sender? I'm in the mail app on mac and I'm clearing out my Gmail archives and trying to speed up the process by finding senders, i.e. "verify@twitter.com" or any of the promotional ones that they send weekly stuff, etc.

Then pasting their addresses in the search and deleting all the mail from it at once. I feel like there must be a way to automate this using Automator, but when looking at the program I can't figure it out.

Any help is appreciated, thanks!

You don't actually need Automator for this.

Open your Gmail account in Mail
Create a mail rule for that account which deletes messages from the senders you want to get rid of
When saving the rule, you will be asked whether you want to apply the rule to the mails in the current mailbox


When dealing with computers, there are two interpretations of the word binary.

In terms of number system, it refers to a base 2 number system which uses two symbols, 0 and 1.
When speaking of a file, it refers to a file containing non-textual data (executables, libraries, data files etc.).

A binary file that can be run as a process is called an executable binary.

A file being binary file doesn't simply mean that it will be displayed simply in terms of 0's and 1's. There are layers of abstractions at work as to how files are handled by a computer.

Showing a binary file in terms of 0 and 1 would make the output unnecessarily lengthy, and is not the most optimal approach. A binary file is shown in a text editor according to the default encoding set for that editor.

Also, if an editor is configured to show binary output, it will also display every file, even plain text ones, in terms of 0's and 1's. Everything ultimately boils down to binary when stored in a computer.

To view a file in the most basic form of 0's and 1's, you'll need to use a special editor mode which is capable of displaying the binary data of a file. One such way is using the built-in xxd command in macOS. Type the following command-line in Terminal:

xxd -b filename

$ xxd -b a.out | head
00000000: 11001111 11111010 11101101 11111110 00000111 00000000  ......
00000006: 00000000 00000001 00000011 00000000 00000000 10000000  ......
0000000c: 00000010 00000000 00000000 00000000 00001111 00000000  ......
00000012: 00000000 00000000 11000000 00000100 00000000 00000000  ......
00000018: 10000101 00000000 00100000 00000000 00000000 00000000  .. ...
0000001e: 00000000 00000000 00011001 00000000 00000000 00000000  ......
00000024: 01001000 00000000 00000000 00000000 01011111 01011111  H...__
0000002a: 01010000 01000001 01000111 01000101 01011010 01000101  PAGEZE
00000030: 01010010 01001111 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000  RO....
00000036: 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000  ......

It will display the binary dump of filename on standard output. This works equally for both binary and text files.

A more compact and commonly used form, which is preferred over binary is hexadecimal, which uses a base 16 number system (0-9, A-F). To show the contents of file filename in hexadecimal, just run the xxd command without any options with just the filename as argument in Terminal:

xxd filename

$ xxd  a.out | head
00000000: cffa edfe 0700 0001 0300 0080 0200 0000  ................
00000010: 0f00 0000 c004 0000 8500 2000 0000 0000  .......... .....
00000020: 1900 0000 4800 0000 5f5f 5041 4745 5a45  ....H...__PAGEZE
00000030: 524f 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000  RO..............
00000040: 0000 0000 0100 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000  ................
00000050: 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000  ................
00000060: 0000 0000 0000 0000 1900 0000 d801 0000  ................
00000070: 5f5f 5445 5854 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000  __TEXT..........
00000080: 0000 0000 0100 0000 0010 0000 0000 0000  ................
00000090: 0000 0000 0000 0000 0010 0000 0000 0000  ................


Unlock iPhone for different carrier I bought an iPhone 6 from an O2 shop thinking I could use it with a different carrier. But to my horror, I found it was actually locked to O2! How can I unlock it?

My research so far:

Ask O2 to unlock it. (This takes 28 days though, not an option).
Jail breaking (Not advised I know. I'm tempted if it works though?)

Any other options?

The only way to do this in a supported way without jailbreaking the phone is to have O2 do it. There's simply no other way. They have to send a carrier update to the phone which unlocks it.

If you want it done faster, I would recommend returning the phone if you can and purchase an unlocked one straight from Apple.

I don't know how UK law works, but in the US, carriers are required to unlock your phone if you have no financial obligation to them for the device. Any phone you buy directly from Apple won't have any kind of carrier lock on it.


How can I use App Analytics to determine which device models are using my app? In the Google Play console, I'm able to easily determine which Android device models are using my Android apps.  How do I do the same with my iOS apps in the App Store?

For example - How many iPhone XS devices have downloaded my app?

Apple's App Store Connect Analytics provide various insights about your app. However, the segregation based on device model type is something that is not made available to publishers.

For details about what data is made available, see this web page:

App Analytics - App Store Connect


Zero-width characters embedded in phone number whenever they are copied from the macOS address book Whenever I use Contacts.app to fill out a form on a website, I have a problem with any phone number field.

Contacts.app adds unicode "left-to-right override" (U+202D codepoint: E2 80 AD in UTF-8 contexts, 20 2D in UTF-16 contexts) before the first digit, and "pop directional formatting" (U+202C codepoint: E2 80 AC in UTF-8 contexts, 20 2C in UTF-16 contexts) after the last digit. Many websites get upset by this, because those are not recognised as valid phone number digits. As they are zero-width symbols, the first few times I saw this problem I didn't even understand what was going wrong.

Note that this still happens if I turn off JavaScript or use a desktop text editor like TextWrangler (TextWrangler is how I originally found out which zero-width symbols were being inserted); as it happens, I only care about websites because websites are the only thing which validates that phone numbers match a pattern such as the regex [0-9()+\s]*

This happens with all phone numbers in Contacts, regardless of whose (some are formatted as UK, some as USA, some as German).

Method: open Contacts.app, select any person, double (or triple) click on a phone number to select all of it, ⌘C-⌘V to copy-paste; if I paste into an app which shows non-printable characters like TextWrangler then I can see their existence, if I paste into a web browser it's present but zero-width, as arrow keys 'stick' at those positions and the delete key does in fact remove them.

It happens as described in both Safari and Chrome. In Firefox, it behaved slightly differently, and seemed to automatically delete the extra characters as soon as I pass through them with my arrow keys (?!).

How do I stop Contacts.app from adding these unicode symbols?

update 11/2020: It seems like this may be finally fixed in macOS 11. When I just tried it, copying a phone number using the normal ⌘command + C did not add the extra gremlins. Can anyone else confirm?

This isn't an answer but I wanted to add a screenshot as some people have requested it.
I noticed this bug as well (as recently as 10.15.7) and was glad to find this already reported, and surprised it hasn't received more attention.
I filed bugs #47763641 & #5235503 with Apple, hopefully they will notice. I encourage others to report it.
Here are steps to repro & a screenshot that shows the issue:

From Contacts.app, right-click → Copy on a phone number.
Paste into Sublime Text or any other plaintext editor.
Save as test.txt
Open in a Hex Editor, I used Hex Fiend in this example
You can now see the extra bytes (I highlighted them below)

a couple of bits of information:

This seems to only affect phone# fields. Others such as email, addresses, notes etc don't exhibit this bug.
If, instead of using ⌘command + A (select-all), you very carefully select just from the start of the phone# to the end and then copy, the unwanted zwsp characters aren't copied.

My workaround for now is an Alfred workflow that I mapped to ⌘⇧C that copies the selected field and trims the whitespace. Not exactly elegant, but it works well enough until Apple fixes this (which they may have as of 11.0)


How can I run an application full screen on a second screen? I want to run games on my additional screen, how can I do this? By default they run on the  built-it screen.

I'm using a MacBook Pro running Snow Leopard.

Real FullScreen applications will normally run on the Primary Display and they will rarely allow you to configure that. Some applications, however, are running in a “false” full screen, and are just “maximized” applications on top of everything, including the dock and the MenuBar. Some of the latter can be moved by applications like SizeUp and similar (note the usage of the word ‘some’).

In order to change what your primary display is, you have to go to System Preferences -> Display and the click on the “Arrangement” Tab. And then you have to click and drag the white menubar to the display you want to make primary. Take a look at the attached picture. Remember you have to click on the white square representing the Menu Bar and drag it to the other.

The consequences of doing that is that your Dock and your Menu Bar will be moved onto the other Display.


How can I install the latest Google Chrome on Mac OS X Mavericks? Google Chrome updated itself as 67.0:

and then, when I restart, Google Chrome reports itself as "outdated" and brought me to a download page, and let me download a .dmg image.  After I mount it and drag the image to the App folder, it then said it is version 65.0.

How do I install the latest version of Google Chrome on OS X Mavericks?  (I kept Mavericks because I like the iBooks highlighting of simulating a real highlighter, but actually, I found that in Mavericks, that feature was gone, and yet I still may update later, as in the past, upgrading the OS have caused my machine not able to boot up and one time I spent close to 8 hours trying to fix it and eventually had to restore it from the backup).

Try going to https://www.google.com/chrome/ in Safari on Mavericks and it should offer you to download the latest available update for Mavericks.

However, Chrome will still report itself as outdated, because they have dropped support for Mavericks, and running Chrome risks security issues, etc.


Copy a folder(and its internal structure), but only include specific files I have a folder(with subfolders and further subfolders) that the final folder has many different file types. These file types include images(.png/.jpeg), videos(.mov), and text files(.txt). But I would like to copy the entire folder(with the internal structure) and only include .mp3's. Does anyone have any ideas how do do this. (please do not say manually because there are 100+ folders and the folder itself is 60GB, so don't tell me to copy the whole folder) Preferably, I would like if someone was able to give me a solution where I can outright move the .mp3's(while preserving the folder structure)

The following two commands, used in a Terminal, can accomplish what you've asked, the first creating a destination hierarchical directory structure containing the *.mp3 files and the second command deleting the *.mp3 files from the source hierarchical directory structure.

Note: Make sure you have proper backups before using the second command as a mistype can be fatal.

Open Terminal.

By default Terminal opens to one's Home Directory so I'll use it as the example starting point and the Music directory as the source hierarchical directory structure.

This first command will make a copy of the Music hierarchical directory structure containing only *.mp3 files in the destination directory.  In other words after the first command is run there will be a destination directory containing that same hierarchical directory structure starting at Music within the destination directory that contains only *.mp3 files and only the directories from the source that contain *.mp3 files.  If a given source directory does not contain a *.mp3 file then that directory is not created in the destination directory hierarchical structure.

Note: Full command line extends out of view without horizontal scrolling.

find ./Music -name "*.mp3" -type f -print0 | xargs -0 -I '{}' /usr/bin/rsync -avR "{}" "./mp3 files only/"

Note: Full command shown on two lines for clarity:

find ./Music -name "*.mp3" -type f -print0 | \
xargs -0 -I '{}' /usr/bin/rsync -avR "{}" "./mp3 files only/"

When the above command finishes there will be a directory in my Home Directory named "mp3 files only" and within that directory there will be a Music hierarchical directory structure containing only *.mp3 files.  Note: If the destination directory does not exist it will automatically be created.

Now that the *.mp3 files have been copied from the source Music hierarchical directory structure to the "mp3 files only" directory the  *.mp3 files can be removed from the source Music hierarchical directory structure with the following command.

find  ./Music/ -name "*.mp3" -delete

That's it, the *.mp3 files along with their hierarchical directory structure  have been copied to a new location and the *.mp3 files deleted from the source.


USB-C to Thunderbolt 2 (mini-Display port) to HDMI I have a monitor which I connect to an older Macbook Air using an HDMI to mini DisplayPort connector.
I also recently got a late 2016 Macbook Pro with 4 USB-C ports.

So, my question is: if I plug a USB-C to Thunderbolt 2 connector into the Macbook Pro, and then HDMI to mini DisplayPort connector into the Tunderbolt 2, would it work?

In short, would the following chain work: USB-C -> thunderbolt 2 -> mini DisplayPort -> HDMI work?

Technically speaking what you are doing is this:

    Thunderbolt 3 --> Thunderbolt 2 --> Display Port --> HDMI

USB-C and mini Display Port are interfaces while Thunderbolt, Display Port and HDMI are interfaces and signaling/protocols.

It's important to note this distinction because you cannot go from USB (A, C, or whatever) to Thunderbolt; you go from Thunderbolt to USB (it's not bi-directional).

So, assuming that you are going from TB3 to a TB2 to a mDP to HDMI, it should work because:

TB3 is backward compatible with TB2 and TB1
TB includes the DP signaling
mDP should convert to HDMI.

That said, you may run into issues due to all the conversations.  First off, the mDP to HDMI conversion can cause issues.  It's best to just stick with one protocol like DisplayPort.  Even if you convert from mDP to DP, you are only changing the physical interface, not the protocol or signaling.

Secondly, converting from TB3 to TB2 so you can use mDP HDMI is just adding another link in the chain which becomes another point of failure/trouble.  It's always best to limit the number of connections/conversions to ensure reliability.

Finally, you didn't mention which mDP to HDMI adapter you are using, but you want to make sure you are using an active adapter (see link above for more details).  This will help with reliability of the video connection.

TL;DR

It should work, but you may run into performance/stability issues because of all the conversions.  Your best bet is to to either USB-C to HDMI or USB-C to Display Port (preferred because no conversion is required).


I have BOX MS Office 2010 and run it on my Windows machine. Can I install it/migrate licence to OS X? I do own BOX version of MS Office 2010.

After switching to OS X is it possible to migrate my licence to the OS X version of Office or if not needed than to install it?

Is it multi-platform or per-platform product?

I've red some Microsoft paper about it - an official documentation - but it's more enterprise oriented with volume purchuases.

No, you cannot migrate your license from Office for Windows 2010 to Office:Mac 2011.  You will need to purchase a new license for Office:Mac.

You could run Office for Windows on your Mac.  If you have a license for Windows, you could install Windows either using Boot Camp or a virtualization application like VMware Fusion or Parallels.  After you have installed Windows on your Mac, you can then install your existing copy of Office for Windows.


How do I make the Messages that are sent to me stop going to my Mac? Ok, so at my school, everybody was supplied with a Macbook Pro. I set up the Messages app and it was all great until the county decided to block it. Now, instead of receiving text messages on my phone they go to my Mac. I have no idea how to fix this because I can't open the Messages app. Please help?!

Open iMessage on your Mac and go into Preferences. Choose Accounts and make your changes there. That should fix the problem with the Mac. You should go to your phone, open Settings and make sure your iMessage is turned on. Your iMessage must have been turned off on your iPhone. I receive messages on my MacBook and phone but can easily turn one off by going to the settings.


Is it possible (and how do I do it) to change what word Auto-Correct chooses when I make a typo? I love the auto-correct feature, once I got used to not going "AH! Typo!  furious backspacing Retype correctly!"

I have one beef though.  It seems that the typos I make are nonstandard enough that about 50% of the time, Auto-Correct chooses the wrong word.  This irritates me even more than making a typo in the first place.  It seems to happen often with double letter endings where I miss one, but that's certainly not the only case.

Example:  When typing the word 'will' I often type 'wil', I have no idea why.  Auto-Correct zaps this to 'ail'.  So then, instead of backspace, type another L, space, keep going, I have to delete the entire wrong word.

The reason I am asking here is that I don't want to add misspelled words to the dictionary, I want to train the behavior of the Auto-Correct engine itself.

Is this possible?  I can't imagine that there's no capability for learning in that algorithm.  I dream of a time when I can just mash away at the keyboard, and the computer just knows what I mean and records my rhoughts (There's another one:  it gets instantly set to 'roughest' instead of 'thoughts') accordingly.

You can use the text replacement feature OS X has. To get to it, open System Preferences and choose the Keyboard settings. Head over to the Text section and add as many typo corrections as you please. For your particular examples, you would click the + and put "wil" in replace and "will" in with; "rhoughts" and "thoughts".


Can I format the internal HDD in my iMac if using an external drive for the OS? I have an iMac Mid 2014, I am looking to use an SSD as an external bootable drive as per this video.
This will result in the old internal drive showing up in finder with the old OS files and therefore is it possible to format this so I can use it for backup storage? Is there any advantage to keeping this internal drive as is with the OS files that are not used on there? would they be required for recovery in future?

is it possible to format this so I can use it for backup storage?

Definitely. You can use Disk Utility for that.

Is there any advantage to keeping this internal drive as is with the OS files that are not used on there?

An advantage is that you'll be able to boot the machine if the external drive ever fails.

would they be required for recovery in future?

I suggest that you leave the Recovery partition alone and only reformat Macintosh HD.


How to get Time Machine disk to backup itself? How to get Time Machine disk to backup itself (ie, non-Backups.backupdb on the Time Machine disk)?

Specifically: I moved my /Users folder to a separate parition, a parition that also houses Time Machine backups (for my boot-SSD parition in /Users/Backups.backupdb).  I also want to Time-Machine backup the /Users/ folders, but Time Machine won't (thus far) let me backup folders/files on the same disk where the Time-Machines backups are stored.

From one standbpoint, it makes sense to keep physically-different disks.  (I employ multiple Time-Machine disks for this purpose, including for system above.)  However, most backup needs are not due to physical-drive failure, but a "logical/soft" fault (usually me accidently deleting files), and as such, enabling the backups above would prove quite valuable.

It sounds like you're trying to recreate something Time Machine already does via its "Local Snapshots" feature (see here and here for info).  Basically, all you need to do is configure your Mac to back up to an external drive, and then whenever that drive isn't available it'll make local snapshots instead (as long as there's disk space available).


OSX and Windows Bootcamp give different system information I have a Mac mini late 2012 running the i5 2.5 processor. In the mac system information it has number of cores - 2, however if I boot to Windows 7 on the bootcamp partition the system information shows i5 2.5 with 4 cores.

Im inclined to assume OS X is going to be more accurate and correct, but does anyone know why this might be showing as different?

That is a dual core processor (Ivybridge Core i5 2.5GHz 3210M). I am guessing that Apple's system information is telling you about the physical cores and Windows is including hyper-threading which lets you run two tasks per core.


Buying from the App Store at work Our company has various Mac computers that need to purchase software from the Mac App Store. This includes Apple software like Keynote or the Lion update, but also apps from third-party developers.

Currently we have one Apple id linked to the company credit card which we use to make purchases. However, we're only charged once per app (good for us; bad for the developer) and we suspect there might be a device limit.

What is the recommended or right way of purchasing from the App Store at work?

When you buy an app on the Mac App Store, you’re getting the rights to
  run that program on any Macs you own and operate, for your personal
  use. Basically, if your household has a half-dozen different Macs,
  including desktops and laptops, you can buy a copy of Gratuitous Space
  Battles and play it on every single one of them. Consider a purchase
  of consumer software via the Mac App Store to be a bit like buying a
  household site license for the app.

  The situation is slightly different for apps that are considered
  commercial or professional in nature. For apps that fall into this
  category—Aperture’s a good example—the Mac App Store license says that
  you essentially can install that item on computers you use or on a
  single computer shared by multiple people. Basically think of it as a
  one-seat license for a pro app.

  In other words, the Mac App Store’s purchasing system is not designed
  so that a podcasting company can spend $15 for GarageBand and equip 30
  different Macs with a copy. But if you want to buy a game and put it
  on your desktop Mac, your laptop, your wife’s laptop, and your
  daughter’s laptop, go for it.

Find the full article here :
http://www.macworld.com/article/157018/2011/01/appstore_licensing.html


Recording video to MacBook Pro I have an RCA feed with video. I'd like to capture this video to my Mac. I am looking for a mobile solution, something that does not require a wall plug, although battery power is OK. What methods exist to capture video on a laptop?

Here is a solution (mini portable VCR) that does not use a computer, but if I can get it into my Mac for around that price, it would be preferred.

The Elgato Video Capture takes video from a standard 3-plug RCA feed and records it to your Mac or PC in H.264 (they provide the recording software). It is USB-powered. $99 list, $79 Amazon.


Yosemite - Change default C and fortran compilers I am struggling to build a climate model that depends heavily on C and Fortran compilers installed on the machine.

I installed XCode and its default compilers, but I had to install more recent versions from MacPorts since I need updated compilers.

Therefore, I currently have two distinct versions of the compilers installed on my Mac (using here gcc as an example, but it is the same with gfortran):

gcc, from XCode, installed on /usr/local/bin/gfortran

gcc-mp-4.9, from MacPorts, installed on /opt/local/bin/gcc-mp-4.9

What I need to do is to set gcc-mp-4.9 as the default gcc compiler of the system, for any purpose at all. I created an alias on my bash.profile:

alias gcc='gcc-mp-4.9'

which works if I just type gcc on terminal. However, if I type "which gcc", the system still detects the old version:

$ which gcc
/usr/bin/gcc

which causes me some troubles, because most of the libraries I have to build rely on the output of 'which' to determine the compiler to be used.

Without removing /usr/bin/gcc or creating symblic links, is there any way to indicate to the system that gcc-mp-4.9 is the default gcc compiler for any occasion?

Thanks in advance,
Thiago.

After some deeper research, I came up with the solution. I solved this problem by using MacPorts:

sudo port select --set gcc mp-gcc49

So, problem solved!


How to migrate data to new iMac with SSD + HD? I just got a new iMac with 256G SSD + 2T regular HD.

The data on my old computer is bigger than 256G

Not only that, but the Migration Assistant seems to want to migrate-to the SSD only.

Advice?

EDIT
I wasn't clear -- I know which data I want on which device, I was trying to cajole MigrationAssistant into splitting it up for me.

It turns out that the problem was my misunderstanding of "migration."  I thought it was "migrate your system from old machine to new", but it's really "migrate your user-prefs & settings (mail, printers, etc.) to a new system", with an implied "all that data stuff is yours to deal with."

MigrationAssistant will move "other files" if you want, but I guess I wasn't getting that this was sort of an "oh, by the way" thing, and not its main function.

First, I'd suggest making a plan for deciding what data is going where. A simple starting point is put all your media (particularly videos) on the hard drive, since it often accounts for the bulk of the data and benefits less from the speed of the SSD.

Secondly, you can customize what data Migration assistant brings over. Have it transfer your apps and settings, and maybe the basics from your home directory, then once you've got your system up and running you can transfer the rest either by running Migration Assistant again, or manually via Target Disk mode.

Another option, if you have a bunch of data (enough to get you under the 256GB barrier) that you know you're going to be putting on the HD, is to transfer it manually first (or to a backup drive), then delete it and run Migration Assistant without any exclusions.


Mount and repair disk not recognized (Timed out waiting) I’ve a 525 GB Crucial SSD that I can’t mount. It appears only greyed out on Disk Utility but not in Finder or Desktop.
Here's the disk description by diskutil list
/dev/disk2 (external, physical):
   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
   0:      GUID_partition_scheme                        *525.1 GB   disk2
   1:                        EFI EFI                     209.7 MB   disk2s1
   2:                  Apple_HFS SSD500                  524.1 GB   disk2s2
   3:                 Apple_Boot Recovery HD             650.0 MB   disk2s3

diskutil verifyDisk /dev/disk2 and diskutil repairDisk /dev/disk2 say The partition map appears to be OK

I tried to mount the disk with diskutil mount /dev/disk2 but I got Volume on disk2 timed out waiting to mount

I tried using diskutil mount readOnly /dev/disk2 but I also got Volume on disk2 timed out waiting to mount

I tried to force mount the disk with a specific filesystem using mount force -t Apple_HFS /dev/disk2 but nothing.

At the end I wrote diskutil repairVolume /dev/disk2 but I got this error that I didn't know:
Error starting file system repair for disk2: Invalid request (-69886)

Here's a gpt output from sudo gpt -r show /dev/disk2 if needed:
start        size  index  contents
           0           1         PMBR
           1           1         Pri GPT header
           2          32         Pri GPT table
          34           6
          40      409600      1  GPT part - C12A7328-F81F-11D2-BA4B-00A0C93EC93B
      409640  1023669408      2  GPT part - 48465300-0000-11AA-AA11-00306543ECAC
  1024079048      262144
  1024341192     1269536      3  GPT part - 426F6F74-0000-11AA-AA11-00306543ECAC
  1025610728           7
  1025610735          32         Sec GPT table
  1025610767           1         Sec GPT header

There're some alphanumeric codes wrongs? What could I do?
I think that the problem is on the disk2s2 Volume (Apple_HFS SSD500)..maybe enter in Safe Mode and use fsck could be useful? Thanks in advance.

A "time out" means that a command was sent and the system is waiting for a response but didn't get one. Instead of waiting forever, a period of time is hard coded into the utility (diskutil) to wait and once it's reached, it generates the error.
Also, when you see "invalid request" as a response from your disk it means that the controller didn't understand what was supposed to be very much valid.  These two conditions are indicative of a failing (or failed) hardware.
If you have a failing component like the SATA controller on the drive (it's what bridges the SATA interface on the logic board to memory modules in the SSD), you'll never get it working. It may be intermittent where it works for a while but then fails again.  It's like having transmission where all gears but one have some broken teeth on them. You can change the fluid all you want and reprogram the transmission computer, but it won't fix the broken part(s). You might get it working (the unbroken teeth on the gears line up), but hardware failures are pretty much permanent; it'll fail again.
What will happen is you'll have a nice clean "fixed" drive ready to fail at the worst moment. It's better to just spend the $40-60USD and get a new drive and have the piece of mind your data is not at risk.
Possible Recovery
You might still be able to recover the data, but I don't advise doing it on the device itself.  Instead, make an image of the drive and work off of that.   You will need:

A working MacBook that one with a new SSD and clean install is fine.  You can also use a friends.  One that you can leave alone for a while to do recovery operations

A USB3 to SATA cable. This will allow you interface with the drive without having to open up a Mac to connect it to the SATA bus.  Ideally, you want USB3 for the higher transfer speeds.  You can use USB2, but it will take considerably longer.

Recovery Software like DiskDrill (I've used this personally with very good success) or Disk Warrior (other have reported success).  The diagnostic features of these utilities are free so you can use them to see if the data is recoverable. If you want to recover the data, you can purchase a license key that will unlock it.  If you're data isn't recoverable then you're not out any money.

You want to work on an image instead of the device itself.  Stressing out the drive can only compound the problem. It's like our transmission with broken teeth on the gears - continuing to run it will only make it worse, not better.  Same with electronic components - there may be no more spinning drives, but passing electric current, which generates heat through failing components isn't doing them any favors.
You can use the built-in dd command to make an image.
$ sudo dd if=rdiskX of=/path/to/disk.img bs=4M

This will make an image of your drive wherever you decide to put it (i.e. your Desktop - ~/Destktop/disk.image).  Then run your recovery software on the image.  Note:  This is a "set it and forget it" type of operation so, it's going to take some time.  But, once you have the file, you'll be able to copy it and move it and do your operations on it without running the risk of further data loss.


How to undo pressing Don't Trust on Apple Watch I want to test out my watch app on Xcode. So I plugged my iPhone paired with an Apple Watch Series 2 into my computer. The iPhone displayed a dialog saying whether to trust this computer or not, I clicked on trust and the iPhone is properly displayed in Xcode. In a minute the same popup appeared on my Watch, however I accidentally clicked Don't Trust on the Apple Watch, now the watch doesn't show up in Xcode. Usually to fix this for iPhone I would just plug the phone into the computer again, but I tried that, and the popup did not reappear on my Watch.

Is there a way to trust my computer again without erasing all datas on the Watch?

I got the same message on my Apple Watch and responded "Don't Trust" since I had no idea what computer was trying to connect. Then I read this article so opened the Console app on my Mac. Initially it didn't show my Apple Watch under Devices. I think I had to connect my iPhone to my computer first before both my iPhone and Apple Watch showed up, the latter with an exclamation icon due to the "Don't Trust" response.

I disconnected my iPhone from my computer and restarted the iPhone. I then reconnected it to my computer to check the status in Console again. I got the "Trust this computer" prompt on my Apple Watch again. After responding "Trust" this time and entering my PIN, the warning icon disappeared in Console after a few moments.

It should be noted that there may be delays before the Apple Watch shows up in Console. I think opening Xcode seems to hasten the discovery process but I'm not sure. Also, I have yet to see any Apple Watch log entries in Console.


Can a MacBookPro6,1 drive a Dell U2713HM via DisplayPort? I have a 17" MacBook Pro with mini-DisplayPort output - the model before Thunderbolt. On that basis buying a Thunderbolt display is out. It has switched Intel HD/Nvidia GT 330M graphics.

Dell have a new 27" model, the U2713HM - like the U2711 it has a multitude of inputs and it looks like it should be usable with my Mac if I just get a mini-DisplayPort to DisplayPort cable. I think this is the one because it is affordable and the anti-glare coating is reported to be excellent compared to the heavy, sparkly U2711's coating. All the reviewers who aren't concerned with gaming love it, those that do note that the 22ms input lag is better than the 2711 has but is still pretty bad.

But has anyone actually done it? VGA, DVI and Thunderbolt I know about, but I want to be sure about this monitor before buying it. If I need to upgrade the Mac to drive a large external monitor that changes everything and the Thunderbolt 27" is back in the picture.

The answer is yes - using the Monoprice 3ft DisplayPort to Mini DisplayPort cable it works perfectly.

Before the cable arrived I used DVI, through the Apple Mini DisplayPort to Dual-Link DVI Adapter - adapters with firmware version 1.03 work reliably though 1.02 did not. Apple replaced mine because of this, see support bulletin here. It's nice to put the bulky adapter and bulky DVI cable away.


Git Config Error in Xcode When I opened xcode and tried to make a macosx app, this weird message came up.

Is this a glitch or a virus, as Apple wouldn't say something like this. It does not look like a system message.

No, this isn't a virus1.

It seems that your name and email address are not set up properly in Git. Go to Xcode Preferences and then Accounts, select the repository, and check the username.

You can also do this via the command line:

git config --global user.email "you@example.com"
git config --global user.name "Your Name"

1: The message content can be found in /Library/Developer/CommandLineTools/usr/libexec/git-core/git (git version 2.7.4 (Apple Git-66) lines 11416-11424).


Terminal colors in Mavericks I am trying to get terminal colors working in 10.9. I have tried ls -G, I have tried exporting CLICOLOR=1, I have set a bunch of different TERM settings and none of it works.  Anyone know what the magic incantation is?

The default ls program on Mavericks is BSD ls, and ls -G is the magic incantation. The ls program included in GNU Core Utilities lists with color when using the --color=auto flag, ls --color=auto. If you've possibly installed Core Utilities and neither of these work, try firing up a default Terminal.app profile (Basic, for example) and see if that works.


Messages.app (Mac) does not play sound when message received Why does Messages.app on my Mac (Yosemite) fail to play a sound when a message is received?

On my Mac, I'm hearing sound from other apps. I hear a sound when I drag the "Output volume" in System Preferences > Sound > Output.

I hear the ding sound when messages simultaneously arrive on my iPhone and iPad.

In Messages > Preferences > General > Message received sound I have the popup set to "Note (Default)". Changing that popup does not help.

In System Preferences > Notifications > Messages > Play sound for notifications is checked. Unchecking and rechecking does not help.

The only odd thing, the only clue, is that in System Preferences > Notifications > Messages I found the Messages alert style icons had "None" selected but nonetheless have been seeing the Alerts style notifications appear upon new messages. Perhaps there is some kind of settings file not being updated, and needs to be trashed?

I had the same problem and I found that in System Preferences> Sound> Sound Effects:  The "Alert volume" was set at zero.  Adjusting it up solved my problem.


Can brew find / manage packages installed by manually binary download + install? I  manually downloaded quite some software on my Mac, and now I want to use brew to manage all my packages.

But I don't seem to be able to find the manually installed software, maybe I missed some steps? How can I let brew manage them?

Assuming what you downloaded manually was with brew, just do brew list, you can see what you've installed using brew. Then just do brew uninstall packageNameHere to get rid of what you don't want.


iTerm2 applies strange color to vim's default When I updated my iTerm2 recently in November (the main release, not nightly-build), colors are rendered strange. Fortunately, I restored old iTerm2 in the trash can, and made a comparison.

In each of the four pictures, the left penal is a tex file, the right a cpp file, and the terminal's theme is always Tango dark, with no additional alteration.
In such order, they are: October iTerm2 with "default" color of vim's; October iTerm2 with "koehler" color of vim's; November iTerm2 with "default" color of vim's; November iTerm2 with "koehler" color of vim's.

Compared with the 1st picture, I am sure the 3rd picture has something wrong, but the 2nd and 4th are similar.
So it seems the "default" scheme of vim is rendered incorrectly, and I found that it is not the only color scheme affected, like "desert" is also different, but I am not going to post so many pictures here for sake of space.

So, is it true that iTerm2 makes some mistake in interpreting vim's color settings? If it doesn't, why is 1st and 3rd pictures so different, and what's wrong?
If it does, is there some way to make iTerm2 apply correct color for "default" in the old manner, since I like it (1st picture, right panel).
You might think me fussy, but I use vim in iTerm2 every day.
Or the best advice for me is that I never shall update and stick to old iTerm2 from now on?

Because set termguicolors in .vimrc is not set.

This is how I understand it; correct if I am wrong.
A terminal emulator may either use ANSI colors or the terminal's own color palette.
Mac's native Terminal can only achieve the former; iTerm2 can do both.
With termguicolors off, iTerm2 uses ANSI colors.
After termguicolors is set on, it uses its own GUI colors.
Colors becomes more vivid, as is in the screenshot.

Only when I converted to "solarized" color scheme did this suddenly occur to me.
Still, you can see in the picture, it seems that newer version of iTerm2 has lighter color.
Never mind. I am a "solarized" fan now.


MacBook Pro (Retina, 13-inch) El Capitan I have a Macbook Pro Retina 13 inch.
I have recently lost my notifications in the notification centre. The "
today" tab functions but my "notifications" bar has nothing. The banners from notifications pop up but they are not saved in the "notifications" tab. I have attempted killing and restarting the notifications centre through Terminal but to no avail. Please help! TIA

Check in your System settings >> Notifications on the left side on the Panel if Do to disturbed is in any way activated. Also check from which app you need Notifications and activate it.

Also you should look in the settings of Security >> Privacy if Notifications from your apps are disabled.


Reduce memory usage in OS X Lion I have a summer-2006 iMac with 2Gb memory. I use it mainly for "mainstream usage" :

browse the web (including web-based applications such as Gmail)
access a remote server (through screen sharing / ssh)
Skype

I do not wish to upgrade the hardware soon as it works fine; upgrading the memory is difficult where I live as I could not find the appropriate memory. Since I upgraded to Lion (though this was happening in 10.6 too), I sometimes have problems when I do 2 things simultaneously (web + Skype for instance) and fall into the karma wheel + swapping slowliness.

My question is the following: how could I just reduce memory usage simply as I do not need any eye candy transitions or such new features that may be consuming the memory I have. what are the obvious things to do to be on a memory diet?

I doubt you have summer 2006 iMac. Those models are all Core Duo and don't support Lion. And by the way they don't support more than 2GB of RAM anyway.

Only thing you can do about memory usage is to turn any service in System Preferences that you don't need especially under Sharing tab and watch for autologin items in Accounts tab.

Also you may uninstall Adobe Flash to make browsing more responsive. Or go back to Snow Leopard or even Tiger(though it's poorly supported now).


What other materials, apart from flesh, can you use to interact with an iPhone Touchscreen? The other day I was in my car and though I'm a little unsure about what candy bar wrapper I used but I believe I moved my screen using a candy bar wrapper.  I keep thinking it was a York Peppermint Patty wrapper, but I could be wrong about that, either that or a Laura Bar wrapper.

I'm told an iPhone has a Capacitance Touch Screen which is different from earlier models of touch screen which relied on clicking or something else, but it's clearly not the same thing.

Using the old screens you could use a paper clip or whatever to interact with the phone, but with an iPhone it's the tip of your finger, and apparently a few other materials.

In particular I'm interested in being able to tap with it.

I have several pens with a "rubber" type end that work the screens fine.

Must be a material that is treated...


Spotlight re-indexing takes too long or doesn't work Issue
After forcing Spotlight to reindex, no files or directories can be found.
Setup
I've got a MacBook Pro 15" 2017 with a 512 GB SSD: 250 GB main volume (36 free) and a BOOTCAMP partition (not indexed), running macOS High Sierra (10.13.6). The file system is APFS.
How it happened
I wanted to force a Spotlight re-indexing (because a file, that was definitely in place, was missing in Search), so I added the whole volume to System Preferences -> Spotlight -> Privacy, and then removed it from there (Apple Support link), which should've caused a full Spotlight reindex. It did. a bunch of mdworker processes appeared and started consuming CPU time and reading stuff from disk (which is expected).
Then they stopped. They are still there but they don't seem to be doing anything judging by the CPU load / disk usage stats.
And yet, now I can't find ANY files. Spotlight doesn't output any files / directories at all. It only outputs other stuff like visited emails, Dictionary suggestions, etc. Search (in Finder) doesn't work either.
What I tried:

Waiting for ~12 hours. I can't believe indexing ~220 Gb of content on a 3Gb/s SSD takes so long. Especially considering the zero CPU load.

Rebooting the mac (didn't help) and repeating the whole sequence again, waiting a few seconds before removing the disk from "Privacy" and waiting for quite a long time again.

running sudo mdutil -E / with the same effect as before (high CPU load -> no CPU load -> nothing is indexed).

By the way, running mdutil -s / returns Indexing enabled.
There's no "Indexing" bar in my Spotlight window, if that's important.
Questions
Is there anything else I could try other than waiting for the problem to solve itself or updating to Mojave? Maybe there are more verbose Spotlight logs somewhere or something?
Possibly related question (no answer): Spotlight borked after macOS Sierra update (AskDifferent).

OK, I solved it, it seems...

The Solution

Run

sudo /System/Library/Frameworks/CoreServices.framework/Frameworks/LaunchServices.framework/Support/lsregister -kill -seed -lint -r -f -v -dump -domain local -domain system -domain user -domain network

killall Dock

sudo mdutil -E /

Not sure if all of these are needed, but that's what worked for me. The first command resets the Launch Sservices Database, the second one resets the Dock, and the third one triggers Spotlight reindexing.

Note that before that I tried running

/System/Library/Frameworks/CoreServices.framework/Versions/A/Frameworks/LaunchServices.framework/Versions/A/Support/lsregister -kill -r -domain local -domain system -domain user

instead of the first command, and it didn't help. To be more precise, it seemed to have fixed search, but not spotlight.

I also tried sudo rm -R .Spotlight-V100/ suggested in the comments to the question, but it didn't help either.

Details

the issue was in the Launch Services Database. I figured it out by looking at the Console app. There were tons of messages like

errore  16:19:03.743202 +0100   mds LaunchServices: store or url (null) was nil -10813, retrying
errore  16:19:03.743247 +0100   mds LaunchServices: Database mapping failed with result -10813, retries = 7

I found this thread, which led me to trying to reset the Launch Services Database. First I tried the command above that failed. Then I found a fuller (it seems) version of that command, which is posted in the first code block in the "Solution" section above.


Repeated applications under Open With Menu Possible Duplicate:
  Why does my Mac’s list of “Open with” applications start listing the apps twice and sometimes three times?

When I right-click on a file and select Open With option, I see many repeated applications:

How do I get rid of these repeated options?

Open Terminal and type the following

  /System/Library/Frameworks/CoreServices.framework/Frameworks/LaunchServices.framework/Support/lsregister -kill -r -domain local -domain system -domain user

Then restart or log out and log back in, this should fix the problem.


Mac Book Pro 3,1 uneven startup behavior - sometimes start between 5min to 30min after pushing power button First of all, my Mac Book Pro won't start up after going to sleep mode - all black screen etc. When I choose power down from the menu, well, it doesn't power down completely. The hard drive is still running. Only when I hold down the power button will it power down properly. When I try to boot, the Mac book simply won't turn on; nothing happens until I keep pushing and pushing several times then it turns on, but there is no pattern to how many times I have to push the button. The super strange thing is that it sometimes turns on after a good while, say anything from between 5 min - 30m - 1 hour AFTER I've pushed the power button. And the Mac Book prior to that has no sign of being in sleep mode or anything at all, no heat or anything - just cold and dead. Then I turn my back and then as if nothing has happened it boots up!? I've tried several routines like taking off the power cord, dropping the battery, then holding down the power button for several seconds before then applying the power cord and again putting in the battery, etc. Sometimes this has an effect, sometimes not. Sometimes it seems it helps to take off the powercord immediately after pushing the power button several times, but maybe it's just luck. It also seems that my right USB is recognising devices slower than before and sometimes not at all. My left usb is dead.

Once you've gotten your backup - get into Disk Utility and try to repair the disk / consider an erase install. It will likely fail (unless the delay was caused by a very unlikely file system corruption or startup conflict).

Dropping a clean install - only the OS will let you know right away if the Hard Drive (HDD) can take new data or if other hardware issues are causing the half hour delay. Something fairly destructive is needed to cause a mac to take that long to successfully boot. Take it to a hardware tech if you have any doubts how to troubleshoot this, but odds are it's storage related.


Thunderbolt Port + External Display + Other Devices I've recently been reading about new peripherals for the Mac (such as this). I'm very attached to using an external display, but since the DisplayPort is now combined with Thunderbolt, how is it expected that we use an external display and a device?

As I understand it, Thunderbolt supports daisy chaining up to 7 devices, but it would appear that the display/device doesn't support this. Are we going to start seeing ThunderBolt "hubs" anytime soon, or am I asking this question too early?

Thunderbolt is different than other connectors in that there are two 10 Gbps signals multiplexed on one physical connector/cable assembly. The DisplayPort signal will go down the chain of devices uninterrupted so the full DP bandwidth will get to the monitor that will ultimately end up at the end of the device chain. Of course new display hardware could be released to add a hub / further Thunderbolt connections - but existing DP monitors should work as described.

All the rest of the devices will share in the PCIe bandwidth - sort of like how existing system boards have multiple PCI slots operating at full speed. Until vendors start shipping real devices with hubs and connectors - we are limited to speculation and browsing the engineering/marketing materials released by Intel and Apple.

From what I've read, the initial devices will be like FireWire devices - two Thunderbolt ports per device - one to the computer and one for the next device to connect down the chain. The bi-directional, hot-pluggable, dual-channel cables with substantial bus power means the best aspects of FireWire could be commonplace as a much more powerful standard for years to come.


iPhone 7 - cannot obtain IP address from home WIFI My building “upgraded” our WiFi router and ever since, my iPhone cannot connect to the internet through the network even though other devices are successful. It will connect to the router, but there’s no actual internet access and sometimes will say “can not obtain IP address”. I pulled up the network details on my computer and Xbox that both connect without a problem and I noticed that the subnet mask on my iPhone will show 255.255.0 rather than 255.255.255.0. What does this mean or what is it telling me?

I have tried setting up static IP addresses as well, but this subnet mask issue still happens each time.

Reset network settings on the iPhone

Go to Settings.
Tap General.
Scroll down to and tap on Reset.
Choose the option to Reset network settings.
If prompted, enter your passcode to proceed.
Then tap the option to confirm that you want to reset network settings on your iPhone.

When the reset is finished, your iPhone should restart on its own and then loads up the original network configurations. Don’t forget to reconnect to your Wi-Fi network to get back online and use online services.


Tracing the source of "There was a problem connecting to the server" alerts After upgrading from MacOS 10.6 to 10.8, I keep getting alerts on my MBP saying "There was a problem connecting to the server xyz".  The thing is, there is no longer a machine called "xyz" on my network (I've renamed it to something else in hopes of eliminating/diagnosing this problem).

After googling around a bit, I suspect that the culprit is an association of a file type with an application that is on the xyz machine (that I have previously run on my MBP after mounting xyz:/Applications). When these alerts pop out, I see (via top) that a time-machine-induced mdworker is active (seemingly confirming that it's trying to use the remote application to extract information from a local file).

Is there some way that I can confirm what process is actually generating the alerts? Is there a better way of diagnosing their source?

Update: I was never able to figure out what was actually generating the alert, but I was able to abate it by doing a complete re-install of 10.8 (via the recovery boot option). To my surprise -- in addition to eliminating the alerts -- this didn't even require any recovery of my apps/files from backup (not that you should try this without having everything backed up!)

I am getting this as well. The only way to remove it is to re-install OSX, and then it re-appears if I try to install software. Odd ...


Create a symlink pointing to a variable filepath I am using MacVim installed via homebrew. The absolute path to the app is /usr/local/Cellar/macvim/xxxxxx/MacVim.app, with xxxxxx the version number. MacVim version number is updated often.

Now I like my app to be accessible through the Dock and the Launchpad. I have created a symlink in /Applications pointing to /usr/local/Cellar/macvim/8.2-163_2/MacVim.app (for now) so MacVim.app is visible in the Launchpad, and I dragged the symlink in the Dock to access it quickly. Of course, next time MacVim is updated, the version will change and I will have to fix the symlink.

What can I do to have a more permanent solution that does not require fixing the symlink every time MacVim is updated?

The solution I thought could work:

Use a crontab to regularly update the symlink
Or use launchctl to do the same
Configure homebrew, if possible, to use the same directory always
Configure homebrew to hook some script after updating MacVim to update symlink
Create a node with custom driver that open(), read() and close() the right file

I implemented solution #1 and #2 in the past, but I find it quite messy. Every minute, the command to update the symlink is run, but 99.99% of the time it does nothing Looks more like a hacky solution to me. If possible, I would prefer to run the command when it is needed only. Solution #3 and #4 are much better, but I haven't found anything about hook in homebrew. And solution #5 seems a bit hardcore for such a trivial task.

Or am I missing something obvious?

A bit more explanations as requested in comment

Solution 1

A one line command in the crontab can be used:

* * * * * ln -fs "$(find '/usr/local/Cellar/macvim' -name 'MacVim.app' | head -n 1)" /Applications/MacVim.app

Solution 2

Same as crontab, but using a scheduled task. I don't find this solution particularly better than the crontab except it is using a more "modern" scheduler.

Solution 3 and 4

That's a guess, but I was hoping there were some feature in homebrew to run a command after a package is being updated. Then I would simply run the same command as in the crontab when MacVim is updated. What I like with this solution, is that the command is only run when it is needed, not every minute.

Solution 5

I haven't looked in depth in this solution as it is definitely more advanced. I only know it is possible to create a custom character device with a custom driver. The only requirement is to implement the open, read and close command. So technically, everytime the system asks for /Applications/MacVim.app, what it really does being the scene is to list the content of the folder /usr/local/Cellar/macvim, take the first folder in the list, and read the content of the MacVim.app file in the said folder. Similar to a symlink, but specific to my need.

Just symlink to /usr/local/opt/macvim/MacVim.app instead, this path remains stable (/usr/local/opt/macvim is a symlink maintained by HomeBrew which points to the currently installed version within /usr/local/Cellar/macvim).


How to mail link from mobile Safari to an Exchange address book entry? When selecting Mail Link to this Page from mobile Safari, no Exchange address groups are available when attempting to insert a recipient ("Choose a contact to mail").

Also, Outlook Personal Contacts are listed as part of the displayed All Contacts view, but not the Global Address List group. Contrast this with the mail-link case with Photos (native app) or Mercury browser.

Thank you.

ATT iPhone 4, iPad 1, iOS 5.0.1, 3G, WiFi

Outlook Personal Contacts do show in the Global Address List because the global contacts are controlled by the domain administrator. You'll have to browse All Contacts for the contacts you wish to share the page with.


How can I check to see if my Mac is running in dual channel mode? I've just upgraded my iMac's memory with a new 2x8GB kit:

Although I know this "should" be dual channel (as both banks have the same amount of RAM), I'd like to know for sure. How can I check?

Pretty simple.  Sorry if I go through stuff that you know but... you never know.

Dual Channel

Dual channel RAM is a chipset thing. DDRx is a RAM type.  DDR2 and 3 are NOT Dual nor Tri Channel RAM...  Your motherboard/chipset determines your Dual Channel ability.

So look up your motherboard's specs or use Crucial's System Scanner which is good stuff.  So if you are not sure if your system supports DC you can verify that there.

Dual Channel RAM

"If you have a dual-channel platform and you want to take advantage of the performance gain it offers, our advice is to simply purchase your DDR or DDR2 memory in pairs. However, be very careful to order two modules with the exact same specifications; the modules must be identical to each other to perform correctly. "

so Dual channel only works with two SO-DIMMS with the EXACT SAME specs

Here is more from macrumors.com/guides:

"All Intel Core Macs support dual channel memory access if matching modules are installed. The customary estimate is that this gives a 6% - 8% real world performance benefit. The modules do not have to be the same brand. That means it is quite possible but not 100% guaranteed, that adding a 3rd party SODIMM to an Apple supplied SODIMM of the same size will make a matched pair."

Verification

you can click the Apple Menu at the top left, About This Mac then More Info then click System Report... click Memory on the left hand side.

If you want to get nuts you can use TechTool Pro (not verified on Lion) and get a very detailed report which I've attached images of below of my RAM.  This is just running a terminal command I'm sure - I just don't know it.

Point being is, there is not an indicator because ... if your system supports it, and the RAM is bought in identical pairs... its running Dual Channel.

Best of luck.

In the pics, all I'm doing is looking at the numbers besides the S/N and for peace of mind making sure they match.


iCloud says Password is Wrong Even Though I Know It's Right iCloud says that my password is wrong - even though I know it's right.

Here's whats happened: Yesterday, I reset my iCloud password. Got the reset email, changed password. Tried to log in to the account, didn't accept it. I thought that maybe my finger had slipped typing in the password (twice). I called support, got the reset email.

Now, here's the really, really weird thing: I wanted to make sure I got the password right - so I typed my password into TextEdit, copied it into the reset fields and reset the password. After reseting it, I immediately went to icloud.com and tried to log in using the copied password from TextEdit. The passwords are the same. iCloud won't let me in.

Not a solution just a verification.
Since you can not see the password, that you pasted or typed I sugest to verify what is in the password field.

For that
Open iCloud in Chrome
In the log in paste your password- But DO NOT try to log in.

Now to make it visible do following:
Right click on the password field and select "Inspect Element"

That will open a new window that looks like this

Move the cursor on the password field:
there will be a highlighted line in the bottom window as you can see:

Right click on the highlighted line and select
Edit Attribute

Now it will highlight the word "type", now you write "show" instead "type"

Magic, now it will show what is in you password field.


Windows key when running windows through virtual box on a mac I am running Windows 7 on a virtual image using virtualbox on my max osx.
I need to know what the windows key is on the mac keyboard.  Any tips?

By default it's the right ⌘ (Command) Key.

The left ⌘ (Command) Key does not work because it is set as the Host (Meta) Key in VirtualBox.

And they can be swapped simply by replacing the Host Key with the right ⌘ (Command) Key, in Preferences > Input > Virtual Machine > Host Key Combination.


Expand OS X partition I am using a Mac (OS X 10.10.3) that has a Windows and an OS X partition. From Windows, I shrunk the Windows partition using diskmgmt.msc freeing up about 60 GB. I would like to expand the OS X partition into this free space. Disk Utility seems have greyed out the size field of the partition.

Here is the output of sudo gpt -r show /dev/disk0:

start       size  index  contents
          0          1         PMBR
          1          1         Pri GPT header
          2         32         Pri GPT table
         34          6
         40     409600      1  GPT part - C12A7328-F81F-11D2-BA4B-00A0C93EC93B
     409640   96408680      2  GPT part - 53746F72-6167-11AA-AA11-00306543ECAC
   96818320    1269536      3  GPT part - 426F6F74-0000-11AA-AA11-00306543ECAC
   98087856       1104
   98088960  226988032      4  GPT part - EBD0A0A2-B9E5-4433-87C0-68B6B72699C7
  325076992  165157727
  490234719         32         Sec GPT table
  490234751          1         Sec GPT header

How do I expand it?

The recommended method to expand Macintosh HD is to backup and remove your Windows partition with WinClone, expanding your OS X volume and restoring the Windows partition. This can also be done with dd and fdisk. Both methods require an external drive.

A very non-conventional method exists to expand Macintosh HD by using the internal Logical Volume Manager (CoreStorage).

Your main volume is already part of a CS Logical Volume Group – probably because it's encrypted. This can be seen by checking the partition type of disk0s2: 53746F72-6167-11AA-AA11-00306543ECAC.

After adding a partition in the unallocated disk space, formatting it as JFHS+ volume and adding it as physical volume, you may expand the logical volume Macintosh HD into the free space of the now enlarged logical volume group.

The method outlined below was tested in a VM and it works. Since I can't install Windows with the Boot Camp Assistant in a VM I can't assure that Windows is bootable afterwards. If Windows booting fails you can use fdisk to modify the pMBR to make it bootable again.

Preparation:

Backup your data.
Detach any external drive (especially your external Time Machine backup drive).
Restart to Internet Recovery Mode by pressing alt cmd R at startup.
The prerequisites are the latest firmware update installed, either ethernet or WLAN (WPA/WPA2) and a router with DHCP activated.
On a 50 Mbps-line it takes about 4 min (presenting a small animated globe) to boot to a recovery netboot image which usually is loaded from an apple/akamai server.

I recommend ethernet because it's more reliable. If you are restricted to WIFI and the boot process fails, just restart your Mac until you succeed booting.

Alternatively you may start from a bootable installer thumb drive (Mavericks or Yosemite) or a thumb drive containing a full system (Mavericks or Yosemite). If you boot to a full system you have to prepend sudo using some commands (e.g. gpt or newfs_hfs)

Verify and repair the disk and the volumes with Disk Utility

Modify CoreStorage stack:

Open in the menubar Utilities/Terminal

First you should get an overview of your disks and the partition layout:
Enter diskutil list, diskutil cs list and gpt -r show /dev/disk0
Unmount the disk containing the logical volume Macintosh HD and you main disk. Below I assume the logical volume (residing in disk0s2) has the disk identifier disk2 – check your diskutil listing for the proper identifier and use that one below.

diskutil umountDisk disk2
diskutil umountDisk disk0

Add a partition in the unallocated disk space:

gpt add -b 325078016 -i 5 -s 165156696 -t 48465300-0000-11AA-AA11-00306543ECAC disk0

Format the new partition:

newfs_hfs -v "Expansion" -J /dev/rdisk0s5

Add the partition to the logical volume group. The lvgUUID (the UUID of the Logcal Volume Group) can be found in the diskutil cs listing:

diskutil cs addDisk lvgUUID /dev/disk0s5

Expand the logical volume. The lvUUID (the UUID of the Logcal Volume) can be found in the diskutil cs listing:

diskutil cs resizeVolume lvUUID 0g

0g is a magical number here and it will expand the LV to the max size.
Verify and repair the disk and the volumes with Disk Utility

The partition map finally looks like this:

start       size  index  contents
          0          1         PMBR
          1          1         Pri GPT header
          2         32         Pri GPT table
         34          6
         40     409600      1  GPT part - C12A7328-F81F-11D2-BA4B-00A0C93EC93B
     409640   96408680      2  GPT part - 53746F72-6167-11AA-AA11-00306543ECAC
   96818320    1269536      3  GPT part - 426F6F74-0000-11AA-AA11-00306543ECAC
   98087856       1104
   98088960  226988032      4  GPT part - EBD0A0A2-B9E5-4433-87C0-68B6B72699C7
  325076992       1024
  325078016  165156696      5  GPT part - 53746F72-6167-11AA-AA11-00306543ECA
  490234712          7
  490234719         32         Sec GPT table
  490234751          1         Sec GPT header

Your Macintosh HD will now span disk0s2 and disk0s5 (similar to a Fusion disk but with one disk only).


How can I clear unwanted music off of my iphone? My iphone shows me a variety of songs that I no longer want to have on it. iTunes does not show those items under 'Music' under the phone. I sync -- they're still there. What do I need to do to get rid of them? Contrary to various sources on the internet, sliding to the left on the song does not offer deletion, but starts to play it.

What's particularly vexatious is that I've got some Van Halen song on here. I've never seen it before. It does not show up on my Mac in itunes at all. I guess a child of mine might have purchased it.

I tried disabling icloud and setting up music syncing from itunes, and ran a sync, but that song and other undesirables persists.

These songs are iTunes purchases that are available for download but not currently on your iPhone. To hide these:

Settings > iTunes & App Store > Show All: Music = OFF


Is it bad to format your ssd many times? In the past two years, I have formatted my SSD many times and I started to wonder, is it bad? Does it harm your SSD every time you format?

Formatting your SSD is not particularly different from writing to it. I wouldn't worry about it.

If you'd like to know more about SSD lifetimes, check out this question:How long will an Apple SSD last?


Login to OneDrive OS X with School/Company account Is there a way to login and access your OneDrive account with the OneDrive application from the Mac Store with your school/company account? At the moment, my credentials are not recognized.

I didn't know there were two separate versions of OneDrive, one for schools/companies, that is called OneDrive Business and one for normal Microsoft Accounts that is just called OneDrive. According to the official homepage OneDrive for Business is not available (yet) for OS X. Although as stated here, it is coming and a preview version is available for download now. And fortunately, it works.

  OneDrive for Business is also making its debut on OS X today, in the form of a sync client available as a public preview from the Microsoft Download Center.


Snow Leopard Server 10.6.8 under Fusion 7.1.3 on Sierra 10.12.2 I have seen posts like Snow Leopard Server in Fusion VM: installation keeps failing on how to install Snow Leopard Server 10.6.8 on a VMware VM, but as best I can tell, the recommended solution is to create a .dmg file from the disk, and then do one of several things, including install Snow Leopard 10.6.4 or more recent. I also tried adding
cpuid.1.eax = "0000:0000:0000:0001:0000:0110:1010:0101" to the .vmx file without noted difference.

The behavior I have experienced both attempting to install directly from media, and attempting to install from a .dmg file created from that media per Snow Leopard Server in Fusion VM: installation keeps failing's first response, is that it seems to start booting or installing, asks which language to use to install, and then gives a dialogue that says, 'Mac OS X can't be installed on this computer. If you want to restore your system from a Time Machine backup, click "Restore From Backup."', with buttons saying 'Restore From Backup' and 'Restart'.

Is there a current HOWTO to install OSX Server 10.6.8 under Fusion 7.1.2 on 10.12.2?

Thanks,

I purchased a Mac Mini version that will only install to a Mac Mini, and even there it was unlikely. So I purchased instead an unlimited version. I expect and hope that it will work along the lines @user3439894 suggests.


Can I move Time Machine files from an external disk, reformat it, then restore the TM files? I have an external USB disk which is backing up my Mac using Time Machine. I need to reformat the external disk for an unrelated reason.

If I:

temporarily move the Time Machine files off the external disk
reformat the external disk, then
put the TM files back onto the external disk

will Time Machine continue to work? Or will I lose my existing Time Machine archive?

You can make an efficient copy of the Time Machine volume by using Disk Utility and making a disk image of the original volume. Store that image on the temporary storage / other drive as a single file. Once you've erased the original drive and partitioned it as you wish, then use Disk Utility to reverse the operation and restore the image to the new partition. That will erase anything on the new partition so do the restore first then add extra files as needed.

Time Machine will pick up and use the new destination and carry on with backups and cleanup operations assuming no corruption happens during the two copy events.

I would just get a cheap drive and do the first step. Once I've verified that the backup img file mounts and I can restore a sample file to my desktop from Time Machine, I'd just erase the intended drive and start over with backups.

Much easier that way and why spend the second half of the work - just archive that Time Machine data offline in case you need it down the road.


Is there a way to hide the text in the left hand column in Messages? I want to hide the text under the name of the contact in the Messages app. So in the example below, it would be the text that is below the name Matt Brian.

Is there a way to do this?

Yes, just drag the divider to the left.  It will shrink that area so that all you see is the names, not any of the text.


With an iPhone, is there a way to automatically sync photos taken with the camera to Picasa I would like all photos taken with the camera on my iPhone automatically synced to a private picasa web album.

What's the best way to do this? (jailbroken/cydia solutions if avail would work as well)

You can sync using iTunes' "Photo" tab, that would be two-way but isn't Picasa like you asked for. But if you set Picasa to scan that folder, then you'd have it.

Otherwise you could download photos from your phone to Picasa, but it's one-way only:

Connect your phone to the computer.
In Windows, click Start > Settings > Control Panel > Scanners and Cameras.
Right-click on "Apple iPhone" > Properties.
Click the tab "Events".
Click the radio button "Save pictures to this folder", and select a destination that Picasa scans. Then OK.


Why might a MacBook not detect an Apple A1152 Mighty Mouse? It seemed that the USB connection was OK.

Is there any way to solve this problem?

With a problem such as this, the first thing you must always try is to connect a different USB mouse. If one works, and the other doesn't, then the problem is almost certainly with a defective mouse, and not with the computer. This is a basic troubleshooting step known as "isolating the fault".

In all problems of this sort (not just with mice) you need to test with a second peripheral that you know is working correctly, which we refer to as the "known good" item.


Can I upgrade the RAM on my 2011 MacBook Pro I am planning to purchase a used MacBook Pro from someone, and the configuration is as mentioned:

MacBook Pro 15" (A1286) Late 2011
i7 2,2 GHz
8 GB RAM
500 GB HDD

Will I be able to upgrade the RAM to 16 GB for this model of MacBook?

Yes, the mentioned model of MacBook Pro is user upgradable.

The maximum RAM supported by the Late 2011 MacBook Pro is 16 GB. You can refer to the specifications for this model here:

Table of second generation MacBook Pro models

Look for the column corresponding to the mentioned model (Late 2011).

  Memory                       4 GB (two 2 GB)

  (Two slots)                 Expandable to 16 GB


Notification Center stuck in landscape orientation This screenshot pretty much says it all:

Notification Center seems stuck in landscape mode, based on the height and horizontal distance from the edge to the center pulldown arrow.

The date and top widget update correctly
I can interact with (what I can see of) the top widget
I can't swipe the arrow up to dismiss Notification Center
I can't interact with the visible screen "behind" Notification Center

The home button dismisses Notification Center as usual. This behavior has persisted across several restarts.

Interestingly, I can't bring down Notification Center while in real landscape mode. I can get the little arrow tab to come down, but in the wrong spot:

...but pulling down on the tab just dismisses it.

Is there anything I can do to troubleshoot this short of a restore?

iPhone 5, iOS 8.3.

Something similar happened to me once like this. Try a hard restart by holding both the power and the home buttons until you see the Apple icon appear on the screen. Let me know if that works.


iPhone 3GS lost and can’t use Find my iPhone My iPhone 3GS was lost and I don't have any iOS device to login and erase the data.

I logged in using the browser on my Windows PC but it says I need an iOS device to locate my phone. Can I erase the data I have in the phone in any other way?

You can use any browser to go to https://www.icloud.com/#find & track the phone, play sound, erase it or lock it - so long as you know your AppleID & password.

If not, start at iforgot.apple.com


How can I kill my iPhone when my location service is turned off? My iPhone 5 was stolen and my location service was turned off but I have Find My iPhone enabled. I have been trying to put my iPhone on lost mode but it appears to be offline. Is there any way I can track it or kill the iPhone perhaps?

If the iPhone has no power, there is nothing you can do as it cannot be found.
Find My Iphone only works with an iPhone turned on.

You could check regularly if they power on the iPhone, you can put it on the loud sound or clean it remotely. Offline/Without power there is nothing you can do.

If your iPhone was running iOS7 and iCloud is enabled the thieves cannot restore the iPhone, so they cannot sell it.


What CAD software is depicted in screenshot This screenshot (source here) apparently depicts a CAD software (German version) for macOS. Which software is it?

The software is called SketchUp. I believe this may be the pro version.


Open files using Text Edit by default I have a series of files with arbitrary names and extensions. Like:

APW19981017.0151
APW19981017.0306
APW19981017.0477
APW19981017.0507
APW19981018.0410
NYT19981017.0177
NYT19981018.0098
NYT19981018.0123
NYT19981018.0160
NYT19981018.0185

I want these files to open with an editor, like TextMate or Sublime Text, on double-clicking, without having to right-click and choosing the editor from applications.

Basically the Finder should open any unknown extension file with the text editor.

Since the file extensions are all different, you will need to batch edit all the file extensions in order to have TextEdit be used as default. Clicking "change all" on one would not work:

Assuming all the files are in the same folder and are text files, you can use a terminal command to batch edit the extensions so TextEdit opens them by default.
To do so, open Terminal and do the following, replacing the /path/to/folder with the folder containing these files:

cd /path/to/folder
for file in *; do mv "$file" "${file}.txt"; done

e.g. "APW.01" becomes "APW.01.txt"

Alternative, cleaner solution: a sequential rename adding .txt to each file.

cd /path/to/folder; i=1;for f in *; do mv "$f" "APW_0$i.txt";let i++; done

Before:

After:


How to watch movies on iPad? Here is the setup:
I have an iPad air 2 and a server in my homenetwork that runs torrent client Transmission and a Plex-server.

I use the server to stream media to the iPad while i'm home, direct media to my chromecast etc.

I need to solve two issues:

Sometimes I want to add new torrents to the transmission-client on the server. From a computer, I currently do this using the transmission web-service.
Sometimes I want to download movies to my iPad and watch them while I'm not home.

Plex Media Server offers "sync" functionality to devices if you have a Plex Pass subscription (starts at $3.99/month, less per month for longer subscription periods). You initiate the sync either from the Plex web app or device by selecting movie(s) to sync, and it then transcodes your selected media into a format appropriate for iPad. You then open the iOS app to download it directly to the device. See Quick Guide to Plex Sync for a run-through.

For adding torrents, the best solution I've found is to use Dropbox. If you don't already have a Dropbox account, set one up. Download the Dropbox client onto your server.

In the Mac menu bar, a new icon of an open box will appear. Tap on that, then tap on the folder icon to the left to open the Dropbox folder. Here, create a folder called "torrents" (or whatever you like).

In Transmission, go to Preferences > Transfers and set the Auto Add directory to the Dropbox directory you just created, which will be stored locally at /Users/yourusername/Dropbox/torrents/ or whatever you called it.

On the iPad, install the Dropbox client. Next time you want to add a torrent, act as if you're downloading it to the iPad. Since you can't actually download files to the iPad, the screen will change to show the filename, and will have a "Open in Dropbox" link at the top-right. Tap on that, then select the torrents folder you created in Dropbox. Tap Save at the upper right.

After a few seconds, the file will sync to Dropbox from the iPad, then from Dropbox to your server. Since Transmission is watching the directory where it will appear on your server, it will be picked up and automatically added.

There's a few steps involved in setting this workflow up, but once done, it's maintenance-free.


Mechanism to sync mail accounts between Mac and iPhone Is there a way for me to create an account using my Mac's Mail app and have the account sync over to my iPhone or vice versa? I have iCloud setup on both my Mac and iPhone, but I don't see the accounts added on one device syncing over to the other.

No.

(if what you want is a way to configure an account once on a device and have the configuration automagically transferred to other devices.)


How do I disable the volume control overlay? When changing the volume on a Mac, you get a big ugly gray bezel showing the change in volume. This is super annoying when (say) watching a movie. Is there any way to disable this?

Hold up, don't modify important system files!
Mac OS has a nice way to start/stop services without doing permanent damage.

To turn off bezels for this user until next login:
launchctl unload -F /System/Library/LaunchAgents/com.apple.BezelUI.plist
To undo, change unload to load, or just log out and back in.

For macOS 10.12 Sierra: Disable System Integrity protection, then:
launchctl unload -F /System/Library/LaunchAgents/com.apple.OSDUIHelper.plist
Don't forget to enable System Integrity protection when you're done.

To turn off bezels indefinitely for this user:
launchctl unload -wF /System/Library/LaunchAgents/com.apple.BezelUI.plist

For macOS 10.12 Sierra: Disable System Integrity protection, then:
launchctl unload -wF /System/Library/LaunchAgents/com.apple.OSDUIHelper.plist
You can now enable System Integrity protection again -- your settings will persist.

To undo, change unload to load.

To turn off bezels indefinitely for all users:
sudo defaults write /System/Library/LaunchAgents/com.apple.BezelUI Disabled -bool YES

For macOS 10.11 Sierra: Disable System Integrity protection before doing the above.

To undo, change YES to NO, or:
sudo defaults delete /System/Library/LaunchAgents/com.apple.BezelUI Disabled

For macOS 10.12 Sierra: Disable System Integrity protection, then:
sudo defaults write /System/Library/LaunchAgents/com.apple.OSDUIHelper Disabled -bool YES
You can now enable System Integrity protection again -- your settings will persist.

To undo, change YES to NO, or:
sudo defaults delete /System/Library/LaunchAgents/com.apple.OSDUIHelper Disabled

Users can override this global setting using the two methods above.

More info: launchctl is the command-line interface to launchd, the program that manages services and jobs on Mac OS.

To reverse any of the above actions, just change unload to load.
-w means write preference to disk so that it will be used for subsequent logins
-F means force un/load regardless of the global Disabled key

You can read more about it in man launchctl.


How to resolve Issue with SSD with Folder with Question Mark Issue? I am using the A1502 with 256GB SSD. I am getting the Folder with Question Mark Issue as soon i am booting my machine. After going through the recovery option (Opt + R) the mac is not detecting the hard-disk at all.
We are under the lockdown here so can't travel to nearby apple support, Can anyone please suggest how to check if its the SSD issue or the Unibody Cable Issue (if it exists in this machine) .
should i order SSD to USB converter from Amazon to check if my SSD is fine ?
Device: MacBook Pro 13″ Late 2013 256 GB SSD

In this model the SSD 'stick' slots into a rised slot on the motherboard, there is no cable. So given that the SSD is not detected at all in Recovery mode, my take is that it is hardware: either the SSD itself or the motherboard power circuitry to the SSD slot. The only sure way that I know of to differientiate between the two possibilities is to open the Mac, remove the SSD (which is fairly simple, just one T5 screw), and put the SSD into either an existing MacBook Pro/Air (any of the two, years 2013-2015 will work) or an external adapter of the kind you mention and see if it works.
Note that a USB adapter will have to be specifically for 2013-2015 MacBook Pro/Air SSDs to fit the SSD you have.


How can I downgrade an iMac12,1 from Lion to Snow Leopard? I purchased a refurbished iMac "originally released May 2011" from Apple (http://store.apple.com/us/product/FC812LL/A ), hoping it'd still have Snow Leopard on it.

Ended up having Lion on it.  My Googling says it originally came with 10.6.6, so it definitely supports Snow Leopard, but I guess in the refurbishing process they upgraded it to 10.7 and now I can't get it to go back.

How can I downgrade an iMac12,1 from Lion to Snow Leopard?

You can do this if you have an older Snow Leopard-compatible Mac.

Put the new iMac into Target Disk Mode and connect it to the older Mac with a Firewire cable. Its hard disk should mount on the desktop of the other Mac. (Hold T at startup to enable Target Disk Mode)
Boot the older Mac from the SL DVD that came with that Mac and install onto the new iMac's hard disk.
Before Rebooting the iMac Download and install the Mac OS X 10.6.8 Combo Update while booted from the older Mac's normal operating system. Make sure to target the new iMac from within the Installer.


Missing Groups After Syncing with iCloud I lost all of my groups when syncing Outlook 2010 with iCloud sync on Windows.

How do I get them back?

If you do backups look for the .pst-file (office identity) and restore it from a backup.


Can't add PDFs to iPad Air without losing ones already there I added some PDFs from iTunes to my iPad and the ones already on it disappeared. When I tried to sync them back, I get the message they weren't transferred because they cannot be found. They are all showing up in the iTunes library now. Now all I have on the iPad are the ones I just added.

There can't be anything wrong with the ones I lost because they worked fine on my iPad before they were lost to it. How can I get the lost PDFs that are in iTunes to sync to my iPad Air?

You don't say how you are trying to sync the PDFs or if you are using Mavericks, so I can't tell if this is helpful or not, but I have been using iBooks to sync PDFs across multiple devices with no problems.

Have a look here

Sync and save PDFs

To add PDFs to your iTunes library on your computer, drag and drop the PDF into your iTunes Book library. If you're using OS X Mavericks or later, drag and drop your PDFs into your iBooks library using iBooks for Mac.


2018 Mac Mini 4k Scaling issue I just bought a 2018 Mac Mini (3.2 GHz i7) and three 4k monitors (one 32 inch and two 27 inch). The setup is great, but there is one flaw. 4k is too small! This is a common complaint and while Apple lets you scale them to a more usable size, there must be a lot of graphical interpolation going on as the scaling is not 1:1. So when I scale my monitors, everything is much more readable, but when I type, the characters are delayed when being written on the screen. It’s as if it is lagging behind and can’t keep up drawing the letters as I type them.

So my question is, if I got an eGPU, and connected all my monitors to that, would it solve this problem?

Bonus points, does anyone have an eGPU set up they recommend or have had success with? My guess is I don’t need much power as I am an Android developer (but still use iPhone because it’s just better…), and all I want it to be able to type smoothly again.

If you had a larger monitor, the problem would go away. I also have a 2018 Mac Mini. I am using a 49" 4K TV as a monitor. There's no scaling going on, and it looks great. The TV is a TCL brand. Maybe the 49" size is a bit extreme -- I guess the 43" model might be better for most people. But, text is large enough without any scaling, and typing is responsive. The display is 3840x2160, and the Mac thinks it is driving a 36-inch display.

I'm driving the TV using HDMI. The MacMini only has one HDMI port, so if you want three of them, you'll need some adapters.

Figuring out where to put three 40-something inch monitors where you can see them all is another problem, I guess.