Unreliable Folder Action I have a folder on my Computer, "Markdown Source" with a folder action applied to it through Automator. The folder action applies a shell script, and then writes output to a different folder, "Markdown Output" (no bonus points for guessing what the script might be).

The problem is that sometimes when I save a file to the "Markdown Source" the script runs, and creates the file in "Markdown Output", but sometimes it does not. This problem seems to happen most frequently if I re-add a file to the folder than has previously been in the folder but was subsequently moved elsewhere.

Does anyone know if there is a way to change how often Folder Actions look for new input, to manually force Folder Actions to run, or some other way to be sure that all the items in my Markdown Source directory get processed?

In my and others' experience, Folder Actions are unreliable, especially with large numbers of changes. So the problem you're facing is not specific to your system, but a rather common one.

I suggest you rewrite your script into one that receives a folder as input, and performs the Markdown transformation on all files within. Have it trigger automatically whenever a file is written to by a launchd job, with the parent folder specified in the WatchPaths rule.

Since most programs on OS X perform atomic saves and thereby replace the previous file instead of simply modifying its contents, the folder will also be updated and the job will be triggered reliably.

Markdown transformation also shouldn't be too time consuming, and you can always ensure only to transform files using your script that were changed in the last X minutes.


My Xcode build requires cURL 8.0.0 or later (which doesn't exist) I'm writing a C program in Xcode that uses cURL. It builds properly on my Mac Pro running 10.8.5, but on my MacBook Pro running 10.8.5, it gives me this error when I try to build:

dyld: Library not loaded: /usr/local/opt/curl/lib/libcurl.4.dylib
  Referenced from: /Users/AlecZ/Library/Developer/Xcode/DerivedData/UPServer2-folctfcnmdhllzbddscwimqrggig/Build/Products/Debug/UPServer2
  Reason: Incompatible library version: UPServer2 requires version 8.0.0 or later, but libcurl.4.dylib provides version 7.0.0

The latest cURL is 7.37.0, so I don't see how it could require 8.0.0. I have run into similar issues before when trying to compile software for Linux from its source, the compiler stating that I need a nonexistent version of some library.

I have already run brew install libcurl, but it says that I can't replace the system library for cURL.

Try reinstalling curl package, e.g.

brew update
brew reinstall curl libcurl

This should fix the broken dependencies.

If this won't help, then try to comment out or remove any DYLD_LIBRARY_PATH, DYLD_FALLBACK_LIBRARY_PATH or DYLD_FRAMEWORK_PATH references from the startup shell scripts (e.g. ~/.bash_profile).


How can I sync photos between iPhone 5s and iPad mini without using a laptop? I can do it using a laptop. But is there a way I can do it without passing them through a laptop each time?

In my understanding, I suppose that Photo Stream will do the trick.

Go to Settings > iCloud > Photos > My Photo Sream, and turn it on.

Enable iCloud on both devices using the same Apple ID, and you can see the latest photos in Photos.

Apple - iCloud - Photos


iPad: Battery usage while using split screen vs single app in foreground What’s the difference in battery usage for the two situations while running apps on an iPad?

Split screen with app X and Y.
Only app X or Y in foreground.

Since screen usage is same for both, only influence on battery usage is CPU usage right?

Is the CPU usage of situation one the sum of CPU usage of “only X in foreground” and “only Y in foreground”?

Battery usage: Situation one = only X in foreground + only Y in foreground ?

Or is it more efficient than that? How much more efficient?

It is not possible to give any kind of “always true”, generic answer, as the power consumption behavior is different from app to app, and even depending on the input data in each app.

In general the power usage by each app is not at all limited to only CPU usage when taking the display itself out of the question. Other major power usages comes from the GPS, cell radios, WiFi radios, the GPU, etc.

However if the app in split screen is doing the exact same stuff as when it is in full screen, then yes, the power consumption is approximately the same as the sum of the power consumption of each app by itself in full screen (when not taking the display into account).

In practice the split screen app is usually doing very slightly less, so the total is often slightly less than the sum. However the difference is negligible.

Again - this can vary hugely from app to app.


Trouble re-downloading paid Apple apps bundled for free with new Mac I recently bought a 13" retina MacBook Pro. I set it up with my Apple ID. I subsequently changed my Apple ID password on my iPhone. When I came back to log into the MacBook, it wouldn't let me with my new password. So I tired my old password which didn't work as well. I performed a factory restore on it and that seemed to work. But I then noticed that it deleted certain apps that where already installed on the computer such as iMovie. When I go to the Mac App Store to re-download them, they are shown as paid apps.

How do I download them again for free?

To obtain the paid apps that were included for free with your Mac, launch the Mac App Store and login with your Apple ID. Check under the Updates section and see if the apps appear there, with Accept appearing where the Update button normally would be (towards the right).

If you cannot access them that way, check your purchases by going to the Purchases section in the Mac App store. They must have already been linked to your Apple ID.

If both the above options fail, open a case with Apple Support. They can verify your ownership of the computer and can issue download codes and/or link the purchase to your Apple ID. That way, you will be able to retrieve them for free.


How can I make a photo album that stays on my iPhone, even when removing all other photos using windows "import"? I would like to create a photo album that

always remains on the phone
is accessible even when I have no internet connection
doesn't dissapear when I sync my phone to my computer
still allows me to take new pictures and sync them to my computer

but I can't find how to do that?

When you synchronise your iPhone/iPad with iTunes, you can select to sync one or more albums by selecting them in iTunes.

Opening information about your device in iTunes

We need to open the device information in iTunes. Download and install iTunes if you don't have it installed.
Then follow these steps:

Connect your device to your PC
iTunes should open automatically, if not, open it manually.
Select the small iPhone icon (see Image 1)

You will see a summary of your device in iTunes now.

Adding albums to your iPhone

We now have to select the albums that you want to save on your iPhone. Make sure you see the device information as described in previous steps, than follow these steps:

Click on Photos (See image 2, it's called "Foto's" there)
Check the synchronise Photos checkbox
Select the albums that you want to transfer to your iPhone
Click the synchronise button in the bottom right corner to transfer the photos

When the process is completed, your selected album(s) should be located on your iPhone in the Photo's app.

Removing the albums from your iPhone

In order to remove the albums from your iPhone, you have to follow the same steps as adding them. The difference is that you uncheck the albums that you don't want to be synchronised.

Please let me know if you need some extra help.

Image 1

Image 2


Stop Opera from auto updating Since yesterday, I'm having a problem with auto update from Opera. Until yesterday I had no problem.

I'm in OS X Mountain Lion 10.8.5, and the last supported version is Opera 37.0.2178.54. Now it automatically updates to 48.0.2685.39 and after I close Opera I cannot open Opera again because it tells me “This version is not supported, you need 10.9”.

In version 37, there is no preference setting to turn off autoupdate - you get it whether you want it or not.

How can I stop Opera from auto updating? I want to be in version 37, which is supported in my operating system.

Try the following steps:

Completely uninstall all the versions of Opera from your Mac.
Reinstall your preferred version of Opera.
Disconnect from Internet connection.
Launch and Quit Opera.
Launch Terminal.
Type this code and hit enter.

defaults write com.operasoftware.Opera OPDisableAutoUpdate true

Reconnect Internet, launch Opera, and select About Opera.
The screen will display if auto update has been disabled. It should look something like this:

Version information

Version:    49.0.2725.64 - Update checker is disabled

Update stream:  Stable

System: Mac OS X 10.9.5 64-bit


iphone notes app that supports Dropbox sync, search, import text files automatically I search for a notes application that supports

File sync with Dropbox folder
Searching the contents of the text files
Import new files from Dropbox folder automatically

I found an app that claims to have those features, called Locayta. But on my iphone which has iOs 7.1, importing new files from Dropbox folder doesn't work.

I wonder if there are any other notes apps that support these features?

I currently use Simplenote to sync with my nvAlt on my Mac. While Simplenote is doing the syncing, you can configure SimpleNote to also sync to Dropbox, or you can have nvAlt store the files in Dropbox on you Mac.

A little more in line with your question, I have used Notesy in the past. It uses Dropbox for syncing, and nvAlt could still access the files via Dropbox on my Mac. However, It was very slow to search, and I recall it had several other annoyances. I haven't tried recent versions, so it might be better.


Two itunes accounts on one laptop My wife and I have two separate iTunes accounts and two separate laptops.  Now that we are married, when it came to the time we both needed to replace our own laptops we decided just to buy one.  I would be grateful for any advice on what the best way would be to deal with our separate iTunes accounts.  Can we merge them, or both have our own iTunes accounts installed on the same machine.  Any advice would be much appreciated.

You should each have your own user account/login on the computer then you can have each use your own iTunes, iCloud, email, Facebook, Twitter, etc… accounts.

You can create an user account on your computer by going to

System Preferences > Users & Groups,
Unlock that panel if necessary (Click on the lock in the lower left corner and enter you password if the lock icon shows as locked)
Then press the "+" icon in the table above the unlocked icon to add another account to your computer.


Where are the installation directories for homebrew? Where does Homebrew install it's software?

I've installed Maven with Homebrew and searching for the Maven installation directory, so that I can set MAVEN_HOME.

brew installs binary in separate directories inside /usr/local dir. Then makes symlink inside /usr/local/bin. To get real path to binary type for example this (for tree command):

ls -l /usr/local/bin/ | grep tree

Output:

lrwxr-xr-x  1 slozo  admin    29 23 lip 15:06 tree -> ../Cellar/tree/1.7.0/bin/tree

So my tree command is located in /usr/local/Cellar/tree/1.7.0/bin/tree


how to return to lock screen after switching user This seems such a simple thing, I can't believe I can't work out how to do it or find the solution on the net.
My partner's MACbook Pro (running 10.15) laptop was on the lock screen, and I stupidly pressed "switch user" and got to the switch-user screen with login user/password boxes and  "sleep", "restart", "shutdown" as other options.  Turns out she doesn't know her username (it is a work's machine) and has been logging in with a password only on the locksceen since receiving the machine.  So my simple question is, how do I return to the lock screen after "switching user"?  It would seem so obvious, but I'm in real trouble if I don't find the answer in the next 24 hours...

If you restart the device, your user accounts will appear with usernames. Simply select her user account and sign in with password.
If all of the user account do not appear after restarting, hold the power button down for 30 seconds. Then power back up like normal.


Can I switch away from full-screen DVD Player on a second monitor without having it exit full screen mode? I am a part-time projectionist, and we use DVD Player to show the movies on the projector. Sometimes, though, I need to do something while the movie is playing. Unfortunately, if I try to switch applications, DVD Player exits full screen mode. Is there any way to retain full screen mode?

The computer in question is a Snow Leopard-running iMac connected via VGA to a generic projector.

With my MacBook Pro, I can use multitouch gestures like swipe to the Desktop or to another screen using four fingers with my trackpad, and it does keep the movie in fullscreen, but this does depend on which DVD player you are using.

In my case, I use VLC Media Player.


quick resize app to half of window on Lion I am not a long-time Mac user and could find the answer.
So on Win7 there is a built-in feature when you click Win+← the window resizes to fit half of the screen and sticks to left.
Is there something similar on OS X?

Thank you.

Spectacle (github, homepage) is free, and works fine for me.


Is it normal to have a hidden file named .file in /? I searched google and found a list of hidden directories and files in OS X at http://www.westwind.com/reference/OS-X/invisibles.html
but .file wasn't listed.  The file is 0 size and looks like this

----------   1 root  admin        0 Aug 24  2013 .file

very suspicious?

Running McAfee virus scan there were over 700 additional files that were Not Scanned because they were protected.

/private/var
/private/etc
/Library/Caches
/Library/Application Support
and others

You can query the package receipt database.

pkgutil --file-info /.file

on a machine running OS X 10.6 the results are

volume: /
path: /.file

pkgid: com.apple.pkg.BaseSystem
pkg-version: 10.6.0.1.1.1249291854
install-time: 1252683091
uid: 0
gid: 80
mode: 0

pkgid: com.apple.pkg.Essentials
pkg-version: 10.6.0.1.1.1249291854
install-time: 1252683099
uid: 0
gid: 80
mode: 0


kernel_task taking too much CPU despite low CPU temperatures I have a MacBook Air 2013, which randomly started having issues with the fan speed shooting up (from booting and no applications running) and just completely slowing down. Apple said it was a problem with the SMC controller and logic board. I have reset the SMC 10 times and wiped the laptop. Finally, I have downloaded TG Pro which has solved the fan issue but the Kernel task is still eating up CPU even though the CPU temp is around 45 degrees. Any clues?

All signs point to your system that measures temperature is out of spec or failing/failed. It’s also likely software is piling on, adding legitimate load to the kernel, making the issue worse.

One SMC reset a month is too often to cure any physical defect. Second and third resets too quickly won’t help you.

A single SMC reset cures a wrong state measurement if that’s
the cause of an issue. You won’t have to do that again for months on functional hardware in my experience.
Sadly, the cost to diagnose and fix a main board is high so most people do the swap as Apple recommended if you can’t live with the system design to let kernel task protect the system.

Too high CPU is a judgement / budgetary call on how much you value your time and not so much a technical issue.

The system does what it’s designed to do based on measurements. Worse, installing software to track temperature moment to moment can put enough load on a system to cause CPU spikes and add legitimate work kernel_task now has to perform while its stalling - simply observing the system can change it. You might have to remove all modifications to tell if your software is the cause here.
To test a clean system you need a cheap USB drive that holds 32 GB and network that can download about 15 GB of data from Apple. You can do the test faster with fast internet and speedy external storage, but a weekend and cheap parts, slow internet is all that’s needed to run a clean new OS to validate your SMC and kernel_task isn’t a software issue.


What time do iTunes Connect daily sales reports begin and end? The iOS app store and iTunes Connect generate daily sales reports for apps. The reports say, for example, that I have 15 app purchases and 10 in-app purchases. What time of day do these reports begin and end? E.g. does it count sales from midnight PST to midnight PST, or a different time frame? I am interested in tracking the in-app purchase receipts that I process of my server (to verify that they are valid) vs. the iTunes Connect sales reports to see if the numbers line up.

Yes, it is midnight PST/PDT to midnight PST/PDT.

Keep in mind that your numbers will not always match the official reports. It all depends on the timing of when credit card transactions complete and money is actually posted, etc.


Can connect over SSH from Mac to linux I have an Xubuntu server set up with SSH. I can connect to it using Putty on Windows and via a Chrome SSH plugin on my Mac. However, when I use terminal client it just hangs for a bit and then I get a connection reset. The debug output is:

ssh xxxxx@xx.xx.xx.xx:2222 -v

OpenSSH_6.2p2, OSSLShim 0.9.8r 8 Dec 2011
debug1: Reading configuration data /etc/ssh_config
debug1: /etc/ssh_config line 20: Applying options for *
debug1: /etc/ssh_config line 102: Applying options for *
debug1: Connecting to xx.xx.xx.xxx:2222 [xx.xx.xx.xx] port 22.
debug1: Connection established.
debug1: identity file /Users/xxxxx/.ssh/id_rsa type -1
debug1: identity file /Users/xxxxx/.ssh/id_rsa-cert type -1
debug1: identity file /Users/xxxxx/.ssh/id_dsa type -1
debug1: identity file /Users/xxxxx/.ssh/id_dsa-cert type -1
debug1: Enabling compatibility mode for protocol 2.0
debug1: Local version string SSH-2.0-OpenSSH_6.2

Does anyone have any advice?

I noticed in the debug output that there is mention of port '22' even though I specified '2222'. It like you need to put a '-p' flag in when using terminal:

  ssh -p 2222 myname@xx.xx.xx.xx

This seems a bit weird as with other terminals I was using:

  ssh myname@xx.xx.xx.xx:2222


"Pasting" text to Java applet through keyboard emulation I have a Java applet that I need to paste lots of text into. However, the paste options doesn't work (neither keyboard shortcut, nor right-button menu).

I'm looking for a way to emulate a keyboard and write automatically all the text I'd like to paste into the textbox in the applet.

It's a bit hacky, but you can do this with an AppleScript. Open up AppleScript Editor (in Applications/Utilities) and paste in the following script.

set myString to the clipboard

-- Switch to last application
tell application "System Events"
    keystroke tab using (command down)
end tell
delay 0.5

-- Enter the clipboard text
repeat with i from 1 to length of myString
    set theKey to character i of myString

    tell application "System Events"
        keystroke theKey
    end tell

end repeat

Make sure your applet is the previously used application, and the text you want entered is copied to the clipboard, then hit Run.

The script switches to the last application by emulating commandtab (so be sure your applet is the previous application), waits half a second (this avoids entering text before the app switches), then emulates a key press for all the text in the clipboard.

If you want to make it more reliable (if the app switcher doesn't fire properly), you can try replacing the lines from tell application[…] to delay 0.5 with tell application "YourApp" to activate. Replace YourApp with the name of whatever runs your applet (it may be the applet name, or the runtime environment — whatever's in bold text next to the Apple menu).

Let me know if you have any questions or problems.


Installation of mac brew vim version 8.1 I'm using brew vim which is currently at version 8.0.1850 but 8.1 has just been released and I'm wondering if there is a way to upgrade to it yet? I've done some digging and can't see an option to do it.

There is a pull request on homebrew's github to update the Vim formula to 8.1: https://github.com/Homebrew/homebrew-core/pull/27983

When that merges, just run brew upgrade vim.

If you want to install 8.1 yourself, you can do so by cloning and following the build instructions on the vim official repo: https://github.com/vim/vim.


How to assign Kana (かな) key in Japanese keyboard to another Language? I have purchased my Mac Pro ( it is running OS 10.9.5) in Japan. Needless to say that it has two different keys assigned exclusively for English and Japanese (英語 for English and かな for Japanese).

But the issue is that I'd like to change the かな key to a third Language (Persian in fact, that I am using in addition to English).

Is it possible?

You can do it with karabiner. I have changed my kana key to simple Chinese input method.

Here is the website: https://pqrs.org/osx/karabiner


View Full Path of Current Document in Apps Like Preview & TextEdit I'd like to be able to view the full path of a file, rather than just its file name, in document-based apps like Preview & TextEdit. Is this possible?

Not in a copy/pasteable format, but if you right-click the file name in TextEdit or Preview, it will show the path as a graphical hierarchy.

Copy/pasteable would be Get Info on the file from the Finder, I guess. Depending on the target application you can also just drag the icon from the application, e.g. into Terminal.


Is it possible to programmatically (or in machine-readable form) get location data from an AirTag? AirTags seem to be an incredibly useful way of creating a de-facto globally available location tracker, by taking advantage of the sheer number of iOS devices around.
I'd love to be able to obtain an AirTag and get location data from it (or more precisely from the Apple 'Find My' network) programmatically or in machine-readable form, though. Currently as I understand it the location is only available through the 'Find My' tool (digression: see this fascinating recent article illustrating that), which in effect means it's limited to what's plotted on a map. Can I get lat/long co-ordinates from this? Can I programmatically trigger the request for location? This would be a great way to (for example) plot everywhere I travel, by popping one in my bag and having a central server somewhere request my location periodically and log it. Real-time would be ideal, but even a history of locations would be good.
(Note: I wasn't sure if this question was better suited for here or StackOverflow. Happy if the community wants to move it).

Yes, it is possible to do so via a private API - however it is a bit of a "hack" as this is not officially supported by Apple.
You can find an open source implementation of using the private API here:
https://github.com/seemoo-lab/openhaystack/tree/main/OpenHaystack/OpenHaystackMail
Note that in order to use the private API, you'll need a specific entitlement for your app that is not available to third parties. This can be worked around by disabling GateKeeper, installing the program linked above as a plugin for Mail, enabling the plugin in Mail, and then re-enabling GateKeeper.


Safari Auto-Extract ZIP File Upon Download When I download a zip file through Safari it automatically extracts it into a new folder named as the ZIP file is.  Is there a way to disable the auto extract feature and just leave the file as is in ZIP format?

In Safari go to Preferences -> General and uncheck Open "safe" files after downloading. This disables automatic extracting of archives, including zip files. As noted below the check box this will disable automatic opening of PDFs, text documents, movies and pictures.


iPhone keeps disconnecting & connecting when transferring data I have a MacBook Pro (2015), and an iPhone 7 Plus.

The problem is the following: If the iPhone is connected to my Mac, then whenever I run an app via XCode, or the Mac is just transferring data, the iPhone starts disconnecting and connecting (the battery icon indicates it), and the data transfer fails.

First I thought that this was a cable issue, because If I adjust the cable in a certain position then it works, but I realized that it is not:

because

I bought brand new cables
I cleaned the USB port of the Mac

But still nothing

It is really annoying.

Sometimes it gets fixed if I unplug & reinsert the USB like 5-7 times.

Disconnect your iPhone or iPad.
Open Terminal and type

sudo killall -STOP -c usbd

Happily connect again your devices.


Real alternative to Tag&Rename I was using Tag&Rename (an MP3 tag editor) on Windows and I'm looking for a real alternative for OS X.

Jaikoz and Music Man can do it for you.

you can also use some free apps too:

MusicBrainz
ID3 Editor


Open web page with macOS Safari in different language Is it possible to make Safari open a web page in a different language without having to change the whole system language?

I need to test if the Angular translations come out right but changing system language every time is really annoying.

I'm not sure it's possible to independently change Safari’s accept-language, but try this terminal command, replacing ’en-AU’ depending on what language you would like:

/Applications/Safari.app/Contents/MacOS/Safari -AppleLanguages '(en-AU)'

You should be able to do it with Firefox, via Preferences/General/Language


Big Sur won't automatically boot from external disk I've used my iMac with an external SSD as the primary, boot disk for over a year with no issue until I've updated to Big Sur. The external disk was selected as the startup disk and on startup it would automatically boot from that disk.
After the update (and even while updating) my iMac won't automatically boot even if the disk was still selected as the startup disk. It is instead stuck prompting me to look at http://support.apple.com/mac/startup with a flashing folder icon with a question mark. To manage to boot I have to shutdown it and start it while holding the Option key, then after less than a second my SSD shows up, I can select it and the boot would proceed normally.
This is not a problem I can't live with, but I would like to fix it, especially to ease the process of updating in the future.
I recall reading about forcing the boot process to wait for all disks or a specific one to mount before continuing, but I could be thinking about a Ubuntu or Linux thing. Is this the right way, how can I do it? If not, is there another solution?

Update: I wouldn't call it a solution, but I've decided to go for a clean install, formatting the SSD and reinstalling Big Sur by booting from an a USB install media created from the installer downloaded from the AppStore. While the boot problem persisted during the installation, I managed to complete it using the Option-boot trick and after that it can now boot automatically from the external SSD (manually re-selecting it as boot disk may have played a role).

One solution that worked for my desktop iMacs is to reset the PMU, which I accomplished on the iMac by powering off, unplugging from the wall point, and holding the power button for some seconds before replugging and powering up again.
Today I came across the same situation on my MacBook Air 2015—completely ignoring the Alt key and also ignoring the Startup Disk setting—so I reset the PMU on the MacBook Air by the conventional means. That fixed the issue, the Alt key worked to display the Startup Manager. I've noticed this behaviour coincides with a change to the startup sound, which now sounds more raucous and far less sweet. I presume that some recent update has tinkered with the firmware.


How do I download songs in a playlist in Music? I used to be able to download all of the songs in a playlist from iCloud at once in Music, but the download button is no longer showing in the playlist title area it used to. It does show next to individual songs that haven't been downloaded, however selecting all and right-clicking now longer shows a download button in the context menu either. The only way I have found to download more than one is to go to the album, and the download button shows in the album title area.

Any ideas on how to re-enable the download button? Is this a bug?

Note: it does not seem to make a difference if the playlist only contains content I have purchased, uploaded with iTunes Match, or added to my library from Apple Music.

Album view with download button visible:

Playlist view missing the download button:

Download button missing from menu:

In playlists you can click on the three dots at top right and select "Download" from there.


OSX asking for my password OSX asks for my user password pretty often -- seemingly whenever it needs to use Keychain.  How do I make it stop asking me?

As you phrased this, it generally occurs because the login password was reset at some point, and now the "login" keychain is protected with a different password than the account as a whole. The other possibility is that the keychain is set to lock automatically. Both issues can be addressed using Keychain Access, which lives in your Utilities folder.

If you do not know the password:

Choose Preferences from the Keychain Access menu.

Click Reset My Default Keychain

If you do know the password, but Keychain is auto-locked

Highlight the "login" keychain on the left of the main window.

Choose Change Setting for keychain "login"… from the Edit menu

Adjust settings as desired. By default, keychain does not lock automatically.


Unable to Access Local Snapshots when external Time Machine is disconnected My local snapshots are behaving weirdly. When no Time Machine backup is connected and if I enter time machine, I get this prompt:

  Your Time Machine backup disk can’t be found.

…but when my external Time Machine is connected, I can browse through both pink and white (local) coloured snapshots.

Another observation is if I go to /Volumes I can see the MobileBackups volume. When a Finder window of /Volumes is open and I enter Time Machine I am able to browse local snapshots even when my external time machine drive is disconnected.

Any help regarding this issue would be appreciated :)

I have seen this on several occasions and I have done this to clear up the corruption or glitch that prevents browsing local snapshots without an actual full time machine destination mounted:

Connect to one of my destinations and force a good backup

tmutil startbackup --block --rotation

Disable local snapshots

sudo tmutil disablelocal

Enable local snapshots - being sure the cleanup is done

sudo tmutil enablelocal

I do watch the console app (or tail -f /var/log/system.log) during the backup and commands above to make sure that the local filesystem gets cleaned up and give the computer several minutes between the disable and the re-enable since it does have to unmount the network filesystem, delete old copies of files and clean up things before trying again with a local snapshot.

The downside of this is you do lose any copies of files that only existed on the local snapshot intervals and didn't get saved to an actual remote location. It also doesn't really dig into why the store became corrupt so you might have the same thing happen again at a later date. I've also had good luck with reproducible time machine problems reporting it to Apple for assistance. They'll want you to run tmdiagnose and probably not reset things like I mentioned above if you want to get at the root cause of what really happened as opposed to getting it working again.


How is `cp -R` different from CTRL-C/CTRL-V? My system is OS X El Capitan 10.11.5. I copied from my OS X Extended filesystem to FAT32 about 30 Gb files by Ctrl+C / Ctrl+V.

Now, I received a proposal to do it by cp -R.

I am wondering how different it is from the Ctrl+C and Ctrl+V.

How is cp -R different from Ctrl+C and Ctrl+V?

When copying and pasting via Finder there is certain meta-data that is maintained that when using cp -R it's not.

An example is when copying and pasting via Finder the created/modified date/time stamp of individual files are maintained to that of the existing meta-date vs. using cp -R where both the created/modified date/time stamp are set to the date/time of the copy operation.

On directories when copying and pasting via Finder the created date/time stamp is maintained to that of its current value and the modified date/time stamp is set to the date/time of the copy operation. vs. using cp -R where both the created/modified date/time stamp are set to the date/time of the copy operation.

Now if you use cp -aR the created date/time stamp is set to the date/time of the copy operation and the modified date/time stamp is maintained to it value it had at the time of the copy operation.

In essence copying and pasting via Finder maintains all meta-data attributes that are supported by the destination filesystem and to get the most possible meta-data attributes maintained using cp then additional options must be used.  Have a look at the cp man page for additional command line options.

FAT32 does not support all of the file attributes that HFS+ does, however copying via Finder preserves more then cp regardless of the options implemented.


Two-way firewall (outbound/inbound protection) in macOS Does macOS have a two-way firewall (outbound/inbound protection) present?

Yes.  It’s the PF firewall.  It’s the same firewall that comes with FreeBSD and what drives the pfSense firewall appliance


How to transfer from iPhone album to Mac My iPhone contains pictures from camera roll and pictures I synced from my previous Mac to the iPhone album. The hard drive broke on my Mac and I couldn't recover the images stored on the iPhone albumns. On iTunes or iPhoto I can only recover pictures from Camera roll but not the albums.


Why won't my Safari open? When I try to open safari it says:

  The procedure entry point sqlite3_wal_checkpoint could not be located in the dynamic link library SQLite3dll.

then it says:

  Your copy of safari is missing important software resources. Please re-install safari.

You appear to be having the same issue discussed in this Stack Exchange answer from a few years ago.

Re-download Safari using the link in this support article, and try re-installing it. Note that Apple appears to be winding down Safari for Windows.


Viewing/Changing App paths used by `open -a foo.app ...` When using open -a iTerm.app SOMEPATH from a shell-script or Emacs eshell command, it appears to launch a different instance of iTerm than the one in /Applications/iTerm.app that I'd expect.

Explicitly specifying the app path like:

open -a /Applications/iTerm.app SOMEPATH works as expected.

This leads me to suspect that there's a lookup table/database somewhere (probably part of LaunchServices) that's mapping bare .app names to an on-disk path, and it's somehow confused as to which it should be using (I do have multiple instance of iTerm on disk, from when I've been playing around with compiling from source. None are in my $PATH, however.)

Any suggestions on how to find what on-disk path an
open -a <non-absolute .app name> will use, and ideally, how it can be changed?

If you type the following commando:

  open -R iTerm.app

it will reveal the iTerm.app you're currently selecting in Finder.

If you type

  open -a /applications/iTerm.app

it will open the iTerm.app in the /Applications folder as you said.

If you type

  open -a iTerm.app

it will open iTerm.app in the current location. (you can type ls to see the contents of the current folder, or use the above method (-R)

As a general hint, please type

  open --help

to see the methods/commands available you can use.


How to find shortcut keys (⌘⌥⇧⌃) in Unicode popover? How do I find the keyboard shortcut Unicode characters in the popover launched by
⌃ ctrl ⌘ cmd   Space (not sure of the official name, but I’m referring to the “emoji picker”)?

Note that the ⌃ I’m looking for is different from the standard caret ^.

⌘: type "place of interest" (this took me a while to figure out, had tried "point of.." and "attraction")
⌥ just type "option"!
⇧: type "upwards white arrow" (bonus: ⇪)
⌃: type "up arrowhead" (it's not the standard caret)

Bonus:

⌫ & ⌦: type "erase"


Clearing cache and cookies freezes Firefox on Mac Every time I try to clear my cache or cookies, the system freezes and crashes. The spinning wheel continues and I have to force quit/reboot.

How can I clear my cache & cookies without Firefox freezing?

MacBook Pro, OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion

Reinstall Firefox by deleting it from /Applications and copying it from a fresh download.

If that does not help (which is likely), you may have a corrupt Firefox profile. To fix it:

Use the Firefox Profile Manager, create a new profile and see if it works without crashing.
If it does, then transfer data to the new profile from the old one.


Connecting iPhoto to external drive Would it be possible to create iPhoto "repository" on an external USB hard drive, so that every time I would plug the drive I launch iPhoto, I could manage my photos?

If you mean an iPhoto library for storing masters/etc, you can create a second library by holding ⌥ when launching iPhoto. You can create a new library and will be prompted for a location to store it.

If the library is unavailable when launching iPhoto, the original library will be used again (or one created if the original library can't be found).


Connecting to a remote machine with a public key using Fugu How do I connect to a remote server with a public key using Fugu? I'm using Amazon EC2, so I have .pem public key, but I'm totally new to Fugu and I can't see any form or input for the public key. In the "connect to" text input shall I enter in my public DNS?

Note: I found entering -i ~/PATH/TO/ec2-keypair.pem didn't work for me, but another workaround in the same field worked.
In the "Advanced SFTP Options", in the same Additional SSH Options dialogue enter:

-oIdentityFile=~/PATH/TO/ec2-keypair.pem

So, for example, if your EC2 instance looks like

root@ec2-123-45-678-910.compute-1.amazonaws.com

with your key being at the root and named

ec2-keypair.pem

then the relevant input is:

Connect to: ec2-123-45-678-910.compute-1.amazonaws.com
Username: root
Additional SSH options: -oIdentityFile=~/ec2-keypair.pem

Hope it works for you!


Panic report for Macbook Pro (retina 15-inch late 2013) macOS Mojave 10.14.6 I'm getting the black screen error which leads to a computer reset. Is there anyone here that could help please? Running Macbook Pro (retina 15-inch late 2013) on macOS Mojave 10.14.6. Here is the panic report:
panic(cpu 4 caller 0xffffff800a1cdbff): "thread_invoke: preemption_level -1, possible cause: unlocking an unlocked mutex or spinlock"@/BuildRoot/Library/Caches/com.apple.xbs/Sources/xnu/xnu-4903.278.28/osfmk/kern/sched_prim.c:2420

Backtrace (CPU 4), Frame : Return Address

0xffffff913cdcb8e0 : 0xffffff800a1af58d

0xffffff913cdcb930 : 0xffffff800a2eb145

0xffffff913cdcb970 : 0xffffff800a2dc87a

0xffffff913cdcb9e0 : 0xffffff800a15c9d0

0xffffff913cdcba00 : 0xffffff800a1aefa7

0xffffff913cdcbb20 : 0xffffff800a1aedf3

0xffffff913cdcbb90 : 0xffffff800a1cdbff

0xffffff913cdcbc10 : 0xffffff800a1cc17f

0xffffff913cdcbc60 : 0xffffff800a2d4889

0xffffff913cdcbcb0 : 0xffffff800a2d3f98

0xffffff913cdcbce0 : 0xffffff800a8839bd

0xffffff913cdcbd10 : 0xffffff800a290db0

0xffffff913cdcbd40 : 0xffffff800a291b0b

0xffffff913cdcbd80 : 0xffffff800a1b4dcc

0xffffff913cdcbdd0 : 0xffffff800a18fb41

0xffffff913cdcbe50 : 0xffffff800a1a425e

0xffffff913cdcbef0 : 0xffffff800a2c27b7

0xffffff913cdcbfa0 : 0xffffff800a15d1b6

BSD process name corresponding to current thread: WacomTouchDriver

Mac OS version:

18G4032

Kernel version:

Darwin Kernel Version 18.7.0: Mon Feb 10 21:08:45 PST 2020; root:xnu-4903.278.28~1/RELEASE_X86_64

Kernel UUID: A52CF11D-A733-3E77-832B-D42063739C84

Kernel slide:     0x0000000009e00000

Kernel text base: 0xffffff800a000000

__HIB  text base: 0xffffff8009f00000

System model name: MacBookPro11,2 (Mac-3CBD00234E554E41)

EOF

Model: MacBookPro11,2, BootROM 159.0.0.0.0, 4 processors, Intel Core i7, 2 GHz, 8 GB, SMC 2.18f15

Graphics: kHW_IntelIrisProItem, Intel Iris Pro, spdisplays_builtin

Memory Module: BANK 0/DIMM0, 4 GB, DDR3, 1600 MHz, 0x80AD, 0x484D54343531533641465238412D50422020

Memory Module: BANK 1/DIMM0, 4 GB, DDR3, 1600 MHz, 0x80AD, 0x484D54343531533641465238412D50422020

AirPort: spairport_wireless_card_type_airport_extreme (0x14E4, 0x134), Broadcom BCM43xx 1.0 (7.77.61.3 AirPortDriverBrcmNIC-1305.9)

Bluetooth: Version 6.0.14d6, 3 services, 18 devices, 1 incoming serial ports

Network Service: Wi-Fi, AirPort, en0

Serial ATA Device: APPLE SSD SM0256F, 251 GB

USB Device: USB 3.0 Bus

USB Device: Apple Internal Keyboard / Trackpad

USB Device: BRCM20702 Hub

USB Device: Bluetooth USB Host Controller

USB Device: Intuos PTM

USB Device: Generic USB Hub

USB Device: AirPod Case

USB Device: Hub

USB Device: Apple Cinema Display

USB Device: My Book 111D

Thunderbolt Bus: MacBook Pro, Apple Inc., 17.1

Same problem here with macOS 10.12.6 (16G2136) Sierra. The culprit is Wacom driver. Update it or report to Wacom to fix it if already updated.


How can I have Spotlight Comments actually get indexed by Spotlight? I'm running the latest OS X (10.8.1). Yesterday I discovered the Spotlight Comments feature, so I went through many of my Applications and put useful comments in that field. For example, on Music Manager.app, I put the spotlight comment "google music", since it's Google Music's manager app and I would want that to appear in my search results.

It's been at least a day now and I still don't see it when I do a spotlight search for "google music". What am I doing wrong? How long does it take for Spotlight to realize applications have comments and index them?

The comments should normally show up in Spotlight results after you close an information window in Finder. You can tell Spotlight to reindex directories or files with mdimport, but it should do that automatically most of the time.

The Spotlight comments seem to be stored in both .DS_Store files and extended attributes. But if a file is owned by root, Finder doesn't write the comment to an extended attribute, and it won't be seen by Spotlight either.

If you use xattr to add the comments, they are picked up by Spotlight, but they aren't shown in Finder's information windows.

sudo touch test
sudo xattr -w com.apple.metadata:kMDItemFinderComment somecomment test

If you open Finder as root, they are saved in both extended attributes and .DS_Store files.

sudo /System/Library/CoreServices/Finder.app/Contents/MacOS/Finder


When do processes run under root by default? I know that when I use "sudo" an application can run under root, or if a window appears saying "Application wants to make changes to the system, enter your password for this", they will also run under root.
Processes cannot always run under root, which is why there are, for example, LaunchDaemons and LaunchAgents, which run the processes under root after the system is started.
Are there other ways that processes always run root
(after approval via sudo or with the Make Change window), for example if they are started manually?
Or better: Does it say somewhere that you have permission for root so that you always start as root?
Please correct me if I said anything wrong.

The setuid bit could be set on an executable.

When the setuid or setgid attributes are set on an executable file, then any users able to execute the file will automatically execute the file with the privileges of the file's owner (commonly root)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Setuid
If setuid is applied and the binary is owned by root (and on macOS the entire directory hierarchy to that file is also owned by root), then the binary executes as root regardless of the current user.
You can find all setuid & root binaries using
find /path/to/search -user root -perm -4000


Why am I getting command not found even though path to command exists in PATH variable? On Mac OSX 10.10.1
I get command not found for anything installed in /usr/local/bin (however command is found if I use sudo)
PATH variable contains this path.
for example pip. Here are some lines from terminal:

Dylans-MacBook-Air:edX Dylan$ echo $PATH/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/3.4/bin:/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/3.4/bin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/sbin
Dylans-MacBook-Air:edX Dylan$ ls /usr/local/bin
2to3            idle3.4         pydoc3          python3.4-32        rtmpdump        tclsh8.5        wish8.5
2to3-3.4        pip         pydoc3.4        python3.4-config    rtmpgw          tclsh8.6        wish8.6
easy_install        pip2            python3         python3.4m      rtmpsrv         tclvfse         youtube-dl
easy_install-2.7    pip2.7          python3-32      python3.4m-config   rtmpsuck        teacup
easy_install-3.4    pip3            python3-config      pyvenv          tclselect       udemy-dl
idle3           pip3.4          python3.4       pyvenv-3.4      tclsh           wish
Dylans-MacBook-Air:edX Dylan$ pip
-bash: pip: command not found
Dylans-MacBook-Air:edX Dylan$ which pip
Dylans-MacBook-Air:edX Dylan$ sudo which pip
/usr/local/bin/pip
Dylans-MacBook-Air:edX Dylan$

What could be causing this behaviour and how do I fix it?

The fix I ended up was removing all home brew Python and fixing up the system Python.

brew remove python
brew remove python3
brew cleanup

Check for the system pip and python (or absence of pip is OK too).

which python
which pip
which pip3
which python3

At this point, you need to easy_install a system based pip:

sudo easy_install --upgrade pip
pip --version

You should now have a pip that's based on /Library/Python (and pip 7.1.2 against python 2.7 for El Capitan in October 2015)

mac:~ me$ pip --version
pip 7.1.2 from /Library/Python/2.7/site-packages/pip-7.1.2-py2.7.egg (python 2.7)
mac:~ me$ which pip
/usr/local/bin/pip
mac:~ me$ which python
/usr/bin/python


How do I send text messages (NOT iMessages) from my Mac? I recently bought my first Mac, after having been impressed with my iPhone 7 Plus for the past year. On my iPhone I can send both iMessages and text messages by switching on the "Send as SMS" option in Settings.
On my Mac the Messages app works great, except for when I want to send a message to a non-Apple user (most of my friends are on Android). When I try do do this I get an error like the one below:

Your message could not be sent.
PHONE_NUMBER is not registered with iMessage.

I feel like I looked everywhere in System Preferences, but cannot find a "Send as SMS" option. Surely this is possible? How?

Yes, it is possible! However, you do need to set things up first.

Follow these steps:

Sign into iCloud on your Mac and iPhone using the same Apple ID
On your Mac open the Messages app
On your iPhone go to Settings > Messages > Text Messages Forwarding
You should now see your Mac listed - tap on the toggle to enable it.
You’ll see a prompt asking you to enter the code shown on your Mac.
Enter the code

Now when you add a non-iPhone mobile number into Messages on the Mac it will be highlighted in green - this is an indicator that you are sending a text message and not an iMessage.

NOTE: As all text messages sent from your Mac are now forwarded via your iPhone, they will count towards any associated costs for your mobile plan (if any).


How to acknowledge updates count on iPhone? When there is a new update on the iPhone, I get a number next to Settings, emails or App Store icon.

I like to see the count when something changes but when I've checked it, I would like it to disappear.  For instance, I know there is an update for iOS 5.1.  But as my iPhone is jailbreaked, I want to wait until the jailbreak is done (which can take weeks or even month).  That said, each time I login my iPhone, the first thing I see is this red circle displaying '1' to tell me "hey check here, we have something new!".

Is there a way to acknowlegde it to stop displaying it ?

There is no built in mechanism in iOS that will clear this, except installing the updates.

For jailbroken devices there is an app called Update Hider.


How can I remotely, outside my network, access files on my Windows computer from my iphone over the internet, using mobile data? I have the app File Explorer on my iphone which lets me access and stream files to my iphone while my Windows computer and Iphone is connected to the same network. I access my Windows computer using a local IP i.e. 192.168.0.x.

However, when I am away from home and not connected to my network, using mobile data, naturally I cant access my home computer anymore from my iphone using File Explorer because its using the local IP of the Windows computer to connect. The only way I can still access the computer is through the Google Remote Desktop iphone app, but that gives me an interface I can barely control through an iphone screen.

What I want to do is use File Explorer to access my home computer from my iphone while I am away, that is while the wifi on my iphone is not used, only using mobile data. This works with Google Remote Desktop but so far I cant do it with File Explorer.

Actually what you are trying to do has nothing to do with Apple products, per-se. But is a fairly common task and something that I used to do when I hosted my own website off an old Mac attached to my home network.

This applies to any networked device that needs to access another networked device from outside one of the networks, like this.

iPhone --> Internet --> Your home network --> Your PC

The trick here is that you have to configure your home router to forward specific connection requests from outside to specified devices inside your network. This is commonly known as port forwarding and the linked article on Wikipedia will give you some info on the theory of how it works.

Most home routers that cable companies provide allow you to set up port forwarding. And every single one of them is different. So you will have to consult your ISP (they may have articles on how to do this available online) on how to do it with your specific make and model of router.

You will then need to set up your Windows PC with a static IP address and point the ports you are forwarding to that PC.

You will need to search out what ports the Apple Files.app uses and forward those ports on your router to the IP address of your PC.

Not to mention setting up a DNS name for your system as your router's internet accessible IP address will change from time to time. There are free services that can do this too.

I have never done what you are trying to do, this is just a basic overview of the process.

One thing you will have to take into consideration is that you are opening up your PC to the entire internet. So at a minimum you will need a good strong password on that file share. And you will also need to hope that some bored hacker doesn't find your system and try and break in and destroy your PC from somewhere in Romania.

Honestly, your best bet (and easiest route) is to do what Nimesh said in his first comment, use Dropbox, Google Drive, or any other similar service to do this. Introductory tiers of these services are often free and a LOT easier than setting up your own Internet accessible file share on your home PC.

Also I believe there are home NAS units that come with software that will do this. Also easier than what you are planning.


How to select vertically in textedit using keyboard How do i select vertically (columnar) in TextEdit using keyboard?

I can do that using mouse i.e. pressing the option button and selecting the text but I would like to do the same with keyboard.

How do I do that?

The problem with that is that the Mac's modifier keys Command and Option are used in conjunction with the arrow keys to navigate through text more quickly by going to the beginning or end of a line or the beginning or end of the next/previous word, respectively.

There may be a utility that will allow you to modify the system-wide defaults but you run the risk of breaking text editing everywhere in the system.


How to fix the static screen on external monitor? I have a macbook air and this is what essentially happens:

I connect external monitor using thunderbolt to DVI converter
The monitor works correctly
I lock screen, monitor goes blank
When I log back in the external monitor starts showing static for about 30 seconds and fixes itself after 30 seconds. The monitor fixes itself even if I turn the monitor off and on again :D

The problem does not occur on either Ubuntu or on Windows if I connect my other laptop.

This has been the case ever since I got the mac and I am not sure if there is any fix for this. If anyone can help, please let me know.

I have seen the static on the Apple Cinema LED Display connected to a Mac Mini Late '09 using mini-DVI to Mini DisplayPort Kanex converter.

What helped me was the order in which I connected the devices after the problems occurred. Not sure what monitor and what converter you use and whether these steps would help; however, what I learned is that these converters are very (VERY!) sensitive devices.

SHUTTING DOWN

Turn Macbook Air off (NOT just sleep, better reset PRAM and NVRAM, make it forget the terrors about the converter)
Disconnect the converter from the Mac
Disconnect the monitor from the converter and wait like 10 seconds
Turn your monitor off (pull from the power outlet, let it forget about the converter completely as well)

RECONNECTING

Connect the monitor back into the outlet
Connect the converter (my converter has the
USB female and male cable, which are extremely important to connect as
well, otherwise it acts weird)
If you DO have the USB, plug it in into the Mac first
Plugin the Mini DisplayPort into the Mac
Turn your Mac on

The reason for all this is to make your ports read and initialize the devices in the right order.

Also, keep in mind how to disconnect the devices correctly.

Disconnect the converter from the Mac first (Mini DiplsayPort)
Then wait a bit and pull USB if you have it.

Do not disconnect the monitor from a converter leaving the converter in your Mac. For some reason it causes problems when I connect the monitor back. My Mac won't see that the monitor is plugged in. Think of it as a converter having the drivers and its own soft running on your mac, so when you disconnect the monitor from the converter, Mac might not fully recognize that the monitor isn't there since the converter won't pass the signal saying, "Hey, the monitor is fully disconnected, stop all services." It will keep running the processes until you disconnect the converter from the Mac. So when you connect the monitor back, it might not react.

I do not like converters. I always try to avoid them as much as I can. So with the new Macbook and USB-C thing, I don't know... Hope they will build them better and smarter.

Good luck!


Updating Native Mac OSX Mavericks Apache 2.2 to 2.4 - disabling old version? I have a small problem when I try to update to the new version of Apache WebSrvr on my Mavericks Mac.

I compiled and make installed to a different folder than the native: /usr/local/apache24/.

which httpd  => /usr/local/apache24/bin/

I set the enviroment variable for it also.

which apachectl => /usr/local/apache24/bin/apachectl

but when I try to start the server it takes the the binaries from the /usr/local/apache2/

Is there a way to migrate everything to the new instance of the Apache Server?

Since there is no answer I found out something:

Best way to get past the problems from my question:

stop the apache server: sudo apachectl stop
Backup/rename these files in the default apache folder: ab, httpd & apachectl

sudo mv /path/to/file/ab /path/to/file/ab.old
Create links in the default apache folder:

sudo ln -s /path/to/originalfile/ab /path/to/where_the_link_should_be_saved/ab
Start apache:

sudo apachectl start
Check if the changes were taken:

httpd -v

apachectl -v

It should be version 2.4.10 now:)


in iOS 7, how can I easily specify an email address to be used for FaceTime? Something seems to have changed for the worse in iOS 7. Under iOS 6, it used to be possible to select various "identifiers" (email, telephone number) to be used for FaceTime for the same person, and these could be labeled differently. In iOS 7, when adding FaceTime favorites, one is given the option of adding the contact for FaceTime or FaceTime audio, but it isn't clear how to add a specific identifier for a contact.

Unfortunately, there seems to be no easy solution to replace the iOS 6 functionality.

The simplest workaround seems to be to create multiple contacts for each point of contact you wish to differentiate.

Another possible workaround would be to add the different identifiers to 'favorites'. However, these will appear identical in favorites---same name & pic---so it would be difficult to differentiate.

(Based on personal experience and this related apple support thread)


Is it possible to keep using my current apps and their data on a different iPod? I have an iPod 5 but I want the front and back camera, so for my upcoming birthday in April I'm planning an upgrade.

Can I use the same Apple ID and start at the same level on the Apps I have on this iPod?

Simply create a backup, but sync all applications first to your PC else you have to do extra work. Syncing to iCloud is possible, but if you want to restore all your applications back on the new iPod it's much easier to make an iTunes backup as you can sync back all applications on the new iPod.

If you make the backup Encrypted, it will also save all your passwords etc, making setting up of the new device much easier. [Don't forget the encryption password!]

Restore the backup you make from the current iPod on your new iPod!

Sync all apps back on and you're done - even the settings etc are now on your new iPod.


Back button in Finder occasionally disabled; always go up one step in hierarchy? The back button in Finder seems to only remember your own trail. I.e., when there is a folder higher up the hierarchy, but you did not visit it before you came to the current one, the back button will be disabled.

This means that when I open a Finder folder in an existing directory, the back button will not work. I would like it to function more like it does in Windows, so that the back button will always go up one step in the folder hierarchy. Is this possible on macOS Sierra?

The back button behave the same way in Windows & Mac, it returns to where you last looked. If that was the only place you've been, it has no history.

You can test that in Windows by either selecting different locations from the sidebar shortcuts, or by opening a new window by right clicking a folder & selecting Open in new Window. It then will not have a History.

To navigate the hierarchy on Mac there are several options...

 Cmd ⌘   ↑  will climb the hierarchy,  Cmd ⌘   ↓  will descend it.
From the Finder window toolbar, there is a hierarchy drop-menu -
Even without the toolbar visible,  Cmd ⌘  Click on the folder icon at the top of any window will drop the same menu.
From the Path bar underneath, you can double click any item to open that point


How do I remove the menu bar icon associated with an app without deleting the app? (macOS Catalina) I use a great app called magnet that allows me to use keyboard shortcuts to resize windows to certain portions of of the screen. I would like to remove its icon from the menu bar because my menu bar is already very cluttered. But I still need this app to be running at all times. (Yes, I've checked the app's settings; there's no option to remove the menu bar icon.)

Bartender will let you organize and hide icons on your menu bar. This is probably the best-known solution.

Another alternative that you might want to check out is Vanilla.

I use Bartender and highly recommend it, but it’s worth downloading both and checking them both out.

Before you ask, no, there is no way to do this without 3rd party software, unless that feature is added by the developer.


Is there a way to make Preview not open all previously opened files? Usually when I use Preview, it is when I see a .jpg or .png and I double click on the file to take a look at the file, but sometimes Preview will open up all the .pdf and .png I opened previously, possibly taking up a couple hundred of MB and opening 7 or 8 windows.

So it is a case I hope an app will not open all previously opened files.  I know it can be done by clicking File, pressing Option, and then choosing Close All, but is there a way to tell an app not to open all previously open files such as for the case of Preview?

This is part of resume. A feature introduced with Lion.
Per default, windows are restored the next time you open the application. If you want to completly close all windows just one time, you can quit an application using ⌘+⌥+Q instead of the standard ⌘+Q to quit an application.
Undo resume for a specific application
Type the following command in the Terminal. Then restart the specific application.
In general the syntax is:
defaults write com."producer"."program-name" ApplePersistenceIgnoreState YES

Thus, in your case (Preview.app) it is:
defaults write com.apple.Preview ApplePersistenceIgnoreState YES

If you prefer a graphical interface, you can use TinkerTool.
This application gives you access to additional preference settings and allows to activate hidden features in the operating system.

Undo resume for all applications
In order to disable this for all applications do this:
go to System Preferences->General->Restore windows when quitting...


Apple's Profile Manager (MDM) and Guided Access I have a few hundred iPads that are suddenly unable to enter Guided Access mode locally on the iPads. When we triple-click and triple-click is set to Guided Access, nothing happens. When I add something like voice-over to the triple-click functionality, I get the menu where I can select Guided Access (or voice-over), but again when tapping Guided Access nothing happens.

I'm fairly confident this is related to the restrictions we placed on the device group, but for the love of me I can't seem to figure out what restriction is stopping this from working. We don't have Single App Mode turned on due to the fact that the devices move between random wifi-networks and we need to be able to configure them on the device, but I added the apps that we need guided access for in the "Allow these apps to enter Single App Mode" list anyway, without that helping.

Which restriction is stopping us from entering Guided Access Mode?

This is actually a bug in iOS 8 (and 8.1). If you have guided access enabled when updating from iOS 7 it stops working. The fix is to turn it off, reboot the device, then turn it back on again.


What percentage of Mac users have OSX Lion or higher? I'm working on a web app and the user needs Safari 6.0 or higher which means they need Mac OSX Lion or higher (per Wikipedia)

Users can install Chrome in that case, but I'm wondering how much of an "edge case" this is.

According to Chitika, in North America, 55% of Macs on the Internet are running Lion or later. Source: Gotta Be Mobile


Pop Up Button always has the same value in AppleScript I have a Pop Up Button in Xcode with multiple choices, they are All, 1, 2 3, etc. to 15.

In my AppleScript code I call it ItemPicker:

property ItemPicker : missing value

I have made a Referencing Outlet from "ItemPicker" to Delegate. When I use the value later in the code, I do this:

set multiple to ItemPicker's stringValue() as string

But for some reason, multiple is always 1.  How do I fix this?

Have you checked out Stefan's answer to this question on MacScripter?
He says to make a handler like this:

on didSelectItem:sender
    log sender's titleOfSelectedItem() as text
end didSelectItem

Then connect the handler to the selector on the popup button.

Link to MacScripter article: http://macscripter.net/viewtopic.php?id=43906


Not enough space to migrate from Legacy FileVault to FileVault 2 When I try to change from using Legacy FileVault to the new FileVault in Lion, it says that I don't have enough disk space.

What are my options besides having to delete bunch of files? (20 GB in my case.) Is there any way, for example, to hook up a a large capacity USB thumb drive and tell it to use it for temporary disk storage? What about an external drive?

I notice that for each 1 GB of files I delete in my User's folder, the amount of additional disk space I need to free is reduced by 2 GB. I'm guessing that this is because it would no longer need to copy that data to a temporary location.

I don't know of any way to remap another drive as a scratch space and, when it comes to data integrity I distrust complex solutions.

First, go ahead and clean all caches, and search and destroy old/duplicate/obsolete/redundant files and applications. I often find a lot of clutter, and uneeded installers, in my Download folder. Don't forget to empty the Trash.  You might be pleasantly surprised at how much space you recover. Also see the excellent tip about recovering drive space by temporarily disabling Smart Sleep.

If that didn't free up enough space,  solve this problem by copying one more of your larger files, for example in my case I might choose my Aperture Library, to an external drive. An alternative would be to copy a large directory. (In fact, the Aperture Library is a actually a directory structure bundle). Your choice of files should be influenced by what is simple (fewer files from fewer places) and will have the least impact on the system. For example, I would be reluctant to move my media files for fear of damaging their sometimes delicate links from the iTunes Library file. (This fear has been somewhat mitigated by iTunes Match, but still I'm cautious.)

Confession, I don't really have to copy this file because it's already on my SuperDuper! clone drive, and also backed up offsite for safety—so in reality, I would just check the integrity of those backups and proceed.

Use copy, not move. While I've never been bitten myself, the reports of problems moving large groups of files to an external drive, particularly when using Finder, are numerous enough to frighten me away from this bad practice. You need to check the integrity of your copy before proceeding.

Provided you already have another trusted (meaning verifyed), redundant, backup copy of the file(s)—you do, right?—you can now delete the file(s) from your main drive. If not, take the time to make another copy. A file doesn't exist until it exists in three places – Alex Lindsay, The Pixel Corps.

The rest should be self-apparent. Turn FileVault off. Copy the file(s) back to your main drive and again verify the integrity of the copied data. Activate FileVault 2—remembering to safeguard the recovery key.

Laborious, but safe and approved by Apple in that there's no voo-doo involved.


Is it possible to determine the date a photo (received via text message) was taken? Is it possible to download a photo received in a text message and determine the date that the photo was taken? I have an iPhone.

Cameras usually append EXIF information to photos they take. You may use EXIF Viewer(on Mac) or other softwares to view if there is EXIF.


How can I connect an Apple TV to an older television? Is there a way to connect the latest Apple TV, which only has an HDMI output, to an older television that only has the yellow and red/white inputs for audio and video? This older television has a coaxial input as well.

You're having a hard time determining it cause those "yellow / white" cables are called "RCA" ports, created by one of the first TV makers and ironically mostly sold off to Japanese companies.

Searching for "RCA to HDMI converter" yields a wealth of converters and opinions about the best devices based on the model of TV

such as this article:

http://techchannel.radioshack.com/convert-hdmi-rca-1778.html


Add Chrome to dock with parameters via Automator with chrome icon I need to have started Chrome without the build in Flash

via console you add the Parameters

--disable-internal-flash

which works fine, now i would like to have a Dock Icon which passes this parameter along

I have an Automator.app which encapsules the start up, but how du i get it somehow automatically to the dock.

This worked for me: defaults write com.apple.dock persistent-apps -array-add "<dict><key>tile-data</key><dict><key>file-data</key><dict><key>_CFURLString</key><string>/Applications/Chess.app/</string><key>_CFURLStringType</key><integer>0</integer></dict></dict></dict>"; killall Dock.

Questions about adding applications with command line arguments to the Dock:

How can I force command-line arguments to a program shortcut in the dock?
How do I pass command line arguments to Dock items?
How to set launch options for programs on OS X


Intermittent ding/sonar sound coming from Macbook Pro... even when turned off! My MacBook Pro late 2014 is making a ping sonar-like noise every 30-35 seconds, even when muted and the laptop is turned off. It seems to be coming from the left side of the MacBook and is very loud.
I've made a video so you can hear the sound and how frequently it occurs (first noise at 0:14, then 0:53 and finally 1:31).

There is an alert noise when logic board is failing/has failed.

Have you tried various start-up options?


Wrong icon and association app The files with extension .tex on my Mac (running Mojave) exhibit some strange behavior:

(a) When I right-click such a file and select "Open With", the first choice is the "TeXshop" app.
(b) However, when I double-click the file, the file opens in the "Texpad" app.
(c) The file icon is a "TeXshop" icon.
(d) The "Get Info" panel, under "Open With..." gives "Texpad".

Any suggestions on how this can be fixed?

In the "Get Info" panel, the field under "Open with:" should be a picklist, you should be able to click on the list and choose an alternate application. You should then be able to use the "Change All..." button to make that application the default for all .tex documents.


iPhone photos app 'syncing' lots and not showing photos in other apps since updating to iOS 8.3 and probably enabling some new sort of iCloud system, all my photos in the photos app showed a white circular progress indicator in the bottom right the first time I looked at the picture, which seemed related to network activity.

No idea why this was happening but ended up noticing that a gif viewing app I was developing was suddenly showing many fewer gifs than before. Upon further inspection i found that those gifs I hadn't looked at in the photos app, and hence hadn't done their white progress indicator thing, were missing. Once I'd let them do their white progress indicator thing they showed up again.

So I went through almost all my photos and gifs in the photos app to let them all get 'synced' (or whatever they're doing) so all my gifs would show up and then I noticed some that I'd previously 'synced' were missing again and required another 'sync' to show up again... What??

Has anyone else experienced this? Does anyone know what's going on?

What settings do you have under Settings app > iCloud > Photos? I'm assuming you have iCloud Photo Library turned on and Optimize iPhone Storage checked. See this.

Regarding the thumbnails not showing up in your GIF app, it's likely due to the way the app reads your photo library and probably hasn't been updated to account for Optimized Storage with iCloud Photo Library.

In an app that reads the library correctly, the thumbnails of all photos should show up, and for a photo whose full size isn't cached on your device, it will download at the time you tap on it.


Inheriting Duplicate Time Machine Backup Sparsebundle on macOS Server Time Machine Server I am running macOS Server and using the Time Machine service. I have a Drobo attached via Firewire 800. I've been backing up my workstations and laptops to it for about 2 years and have built-up backups history.

I would like to add a second Drobo to the backup server to use as an additional backup destination and configure the clients to alternate backups to the two Time Machine Drobos (TM1, and TM2). However, I'd like the second backup to include the backup history form the existing Sparesebundles.

Can I simply setup the new backup destination (TM2) and copy the sparsebundles from the original backup destination (TM1) and inherit those backups? That way, if one of the Drobos dies, or one of the backups get corrupt, I will have a the backup history from my other TM storage device.

Yes, that it possible. I did this two or three times.

You will have to switch off the Time Machine service, then copy the backup just as if you were moving it to a new drive. The same applies to sparsebundles. Note that the copied sparsebundle will have the same maximum size as the old one, but Time Machine will increase it automatically to the size of the volume during the next backup. Finally, switch Time Machine back on, and select the new location as a backup volume.

Time Machine will check the backup thoroughly (which will take quite a long time), then accept it as base and attach further backups to it.


iPhone 5s storage space iTunes tells me that I have no storage space on my phone.  It is the music that is taking up space.  But I only have 145 songs on the phone that I have selected (3 playlists).  The phone says that there are 600 songs.  How do I get only the extra space back from the music I don't want on the phone.

On your iPhone, navigate to Settings > General > Usage.

At the top of this page there will be a list of apps in order of how much space they use. You can use this to decide what to delete to make more room for your music.

You can delete apps on the home screen by holding down on them until they start to wiggle. Hit the little "x" on any app to delete it.

You can delete music by sliding it to the left in your Music app. Then hit, "Delete."


My mac came with Mountain Lion. I upgraded to mavericks - and now I can't find mountain lion download According to I've bought Mountain Lion, but where can I download it now? it should be in my purchase tab, but it isn't. ("option" does not help, it just lets you redownload if it is already in the list - which it isn't)

I would like an installable version of Mountain Lion to run inside parallels for testing software I develop against 10.8 (and potentially also 10.7, but let's stick to 10.8 for now).

How can I get an installer for older versions?

edit: found a way (for some reason site won't let me post this as an answer)

Use "Internet Recovery" (option-R during boot), and install Mountain Lion into an external USB drive. Then get parallels to import that. Awkward, but it works.

For some reason which remains unexplained, the App Store 'Hides' the Mountain Lion purchase once Mavericks has been downloaded. The Lion purchase remains visible, but Mountain Lion becomes 'Hidden.'

Fire up App Store and go to Purchases. Now go to the Store menu and select View my Account - enter your password when asked. Go to the 2nd Section iTunes in the Cloud and click on Manage - You'll find Mountain Lion in the list.


Macbook pro mid 2012 slow down I'm actually asking about my wife's MacBook Pro which I don't use very often. It's slowed down quite a bit recently and apparently before the update to El Capitan. Programs have started to take a long time to launch but once they have launched actually run fine. After booting up it will take about 45 seconds for Safari to even be usable. Spotlight also lags a lot and can't even keep up with typing, although it responds to 'escape' quickly.

I've watched the system monitor and even when programs are launching the CPU seems to be low with around 90% idle. It has 4GB of RAM and there always seems to be around 1.5Gb free.

I've attached the summary showing the hardware below. It doesn't have an SSD.

I've also run the Apple Hardware Test which took approximately an hour and nothing was reported from it.

From what I've read people have suggested upgrading the memory but since it doesn't seem to be running out of memory I would be surprised if this helped. There's also very little running and nothing user installed that is being launched in the Dock at start up.

Any help would be great and happy to provide any other stats needed.

Model Name:    MacBook Pro

Model Identifier:    MacBookPro9,2
Processor Name:  Intel Core i5
Processor Speed: 2.5 GHz
Number of Processors:    1
Total Number of Cores:   2
L2 Cache (per Core): 256 KB
L3 Cache:    3 MB
Memory:   4 GB

Starting with OS X 10.9 it appears that OS X relies heavily on one having an SSD.  Since apps, which have been run once after startup, when relaunching them, they are mainly started off inactive memory/cache and therefore are faster the second time you start them.  This is in line with your statement that once they are loaded, they work fine.

As a comparison, in my Mac Pro (Early 2008), I used conventional HDDs for a very long time as well.  The computer originally came with Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard, which purred on this machine.  All following big cats also purred away without a problem at all.

However, with the naming convention change of OS X 10.9 Mavericks, loading something from the HDD became cumbersome along with it (tested with System Preferences which took 30(!) seconds to show up after the system was started).  Once started and closed, it re-opened fast (due to it still being in inactive memory or cache).

The same could be seen later with "Star Wars: The Old Republic" under Windows on the very same computer.  Using the HDD it took some time to load the game and/or planets.

While you can try things like clearing caches (which you can find at ~/Library/Caches), or back up all your data (e.g. using Time Machine) and reinstall OS X entirely (to verify that upgrading to newer OSs did not leave undesired settings), for the long haul I guess that you will not get around spending a bit more and get an SDD.  I did so myself eventually.

While dissatisfied to spend money as well, I am very satisfied with the results.

IMPORTANT: If you buy a non-Apple SSD drive, you want to check about trim to optimize it.  Otherwise you may wear it down too fast and spend even more money in buying a new one earlier.


Does plugging iPhone into speakers shorten its life span? I yearn to play music on my external speakers that can be connected to iPhone or $50 USD 256 GB  USB flash drive. I'm assuming that both's life time will shorten.

But which to use? I'm guessing USB, because it's cheaper to replace?
Are there other better ways, without reducing lifespan of an electronic device?

Rule out connecting to a laptop, which I don't always have with me.

Plugging a set of speakers into an iPhone does not significantly shorten its life span. Not at all.

If you're worried about the connector being damaged (for example a jack connector), you could use a permanently connected extension cable. Then you can connect and disconnect the speakers as you like without wear and tear on the iPhone's connector.


How do I disable this message: "the disk was not ejected properly"? Is there any way to disable the "the disk was not ejected properly" message?

I use a KVM and need to switch between two systems and have a memory stick that is in the KVM. The problem is that it's very annoying to get the message every time I switch from one computer to the other. I know, I can unmount it (and probably should), but I switch all the time, so it's a inconvenience to unmount, and there is nothing sensitive on the memory stick.

This applescript will close them for you. Paste it into Script Editor and then Save as an application. Then grant access to that application in (System Preferences > Security & Privacy > Accessibility)
Then you can use an application like ControlPlane https://www.controlplaneapp.com/ to run the application on wake thus closing them all automatically!
** Note: You will need to grant Accessibility access to ControlPlane as well.

tell application "System Events"
tell process "NotificationCenter"
    set numwins to (count windows)
    repeat with i from numwins to 1 by -1
        tell window i
            set temp to value of static text 1
        end tell
        if temp contains "Disk Not Ejected Properly" then
            click button "Close" of window i
        end if
    end repeat
end tell
end tell


How to enable Eclipse on OS X Yosemite? I've just upgraded to Yosemite. I'm trying to run the latest version of Eclipse but I get an error saying that Eclipse cannot run on Java 6. Running java --version on Terminal gives me Java 8. Why is Eclipse using Java 6?

I fixed this by downloading the 64bit version of Eclipse.


Converting Video using Handbrake for iPad Mini first Gen I have recently received a first gen iPad Mini. My experience with Handbrake is limited. Can anyone recommendation what settings to use on Handbrake to convert HD source ( mostly 1280 x 720 ) to watch on the smaller 1024 x 768 screen without losing more quality than already lost from the smaller resolution, but also without making the files bigger than they have to be. I would also like the video to take up the whole screen without borders ( I don't mind if it stretches a bit ).

As I've got an iPad mini myself I would definately recommend you the Apple TV preset.

Your iPad mini does not have retina display, nor does mine (first gen.) and converting to Apple TV format is great (720p instead of 1080p) and results in a smaller size file than iPad preset does.


How to make the terminal auto-complete from the command history? In Linux, I had managed to set up the terminal in such a way that if I type part of a command and press the arrow key 'up', it would auto-complete with the last command that started with what I had typed.

I tried to do this following the instructions on http://hints.macworld.com/article.php?story=20031026174236860, but it doesn't seem to work. Does anyone know how to set this up on a Mac?

You may use reverse-search.
Just press ctrl+R and start typing your command, and then just press Enter.


iPhone 4 on reboot loop My iPhone shut down, and asked me to restore and update, which I think means that it's going to delete all my data, which I'm nervous I won't be able to get back.

After that, I haven't been able restore it.

I plugged it into the charger, and the Apple logo pops up for 5-8 minutes, then it vibrates and turns off, in a loop.
I plugged my iPhone into a laptop, to try and back it up, then restore it on iTunes, but it wouldn't go to the screen that told me to attach to iTunes anymore.

My sleep/wake button is broken. So I can't reboot it.

I got it plugged in iTunes, and it kept saying "unknown error" and now it's not getting past that.

You could get it into restore mode by holding the home button while it boots. So turn it off if you can, or wait for it to turn off. Then while plugging it in, press and hold the home button.


Backup Time Capsule to 'cloud' / online backup provider I've got a 3 TB Time Capsule that stores a range of files and Time Machine backups. I’d like to be able to backup the whole Time Capsule offsite, ideally using a "cloud" backup provider.

The Time Capsule itself is a stand alone unit (not tethered to any machine). Is this possible?

Another way is to do a second time capsule backup to the cloud.  As long as you can specify the location "as a folder" to time machine, then you have time machine making 2 backups for you.

I do 2 backups, one to the Airport Time Capsule unit and one to a different network drive.  I know it is not in the cloud, but if you can do as I mentioned above, that is another way to do it.

I also use SOS backup to the cloud.  If I specify the time machine backup folder, it will do exactly as you are asking.


Are there any limitations when using AirPort Express in a Windows environment? I have 3 Windows laptops on my home network connected via a wireless router.  I have been through three wireless routers in six months and have found them to all be poor quality. They inevitably flake out and drop connections (even though I live in a 600 square foot basement suite).

I am willing to shell out the cash for whatever wireless router will be bulletproof. I have heard good things about Airport Extreme. I am a very technical person as I am a Java developer for a living, is Airport Extreme right for me?

I will not have a Mac on my network in the foreseable future so all administration of the router will have to be done on my Windows Vista (32 bit) machine or one of the Windows 7 machines (x64).

Apple offers the software AirPort Utility for Windows, which is required to configure the router (there's no web-interface). Apart from that there are no limitations to Windows machines. However, I have no idea how good the software for Windows is. On the Mac it's great and easy to use, as you'd expect.

As you say you're a technical person: the AirPort itself doesn't offer many options, it just runs (since more than 3 years for me now, without problems). So if you plan to put linux on the router and do some crazy firewall, natting, whatever that is more than standard, it's definitely nothing for you. It's not a toy.


Why is my iPod Shuffle an "Unknown Device"? Help, I've tried everything.

I have an iPod Shuffle 2nd generation and ever since I plugged it into an AC wall charger, my PC has stopped recognizing it.

I tried multiple PCs, to ensure it's not my PC.

It blinks orange 3 times and then blinks green once, when I unplug it. But when I keep on docking/undocking I finally get it to have a steady blinking orange light, but then it detects my iPod as "Unknown Device" in Windows.

My iPod does work and charges with the AC wall charger, and I can listen to the songs that are in but I can't sync/put new songs due to this issue.

I tried nearly every solution that exists, such as updating the driver in device manager, making it be a mass storage device so I can reformat it, but I can't get it to become a mass storage device, it just detects it as an "Unknown Device" no matter what. I also tried to stop the iPod service to make iTunes recognize it as a mass storage or anything, just so I can reformat it (after doing this it should be no problem detecting on iTunes) but nothing works..

Getting tired of this.. any solutions?! I tried the Apple Reset Utility, Apple Guide 5 steps etc.. Nothing will recognize since it is an "Unknown Device".

Should I just throw it away?

My suspicion is that your charger was not the standard AC charger, and the voltage some how blew part of the port hardware, but not all of it. Are you near an Apple Store or a Reseller? They can probably try to boot it, and if it won't be recognized, they may give you a recycling discount on a new shuffle. It's probably not cost conscious to repair when a new one is $49.


How to combine "Choose folder command" with "adding folder items" function with Applescript I'm using a folder action to create a "hot" folder, which immediately duplicates the files placed in this folder to a specific backup folder.

This is the script I'm using as folder action and it works fine:

on adding folder items to this_folder after receiving these_items
   tell application "Finder" to duplicate these_items to folder
   ("Macintosh HD:Users:photograper:Desktop:Target:")
end adding folder items to

But I want to run this folder action like a normal applescript and trigger the "adding folder items" function  with a "Choose folder" command. So I can manually point a specific source and target folder and get the script running.

I tried this, but no result:

set this_folder to choose folder with prompt "Select source folder:"
with multiple selections allowed
set target_folder to choose folder with prompt "Select backup folder:"

on adding folder items to this_folder after receiving these_items
   tell application "Finder" to duplicate these_items to target_folder
end adding folder items to

Any suggestions how to combine the two parts of scripting together so they can interact?

Thanks!

Patrick

Just remove the handler and change the variable "these_items" for "this_folder", like so:

set this_folder to choose folder with prompt "Select source folder:" with multiple selections allowed
set target_folder to choose folder with prompt "Select backup folder:"

tell application "Finder" to duplicate this_folder to target_folder

Then run the script as a normal script, and it will copy the folder entirely to your destination.

If, on the other hand, you just want the items to be copied (not the folder), you could use this variation:

set this_folder to choose folder with prompt "Select source folder:" with multiple selections allowed
set target_folder to choose folder with prompt "Select backup folder:"

tell application "Finder"
    set these_items to list folder of this_folder without invisibles
    repeat with i from 1 to count of these_items
        set ItemX to item i of these_items
        set ItemX to (this_folder & ItemX as string) as alias
        duplicate ItemX to target_folder
    end repeat
end tell

Either way, you would end up with a duplicate of the contents of the folder.

Now, given your comments below, this version will run the script as a folder action, but will remember your destination folder when you declare a property at the beginning of the script. If you recompile the script, it will ask you again.

property target_folder : ""

on adding folder items to this_folder after receiving these_items
    if target_folder = "" then
        set target_folder to ¬
            choose folder with prompt "Select source folder:" with multiple selections allowed
    else
        try
            --if the script has a property that has been deleted (i.e., the destination folder), it will cause
            --an error that resolves by asking for a new folder
            set target_folder to target_folder as alias
        on error
            set target_folder to ¬
                ¬
                    choose folder with prompt "Select source folder:" with multiple selections allowed
        end try
    end if
    tell application "Finder" to duplicate these_items to folder target_folder
end adding folder items to

I hope this helps.


iMac won’t boot from external SSD I’ve been booting our 2013 iMac from an external USB SSD; the internal Fusion drive is flaky and I’ve associated it with repeated crashes. But after installing Catalina Security Update 2020-001, the external SSD is no longer recognized at boot time. If I restart while holding down the Opt key, the startup manager shows only the internal Fusion drive. I can still boot from the Fusion drive (though it’s not reliable for regular use), and when I do, the external SSD is visible and can be mounted. I’ve tried loading additional drivers from the startup manager (Opt-Shift-Cmd-Period) and resetting NVRAM (Cmd-Opt-P-R), but I still can’t boot from the external SSD.  It was working fine until yesterday.  Can anyone suggest another solution? Thanks in advance!

I mentioned in the original post that I had reset NVRAM (twice, as it happens). I reset NVRAM a third time, and lo and behold, could now boot from the external SSD. Go figure.


Identify a partition from script I have a bash script that needs to find out itself from which partition / disk it is running from. Unfortunately, I don't know how to do that or if there is a piece of software that can help me with this.
It would be really great if someone here could help me with this!

Here's a demonstration script which uses stat to print the device identifier of the running script. The device identifier can then be used to get the partition name with a utility such as diskutil.

#! /bin/bash
#
#  whscript: Print the Device Identifier
#            of the running script
#

#  This will return the name of the script

echo "$0"

#  Use stat to produce the Device Identifier

stat -f '%Sd' -- "$0"

#  Have diskutil print information
#  about the Device Identifier. Parse as
#  needed

diskutil info "$(stat -f '%Sd' -- "$0")"


Does upgrading macOS causes one to lose data? I am currently running macOS Sierra 10.12.6 on my Mac. I am in the process of upgrading the OS to the current public release macOS High Sierra 10.13.6. Will I lose my data during the upgrade process?

No.

Generally speaking, upgrading to a subsequent major release of macOS doesn't erase/touch user data. Pre-installed apps and configurations too survive the upgrade. Upgrading macOS is a common practise and carried out by lot of users every year when a new major version is released.

However, you should be cautious and be responsible for the sanity of your data. Upgrades doesn't negate the possibility of going wrong, and in the unlikely case, may cause damage to the hard drive, thereby causing you to lose access to data.

It is highly recommended to keep properly working data backup when doing a sensitive activity like OS upgrade.

I'll put extra emphasis on having a backup that works! A backup that doesn't work is as good as no backup.

Ensuring you have proper power backup and uninterrupted Internet connectivity, you should be fine with a high degree of probability. Having a backup ensures complete peace of mind :)


Cannot resize APFS partition - “The new size must be different than the existing size” I'm trying to use entire 1TB HD as 1 drive. Using the disk utility to resize the disk to 1TB I keep getting "The New size must be different than the existing  size".
I tried using the apple disk utility but got the same thing.

ADDITIONAL INFO I forgot to mention... I did clone a drive that was 256GB on to this 1TB drive... Then I ran the disk utility to repair it.

This helped me:

repair (internal, disk0 - in your case)
diskutil repairdisk disk0

resize (synthesized, disk1 - in your case with HS)
diskutil apfs resizeContainer disk1 0

After repairdisk resizeContainer works with no errors. You can see a similar issue over here for more context: Cannot resize APFS partition - "The new size must be different than the existing size"


Integrating Active Directory into our Mac Mavericks Open Directory Domain Help... :)

We are adding an Active Directory server to our network, to assist with larger groups and email issues.  Problem is, through searching I've found people who say it is easy and others who say it will just fall apart.  But...  Nothing concrete about how to properly go about making sure it works the way it is supposed to...

Anyone know of any good articles or documentation about adding in a AD server?  Eventually we need to promote it to the master and still have the mac servers as replicas (or at least still part of the system, so we can update them as needed).

Any thoughts?

You can integrate Active Directory with Open Directory in Mavericks, but it's a much different process then before. You have to give the AD user access to the services you want them to use before adding them to a group. (For instance FileSharing) If you don't you will get some weird errors, especially with Window's users. Once you give them access, then you can add them to groups. Apple wants you to use Profile Manager for all Management purposes, and not use groups at all. I find Groups are nice for server access, and auto mounts, but that's it. Everything else should be done in Profile Manager or a product like Casper.