How to change allocation size for external ssd on mac? I recently purchased a Sandisk Extreme SSD to work with Mac and Android.

Is it possible to create 2 exFAT partitions of the drive? (Currently, I managed to do a combination of exFAT and HFS/Mac OS Extended (Journaled))
Is it possible to change the allocation size using Disk Utility on Mac?

Running the command:
diskutil info /Volumes/PartitionName/ | grep "Block Size"

gives the default sector size as:
# For exFAT partition
Device Block Size:        512 Bytes
Allocation Block Size:    131072 Bytes

# For Mac OS Extended partition
Device Block Size:        512 Bytes
Allocation Block Size:    4096 Bytes

However, I didn't get the option to decide the allocation block size while partitioning/erasing the disk on Mac. Am I missing something?
Also, what should be the appropriate allocation size considering I am planning to store photos, documents and backup data? For eg. this review suggests formatting the hard disk before using with appropriate allocation size on Windows (like 128kb).
If we follow the answer provided here, could you please explain how to change allocation size (instead of device block size) with newfs_exfat
Platform: macOS High Sierra
Version 10.13.6

The diskutil command is a more reliable than the Disk Utility application when creating two ExFAT partitions on a drive. I do not believe you can specify the Allocation Block Size when ExFAT formatting a partition with either the diskutil command or Disk Utility application. However, you can with the newfs_exfat command.
The Allocation Block Size was originally referred to as the cluster size. Microsoft defines the cluster size as follows:

Cluster size represents the smallest amount of disk space that can be used to hold a file. When file sizes do not come out to an even multiple of the cluster size, additional space must be used to hold the file (up to the next multiple of the cluster size).

Basically, a larger cluster size results in faster access times, but at a cost of more wasted space. Certainly, if you have a large number of files significantly smaller that the cluster size, then you will find the volume is consuming far more space than the sum of the file sizes. The is no easy way to answer what you should choose for a cluster size. This really depends on the quantity and size of the files themselves.
There are alternatives, if you are using the disk to archive documents. For example, you could create a single file compressed archive of many documents. This eliminates the wasted space that normally occurs at the end of each file. Again, accessing an archive usually take additional time. You can easily create a zip archive by using the Finder Application. However, you can not use the Finder to view the contents of a zip file without first unzipping the file. You can list the contents of a zip file by using commands entered in a Terminal window. Or you can install a third party tool with a GUI. You can also use the Disk Utility to create a compressed dmg file. Here, you can use the Finder to mount and view the contains of a dmg file without first having to extract the contents.
Example
Below is an example where a 1 TB disk is partitioned into two 500 GB ExFAT volumes. Here the legacy Master Boot Record (MBR) partitioning scheme is used. The identifier for this disk is disk1. Basically, you specify the size of the first partition and the rest of the space is allocated to the second partition. The names of the volumes are MyExFAT1 and MyExFAT2.
diskutil partitiondisk disk1 MBR exfat MyExFAT1 500G exfat MyExFAT2 R

Below is the output from this command.
Started partitioning on disk1
Unmounting disk
Creating the partition map
Waiting for partitions to activate
Formatting disk1s1 as ExFAT with name MyExFAT1
Volume name      : MyExFAT1
Partition offset : 2 sectors (1024 bytes)
Volume size      : 976562504 sectors (500000002048 bytes)
Bytes per sector : 512
Bytes per cluster: 131072
FAT offset       : 2048 sectors (1048576 bytes)
# FAT sectors    : 30720
Number of FATs   : 1
Cluster offset   : 32768 sectors (16777216 bytes)
# Clusters       : 3814569
Volume Serial #  : 5faa3183
Bitmap start     : 2
Bitmap file size : 476822
Upcase start     : 6
Upcase file size : 5836
Root start       : 7
Mounting disk
Formatting disk1s2 as ExFAT with name MyExFAT2
Volume name      : MyExFAT2
Partition offset : 976562507 sectors (500000003584 bytes)
Volume size      : 976562533 sectors (500000016896 bytes)
Bytes per sector : 512
Bytes per cluster: 131072
FAT offset       : 2048 sectors (1048576 bytes)
# FAT sectors    : 30720
Number of FATs   : 1
Cluster offset   : 32768 sectors (16777216 bytes)
# Clusters       : 3814569
Volume Serial #  : 5faa3186
Bitmap start     : 2
Bitmap file size : 476822
Upcase start     : 6
Upcase file size : 5836
Root start       : 7
Mounting disk
Finished partitioning on disk1
/dev/disk1 (disk image):
   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
   0:     FDisk_partition_scheme                        +1.0 TB     disk1
   1:               Windows_NTFS MyExFAT1                500.0 GB   disk1s1
   2:               Windows_NTFS MyExFAT2                500.0 GB   disk1s2

If you wish to use the GUID Partition Table (GPT) scheme instead of the MBR partition scheme, then you would enter the following.
diskutil partitiondisk disk1 GPT exfat MyExFAT1 500G exfat MyExFAT2 R

The output from this command is given below. Note that a small EFI partition is also created.
Started partitioning on disk1
Unmounting disk
Creating the partition map
Waiting for partitions to activate
Formatting disk1s2 as ExFAT with name MyExFAT1
Volume name      : MyExFAT1
Partition offset : 411648 sectors (210763776 bytes)
Volume size      : 976562176 sectors (499999834112 bytes)
Bytes per sector : 512
Bytes per cluster: 131072
FAT offset       : 2048 sectors (1048576 bytes)
# FAT sectors    : 30720
Number of FATs   : 1
Cluster offset   : 32768 sectors (16777216 bytes)
# Clusters       : 3814568
Volume Serial #  : 5faa32d6
Bitmap start     : 2
Bitmap file size : 476821
Upcase start     : 6
Upcase file size : 5836
Root start       : 7
Mounting disk
Formatting disk1s3 as ExFAT with name MyExFAT2
Volume name      : MyExFAT2
Partition offset : 976973824 sectors (500210597888 bytes)
Volume size      : 976150528 sectors (499789070336 bytes)
Bytes per sector : 512
Bytes per cluster: 131072
FAT offset       : 2048 sectors (1048576 bytes)
# FAT sectors    : 30720
Number of FATs   : 1
Cluster offset   : 32768 sectors (16777216 bytes)
# Clusters       : 3812960
Volume Serial #  : 5faa32d7
Bitmap start     : 2
Bitmap file size : 476620
Upcase start     : 6
Upcase file size : 5836
Root start       : 7
Mounting disk
Finished partitioning on disk1
/dev/disk1 (disk image):
   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
   0:      GUID_partition_scheme                        +1.0 TB     disk1
   1:                        EFI EFI                     209.7 MB   disk1s1
   2:       Microsoft Basic Data MyExFAT1                500.0 GB   disk1s2
   3:       Microsoft Basic Data MyExFAT2                499.8 GB   disk1s3

In either case, the output from the command diskutil info MyExFAT1 | grep "Block Size" would be the following.
   Device Block Size:        512 Bytes
   Allocation Block Size:    131072 Bytes

So, if you wanted a Allocation Block Size of 4096 bytes, then you could enter the following commands. Below, the disk identifier is disk1 and the disk is using the MBR partition scheme.

Note:  If you wish, disk1s1 can be substituted for rdisk1s1, when entering the newfs_exfat command below. However, using rdisk1s1 results in the newfs_exfat command completing quicker.

diskutil info MyExFAT1 | grep Identifier
diskutil unmount disk1s1
newfs_exfat -R -v MyExFAT1 -b 4096 /dev/rdisk1s1
diskutil mount disk1s1
diskutil info MyExFAT1 | grep "Block Size"

These commands would produce the following output.
Marlin-3:imac2015 davidanderson$ diskutil info MyExFAT1 | grep Identifier
   Device Identifier:        disk1s1
Marlin-3:imac2015 davidanderson$ diskutil unmount disk1s1
Volume MyExFAT1 on disk1s1 unmounted
Marlin-3:imac2015 davidanderson$ newfs_exfat -R -v MyExFAT1 -b 4096 /dev/rdisk1s1
Volume name      : MyExFAT1
Partition offset : 2 sectors (1024 bytes)
Volume size      : 976562504 sectors (500000002048 bytes)
Bytes per sector : 512
Bytes per cluster: 4096
FAT offset       : 2048 sectors (1048576 bytes)
# FAT sectors    : 954368
Number of FATs   : 1
Cluster offset   : 956416 sectors (489684992 bytes)
# Clusters       : 121950761
Volume Serial #  : 5faa919e
Bitmap start     : 2
Bitmap file size : 15243846
Upcase start     : 3724
Upcase file size : 5836
Root start       : 3726
Marlin-3:imac2015 davidanderson$ diskutil mount disk1s1
Volume MyExFAT1 on disk1s1 mounted
Marlin-3:imac2015 davidanderson$ diskutil info MyExFAT1 | grep "Block Size"
   Device Block Size:        512 Bytes
   Allocation Block Size:    4096 Bytes

The output from this example was produced using High Sierra (macOS 10.13.6).


MySQL (Percona) and homebrew: I'm trying to run MySQL server (Percona) by launchctl load -w ~/Library/LaunchAgents/homebrew.mxcl.percona-server.plist and I see the following message in /var/log/system.log:

Aug  9 01:36:14 xxx com.apple.launchd.peruser.501[253] (homebrew.mxcl.percona-server[37257]): Exited with code: 1
Aug  9 01:36:14 xxx com.apple.launchd.peruser.501[253] (homebrew.mxcl.percona-server): Throttling respawn: Will start in 10 seconds

If I run it manually it gives me

$ /usr/local/opt/percona-server/bin/mysqld_safe
130809 01:49:36 mysqld_safe Logging to '/usr/local/var/mysql/xxx.local.err'.
130809 01:49:36 mysqld_safe Starting mysqld daemon with databases from /usr/local/var/mysql
/usr/local/opt/percona-server/bin/mysqld_safe: line 135: /usr/local/var/mysql/xxx.local.err: Permission denied
/usr/local/opt/percona-server/bin/mysqld_safe: line 172: /usr/local/var/mysql/xxx.local.err: Permission denied
130809 01:49:36 mysqld_safe mysqld from pid file /usr/local/var/mysql/xxx.local.pid ended
/usr/local/opt/percona-server/bin/mysqld_safe: line 135: /usr/local/var/mysql/xxx.local.err: Permission denied

Any ideas?

The log says it all: The script cannot write to the file /usr/local/var/mysql/xxx.local.err due to insufficient permissions.

I assume the log file belongs to a dedicated mysql user while you are starting the process using your user account.


Macbook Pro unable to use the internet while connected to IPSec VPN Short Question
Is there something I am missing when setting up a Cisco IPSec VPN connection that redirects all traffic over the VPN?

Background
When I am connected to the VPN, I can browse our company's intranet with no problems, but when I try to go out to say www.google.com it times out.  Another co-worker is having the same problem on his MBP as well.  The VPN client we use for our Windows machines is Shrew Soft talking to a pfSense router, which works like a champ.

System Information
Network
VPNing into a Pfsense based router

Hardware
MBP early 2008
4GB Ram
500GB 7200RPM HDD

Software
OS X 10.6.8
Bootcamp and Parallels 6: Windows 7 Pro

IPSec connections to Cisco routers are only allowed split routing based on the configuration of the router.  I don't know what kind of router you are connecting to,b ut an example is shown here.  Basically whomever is running the router would need to configure it to allow this behavior.


Will heavy duty testing and development cause my MB Air's SSD to crash soon? How to prevent it? I just recently bought a MacBook Air 2013 (i7 with 8GB RAM and 128GB SSD drive). I am a programmer, and my daily jobs would involve a lot of testing on that machine, including setting up databases, indexing Solr-based indices, etc. I stopped on the Air primarily because it is lightweight, and the SSD drive gives it a performance boost. Yet after what I learned about the limited write cycles of SSD drives, it gets me concerned if I should really do heavy-duty systems testing on it, or I should outsource it to say, an external hard drive or something. If I set up my projects to run from an external HDD, would that save me from expiring the life of the SSD? And how much is it really?

I'd love to find out some tools to be able to observe the life of the SSD over time.

Any other programmers with MacBook Air out there? What is your experience?

No. SSD that Apple ships are so much more reliable than the hard drives Apple ships (used to ship) that this is basically a non-issue. You still need a backup, failures still happen, but SSD have spare capacity and degrade gracefully, losing a little storage incrementally as they start to “fail”.

I've not heard of any early failures attributed to over use on 2010 and later SSD. I've also not even heard of documented cases of severe slow downs as explained here:

What happens at the user/OS level when an SSD finally wears out?

The controllers are apparently good enough and TRIM is recycling blocks in real-world situations to make SSD last as long as the computers. You might look at AppleCare to have Apple amortize the risk that you will wear your drive out in a 3 year period, but even with database writes, I'm not seeing developer machines fail prematurely. I also have no bad experience with SSD on servers and was surprised how well the Apple SSD are aging in general.


I set my startup disk to Macintosh HD. But after opening it, the name becomes "/" Using the System Preference -> Startup Disk I set my startup disk to Macintosh HD.  When I open it the name at the top of its window is "/". When I open the startup disk using Applescript it opens Macintosh HD, but the name of it becomes "/". Is this normal behavior?  My actual applescript code is this.
  tell application "Finder" to open startup disk
  tell application "Finder" to get the index of Finder window "Macintosh HD"

But the 2nd line produces the error message
error "Finder got an error: Can’t get Finder window "Macintosh HD"." number -1728 from Finder
window "Macintosh HD"
if I replace 2nd line with:
tell application "Finder" to get the index of Finder window "/"

It gives me the expected answer of 1.
The image below shows the window Macintosh HD. Notice the name at the top of the window and the name at the bottom of the window. Can someone tell me if this is normal or do i have a problem?

Macintosh HD is the partition name. The mount point is /, however. Other volumes are mounted in the /Volumes/ directory, such as /Volumes/MyDisk, if MyDisk is the name of the partition. This is similar to how Windows operates, where the boot disk is always C:\.
I'm not sure why Finder is showing it as /, though. On both my Mojave and Sierra machines, it shows "Macintosh HD". I don't have the bottom info bar, so that may be the reason.


MacBook Pro Mid-2012 SSD suddenly extremely slow I have a severe issue with an MacBook Pro Mid-2012 (serial number is C1MK9X6ZDTY3; it is a MacBook Pro 13-Inch "Core i5" 2.5 Mid-2012). In 2017, the RAM was upgraded. Also the internal HD was replaced with an SSD.

Recently, the MacBook's OS was updated to Catalina because some other software required the upgrade. The update essentially worked just fine and I could work with the laptop. However, a few days ago the system slowed down significantly up to a point where it's not usable anymore. Right now, directly after rebooting, I can hardly open any apps. The colored spinning wheel appears immediately and the machine more or less freezes. Also I cannot properly open Finder, etc.

I tried to connect the SSD externally via USB to another Mac. The behavior is the same.

I did some checks on the SSD:

Disk Utility says: https://imgur.com/a/ljvuHHt
The log when trying to do "first aid" on the disk says the
following: https://imgur.com/a/FgXVoDu

As you can see, there are some errors. Could they be related to the
    OS update?

I also installed DriveDx: https://imgur.com/a/BhBA6aa Looks good,
if you ask me.

Can you help me identifying the issue here?

I've also struggled with the same Macbook type and encountered a similar problem. Replaced the HDD with a SSD and it worked for almost two years, until the Mac became really slow.
Looks like the SATA cable is broken and needs replacement. See these ifixit instructions for the replacement.
The SSD I've used was a SanDisk SDSSDA-480G which is really slow now, even when I put it in an USB enclosure on another Mac. Writing is now limited to 2MB/s, while reading is still faster (around 250MB/s). I've verified with a different SSD and HDD that the enclosure isn't the problem for those low speeds. Looks like the disk is also damaged as side effect from the SATA cable.
I've replaced cable and SSD with new components and the same machine is now fast again.


Disk Utility (recovery mode) stuck at loading I want to do a clean install of el capitan OS. I booted to recovery mode, chose reinstall os x and followed the steps. So far so good. When it came to choose the destination disk where I wanted to install the OS, it did not show any hard drive, i.e Macintosh HD was not shown so I could select it. I figured I had to format it first. So I close the installation and went to Disk Utility. The problem is Disk Utility is stuck at loading and does not show anything.

My OS is corrupted, that is the reason why I want to do a fresh installation. With corrupted I mean, I can boot my system only if I go to single-mode and mount the hard drive with mount -uw / and then exit. But this is not a long term solution. I search everywhere in the web and there are many solutions out there, but none worked form me.

I tried erasing and formatting the hard drive when in single-mode with the help of diskutil. But this did not work because the DiskManagement Framework was missing. So I tried loading the files manually with launchctl. But still I can not use diskutil in single-mode.

I tried also fsck, it did not do any good.

I ran out of options. I don't know what to do.

Here is an image when I try to erase the partition via Disk Utility

And here is an image when I try to reinstall the OS. No Hard disk is shown to select

A solution for getting the disk utility unstuck is opening Terminal and running this:

sudo ps ax | grep hfs

You will see a line that looks like this:

**970**   ??  U      2:08.88 /System/Library/Filesystems/hfs.fs/Contents/Resources/./fsck_hfs -y /dev/disk2s4

Take note of that first number and run this:

sudo kill -9 970 # (use your own number here)

The Disk Utility gets automatically unstuck. If your hard drive shows up, but the drives are grayed out, try restarting into Recovery mode (pressing Cmd+R after booting). After a couple of restarts you might be able to finally run First Aid on your drive.


Can't see drafts folder in Mac Mail I have a recent MacBook Pro that was running OS X 10.6 but was recently updated to 10.7. My work email switched from Gmail to Exchange and they said to use the built-in Mail app. Overall, I like it, but I can't figure out how to see my drafts folder. According to the help, it only shows up if I have something in it, but I tried composing a message and saving it, and I still don't see my drafts folder in my list of folders. What am I supposed to do about this?

I fixed this issue by restarting Mail. I have no idea why the drafts folder wasn't showing up before.


Configure 3rd-party apps using MDM or Apple Configurator on iOS? I am using MDM to configure e-mail accounts on iOS devices using Mail/Exchange ActiveSync payload. Is there a way to configure 3rd-party iOS apps like OneDrive and DropBox using MDM or Apple Configurator?

I am aware that using MDM, an iOS device can be configured to come pre-installed with 3rd-party apps, but is there a way where the apps themselves can be configured too, like logging into one with a specific account?

Go through the Managed Apps & Updates section in Mobile Device Management Protocol Reference guide.

  an MDM server can provide configuration dictionaries to managed apps and can read response dictionaries from those apps. Apps can take advantage of this functionality to preconfigure themselves in a supervised environment, such as a classroom setting.

Go through the linked web-page. It is apparent that while it is possible to leverage MDM to configure an app but it will require support from the 3rd party app developer. An enterprise app created by the same company managing the device can program their app to be configured this way. Support for 3rd party app like Dropbox and OneDrive depends on how it was programmed by their development team.

It's recommended to get in touch with developer in app specific manner where this feature is required.


How to set reply-to address in Apple Mail I have two accounts set up in Apple Mail. The second account is for backup purposes and because at times the primary account is unavailable. When that happens, I send from the second account but would like the reply-to address to be that of the primary account. Is there a way to set things up this way in Apple Mail?

Simple!

With a message composition window open in Apple Mail make the following menu selection:

View > Reply-To Address Field

That works for a message-by-message basis. If you want to apply all the time there's a hack you can do this via Terminal:

defaults write com.apple.mail UserHeaders '{"Reply-To" = "reply-to@address"; }'

More details can be found here.


Adobe Photoshop Elements 2018 - how to condense text? (kerning, less space between letters) I was looking in the docs: https://helpx.adobe.com/photoshop-elements/using/edit-text.html

I want text to appear more condensed.

Where is the button?

It was there in a non-elements Photoshop version...

At the risk of making the wrong assumption, I'm guessing what you're wanting to do is change the tracking of the letters. Doing so will have the effect of condensing your text. Kerning, on the other hand, is actually an adjustment of the space between pairs of letters because in some cases the space between certain combinations of letters creates an unfortunate appearance.

In Adobe Photoshop you get access to a lot more functionality and changing things like tracking, kerning, etc are extremely easy. Unfortunately, in Adobe Photoshop Elements there is no obvious way to do this.

However, you do have two options open to you. One is an effective workaround within Photoshop Elements, and the other involves purchasing an add-on.

1. Workaround

I do have a workaround for you that will achieve the same effect, and that is to enable Asian Text Options (which I can see from your screenshot is not enabled). Here's what you need to do:

Launch Photoshop Elements
Go to Adobe Photoshop Elements Editor > Preferences > Type...
In the list of Text Options you'll see a checkbox for Show Asian Text Options - select it and click OK
Now within your document, select your text again to view your Type tool options
Now you should see the Asian Text Options below the justification options (see image below)

Now if you click on the drop-down arrow on the right of the Asian Text Options you'll see you can select a range of percentages - doing this will basically change the tracking of the characters/words you selected at Step 4

NOTE: Whatever % you select will also apply to any new text you add to your document, so remember to change it back to 0 if you want any new text to start from scratch.

2. Add-on

This requires purchasing the Elements+ add-on. This add-on actually activates a lot of the functions you'd normally find in the full version of Photoshop (many are actually still  in Photoshop Elements - they're just hidden)!

Obviously it'd take up too much space here to describe all of the hidden functions this add-on will enable, but this page shows the Tracking function it enables.

Note: I am not affiliated in any way with Elements+.


How to lock MacBook with a keyboard shortcut? Possible Duplicate:
  Is there a quick way to lock my Mac?

I am familiar with using Automator, but I do not know what code should be used to accomplish the feature. Can anyone provide the code used to lock my retina MacBook Pro? I want a function similar to the one in Windows when you press Windows+L.

If it helps, on 10.7 Lion, I just use a global two-key shortcut in BetterTouchTool (free/donationware) to start the screen saver and lock my Mac. You'll also need "Require password for sleep and screen saver" set to "immediately" in System Preferences > Security & Privacy > General. The shortcut shown here is ⌘ + L which I prefer to other solutions as its virtually the same key positions for my Windows and Mac machines!

Alternatively, you can also use Ctrl + ⇧ + ⏏/⌽ (eject key, or power key on Macbook Air) to put the display to sleep immediately (this also requires "Require password for sleep and screen saver" set to "immediately" in System Preferences > Security & Privacy > General).


How can I use software that is not "safe"? I've been trying to use drawing/painting software like Inkscape and krita but they won't open because the software may not be "safe" for my Mac. Does anybody know how to enable the software so that it will work?

just:
- Right-click (or control-click) the application in question and choose “Open”
- Click the “Open” button at the next dialog warning to launch the app anyway

more on http://osxdaily.com/2012/07/27/app-cant-be-opened-because-it-is-from-an-unidentified-developer/


Why does Office for Mac need Safari and Chrome closed for installation? In an update for MS Office for Mac, the installer asks to close Chrome and Safari — why?

What do those programs have to do with Microsoft Office?

I only have Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.

Presumably, the Office installer can modify/update the Microsoft Silverlight.plugin (which is installed in /Library/Internet Plug-Ins/), which Safari and Chrome could potentially be using.

It's primarily just a precaution against updating files which an application is actively using.

[EDIT]

After further investigation, it looks like it's actually the fact that the installer modifies the fonts in /Library/Fonts/Microsoft/ which is the motivation behind requiring that several apps not be running. The following is an excerpt from the XML Distribution script that's in the 16807Office 2011 14.3.5 Update.pkg installer package:

<choice id="fonts" selected="true" start_enabled="false" start_selected="false" start_visible="false" title="fonts-title">
    <pkg-ref id="fonts">
        <must-close>
            <app id="com.apple.Safari"/>
            <app id="org.mozilla.firefox"/>
            <app id="com.google.Chrome"/>
            <app id="com.operasoftware.Opera"/>
            <app id="com.microsoft.Word"/>
            <app id="com.microsoft.Excel"/>
            <app id="com.microsoft.Query"/>
            <app id="com.microsoft.Powerpoint"/>
            <app id="com.microsoft.Outlook"/>
        </must-close>
    </pkg-ref>
</choice>

[EDIT]

Another pair of potential culprits are

SharePointBrowserPlugin.plugin
and
SharePointWebKitPlugin.webplugin

They are installed by default with Office 2011 under /Library/Internet Plug-Ins. (Note: Silverlight was not an option to install with 2011).


Does Photos.app support a watch directory? Is it possible for Photos to automatically include all files in a given directory as part of its Library? Picasa, for example, offers this.

I have a folder on my computer that is automatically synced to other devices via an online service (e.g. Dropbox, OneDrive, etc). Although I can manually import those files into Photos, that requires performing the import every time new files are added to that directory.

I have tried creating a new Photos library (holding down Option on launch) in the directory mentioned earlier to see if it might magically add all the files there, but that has no effect.

Photos does not currently support a watch directory - meaning that all photos have to be imported manually (by dragging and dropping onto the Photos window or File > Import...) or via iCloud Photo Library or My Photo Stream.


Unable to open the MacBook Pro mid-2014 lid with single hand I have got a MacBook Pro with Retina display Mid-2014 model. I cannot open the lid of the device without putting one hand at the bottom and other on the lid, which was not the case few months ago. I purchased this machine last year in the month of October and only a week ago it was the Apple service center for the same issue. Folks there cleaned it and said to me that they can't loose it up any further.
My question is, Is this normal?

No, you should be able to open the machine without using two hands by simply lifting the screen, you may find the machine lifts off a little, but it should open without two hands, if not then there is something wrong, but that doesn't meant they aren't wrong, perhaps it is not fixable without replacing a fair chunk of the machine.


iOS 11: How to prevent an app from opening in slide over mode? I am reading my emails and want to open a link. This link is automatically opened in my browser in slide over mode.

I have an IPad Pro 10.5 and when used in portrait mode, the slide over app is tiny and make webpages unreadable.

My question then is: how can I still use multitasking (which is useful by itself if I control how to use it) but prevent an app from opening other apps in slide over mode.

Alternatively, is there any way to make a slide over app the main app? Can I make my browser fullscreen with an occult gesture I couldn't manage to find?

My best workaround right now is to manually open from the dock the app that is in slide over so that I can see it fullscreen (and it doesn't even show in the recent app list!) or to just turn off multitasking, which I'm inclined to do.

I finally found a way to get rid of that small window and make links open in a full browser.

I was using Google's Inbox to read emails and Chrome to open the links. As the OP was describing, clicking on a link opened a small Chrome window and because Inbox does not support Split View, the small window was not resizable. It turns out iOS remembers the size and state of the last time Chrome was opened in multitasking mode.

I had to start some other app that supported Split View (like “Reminders”), pull up the dock, drag the Chrome icon to the top of the app, essentially kicking in Split View. Then I resized the Chrome window to be full screen.

This way, now when I click on a link on Gmail or Inbox and select Chrome to open it, it comes in full screen.


installation os x on Mac pro 2 from scratch I purchased mac pro 2 model no# a1186 few days ago with a new Hard drive . Now im trying to install os x from usb.
i made bootable usb through another mac mini machine  by formatting it through disk utility and transfer dmg OS X lion 10.7 in it.

Now issue is that i cant boot from usb and the Hd is new, nothing in it so how to boot usb on mac pro 2.
I have tried key such as cmd (alt) + R  key but nothing happening. Its just shows grey screen and after few seconds question mark symbol blinking.
And when press and hold "R" key . it just shows a mouse cursor on screen and nothing else.
Please guide me how to install OS x in it. Im in urgent.

PS : am i making any mistake during making bootable usb or whats the key combination for booting mac pro 2 to usb?

To make a USB installer from the 10.7 .DMG you need to open the .DMG, then open the installer application by right-clicking and selecting Show Package Contents and then find the actual installer itself, InstallESD.DMG.

Use the Restore function in Disk Utility to copy InstallESD.DMG to your USB device (if you receive any errors, try mounting InstallESD.DMG first before copying it). You should then be able to boot your Pro from it :)


How to turn off certain shortcut I have been looking around to turn off "CMD + , (comma)" opening password manager in Safari but there appears to be no option to do so (maybe I missed it). The same shortcut is used as subscript shortcut in Google Docs and it is really annoying during essays. Does anyone knows how to do such thing?
Thank you beforehand!
-It is marked as duplicate but the answer is not relevant.

Command + Comma (,) on Safari opens Preferences, as shown here:

To remap it, go to System Preferences » Keyboard » Shortcuts » App Shortcuts… and click the + button:

Then set the app as "Safari" and "Preferences…" as the item you want to add a new keyboard shortcut for, like so:

I chose Command+Option+Control+P but you can choose whatever you want.
Once you click “Add” on that final window, you should be able to use Command+Comma elsewhere without interference.


Can I show percentage change instead of price change? Can I show the percentage change instead of price change in the new stocks app?

Source:

Launch the Stocks app from your Home screen.
Tap on the values next to each stock. You can switch from percentages to dollar amounts to price difference.

Each tap will allow you to switch what information you see in the main Stocks dashboard. Additional taps will switch between displaying the marketcap, percentage, and price.


Mountain Lion Installer detects hard drive damage I downloaded and ran the Mountain Lion Installer today for my mid-2007 iMac. After rebooting and preparing to install, I receive an error message that the hard disk was damaged and the installer could not run.

I can't boot to the partition and am working from the install partition instead. Disk Utility cannot repair the partition, and detects no problems with parent volume. Time Machine cannot restore to the partition as it is apparently locked or unavailable (it is greyed out in the program).

I've booted in Single User mode and run /sbin/fsck -fy and /sbin/mount -uw /, but this does not allow me to run fsck on the problem volume - just the install partition it appears.

This is the partition info from diskutil info /dev/disk0s2:

Device Identifier:        disk0s2
   Device Node:              /dev/disk0s2
   Part of Whole:            disk0
   Device / Media Name:      WD Black Caviar

   Volume Name:              WD Black Caviar
   Escaped with Unicode:     WD%FF%FE%20%00Black%FF%FE%20%00Caviar

   Mounted:                  Yes
   Mount Point:              /Volumes/WD Black Caviar
   Escaped with Unicode:     /Volumes/WD%FF%FE%20%00Black%FF%FE%20%00Caviar

   File System Personality:  HFS+
   Type (Bundle):            hfs
   Name (User Visible):      Mac OS Extended
   Owners:                   Enabled

   Partition Type:           Apple_HFS
   OS Can Be Installed:      No
   Media Type:               Generic
   Protocol:                 SATA
   SMART Status:             Verified
   Volume UUID:              8880D8D2-AEC8-3466-81D3-4ABBE296733A

   Total Size:               1.3 TB (1278311751680 Bytes) (exactly 2496702640 512-Byte-Blocks)
   Volume Free Space:        817.2 GB (817164238848 Bytes) (exactly 1596023904 512-Byte-Blocks)
   Device Block Size:        512 Bytes

   Read-Only Media:          No
   Read-Only Volume:         Yes
   Ejectable:                No

   Whole:                    No
   Internal:                 Yes
   Solid State:              No

`

How can I regain write access to the partition to diagnose it?

Thanks.

To fix this I re-partitioned the volume from Disk Utility running off a USB boot volume. This got the volume accessible and responsive again. Then I restored from an earlier Time Machine backup, and proceeded to re-download and run the Mountain Lion installer, this time with no problems.

While it may be faulty hardware somewhere, I can't rule out that a bug or some other interference for the Mountain Lion installer damaged the partition. It has been working fine for days now, and was working fine prior to ML.


How to transfer iMessage texts from Mac to iPhone? I accidentally deleted some messages from my iPhone but they still appear on my Mac as I haven't enabled iCloud for messages on either device. Is there any way to transfer the old messages from my mac to my phone?

Yes, you can still sync them through iCloud. Try the following:

If possible, make a Time Machine backup (no troubles expected, it's just good idea to make a backup of important info that you have only in one place);
Enable iCloud sync for messages on Mac;
Leave it charging and on Wi-Fi for several hours so messages could sync.
Enable iCloud sync for messages on the phone;
Tap "Merge" when prompted;
Leave the phone on Wi-Fi and charging so messages could sync.


Can I keep my iTunes library on an external drive? My main computer is a MacBook Pro that's running out of space, mostly due to my iTunes library, especially the TV shows.

I have a few questions all related to solving this problem.

First the most basic: where is the iTunes library directory? What is its filesystem location?

If I move my library from the laptop and to an external USB-connected drive, will my music and TV shows still play?

And here's the tricky part: I'd like to keep some of my music on the local drive so I can actually listen to it when I'm out and don't have the external drive with me. Is there a way to do that?

I don't need to preserve ratings or play counts.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Where is the iTunes library directory? What is its filesystem location?

Go to iTunes > Preferences.... Choose the Advanced tab. There you will find the path to your iTunes folder.

If I move my library from the laptop and to an external USB-connected drive, will my music and TV shows still play?

Yes, if iTunes knows where to find them. See following question.

I'd like to keep some of my music on the local drive so I can actually listen to it when I'm out and don't have the external drive with me. Is there a way to do that?

Under the Advanced tab in the preferences, make sure Keep iTunes Media folder organized is checked. Choose Change... next to iTunes Media folder location to choose a new location on your external drive. Then click OK.

Now go to File > Library > Organize Library, select Consolidate files and click OK. iTunes will now copy your files to your external hard drive. The files on your internal drive will be retained.

Go to your original iTunes Media folder on your internal drive and drag it to the Trash. Do not empty the trash before making sure that you can quit and relaunch iTunes and play songs without any trouble.

Now move any music files you want to be on your internal drive to a folder on your internal drive. When you move these files, iTunes will not be able to find them, as iTunes will look for them in the folder on your external drive. This will result in dead listings with exclamation marks if you try to play them. See this answer to remove dead listings: Verify that entries in iTunes are actually on disk.

Now go to iTunes > Preferences... and to the Advanced tab again. Uncheck Copy files to iTunes Media folder when adding to library. Choose File > Add to library... and select the media files that you moved to your internal drive.

Cheers.

For the record, it is also possible to have more than one iTunes library and choose which one to load when starting iTunes. The above solution allows you to have one library with files at different locations.


How can I search folder names from Open/Save Dialog in El Capitan? When I switched from Windows to OS X Mavericks, it took me a few months to learn that the fastest way to open or save documents in an application was to search for the folder they should be in.

Under El Capitan, it seems to be increasingly difficult to find an application that allows me to find a folder name in the Open/Save dialog boxes.  Almost every application only allows me to find the names of files, and systematically excludes folders.  (One exception is Save As in Office 2016, which allows me to search folder names.)  How can I fix this?  Am I crazy for thinking this used to work?

P.S.  The folders I'm looking for show up find in normal Spotlight searches.

You can type kind:folder in search bar of your Open/Save Dialog to search only for folders. Alternatively, you can click on + next to Save if you are doing a Save As on the right side to select kind as folders from the dropdown.

PS: The search bar containing This Mac Active etc. only appears after you have typed something in the top search bar.


Stretching Keynote over multiple monitors I have looked and looked and whilst I can find many suggestions for my issue I cannot find a solution, not one that seems to work (in software).

I have two projectors (or monitors) connected to my Macbook. Both same resolution, etc. I want to have a Keynote that stretches over both displays with the notes on my laptop.

So my thought was to disable spaces, create a presentation that is the width of the two monitors combined and hope it would stretch over. Nope.

So with my understanding the only way to do this is to trick the OS into thinking the two projectors/monitors are actually one. So there is then the Matrox DualHead2Go. However that is expensive and for the amount I will use it I couldn't justify the cost.

Thus I was wondering, and I have looked, is there a Virtual Monitor Driver? Something that will do the same just in software? I did find two on GitHub but over 4 years old and will not work on anything > Mac OS 10.9.

Any suggestions?

In your preferences, click display, arrangement, uncheck mirroring. That will extend your desktop across the two monitors. I do not believe that you can span your keynote presentation over multiple monitors the way PowerPoint can. If this is critical, a Windows machine using PowerPoint might be the easiest way ahead.


Having trouble connecting via 3G network using my iPhone 4 I'm having trouble using the 3g network I do believe it was a day or so after apple software update 7.1.2 IOS. I can use wifi but not 3G network for some reason.  So I did all of the stuff people were saying reset the  phone. So did and then I even did the airplane mode on and off, then shut off the phone. Nothing seems to work. When I'm at work I have no Wifi and resetting the phone over and over has me extremely frustrated.

I have searched for a solution and everything I have been finding about this problem was last year in 2013. Are there different troubleshooting steps or ideas to solve this problem?

Check to see if your network carrier data options are enabled (probably through your account with the carrier).

If so check to see if you have your data turned on Settings > Cellular > Cellular Data switch is to green.

Reset network settings Settings > General > Reset > Reset Network Settings

If none of the above work you can always take your backplate off and ensure that your antenna is still connected to your logic board (plenty of tutorials online)


Reinstall a clean copy of Mavericks AND migrate my Apps and Settings? Background: I bought a new laptop with Mavericks installed and used Migration Assistant to restore my environment from a Time Machine backup. It worked fine except that all the bungling I've done trying to get a working Python dev environment set up also got restored, along with a bunch of other system level junk I've installed.

Trying again for a clean system, today I wiped the drive, reinstalled Mavericks and made sure not to check "Computer and Network Settings" in the Migration Assistant dialog but I still ended up with a bunch of system level stuff I don't want (e.g. Python framework installed in my user 'Library' folder (not Apple's Python in the System/Library but what got installed from Python.org installer).

My question: I'd like to be sure I am starting fresh. Is there any way, short of rebuilding my settings and environment manually to get a clean Mavericks install?

I advise the following:

Make a backup of the current state of the machine, this time using Time Machine's Exclusions Option to remove the offending files (e.g ~/Library/*/python) from the backup.
Holding down CommandR at the startup chime, boot into OS X Recovery and erase the startup volume using Disk Utility.
Cleanly reinstall OS X on the empty volume
Once complete, use Setup Assistant (not Migration Assistant!) to restore the Time Machine Backup.

Notes:

You can only restore complete backups -not incremental. The TM backup mentioned in (1) must be a complete backup.
Be wary of what you exclude and only exclude what is necessary. For example, excluding the /System folder will prevent you from performing a full restore via Setup Assistant.
Why not Migration Assistant? It's prone to cause problems when doing a clean restore.
The Pondini links provided are for Mountain Lion. All the instructions work exactly the same in Mavericks and are completely applicable.


Duplex default in Acrobat X My MacOS and Acrobat Pro version are as follows.
Mac OS X 10.7.5
Acrobat 10.1.6

When I'm printing PDF documents, I can never set 'duplex printing' as a default setting.
I think I could do it in previous versions.
What should I do?

Try upgrading to Acrobat XI if you can. I've found it's so much better than X in so many ways that it was totally worth the price. I'm not at my Mac now, but you should be able to set the profile you want in either the Print or Print Setup dialog, then save it as a default.


4-digits login to Mac like Windows 8 I'm looking for an option or way to log into my Mac using just 4 digits (just like Windows 8/10) instead of using my very long iCloud password.

From - How to Stop Using an iCloud Password to Login to a Mac

  Go to the  Apple menu and choose “System Preferences”
  Choose “Users & Groups” and select the primary Mac login that you want to disassociate the iCloud password and use a unique separate password for
  Click the “Change Password” button next to the user name
  At the prompt “Do you want to change your iCloud password, or stop using your iCloud password to unlock this Mac and create a separate password?” – choose “Use Separate Password…”
  Set and confirm the new password and close out of System Preferences when finished


Mac os X - locked outside my account (language!) Today I was cleaning my MacBook keyboard (OSX 10.6.6) while the user was locked.
Due to some random key-presses, the language of the login changed from English to Hebrew (I use both in MAC, but only English for login).
When in the login menu, the cmd-space shortcut has not effect, and it does not change the language.

I didn't have any way to change it, and was practically locked outside my account.

What is the magical key-sequence that can change the language back to English?

(for completeness - I did a hard reboot, which brought me back to the main login screen, and luckily the language reverted back to English...
Now I have changed the login preferences so that the language selection appears in the login screen anyhow, but the question is very important for anyone who found himself locked out.)
see also
Question in superuser stackexchange
and also This Question, that is very useful if you are not already locked - so you can set the language drop-menu to appear also in the login menu.

This adds the language selection to the login window:

From the Apple menu, choose System Preferences.
Click Users & Groups to display the pane (or choose User & Groups from the View menu).
If the lock icon in the lower-left corner of the window is closed, click it, then enter the name and password of an administrator to unlock it.
Click Login Options.
Select the "Show Input menu in login window" checkbox.

Source: http://support.apple.com/kb/ht4099


Access localhost on iPad I want to access my web application on iPad for local testing (http://myMachine_Name). But here is the problem;

I am having a local copy on my Windows machine with a Weblogic server running and the app server requires a VPN connection
Is there any way by which I can access http://myMachine_Name on the iPad , and given that my local machine would be connected to VPN.
Is there any iPad app which can help in testing..My main purpose is to have the fastest way to test any changes I make on the iPad and that I think would be to directly access http://myMachine_Name on the iPad Safari. But I do not know how.

Note: By VPN, I mean it is connected to another network at a remote location. Also the iPad is connected to the internet via a Wifi connection on MAC which is on the same local network as my Windows machine..

I think having VPN connectivity on the iPad might be an option, but I'll want to avoid that as that would require paying huge licensing fee.

Please let me know if I need to provide any other clarifications..

Thank you.

You don't want to access localhost on your iPad because you're not running a webserver on your iPad. I'm not sure if I understand the question, but it sounds like you are running the webserver on you Windows machine and you can access it on that machine at http://windows-pc-name.

I'm not entirely sure what you mean by "the app server requires a VPN connection," but it sounds like you need to connect to the remote network in order to run the webapp. Generally all traffic is sent over VPN so that is probably why you can't visit http://windows-pc-name on your iPad's browser. I would see if you can configure your webserver to use VPN, and not have your Windows network connection go through VPN. That way the server can communicate with the remote network, but it won't interfere with anything else.

Just in case you are using the wrong name, try http://192.168.1.101 or whatever you Windows Machine's local IP address is.


Deleting Photos From Finder I am using the Photos app to organize my pictures on my mac. I had imported them a month ago and then decided to go through the Finder and Pictures directory and actually delete pictures I didn't want. So when I go into the new Photos application the pictures are still there. Do I need to go through the app now too and delete them out of there or can I reimport from that same directory. I just didn't understand why it couldn't sync with what I had deleted out of there.

As stated, Photos keeps its own copies in its library.

Provided the photos you have edited and weeded out in Finder are the only photos you want in your library, try this:

Quit Photos if open
Move the Photo Library.photoslibrary file to a new location. (Desktop for instance) This make take a few minutes depending on how large the library is.
Open Photos app.  It will ask you for a Library.
Create a new Library
Import your cleaned up photos to the new Library
If you have what you want you can delete the old Library.

This should save you lots of time.  Just be sure you have backups of your photos!

In case you are curious how Photos stores your photos, ⌥+Click or right click and Show Package Contents


Can I use AirPlay with an Airport Express when the WAN port is not connected? Is it possible to connect to the Airport Express over WiFi with my MacBook Pro and use it as an AirPlay device when it doesn't have a connection to the internet?

I will not have access to the internet (so no router) for a while in the future, but I wonder if the AirPlay function will keep working.

If this is possible, which of the models support this behaviour?

As long as you can find them with AirPort Utility you will be able to use them as AirPlay device. I've used the same setup and you can wirelessly connect them and they will still function as AirPlay device (they can even make your network more powerful)

Please also check this Apple KB and question with answer on SuperUser

To make your answer complete: you can do this with both versions.

If you have no internet connected, you will still be able to let the Express function as Accesspoint. You just won't have access to the internet via it, but that's not weird as you don't have an input ;)


Unknown Calendar: where does it come from? Within Calendar (6.0) on Mountain Lion, beside my own 12 calendars, I noticed a calendar named Calendar.

I didn't create it. All my calendars are coming from a recent migration
from Snow Leopard to Mountain Lion.

Where does this Calendar come from?
Is this a default calendar automatically created by Calendar (the application)?

Through an export (under ics format) I discovered that it is empty.

I'd like to remove this abnormal Calendar.
Does anyone know if this default calendar is necessary for one of the Calendar functions?

Looking at the directories:

~/Library/Calendars/*.calendar

where all calendars are stored, the command:

grep string ~/Library/Calendars/*.calendar

let me identify among the 4 strings found, which one of these directories
was the one containing my Calendar ghost calendar:

    [...]
    <string>#0E61B9FF</string>
    <string>22228888-4444-6666-AFAF-AAFF00005555</string>
    <string>Calendar</string>
    <string>Local</string>
    [...]

From the date of modification of directory:

% ls -l 22228888-4444-6666-AFAF-AAFF00005555.calendar
drwx------  4 hal  hal  170 Sep 21 17:10 22228888-4444-6666-AFAF-AAFF00005555.calendar
%

I diagnosed that this Calendar was imported through my first
synchronisation from a new iPhone containing just its default calendar
named Calendar.

Even with all my calendars more fresh on my Mac, this unexistent default
Calendar was imported.

I removed it on my Mac and made one more synchronisation to get rid of it on my iPhone and my Mac.


Disk Utility won't allow me to delete and resize partitions I'm running OS X 10.9, and I had a linux partition when I updated from 10.8. Since I updated I can't boot on linux, which is no big deal for me. However, I would like to delete the partition that is left (Linux swap) and merge the free space that was created during the update with my mac partition.

But Disk Utility won't let me delete the Linux Swap and it won't let me change the number of partitions. I'm stuck with this configuration:

I haven't found a solution for this issue browsing the web and I don't want to "break" my disk, so thanks for your help!

i would try this:

first boot up you mac with a linux live cd.
then use gparted to remove those un needed partitions. (without resizing just delete what you don't need anymore).

now reboot into os x and now you schould be able to resize the os x partition case there is only free space no other partition formats wich os x can't handle.


Where are FLV cache files stored? I want to download some videos which are streamed through a Flash player. Since the website does not give me the option to download the video, I would like to know where are the FLV files stored when the video is being downloaded by the player.

On Linux we store files called Flash* in /tmp... I guess there is something similar in MacOS X. Where should I look?

This may vary by browser, but in Safari, if you press ⌘⌥A, you bring up the Activity window. Find the largest file being downloaded for the current page; that is generally the Flash Video. Double click it, and it will be downloaded to your downloads folder.

This avoids having to learn the various places Mac OS X will store temporary files on disk. In general, things that aren't expected to be cached for re-use end up in /private/var/tmp and things that are in ~/Library/Caches but in your case, safari will expose that file more directly and allow you to fetch it.

If you are ever curious - you can watch filesystem activity in real time with some quick commands like sudo fs_usage -w | grep Safari


Pipe output of grep to a variable I need to be able to write whether the test for a grep is either TRUE or FALSE to a variable so I can use it later

For the following, if I run

defaults read com.apple.Finder | grep "AppleShowAllFiles"

on my system, it would return

AppleShowAllFiles = FALSE;

Cool. So now I want to pipe this response to a test of some kind. This is where I get stuck.

I think if I can pipe/assign this output to a specified variable, I would be able to run a test on it. Now, just say, I've assigned  the value of this output to a variable, in this case I will use $ASAF as my variable, I can run it in a test like this

if [ $ASAF = "AppleShowAllFiles = TRUE;" ]; then
    defaults write com.apple.Finder AppleShowAllFiles FALSE
    killall Finder
else
    defaults write com.apple.Finder AppleShowAllFiles True
    killall Finder
fi

If there is some other way to do this, I would be more than open to options. I've not had to do something like this for a while, and I'm a bit stumped. I searcehd Google a bit, but it was all answers without explanations and using the return value of 0 or 1. I think the returned output being assigned to a variable would be more appropriate, as then I can use it over and over in the script as need be.

You don't need to use grep at all:

[[ $(defaults read com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles) = 0 ]] && bool=true || bool=false
defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles -bool $bool
osascript -e 'quit app "Finder"'

defaults read prints boolean values as 1 or 0. For example True or YES as a string is also interpreted as a boolean value, but -bool true specifies the value to be actually boolean.


How to use dual speakers in macOS I am using macOS Catalina; there are 2 LG UltraFine displays with speakers in them. I can use one or the other fine, but it would be nice if I could use both speakers at the same time.

I tried making an aggregated device with the Audio MIDI Setup app as per the instruction of this Apple Support Article.

Whenever I try to change the volume, macOS says that I can't (it shows the volume HUD with a no sign).

Is it possible to have the volume play out of both monitor speakers? If so, what do I need to do?

You should create a 'Multi-Output Device' instead of 'Aggregate'.

You cannot control the volume with system control anyway. You could adjust volume in 'Audio MIDI Setup'.


Set print quality to ‘Best’ by default When printing in macOS, I can set the print quality in the Media & Quality section:

Is it possible to set the quality setting to ‘Best’ by default? It’s a bit annoying to change it every time (because I prefer to use ‘Best’ for most of my prints).

You define your settings and then save them as a custom preset in the Presets drop-down (Save Current Settings as Preset…).
After selecting your preset and printing once, the preset is remembered in all applications that use the standard print dialog.
Just make sure the Reset Presets Menu to "Default Settings" After Printing checkbox is unchecked in the Presets window/dialog (Show Presets… in the drop-down), which it should be by default.


Super high network usage OS X Yosemite I've been monitoring Activity Monitor on my Macbook air running Yosemite for a month or two now and I've noticed my network data usage is pretty high (this is what I think). I usually reboot my computer about once a week which resets the Activity Monitor data. The highest I have ever seen for Data received is over 100 GB and for Data sent is over 170 GB. Also, for both packets sent and received it is normally around 50,000,000 but has gotten around 150,000,000 or higher. I never download any more than 5 GB a week and lots of web browsing. It does not affect my use on the computer at all. So my question out of curiosity is, is this normal for a single weeks usage? If not, what can I do about it?

The Activity Monitor provides individual app network usage for the current, but it also provides the Cumulative usage for all app using Network.


How do I change the Firefox 23.0 icon back to the old one? In firefox 23.0 they use a new icon that doesn't look so much 'flat' as 'blurred' or 'smudged'. How do I go back to the old one from Firefox 22.0?

Download the Firefox 22.0 release binary from one of these locations:

http://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/mozilla.org/firefox/releases/22.0/mac/en-GB/
ftp://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/firefox/releases/22.0/mac/en-GB/

Double-click to mount the Firefox 22.0.dmg file.
Copy the icons using Terminal:

cd /Volumes/Firefox/Firefox.app/Contents/Resources/
cp document.icns firefox.icns /Applications/Firefox.app/Contents/Resources/

Reboot.

Note: If you want to do the copy from Finder, you'll need to right-click on the Firefox.app icon in the mounted dmg file and select "show package contents" then using a separate Finder window do the same thing for /Applications/Firefox.app, then change into Contents/Resources in both windows and copy the files across.


Hotkey access to a browser URL based on a URL part on the clipboard I'd like to open a Safari tab based on a bug number that I have on the clipboard via a hotkey. The url I want to launch has the form http://example.com/defects/nnnn where nnnn has the number that is on the clipboard.

I use tools like QuickSilver and TextExpander but I wonder how I can automate opening the tab in the quickest way.

Since you are already using Quicksilver, this should be pretty easy:

Install the web search plugin
Add a custom web search list to your catalog
Add the URL to that
list, in the form http://example.com/defects/*** (that is
with 3 * instead of your "nnnn")
Add a trigger for "Clipboard
Contents" -> "Find with..." -> "your new websearch URL" and assign
your preferred hotkey.
When you use the trigger, it opens the request page in a new tab of your default browser (with the stars replaced by the text on the clipboard.

That way you can use your custom URL just like any other web search with Quicksilver.


iTunes connect renewal will not allow iAd contract to complete because of a banking page bug! So we've renewed our iTunes connect developer acccount. Now it says that all our APPS are on hold until we complete the iAd contract. So I try to do the bank bit (note that all our details have ALREADY been submitted) and I can't save to complete this step. It says you must change somthing. But I DO NOT WANT TO CHANGE THE BANK DETAILS. In the meantime, we are not selling APPs. What do we do!?

For a problem with accounting forms and it's not clear to you whether submitting paperwork would delay sales of your app, I would call Developer Support directly:

https://developer.apple.com/contact/

Choose the Enrollment and Account link and sign in to get your options.


Save an image (PNG) with annotations as a PDF Is it possible to save an image that was annotated in Preview as a PDF file so I can edit it again later, even after restarting Preview?

You can always use File > "Export as PDF…" or even File > Print… > click PDF options in lower-left corner as a way to convert anything open in Preview to PDF. However, any annotations made to an image format such as PNG without converting will be flattened/rasterized when saved or converted to PDF and can't be edited. You will need to first convert the image to PDF  then annotate in order to be able to edit annotations later.


How should I enable my terminal find command on the whole disk on macOS 10.13.6? I am using macOS 10.13.6, on which, sudo find / -name always gets "Operation not permitted".

I googled it and got some "solution" which needs me enable "Full Disk Access".

However, "Security & Privacy" panel doesn't have an item called "Full Disk Access".

How should I enable my terminal find command on the whole disk?

Make some tea and you’re done. That setting won’t arrive until you upgrade to a newer OS.

Your find command has no barriers other than traditional ACL and permissions to stop it from traversing the entire disk.

https://support.apple.com/guide/mac-help/change-permissions-for-files-folders-or-disks-mchlp1203/mac


Using iMac 27" for displaying HDMI output I have an HD satellite box which I previously connected to my old PC.
I am interested in using my new iMac 27" 5K as a monitor for its output.

I did go through the various answers available, but some contradicted others, and many were outdated. Currently, I connected the box's HDMI cable to a Kanex Mini DisplayPort to HDMI adapter and then to the iMac, and as you can guess, it failed to recognize a second display.

Is there any way around it? Either by some software or a different adapter?

Thank you.

It can't be done. The 5K iMacs only have MiniDisplayPort/Thunderbolt output, not input, because DisplayPort 1.2 can't handle video at 5K resolution and so it couldn't be used to drive the iMac as a display in Target Display Mode in the same way as some other iMac models. The 5K display on the iMac can only be used with the iMac, because it doesn't have any inputs capable of accepting a 5K input from another source.


How do I remove Gmail from my Mail app without removing Gmail account from system preferences? I got myself a MacBook today, and one of the steps I took to set it up was adding my work email account (Microsoft Exchange) to the Mail app.

I also had to give other apps access to my personal Google account, but because of that my linked Gmail account was added to the Mail app as well. Now, I get notifications from new messages in my personal mailbox every few minutes, which I don't want.

When I checked online on how to remove my personal account from the Mail app, all articles pointed to removing the Google account from System Preferences. However, doing that would remove my Google permissions for the other apps as well, which I don't want.

How do I resolve this matter?

Simply disable your Gmail account by going into the menu bar, Mail → Preferences → Accounts and uncheck Enable this account under Account Information for your Gmail account.

The account will remain under System Preferences, but Mail will no longer fetch your email nor, therefore, notify you of incoming email under your Gmail account.


MacBook Pro (2011) shows flashing folder at startup but the disk is valid I have a MacBook Pro (early 2011) and recently the laptop boots to a white screen that flashes a folder with a question mark. I know that means the laptop cannot detect an available startup disk.

I confirmed the disk is valid by removing it from the laptop and connecting it externally to another MacBook Pro and it's immediately detected and I can browse the file system.

On the faulty MBP I have:

Booted in to the recovery console (Cmd+R at startup) and Disk Utility does not even detect the internal hard drive.
Cleared the CMOS (I think that's what it's called) by holding Option/Cmd/R/S at startup for three consecutive reboots.
Removed the harddrive and reseated the connections to the drive itself as well as the logic board.

I am out of ideas on how to resolve or continue troubleshooting so please let me know if there is anything else I can check or how to pivot? My next action would be to make a Genius Bar appointment because I'm worried to logic board is somehow faulting.

edit: I tried another test with mixed results. I swapped the hard drive cable from my functioning MBP in to the faulty MBP and the laptop booted successfully. However, a few moments after login the screen switched to white with the flashing folder/question mark.

I moved the faulty hard drive cable in to the functioning MBP and the laptop failed to boot successfully.

My signs are kind of pointing towards a faulty hard drive cable. $45 for a replacement on iFixit seems kind of steep...

The problem was a faulty hard drive connector cable. I ordered a replacement from iFixIt and the laptop is functioning again.


No option to boot into windows now I've installed El Capitan I have just upgraded to El Capitan from Yosemite.
Previously when holding down the option key I had the option to boot into Windows as I had installed this using Boot Camp. Now it doesn't give me that option.

After installing El Capitan I used the partition tool in Disk Utility to create some free space (the idea being that I would download Mini Tool partition wizard once back in Windows and get some more space). The Bootcamp partition seems to be there as you can see in the screenshot pictures but it just doesn't give me that option of booting into Windows when holding the alt key at start up anymore!

I changed the start up disk to Bootcamp (Windows) on start up but came up with this message "No Bootable device - insert boot disk and press any key." When press alt key can still only select Macintosh HD. It's Windows 7 and all the installers still seem to be there when I select the bootcamp disk.

Tried turning off the System Integrity Protection (SIP) as recommended by @DavidAnderson but when back in El Capitan it still didn't give me the option to 'first aid' the disk.
Here's what it currently looks like in Disk Utility...

This guide will help you fix the problem. I had a similar issue on mine. Make sure to back up your entire disk (both partitions) before making any changes though. No joke. Believe me, it's important. Buy an external drive if you don't have any place to back it up. (When people used to warn me to take backups, I didn't listen, and I once lost 6 months of data because of that.)

Please also see this answer to find out how to turn off SIP protection in El Capitan. Without turning this off it won't be possible to repair the Master Boot Record.


Setting static IP address How do I set a static IP address on a iPhone 5s running iOS 11.0.3?

Have looked in Wi-Fi but could see nothing about setting static IP address.

Thanks

Elaine

Settings → Wi-Fi, tap the i on the currently-connected network, choose Configure IP and set to Manual, then set the IP Address, Subnet Mask and Router.


change or remove password on bootup I just bought a used macbook (osx 10.8), and when i started it up there was a disk password. The former owner gave me the password but i would like to remove it, or at least change it. How can I? Is this something from "file vault"?

Yes, it's file vault.

To remove file vault protection:

1) Choose Apple menu > System Preferences, click Security & Privacy, and then click FileVault.
2) Click the lock to unlock the preferences pane, and then enter an administrator name and password.
3) Click Turn Off FileVault.
4) Click Turn Off Encryption.

Then if you want to re-enable it, you can choose your own password.


How to permanently put TextEdit in the Open with... menu list? I'm a developer and often dealing with unusual file types. If I want to open one of these files in TextEdit, I have to start it first and then open the file with it, or drag the file to the TextEdit icon.

Is there a way to permanently put the TextEdit.app into the Open with... menu list no matter what file type I'm looking at?

Of course this procedure will be useful for whatever text editor you choose if TextEdit isn't your cup of tea.

The only way to do this with all file types is to create a service in automator, which actually should make things easier for you.

Open Automator and select "Service".
In the "Service receives selected..." dropdown, change it to read "receives selected files and folders in any application"
Select Utilities from the library menu in the left pane and double-click "Run Shell Script"
Change the "Pass Input" dropdown to "as arguments"
Delete the default script and replace with the following:

if [ -f "$1" ] ; then
    open -a "TextEdit" "$1" ;
fi

Save this file as whatever you want it to show up as in your contextual menu, something like "Open With TextEdit" and you're done, you'll now have the option to open any file with text edit.

It won't be in the open with menu, it will be a separate item in the contextual menu grouped with any other services you have running.

On a side note, if you're developing on a mac you should really think about using a better text editor like TextMate or TextWrangler or Sublime Text, some of these even add the service for you to save you doing all of the above.


Advice Needed: How to upgrade iPhone 4S OS 5.1 to v6 or v7 I have an iPhone 4S/16GB running OS 5.1.1 and would like to upgrade to at least 0S 6.1., or v 7.1 if that's more bug free and as fast running as 6. I put off upgrading the OS previously because I assumed that the phone would run faster on an older OS. Now some of my apps won't run unless the OS is at least v6 so its time to upgrade. The problem is that now after trying every possible way I can find online, I just get error messages (3194, 11, 4016) and can't upgrade/recover my OS to v6.1.3 or v7.1.2. I've used Tiny Umbrella to try and solve verification problems, but all without success.  It seems I don't have the necessary shsh 'blobs' to allow the upgrade ??

Could someone advise as to the best path forward? The phone is legal, unbroken but I'm open to running the jailbreaK routine if that will solve my OS upgrade issue. Any advice with resource links will be appreciated !!

It's currently not availwble to downgrade an iPhone 4S. That would require a bootrom exploit, which has not been released yet.


How can I convert obsolete word processor files and preserve formatting? I have some files in WriteNow and WordPerfect format. The WriteNow files go back as far as 1987 and the WordPerfect files are from 1998 - 2001. Some I can read, others I can't open at all. Those I can read lose most of the formatting.

I'm talking basic "RTF-like" formatting for the most part, not super obscure proprietary word processing features à la the Home Depot that is MS Word. There are also some embedded graphics in whatever was the generic standard for Macintosh back then.

Even if a file might be in RTF, that standard has changed significantly over the years and formatting is lost for the most part.

I don't have the original software or a machine to run it on.

for WordPerfect documents, you can also try to use OpenOffice, LibreOffice, NeoOffice (...), libwpd filter (see http://libwpd.sourceforge.net/features.html ) will then be used to convert the document in odt format.

For WriteNow files, the best solution is probably using an emulator. If you have access to a 64 bit Intel Mac with OsX 10.6 ( or 10.7), you can also find on http://sourceforge.net/projects/libmwaw/files/ a precompilated version of a WriteNow filter to odt : mwawOSX.zip ; ie I tried to write a small filter to convert WriteNow files, it works "well enough" on the few WriteNow files that I had found, so maybe it can work also for your files ( or maybe not :-~ ).


Picture-In-Picture (PIP) feature in Apple TV 4K (5th gen) Does the Apple TV 4K provide PIP feature so I can share the screen between two apps both running at the same time?

If so, how to engage?

No, there no such feature on the Apple TV 4K (or any other AppleTV product).

An app can implement PiP within the app (such as for example the ESPN app's MultiCast feature), but that is just within one app.

PiP between two apps is not yet possible on the Apple TV.


How to Limit Wifi Connection to Only One Application? I need to connect to open Wifi network but I do not want all my applications access internet with it. Only one internet browser.

I am using at the moment VPN Service PrivateInternetAccess.com (PIA).
I need Latvian internet access. I need to one wifi connection use Latvian Open Wifi Connection, and let it use only one specific browser. Otherwise, my other Wifi will use my cell phone internet that is connected to PIA's VPN.

How can you restrict only one internet browser access internet with open wifi connection?

Use Little Snitch 3 for that.

You can use Automatic Profile Switching for your filter rules depending on the network you are in.

For your specific WiFi just block everything except your browser for that.

https://www.obdev.at/products/littlesnitch/index.html


Deleting password from Keychain in terminal I'm having trouble deleting the github credentials from Keychain Access. Keychain Access just freezes everytime I try. Is there a command to force deletion of an item in the Keychain from the terminal?

You may first try to find the credentials (or better the blob):

security find-internet-password -l "github.com"  /Users/user_name/Library/Keychains/login.keychain

Then delete them with:

security delete-internet-password -l "github.com"  /Users/user_name/Library/Keychains/login.keychain

If you have several github.com items you have to repeat this. Create a backup of your login.keychain (or better the whole Keychain folder) before proceeding.


Display problems in El Capitan on screen sharing I have recently updated the OS in an old Mac Pro to El Capitan. Since then I have severe display problems. I must add that I access the system via screen sharing. The fonts are horribly blurred in menu bar drop-down menus, making them unreadable, and also in some packages the whole menu is diplaid in black. The first problem was sorted using the darkened menus and dock. But not the second problem.

I think I've got the solution. Apart from enabling dark menu and dock all you have to do is to turn on "Increase contrast" option. See below:


How to set proxy on OS X Terminal permanently? For every new session in OS X terminal, I have to make my proxy settings again.  I do this by entering the command

export http_proxy="username:password@ip address:port number"

Is there a way to make these proxy settings once for all?

Your http proxy (just for some web sites not https ones and not for the rest of the internet) can be set for each terminal session by adding the line

export http_proxy="username:password@ip address:port number"

to your ~/.bash_profile file

Note this will only affect command line programs.


Can't boot Mac, only shows a Folder with a Question Mark? How do I start up a Mac when all it shows is a Folder with a Question Mark, even with a DVD in the drive?

Image courtesy of Loïc Wolff

I just went through this my self!

Your Mac can't find anything to boot from. Or more specifically, it can't find the system folder on your primary boot device.

Try booting from your OS X DVD and running Utilities -> Disk Utility to check your boot drive for errors.

To boot from your DVD, insert in to Mac, turn off Mac, and hold C while you turn it on. You have to hold it until it chimes IIRC. That'll tell it to boot from the DVD.


How can I find my saved Instagram web password in Terminal? Let say I've saved my Instagram password for the account "xxx". I know I could find this password using Keychain Access, but is there a way to do this in Terminal?

I've tried things like:

security find-internet-password -gs www.instagram.com

but this didn't yield the password.

The name you need to pass to security find-internet-password is the name shown in Keychain Access, either from the Name column of the entry or the title shown at the top of the Keychain Access window when the entry is selected.

You can also search through the keychain directly by running

security dump-keychain | grep -i instagram

PS: In my case the result was

$ security dump-keychain | grep -i instagram
    0x00000007 <blob>=0xx...xxx  "instagram.com (Passwords\302\240not\302\240saved)"
    "srvr"<blob>="instagram.com"

with some Unicode characters mingled into the Name field (which explains why find-internet-password wasn't able to find a match).


iCloud Drive Documents Folder Not Syncing After High Sierra New Install Today I have just got an SSD installed in my Mac Mini 2012 via an authorised service. I did not ask for data migration because I wanted to start "fresh".

After the initial boot, I found out they have put an image of the New MacOS High Sierra. I followed the installation wizard.

Now, after entering my iCloud details I noticed email accounts were setup, Photos started syncing, etc. All good.

However when I open the finder and go to the Documents folder, it's empty.

Is there a way to manually trigger the sync process?

Thank you

PS FYI: The SSD was shown as APFS and I had to manually enable FileVault.

See the answer here.

Go to Terminal and type:

killall bird
cd ~/Library/Application\ Support
rm -rf CloudDocs

then immediately restart. Wait an hour or two.


iCloud reports more space than expected iCloud says that iCloud Drive takes up 592MB of space:

However, when I open the iCloud Drive folder on Finder and sum the sizes of the stuff shown there, I get a much smaller sum:

What is the reason for this? How can I free up more space in my iCloud Drive?

Solar Mike's guess was correct. I had deleted stuff that was in my iCloud Drive and those "deleted" stuff was still taking up space.

When you delete something on your Mac, it goes to ~/.Trash. However, when you delete something that was on iCloud Drive, that doesn't go to ~/.Trash. It goes to:

/Users/username/Library/Mobile Documents/com~apple~CloudDocs/.Trash

So make sure that you check out the iCloud Drive's trash if there is a big mismatch between the size reported by Finder and by iCloud.


Using VirtualBox on Mac HighSierra - installing Windows 10 via external hard drive, not working! Installed VirtualBox on my Mac (HighSierra), my version 2014, doesn't have a CD-ROM/DVD drive so I'm using a portable drive to install Windows 10 64-bit. VB isn't recognizing the external drive. Frustrating, not sure what to do? Any help? TIA

VirtualBox can emulate a DVD (optical) drive. To insert a DVD into an emulated drive, you must first convert the physical DVD to an iso file. You can select this iso file under Settings, as shown below. By the way, if Virtual Box did recognized your external DVD drive, then this external DVD drive could also be selected here. In the image below, my internal DVD drive is listed as Host Drive 'HL-DT-STDVDRW  GA32N'.

  Note: You can click on an image to get a better view.

The instructions below were copied from this Apple website.

Create your own ISO

Use these steps to make an ISO copy of your Windows DVD:

While your Mac is started from OS X (or macOS), insert the Windows installation DVD in an external optical USB drive.
After the installation media mounts in the Finder, open Disk Utility from the Utilities folder (choose Go > Utilities).
Select the USB optical drive so it's highlighted in the Disk Utility window.
Choose File > New Image, and then select your Windows DVD from the submenu.
Choose DVD/CD master from the Image Format menu, then choose none from the Encryption menu.
Give the new file a name, then click Save. If prompted, enter an administrator user name and password. A progress bar appears while the image file is created (it might take some time to create the image file).
After imaging is done, eject your Windows installation disc. Disconnect the external optical drive from the USB port after the disc ejects.
From the Finder, locate the disk image file you created earlier. Single click on it to select it, then press the Enter or Return key on your keyboard to rename the file. Change the disk image file extension from .cdr to .iso. When prompted, click "Use .iso" to verify this change.

Note: Another possibility would be to download the Windows iso from this Microsoft website.


How can I change the Glossed app icon? Before iOS 7 on the iPhone, there was an option in settings to turn off the gloss on apps, how can I do so on iOS 7?

If you're talking about the icons on your home screen, as a user there is no option to remove the gloss. This is a developer feature. As a developer you uploaded a raw icon and (by default) apple would add the gloss. You could turn this off if you wanted to add your own gloss (to add your own other effects), or if you just didn't want the gloss at all.

I've noticed that since going to iOS7, that MOST of the apps that had gloss, no longer do have gloss, but the occasional one does. This is obviously because the developer chose to add the gloss themselves and set the flag to have apple NOT add it. In this case, apple can't remove it.

Seems like apple thought ahead in this regard and it was simply a matter of turning this off to remove all glossed effects to match their new iOS.

However, in the case that any developer added it manually, there will be no way for you to remove it short of changing the icon which just isn't possible.


Why does my mac take 60-90 seconds to wake up? Recently (in the past month or 2) my Mac (2012 Macbook Pro 13 inch) will take at least a minute to 90 seconds to wake up from being asleep. It usually happens when it is asleep overnight and. When it's asleep for about 20 minutes to an hour, it only takes a few seconds to wake up (like I expect it to).

When I first bought my Mac about 7 months ago, it would wake up really quickly, which makes me think that I changed a setting somewhere.

What setting should I change to relieve this problem?

As soon as it wakes up next time, examine the file /var/log/system.log (open a terminal and type less /var/log/system.log; Or open the Console app and find Files/system.log).
Scroll to the bottom (the most recent entries) and find the time at which you just woke the machine, scrolling up if necessary. The entries from there to the bottom should give a clue as to what was going on during the wake-up period.

You can also look through previous wake-ups the same way, to look at what was happening during the long delay.


How can I delete partially downloaded macOS installer files? I was downloading the Mojave installer using the following command:
sudo softwareupdate --fetch-full-installer --full-installer-version 10.14.6
When the download reached about 50%, I had to cancel it by keyboard interrupt. My system storage is now reduced by 3GB, and I can't seem to find any partial downloads in /Applications/.
So how do I delete the partially downloaded installer to recover the lost space?

man softwareupdate says that

Updates are downloaded to /Library/Updates

Can you check and see if it's at this location?


Regional Screenshot Capture: Freeze Screen Before Capture? I need a screenshot program that will freeze the current content (in my case, a streaming live lecture) and allow me to take a regional screenshot.  In other words, once I hit the screencapture shortcut, the streaming content should freeze at the current frame, allowing me to drag and select a region, the screenshot is saved, and then I can repeat as needed.  Without this feature, I may start a regional drag on a formula the speaker is showing, but in the meantime the speaker has moved on to another slide and I can't capture the info I need for my notes.

The only Mac program I've found that does this freeze before capture is Snapz Pro X.  The problem with this program is that the screen capture process is multiple steps and not built for rapid screen captures. The steps include typing the shortcut combo, mouse clicking from a number of available buttons to select the capture mode, moving or resizing the existing regional capture settings, and finally taking the screenshot by hitting return.  Unfortunately, there isn't a way to set in the preferences or custom shortcut combo to automatically do a regional snapshot.  Also, you also have to start from the last region you took -- so if you need to take a smaller region that is within the boundaries of the prior snap, you have to drag it out of the way first.

Are there any programs besides Snapz Pro X that will allow a regional snap that freezes the current screen contents?

Don't know any applications that do what you're after but here's a couple of alternative options for you. Second two won't pause the video but will give you instant capture.

Pause the video then capture at will? Sorry if that sounds too obvious! Guess that you might be viewing live footage so that might not work...
Shift+command+4 will give you a regional marquee grab (takes grab on mouse-up) saved to the desktop (or add the control key to add to the paste buffer).
Use Grab - its the OSX 10.6 native screen capture app under /applications/utilities. It has the option to grab the current window (or selected region or entire screen).

Choose the option you want
Make the screen ready (ie video playing)
Choose it with a click
You may be able to set this up as a keyboard shortcut under /system preferences/keyboard/keyboard shortcuts - I've not tried.

I hope that helps!


Mac mini won´t boot up I have a Mac mini that fell from a desk, my kid was playing aroung and it hit the floor, I picked it up and it stared up but when the Apple logo comes up the little cricle appears and thats it, it wont boot, up, I dont know what to do, I tried some of the commands booting up and they dont work but i dont know if its because i have a wireless mouse and keyboard. Also, i gotta mention i have a CD stuck in the drive that I cant get out. Please help, any idea of what i can do?

It sounds like the hard disk may have been damaged, or perhaps its connector has become disconnected.

If you can dismantle it, try disconnecting the hard disk and reconnecting it. If that makes no difference, then it sounds like you need a new hard disk (or even an SSD).

Installing is possible from a USB stick, so you don't need to use the DVD drive. But while you are dismantling the machine, you might want to look at getting the CD out of the drive!

Also - you didn't mention which model/year the Mac Mini is. That makes quite a difference to any instructions someone might want to show you.


Problem when extending windows partition using Disk Utility I tried to partitioning the macOS partition to have some space to extend the Windows partition using Windows OS. When trying to switch back to Windows OS, I could not find it. Even when restarting and pressing down the Option key. I found a thread with the same problem and its solution. But when trying the solution, I had a problem. The solution was entering this code in the terminal in recovery mode:

fdisk -e /dev/disk0s4
p
setpid 4
[press enter]
flag 4
p
write
y

  disk0s4 is the partition with the windows on It.

But when trying to type the first line, I received an error saying "Resource is busy".

My software is MacOS High Sierra.

If there is any help, I would be grateful.

Notes:
The link of the thread is Mac won't boot Windows partition after using disk utility.
Mac version is Macbook mid 2010.
And the Windows is Windows 7.
This was the output when executing the command diskutil list disk0 in the terminal:

/dev/disk0 (internal, physical):
#:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
0:      GUID_partition_scheme                        *250.1 GB   disk0
1:                        EFI EFI                     209.7 MB   disk0s1
2:                  Apple_HFS macOS                   124.0 GB   disk0s2
3:                 Apple_Boot Recovery HD             650.0 MB   disk0s3
4:       Microsoft Basic Data Windows OS              125.2 GB   disk0s4

And the output from fdisk /dev/disk0 is

Disk: /dev/disk0    geometry: 30401/255/63 [488397168 sectors]
Signature: 0xAA55
     Starting       Ending
#: id  cyl  hd sec -  cyl  hd sec [     start -       size]
------------------------------------------------------------------------
1: EE 1023 254  63 - 1023 254  63 [         1 -  488397167] <Unknown ID>
2: 00    0   0   0 -    0   0   0 [         0 -          0] unused
3: 00    0   0   0 -    0   0   0 [         0 -          0] unused
4: 00    0   0   0 -    0   0   0 [         0 -          0] unused

Below is the output from diskutil info disk0s4.

Device Identifier: disk0s4
Device Node: /dev/disk0s4
Whole: No
Part of Whole: disk0

Volume Name: Windows OS
Mounted: Yes
Mount Point: /Volumes/Windows OS

Partition Type: Microsoft Basic Data
File System Personality: NTFS
Type (Bundle): ntfs
Name (User Visible): Windows NT File System (NTFS)

OS Can Be Installed: No
Media Type: Generic
Protocol: SATA
SMART Status: Verified
Volume UUID: FA34FC24-AD79-47B7-BF7F-20928229DB81
Disk / Partition UUID: B94B94F6-3041-44DB-AFD6-37465DCC16B1
Partition Offset: 124860235776 Bytes (243867648 512-Byte-Device-Blocks)

Disk Size: 125.2 GB (125197877248 Bytes) (exactly 244527104 512-Byte-Units)
Device Block Size: 512 Bytes

Volume Total Space: 125.2 GB (125197873152 Bytes) (exactly 244527096 512-Byte-Units)
Volume Used Space: 67.1 GB (67050299392 Bytes) (exactly 130957616 512-Byte-Units) (53.6%)
Volume Free Space: 58.1 GB (58147573760 Bytes) (exactly 113569480 512-Byte-Units) (46.4%)
Allocation Block Size: 4096 Bytes

Read-Only Media: No
Read-Only Volume: Yes

Device Location: Internal
Removable Media: Fixed

Solid State: No
Hardware AES Support: No

Use Hard Disk Manager to repair and partition BOOTCAMP.

You can get Hard Disk Manager from here (https://www.paragon-software.com/hdm-mac/#) or here (includes trial reset) (https://nofile.io/f/aWdNwtb3Ry9/Hard.Disk.Manager.v1.3.873.dmg) (link will expire in 24 hrs)


How to get push notifications for a user tweets on Twitter for iPhone on iOS 7 I can change the twitter setting on iOS 6, but in the latest version of Twitter on iOS 7, there is no "Turn on notification" button in the user's setting.

How can I set this?

This is how to on iOS 6
http://www.wikihow.com/Get-Push-Notifications-for-a-Users-Tweets-on-Twitter-for-iPhone

The settings you're looking for were moved by Twitter to their site.

Next to that, if you open the Twitter.app on iOS 7 you can:

Click on the settings-wheel when viewing your own page.
Click on "settings"
Click your account name
Here you can manage the settings to get push notifications about each item (or not)


Mavericks and App nap One thing i've been wondering about is how Mavericks handles flash etc....

In the demo that Craig F did on stage, he hid a browser video (or animation) behind another window and then the activity monitor usage dropped to 0 for that process.

That's all great, but my question is what if you want the animation or video to run, because it's a game you DONT want paused, or a video that you're happy for it to keep running, is it the case that now when you have a hidden window that everything ceases to run in that window?

ie. I'm watching something on youtube, if I spend 5 mins sending a mail, and I go back to youtube the video will be where it was before I started the mail? (for me this is undesirable)

Same with say flash games or animations, I may to load a page, go do something else and go back to the page, now all will pause, how does this work?

I think you get somethings wrong about App Nap :

If the app « does something for you » (expression used by apple), I won't be stopped. So videos on youtube will continue to play while your doing other things.

It's also the same with flash games/animations. If they do something they won't be paused.


Trim escape characters from file path I generate file paths for use in emails by dragging the folder/file in question into Terminal.app then copying & pasting the generated text into an email text.

The copied path with escape sequences:

pCloud\ Drive/SEN\ pCloud/SEN\ Tech\ Team/Clean\ Energy\ WA\ Study\2016/For\ checking/AB\ checks/SEN\ RE\ SWIS\ 2030\ notes\ for\ AB\checks\ -\ Backup\ input\ table\ tab\ \(5.1.16\).docx

needs to become like this:

pCloud Drive/SEN pCloud/SEN Tech Team/Clean Energy WA Study 2016/For checking/AB checks/SEN RE SWIS 2030 notes for AB\checks - Backup input table tab \(5.1.16\).docx

I am looking for a quick way to zap all the occurrences of backslash character escaping the space character. Someone mentioned a Finder trick for doing that, but now I've forgotten it.

I tried to create a Finder Service to do a simple Find & Replace in Automator but couldn't get it done. Automator will allow me to make it appear in Applications under Services (although on my current macOS I don't seem to see that menu, maybe I need to do something to enable it).

How do I accomplish this?

Select a file with a right click
Hold down the Option key
Select the menu item Copy "filename" as Pathname

Note: I believe this only works in  El Capitan and above.


How do I copy a calendar from one iCloud account to another? I had to stop using my original iCloud account (because of an uncorrectable configuration mistake I made) and create a new one.  I'd like to move the contents of the Calendar to the new account.

I tried exporting each calendar from iCal on my Mac (creating .ics files), switching to my new iCloud account, and then importing those files into iCal, but the import process simply hung.

Exporting as an iCal Archive and then importing doesn't work, because the archive preserves info about what iCloud account it's tied to.

I'd appreciate any help!  Thanks.

If it appeared to hang (rather than throwing an error) how long did you let it run?  I found that iCloud took rather longer to import a .ics file of only a few hundred KB than my available raw upload speed would suggest: 1-2 orders of magnitude longer!

If it really won't complete, try importing .ics file into a local Mac calendar first - it may not work any better but it's faster if your calendar is large; and just maybe iCal will be able clean up the calendar or continue past a bad entry that stops iCloud.

If that doesn't work (and you're patient!) you can try exporting & deleting, then importing to another calendar, half your events, then half the remainder, etc., til one segment fails to import. Now that you know which half contains the error, export, then import, the other half of the remaining events.  Now repeat the halving process with the events left in the source calendar.  When you get down to only a few remaining events (that must include the bad one), enter the rest by hand.
Now export that reconstructed calendar and upload it iCloud.


Is there any way to create a hard link in the finder? Is there any way to create a hard link in the finder?

A hard link in terminal would be created with:

ln /path/to/file /path/to/newpath

whereas a symlink / alias can be done by holding command and option or

ln -s /path/to/file /path/to/newpath

(though apparently the behaviors of 'alias' and 'ln' are different)

You could create an Automator service like this:

This takes the selected files and creates hard links to them in the directory where they exist. You can then drag and drop the links to the location where you want them.

This will work for files with spaces in their names, but not for files containing quotation marks in their name.

You can access it from the Finder » Services menu, the context menu, and you can assign it a keyboard shortcut analogous to the ⌘ L shortcut for aliases (perhaps ⌘⌥L).


Can't access particular website (Macbook OSX Lion) I have one particular website (one that I'm developing) that as of today, I can't access it on my computer. I can access it on my phone, and other people on other computers can access it, but for some reason mine won't let me. It says "Oops, Google Chrome can't load this web page" and it gives me the option to see the cached page. Also "Safari can't connect to the server".

I've rebooted (more then once), flushed the DNS as my username, and as root, by running dscacheutil -flushcache and a couple of other similar commands.

I didn't run sudo killall -HUP mDNSResponder.

Any ideas on what is going on and what I could do to look into the problem? Again, I can access the site just fine from other computers.

I got it figured out (with the help of someone).

It was Mamp Pro on my computer. I had a server set up as the same domain as the live website. Entered sudo nano state and deleted out the conflicting IP address/domain.