Dan Knight
- 2007.06.07
A FireWire Flash Drive Option
John Muir writes:
Hi Dan,
Seems to be a busy season for flash at the moment. I've been
following the news about those SSD flash drives which are
intentionally designed for use as hard drives, as you've also
mentioned. They sound quite promising, and I think are likely a
much better solution for any reasonably modern laptop with a decent
hard drive bus like Ultra-DMA. My main problem is being in Britain,
which makes access to such new kit somewhat slower.
But here's another tantalising option:
http://www.hardmac.com/ news/2007-06-07/#6848
A FireWire thumb drive could boot any PowerPC or Intel Mac with
a spare FireWire 400 port. It should be fast and even better:
portable between different machines. They sound an ideal boot disc
for repairs and diagnostics. And I've already proven that 8 GB
is more than enough for such work, depending on which apps you want
to install.
It could be a great way for all FireWire equipped Macs to try
out flash with no tools involved; an experimenter's dream.
Hopefully these drives will be reasonably priced and find their
niche.
John
John,
Thanks for the link. According to Hard Mac, it
these OCZ Rally 2 flash drives will be able to use nearly full
bandwidth on a FireWire 400 port. According to Hexus,
throughput measures over twice that of a USB 2.0 flash drive.
The same size as many USB flash drives, these
should provide plenty of speed and capacity, also making them great
tools for booting Macs and running diagnostics on the internal hard
drive.
I can't find any indication of price, but they
should be available during the third quarter.
Dan
Don't Forget 'Refreshed' Macs
Mario Cajina writes:
Dan Knight,
In your article, you ask:
"What About Refurbished?"
I would suggest to not forget "Refreshed" MacBook Pros.
"Refreshed" is the name given to open box customer returns at the
Apple Stores. When a new model comes out, they get a lot of these
back because people want the latest and greatest within the first
couple of weeks of introduction. There's nothing refurbished or
repaired about them: They're brand new computers that got returned
within 14 days.
Also, the Apple Stores replace the floor models with the new
machines and these previous models can go for substantially less
than Refreshed. So there are some really good deals to be had at
Apple Stores when a new model is introduced. Check it out.
Mario Cajina
Mario,
Thanks for writing. I don't spend much time in
Apple's retail stores or know of any way of determining online what
they may have available. I'll pass along your tip in the next
mailbag column.
Dan
Dan,
No problem. There are a lot of people who don't know this.
Another nice thing about "Refreshed" Apple products is that they
have their full one-year warranty again when they're repurchased
and are eligible for the AppleCare Protection Plan [APP]. This
applies to iPods, Macs, and displays. I don't know about Apple TV,
since I haven't asked. A "Refreshed" AirPort Extreme Base Station,
for example, has a full year warranty starting on the day of
repurchase and can be covered by an accompanying computer's APP for
the extra two years (if you have that much left in APP
coverage).
I've bought three "Refreshed" AirPort Base Stations, and they're
all covered by my Intel iMac's APP if they crap out. I used to have
an MDD Power Mac G4 that had been a
floor model for a year at an Apple Store, and the support coverage
was as if it had been new (it had never been purchased before). It
was a $2,500 computer that I got for $800! I bought "Refreshed"
Apple RAM and APP for it, which came in handy, because about a year
after I bought it the SuperDrive needed to be replaced. Since I
didn't run Mac OS 9 in it at the time, they replaced it with a
faster one that only worked in OS X.
I highly recommend "Refreshed" Apple products for this
reason.
Mario
Santa Rosa or Merom?
Per Grenerfors writes:
Hi,
Just wanted to say that Santa Rosa is not a CPU, it's a chipset.
The CPU used in the latest MBPs is still the Merom (although
running with a faster bus), and will be until Penryn is introduced
(late '07/ early '08). I suggest you check out Wikipedia for
some more info.
Best wishes,
Per Grenerfors
Sweden
Per,
Thanks for writing. According to
ars technica, the Santa Rosa chipset (marketed as Centrino Pro
in the Windows world) is using a revised version of Merom. The
original didn't support dynamic bus speed switching or an 800 MHz
memory bus. The new CPU also uses a different socket (Socket P)
than the first generation Merom.
Trusted Reviews states, "Santa Rosa will feature an all new
Core 2 Duo chip with a number of enhancements over the outgoing
processor. Like the Merom chip before it, the new Core 2 Duo will
feature up to 4 MB of on-die cache, but there are plenty of
other changes."
In its Centrino entry,
Wikipedia also distinguishes the new second generation Merom from
the earlier one used with the 'Napa' platform, Santa Rosa's
predecessor.
In short, the CPU used in the new MacBook Pro
models isn't simply a faster Merom chip; it's a second generation
Merom CPU with new features that's specifically tied to the Santa
Rosa chipset.
We will revise our article to indicate that the
CPU itself is a new generation Merom tied to the Santa Rosa
chipset.
Dan
G4 Processor Upgrade vs. Used G5
Michael Goodroe follows up on MDD
Processor Upgrade vs. Used G5:
Dear Dan!
Your email showed deep understanding of musicians on a budget
who are learning to be engineers and confronted with ever
increasing demands on the "top of the line" computer we went into
debt for only 2-3 years ago.
By way of conversation, I was the bassist for a 80s group on
Capitol Records called The Motels. We had
two top ten singles: "Only the Lonely Can Play" and "Suddenly Last
Summer"; both went to #9. It all lasted 10 years, and I garnered 8
gold records and so much travel it boggles the mind. Also, more
recording in top studios with great engineers and producers (Mick
Guzauski & Val Garay) than I can recount.
That was then, and I exceeded my goals by more than you can
imagine; but I will always be a musician, and this is a great time
to be an older musician. A renaissance is in motion and I want to
be part of it. I record, write, play, sing, mix and do the art
work. But the technical aspects are overwhelming and distracting
. . . you can't compose when your computer is arguing
with you! I appreciate your "to the heart of the matter"
answer.
Very sincerely,
Michael Goodroe
P.S. I think an eBay Dual G5 2.0 GHz with 3 GB RAM makes sense.
Thank you!
Michael,
I understand living on a budget and trying to make
the best economic decisions. It's part of our core philosophy at
Low End Mac - knowing when to upgrade, when to replace with
something newer (but maybe not brand new).
Glad to be of help - and best wishes as you move
forward with a new computer and continue to develop your
career.
Dan
Authorization Dongle
Duncan Rayner writes in response to MDD Processor Upgrade vs. Used G5:
Hi Dan,
Love the mailbag, no hang on, the whole web site!
You have created an invaluable resource for the Mac community.
Ironically I find out about new Mac releases from your website
before I see them on the Apple site because I visit yours more
often. Including the new MacBook Pros this morning (Australia
Time). Thank you.
With regards to Michael Goodroe's protools system: To fix the
problem he has with his plug-in authorizations, Michael could
purchase a
PACE iLok™ USB Smart Key and transfer all his
authorizations to the key and have them to use on any machine that
he can plug the dongle into. This becomes a very handy tool if, for
instance, you want to have a desktop system for power and a laptop
for portability, circumventing the need to purchase the same
authorizations twice. Plus, as a bonus, he can take his dongle with
him to a big studio (if he isn't one already) and use the plug-ins
there on his own sessions if the studio doesn't own those plug-ins
yet!
I hope I have been of help to you and Michael.
Send me a line if you need any more help.
Sincerely
Duncan Rayner
Duncan,
Thanks for the kinds words - and your tips. I've
forwarded your email to Michael Goodroe.
Dan
Removing the Hard Drive from a Mac IIcx
Dawn Murphy writes:
Hi Dan,
I'm reluctantly giving up my old Mac
IIcx. Actually, it's not booting up and seems to have given up
first. I would like to remove the hard drive, for security reasons,
before I trash the box. How the heck can I get it out of there?
I've removed all visible screws (except a couple of really tiny
screws that look to be holding down parts inside the drive). After
getting a big blister from squashing my hand in a pair of
needle-nose pliers, I've decided that I need some professional
advice.
Thanks for any help,
Dawn
Dawn Murphy
National Council of Teachers of Mathematics
Hi Dawn,
I'm sorry to hear of its demise, but after 18
years, I think you got your money's worth out of it!
It's actually very easy to remove the hard drive -
but not if you're looking for screws. The IIcx was designed for
fast and easy assembly, so the hard drive is mounted on a sled, not
screwed directly to the computer.
I'm a visual guy - probably one reason I've been a
Mac user for so long - so I've dug out an old Mac IIci (same case
as the IIcx), taken some photos, and posted a quick tutorial,
Replacing the Hard Drive in a
Mac IIcx, IIci, and Quadra 700.
I hope this helps.
Dan
Thank you, thank you, thank you, Dan.
Last night I tried pressing in on those two metal tabs, but it
didn't budge. But now that you've told me this is correct, I'll be
more aggressive with pressing on those tabs (while trying to keep
from getting myself any more black-and-blue than I've already
gotten). I'll give it another go when I get home. This should save
me the task of carting the IIcx carcass into my IT dept. at work
and getting derisive snickers.
The best part is that I've discovered your website and how great
a help you are. I'll let the other Mac users at my work know about
this!
Thanks again for a dazzlingly quick response,
Dawn
Dan Knight has been publishing Low
End Mac since April 1997. Mailbag columns come from email responses to his Mac Musings, Mac Daniel, Online Tech Journal, and other columns on the site.
