[Mac 101] Ask your questions here!

[davidktw]

is it true that.. when using a external portable hard disk, it must be formatted to fat32 (limited to single biggest file size 4gb) to be cross used between win and mac platform? thanks

True and not true. Depends on who is your 3rd parties, are you referring to between yourself and others, or others and others.

Lets make the assumption you are the Mac user, I will say your common denominator is NTFS. You can have an external NTFS storage and also either install the free or purchased FUSE implementation of NTFS on your mac.

If you are referring to any generic Mac users and generic Windows users, then without involving extra software, the common denominator is FAT32.

If your Windows users are Windows Vista and above, then your Mac users are Snow Leopard and above, your next denominator has better bet on ExFAT. There is also ExFAT update on Windows XP. There is a quirk for ExFAT on Snow Leopard, you can't format it on SL and expect the partition to be usable on a Windows.

Hence which you have chosen is up to who you expect your counterparts are. For me, NTFS is my default since I have the necessary drivers on Mac. I also use Parallels having a Windows XP in it.

However I do have other options like a small 8GB FAT32 thumb drive, and also the option of transfer via wirelessly or cabled. The hassle of all these decision can always be resolved by knowing beforehand who you are interacting with. I don't see the absolute need to always stay with one common denominator.

 

[domokuncookie]

True and not true. Depends on who is your 3rd parties, are you referring to between yourself and others, or others and others.

Lets make the assumption you are the Mac user, I will say your common denominator is NTFS. You can have an external NTFS storage and also either install the free or purchased FUSE implementation of NTFS on your mac.

If you are referring to any generic Mac users and generic Windows users, then without involving extra software, the common denominator is FAT32.

If your Windows users are Windows Vista and above, then your Mac users are Snow Leopard and above, your next denominator has better bet on ExFAT. There is also ExFAT update on Windows XP. There is a quirk for ExFAT on Snow Leopard, you can't format it on SL and expect the partition to be usable on a Windows.

Hence which you have chosen is up to who you expect your counterparts are. For me, NTFS is my default since I have the necessary drivers on Mac. I also use Parallels having a Windows XP in it.

However I do have other options like a small 8GB FAT32 thumb drive, and also the option of transfer via wirelessly or cabled. The hassle of all these decision can always be resolved by knowing beforehand who you are interacting with. I don't see the absolute need to always stay with one common denominator.

thanks for the detailed enlightenment, its actually other wins user and me, a soon to be mac user. I foresee problem if i copy files to them using my thumbdrive or harddisk, becos all must be limited to fat32 format and the biggest file size can only be 4gb.

 

[davidktw]

thanks for the detailed enlightenment, its actually other wins user and me, a soon to be mac user. I foresee problem if i copy files to them using my thumbdrive or harddisk, becos all must be limited to fat32 format and the biggest file size can only be 4gb.

Welcome to the fruity world. In that case, I will recommend NTFS for your portable devices.
Other older versions of Mac OS X can already read NTFS by default, just cannot write to it.

Read some information from here @ Native NTFS write support on Mac OS X Lion - MacRumors Forums, and here Enable writing to NTFS hard drives on Mac OS X. You should find them useful.

I am using the Paragon NTFS driver. For USD20, I say it's worth it.

 

[techrike]

hi bros, would like to check for the new imac fusion drive on 1TB, how will the distribution of ssd and hard disk size be like? 500gb each?

and is it separated into 2 hd?

 

[LeonaV]

hi bros, would like to check for the new imac fusion drive on 1TB, how will the distribution of ssd and hard disk size be like? 500gb each?

and is it separated into 2 hd?

128 GB flash storage + 1 TB HDD. However you see it as only a single partition.

Fusion Drive - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[hiroom]

Hi i have a macbook pro early 2011, the battery depletes from 50-35% in 25 minutes just idling at 50% brightness.. is this depleting faster than it should be?

 

[techrike]

128 GB flash storage + 1 TB HDD. However you see it as only a single partition.

Fusion Drive - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

thx bro. but does the 1TB now mean 1.1TB?

 

[LeonaV]

thx bro. but does the 1TB now mean 1.1TB?

It should still show as 1TB partition. The SSD cannot be accessed directly by you. It's used by the Fusion Drive software to store frequently accessed files and the core OS X. Think of it as a very large and fast cache.

 

[PetPet]

Hi i have a macbook pro early 2011, the battery depletes from 50-35% in 25 minutes just idling at 50% brightness.. is this depleting faster than it should be?

Yes it is! Check your "Activity Monitor" to see what is consuming so much resources.
My guess is Flash.

 

[techrike]

It should still show as 1TB partition. The SSD cannot be accessed directly by you. It's used by the Fusion Drive software to store frequently accessed files and the core OS X. Think of it as a very large and fast cache.

thx alot bro. but sorry got 1 more qn to ask.
for the processor, Quad-core Intel Core i5, Turbo Boost up to 3.6GHz, how to boost it? is it the os will auto adjust or thru user config?

 

[limpe84]

thx alot bro. but sorry got 1 more qn to ask.
for the processor, Quad-core Intel Core i5, Turbo Boost up to 3.6GHz, how to boost it? is it the os will auto adjust or thru user config?

Is will auto adjust whenever your comp has spare cores. No need to toggle anything on your side.

 

[hiroom]

Yes it is! Check your "Activity Monitor" to see what is consuming so much resources.
My guess is Flash.

If theres no program open, can it still be flash? assuming its not flash should i send it for inspection? its still under apple care

 

[erwinrommel]

Welcome to the fruity world. In that case, I will recommend NTFS for your portable devices.
Other older versions of Mac OS X can already read NTFS by default, just cannot write to it.

Read some information from here @ Native NTFS write support on Mac OS X Lion - MacRumors Forums, and here Enable writing to NTFS hard drives on Mac OS X. You should find them useful.

I am using the Paragon NTFS driver. For USD20, I say it's worth it.

I am using the Paragon driver too. Do you encounter trash being unable to empty due to deleting NTFS files?

 

[PetPet]

If theres no program open, can it still be flash? assuming its not flash should i send it for inspection? its still under apple care

That's strange.
Attempt a PRAM reset and see if you face the same issue. Don't open up all your apps at once. Maybe you want to open a few of them to see which is the culprit.

PRAM reset instructions — About NVRAM and PRAM

 

[runforyourlife]

hi guys,

i'm planning to get the new imac.. main purpose is to use OSX, general surfing, youtube, work, watching movies and gaming on not so demanding games, diablo3,fm,civilisation.

i am planning on the 27inch imac, with upgrades to fusion drive, gpu, getting apple care and office for mac. is there anything else i need/could be excluded from the list? thanks.

furthermore, could i buy these off the epicentre and let them know i need these upgrades and still use epicentre vouchers + cc for the purchase?

thanks guys

 

[minus2]

hi guys,

i'm planning to get the new imac.. main purpose is to use OSX, general surfing, youtube, work, watching movies and gaming on not so demanding games, diablo3,fm,civilisation.

i am planning on the 27inch imac, with upgrades to fusion drive, gpu, getting apple care and office for mac. is there anything else i need/could be excluded from the list? thanks.

furthermore, could i buy these off the epicentre and let them know i need these upgrades and still use epicentre vouchers + cc for the purchase?

thanks guys

For your purpose, an 21" iMac would suffice.
For you however insist on a 27", the baseline model is more than enough for your needs.

And yes you can custom order through Epicentre.

 

[runforyourlife]

For your purpose, an 21" iMac would suffice.
For you however insist on a 27", the baseline model is more than enough for your needs.

And yes you can custom order through Epicentre.

hmm okok. i was reading reviews and they said the gpu is essential upgrade for games,verge showed diablo so i thought it might be a necessity =/

thanks alot..i would think applecare is essential without a doubt yea? sorry quite new here..

 

[limpe84]

hmm okok. i was reading reviews and they said the gpu is essential upgrade for games,verge showed diablo so i thought it might be a necessity =/

thanks alot..i would think applecare is essential without a doubt yea? sorry quite new here..

For a big ticket item like an iMac, I would definitely recommend AppleCare. My screen conked off recently and thanks to warranty, they came down to repair it FOC. Definitely will save you a lot of headache down the road.

Basic 27” iMac can more than handle diablo3 on 2560x1440 res. For other more intensive games like darksiders 2 (via bootcamp), you either run it at 1920x1080 (windowed mode) or upgrade the graphics. It is not quite enough to power 27” screen worth of gaming.

 

[camerah]

i have a mac which i bootcamp it for windows.
on osx it is running smoothly but its really damn lag when windows is running.
anyone help?

 

[limpe84]

i have a mac which i bootcamp it for windows.
on osx it is running smoothly but its really damn lag when windows is running.
anyone help?

What's your Mac? Could be a case of missing drivers. Possible to reinstall windows?