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News Archive for: Thursday November 30th, 2006 Goto Current News Page
Systems | CPU Upgrades | Video | IDE | Firewire | SCSI | Audio | Tips/Apps/Networking | FAQ
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| DiskWarrior saves my Bacon (again) |
It's not been a good month for my backup drives here - earlier this month I dropped my portable FW drive down the steps (destroyed the Seagate momentus 100GB HD, FW case/bridge board undamaged). I replaced the drive with a Seagate 120GB I had gotten for my birthday and all seemed well until yesterday, when I noticed a directory (folder) that I had last copied some files to was 'missing' about 90% of the files it originally had (and all subdirectories were missing). In hindsight it was a mistake but I decided to delete that directory and recopy it from the source. Emptying the trash showed an error and thereafter connecting the drive got the dreaded prompt to initialize it. Thankfully DiskWarrior (3.0.3) repaired the wrapper and rebuilt the directory, although several files were damaged and needed replacing 99+% were OK. This is at least the 3rd time I've had DW resurrect a drive over the years (first bought it in the OS 9.x era). It's more than paid for itself. (I know Intel CPU Mac owners are still waiting for an update though but all my current macs are PowerPCs.)
I did see the infamous unexpected quit in DW after completing the repair/dir. replacement when running from the PB's hard drive. This is a known issue when running DiskWarrior from a hard drive with Quicktime 7.0.4 and later. Alsoft has a FAQ item on this with more info and workaround - I had forgotten to remove the "Complete.aiff" file from the DW package on the PB.
Since I had DiskWarrior I didn't try using OS X's Disk Utility repair option, as I trust Diskwarrior more than any other Mac Utility and therefore always try it first. (On connecting the drive to my 10.3.9 PowerBook G4, OS X reported no usable volumes and prompted to initialize or eject it, although the drive did appear in Disk Utility.)
FYI - I've updated the Other News/Software updates section below with several new links (software updates, new products, etc.)
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| Musician/Mac Consultant Chip Dunbar Passes |
| (I didn't know Chip personally but a friend (Matthew C.) asked I post this)
"Chip Dunbar, a Sebastopol musician, music teacher and Apple Macintosh computer consultant, has died at the age of 52. On Sunday he had a heart attack related to a pre-existing heart condition.
Born in New Jersey, he briefly attended college at Newark State,
where his friends say he joked that he majored in "ping pong and radio."
"His powerful, shimmering voice was his entre into the world of
music," said his wife and fellow musician, Sara Winge of Sebastopol.
"He started singing in folk groups as a teenager and soon picked up
the guitar."
After he moved to Atlanta in the '70s, he dedicated himself to music,
studying several instruments at once. He joined the popular bluegrass
band Cedar Hill in 1978 and played with the band until he left for
California and settled in Sebastopol in 1983.
He was a passionate and accomplished musician who played in many
local acoustic bands, including HiJinks, Terra Nova and Under the
Radar. The mandolin was his primary instrument, but he also played
anything with strings, including the fiddle, viola, guitar, dotar and
banjo. His students described him as an inspiring teacher who encouraged and
cajoled them to tap into their creativity as well as learn where to
place their fingers on their instruments. He was fanatic in his devotion to Mac computer systems and was an unwavering evangelist for the creative potential of computers. He loved helping his clients and was happiest when he infected them with his enthusiasm for computers.
In addition to his wife, he is survived by his mother, Mary Dunbar of
New Jersey; his sisters, Cher Brower and Ann-Marie Markus, both of
New Jersey; and his brothers, Kevin Dunbar of Florida, and John
Dunbar and Michael Dunbar, both of New Jersey.
The family invites friends to a memorial celebration at 1p.m. Saturday at the Sebastopol (CA) Community Center Youth Annex on Morris Street. The family suggests contributions to the Gorilla Foundation, www.koko.org/donate."
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| New Elite RAID FW800/400+USB2 Drive Pricing |
| (from site sponsor OWC)
"
New Elite RAID 800/400+USB2 Pricing
The OWC Mercury Elite-AL Pro RAID FireWire 800/400+USB2 line of solutions
utilize the latest Oxford 924 based custom bridge solution as well as the
latest Seagate Barracuda SATA II mechanisms to provide an ultimate in Plug
and Play Performance and Reliability.
Currently available with up to 1.5GBs of capacity in a sleek and compact
Aluminum design of only 9.0" Long x 2.8" Wide x 5.8" High, this fully
bootable solution is ready for all your Audio/Video, Backup, Graphics,
Music, General Data needs and more! With 2 x FW800 Ports, 1 x FW400 Port, 1
x USB 2.0/1.1 Port - provides excellent access flexibility to stored data
based on whichever interfaces offered on systems data is to be utilized
with.
Current FW800/400+USB2 Elite-AL RAID prices:
320GB with 16MB of Data Buffer was $ 259.99, now $249.99
500GB with 32MB of Data Buffer was $ 309.99, now $279.99
640GB with 32MB of Data Buffer was $ 379.99, now $349.99
800GB with 32MB of Data Buffer was $ 529.99, now $459.99
1.0TB with 32MB of Data Buffer was $ 599.99, now $519.99
1.5TB with 32MB of Data Buffer was $1029.99, now $929.99
OWC Mercury Elite-AL Pro RAID FireWire 800/400+USB2 solutions are backed by
an industry leading 2 Year OWC Solution Warranty + an additional 3 years (5
years total) Seagate Partner Factory warranty on the mechanism inside.
Solutions all include EMC Retrospect Backup and are EMC Backup Certified,
Intech HD Speedtools Utility Suite, FireWire 800 connecting cable, FireWire
400 connecting cable, USB connecting cable, and 2 Year+ Warranty as noted
above.
Ground delivery within the 48 Continental states is $2.95 for any of the
above solutions. 2nd Day Air delivery anywhere within the USA offered for
$7.95 or less.
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| Rate Your CPU Upgrade Reports Database Updated |
| The Rate Your CPU Upgrade database has been updated with 1 new report this morning. Total to date: 10,281. Here's a summary of the latest addition (search by brand/mac model for full reports - latest reports always shown first):
- GigaDesign Dual G4 1.8GHz (7447A's) in (Quicksilver) G4/AGP (rated 10)
(also noted upgrading graphics card, HD, RAM, PCI SATA card, Superdrive, etc.)
(Full reviews of G4 and G3 upgrades compared to stock CPUs, including real world apps/game tests, install info, etc. are linked at the CPU upgrades page. OC/CPU module articles are on the Systems page.)
You can find the full reports by searching the database selecting the indicated Mac model and upgrade card brand/type. If you've upgraded the CPU on your Mac, send a review with your experience (performance/stability/installation, etc.), Mac Model/Upgrade brand info and overall rating (1= worst to 10=best). Search the database for entries from most every upgradable Mac model *before* you buy. (Searchable by mac model/upgrade brand).
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