[ladyuser101]

I keep noticing a recommendation here or there about handy software to use. Apparently there are lots of small free applications that are helpful. What are some of your favorites to make things work on your setup?
Since Apple OSX is completely new to me I downloaded Opera and Firefox just to have some familiar comfort tools. I bought Toast and Quicktime Pro. SysStat and mondosolitaire are a couple of nice widgets.
I've got MacTheRipper, Handbreak, and ffmpegx.
I expect to be doing a lot of graphics work with Photoshop Elements and iPhoto. I haven't gotten into iMusic to speak of but I do have an iPod to work with. I expect to do a lot of movie clips, building things through iMovie, and putting video on my iPod.
I need to find some way to back things up and to repair problems that come along. I need a way to manage the video clips that I expect to compile.
I bought Appleworks 6, MSOffice for Mac 2004, iWork '05, and Airport Express with iTunes plus Final Cut Express.
I do a lot of language study. Since OSX has, apparently, full multiple language support, can I just switch to different languages and type away?

[Typhoon14]

The easiest way to make effective backups is to buy an external USB 2.0 or FireWire harddrive and use a drive cloning application to make a perfect copy of your system to the backup drive. If anything goes wrong, you can simply boot up from the clone and copy it back to the original drive. I use SuperDuper for cloning, although there are several similar applications available.

For maintenance, you really ought to buy a copy of DiskWarrior. It is far and away the most reliable application for repairing a troublesome disk. You don't need to run it regularly (in fact, you really don't need to do any regular maintenance), but it's a godsend if you're having system problems.
Multiple language support is fantastic. You can set up a language order in the "International" System preference pane. The system and all translated applications will load in your top language choice, so if you want to try the total-immersion approach to language, just drag Chinese to the top of the list, log out and in again, and watch the transformation.

[macnuke]

if you don't have it, you will probably need it one day Stuffit Expander
to change how your dock looks, Transparent Dock
for playing Windows Media Files with Quicktime.. Flip4Mac
for a more powerful menu accessible from your desktop Fruit Menu
and in addition to Diskwarrior, I also have YASU for forcing the issue on cleaning all the cache files and running all the crons at once.
am sure other users around here will pummel you with suggestions as well. /forums/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

[pdrayton]

In reply to:

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The easiest way to make effective backups is to buy an external USB 2.0 or FireWire harddrive and use a drive cloning application to make a perfect copy of your system to the backup drive.

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I don't think a clone can be made using a USB drive. Don't you need FireWire for that?
Macworld had an article recently about how some FireWire drives are not bootable, but the search feature on Macworld is impossible at finding things without presenting thousands of results.

[drmbb]

The new Intel Macs can boot from USB2 drives. Older PowerPC machines can not boot from USB devices, so you'd need a firewire drive for a bootable clone on a powerPC machine.
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[Nobody]

In reply to:

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I don't think a clone can be made using a USB drive. Don't you need FireWire for that?

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Although, I have not tired to clone a boot volume on a USB drive myself but my guess is that cloning utility will do its job on any connected drive but a USB drive, due to its nature (detection/powering), would not be bootable.

[macnuke]

correct Alam /forums/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif
EDIT.. note to the other posters...
the Lady is external drive rich with FW. /forums/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

[ladyuser101]

Note to other posters
Apparently that dark eyed Louisiana boy with the cute smile has been checking out my goodies. /forums/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/blush.gif
I have several firewire drives but what I don't have is a firewire iPod. /forums/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif
I am not a fan of USB2.0 except on my Canoscan scanner and I would switch to a firewire scanner with a similar form factor in a heartbeat if I could find one.
Back to the software. I'm downloading all recommendations to a folder on my hard drive. Is there any Apple software that I can use to build a hyperlinked page with descriptions of the software, links to the software home, and links to the software on my hard drive? I need to keep up with what it is, what it is used for, and how to find it when I need it. /forums/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

[macnuke]

being from the south and allegedly lazy and slow..
I just keep one folder for all my links. basically any link I want, I just click on it and drag it and drop it on a folder just for links. then I rename the link.
these are called Web Internet Locations.
if it's only for a moment and I don't plan on keeping the link, i just drag it to the desktop for use when I want.
if you want something you can print, you can always just drop the links on a page in just about any of your word processors and either put an addendum or just use as it.
folders on my Mac usually decide where i put the software.
applications would go in the Applications Folder.
many of the little add-ons are Utilities and Apple thoughtfully included a folder at install just for those.
I don't like creating more folders than actually needed.
I am positive you are aware of the KISS principle.
ya know, that actually works in my Mac.. even with all the "shtuff" accumulated over 30 years of migrating data.

[d00d]

[indent]In reply to:

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Apparently that dark eyed Louisiana boy with the cute smile has been checking out my goodies.

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[/indent] Scandalous!

[ladyuser101]

I know the Kiss principle. My mother taught me it is number three. First is the diamond ring principle and second is the wedding bells principle. The Lady asks sweetly, "Is that what you mean?"
I downloaded Carbon Copy Cloner and opened it. I understand how to select a source disk (my internal I will call disk A) and a target disk (either one of the attached firewire drives I will call disk B and disk C). My list of items to be copied from disk A has several dot files and several folders, most of which I haven't a clue as to how they are used or what they include. I obviously need to learn my files and folders.
I read the instructions. One thing it didn't say or I missed it is whether the clone can be made to a folder on disk B or C. I'm guessing any source partition and any target partition will be okay. There doesn't seem to be an option to clone a disk image to a folder. That means the clone has to be in the root of the tree.
Restore is the issue of course. Disks B and C each have a boot partition and a data partition. Cloner will let me restore from either the boot or data partition on disk B or C but will not let me restore to a folder in disk A. Cloner seems to allow the selection of items to be cloned but not for their correct placement on the target disk - say in a specific folder. If my system folder is corrupted for instance I could not restore just the system folder. Plus Cloner recommends formatting the entire partition where files will go.
Here is how I visualize the process. A includes Cloner which I use to back up to B. A goes bad. Cloner has cloned itself on to B I guess. I boot to B and use the cloned Cloner to restore from B to A.
One problem I have is with the size of the clone. I was surprised to find out that a basic OSX install takes 12GB. Usually I don't leave data on my internal disk A. Apparently though there are cache and trash folders everywhere because my disk A is now 30GB of OS and applications without data. I have been making iMovie clips and DVD rips then deleting them. How do I clean the drive?
You wouldn't think KISS could be so complicated for a proper Lady.

[ladyuser101]

macnuke, I downloaded Stuffit Expander and Yasu. SE is fast and easy. Yasu is easy to use also.
When Yasu says it will clean download cache, is that the same as erasing previous downloads and their retained history? I don't want to erase the downloads. It's alright to erase the download history. Is download cache something else?
A side benefit of downloading these utilities is learning how to drag the executable icon to the utility folder and authenticating it for placement. I run in user mode so I have to type the admin name and password each time.
Also, I found out why my hard drive is filling up. I have overlooked files on the desktop, in Applications, in Documents, in Movies, in Music, and in Pictures.
This thread has been very helpful. Thank you all. Look around on your computer and see if there are any others you can recommend.

[macnuke]

yes I am aren't I

[macnuke]

[indent]In reply to:

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When Yasu says it will clean download cache, is that the same as erasing previous downloads and their retained history? I don't want to erase the downloads. It's alright to erase the download history. Is download cache something else?

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[/indent]
download history is just a list of what you have downloaded. another cache that doesn't take much room, but room none the less for system and your browser to keep track off.
the downloads will not be affected.
err my primary HD is about 138Gig of "shtuff", might take me a while to actually look around
who knows what's in there. perhaps something else useful.