Backing up is a serious business. And at MMISoftware we like to keep backups of, well, everything. Over the years we have used a range of methods, including incremental backups to CDs and DVDs, but our current preferred method is to backup to external hard-drives and then remove them to a safe place…

Recently I had a ‘backup’ failure, we didn’t lose any data, but our back-up strategy failed.

Basically what happened was a new external drive was bought (we actually used the Apple Store as they had drives at a good price with a free ’24 hour delivery’), and plugged in for a routine back-up.

However, the backup failed. Odd…. Tried again, same failure. Copy error. Copy error on a brand new disk. So what gives?

Well, it turns out that the LaCie drives that Apple sells are formatted for DOS, and every time the back-up reached 3 GB plus the backup would fail! Weird. Why would Apple sell DOS formatted drives? How many other customers are experiencing that problem? Very annoying….

Anyway, the problem was easy to fix. Fired up ‘Disk Utility’ and reformatted the drive for ‘Mac OS Extended’, and now everything works….

So, if you have a new external drive and are lovingly backing up all the photos you have geotagged, or added meta-data to, with PhotoInfoEditor or PhotoGPSEditor, and you keep getting a ‘copy failure’, you might want to check the format of the external drive….

PhotoInfoEditor and PhotoGPSEditor are freeware programs from MMISoftware – continued development can be supported by making donations (PhotoInfoEditor Donation | PhotoGPSEditor Donation), or purchases at the MMISoftware GPS and camera stores.

Both programs are available for download:

I was in London (UK) this afternoon for a meeting and had some spare time, so I decided to pop in to the Apple iPod Store near Oxford Circus. The last time I visited the store (around Christmas time?), and boy does it seem to have changed….

On my last visit it was pretty much the same as the previous 2 visits, i.e. it was a store selling Apple Mac computers and iPods. I would now guess that around 50% (possibly more) of the floor space is dedicated to the ubiquitous iPod. They had everything you would ever need for an iPod, plus some things I didn’t even know were made for an iPod. Walls and walls and walls of accessories.

There were three or four Apple TVs (hooked up to Sony screens), a lot of MacBooks (I didn’t see many MacBook Pros), a few mac Minis and I can only recall seeing a couple of Mac Desktops. I was really surprised at the lack of desktops, I know the line is getting a ‘bit-long-in-the-tooth’ now, but there lack of on-floor presence was noticeable. This has got me thinking – and so I reached for my ‘Apple Rumour’ sheet… (see earlier post)… Is this a sign that the desktop line is due to be refreshed very soon?

One other thing I noted was there were still a lot of boxed copies of OS X 10.4 on the shelves…. read in to that what you want..

My new MacBook Pro has arrived. This is good news as it means final tests of MMISoftware programs can be completed.

The new MacBook Pro is very nice. There is a very noticeable difference in speed between Universal (intel) and PowerPC apps.

The machine is very nice. Good solid feel. Built in iSight is not as good as the real thing, i.e. a ‘real’ iSight camera. The ‘magnetic’ power cord has pluses and minuses…. It would be great if I caught the lead with my leg, however, I have managed to disconnect it a couple of times just by picking the machine up and moving it. Maybe this is a good thing and just shows I was putting the old style connectors under strain.

Set up was dead easy. Started the machine and used the migrate option… Three hours later (more like just over 2 hours) my old home folder had been copied over.

One thing I have noticed is that it seems to run much hotter than my ‘old’ PowerBook G4. I certainly wouldn’t be able to use the machine for extended periods on my lap in a hot climate. In fact it is quite ‘toasty’… Nice on those cold winter nights!

Most ‘non-binary’ apps seem to run OK. As fast as on my G4, possibly a bit faster.

Right, back to making MMISoftware programs in to universals….

Just ordered one of the new MacBook Pros over at the AppleStore.

Looks like the laptop will be delivered some time in February. Should be interesting.

The MacBook Pro looks like a great machine and I can’t wait to get my hands on it.

With the built in iSight and the faster Intel chip it should be a great development machine.

In an earlier post I said how sales had dropped off in the 6 weeks prior to the launch of Tiger. Interestingly sales are now beginning to increase (and we haven’t even released the ‘Tiger’ updates yet), however, they are still not back to their pre-’Tiger-six-week’ level. I guess time (and the release of software updates) will tell.

PowerBook G4 12″ and an Airport Express

Well, a new 12″ PowerBook G4 has arrived and replaced the trusty iBook.

The new PowerBook is a very nice piece of kit. The keyboard is a vast improvement over the iBooks and the processor is much faster, particularly when compiling code. Bottom line, very impressed. Setting up the machine was a snap. The longest part of the process was copying over all the data from my iBook (this was performed using ‘firewire mode‘ on the iBook). The approach I took was to copy the contents of each director from my home folder over to the corresponding folder on the PowerBook. This seems to have worked fine.

The ‘Airport Express’ has been a bit of a surprise. First, I was surprised by how small the actual piece of kit is. To have the power supply and ‘the Airport guts (essentially a mini-computer)’ in such a small box was a a big surprise. The Airport was extremely easy to configure and was up and running in a matter of minutes. Another surprising plus, and worth the upgrade from the second generation Airport, was for the first time FTP worked! I had tried everything to get FTP to work with my old Airport and just couldn’t get a stable connection. I haven’t seen it published anywhere but the ease at which FTP now works, and the fact it took zero-configuration suggests, that UPnP (i.e. the Airport ‘senses’ which ports need to be opened up to support the process [FTP, gaming, chat etc.] being carried out) is now working.

Looking for a new PowerBook

Time to replace an old and slow iBook with a new PowerBook….

I have looked at the various models and decided the 12 inch PowerBook with a SuperDrive fits my needs. Having looked in various stores in the UK I have discovered that you can not buy a 12 inch PowerBook anywhere! The stores may have them on the shelves, but they have none in stock. One store had a back-order of 120 (and had only 2 models in stock in the UK), and the other store could not find a PowerBook in any of its branches within 60 miles. (They did offer to sell the one on display!)

Tried Amazon (in the UK), with no luck.

Looks like it is time to hit the AppleStore. Whilst I am there I may have to buy an Airport Express! (BTW, don’t get your RAM at the AppleStore as it is way overpriced! £200+ compared to £99 in the High Street for 512 MB.)