Comments for Jason Tomczak

Comment on Recondition an SSD on the Mac… for free! by Derek Stutsman

Derek Stutsman — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 02:34:31 +0000

These techniques didn’t work for me, but I found something that did:

- boot from Snow Leopard disk, run disk utility
- back up the drive to a disk image on an external drive
- boot off an ubuntu 10.4 cd and install it
- download hdparm and run the included wiper.sh script
- boot from Snow Leopard and run disk utility again
- restore the backup image to the drive

Pain, but it worked flawlessly. My performance is again like new.!

Comment on Western Digital My Passport Elite 320GB – Great for MacBook Pro by Jason

Jason — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 22:39:32 +0000

Hi Lloyd,

The problem is in the Time Machine formatting of that drive. Once you ok’d Time Machine to use that drive for backups, it changes the drive from Windows-friendly FAT32 to a Mac-only format called Mac OS Extended. Time Machine sort of hijacks the drive and won’t let go until you reformat it as FAT32 and then tell Time Machine to bugger off.

If you wan the Time machine backups, which many people do, one thing you could do is format the drive in two partitions – one partition with about 300GB for Time Machine (you can even name the partition “TimeMachineBackups”) and the remaining 200GB for Windows/Mac transfers – FAT32 formatting, of course.

Once the partitions are created, allow Time Machine to capture the 300GB partition and the 200GB partition will be spared for other uses.

Jason

Comment on Western Digital My Passport Elite 320GB – Great for MacBook Pro by Lloyd Stevenson

Lloyd Stevenson — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 13:15:48 +0000

Jason;
Another (perhaps dumb) question about connecting My Passport Elite to my IMac. Connected, installed as ‘Time Machine’, and appears to have worked to back up all data. However, when I plug into a PC, it doesn’t seem to recognize the drive.
Should I have installed in a different mode other than ‘Time Machine’ since it should work on both Mac or PC equipment?
Many thanks, Lloyd

Comment on Western Digital My Passport Elite 320GB – Great for MacBook Pro by Lloyd Stevenson

Lloyd Stevenson — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 17:02:06 +0000

Hi Jason;
Many thanks for the quick response. Just plugged it in and it worked like a charm, stepping me through deleting the old files and current set up for timed backups.
Thanks again,
Lloyd

Comment on Western Digital My Passport Elite 320GB – Great for MacBook Pro by Jason

Jason — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 01:58:07 +0000

Hey Lloyd,

If the drive is formatted as NTFS, then you won’t be able to use it on your iMac without buying some software to make it compatible. Pain in the butt. If the drive is FAT32, then you’re all set. If it is NTFS, then my suggestion would be to get the drive onto a Windows machine and back up the existing data, then format it as FAT32, then move data back.

The quickest way to tell if the drive is FAT32 is to simply drag a file from your iMac to the drive. If it copies over, then you’re good. If it won’t copy or if it gives an error, then you probably have an NTFS drive and a simple fix.

Jason

Comment on Western Digital My Passport Elite 320GB – Great for MacBook Pro by Lloyd Stevenson

Lloyd Stevenson — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 01:31:02 +0000

I’ve got a WD 500 gb Passport Elite drive that I used ‘plug & play’ on a PC for backup for a while. Very little space used. Now I’ve changed to an IMac. Can I just plug the USB into the IMac and continue to use? Don’t ever need to access the data put on during PC use. Not much documentation came with the WD drive so haven’t found out whether I can just plug it in or whether changes must be made.
Thanks.

Comment on iPhone 4 Mail Bug? by Elias

Elias — Sun, 29 Aug 2010 15:52:15 +0000

I’m having the same issue… Totally odd.

Comment on Good, Inexpensive Laptop Feet by John

John — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 09:45:22 +0000

Great mod, only problem is when you’re using it on the couch with your lap they tend to dig in being made of firm plastic.

Comment on Installing OS X Leopard in 10 Minutes from a USB Flash Drive by victor

victor — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 07:22:49 +0000

Hi,

Could you please explain detailed how did you use the CCC?

I have a Snow Leopard dmg file and a 16GB flash drive. I would like to do the same as you did so I can setup SL on my Macbook (I have Leopard now), but I don’t want to make a clean installation.

Could be nice If you can explain step by step. Many thanks!

Comment on Replacing a Hard Drive in an Intel iMac by josh

josh — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 15:12:14 +0000

Jason – Great article and comments. I am in the same boat replacing a dead hard drive on the same version imac as yours. I have many questions, however the first is why are your directions for opening the imac, different then what is provided on the apple site? link->manuals.info.apple.com/en/imacg5_17inch_HardDrive.pdf It seems as though your directions are opening from the front side, and theirs from the back side…also they have no mention of the HDD heat sensor…thoughts?

Yours does seem to be a bit more complicated and the apple site seems to be a bit more straight forward (though i have never replaced anything on any computer ever so everything will be complicated for me)…am i missing something? I appreciate you taking the time to answer some of the many questions other people have posted, a great tool for those like me in the same boat. Hopefully you can answer this one and then i can fire some more at you! Thanks!
-Josh

Comment on Replacing a Hard Drive in an Intel iMac by Bruce

Bruce — Tue, 10 Aug 2010 23:25:14 +0000

Jason – thanks for the super strait forward instructions, especially for a PC guy (don’t hate!) trying to revive his girlfriend’s roughly 4 or 5 year old intel iMac.

So, I’ve put the iMac back together again, replacing the stock drive with a new 1TB WD. Now, the only issue I’m running into aside from not being fond of torx drivers, is that when I boot up with leopard, and start the disk utility to partition, it reads the max capacity of the drive as 33.3mb. Any advice for this mac newbie?

Comment on Replacing a Hard Drive in an Intel iMac by Jason

Jason — Sun, 08 Aug 2010 23:46:13 +0000

Hey Anna – check out this drive: http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Other%20World%20Computing/MRF82SD22LS/

As for internal DVD replacements, I’d check out ifixit.com. Assuming you’ve got the Intel version, check this link: http://www.ifixit.com/Mac-Parts/iMac-Intel-17%22

Comment on Replacing a Hard Drive in an Intel iMac by anna

anna — Sun, 08 Aug 2010 20:22:14 +0000

Jason thanks for the options, I will look into it. Can you recommend any Firewire external DVD drives that you like. Also if I do replace my internal optical drive, do you have any recommendations.

Thanks

Comment on Replacing a Hard Drive in an Intel iMac by Jason

Jason — Sun, 08 Aug 2010 18:45:13 +0000

P.S. Anna – check the comments under the instructions. Quicker, easier solution, but you still need the external hard drive and a working DVD drive (internal or external) in a Mac.

Comment on Replacing a Hard Drive in an Intel iMac by Jason

Jason — Sun, 08 Aug 2010 18:42:24 +0000

Anna,

I hope I’m not too late to help you. I would suggest getting your OSX installation DVD copied over to a bootable drive. If you’re using Leopard or Snow Leopard, find a cheap USB drive (Costco has them for $90 or so and they can be found on sale all over the place) and follow the instructions here:

http://osxdaily.com/2009/09/02/install-snow-leopard-from-external-firewire-or-usb-hard-drive-or-how-to-upgrade-to-106-without-a-dvd-drive/

It’s really simple, however you’ll need to borrow someone’s working Mac to complete the steps.

By doing this, you’ll always have an OS X boot drive that you can use to install OS X, debug an existing installation, etc.

Alternately, you could just buy an external USB or Firewire DVD drive and install OS X that way. It’ll work fine, but you won’t end up with that extra goodie – the external boot/installation drive.

Good luck!!

Comment on Replacing a Hard Drive in an Intel iMac by anna

anna — Sun, 08 Aug 2010 02:12:13 +0000

Jason, I just replaced my HD on my 17″ intel imac and got the HD on the desktop, following your instructions. I did a zero erase. Trouble is my optical drive is just about dead and will not load the OS X install discs. I’ve tried for hours. The optical drive has been on its way out for a while, pity it did not last a couple more days. Can I buy an external optical drive to finish my install with the discs. I have been looking around but can’t really find something. I know it has to be firewire no USB. Or is there anything else I can do with the internal. Help !! Luckily I can still use my imac from my backup drive.

thanks anna

Comment on Replacing a Hard Drive in an Intel iMac by ed

ed — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 05:28:13 +0000

hey man i got 2 weeks a go the same computer 17″ g5 intel i want to upgrade the hard drive but i don’t have the recovery discs that come with the mac…can i install the OS via time machine? or i need the recovery discs?

Comment on My Take on Verizon FiOS Internet & TV Service by jgrtmp

jgrtmp — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 04:00:10 +0000

I’ve had no problems with the actual performance of the 3pack service(phone/TV/Internet). The nature of FIOs is a T3 cable with a dedicated 256 broadband line. You loose some speed to overhead across the line, but don’t share your line with other users. The link comes off a 256 user base hub. You shouldn’t loose speed for any reason except improper setting in the systems registry. I’ve seen programs dummy down my settings because they site was a bottleneck, & then not rest them. IObit’s Advance System Care has a freeware version with turbo boost to set settings manually. I set mine for 50Mb & end up with about 2.5MB/sec dnld & 1.2-1.6MB upld speeds. Also for those questioning the displyed tranfer rates http://www.digitallanding.com/section_display.cfm/section_id/20?gclid=COPUpb2fmpoCFQIWFQodcxjz-A is a good speed test site.
On the down side I was promissed I wouldn’t loose Internet until the day the installers came. Not true- I lost it within 3 hr as my IP rents a Verizon DNS server. My IP said they could do nothing. On day 4 I reached an outsource in India. I got their super rep manager on the phone & he said the people who set up the switching must have seen it & zaped me from recieving DNS sevice. They were the only ones that could fix it. He said the other Verizon CSRs & managers lied when they said it was the IPs fault. Amazing you have to outsource to get the truth. My wifes a home health care nurse & needs email/fax on a daily basis. We went 8 days(including the install day) to get our email. I’m unemployed & this really kicked me hard. Verizon needs to learn how to treat potential customers with a personally informed CSR/SSR group. When it came to personel they were like a bunch of clowns that were ineficient at giving the customer the run around…

Comment on Replacing a Hard Drive in an Intel iMac by Jason

Jason — Sun, 01 Aug 2010 18:21:41 +0000

Espy – any 3.5″ SATA drive is compatible. Frankly, any 2.5″ drive is also compatible, so long as you use a bracket system to hold it in place. My advice would be to look at the ratings of drives at Newegg.com. Find the highest rated 3.5″ SATA drives, then narrow it down to the size, speed and price you’re looking for.

Comment on Replacing a Hard Drive in an Intel iMac by Espy

Espy — Sun, 01 Aug 2010 17:34:58 +0000

Hi Jason I wanna know if this internal hard drive (WD500AADS) is compatible with iMac 24″ 2007 (mid)