Patrick Hansen.com

Just got a 500GB Time Capsule and everything has been running smooth with it. The set up was fairly easy (minus a user caused issue).
To sum this post up, you CAN create an iTunes library on Time Capsule and access it over the wireless network (or hard wired).
- Transferring via ethernet is obviously going to be quicker.
- Import music, rather than simply loading, for full iTunes management features and capabilities.

You can read on to see my experience and special notes.

Time Machine backup set up went well, Manual file transfer was a snap, and adding network printer was no problem. After all of that, I wanted to consolidate my iTunes library of over 90GB.

My first attempt was to just transfer my library onto Time Capsule, then open iTunes using an alternate library when I’m home on this network. I opened up iTunes, while pressing “Option.” This will prompt a library chooser dialogue. I chose create new and then went into the preferences to Importing, chose the directory on my Time Capsule (in this case called “music”). Then I dropped all of the music from the Time Capsule directory into iTunes. I did do this in sections, so not to overload the transfer.

That all went fine. The music showed up into iTunes, but the source files are all on the Time Capsule drive. They played fine over the network, so I thought it was all good. The only issue was, when you transfer music in this manner, iTunes does not manage the songs as if you had “imported” the music. What I mean is, if I delete files, then they simply get removed from my iTunes library list, but not from the drive. Good for safety, but bad for management. If you need to remove any files for whatever reason, like a duplicate or a corrupted file, it will still remain on the source, and be removed from your iTunes application display.

So, what I did to fix this was removed all of that music I just loaded. Created a new directory on Timecapsule. Went into iTunes preferences and chose the new directory as my iTunes main library path. Then I went back onto my Time Capsule and dropped the music back into iTunes. This took several hours again. What this transfer did was actually imported the music and “copied” it into the new source directory and properly builds the iTunes library structure.(contains: Album, Artwork , iTunes Library file, and iTunes Library.xml)
*note: if you had to do something similar to this, you would want to ensure that your drive has enough space to copy on that music.

So, now I have my whole library of +90GB, in my iTunes accessible on my MacBook, but not taking up any space (while connected to the Time Capsule). I just open iTunes, choose the library I want for my location and it’s all done. I plan to have a smaller local library of approx 20GB, then getting a portable 320GB drive to ensure I have my whole library with me when traveling or performing.

You could do this simply, by just having another Mac on your network and sharing, but I’m getting rid of my G5, so the Time Capsule will be my power house of storage.

Based on a reply to one of the comments on this post, I created a more detailed PDF to assist with centralizing your iTunes library on a TimeCapsule. Please keep in mind this was targeted towards a specific scenario in the comments section.
Click here for the iTunes SetUp PDF

If you like the software MacHesit puts together for the bundles, then you can’t beat this Holiday Deal! You can get free software from MacHeist by visiting their GivingTree!

Just visit:

http://givingtree.macheist.com/

I’m not sure how long this will last SO HURRY!

You can get:

Patent drawings were unveiled recently indicating that Aapple may be heading up a 3D OS, a “Multidimensional Desktop.” The drawings were submitted to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office in June of 2007, although just now surfacing.

The diagrams depict a 3D version of the current OS, including walls on right and left sides, and ceiling near the menu bar, and the floor where the dock could reside among other objects and filings like stacks.

Is this the “New” direction of common interfaces?

Although it can provide new options and benefits, the obvious is the loss of screen real estate. The metaphors are easy to grasp and I can see the potential for possibly storing your palettes when using an application like Photoshop, on the “walls.” In that case, it does free up some screen space as the items on the walls will be distorted and reduced in width. Nothing that collapsed palettes which currently exist can’t handle more effectively. I would like to see these other dimensions suppressed and brought forth only when needed, such as the “Hide Dock” feature.

It is interesting to see that Apple is stepping up as a pioneer in this realm of 3D, which has been abused and in a few cases, appropriately applied to an application which has a more traditional foundation. To see that this concept may be applied to an OS is further evidence that the exploration of the 3D realm should be increasing not only in the gaming & entertainment realms, but to see how it may improve other veins of software UI/UX design.

If you have an Apple product that you’re not sure is under warranty, you can simply check online at:

https://selfsolve.apple.com/GetWarranty.do

This goes for iPods, Notebooks, iMacs, towers, monitors, anything from Apple.

This will help you gauge if you should schedule an appt. at the Genius Bar or not for warranty issues. If your product is out of warranty, the Genius Bar may still be able to help restore it or fix it, but replacement is probably out of the question. The Genius Team is very helpful and they will do whatever they can within their power to ensure your needs are met.

To schedule an appointment at the Genius Bar (highly recommended over just going to the store and getting in stand by), simply to the Apple.com site, click on “Apple Retail Store” link near the bottom.

Then choose your store location from the drop down menus.

Then click “Reserve” under the Genius section.

Unless you have a membership with their one on one program, you will sign up as a Guest.

The next steps are fairly straight forward, enter your info, choose your type of help, type of device, choose your date and time range, then time slot. It only allows up to 4 days out, so if you do not see any appts. after that, then check back in later.

* This post is not endorsed or supported by Apple Computers Inc.
The Apple logo is a registered trademark of Apple Computers Inc.

The value of Numbers!

If you have iWork ’08, you can open a Microsoft Excel .xlsx file in Numbers. From there, you can even export it to the traditional .xls if you desire, among other formats. Microsoft Office 2004 for Mac will not open it. wtf?

If you use the quick image preview of OS X Leopard (by selecting the file and pressing space bar), you can even see a sneak preview of the .xlsx file without the need to open it.

Another note, Text Edit will open most .docx files, but I’m not sure how well it retains the formatting.

Need to install and manage a local server environment and easy way to manage it?

Try MAMP!

http://www.mamp.info/en

Super easy way to set up and manage Apache, PHP, and mySQL on your Mac!

A coworker of mine just introduced me to it. I had only had a couple of times in the past when I was required to have a local server set up on my system, and even then, I only set up Apache. I hadn’t set one up on my current machine, and it had been awhile since the last time I did. Needless to say, it never seemed easy to get an environment set up and manage everything, but then again, I rarely work with web files that require a local server.

This is a really clean an simple app. They have a Pro version too, which offers some more features and functionality.

Now that I think of it, I could have tested my themes for some of the blogs I re-themed locally, and could have cut down on the testing, big time! I know… why didn’t I get it set up before? Well, I was lazy I guess and didn’t want to take the time to figure out how to get everything installed and set up. It always sounded complicated.

Now with MAMP, things should go a lot smoother and much quicker!

As I have been working in Windows via Parallels lately, I was having a hard time trying o use my number keypad and then accidentally had my cursor toggled to overwrite, which has been frustrating to say the least.

The “Help” key toggles between insert and overwrite.

The “Clear” key toggles Num Lock on and off.

Other default keyboard settings can be adjusted in Parallels preferences under keyboard. The typical change are the alt/control keys for a Mac user.

If you are using a Microsoft keyboard on a Mac, hen you can get the Intellitype software to be able to adjust the settings to match the traditional Mac set up. They also have software for your mouse too.
Click here to get the software from Microsoft

I came across this post today.
http://timheuer.com/blog

AAC and H.264 support is going to be a great step for Silverlight. Adobe introduced it with Flash Player 9 it it had opened many doors in the media realm of Flash and Flex development, including HD video playback.

As for Silverlight adding this, it seems like a big step to attract other platform users. I personally work on Mac OS X and prefer my audio to be in AAC over MP3, and most of my video is in H.264. I hate it when a company tries to monopolize, capitalize and force users into a proprietary format or interface. I understand the business tactics behind it, but it is annoying. Now I’m working on both Vista and OS X on my MacBook Pro, so going back and forth is inevitable.

I remember the days of building Flash media players and having to re-encode my music into MP3, and it was just another unnecessary step and degrading one at that.

I am curious on how the audio handling overall is in Silverlight now, since the prototype Netstep application Jordan Snyder and I designed/developed back in February at The Msft Artist in Residency training. Silverlight2 beta, just couldn’t handle audio very well, yet we continued with our idea anyways.

I wonder if Expression Encoder will be able to encode H.264 and AAC. We’ll have to see.

Okay, I can’t resist the stupid puns. Anyways, I dug into the Timecapsule and removed the drive.

If you need a quick video to go over most f the steps, here is one from YouTube:

It was a fairly easy process, where the hardest thing was removing the rubber cover from the base.

After that, there are 10 screws to remove. I used a jewelry #1 Phillips screw driver. There are 4 others near the center, which have an adhesive coating over them, they do not require removal.

After removing the screws, you will want to rotate the TimeCapsule where the plugs and ports face you and the top on the bottom. Lift the metal bottom panel towards the right, because there is a fan attached to the corner.

If you would like to remove the hard drive, the bay is not screwed in. Al you have to do is lift itfrom the opposite end, towards you.
3 items to be aware of here:
1) The power plugged into the drive on the left side
2) The data interface plugged in to the left side just near the power.
3) a small wire on the top ( I think this may be a ground), it is stuck to the top of the hard drive with adhesive foam tape. Be careful removing this, as it can tear the tape easily.

The drive in mine was a Seagate Barricuda 500GB. I’m going o replace it with a Western Digital caviar probably.

There you have it.

Let’s hope I can get a disc recovery application to save my music.

You could replace it with another 500GB or even upgrade to 1TB.

My Apple Timecapsule drive went out in less than 3 months!

Well, as I was in the middle of backing up my music library to another external drive from the Apple Timecapsule, I received an error. There was an issue with the drive. I rebooted, and then I even did a new set up on the Timecapsule, with no luck.

It recognized that the drive had failed and required repair. The only thing is, if the drive is down, you cannot connect to the drive. The network will work fine, so I have a $300 wireless router now. But, you cannot access the drive to even run disc utilities on it.

I have lost my only source of a 94GB 24k+ library of music. I have about 27GB on my iPod. I have an appointment with the Genius bar today to see what they have to say. Most others online have noted that Apple will replace the device, but not attempt to retrieve your data. I understand that. The thing I do not understand is how a so called “server grade” HD goes out in less than 3 months!

I’m thinking about pulling the drive and attempting to get an enclosure and recover the data. Even if the data is recovered in a numerical file structure (0001.mp3, 0002.p3), which most recoveries do, at least music has meta data and iTunes will create and organize the new file structure. The other stuff I lost, I do have backed up on another system.