drive

Jun 19 2010

G-DRIVE mobile FireWire

G DRIVE mobile with MacBook Pro 300x197 G DRIVE mobile FireWire

At first look, the G-DRIVE mobile FireWire G DRIVE mobile FireWire1 will remind you of Apple’s MacBook Pro and though it’s not milled out of a single slab of aluminum, it is clearly cut from the same design cloth as the revolutionary notebook. It’s got the same matte finish on the sides and bottom, a shiny black top surface reminiscent of the MacBook Pro’s screen—even the activity light matches.

By the numbers, the G-DRIVE mobile is a light (9 ounces), portable 250GB or 500GB drive that spins at 5400RPM and transfers data over FireWire 800 or USB 2.0. G-Technology includes a FW800-to-FW400 cable for those of us who still makes use of some of Apple’s older tech. Best of all for this coffee shop hopping blogger, the drive is bus powered. That’s right—no frikkin’ brick. Yes, that means it will drain your MacBook Pro’s battery while it’s attached but, hey, you don’t need to leave it attached all the time and I bet you perpetually keep your notebook tethered to the wall with AC power anyway.2

Down to the cost and quality, the G-DRIVE mobile, like all drives I’ve ever had from G-Technology, is top tier and as such is a little bit more expensive than the run-of-the-mill portable FireWire drive. But at USD$149.99 with a 3-Year warranty, I think you’re getting incredible value and dependability. This is a sweet little drive and belongs in your laptop case.

  1. buying through this Amazon Affiliate will probably save you some money and it will definitely help keep this site going. Thanks ~RY [↩]
  2. I gotta say, this is a practice I don’t quite get: you laptop wants to be free. Plug it in to charge it, not to use it…not when you’re out. That’s my rant. [↩]

By RickMacMerc • Featured, gadgets, News, review(s), Reviews • 5 • Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Apr 27 2009

What Is File System Journaling?

Brought to you by: James

Have you ever wondered, “What is File System Journaling”? Don’t worry, most of us have. File System Journaling was originally a feature only available to the server world. Finally, File System Journaling has made it to our favorite home computers.

Have you ever wondered why web servers seem to be in 100% working order after a crash/restart? File System Journaling is the answer. FSJ keeps a constant record of changes made to the volume after each startup. Should an unforeseen event occur, such as a power failure or kernel panic, FSJ will return your HFS+ volume to its last know “good” state.

FSJ keeps you up and running against most unforeseen accidents. The effect of restoring the drive to its last known “good” state is hardly noticeable (except for the fact that everything works perfectly). This effect also helps prevent drive errors by removing any partial data written at the time of the unexpected shutdown. The record that FSJ keeps also helps to progressively speed up start time, and uses very little disk space.

Are you in OSX 10.3 or higher? If you are, have you noticed that your drive does not need to be repaired after an unexpected shutdown? Have you noticed that your startup has been getting faster since you installed 10.3 or 10.4? Both of these are due to that fact that FSJ is enabled on 10.3′s and 10.4′s installation.

How do you enable FSJ in 10.3 or higher? All you have to do is restart from your 10.3 disk, open Disk Utility (under the ‘Installer’ menu), select your drive, and hit the ‘Enable Journaling” button. If you don’t have 10.3 or higher, just download and run Journalizer (note: FSJ requires 10.2.2 or later). If you have a new hard drive that you want to set up with FSJ active, just choose to format it was “HFS+ (Journaled)”.

Keep in mind, that if you’re a fan of using fsck, you’ll have to enter ‘/sbin/fsck -fy‘ instead. But trust me, you won’t find any errors. Have fun with FSJ!

By admin • Articles, Power User Monday Tip of the Week • Comments Off • Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Apr 27 2009

From the Garage to the Billboard

Amplify your GarageBand with these free downloads.

mu From the Garage to the BillboardDhos_garage

If your pro audio setup has more than one drive, you can use this utility to install Garage Band on a volume other than your startup disk.

mu From the Garage to the BillboardDent du Midi

Pack midi files into AIFF wrappers to use in Garage Band as loops. This opens up a whole slew of free music sources.

mu From the Garage to the BillboardSoundflower

This app creates a “virtual” audio device that allows you to record to applications, from other apps. For example, this app would allow you to record from iTunes to Garage Band, without the degradation of recording it externally.

mu From the Garage to the BillboardAccess Virus Loop Collection for GarageBand and GarageBand Loops by Bitshift Audio

Loops! Now there’s no excuse for a lack of creativity.

mu From the Garage to the BillboardTuneTime

This app makes it easy to add your music to the TuneYard.com music sharing site. Everyone’s got to start somewhere, right?

There’s something great about making your own music. With the power of GarageBand, your Mac could become a musicians best friend. Well, that is after your axe.

Brian

mu From the Garage to the BillboardDownloads provided by MacUpdate

By admin • Articles, Freeloader Friday Download of the Week • Comments Off • Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

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