The OSX/Apple support thread
Discussion
IanA2 said:
craigjm said:
How easy is it to change the battery on a 2011 13 inch MBA? Apple want £100 for the job. Where can you buy a proper apple battery from? the ones ive seen appear to be pattern copies and I dont fancy that.
This easy:https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/MacBook+Air+13-Inch+M...
craigjm said:
IanA2 said:
craigjm said:
How easy is it to change the battery on a 2011 13 inch MBA? Apple want £100 for the job. Where can you buy a proper apple battery from? the ones ive seen appear to be pattern copies and I dont fancy that.
This easy:https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/MacBook+Air+13-Inch+M...
Forgive the idiocy of the questions, but having now purchased my Macbook Pro I appear to have a list of questions as long as my arm and I'm struggling to find the answers online (largely as I'm not sure how to word the question)
I have an iPhone 5 and an iPad Mini in addition to my Macbook, but I'm a bit of a tightwad (I'm scottish, I can't help it) and don't want to pay for additional iCloud storage. If I back up both the phone and my iPad to the Macbook, can I then delete the bulk of the photos off both devices and they will remain on the Mac, or will it update the now deleted photo bank when I sync it next time? I've deleted the iPad backup that was sitting on iCloud (I have no idea why it was on there in the first place) which has realised some space, but given the Macbook travels pretty much everywhere with me I don't really see the point in using iCloud to back the devices up to if all the data remains on my Mac. Or am I just being dim?
Also, I've going to import a load of files (Word and Excel docs, pics, videos and music) from my previous Windows laptops that I have stored on a hard drive to the Mac this weekend, everything is filed in folders on the hard drive to make it easier to follow (there's about 10 years worth of info on it), will the Mac pull things like the photos out of the folders and dump then in the Photos app? Same for music etc? Or will everything stay in the folders until i manually move then around?
And finally, I've loads of text messages that contain pictures and videos, when I backed my phone up on my old Windows laptop I recall being able to access the data through the folder menu. Can I do that on the Mac or do I need to save all the pictures and stuff to Photos on the device then back it up to the Mac to be able to view them?
Yours,
IT Illiterate of Glasgow
I have an iPhone 5 and an iPad Mini in addition to my Macbook, but I'm a bit of a tightwad (I'm scottish, I can't help it) and don't want to pay for additional iCloud storage. If I back up both the phone and my iPad to the Macbook, can I then delete the bulk of the photos off both devices and they will remain on the Mac, or will it update the now deleted photo bank when I sync it next time? I've deleted the iPad backup that was sitting on iCloud (I have no idea why it was on there in the first place) which has realised some space, but given the Macbook travels pretty much everywhere with me I don't really see the point in using iCloud to back the devices up to if all the data remains on my Mac. Or am I just being dim?
Also, I've going to import a load of files (Word and Excel docs, pics, videos and music) from my previous Windows laptops that I have stored on a hard drive to the Mac this weekend, everything is filed in folders on the hard drive to make it easier to follow (there's about 10 years worth of info on it), will the Mac pull things like the photos out of the folders and dump then in the Photos app? Same for music etc? Or will everything stay in the folders until i manually move then around?
And finally, I've loads of text messages that contain pictures and videos, when I backed my phone up on my old Windows laptop I recall being able to access the data through the folder menu. Can I do that on the Mac or do I need to save all the pictures and stuff to Photos on the device then back it up to the Mac to be able to view them?
Yours,
IT Illiterate of Glasgow
I can't answer the majority of your questions, as, much as I love OSX, I loathe the way itunes and iphoto take over your s
t and put it where IT wants to, rather than where you want it to. In addition, iphoto makes it really difficult to copy and past the photos you want via finder - consider windows explorer, find the file name, copy paste, done. Iphoto buries them in a folder structure like: /Pictures/iPhoto Library/Preview/<year>/<month?>/<day?>/<yearmonthday-5didgitnumber>/<gibberish>/filename.jpg
It is most annoying.
I have ditched an iphone for a few reasons: getting music on and off was a bind, backing up was a bind (well, easy, but difficult to single data out of the backup if required), not really understanding syncing and how it copied and moved stuff around from different sources/destinations - mainly because I couldn't be bothered to sit down and work it out.
It was a breath of fresh air moving to android: copy music from known folder structure like USB drive, copy photos where I want them in a meaningful folder structure. Backup? Select all folders, copy, paste.
Your mileage may vary of course, many people are happy living within the apple ecosystem, but I never got on with it.
OSX is great though. For now.
Sorry for the OT rant. I reckon someone will know more about the mechanics of sync and icloud etc. If no-one here, then macrumors.com is a fantastic resource, the forums particularly. Chances are your question has been asked and answered on there.
t and put it where IT wants to, rather than where you want it to. In addition, iphoto makes it really difficult to copy and past the photos you want via finder - consider windows explorer, find the file name, copy paste, done. Iphoto buries them in a folder structure like: /Pictures/iPhoto Library/Preview/<year>/<month?>/<day?>/<yearmonthday-5didgitnumber>/<gibberish>/filename.jpgIt is most annoying.
I have ditched an iphone for a few reasons: getting music on and off was a bind, backing up was a bind (well, easy, but difficult to single data out of the backup if required), not really understanding syncing and how it copied and moved stuff around from different sources/destinations - mainly because I couldn't be bothered to sit down and work it out.
It was a breath of fresh air moving to android: copy music from known folder structure like USB drive, copy photos where I want them in a meaningful folder structure. Backup? Select all folders, copy, paste.
Your mileage may vary of course, many people are happy living within the apple ecosystem, but I never got on with it.
OSX is great though. For now.
Sorry for the OT rant. I reckon someone will know more about the mechanics of sync and icloud etc. If no-one here, then macrumors.com is a fantastic resource, the forums particularly. Chances are your question has been asked and answered on there.
Sorry, not much use but.....
I have stopped iCloud for now as I stopped using Photo (formerly iPhoto) but what ever you do, backup, and back up again to other devices. Backup, did I say backup? Think I said backup.
Personally I use another cloud service as I have a larger capacity for the price (and it is zero knowledge) but also backup to hard drives and off site drives.
When I was using iPhoto (now Photo and worse), every pic imported to would appear on a camera roll available to all devices linked to that account. They would not take up any of the iCloud size allowance and be there for a few months or something. Never really researched that. I liked the way it worked. The main device held all the originals. For my full catalogue I would need 300gigs or so.
Now, as mentioned above, iPhoto and now Photo are a bit devious in what they do with your pics, they bury them in a data base and if you are happy with that and use the app as is then there is no issue. You can always get them out if you wanted. On iPhoto they were in the folder called "masters" but you had to drill down to each folder to get them or use the export function or save as out the program (I think, been using something else for a while now).
But, pictures, precious yes? Backup. And backup again. Don't rely on a single device or method.
I have stopped iCloud for now as I stopped using Photo (formerly iPhoto) but what ever you do, backup, and back up again to other devices. Backup, did I say backup? Think I said backup.
Personally I use another cloud service as I have a larger capacity for the price (and it is zero knowledge) but also backup to hard drives and off site drives.
When I was using iPhoto (now Photo and worse), every pic imported to would appear on a camera roll available to all devices linked to that account. They would not take up any of the iCloud size allowance and be there for a few months or something. Never really researched that. I liked the way it worked. The main device held all the originals. For my full catalogue I would need 300gigs or so.
Now, as mentioned above, iPhoto and now Photo are a bit devious in what they do with your pics, they bury them in a data base and if you are happy with that and use the app as is then there is no issue. You can always get them out if you wanted. On iPhoto they were in the folder called "masters" but you had to drill down to each folder to get them or use the export function or save as out the program (I think, been using something else for a while now).
But, pictures, precious yes? Backup. And backup again. Don't rely on a single device or method.
My plan is to get the big AirPort next year when I'm in my own flat to use as a Wifi Hub and backup the Mac to that, hence wanting to back everything up to my Mac just now as I've habit of losing stuff (I've already lost the cable for my hard drive, PC World on Saturday to replace that!)
I'll have a browse of macrumours at the weekend and see what I can dig up!
I'll have a browse of macrumours at the weekend and see what I can dig up!
D_T_W said:
If I back up both the phone and my iPad to the Macbook, can I then delete the bulk of the photos off both devices and they will remain on the Mac, or will it update the now deleted photo bank when I sync it next time?
You ought to be able to connect your phone or iPad to the MacBook and Photos will treat both as cameras. It will give you the option of importing the photos they hold, ignoring duplicates and deleting them from the device. However I would not delete them at first - make sure they are on the MacBook and then consider proper backups.D_T_W said:
I've deleted the iPad backup that was sitting on iCloud (I have no idea why it was on there in the first place) which has realised some space, but given the Macbook travels pretty much everywhere with me I don't really see the point in using iCloud to back the devices up to if all the data remains on my Mac.
iCloud backups of devices are good as they will backup far more frequently than you plugging them into your MacBook. However if you are good at regularly connecting both devices to the MacBook, iTunes can do the backups for you. However you need to backup your MacBook properly.D_T_W said:
Also, I've going to import a load of files (Word and Excel docs, pics, videos and music) from my previous Windows laptops that I have stored on a hard drive to the Mac this weekend, everything is filed in folders on the hard drive to make it easier to follow (there's about 10 years worth of info on it), will the Mac pull things like the photos out of the folders and dump then in the Photos app? Same for music etc? Or will everything stay in the folders until i manually move then around?
If you read Apple's support document about using migration assistant from a Windows PC it suggests that your folder structure will stay the same and you can choose to import stuff into Photos later. If you are using iTunes on the Windows machine, it will transfer content to the Mac equivalent. If the music files are not in iTunes, it ought to leave them be.If you are copying from an external hard Drive, then you ought to be able to simply copy the folder structure across. It's been a while since I've tried this from a windows formatted HD however, so I'm unsure of the limitations therein.
D_T_W said:
And finally, I've loads of text messages that contain pictures and videos, when I backed my phone up on my old Windows laptop I recall being able to access the data through the folder menu. Can I do that on the Mac or do I need to save all the pictures and stuff to Photos on the device then back it up to the Mac to be able to view them?
The easy answer is to save the media to the camera roll on the device and then import them into Photos. There appear to be other more complicated solutions - google them at your peril....Finally, as has been said by others, you need to backup your MacBook and back it up again. Especially if you are travelling with it. OSX comes with an excellent tool called Time Machine. Just connect an empty hard drive to the MacBook and switch it on. Apple's Airport Time Capsule provides a WiFi access point and WiFi backup via Time Machine, which is arguably better for MacBooks as it will backup your machine automatically without the need to connect an external drive. If you are delaying purchase of one of these, then use an external HD connected by cable in the interim.
Many of us will urge you to create a clone backup via SuperDuper or Carbon Copy Cloner to another external HD as a secondary backup. It doesn't need to be done as often and ought to be kept in a different location from the Time Machine Backups. If your flat or house went up in smoke with MacBook and Time Machine Backups within, you would still be in business....
The choice of using Photos or iTunes is a personal one, but both can be configured to keep the media files in their original place when "imported" rather than creating duplicates.
Google is your friend - many answers to all these questions will be found in support documents on Apple's own website or in their Support Forums (Discussions).
Best of luck - if in doubt Google and/or post back here, we'll do our best to help.
It's reasons like this I still use PH, about the only place I can find where you get sensible straight forward advice that I can actually understand.
Thanks for the suggestions guys, will look into all the options at the weekend when I've got a bit of time spare. I may purchase an inexpensive drive in the meantime, I made the mistake of putting most of my life on my last laptop without backing it up!
Thanks for the suggestions guys, will look into all the options at the weekend when I've got a bit of time spare. I may purchase an inexpensive drive in the meantime, I made the mistake of putting most of my life on my last laptop without backing it up!
Thanks Leithen.
Blimey, you're right.
http://www.macobserver.com/tmo/article/os-x-el-cap...
SIP has it covered. Apparently. Sorry Grover.
http://www.macobserver.com/tmo/article/os-x-el-cap...
SIP has it covered. Apparently. Sorry Grover.
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