Software update not working...not sure about this solution.

[irwin]

I haven't been able to do a software update since installing my new Panther ( I've been delaying a clean install to get my permissions straight). My software update just wouldn't run. It would just list down the updates available. I click on Install Items, wait a while, update successful pops up but no installation was done.

So now, I created a new user (to be used as a buffer). Tried to update with the new user, it brought me to the doorstep of the software update (which drive to install on). Question before I take the plunge: Is this gonna work? or will it just create more problems for me once I switch back to my main user? Has anyone done this before?



[Edited on 5-5-2004 by irwin]

[gonz]

Hi irwin -- as long as your new user has Admin privileges, it will work, no problem in doing so. And if it does, then you've just learned a valuable lesson about your system -- there's some issue in your old user account that is preventing Software Update from completing its run. I would repair permissions straight away to see if it resolves the problem.

Creating a new user to see if the problem persists is a standard troubleshooting procedure for OS X. Glad to see that you've stumbled onto it. You're on the right track.

[irwin]

As always, thanks a lot Gonz!

[rgortega]

Hi Gonz,

I just got a new PB and completed the transfer of all files from the old to the new one. I wanted to defrag (optimize?) my old PB and actually bought a copy of Drive 10 (with TT Pro) a couple of months back. I was just too busy (and scared) to defrag my drive then because it could cause a disruption with my work in terms of time. Now I can experiment with my older PB. What issues do I need to look out for?

Also, I heard that Norton was discontinuing development of Systemworks. I have ver 2.0 and my friend just bought a copy of ver 3.0 a month ago. Is there still any use for these softwares? The guy at the Apple Centre here in Sydney said that they had the best experience using Drive 10 (and TT Pro).

I also heard that Alsoft's Diskwarrior was supposedly the best defragmenter (is there such a word)? I'm surprised I didn't get that instead of Drive 10 at the time I purchased it. What do you think?

Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks!

[Henjie]

Originally posted by rgortega
I just got a new PB and completed the transfer of all files from the old to the new one. I wanted to defrag (optimize?) my old PB and actually bought a copy of Drive 10 (with TT Pro) a couple of months back. I was just too busy (and scared) to defrag my drive then because it could cause a disruption with my work in terms of time. Now I can experiment with my older PB. What issues do I need to look out for?

I'm not Gonz but...

If you really want to defrag your older PowerBook's hard drive, then TechTool Pro 4 is the way to go. It's also by Micromat, the same company behind Drive 10. Drive 10 used to be buggy but the latest version (1.1.5, updater available here) is said to be okay. Just make sure that you let the app complete the optimization process (might take a while depending on the size of the hard drive). Best to use the AC adaptor to prevent the PowerBook from running out of juice before the optimization process is over. :-)

Since you've already transferred all your files to your new PowerBook, how about doing the ultimate "defrag"? If you're okay with reinstalling everything on your older PowerBook and you're sure that you don't need the contents of its hard drive anymore, boot up from your OS X installer CD, run Disk Utility, and completely erase its hard drive. ;-) You'll be starting from 0 then so all the files/folders you put/install in the drive after will be reasonably optimized.

Also, I heard that Norton was discontinuing development of Systemworks. I have ver 2.0 and my friend just bought a copy of ver 3.0 a month ago. Is there still any use for these softwares? The guy at the Apple Centre here in Sydney said that they had the best experience using Drive 10 (and TT Pro).

Norton SystemWorks' disk optimization feature (Speed Disk) is actually pretty good. I used to rely on that one before I got my copy of TechTool Pro 4. But that's probably the only good thing about the app though. Norton SystemWorks/Utilities for the Mac has a reputation for trashing previously-working systems so many Mac users are not gonna miss it. :-) If you need a complete system utility suite, TechTool Pro 4 is it.

I also heard that Alsoft's Diskwarrior was supposedly the best defragmenter (is there such a word)? I'm surprised I didn't get that instead of Drive 10 at the time I purchased it. What do you think?

DiskWarrior is a completely different animal, albeit an excellent one. It doesn't defragment nor check/repair hard drives per se. Its specialty is dealing with the hard drive's directory. What it does is keep your hard drive's directory healthy (by building a new optimized drive directory) or recover your hard drive's lost contents (if something goes wrong with the drive) by retrieving and repairing the drive directory structure.

Eventhough it's no substitute for TechTool Pro, what makes DiskWarrior so important is this: the drive directory is where the location of all the files and folders in your hard drive is stored. A damaged directory will usually result in lost files/folders. Imagine the problem if the lost files are needed by the OS for it to function properly. :-) This is why DiskWarrior should be at the top of the list if you're shopping for a disk repair utility.


The disk repair routine I follow is this: boot from the OS X CD (or another system partition) then use Disk Utility to verify/repair the hard drive in question. Then use DiskWarrior to rebuild the directory before using TechTool Pro 4 to optimize/defrag the drive. Works great. :-)


~Henjie

[Edited on 5-6-2004 by Henjie]

[gonz]

Originally posted by rgortega
Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks!

Hi there! I agree with everything Henjie said. What he said! Superb advice, and most cogently written, too.

[Edited on 5-6-2004 by gonz]

[rgortega]

Originally posted by Henjie

DiskWarrior is a completely different animal, albeit an excellent one. It doesn't defragment nor check/repair hard drives per se. Its specialty is dealing with the hard drive's directory. What it does is keep your hard drive's directory healthy (by building a new optimized drive directory) or recover your hard drive's lost contents (if something goes wrong with the drive) by retrieving and repairing the drive directory structure.

Ahh! So DiskWarrior doesn't actually defrag the drive physically. It justs fixes how the files are found (very important) while TT 4 is the one that actually does the defragmenting (there goes that word again - Webster's gonna come after me, i just know it):blush:

Thanks for sharing your defrag process. I'll definitely try it. What about FSCK? I found out about it when I was looking for a way to transfer my iPhoto 2 library to my new PB and open it with iPhoto 4 without losing the individual photo data like titles and dates and albums. Is it of use when defragmenting a drive? I found the info in this site:

http://discussions.info.apple.com/WebX?14@119.W7Zpa7gYlJv.0@.689285ca

Originally posted by HenjieSince you've already transferred all your files to your new PowerBook, how about doing the ultimate "defrag"? If you're okay with reinstalling everything on your older PowerBook and you're sure that you don't need the contents of its hard drive anymore, boot up from your OS X installer CD, run Disk Utility, and completely erase its hard drive. ;-) You'll be starting from 0 then so all the files/folders you put/install in the drive after will be reasonably optimized.

I want to try this out so that I know what to expect when I eventually have to defrag my new computer. Also, I have 3 other macs that need to be optimized. By the way what will happen if I use Software Restore? Will it erase my photos, e-mail messages, installed apps etc?:wound:

Thanks Henjie!

[Henjie]

Originally posted by rgortega
What about FSCK?

fsck is short for File System Check. It's kinda like a command-line equivalent of the Apple Disk Utility's Verify Disk and Repair Disk process.

If you noticed, you can't use Disk Utility to verify or repair the disk that you're running the system from (startup disk). This can be a problem if your startup disk's file system go bonkers and you start to have problems with your system crashing or something and you don't have an bootable OS X CD/Installer CD handy. No bootable OS X CD means you can't boot from one and use its Disk Utility app to repair your startup disk.

What you do then is restart your Mac and boot into single-user mode (press Command-S, aka Apple-S, immediately after restarting your Mac and hold until the command prompt appears). Type "/sbin/fsck -y", press Enter, and wait for the fsck utility to correct any errors in the file system.

If the result is something like "Disk blah blah blah is modified", run fsck again. Repeat it reports that "Disk blah blah blah appears to be okay" or something to that effect. Then type "reboot", press Enter, and your Mac will restart, complete with a freshly repaired file system. :-)

It's basically a disk repair routine, only using the command line to run the utility instead of running a "normal" app. It's usually the first thing people do when they encounter problems with their hard drive. If it works, great. If it doesn't, now may be the time to find your OS X CD and use its Disk Utility app. If that still doesn't work, DiskWarrior's your friend. :-)

You should only run fsck when necessary. It's not something you do every day. I reckon twice a month is okay though, since that's how often I do my Disk Utility + DiskWarrior routine. ;-)

I want to try this out so that I know what to expect when I eventually have to defrag my new computer. Also, I have 3 other macs that need to be optimized. By the way what will happen if I use Software Restore? Will it erase my photos, e-mail messages, installed apps etc?:wound:

Honestly, I haven't used any of my System Restore CDs yet so I'm not sure. :-) All I know is that the Software Restore CDs are supposed to restore your Mac's hard drive to the original state (original system and apps). Dunno if they give you an option not to erase the hard drive and only restore select apps, etc instead of completely erasing the hard drive before doing the restore routine. I'm a Software Restore noob (I've always been a back-up-files-then-clean-install-using-installer-CDs-then-reinstall-everything-then-restore-all-my-files kind of guy). :-)

I'm sure you'll get a definite answer to this in a while though. ;-)


~Henjie

[Edited on 5-6-2004 by Henjie]

[rgortega]

Originally posted by Henjie
(I've always been a back-up-files-then-clean-install-using-installer-CDs-then-reinstall-everything-then-restore-all-my-files kind of guy). :-)

I'm seeing the bigger picture now . . .

Can you please share your backup routine? What program or process do you use to backup your data? How do you restore them after the optimization process? I've got the ff on my computer right now:

- around 3,000+ songs on my computer so far (all legal) amounting to 20 GB++ (I use 192 kbps/auto/stereo setting to rip my CDs
- 5,000+ photos amounting to 6 GB++
- 5 GB++ movies (corporate stuff, no x-rated)
- 10 GB++ files (Keynote/PP presentations, PDF files, Word/Excel Docs)
- 1 GB++ e-mail (few attachments, 3 years archive - I file everything)
- unaccounted software packages.

My new 80 GB drive (74.4 GB usable) has only 22.3 GB left. It just takes me forever to backup and then clean install and reload. Maybe there's a better way . . .

I also have about 20 locations whose network preferences I have to install (I travel quite a bit) and a few business apps that require customization. How can I reload all my settings/preferences into the proper places? (library? preferences?) How do I know which ones to copy in the first place? (I have an idea, but I just don't want to miss anything).:wound:

What about zapping the PRAM? Is it advisable to do this as part of the above processs? How often?

This is turning out to be one ofthe most informative threads I've read. I've been able to "evangelize" some of my fellow "rat racers" (corporate folk) and friends into switching to the mac recently (around 7 of them last year). I'll make sure the info filters onward to them. Thanks for sharing your expertise.

[gonz]

Originally posted by rgortega
My new 80 GB drive (74.4 GB usable) has only 22.3 GB left. It just takes me forever to backup and then clean install and reload. Maybe there's a better way . . .

If you ask me, you should optimize once, then use Carbon Copy Cloner to create a perfect bootable replica of your entire hard drive. Save the replica as a disk image on another hard drive -- I have an external Firewire hard drive set aside for this purpose. Once you've got your entire HD and all your data backed up via CCC, wipe out the original. Zero all data. Then reverse the process -- use CCC to copy your OS and data back to your newly reformatted and zeroed hard drive. There's an option in CCC to repair permissions on both source and target while cloning -- select it.

The procedure will take a couple of hours or more, depending on your data size, but it's much faster and more convenient than reinstalling everything each time. Hope this helps!