HDIUTIL: the essential OS X image management utility

Manual Page For hdiutil(1)

This Darwin man page tells one just how complex hdiutil is. OS X Disk Utility hides much of this, but in some cases it's very handy.

See also:

• idO2 page
• OS X FAQ page
• OS X Hints
  

Some interesting examples:

• hdiutil convert output.dmg -format UDSP -o iPhotoDiscImageII
• hdiutil convert output.dmg -format UDSP -o iPhotoDiscImageIII -segmentSize 10m
• hdiutil create testImage -type SPARSE -megabytes 10000 -fs HFS -volname Pictures -imagekey sparse-band-image=40
  

NOTE: can use -readwrite to attach an image as readwrite

example

• hdiutil attach test.dmg -readwrite

Merging iPhoto 4 Libraries: The definitive approach

John's Digital Photography Page

I reviewed various articles, did my own testing, and wrote up the definitive seven step approach to merging those iPhoto Libraries. A curse upon Apple for not providing the facilities that would make this a better, simpler, faster process.

Reverting to iPhoto 4 -- OS X needs an uninstaller

Apple - Discussions - How to revert to iPhoto 4

OS/X needs an uninstaller.

If you have an intact copy of your iPhoto 4 iPhoto Library folder, you can go back to the that version. Just delete the current applications and all files with iPhoto in the file name that reside in the HD/Library/Receipts folder. Also move your current iPhoto Library folder from the Pictures folder to the desktop. Then install iPhoto 4 from your CD, make any upgrades to it immediately before launching. Then copy your version 4 iPhoto Library folder into your Pictures folder. At this time you should run Disk Utility and repair disk permissions. Also delete the iPhoto preference file, com.apple.iPhoto.plist. Then launch the new iPhoto.

Pogue likes JVC DR-MV1S for VHS to DVD recording (save old home videos)

The New York Times > Technology > Circuits > State of the Art: Videotape to DVD, Made Easy

David Pogue reviewed a few, the JVC DR-MV1S one out (for now).

The Mac-Mini server: reliability through redundancy

PBS | I, Cringely . Archived Column

A great column, even by the very high Cringely standards. This quote, from a very authoritative source, is very interesting.

'The second box is going to be our source-code server. It's safe as heck, because OS X includes one-click firewalls. And, again, it's not like I have so many engineers that we're checking in code every second. If it processes a transaction every ten minutes, I'll consider our company very productive. For us little guys, the Mac mini is the absolute perfect server. I'm hooking up two identical external drives to each Mac mini (total of four), each two set up as a RAID 1. (Each drive is slightly bigger than the mini.) The chances of losing data via disk failure are astronomically low this way. And if a motherboard crashes, I can swap in the other box -- I have a $500 hot-backup OF THE WHOLE MACHINE. I have a complete server 'closet' that fits in less than a cubic foot. It's quiet. It's got a redundant RAID built-in. It's easy to administer and set up. I share a monitor and keyboard with my main workstation, so I don't have any extra clutter. Look out, Linux.'

Hmm. I'm not sure Apple will like this; they sell xserve blades! The cost advantages over doing this with a cheap PC come from security, built-in RAID support, and a low cost quiet machine.

More broadly speaking we've moved to high reliability systems in the past 10 years not by making individual machines more reliable, but rather by seeking reliability at the system level -- not the component level. Hmm. Reliability at the system level. Where have I heard that idea before?

The other point the author makes, that many people forget, is that many servers really aren't doing much work at all. Our home server is a very old Win2K machine and that's overkill.

Cringely has more in the article. Clearly he's fond of Apple. He describes how to build a $9K supercomputer with 16 Mac-Minis:

Imagine a Mac Minicluster running Apple's xGrid software. Start with a 16-port fast Ethernet switch and stack 16 Mac Minis on top. That's a 720 gigaflop micro-supercomputer that costs less than $9,000, can fit on a bookshelf, and can be up and running in as little time as it takes to connect the network cables. High schools will be sequencing genes.

Read the whole thing. Good fun. Now if Apple could only get their #$!* iPhoto product working ....

Sending large files: YouSendIt and others

ExtraBITS

I've used YouSendIt for a while (blogged on it sometime). This post lists some others. YouSendIt can be very slow (minutes) to initiate an upload, but otherwise it's worked well for me.

As the author notes it would be interesting to learn how YouSendIt expects to make money. (Probably they're just trying to get Google to buy them --- which smells like a 1998 business plan.)

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