Pem’s Tech Blog

Referencing my earlier post (here), I wanted to carry my boot drive back and forth between 2 copies of my desktop computer.  Rather than dealing with different hardware configs, I made it extra simple by just using a copy of the same hardware (same motherboard model, same graphics card model, same amount of RAM) on both.  So far, everything has worked…

A good bonus is that I’m using a 5.25” SATA enclosure, which goes in a standard CD/DVD disc drive slot.

The only real concern so far has been the Windows Activation notifications.  We’ll see later if it starts to give me problems.

Finally, it’s definitely possible that Windows 7 (and graphics drivers etc) may simply deal better with moving a boot drive to a more significantly different hardware configuration…  Or if not, there may be some work-around.

Pem (Admin) :: 2010/02/17 (Wednesday, February 17, 2010) :: Operating System focused: Windows, Travel :: No Comments »

On Windows, try: echo hello | clip

On Linux, try: echo hello | xclip

On Mac OS X, try: echo hello | pbcopy

For example, you might do (cat myFile.txt | xclip).  This would basically allow you to edit the clipboard directly.

Pem (Admin) :: 2010/01/21 (Thursday, January 21, 2010) :: Operating System focused: Mac OS X, Operating System focused: Windows, Software Development :: No Comments »

DropBox is an awesome easy way to sync your files with the cloud and with multiple computers.  To start, just install it, point it to a data folder, and let it automatically sync your files with DropBox in the cloud.  Please click my referral link:
https://www.dropbox.com/referrals/NTEyODU2ODk

Pem (Admin) :: 2009/12/18 (Friday, December 18, 2009) :: Operating System focused: Mac OS X, Operating System focused: Windows, Web :: No Comments »

I want to have two copies of the same desktop (or workstation) computer hardware, minus the boot drive (which is also the drive with all the programs installed) (all other drives are irrelevant, since they are just data drives).  The exact same motherboard, CPU, GPU, RAM, with Windows 7.  I would like to use 1 boot drive for both computers.

I have computer-A at location-A (such as my home office), and computer-B at location-B (such as my work office, or it could be somewhere far away).  Let’s assume these two locations are in different states, via a full day plane ride.  Also, there’s no reason why it couldn’t be 3 locations.

I want to be able to take the boot drive out of computer-A, bring it on the plane, fly to location-B, and put it in computer-B.  Such that it is seamless and low-hassle to continue working on computer-B as if it is computer-A.  This would be a routine thing, not just once – if it’s my home and office computer, then it could easily be twice a day.  And a 3rd location could still be out of state.

My goal is that once this is setup, it will be very easy and painless.  Much more easy and painless than actually maintaining two copies of the computer…  Having to redo my program installs, copy svn/subversion diffs, redo svn checkouts, redo my configurations, etc.  I want this to be basically equivalent to if I had transported my entire huge powerful desktop computer on the plane.  Except I just shutdown computer-A, unplug the boot drive, take it to location-B, plug it into computer-B, and boot computer-B.  Simple, and no hassle.

In case anyone is wondering…  No, a laptop is not powerful enough.  No, I don’t just want the data files.

And I think I’d prefer to take the actual boot drive, rather than an external data drive with an image of the boot drive, because I think taking the boot drive sounds faster and simpler?

Some more focused questions:

1) Will it just work, since it’s two copies of the same hardware (motherboard, cpu, gpu)?  Could I just carry the boot drive (from computer-A, to computer-B) after a clean shutdown?  Or, do I need to use sysprep (or something) to generalize (Computer name, Security Identifier (SID), Driver Cache) each time?  Or Windows System Image Manager?  Or repair Windows from the DVD on the destination computer?

2) What hardware would affect this?  Just motherboard, CPU, GPU?  Is it okay if computer-B is missing some pieces, such as a Blu-ray drive on computer-A and no disc drive on computer-B?  Keep in mind, I want everything to just work, and all my stuff to be in full working order, including details like environment variables, registry keys, what SDK’s I have installed, my working copy of an svn code checkout, etc.

3) Any catches / gotchas to my idea?

4) Any specific hardware to make this easier?  I noticed that with some computers, the internal hard drives slide in/out very easy and tool-less.  Though with others, it’s kind of a pain.

I think these are the right answers:

1) It will just work.  Sysprep is only needed if you’re moving it to different hardware.  With sysprep, you could do the same thing, even if computer-A and computer-B were different hardware.  Windows repair would also work.

2) Yes, just the motherboard, cpu, and gpu matter.  The cpu just has to be compatible with the motherboard.  And the motherboard can be different, as long as it uses the same chipsets.

3) My biggest worry is that it will cause Windows activation – every single time I move the hard drive.  So if I move from computer-A to computer-B, then back to computer-A, that would be 2 activations?  Somewhere I read that you only get 5, after which you have to activate by phone?  Sounds potentially annoying…  And I wonder what, if anything, happens after 50 activations?  100 activations?

4) Probably just route the SATA and power cable outside of the case drive.  Maybe there’s an enclosure to help keep it stable and safe.

However, my confidence level is not yet 100%…  Two things similar are: (using sysprep for simple images with massive deployment) and (moving the system drive from an old computer to a new computer, just once, not repeatedly)…  But I was kind of surprised that it was not incredibly easy (via google search) to find other people already doing / trying what I described here.

Pem (Admin) :: 2009/12/14 (Monday, December 14, 2009) :: Operating System focused: Windows, Travel :: 1 Comment »

Windows 7 seems more stable, less annoying, more efficient, and the UI is improved.  The most obvious UI change is to the taskbar, with the application group pin/unpin style (similar to Mac OS X doc, but personally I think better in terms of mouse-over and standard shortcut keys).  It sounds like this time around, Windows 7 is a lot more popular (than Vista).  Personally, I was really never that negative about Vista, but in hindsight I might’ve just gone straight form XP to Windows 7.

On one machine I did a fresh install of 64-bit Windows 7, and I’m keeping a full list of every program I install.  On another, I did an upgrade from 64-bit Vista to 64-it Windows 7 (maybe I should’ve done a fresh install?).  I’m still running 32-bit Windows 7 inside my Mac OS X virtual machine, but other than that it’s all 64-bit for me.  And maybe if I ever need to run (or test) something again in Windows XP, I can use a virtual machine.

I ran into an interesting error with my Windows 7 64-bit upgrade.  Basically, 1 of my 2 cores was always at 100% usage.  Eventually I found the problem was due to a conflict with my graphics card’s audio device (which it has as part of HDMI support) and my system’s local audio.  The fix was to go to Device Manager -> System devices -> High Definition Audio Controller.

Here’s a shot of Windows 7 with the Switcher add-on:

Pem (Admin) :: 2009/10/10 (Saturday, October 10, 2009) :: Operating System focused: Windows :: No Comments »

Edit -> Preferences -> iTunes Media folder location –> [folder]\iTunes_Media
* check Copy files to iTunes Media folder when adding to library
* check Keep iTunes Media folder organized

File -> Library -> Organize Library, check Consolidate files, OK
=> consolidates your files into [folder]\iTunes_Media, can take seconds or hours depending on how many files it has to copy
=> when it’s done, you can delete the original files

iTunes Database files will still remain here, including (for Windows 7): C:\Users\[you]\Music\iTunes\iTunes Library.itl

This was the way to go when upgrading from (iTunes 8 to iTunes 9), since it used to be “iTunes Music” centric organizing, but now it’s “iTunes Media” (more generic).  Or when moving to a new computer.  Or when moving the location of your iTunes library.  Let iTunes organize the files for you, and consolidate them.

Here’s a really long tutorial for this with iTunes 9, posted 2009/09/21 (for moving your files to a new location, or to a new computer): http://www.ilounge.com/index.php/articles/comments/moving-your-itunes-library-to-a-new-hard-drive

Pem (Admin) :: 2009/09/27 (Sunday, September 27, 2009) :: Operating System focused: Mac OS X, Operating System focused: Windows :: No Comments »

Here’s what I am using (as of 2009/07/18):
* most of my hard drives are primarily for Windows and use NTFS; if necessary then I can use macfuse on Mac OS X
* my Mac Mini’s internal/boot drive will stay HSF+, (Mac OS X Extended (Journaled))
* my one OS X Time Machine hard drive will be NFS+, using MacDrive on Windows

The rest of this article is the details and background info…

Notes from simple CNET video, regarding native support:

* NTFS is standard for Windows
* HFS+ is standard for Mac OS X
* FAT32 is cross-platform
* FAT32 can not create a file bigger than 4 GB

Mac OS X: options to also write NTFS:
* macfuse
* Paragon NTFS for Mac OS X
* NTFS-3G

Windows: options to read/write HSF+:
* MacDrive: read/write, not free
* HFSExplorer: only does read

Notes based on: http://cnettv.cnet.com/format-drive-mac-os-x-windows/9742-1_53-50074180.html

So why would anyone want a file bigger than 4 GB?  Some obvious examples:
* large video file
* system backup disk image file, such as (Acronis True Image, or Norton Ghost)
* iso disc image (standard DVD is 4.7 GB, dual-layer is 8.5 GB, blu-ray is much more)

Mac OS X, More Details:
One catch is that Mac OS X Time Machine requires HFS+

Mac OS Extended is the same as HSF+ or HFS Plus

Mac OS X (Journaled): better, plus Mac OS X Time Machine requires journaling

HSF+, not case sensitive: By default, both my Mac Mini’s internal drive, and my recent purchase pre-formatted for Mac OS X external drive, were both not case sensitive.  They both came as and still are "(Mac OS X (Journaled))”.

UFS: Unix File System:
Another twist is the UFS file system, which is supported by Mac OS X.  UFS is case sensitive.

Case sensitive?
* UFS : yes
* NTFS: no
* Mac OS X Extended: no
* Mac OS X Extended, Case Sensitive: yes

Because UFS is case sensitive, this might be a theoretical concern for (compiling something for unix on Mac OS X) or (for using a drive with both Mac OS X, and Linux such as Ubuntu)

One reference says (If this kind of case-sensitivity is important to you, you can create a UFS partition or disk image and use that for your sources) — http://developer.apple.com/unix/crossplatform.html

However, at this point I am planning to just ignore that, and leave all my drives as not case sensitive (NTFS is not case sensitive) (my Mac OS X drives are not case sensitive).  Maybe I will worry about it later if I start running Ubuntu on one of my home computers.

One reason is that the default is (not case sensitive).  The other is that I’ve read some rumors suggesting it might cause some incompatibility problems with certain software.

Mac OS X Disk Utility doesn’t call it HSF+:
* Mac OS Extended (Journaled)
* Mac OS Extended
* Mac OS Extended (Case-sensitive)
* Mac OS Extended (Case-sensitive, Journaled)

As explained in my article, I am keeping the default: Mac OS Extended (Journaled)

I feel like it could reduce confusion if they would just call it HSF+ instead of “Mac OS Extended”?  But then again, it is common to have more than one name for the same technology standard: consider (HyperTransport was originally LDT) and (FireWire is the common name for IEEE 1394).  And I guess Apple thinks they are making things simpler by using a more “friendly” sounding name.

When installing Mac OS X, you can choose UFS or HSF+:
I found this referenced in some Apple articles, such as: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1410?viewlocale=en_US

I’ve read there might be some theoretical scenario where you want a case sensitive file system on Mac OS X, such as for compiling certain unix code.  Maybe.

However, right now (2009/07/18), my Mac Mini OS drive and Time Machine drive are both HSF+, called Mac OS Extended (Journaled).  So that is my plan, unless at some point I hear about some good reason to use a case sensitive format, such as UFS or (Mac OS Extended (Case-sensitive, Journaled), which means HSF+ case-sensitive journaled).

Pem (Admin) :: 2009/07/18 (Saturday, July 18, 2009) :: Operating System focused: Mac OS X, Operating System focused: Windows :: No Comments »

PowerCalc is a good simple calculator. Today, it’s one of my favorite standard classic Windows programs (free download). It’s easy, fast, low-overhead (low footprint), and basic.

powercalc.exe easily beats calc.exe, since you can type equations as a line of text with history. Also does variables, functions, graphing, binary/hex, scientific functions, conversions… powercalc.exe is missing some basic things like factorial, but it’s at least great for just simple + – / * (and a little more).

As of today, I’ve only seen a Windows XP 32-bit version. However, I run PowerCalc on Windows Vista x64 (in fact, it’s one of my taskbar Quick Launch icons). All you have to do is install the powercalc.exe on a Windows XP machine, then copy the powercalc.exe file over to your Windows Vista machine (if you copy it to %windir%\system32, then you can access it quickly with WinKey+R for Run, then type powercalc, then EnterKey).

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/Downloads/powertoys/Xppowertoys.mspx

Pem (Admin) :: 2008/07/05 (Saturday, July 5, 2008) :: Operating System focused: Windows :: No Comments »

Get fast start menu access to most used programs. This is how I customize my Windows start menu. Right click the start icon (or taskbar) -> Properties -> Start Menu tab. Select “Start menu” (not the inferior “Classic Start menu”). Click “Customize”. Use “Small icons”, and 30 for “Number of programs on Start menu” (if your vertical screen resolution won’t fit 30, don’t worry because it will just show a shorter the list). This is more useful for Windows XP, since Windows Vista has “Start Search” (which I consider a great upgrade), but it’s useful in Windows Vista too.

Pem (Admin) :: 2008/03/31 (Monday, March 31, 2008) :: Operating System focused: Windows :: 1 Comment »