January 28, 2012

How To Write To Windows NTFS Drives In Mac OS X 10.6 “Snow Leopard”

The diskutil command gives us the "Node Name", which we'll need momentarily

One of the daily hassles of using Apple Macintosh computers is the incompatibilities that arise with the broad Microsoft Windows world. Individual files often require conversion, but what about whole disks? Apple has long supported the universal and simplistic FAT filesystem, and added read-only support for NTFS back in 2003 in OS X 10.3 “Panther”. Third-party software like Paragon’s NTFS or the free NTFS-3G driver enabled read/write support, but a native solution was more desirable. Although 10.6 “Snow Leopard” includes NTFS write support, it is disabled by default. In this post, I’ll discuss methods for activating this native NTFS write support, as well as the pros and cons of doing so!

How To Boot Snow Leopard in 64-Bit Mode

My iMac now boots in 64-bit mode by default!

Last year, I posted two articles about Apple’s OS X 10.6 “Snow Leopard” and its new 64-bit kernel. The upshot was that, although just about every Mac made since mid-2008 is 64-bit capable, only the Xserve boots in 64-bit mode by default. Since my main computer is a glorious 27″ iMac that runs 64-bit Snow Leopard perfectly, I decided to permanently set it to boot this way. Here’s how you can set your Mac to boot 64-bit Snow Leopard, too!

Located! Missing HP Printer Driver For Snow Leopard

Note: It looks like Apple now has the correct drivers available for direct download and upgrade. None of this should be required anymore. Got a Hewlett Packard printer? Got Snow Leopard? Apple and HP report that the OS X 10.6 install DVD includes all required drivers and software, but it didn’t work for me. I [...]

No 64-Bit Snow Leopard Kernel For You!

The Snow Leopard kernel refuses to boot in 64-bit mode on most Macs. Should you care?

There is clearly a ton of interest in Mac OS X 10.6, Snow Leopard: My Snow Leopard features hardware compatibility chart had over 20,000 visitors in just three days! But one chart element is generating an inordinate amount of interest: Whether or not Snow Leopard can boot in 64-bit mode.

Mac OS X 10.6 “Snow Leopard”: In Our Hands August 28!

Mac OS X 10.6 "Snow Leopard" deliveries begin on August 28!

Apple’s bizarre online store reboot this morning revealed that the next point-update for Mac OS X will be in the hands of the faithful this Friday, August 28! Many speculated on the purported September availability of the operating system upgrade, but today’s information clears the air. Although Apple’s web site clearly states that Snow Leopard [...]

Snow Leopard Is Stingy With The Storage Love

Apple wowed its fans and impressed its critics with a successful worldwide developer conference keynote yesterday. Along with much obvious focus on iPhone OS 3.0 and the new speedier iPhone 3GS, the company turned the spotlight on new Mac hardware and the next version of OS X, Snow Leopard. This is a lower-profile OS release [...]

Will Snow Leopard Finally Bring iSCSI To The Mac?

Snow Leopard is coming - will iSCSI finally tag along?

ZFS wasn’t the only AWOL storage technology in Apple’s OS X 10.5 – early builds of Leopard included a built-in iSCSI initiator. When the operating system was finally released in October of 2007, both ZFS and iSCSI were quietly dropped, making room for 300 other features Apple felt were more prime-time-ready. With the next major [...]