This post is part of my series focused on the MacBook Pro.

• Don’t Be Jealous Of The New MacBook Pros!
• Upgraded! 320 GB in a MacBook Pro!
• SanDisk ExpressCard Flash Media Adapter: Nifty MacBook Pro Accessory!
• How I Get 7 Hours of MacBook Pro Battery Life
• Panic! Green Light and MacBook Pro Keyboard is Half Dead!
• Low-Power USB Ports Haunt My MacBook Pro

Card Slot In Card Slot

Apple has equipped the MacBook Pro line with an integrated ExpressCard slot since the very first post-PowerBook model back in 2006. This new expansion card form factor has never been as popular as PCMCIA/CardBus was on the laptops of the early part of the decade. So, for mid-2009, Apple decided to drop the slot altogether for all models but the massive 17″ MacBook Pro. In its place is an SD card slot, popular with the digital camera set.

Part of the blame lies in the increasing integration of features in modern machines: Users no longer need the slot to add a network adapter, Wi-Fi, audio, or optical drive since they’re all built in! Another huge factor is USB 2.0: It’s fast enough for just about any remaining peripheral.

There are only three urgent uses for an ExpressCard slot in a modern laptop:

1. Adding 3G wireless networking capability to systems (like Apple’s) that lack built-in 3G cards. Of course, many folks choose a USB 3G modem, and I’m in love with my Cradlepoint 3G wireless router.
2. Adding a second video adapter and external monitor. Modern MacBooks work great out of the box with two monitors, though, if you count the built-in LCD! And the new USB video adapters seem to work fairly well, too.
3. Adding more high-speed ports like e-SATA or FireWire 800. Although the MacBook Pro has two USB 2.0 ports, both are compromised in terms of speed or power. All of the new Pro models (even the new 13″) now include FireWire 800, but e-SATA is still AWOL.

The ExpressCard flash media adapter snaps in place and is flush with the edge of the MacBook Pro - very clean!

I didn’t need any of these features with my MacBook Pro: My Sprint 3G card is connected to the Cradlepoint router, I am happy to use the built-in LCD for multi-monitor desktop use, and I don’t need more FireWire or e-SATA storage. But, as I noted back in October, I did find a great use for the ExpressCard slot: An SD media card reader! That’s right: My now-old Mac features the exact same function that Apple just added!

I love having the convenience of an SD slot when it comes to importing photos from my Canon PowerShot cameras: It’s quick, the cards open right up in iPhoto, and I don’t have to carry any cables with me. Adding an SD card reader was cheap and easy, too! Amazon sells the exact same Sandisk SDAD109A11 adapter I bought for around $40. They’ve also got a Sonnet SD adapter (which I haven’t tried) for under $30!

I Have The Power!

Massive battery life is another solid addition to the mid-2009 MacBook Pro line. Apple integrates a huge battery right into the laptop, and reports indicate it really does deliver 7 or 8 hours of runtime. This is the first laptop I can think of without an easily replaceable battery, and follows Apple’s similar moves with the iPod and iPhone lines. Expect this to be copied by other manufacturers in the future!

My secret to long (battery) life and happiness!

Although my MacBook Pro lasts three to four hours on a charge, I purchased a second battery from the Apple store to help me work on the go. This has proven an excellent investment, and I have come to rely on battery power more than I thought I would. I have spent entire trans-Atlantic flights with the computer up and running, and have touched 8 hours of run time with two fully-charged batteries. Although extra batteries are not cheap (Amazon lists mine at $120), they’re much less expensive than they used to be!

If you do decide to get an extra battery for your older MacBook, here are some tips:

1. Get the original equipment Apple battery, not a third-party workalike. I’ve always had bad luck with off-brand batteries, and they’re not that much cheaper.
2. Download a copy of SmartSleep, the awesome and free sleep/hibernate utility. I have mine set to hibernate below 5% charge so I can swap batteries without losing data.
3. If you don’t want to wait for hibernation, just leave the Mac plugged in when you swap batteries. You can do this while it’s running or while it’s plugged in but asleep.

Sure, the cool unibody case and faster performance is tempting. But I’m still pretty happy with my good old MacBook Pro!

Note: Some of these links include affiliate codes that help pay for this blog. For example, buying an Amazon Kindle with this link sends a few bucks my way! But I don't write this blog to make money, and am happy to link to sites and stores that don't pay anything. I like Amazon and buy tons from them, but you're free to buy whatever and wherever you want.

© sfoskett for Stephen Foskett, Pack Rat, 2009. | Don’t Be Jealous Of The New MacBook Pros!
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If you’re like most people, you have accumulated a large number of removable USB storage devices over the years, from flash-based thumb drives to external hard disks.  I have seven of these things sitting on my desk or in by laptop bag right now!  But Windows XP and Vista uses the same icon for all of them, adding a few seconds of examination every time I try to select one.  Icon confusion can cause problems too, like the time I accidentally saved a presentation to my big desktop backup drive instead of the thumb drive I headed out of the office with!

Before: Everything looks like a generic external book type thing.

But I’ve stumbled on a great method to create easy to locate the right drive using free software and the power of Google.  I create a custom drive icon that looks like the physical drive in Windows, so I can see which is which at a glance.  Here’s how!

After: Aah, now I can see which removable drive is which.  Shame about that iPhone icon, though…

1. Install a copy of Icon Sushi, a small, free icon editing application.
2. Locate a nice image of your drive and save it to your Pictures folder.  I use Google’s image search function and key in the brand name for the drive in question.  I’ve usually been able to locate a good white-background oblique shot in no time – the manufacturer or a reseller like Amazon.com or Buy.com often has just the right picture.
3. Convert the picture to a PNG file using the built-in Microsoft Paint program.  Open it in mspaint and immediately select “File”, “Save As…”, drop down the list and select “PNG (*.png)” as the type, and click “OK”.



4. Fire up Icon Sushi and open your new PNG file.  The menus are kind of confusing, but follow along here and you’ll be fine.



5. Make sure the first line on the left (under “Icon”) is selected.  Under “Edit”, select “Edit transparency mask”.
6. In the “Edit transparency mask” window, select the color dropper (third from left) and click the background of the image. This will select most of the background (as seen below) and might even be enough for your image.



7. If your picture is like my example, there are still lots of off-color areas in the transparency mask.  You can get rid of many of these easily by selecting “Use color picker continuously” and clicking on each area in turn.  Use the crayon (far left icon) to select individual pixels if you need to.
8. Once the background is cleaned up to your satisfaction, click “OK” to return to the main window.



9. Now we will save the icon to the target drive.  Under “File”, select “Save as Single Icon(s)…”  Locate your removable drive (it is connected, right?) under Computer and save the file with a descriptive name.  I like to use the model name, so in my example, I saved it as “H:\Coolmax CD-311.ico”.
10. Now we tell Windows to use this icon for this drive.  Fire up Notepad and enter the following text, substituting your own drive icon name for mine:

[autorun]
icon = .\Coolmax CD-311.ico

11. Save this as “autorun.inf” in the root directory of the removable drive.  In my example, this would be “H:\autorun.inf”.  If there’s already an autorun.inf on the drive, take a look at it and see if you can add the “icon” line to it.
12. Now eject the drive and re-insert it.  You should see your new icon in “My Computer” – much better, don’t you think?

I’ve had great luck using this with thumb drives, memory cards, and removable hard disks.  But it doesn’t work with iPods, digital cameras, and other such things that show up with bogus icons.  I’d love a suggestion if you know how to modify these!

Also, note that the icon goes with the drive.  If you’re a psycho like me that swaps bare disk drives in and out of an enclosure, you might want to use an icon that identifies the drive.  I’ve added a big numeral for the capacity on top of the enclosure image for my bare drives.

Finally, don’t buy that Coolmax CD-311 USB/FireWire/e-SATA enclosure I used in my example.  The FireWire is flaky.  It’s going back to Fry’s!

© sfoskett for Stephen Foskett, Pack Rat, 2008. | Custom Icons Keep Removable Drives Straight
This post was categorized as Personal, Terabyte home. Each of my categories has its own feed if you'd like to filter out or focus on posts like this.