My current day to day machine is a very capable MacPro: 2 x 2.66 GHz Dual-Core Intel Xeon processors, 12Gb RAM and the ATI Radeon X1900 XT graphics card.

I have a 1TB drive which holds the OS + all my media (photos, music, movies, business files etc). This is replicated with a Super Duper 1TB external drive + a 1 TB Time Machine Drive. I also have  500Gb internal drive with various bits and bobs on.

So, the idea – move all media onto some new external drives and install a fresh copy of Snow Leopard onto a WD Velociraptor 320 Gb 10,000rpm drive. Then connect up the external drives with iTunes media, Lightroom, iPhoto etc.

I remember giving the MacPro an overhaul a few years ago and spoke with the very wise Richard about this. I’m pretty sure my current setup is what we agreed on, as the best possible setup for backup purposes. I’m now wanting OS speed, but can I have both?

If you can spare a few minutes readers, I would appreciate your ideas, and also, if possible, the best way to go about setting up a new ‘Raptor drive as the main OS drive (I’m already getting confused just thinking about it!). Thanks!

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You can get a whole lot more info here from their official page. Looks pretty impressive… anyone tried it out yet?

I’ve never used any navigation / phone setup in the car. It’s the trusty Tom Tom for me, which is great, apart from their shocking mount. The first generation one was fine, but the second? Under-designed and plain dangerous when it falls off.

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The 10% frustration was aimed at the roller ball, which, as documented all over the web, did stop working, did get bunged up, and did cause headaches. Cleaning, blowing, removing the detritus, all worked. In some cases.

So, that brings us onto the Magic Mouse, and it really is pretty good. Ordered from Apple yesterday afternoon, shipped last night and delivered by UPS this afternoon. Impressive. Well packaged, and slick plastic packaging was followed by a sticky moment trying to get the mouse the tray it came in. Eventually I managed it, but leaving sticky residue on it (soon sorted out). It really was glued down a little too well….

Anyway, turned over, turned on, and nothing.  I  plugged in the trusty Might Mouse, clicked on Mouse preferences and pair Bluetooth Mouse…. and bingo, off we went, so pretty painless. A quick check of Software Update gave me a whopping 60+MB file to download, and a restart later I was looking at the special options.

First impressions

Good, very good. Feels different to the predecessor, but has a much more positive click, is heavier, feels better quality, and the best bit, the scroll using your fingertips. Intuitive within minutes, maybe even seconds.

It really does feel great, and seems to work flawlessly. There is one big drawback, and something which I will miss from the Mighty version and that is the click for Expose or the Dashboard. Reading the review over on the Apple Store, it looks like this is the one thing people are missing. I’m pretty certain we will get an update at some point to do some new things like these, but for the moment, I’m managing fine with the keyboard, and about to allocate some hot corners.

Big thumbs up then, and lastly a quick pic of the Magical device itself

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Sounds good, and in both cases, it is good!

So, first up is the Lacie Starck Drive – I am seriously impressed with this. Easy ordering from Amazon, and my fears of using a market place supplier were unfounded. Excellent delivery via Fedex, well packaged and in pristine condition.

Set up was easy – once powered up and plugged in with the supplied USB lead, it did prompt me to run the Lacie setup program. After being asked to install Rosetta, I declined, and just partitioned the disc into one partition using disk utility. This took about a minute and bingo, it appeared on the desktop.

A few clicks later, and I told Time Machine it was a new drive, and off it went. Ok, it’s not Firewire 800, but I am sure it will work just fine.

Some highlights :

1. it is VERY quiet. The old Iomega 1Tb drive made a racket, and with the clicking drive on plugin, and flashing red light, looked like it was on its way out. (It did lose these symptoms after a few minutes of replugging in, but I did not want to take the risk.
2. It looks superb, and even has a Starck orange light which shines from the drive to show it is working
3. Price – around £86 is not to be sneezed at!

I’ll be probably be buying another of these in the near future to act as a second Super Duper back up drive to keep offsite. If you don’t have a decent backup strategy in place, you are very, very brave and foolish.

Conclusion
High recommended (so far). Robust, beautifully designed, easy setup and very quiet. A perfect external drive? Get one now!

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We will be here – Map of the Future -, originally uploaded by densitydesign.

“The Italian magazine WIRED asked us to draw a map based on the scenarios developed by the Institute for the Future in Palo Alto to help the reader in the net of ideas and hypothesis built by 7000 influencers from all over the world.”

Wow. They’ve done a great job with this, kudos to densitydesign for this one.

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It’s also, in the long run, way more cost effective. There seems to be a culture of wanting to buy new things all the time, having to have the latest fashions for example. I guess this is why Primark (shudder…) do so well. Walk in and spend £20 and buy 5 items for the weekend. Although that is possibly how long they will last….

I’m trying (slowly) to get rid of stuff. Yes, donating it charity, selling on ebay, giving away to friends. I don’t need it all, really. It clutters the house, fills the storage spaces, and when did I last use some of it? 6 months ago? A year ago?

So now, it is always a few superb quality items / things / pieces. These are beautifully made, well designed, luxurious even, and could be anything from clothes to computers. We really don’t need as much “stuff”. Focus on having awesome items, and not lots of rubbish.

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I’ve been aware of Outlier for a while now. Velodramatic’s latest post, led me to have a look at their gear again and I’ve ordered some Workwear pants.

I’m not a fan of wearing suit trousers anymore for client meetings. They just don’t feel right any more. Just not me. Having said that, the only other option until now has been the faithful Gap chinos, which, I think, could well be over 10 years old. And look it. Not only are they too big, but frayed and yes, even for a non-fashion guru, dated.

So, fingers crossed, the Outlier trousers will arrive soon (from NYC no less) and, more critically, fit the leaner Moss frame!

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Fits in well with clear, simple, understood and important. It’s vital to make sure that projects, deals, working and business relationships all have clarity. If they do, it makes things SO much simpler.

The reason I mention this is a current project where clarity has been replaced with opaque. So it is not clear, not transparent, and has led to some confusion (we are sorting this out now). Luckily the client is ace, (and a good friend), and so that it is not a deal breaker, far from it, just something we need to work out so that we both benefit.

I’ve jotted down some items that I’m going to remember for the next time:

• make sure both parties have clarity (doesn’t help if one does and one doesn’t)
• try and work with the people who really understand the project – makes things much easier
• go above and beyond the call of duty if at all possible
• ensure an agreement is in place and signed
• keep the communication in place and not get irritated – these things happen!
• ask many more questions at the beginning of the work
• educate a client as well as tell / advise

The project is looking really, really good, and the client loves it too. Just that final hurdle and it will be smiles all round

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