Maria’s Guides

One good reason not to load beta operating system software on a computer with real data on it.

Today, while working with a certain beta operating system, I managed to lock myself out of my user account.

Well, I didn’t do the locking. The computer did. An error occurred as I was logging in, right after disabling its heavy-duty file security feature. It decided it didn’t like my password, and although it liked the master password I entered for the computer, it didn’t like the idea of me changing mine to one that would work.

Result: I couldn’t log in as an administrator, so I couldn’t do much of anything with the operating system — including accessing my files.

This brought my entire workday grinding to a halt. Thank heaven I pulled those screenshots off before I clicked that button. They’d be goners.

Now if this were my main production machine, I’d be going bonkers right about now. I’d be freaking out. I’d be so glad I’ve been faithfully backing up all my important files all over the place. But I’d be really POed that I had to reinstall everything from scratch.

But it isn’t so bad when you’re dealing with a test mule. That’s a computer that exists solely to run software in a test environment.

Like beta operating system software.

The computer has hardly anything on it, so losing the hard disk contents isn’t a big deal. Just reformat and reinstall. I’ve already installed betas three times for this book and I’m sure I’ll be doing it again before the software is finalized. Not a big deal.

As I write this, the installation DVD is starting up the computer. I had to fool it into booting from that disc, since I’d normally need to enter my password to restart with the boot disk inserted. (I got to use that Option key trick I wrote about earlier today in an emergency situation.) I figure that just before bedtime, the installation will be complete.

Tomorrow, I’ll pick up where I left off.

• New .Mac iDisk sizes gobble up drive space for those who sync
  If you use iDisk sync (as I do) and noticed that your hard disk seems to have a lot less available space these days, it’s because your iDisk is 10 GB bigger — and it needs that same 9 GB of space on your hard disk. This explains it. On the Unofficial App
  (tags: iDisk apple Mac)
• Review: Apple’s new 24-inch iMac (aluminum)
  A thorough review of the new iMac. On AppleInsider.
  (tags: review Apple iMac)

For folks who have two operating systems installed on their computer.

My “test mule” these days is a MacBook Pro. (I use the term “test mule” to identify the computer I use to run software on when I’m writing books and articles.) In preparation for writing a book about Leopard while I still had to work with Tiger for articles and blog posts, I partitioned the hard disk and installed both operating systems, one on each partition.

There are two ways (at least) of choosing a startup disk. The most obvious is with the Startup Disk preferences pane, which is shown here. It should display all system folders the computer can boot from, including any inserted CDs or DVDs. You choose a folder and click Restart. Easy.

The trouble with this method is that your computer needs to be running to open the Startup Disk preferences pane. What happens if your computer is shut off and you decide you want to start with the other operating system — the one that wasn’t selected when you shut down?

The answer is the Option key.

Start the computer and hold down the Option key. Before the operating system loads, your computer will display icons for each disk the computer can start from. Release the Option key and click the disk you want to start from to select it. Then click the arrow beneath it. The startup process continues from that disk.

One important thing to keep in mind here is that the change in startup disks is for that session only. If you always want to start from that operating system from that point forward — or at least for the next start — you should use the Startup Disk preferences pane to make that selection.