Ghost for Macs? + keyboard layout for UK keyboards? + other questions!

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• Reply 1 of 6

  mr. me Posts: 3,221member

  November 9, 2006 8:31AM

  Quote:
  

  Originally Posted by OM2
  
  
  A few more questions:
  
  
  
  ....
  
  
  
  
  
  OM
  

  
  

  
  
  Most of your questions have been answered on this forum many times already. A simple search on each issue will reveal the answers.
• Reply 2 of 6

  Marvin Posts: 15,322moderator

  November 9, 2006 8:34AM

  Quote:
  

  Originally Posted by OM2
  
  
  1. Can anyone tell me if there is an equivalent of Ghost for Macs?
  

  
  

  
  
  Superduper can clone the internal drive to an external one. It makes a bootable copy for free but the extra scripts you have to pay for. You can also use the unix command line if you are comfortable with it.
  
  
  
  http://www.shirt-pocket.com/SuperDup...scription.html
  
  
  
  

  Quote:
  

  Originally Posted by OM2
  
  
  2. the @ sign is above the 2 key. In the PC world (at least) this tells me I have a US keyboard. If so... I'm very upset and want a replacement!
  

  
  

  
  
  All Macs come with that layout AFAIK. Every UK Mac I've owned has that layout. You can change the layout in the International panel but it won't switch the keys. I actually use a PC keyboard and they are the other way round.
  
  
  
  

  Quote:
  

  Originally Posted by OM2
  
  
  3. When I do simply things on the OS, it's very slow to respond.
  
  Simple things like checking and configuring the wireless settings.
  
  I'll click the button... and scratch my head for 5 seconds... and ONLY then will the busy logo (showing that the machine is doing something) come up.
  
  Why is this?
  
  The machine is brand new and nothing has been done with it... apart from oepening it and playing around with the basic system.
  

  
  

  
  
  That shouldn't really happen but I don't know what you mean by wireless settings. If you mean a router config page via a browser then that usually depends on the router. If you mean system prefs etc then you are probably experiencing the sluggish interface that a lot of Mac users complain about.
  
  
  
  The OS X interface is more advanced than the Windows one with system-wide anti-aliasing, double-buffered windows and fancy effects that allwo things like Dashboard but as always, beauty comes at a price.
  
  
  
  

  Quote:
  

  Originally Posted by OM2
  
  
  4.
  
  Clogging up - is this a problem with Macs?
  
  PC world: you start off with a super fast machine.
  
  You install this and that and this... and that... and this... and *just* use the OS.
  
  Some time later, result: very slow PC.
  
  (That is slow NOT because of viruses.)
  
  Just wondering: is this a problem with Macs?
  
  Can applications clog up the machine?
  
  Is there any danger of having a million and one applications all trying to load up at startup?
  

  
  

  
  
  There is a danger of apps loading at startup but only if you add them to the startup section. Generally Macs don't slow down over time like Windows does. One of the biggest causes if fragmentation but OS X defrags on-the-fly so Macs should be able to run far longer without any slowdown at all.
  
  
  
  

  Quote:
  

  Originally Posted by OM2
  
  
  5.
  
  Clean unisntall of programs?
  
  PC world: you install the average program.
  
  You uninstall the program.
  
  As a revenge for you unistalling, the program will leave behind bits and bobs that with the help of other programs will clog up your registry.
  
  Is this a problem for Macs as well...?
  

  
  

  
  
  Macs don't use a registry. That's one of Window's biggest flaws. OS X apps can usually just be dragged to trash or they come with their own uninstaller.
  
  
  
  

  Quote:
  

  Originally Posted by OM2
  
  
  How about trial programs? Can you repeatedly install and uninstall trial programs?
  
  
  
  I appreciate that software companies should be allowed to have a mechanism to stop people repeatedly reinstalling... but I think if this means clogging up an OS - then it should be outlawed!
  

  
  

  
  
  Yes you should be able to install them again. OS X has a receipts folder that can remember what has been installed but this is not the same thing as the registry. If an app adds a receipt, you can often remove it to allow a reinstall. Of course, if you want to get round the trial expiry, that's different.
• Reply 3 of 6

  vatechtigger Posts: 4member

  November 9, 2006 8:38AM

  Well Ill start with a question I know the answer to. For a replacement to ghost, use a program called "Super Duper" Its works much better than ghost ever did on PC. I have it set to so that my entire Mac is cloned onto an external firewire drive. Then set it to intelligently backup as files are changed on the mac (this is transparent to you unless you watch the light on the external drive) Should your main drive ever go down, you can boot your entire mac off the external drive just by holding down the option key and selecting the drive you want to boot from. Once your booted up, just go into super duper and rewrite to the main drive after you fix it or replace it. An just an aside, But there was one week where I had booted into the external drive just to see if it would work and forgot that I had done so. I used the external drive all week without noticing any performance issues. Only noticed because It was odd that the drive light was so active. Ghost is a piece of crap compared to this program on the mac.
• Reply 4 of 6

  om2 Posts: 67member

  November 9, 2006 8:51AM

  thanks for all the replies. really useful.
• Reply 5 of 6

  splinemodel Posts: 7,311member

  November 9, 2006 9:08AM

  1. Most of the functionality of Ghost is actually available in the built-in Disk Copy program, or whatever it's called these days (maybe Disk Utility or something).
  
  
  
  3. This is weird. I generally find my PCs to be much more sluggish. There must be some process going on that's causing the problem, because this isn't normal. This is hard to diagnose, but I'm sure you can figure it out. If you have a network that's not very reliable, that could be the problem. Try setting the IP manually.
  
  
  
  4. Not so much the case. The occasional reformat isn't a bad idea, but it is not as necessary a in Windows because the mac's memory manager isn't nearly as leaky. It also does a pretty good job of cleaning up after itself when a program does go down.
  
  
  
  5. Most apps are self-contained, and don't require uninstalls. Just trash the program and it's gone. The mac does actually have something similar to the registry (NetInfo Manager) but it's much more limited. Programs also might dump some preferences files in your user Library folders. These aren't a big deal since they don't load once you get rid of the program, but even so I'm not sure of any easy way to get rid of them.
• Reply 6 of 6

  mcamargo Posts: 10member

  November 9, 2006 1:31PM

  I use DeepFreeze by Faronics, works great for me