DiskImage
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UMAzone UMA-ISO drive enclosure takes the sting out of mounting disk images
Hey, man -- aren't you sick of all the pain and expense of mounting disc images from the desktop? OK, we weren't either -- until we saw this: UMAzone's UMA-ISO is a drive enclosure (supply your own 2.5-inch HDD) that features a small display and jog wheel for scrolling through CD / DVD image files. Simply select the file of your choice and plug it into your machine via USB or eSATA and the disk will be mounted, the same as if you'd inserted an optical disc. It's that simple! There is also a mode for mounting as a standard external hard drive. Be forewarned, however: this guy is only compatible with a few flavors of Windows (XP, Vista, Windows 7), and it's only available in Japan -- for the princely sum of ¥9,980 yen (about $111).
iDMG
If you have ever created a DMG image using Disk Utility, you know how hard it can be. iDMG hopes to make this process easier. This application allows you to easily drag and drop files, applications, or whatever you choose onto iDMG, select a few options and hit the "Create button." The only downside to the application is the many times you encounter the slow "I am working" message. Other than that, this application offers a bunch of options like encryption, custom icons, and multiple file systems. In addition, iDMG uses the Sparkle update framework and Growl notifications. This application is available for download as freeware (donations accepted) from the developer's website.
Nab Vista SP1 straight from the source... while it lasts
Don't want to wait until March for Windows Vista SP1, but not feeling the whole torrent thing? Microsoft has posted a disc image to its OEM partner site with a full copy of SP1 on it, and the download is free -- if a bit slow at the moment, thanks to all y'all grabbing a copy. The 1.2GB disc image requires you run it as a clean installation, so you've gotta ask yourself it's just worth waiting a few more weeks for an easy peasy update courtesy of Windows Update. Decisions, decisions. [Via Download Squad; read link is the disk image]
Quick tip: fixing Safari's fumbles
Have you ever downloaded a file using Safari and ended up with an extension like .dmg.bz2, only to find that no amount of double clicking will actually get you to a mountable disk image? Here's the down and dirty: Safari has a habit of guessing at what you're downloading and appending an extension for you, at least when the server doesn't explicitly declare it. In this case, it's looking at the compression method being used inside of the disk image, finding bzip2 and appending that extension. But the disk image isn't actually archived, so this throws everything off. When the OS sees the bz2 extension (or any extension after the .dmg), it assumes it's a compressed archive and unzips it. The resulting file is broken. The answer? If you run into this problem, just click the file once to rename it and remove the trailing extension after .dmg. The disk image should mount on a double click. An aging post at Unsanity also divulges the server-side solution for preventing the problem entirely.
BlueFlash: Bluetooth for the Apple II
Never say die to the old Apple II. A hacker named Vinchysky has melded a Disk ][ controller card with a Xilinx FPGA, which in normal-person-speak means he's enabled you to plug a Bluetooth dongle into an Apple II.The hookup itself is basically just a USB connection, so you could conceivably transfer in any files you wanted from either a USB drive or a Bluetooth connection to any PC (or any Mac, or any iPhone... or anything with Bluetooth at all... Mind boggled yet?). The writeup of how Vinchysky created it is interesting, while a little on the technical side. Then again, the guy is working technical magic, so we'll let him have his jargon.And the best part is that we're told this thing will be offered for sale-- he's planning to send them out at a tidy $160, within the next few weeks. If you've got an Apple II sitting around that you're just jonesing to get hooked up to a Bluetooth device, this is what you've been waiting for.[via MacBytes]
Apple Support doc: retrieve files from an Archive and Install directory
I probably wipe my Macs once or twice a year, sometimes after a particularly grueling semester of work and screwing around with loads of 3rd party haxies and utilities in the name of TUAW. Each time I go through this hand-washing process, I make sure my continuous backup (thanks to Econ Technologies' ChronoSync) is as up-to-date as possible, and then I wipe the machine clean, installing a fresh copy of Mac OS X. I've always seen the option to 'Archive and Install,' but I never bothered to learn about the process, as I was always worried about how to retrieve files at a later date if I took that path. Maybe this 'clean slate' is a holdover from my Windows days, but I've always felt 'safer' starting with a fresh hard drive (but a guy can change).If you're not like me and actually are more curious about taking the Archive and Install route, this Apple Support doc will shed some light on how to handle these archived users after all is said and done, as well as how to create a disk image of your previous user directory and then retrieve files from said image. The doc certainly streamlines the process, offering a few simple steps to get your archive on.
Make a Delivery Automator app
I haven't tested this yet, but Make a Delivery sounds like a handy little Automator action that will create a .dmg file from the Finder items you have selected, then attach that .dmg to an email. One quirky thing, however, is that you have to move a resource folder into your Applications directory; it isn't just an action that you can use or turn into a right-click Finder plugin.In any case, if you prefer an easy way to create .dmg's for emailing (instead of zip archives), Make a Delivery might be just what you need.
BackityMac 1.0 - easy backup, restore and maintenance
BackityMac is a really handy, really simple to use backup and restore utility that allows you to chose from a number of different application support directories to backup into a good ol' fashioned read-only disk image. The list of library and support folders includes: Mail Entourage Keychain Safari, Firefox and Camino bookmarks iPhoto library iTunes library iWeb files Documents folder your entire Home folder However, BackityMac is no one-trick pony. It also has a Maintenance pane that allows you to perform various Mac OS X tune-up tasks such as permissions repair, deleting caches, re-indexing Spotlight, running those late-night cron scripts and more.If you haven't found a good tool or developed some kind of a backup habit yet, BackityMac is a great place to start - especially since its free. Go check it out.
