Why it is necessary to save file on a proper location than to save on Mac desktop?

Files saved on the Macintosh desktop are at most risk than those saved in particular locations (separate volumes). First of all they are at risk of accidental deletion while arranging icons on the desktop. Even they might be shifted to trash unintentionally. A desktop is a part of the OS and fetch information from it. That is the reasons why every Mac OS X computer should be partitioned into several volumes. The hard drive partition is mere a simple task and can be easily done with the help of the Disk Utility or a non-Apple partition tool. A non-Apple partition utility gains upper edge over disk utility due to presence of feature that makes the confidential partitions kept hidden from illegitimate users who again possess great threat to the files & folders. Remember, too many files on the desktop makes it look cluttered and untidy.

Is the file gone from the desktop recoverable?? 

In the first impression, the answer seems to be pretty obvious because with the advent of file recovery software & tools, recovery of any Mac file from the drive is just few clicks away. However, file recovery software has its own set of rules like: -

• Once a data deletion takes place, immediately avoid any further use of the Mac OS X to prevent overwriting of the files. 


• This is beyond the user's scope but data saved on the bad sectors of the hard drive is the most difficult to regain by a recovery software. Though the software has an advance feature called 'RAW RECOVERY' which makes the recovery from the drive but the file may not be in the correct format.  


• Now comes the barrier of the tool recovering file from a desktop location. The OS update itself on periodic basis which is beyond the user's control. Doing so, it replaces the deleted file information from the desktop causing a overwriting of the location with some other information. And as we know recovery tool works on basis of these left-over’s of the files which when not found on the hard drive will result in failed recovery. Many cases of the same are reported every time a user tries to recover a deleted file from the desktop with a recovery software. But not all the cases are hopeless because if the OS hadn't updated itself and meantime a recovery tool is made to run then the file would be recovered like an ordinary recovery process. 

Precautions, if any? So, this is true that a user can't interfere in the OS activities but can manage to stop any read/write activity on the drive. A better option would be to cut the power supply to the Mac by shutting it down and removing the hard drive until a proper recovery software is not arranged. This however will stop the Mac OS by updating itself. Check out the review of an efficient Mac data recovery software by Dave Taylor:http://bit.ly/P6o8N6 

Don't Buy New iMac with 3TB Fusion Drive if You Love Windows, It doesn't Support Boot Camp

It's unfortunate for the users who have spent extra $400 and already bought 27 inch new iMac with 3 TeraByte fusion drive because it doesn't support boot camp for Windows installation. Users who specially love to use Windows operating system for gaming and running compatible business applications must be upset with not having this feature. As discusses earlier, fusion drive is a combination of a traditional Mac HD and a SSD to increase the overall performance of the system by leveraging the benefits of cache implementation and faster read/write in SSD's.

It's even not a fault of Apple because the issue is not with the whole new iMac but is with the 3TB drive itself because the boot camp supports the drives only upto 2TB. With the announcement of fusion drive, Apple said that “Boot Camp Assistant is not supported at this time on 3TB hard drive configurations”. The statement also means the Apple is working on making the boot camp compatible with the drives over 2TB.

So, ultimately, the statement says that people who make use of boot camp to install Windows should not fear of buying the new iMac with 3TB fusion drive because Apple is working on that. Till some extent, Apple is also right, because till now it isn't possible to Install the latest Windows 8 operating system on Boot camp, at least there is no official support on this. So, the people who love Windows must be willing to try out Windows 8 and they will need a separate PC in both the cases. However it is possible as experimented by arstechnica on iMac 2011 and MacBook Air. 

However, still there are chances that this unfortunate thing for the early new iMac adopters will turn into fortune when Apple will release an update for supporting Boot camp on new 3TB fusion drive.

So, don't get upset, just explore the new 3TB fusion drive iMac until it fall in love with Boot Camp and support for Windows 8 installation.

Smart Finder: A handy Mac utility to locate and operate files

A large hard drive on Mac is always a boon because one can store plenty of files and create 'n' numbers of folders to manage saved files. But, this boon soon becomes a curse when locating some of the files and folders becomes almost impossible. The Mac's own Finder application looks insufficient to locate and remove files that are almost unnecessary. This is the reason why I choose to switch upon a latest utility that seems handy in doing the same job perfectly. The utility is so called the 'Smart Finder' a.k.a 'Path Finder for Mac'. 

Q) How 'Smart Finder' represent hard drives, folders and individual files:

This tool needs Mac OS X 10.5 (G4 or later) to run. Once launched, it asks for the drive selection (which is made default). The drive is selected from the left panel and further the folders of the drive are listed for selection. Choose a folder and proceed by clicking the 'Open' tab. This makes the folder open in a completely innovative 'Graphical View'. Below is the representation of the graphical view of the selected folder. The colorful boundaries around the core of the circle indicates the different sectors of associated files.

Further, the files selected with a right-mouse click expands 3 choices which are:

• Reveal in Finder – opens up the containing folder.
• Remove – eliminates the selected files as well as folders.
• Open – opens up any contained files/folders.

This was all about the Graphical View of a folder, its sub-folders and files. Next comes the 

'Column View': The Column View also produces satisfactory results with the help of its 'FLYOUT View', which expands to the the right side of the screen till the folders and files information are completely displayed.

'List View': This option will minimize the Graphical/Column View to the much compressed List View.

In all the view options the three operation discussed above can be performed using a right-click of the mouse. At the end of the day, you will find it handy to locate & delete large files from the Mac OS drive. Avail Free Trial: - http://bit.ly/UQHeas

Apple's Fusion Drive – Choice is Your's

Fusion drive, a storage technology developed by Apple and announced along with the launch of new iMac & Mac Mini on 23rd October, 2012 .

Making it easy for you to understand, It just work like a combination of the hard drive & cache memory in traditional computer systems where hard drive is used to store the data permanently and a cache memory is used to store & serve the recent or most frequently accessed data. Similarly, a Fusion drive is a combined implementation of a hard drive with another faster flash drive, typically an SSD.

How fusion drive actually works?

Though, there are two drives connected (Mac HD & SSD) but will be presented to you as a single logical drive with combined storage capacity in your new Mac Mini or  iMac. Now, it comes to the actual working of the fusion drive, when configured, the operating system automatically send/store the frequently accessed applications, documents, files, photos & other data in the faster flash drive and rest of the data which is less referenced will remain stored in the main Hard drive.

Now, whenever a file or application is accessed from the HDD, it gets stored in the SSD for a faster access when requested next time. An interesting thing to note down here is that, the data stored in SSD if not accessed for a while will be moved back to the HDD to make a room for other applications/data.

How would I be benefited if I buy a Mac Mini or iMac configured with fusion drive?

Fusion drive is developed solely fo increasing the read/write speed or ultimately the performance of your latest Mac Mini or iMac. So, that's the only but the most important factor your should choose a fusion drive.

Still confused? Let me tell exactly how much you will be benefited from a fusion drive? Have a look at the below image indicating the increase in performance when you get fusion drive pre-configured. 

As you can see from the above image, the photo import speed in Apple Aperture, will be increased by 3.5 times, copying speed shall be fasten by 3.5 times and the system boot speed will be increased by 1.7 times provided you are using a 1TB hard drive of at least 7200-RPM.

So, overall fusion system is like a caching solution that only increases the speed of read/write operations.

Adding more about it, consider the below mentioned points before making a decision of buying a Mac Mini or iMac pre-configured with fusion drive

• If you wish to use an external drive as a part of fusion drive, it's not possible, at least till yet.
• You can not partition the flash storage in the fusion drive.
• If you create a hard drive partition on fusion drive, it will be treated like a separate volume that is physically located on the hard drive.
• The fusion drive support is limited to Mac OS X 10.8.2 if you are attempting to mount it in target disk mode.
• The third party disk utilities may not work properly or at all on fusion drive.
• The earlier versions of Mac disk utility will not work with the fuson drive as the disk utility comes with it is completely unique.

Though, you can still create a Windows partition on fusion drive using bootcamp to play with Microsoft Windows.

Coming to the price of Mac Mini with fusion drive, you will need to pay at least $450 more if you are planning to buy $599 version, reason, the fusion drive option is only available in the latest Mac mini priced $799, in short, $250 extra for alone fusion drive in addition the the latest Mac mini.

And, the compatible iMac will be available somewhere in November itself but you can expect almost ($250) the same increased price for fusion dive pre-configured.

So, choice is yours.....

Breaking the myths of Mac defragmentation:

I own a Mac which means mean no computer virus, hacker or malware can penetrate into my system. This is not only a single myth that Mac users have in their minds. Another one is regarding fragmentation of the hard drive with the passage of time. Mac users are not to be blamed for the profiling of Mac hard drive fragmentation because, Apple itself suggest that there is no need to defrag a Mac hard drive because the OS is smart enough to defrag files of up to 20 MB of size by its own.

How Apple explains not to choose defragmentation for the drive:

1. In comparison to traditional hard drive, today the drives are of larger capacity offering huge amount of free space even after plenty amount of stored data. 


2. The later line on OS (10.2 & so-on), incorporates & permits small number of allocations to get combine into a single big allocation. This happens due to delayed allocation in Ex-formatted volumes.


3. Hot-File-Adaptive-Clustering system works to revise the entire file space rather than just adding the new data to a current file. 

However, defragmentation is not entirely denied by Apple:

Defragging thousands of minor files which are rarely or never accessed will have no effect on the performance of the OS X hard drive. Apparently, a user's profession and interest may require to work upon large applications like, video editing (other software), and this might result in fragmentation files in the drive. Thus, a need of removing fragments from the files may be knocking at the door of a Mac OS X.

Will partitioning the drive help in minimizing fragmentation:

Yes, splitting the hard drive into multiple volumes will separate the system files that undergoes number of read/writes from those delicate zones where files are repeatedly added and removed. To some extent, the partitioning strategy will help in defragmentation and optimization of the drive.

To Note: You won't find an in-built defrag option in Mac's disk utility, instead have to rely on a non-Apple tool.

Taking help of a non-Apple utility to defrag:

1. Eliminating slacks spaces on the drive: With the available feature of the 'Optimization', a specific volume can be selected for removing slacks. Slacks are nothing but the unused free space created when files are stored on irregular memory locations thus creating blank spaces between files. These blank spaces becomes useless and need for optimization arises. To do the needful, select the drive and choose the optimization option to remove these slacks by arranging the files on verging memory locations.





2. Full defragmentation enables the software to represent the entire hard drive into block-wise formation to the user where each block is analyzed for fragments and free space. The blocks are presented by particular colors indicating the report. 

Precautions before opting for defragmentation:

1. If the hard drive is out of space then the software might prompt you with an error message which is "No Unused space available". To solve this error, try to free some of the space on the hard drive so that the defrag tool can use that space for repositioning of the files.


2. If you select a drive with bad sectors then the drive defrag software might freezes up depending upon the presence of bad blocks on the drive.
   
3. Arrange proper backup measures before opting for defrag.

What to do when an external hard drive is not detected by Mac?

External hard drives are now household storage devices which offers huge amount of data to be stored on it providing fast and simple accessibility to files any-time, anywhere. Today, a computer user has so many varieties of external drive to choose from which perfectly meets his/her working needs. Among the most popular producers of external hard drives are Seagate, Toshiba, Western Digital, Kingston and others. Hard drives, also, are the most preferred devices that are used to take temporary back up of system data through transfer of files & folders (Copy & Paste). With a Mac machine at home, the external drive can be used as time capsules that will take incremental back ups of the data stored on the machine. In case of any unfortunate event, the Mac user can easily restore the files and folders from a Time Capsule.

Repair an external hard drive using Volume Repair utility that rebuilds Mac disk directory

Despite of its usefulness, there are several events that can harm the consistent performance of an external-drive and make it go undetected. One of the most unpopular event is when the OS X could not detect a connected hard drive and the data inside the drive is far away from user's reach. Undetected hard drive on a Mac could be a result of following reasons:

1. Blame it on the hardware of the drive: No logical error found on Mac, but some hardware issues like loose or faulty wires, damaged surface, bad header and over heating could be few examples of hardware malfunction.


2. Logical failures: Coming to the logical errors like file system corruption, unmountable drive due to file system failures, improper ejection of the drive corrupting the media. Here, we should remember that the drive in case of rude ejection can develop both logical as well as hardware errors.

Safe hard drive ejection tips for Mac OS X: Drag the external hard drive icon and drop it on the trash folder. Alternatively, use the key CTRL+Left Mouse Click, a pop-up appears, select the 'Eject' option to safely remove the attached hardware.

What to do when drive goes undetected:

Let's assume, a hard drive is abruptly detached from the system and now it fails to get detected by Mac on reconnecting.

1. Make sure to check if the light on the hard drive is still active. This will ensure the drive is facing an error and is not entirely dead. A faulty cable of the drive could be one of the possible reasons for not getting it detected by OS.


2. Connect the same drive on another system to check if that system detects it correctly. It happens many a times when a drive not detected on the system from which it was abruptly ejected and works fine when connected to other computer.


3. Open disk utility and locate your hard drive. If corruption is serious, then disk utility will not show the drive. Here, users can also try safe mode to see if the drive is detected by the OS. If so, run verification from disk utility.


4. Under Apple logo (on the top of desktop), click 'About This Mac'. Further, running the system report will confirm if its connected through the h/w.


5. Run a hardware test for undetectable devices.

What if none of the measures works? If you are tired of trying all the tricks without any positive result then it is recommended to contact a professional. Hard drive components are sensitive and one never ever should try to experiment without proper knowledge. If your priority is to extract data which is still intact on the drive then try out a recovery application best suited for such drive corruption.

Partition a Mac hard drive? Here is what you should know?

Today, many Mac users are aware about how to partition a hard drive using disk utility and benefits of partitioning the drive into multiple volumes. Still, there are others who don't know about both. New Mac users would find it difficult to cope up with the disk utility functions, although it is simple to use. 

To split a hard drive or let it be as a single hard drive: We split our large hard drive into number of others small volumes which are then mounted by OS X. To access a volume, it should be first mounted by the Mac; otherwise the volume would be inaccessible to the user. These individual volumes not only ease the saving of files & folders but also make the OS X access the information much quicker. Splitting a hard drive also facilitate creation of volumes which can be used for any kind of testing. These kinds of working conditions are best suited to those who work upon hard drives. E.g.: Testing Engineers damages the file structure of the volume and then repairs it using their new software. This way they can check the functionality of their new tool with the help of the test volume.

Installing Multiple OS on hard drive: Each volume created on Mac can be used to install an OS X, for instances, I got both Lion 10.7.3 and Mountain Lion (10.8) installed on my Mac Mini. A dedicated partition can be used to install Windows using boot camp. 

Resizing Mac partitions to utilize disk space: After a Mac partition has been created it must be re-sized to completely utilize the space. Disk Utility functions allows resizing a partition either by mouse drag or by entering the definite volume size in numbers.

Is resizing partitions a risky task? No matter, you choose either disk utility or a non-Apple utility to partition a hard drive, the risk of data loss may occur on both the situations. Prior to resizing partitions, always ensure back-ups of the entire hard drive. Here, you can either copy the drives content to an external hard drive, or clone the complete drive making it bootable, else use time machine.

Resizing a large partition may be time consuming: On resizing a large partition on Mac hard drive, the disk-utility (or 3rd party software) may take hours to move blocks from a position to another. Users, often jump to negative conclusions when the tool takes hours of time to resize a large partition. But, in general it is a normal process that needs time.

My Mac won't pass beyond the White Screen? How Should I get rid of this irritating error?

I bet, many of the Mac users (including myself) have come across the 'White Screen' error on OS X. This error is so irritating that it won't let you go beyond the white screen causing all sorts of agony. The personal data including media files, videos, applications, and office data seems to be completely out of reach when this error occurs.   

Create a Recovery CD to boot Mac and recover hard drive data. Get Recovery CD for inaccessible Mac utility

“Alias of White Screen of Deaths are: Stop Error, WSoD, White Box/Screen of Doom, or preferably White Death affects all OS, even Macs, iPods & iPhones.”

Symptoms of White Screen: 

Upon turning ON the Mac, a blank white screen appears disallowing the OS X to boot further. No further activity can be done upon receiving a White Screen, desktop won't load, no dock & finder etc. All stuck on White Screen.  

Reason for White Screen Error:

Either the Kernel Panics or a bad hard drive is responsible for White Screen error on Macs. A bad hard drive may be caused by any logical or physical deterioration. If the hard drive has cultivated bad blocks or file system errors then this would result in Kernel Panics (like White Screen of Death). Other minor reasons for a White Screen of Death could be any changes made in the hardware that might be conflicting with the present Mac OS installed. E.g.: A RAM change may bring in WsoD.

What a lay user can do to fix Stop Error?

Initially, Apple suggests to reset P.R.A.M & N.V.R.A.M to change any notice:

1. Turn off the WsoD affected system. Do it by force shutdown.
2. Switch on the Mac again until a boot sound appears.
3. Push hold on CMD+Opt+P+R keys syn-chronically
4. Keep the control of the keys up to the system starts again, and boot sound is made twice.
5. Relax the keys now.

The Result of above applied steps:

The system may wake up from the Stop Error and boot as normal. Many users have experienced resetting PRAM & NVRAM, causing the error to resolve. However, many of them still did not go beyond the white screen that appeared after a good boot up. 

Now what to do?

1. When the above 5 steps didn't prove to of much help you can try resetting the SMC.
2. Close the Mac.
3. Detach any peripherals, cables, power wires, battery etc.
4. Be patient for several minutes.
5. Re-attach all the cables, peripherals like before.
6. Now turn ON the OS X

The WSoD might be a frustrating error but with the help of proper steps it can be resolved without taking it for a repair.

Striking features of iOS 6 unleashed in iPhone 5

iOS 6 is the world's most advanced operating system and it makes iPhone 5 a revolutionary and the fastest phone on the planet. iOS 6 is equipped with so many exciting and amazing features that will surely make you die for it.

Some of the best features of iOS 6:

1. Maps:

Maps were also available in the previous version of iOS but in the previous version the maps in Apple products were built using Google maps. Now, in this version, Apple has used its technology and has installed Apple maps. The new Maps has turn-by-turn navigation system and 'flyover' feature in these maps allow you to have a 3D look of some of the world's important cities.

2. Passbook:
   

Passbook is a brand-new feature in Apple products and it is like a digital wallet in which you can store boarding passes, movie tickets, coupons, store card. etc. Passes can only be added to the passbook from emails, apps and websites from participating cineplexes, airlines, stores. Etc.

3. Siri:
   
   
   

The new updated Siri in iOS 6 has the capacity to understand more languages. so that you can use it in more countries. You can ask siri to open any app like you just have to say 'Open Temple Run' or 'Launch Facebook' and siri will do it for you. Siri will provide you the answer to every question you ask.

4. Facebook Integration:

 

 You can post on facebook without even opening any app. Just take a photo or video and directly post it on facebook. Facebook is integrated in iOS 6 and this makes it very convenience to post on facebook anytime. Even you can ask siri to post your updates on facebook.

5. New advanced mailbox:

The newly advanced mailbox have a 'VIP' feature that will show emails from important contacts. The email list is also supported by iCloud so that you can access it from any of the iCloud devices. Adding photos or videos also becomes easy in this new OS.

6. Declining phone call with a quick message:

In this OS, we have a new calling feature that will allow you to decline a phone call by instantly replying with a message or you can decline call and set a call reminder.

7. Panoramic camera:

The built-in camera will allow you to take panoramic images. For taking panoramic images, you just need to sweep the device across the object.

8. Facetime:

Facetime now works on cellular network as well as the wi-fi network. So you can make facetime calls just by using phone number. That enables you to use facetime anytime and anywhere.

There are many other features like find your phone or find friends, etc. So these all features makes iOS 6, the most advanced operating system of the planet.

Free Format Recovery SanDisk 16GB microSDHC Memory Card

It seems that everybody have suffered from data loss. Can you imagine how terrible it is when you are holding your digital camera to capture every fantastic moment on a travel, but all of a sudden those precious photos are lost because of an accidental deletion, a mistakenly formatting or any other reason? How would you feel? You must feel frustrated and worried. This is what I suffered last week. I have a Sony digital camera in which hold a SanDisk 16 GB microSDHC memory card. I took a lot of photos by it and then formatted my microSDHC memory card by accident. Once I formatted my microSDHC memory card which contains all my photos, my friend told me to stop taking any more photos and try to get data recovery software.

I searched a lot of data recovery software online, but I was not sure which one is the best. Some of them are in charge, but I don’t want to pay because I don’t know if it can help me recover my photos from the microSDHC memory card. Then I began to search a free data recovery tool for my SanDisk 16GB microSDHC memory card and I got iCare Data Recovery Free. I was not really sure at the beginning and I downloaded it on my computer to have a try. So surprised! I got back all my photos within a few minutes. I am so appreciated of it, so I want to share this software to those who suffered from data loss and I hope you would be as fortunate as me. 

The function of iCare Data Recovery 

iCare Data Recovery  enables you to recover files from memory card, usb flash drive, hard drive etc. This software provides various modules of data recovery including "Partition Recovery", "Advanced Recovery", "Deep Scan Recovery" and "Format Recovery". It can also recover deleted photos, audio, documents, music and videos etc from all most all memory cards and pen drive, external hard drive and so on. This reliable software also supports Windows XP, Vista and Windows 7. In addition to, iCare Data Recovery is also able to recover data due to a formatting or virus attack etc. 

Freeware to recover photos from SanDisk 16GB microSDHC Memory Card

Step 1: Free download, install the iCare Data Recovery  and run the software. Connect your microSDHC Memory Card to the computer and choose a proper recovery module to continue.

Step 2: Select the drive your microSDHC memory card represents and click the "Recover" option to scan your memory card.

Step 3: When the scanning is finished, you can preview the found photos by clicking "File Preview" option to evaluate the quality of photos and confirm to recover them.

Step 4: Select all the photos you want to recover and click the 'Recover' option to get them back and save them to any other disk instead of the original card.

Tips: No matter your data got lost from your memory card or hard disk, you’d better stop adding any new data to it in case your lost data is overwritten. Once it is overwritten, you may lose the chance to recover the data.

Resolving Gray Screen error in Mac OS X

Gray Screen error can occur during the startup of Mac and it is a common occuring problem in Mac OS X. Gray Screen can show up just after you started or restarted the Mac. When Mac is in the process of startup, a blue screen occurs but sometimes it may change to the Gray Screen and system hangs. On the Gray Screen you can see the Apple logo, spinning gear, spinning globe. Mac gets stuck at this screen, you will not hear any hard drive sound or fan sound, it will be like everything just stopped.

How Gray Screen of Death might occur on OS X?

Peripheral issue can cause the Gray Screen of error i.e. whenever a defected or bad peripheral gets connected to Mac, it will prevent your Mac to startup. Mac may also gets stuck becuase of a non-responvsive peripheral. One of the most common form of this condition is when a bad peripheral causes the signalling pins on Mac's port to stuck in one condition and these can cause the Mac to freeze and failes to boot properly.

Steps to solve the Gray Screen error:

1. Disconnect all the external peripherals connected to the Mac .
2. Now, forcefully turn Mac off by pressing the power button and then start again.
3. Start the Mac backup and if backup starts normally then it is sure that the problem is with the peripherals only.
4. Now turn off Mac and start checking the peripherals one by one. If the Mac shows the error while attaching to a particular external peripheral then it will be the defected peripheral causing the issue.

So by this, you can find the bad peripheral if any. In case you find a bad peripheral, it is advisable to first change the cable of the peripheral but if the problem still prvails then change the peripheral.

If peripherals are working fine then possible solutions for this error:

1. Try to start Mac in safe mode.
2. Reset the NVRAM / PRAM.
3. Remove any third party RAM Or internal hardware from Mac.
4. Try using disk utility.

If above solutions fails and in middle of all this you have lost your important data then it is highly recommended to use a recovery tool to get every piece of lost files back on Mac.

Data Corruption on Mac OS X

Data corruption is not a new term for a computer systems, not even for Macs. We can only assume how much amount of time and money is wasted in the event of hardware corruption and data loss.

If Mac OS X is showing the awkward behaviour like sudden crashes, spinning beach ball etc. then it is a sign of Mac corruption and it's time to tighen the belt and put up the backup gear. Otherwise you can lost all the data due to corruption in Mac file system.

Possible causes that can leads to corruption of Mac:

• Storage device is not ejected properly. If we do not properly eject or safely remove the storage devices like external hard drive, etc then possibility of data corruption can arouse.
• Corrupted files in the operating system can lead to data corruptions in Mac.
• Improper shutdown of Mac arouses more possibility of data corruption.
• Other issues like hardware failure and damage etc. are one of the prime reasons that makes the entire data corrupted.
• Incompatible drivers can also be responsible for data corruption.
• Power dips, surges and failure can also be held responsible for corruption of data.

So these issues can lead to the corruption of data and cause huge data loss if we do not take proper precaution or plan effective strategies.

Precaution and ways to protect Mac from data corruption:

We should take proper precauttions and steps to protect Mac from getting corrupted. Some important steps to follow are:

• Take regular backups: Backup should be created to recover data in the event of data loss due to corruption. Make use of Time Machine (for Macs having 10.5 and above) which creates incremental back up of the drive. Use a clone software to create a smiliar drive (may be a bootable one).

• Check status of Mac Timely: Set a schedule, check the status of the Mac hard drive weekly by using tools like S.M.A.R.T. With this feature you can check the status of Mac hard drive and take proper precaution if some error has shown by this tool.

• Use non-interrupted power supply: Use power supply which is free from surges, dips and failure. A computer parts including the hard drive are sensitive to the power fluctuations.

• Safely remove hardware: Whenever you want to remove any external hard drive or pendrive or any external storage media then eject it properly and safely remove it.

So, in the event of data corruption you have many ways to fix this issue. In case every method to resolve this error fails, then you can try the recovery of data using a reliable data recovery software

3 steps to recover photos, videos and music files from a Mac

We all have collections of images and videos of our family, friends, special occasions of our life. These are no doubt very precious to us because we have unforgettable memories attached with it. But, what if you lost all photos, videos, music collections? Then, at that time your only wish would be to just get back all the lost or deleted data by any hook or crook.

For this situation I have a 100% recovery plan to recover all the lost, deleted or formatted photos or videos or songs. You can use 'Stellar Phoenix Photo Recovery 5.0' to get back all the files quickly and easily. (The same is also available for Window OS).

With this you can regain all the deleted, formatted and lost photos, videos in just three simple steps:

Step 1: Scan : This option let the software to scan any supported connect media. It can be an iPod, external hard drives, USB drives, digital cameras and their memory cards.

Step 2: Preview: After the scanning process finishes, you can check the preview of the recoverable files. Although preview is also generated simultaneously during the scanning.

Step 3: Recover :Once the user make the choice of files to be recoverd, press the Recover button to regain all your lost your photos, videos, music files.

Salient Features of this software:

• Upto 100% recovery of all deleted photos, videos, music files.
• It can do recovery even from a 2TB internal or external hard drive.
• Recovers from laptops, desktops, USB, external drive, pendrive, iPod, Digicams.
• You can do recovery from any of the camera brands.
• This tool has a very unique feature to add new file types in the list of supported file types.
• In this software, you can see the preview of the scanned files simultaneously.
• It can recover from corrupted or formatted memory card.
• It can do recovery from RAW iamge formats that is used by professional photographers.
• It is very easy to use i.e. its GUI is very user-friendly.
• Recovery from inaccessible memory cards.
• It also supports the latest Mountain Lion OS X.

You donot need to buy this software, priorly just download the demo version and then check the effectiveness of this outstanding tool by yourself. The demo version won't allow you to recover any file, it can only show the preview of recoverable files.

Error 8003- unable to empty trash

As a Mac user you must have faced the issue of not able to empty trash completely and Mac OS X may hang up while trying to delete files from trash. You may face an error-8003 which tells that 'the operation can't be completed because an unexpected error occured'. Sometimes this issue can be solved by just restarting Mac but manytimes you need to do some troubleshooting to get rid of this error.

The reason behind the occurance of this error may be due to the files that may have been locked and not allowing the trash to get empty completely. You just need to follow some techniques and steps to resolve this issue. There are many ways to fix this error that are stated below.

1) Empty the trash forcibly:

            1) First double click the trash and that will open up it in Finder  to view the content of trash.

            2) Then while holding 'option key' click on 'empty trash', that can be found in Finder menu bar.

             3) If even by this, trash does not get empty try the 'secure empty trash'.

        2) Empty the trash from the terminal:

1. Go to applications and then utilities and click on the terminal icon
2. Then type 'sudo rm -rf ~/.Trash' in the terminal window.

These are the basic steps to solve the Trash 8003 error which can work effectively sometimes but even if after applying these steps the same error is still occuring then the sure-shot method to resolve this error is by using a third party tool like Stellar Wipe Mac. This tool is very effective in wiping the data even locked files.

           3) Empty trash using Stellar Wipe Mac:

Stellar wipe Mac is a very effective tool in wiping the data permanently and that too beyond the scope of data recovery. This tool will completely empty the trash and will get rid of the error 8003. This software have many other features like completely wiping system traces, internet browsing, recent file histories, etc. This tool can also be used to permanently wipe data from hard drive easily.

So, one of the above steps will surely going to solve your issue and will empty the trash completely.

Is your memory card not able to recognize by Mac?

Memory cards are one of the smallest storage devices that can store any format of data. Due to its small size and high storing capacity memory card is used in many of the digital devices like camera, multimedia phone, etc. We can transfer data from memory card to Mac using a card reader or using the in-built memory card slot in Mac. Sometimes, when we try to connect the memory card to Mac, it may show error in recognizing memory card. This doesn't mean that your memory card is corrupted and you cannot access it.

Encountering different errors on connecting memory card to a Mac:

• No memory card found: It may happen that when you connect memory card then 'no memory card found' error occurs.

• Card corrupted, Format the card: On connecting memory card, Mac can show you the pop-up window that memory card is corrupted and you need to format it.

• Card not recognized: When memory card gets corrrupted then 'card not recognized' error may arise.
  
  
• Card cannot be accessed: This is also one of the most common error that can occur whenever a corrupted card is connected to the Mac.

These errors are shown on account of a physical or logical failure on the memory card. As you might have stored important data on the card and inaccessibility to it can make you panic.

Possible reasons for occurance of these errors:

There can be many reasons responsible for such errors causing the memory card to get unrecognised or corrupted.

• Removing memory card without using eject option.
• Mac getting shutdown in-between the transfer process.
• Removing card in-between the transfer process.
• Removal of memory card from card reader when card reader is connected to Mac.
• Inserting card into a card reader whose chip has been damaged.
• Virus and malware can also corrupt memory card.

How to solve memory card problem?

• Try to connect memory card using a different card reader device.
• Connect memory card to a different Mac, this may sometime solve the problem.
• Format memory card and recover lost data using a data recovery tool.

These above methods will allow to resolve the issue when memory card is not recognized by Mac.

Reasons of unexpected shutdown of Mac and ways to fix it

Are you a victim of unexpected shutdown of Mac? If yes, then you must get aware of the reasons for this unwanted event. Mac is a very reliable and efficient operating system but it may also develop serious issues. So, we should always try to take proactive precautions and steps to avoid getting trapped in such problematic events. A sudden shutdown of Mac can make the data inaccessible or even lost. Below are some reasons, troubleshooting steps and solution to solve this issues.

Several reasons held responsible for an unexpected Mac OS X shutdown:

1. Overheating: If the Mac's processor or hard drive gets overheated due to high temperature or unfavourable environment conditions like hot and humid surroundings then this can result in the unexpected shutdown which may further lead to data loss.

2. Virus infect: Mac is a very secure and robust operating system but sometimes it can also gets affected by virus and malwares. Virus attacks can modify the application preferences and this can lead to the corruption of Mac OS X and resulting in the unexpected shutdown of Mac.

3. Hard drive corruption: Hard drive can corrupt due to following reasons like physical damage, logical failure, overheating, bad sectors etc. To know more about hard drive corruption click on http://data-recovery-tool.blogspot.in/2012/08/protect-your-hard-drive-and-avoid-data.html. Due to sudden system (unrecoverable) errors, the OS X chooses to completely shut down the Mac to prevent any further damage. This condition of the system is also popularly termed as 'Blue Screen of Death'.

Some troubleshooting steps you can follow to fix this error: 

         1)Try to reboot the Mac in safe mode to fix the error.

         2)You can verify the ATA controller to fix the issue.

3)Use the 'Disk Utility' to get rid of any hard drive error. If a disk has a problem repair it by 'Verify and Repair permission' options.

4)If a Mac shuts-down due to overheating, then it is advisable to keep it off for sometime to cool it down. You can also apply thermal paste to reduce over heating of the drive.

If all the above troubleshooting steps fails to fix this error and Mac is still unable to bootup then it is advisable to format Mac and use the existing backup to restore the data. And in case backup is not created or lost then a third-party data recovery tool will do the work for you.

Recent malwares hits on Mac OS X

Mac has always been a very secure and virus-free operating system. But in the past, attackers and hackers have tried to infect Mac and stole user's personal and confidential information. Recently, Mac got hit by an attack, a variant of 'LuckyCat' virus, that took advantage of Microsoft Office Word to hack into the user's system and steals away with the important information and data stored on the hard drive. This was not the first time Mac was targeted by a backdoor virus. They had been targeted by many viruses and malwares in past too and some of them are listed below.

List of virus and malwares that attacked Mac OS X:

Patient zero:

In Mac, file extensions are not visible on thumbnails so it will be easy for a virus to masquerade easily by depicting as some other file type. The patient-zero virus turned up in 2004 using this technique.

RSPlug.A:

This virus becomes active in 2007 and it is used basically to get user login information of different sites like paypal and ebay.com. This virus pretends to be a quicktime codec and when user clicks to install it, a DNS server gets installed which takes them to a fake site of ebay and paypal.

MacGuard:

It was a phishing attack that came into action in 2008 which tells Mac users that their Mac is corrupted and you need to install 'MacGuard' to protect Mac. But in reality this was a attack to steal users credit card details.

Flashback virus:

Flashback virus affects Mac in september, 2011. This virus pretends to be an installer of the Adobe flash player and affected Mac when users installed it thinking as adobe flash player. When the user started this infected application, virus started executing the code and sent the user personal information to remote server. You can get more info about this on http://data-recovery-tool.blogspot.in/2012/07/how-flashback-virus-affected-mac.html.

But still Mac is far safer than Windows which gets easily vulnerable to viruses and malwares but it's not fully protected and safe. It is advisable to install a good antivirus on your Mac.