My mac's been running whack!

[Parker]

QUOTE(tacit @ Apr 1 2008, 02:56 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

QUOTE(Parker @ Apr 1 2008, 02:41 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Never ran DW or TT. Don't have those apps...

Have you run Disk Utility and told it to verify your hard drive? (Note: not verify permissions, verify your hard drive.)

Good call frank! i'll do that now.





I've been thinking of doing a clean install. I just got a new 500gb external hard drive to backup what is on both of my 250gb disks, so before i move everything over i can backup my computer and do a clean install.

What is the best way to backup files? Time Machine? Cloning?

[chriskleeman]

I'd say clone them with SuperDuper! if they both have viable OS. The only caveat is that something may be wrong with either one of your drives, given your description of the problems you've been experiencing. So you'd be cloning your problems as well. That being said, you would have totally complete files and folders from your other drives. Do the clean install and then as you add things back in you may find your culprit.

But as Tacit (Franklin) suggested, I'd verify your drives first.

CK

[dakota]

I do own DiskWarrior, and have for years.  I just decided to order the update CD to be on the safe side.  My drive is backed up twice a week to an external firewire with SuperDuper, and I use Apple's Backup to copy certain files (home folder, mail, bookmarks), to an additional external drive, once a day.

[Paddy]

Dakota, as I mentioned already, you can use the update for DW (assuming you have DW 4.0) to burn a new CD. There is no need to order a CD from them. See:

http://www.alsoft.com/DiskWarrior/diskwarriorupdate.html

Sounds like you're in good shape in the back-up dept., though, so either check out your drive with DW and/or do an archive and install. Should solve your issues. Though as I also mentioned, you probably should try emptying caches with Onyx or other Leopard-compatible cache-cleaner before you embark on this.

[krissel]

Reread this thread and the item where you mentioned a difference in apparent amount of drive space reported as used could be a clue. Unfortunately an OS, cache, drive or directory problem could be responsible so you will have to just try each solution til you hit the right one.

[dakota]

Okay. Ran Onyx and then ran DiskWarrior.  Still reading only 70 GB used, instead of 140.  Too early to tell whether anything else has been "fixed".  There were roughly 26 changes in the directory.  Still seem to have a spinning ball for just a little too long.

[krissel]

Have you run Apple Profiler to see if by any chance one of your RAM sticks isn't working?

[dakota]

Both RAM sticks ( one 1 GB, one 2 GB) "okay".

[Xairbusdriver]

QUOTE

one 1 GB, one 2 GB

Do those chips work better if matched in size/maker/etc. I'm sure they would need to be the same type and speed, of course...

[dakota]

Can't answer that.  Left it up to Small Dog, where I ordered it. They are usually pretty good about things like that.  Today I find that a couple of programs still have to be force quit.

[Xairbusdriver]

QUOTE

Left it up to Small Dog, where I ordered it.

And I'm sure they will be quick to replace a bad chip. I'm assuming they ran a few tests but your use may be much more difficult and trying on the RAM. Just because the chips are supposed to be compatible doesn't mean they are. That's why there are guaranties.

But we can't keep shooting at a target that we may not be able to actually see. First, please report the exact model, OS version number, System software updates applied and utility programs available. Then, please re-read this thread (and others you have posted in) and take the steps suggested, one at a time, over a period of several days and report the results: What you did, what happened, what was different (if anything). Computers are no different from any other machine, their repair and even diagnosis must be done in an orderly, logical manner. One step at time. Results of each step should be recorded, especially if there are many, many steps. The big difference with a computer is that it is probably the most complicated machine ever sold to 'regular' consumers.

[dakota]

New iMac 24.  3 GB ram, 300 GB drive.  Three external firewire drives, one 160, two 300.  Two printers - Epson R2499, PictureMate.  Canon scanner, Palm, two cameras occasionally via USB ports.  What I have added lately - Onyx, Little Snitch, Google Desktop, Suitcase Fusion, TabMeister.  NOT as lately, I have updated items such as Reunion, Toast,

[krissel]

OK, now we have some info to go on.

First, that 'Bling' you see is a feature in Tabmeister.

QUOTE

* BLING!

In version 2.0 of TabMeister there is now a special "Bling" Tab that contains some fun little extras to add a little pizzazz to your desktop

The "Bling" Tab contains fun little utilities that add a little bling to your desktop. There are currently 5 different Bling items, and more will be added in the future as we come up with new ways to just have a a little fun.

The items in the Bling Tab cannot be deleted, edited, or moved. The Bling Tab itself acts like any other Tab, and it can be moved and deleted. To show or hide the Bling Tab, select the Show Bling Tab menu item in the Tabs menu.

To activate a Bling item, just click on it like you would any other Tab item. Some Bling items act like a toggle, so clicking it the first time turns it on, and then clicking it again will turn it off. Additionally, some Bling items have special options which you can access by right-clicking on the icon to invoke the item's contextual menu.

http://www.pangeasoft.net/tabmeister/manua...ngoverview.html


I'm thinking that perhaps Google Desktop may be causing some of your problems.

QUOTE

Most concerning about the current beta of Google Desktop is something that became obvious only in the days after it finished building the initial index. For reasons that Google's engineers are still attempting to figure out, some people (including me) see Google Desktop hitting the hard disk constantly, which is both disconcerting and a serious performance hit. I worked around this problem temporarily by turning off Google Desktop's indexing, so I can continue to search for items already in the index. Remember, even though Google has been bad about leaving services like Gmail in beta for years, Google Desktop for the Mac is a real beta at the moment, with all the possible downsides associated with that status.

http://db.tidbits.com/article/8940

While this article is a year old it still may be a clue to some of the activity problems you are having.

I'd try deleting all references to Google Desktop, remove all external devices and don't reconnect, restart and see if any of the previous problems reoccur.

If so, remove each of the other third party apps one at a time along with their files (use Spotlight to find them), restart and test.

[dakota]

Will do