This procedure shows you how to prevent Time Machine from using all available free space on a local volume by backing up to a sparse disk image bundle stored on a shared folder on a local volume.
Time machine uses a feature of the HFS+ filesystem that was introduced in Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard) called ‘directory hard links.’ Like file hard links, a directory that is hard linked to another directory is not actually a distinct directory, but is instead a pointer to the original directory. Time Machine uses these directory hard links to reduce duplication and save space by making references to entire directory trees whose contained files have not been modified.
To properly copy or duplicate a Time Machine backup, these directory hard links must be preserved. Unfortunately, directory hard links are proprietary to Apple. Apple discourages their casual use by third party developers because, if used incorrectly, they could create recursive directory structures that would ren …
Here is a way to disable sleeping when pressing the power button on 10.9.2. In Terminal, type in the following command and then press Enter.
defaults write com.apple.loginwindow PowerButtonSleepsSystem -bool no
This causes the ‘Are you sure you want to shut down your computer now?’ dialog to come up much quicker too.
[crarko adds: I tested this, and it works as described. I had to log out and log back in; I’m not sure if that’s necessary.]
By roman The convenience of wireless networking is fantastic, but it doesn’t compare to the solidity and dependability of a wired network connection. Where can you find out if your Ethernet connection is running at 10, 100, or 1000 Mbit/s? It is … →
In OS X 10.9 Mavericks a smart folder (or a saved search) dragged to the Dock behaves like a folder (smart folders by default are saved under ~/Library/Saved Searches). Right click gives sorting, display and viewing options similar to ordinary folders dragged to the Dock. A drawer icon is shown if Display as Folder option is selected. In grid view Quick Look works, too.
I did not check if it works under 10.8 or 10.7. I have to mention that there was already a hint about how to add ‘recent things’ stack to the Dock.
[crarko adds: I tested this, and it works as described.]
I’m not sure if this is documented already. When you create a secure note from Keychain, it will accept an image or movie just as easily as it will accept text. I was able to put an image in one note and a movie in another. You can also play the movie while it’s secured inside the note.
Create a secure note from the menu bar, then copy and paste the image into the note. That’s it, the image is saved inside a secure note. You’re done.
To put a movie inside a secure note, go to the file location on the Finder to locate the movie. Drag the movie to the body of the secure note.
[crarko adds: I’m not sure if it’s documented either. This is a fairly old submission in the queue, so things may have changed recently.]
As satisfying as the swipe to close feature in mobile Safari is, it becomes a bit of a chore to close more than a few tabs.
To close all tabs at once, tap the new tab icon (two overlapping squares), tap Private, and then Close All. Repeat the first two steps and tap ‘+’ (or the screen) to get back to an empty Safari in your preferred browsing state.
I only have an iOS 7 device to test this in.
[crarko adds: I tested this, and it works as described. I also only have iOS 7.]
Maybe less of a hint, and more of a “I didn’t know you could do that!”
If you have connected to a remote Mac using Screen Sharing and don’t have a mounted disk, then you can still copy between the two Macs via drag and drop.
Basically, you take a file from the local Finder and drag it to a window of the remote Finder. This will automatically initiate a copy. The reverse is also true. A little experimenting shows numerous applications can act as source, but in all cases a Finder window needs to be the final destination.
[crarko adds: I’ve done this for ages using things other than Apple’s built-in Screen Sharing program, so I don’t know when this became available. Did it come along with AirDrop? The full Remote Desktop program has done this since the beginning.]
When re-installing Mountain Lion from the Recovery Partition, the installer needs to check installation eligibility with Apple’s servers. If your computer needs to access the Internet through a proxy server for whatever reason, the installer won’t pick up on this; it will attempt to make a direct connection, fail, and tell you to contact AppleCare.
As per my earlier hint (10.7: Get the Lion installer to work behind a proxy server), you could simply use the networksetup command in Terminal to get around this. However, as of 10.8 Apple’s software download servers appear to require additional checks to verify machine eligibility which – if you’re behind a squid proxy server – may require additional configuration changes to squid itself in order for it to work. You may therefore need help from your network administrator for that part …
When assigning a keyboard shortcut to a program’s menus in System Preferences, you can run into a problem if more than one menu item in the program has the same name.
If you describe the full ‘menu path’ using ‘->’ as a delimiter between items (no spaces), then OS X will follow that path and select the correct menu item.
For instance:
Font->Edit->Increase
The ‘->’ symbol seems to be used from Mountain Lion and later. Earlier systems use ‘>’ on its own.
I don’t claim to have discovered this idea myself, but the hint doesn’t seem to be very well-known, so I thought it should be posted here, if it hasn’t already.
Credit goes to this discussion thread on the Apple forums.
