I’ve been putting it off for a while because I didn’t want the hassle of having to set it all up, but last night I decided I’d install Windows on my Mac using Boot Camp. So I started the process rolling, loaded the program and had it partition the hard drive. The next step is to restart the machine with the Windows disc in the drive so that it can install it to the new partition.
Well, it got to that stage. I had it copy the files to the new area I’d marked out for it just like a normal Windows installation would. Then it restarted, but instead of loading the regular Windows install screens it decided to load the initial loading program again. To cut a long story short, something catastrophic had happened and it wiped the whole drive. Bugger.
Fortunately for me, whenever I use the MacBook at my desk I have it plugged in to an external hard drive to take advantage of Time Machine- the program which makes hourly backups of your hard drive so that you can flick back and recover lost files. In extreme circumstances such as this it can also restore the entire hard drive. And the theory is that so long as it’s always plugged in to the external hard drive your backup will never be more than an hour old. Phew!
After an initial scary moment (I hadn’t created a new partition and my backups disappeared, requiring a reboot before they returned) the process was a doddle. You choose the backup you want to use and where you want to install it, then you sit back and let it work it’s magic. A couple of hours later I had a fully-restored machine and, although Mail had to rebuild itself once I’d reopened it, there were few side effects. Brilliant tool.
I’ve just got to take another look at Boot Camp before considering trying it again.
I read something today which made me a little jealous. I began to think that what I was reading was someone showing off and looking down on everyone else. Then I realised I may have been doing something similar myself recently. Don’t get me wrong, I certainly wasn’t looking down on anyone, but was simply excited for myself. I’ve been going on at great length to a number of people about the fact I love my new MacBook and blah blah blah.
Well, I think that perhaps I’ve been carrying on a little too much about it, and so I apologise to everyone out there who I may have blabbed on and on to. If I came across as a bit of a twat, then I apologise for it.
Now I have a clean conscience I can start complaining about what I read today! he he he
I’ve had a truly dreadful Internet connection for quite some time. Well, that’s not quite true. I’ve had a truly dreadful connection to the router for quite some time which seemed to have been exacerbated with the introduction of my new MacBook to the network. It crashed constantly. I couldn’t use Google Maps at all because it would crash every time, whilst a quick visit to Facebook would often result in my having to head downstairs to reset the infernal router.
Well I was sick of it. Bloody Netgear and their awful equipment. Well, I decided that as I spend quite a bit of my spare time on the net I deserved a router that wasn’t going to fail at the slightest thing. So I took the plunge and invested in an Apple Airport Extreme. Was it worth the £119 asking price, I hear you say? The simple answer to that is yes, it bloody well was!
I’ve been thrashing the connection today to test it out and it’s not let me down once. Perhaps I could have got similar reliability from a cheaper router, but then it would have been complete guesswork on my part as to the right one to buy. So I did the sensible thing (as far as I’m concerned) which was to spend that little bit extra money and invest in a box with an Apple on it. Never lets you down.
The thing was incredibly simple to set up. Plug all the right cables in and follow the instructions in the book provided. Couldn’t be simpler. I hate setting up wireless networks normally, but this was effortless. And it’s not crashed once. I’ve also utilised its built-in USB port to connect a 1TB external hard drive which I’m using to store my movies on so I can watch them wirelessly anywhere in the house. Very good stuff.
I’m so used to hearing the constant whirring of the fan inside the old PC that it’s become a little disconcerting without it. The new MacBook is practically noise-free (except for when the DVD drive kicks in) and I feel oddly alone. It was always a reassuring sound; it was a noise which opened the rest of the world up to me, and let me know that despite the fact I’m stuck here in the middle of nowhere, there is somewhere other than this.
However, it was a big old heap of crap and I’m glad to be rid of it!
I finally have my MacBook, and it’s only taken me about two years to get hold of one. The need to save and to pay off debts has meant that it’s always been just out of reach; until now. Now I can finally get rid of Windows! Woo-hoo!
It arrived at just after 12:30 this lunchtime, after a period of worry on my part that according to the tracker on the website it had been rolling around in the back of a van for the previous five hours! Fortunately it arrived in one piece, and despite numerous people ogling it in the office I also managed to get it charged up there and re-boxed, unscathed.
So now I’m finally freed from the the desk. This is the second laptop I’ve had. The first had a battery life of about an hour when it was new, and then one of roughly zero hours after I’d been a fool and left the thing plugged in constantly, thus ruining the battery.
Here’s a picture; it’s very nice:
