Ask TUAW: Finder annoyances, backing up a MacBook, recovering data from an iPod on Windows and more

Alex asks In the finder window (specifically in column view) all the items are sorted alphabetically. Is it possible to sort the items in another way (specifically the folders first)?

Unfortunately, there is no way to do this with the Finder in column view. You can, however, accomplish this with the third-party Finder replacement Path Finder ($39.95), which also has a large number of other handy features.

Vincent asks

I have a new Macbook pro unibody and I have created two users. In the login screen is there a way to use "tap" on the trackpad instead of using the enter key or the hidden button of the trackpad?

Check out this hint; you may have to make a couple of adjustments to have it work properly in Leopard. Apparently there is a hidden setting that will enable this, though I noticed that some folks were having difficulty getting to work consistently.

Al asks

I am a rabid fan of 1Password from Agile Web Solutions. For work, I am migrating towards a Windows machine. What is the solution to integrate my Mac password manager into the Windows environment?

There is no Windows version of 1Password, sad to say, however you might have a look at their Accessing Your Data page for some suggestions. In general there's not really going to be an easy way to do this. What you might consider is using Foxmarks / Xmarks which will allow you to sync passwords between your Mac and PC versions of Firefox.

BillSaysThis asks

My dad wants to get Boot Camp running on his Mini but Boot Camp Assistant can't run to completion because it some programs can't be moved, so partitioning can't be finished. How do I help him fix this error?

We'd really need to know more about the actual errors that are occurring, but it sounds to me like a problem with permissions. The first thing to do is repair permissions with the Disk Utility. Some people have reported success by rebooting after repairing permissions. Keep in mind that you really ought to have a full backup of the mini's hard drive before trying to install Boot Camp.

Don asks

When doing a complete backup of my MBP hard drive, is it important to save large files like sleepimage?

The sleepimage file is a byproduct of Apple's Safe Sleep. OS X writes the content of RAM to the hard drive so that if the battery complete discharges and your Mac shuts off you'll be able to recover your working state when you plug it back in or put in a new battery.

So do you need to back it up? If all you want to do is back up your files, then no. However, if you want to use a disk cloning application like SuperDuper! ($27.95) or Carbon Copy Cloner to create a bootable image of your disk from which you can restart your computer, you should let it copy everything. Incidentally, it's always a good idea to test-boot from a clone before depending on it for backup or recovery. Holding down the option key at startup will let you select your boot volume.

My iMac broke down. I'm currently using a Windows XP machine. How do I transfer all my iPod Touch data (apps, music, video, photos etc) to the new machine? Syncing won't work because iTunes says that all data on the iPod will be erased. There's no way to backup apps without syncing. I've seen a couple of commercial 3rd party apps that can transfer most data (though I'm not sure if they can transfer apps). It's insane if Apple doesn't provide a simple way for me to do this.

We generally stay away from Windows questions, but since it's a sad story I've got a suggestion for you. You will have to use third-party software; this functionality is not built into iTunes (because of piracy concerns).

Before you do any of this, you might want to plug your iPod into a friend's Mac and use Senuti to back up your non-iTMS music and videos. iTunes should offer to transfer your purchased apps and music back to the machine, and you can dig out the Mobile Applications folder for backup.

MediaFour's XPlay will give you access to your entire data store on the touch as a letter drive (yep, even a Mac format touch), so you should be able to back up your data and reconstruct your library. It's not 100% clear that the apps would transfer, but once you have the device syncing with iTunes on your PC you may be able to redownload your apps from the App Store.

It is my understanding (I've never used it personally) that Winamp also includes the capacity to copy songs from an iPod to a Windows computer. However, you may also need a slightly more advanced Winamp plugin called ml_ipod. Both are free downloads.

For the record, on the Mac my go to application for this is PodWorks ($8). Good luck, and let us know what solution you eventually find!