Ask TUAW: Syncing folders, hard drive problems, reinstalling OS X, and more

David asks

How can I make a certain file-type in OS X open in a certain program? ie. I want MP3 files to open in VLC and not in iTunes or something.

Since we constantly have new users and readers for Ask TUAW, we occasionally will revisit questions like this one. All you need to do to change the default file handling is select a file in the Finder and then Get Info (⌘+I). In the "Open with:" section change it to VLC and then be sure to click the "Change All..." button. Now all your MP3s will open with VLC.

si asks

I have a mac mini at work and a macbook that I use both at home, at work and everywhere else. I have one folder where I keep all my written work (reports etc) on my mac mini that I would like sync'd to my macbook. This should be simple to solve but the problems comes in that the work is quite sensitive and absolutely cannot be stored on a third party server, so that rules out dropbox etc. I can sync when the macbook is on the work network and I have looked at cronosync but for the application and 1 agent it's $50, a bit steep for syncing one folder!

If you're content to sync only at work there are other, less expensive options besides ChronoSync, such as Martian Slingshot ($29.99) that are just about as easy to use. If you're a bit more hands-on you could try an rsync implementation for free, though I'd suggest going with the open-source arRsync GUI.

Depending on just how sensitive that data is, you might still consider something like Dropbox (which I use all the time) by having an encrypted disk image. Using Disk Utility you can create a password-protected DMG. You can then put that DMG in your Dropbox, mount it on your work machine and save all the documents there. However, for this to work properly I believe you have to unmount the image before Dropbox can sync the data. The Dropbox wiki has some more suggestions regarding block-based encryption.

Crazy J asks

I have a Western Digtal 500GB external hd. Both firewire and USB. I partitioned the drive into two partitions. But now when I connect the hd, only one partition shows up. I tried both the USB and Firewire and it's the same. When I connect the hd to a windows computer, sometimes both partitions show up and sometimes only the one. What's going on and how can I fix this problem? I'm so frustrated that I'm about to buy a new hd!

There may actually be some hardware problem with the drive itself, but before replacing it I would suggest trying the following:

1. Backup any important data on the drive immediately.
   
2. You could first try using the Disk Utility (in /Applications/Utilities) to examine the drive to see if it can see both partitions, even if one of them is not mounting.
   
3. I'd then use Disk Utility to repair the partitions. If that doesn't work I'd suggest reformatting the entire drive using Disk Utility and re-merging the partitions.
   
4. I use a WD My Book drive myself, and I have found it to be more reliable since installing the WD Drive Manager (though be sure to get the correct one for your particular drive).

WetBrain asks

I just got back my old 800MHz Titanium PowerBook G4 that I have been letting my roommate borrow for the past 2 years. I already have an iMac and a MacBook so I am looking to do something interesting to repurpose this machine. Any tips on the best way to incorporate this into an entertainment center? Or do you think there may be a better use for this machine? It is running 10.4 because the system requirements of 10.5 will not allow it to install on the machine.

Unfortunately, I don't think a machine of this vintage will make a satisfactory media center machine, because it's under-powered. For instance, although there is a PowerPC build of XBMC, it requires a minimum of OpenGL 1.4, while the Mobility Radeon 7500 in your PowerBook seems to be limited to OpenGL 1.3. Other applications like Plex and Boxee are Intel only. In short, I don't really think it's going to have the horsepower to be a good video playback machine.

On the other hand, it would probably work just fine as a home media / backup server. Basically, you could hook some external hard drives to it (preferably by FireWire) and use as Network Attached Storage for backup, etc. or even as something like an iTunes server.

Aerolimp05 asks

I have a question. I want to do a clean install, but the last time i did i lost all of iLife since that is the only applications that i don't have any kind of disc or file to install them. How would i do a clean install, yet still be able to retain or reupload iLife?

If you do an Archive & Install it should not affect your iLife installation (though Apple warns that it might). In any case, you should have the iLife applications on the installation discs that came with your computer, which you can use to re-install iLife. If you don't have these discs then the best you can do is try the Archive and Install and hope that it doesn't affect the iLife apps.

Eric asks

One of my profiles on my MacBook Pro has been beachballing really badly lately. I had heard one thing to try is to set up a new profile to see if it runs any better. Well I did -- and it does. So I want to effectively remove my old profile and copy my files and such over to my new profile. Is there any easy way to do this? Particularly, is there an easy way to move my iTunes library (songs, ratings, playlists, etc) over to the new profile?

I assume that what you mean by "a new profile" is a new user account. All you have to do is copy over the ~/Music/iTunes folder between the accounts. However, this is not simply a matter of drag and drop, because neither user will have access to the other's home folder. The easiest thing to do would be to copy the ~/Music/iTunes folder to the ~/Public folder of the first account, then log out and onto the new account. Start iTunes in the new account and then quit it.

Finally, copy the iTunes folder from the first account's Public folder to the new account's Music folder, replacing the ~/Music/iTunes folder that should already be there. When you start iTunes again, it should automatically update the Library for the new account. If it doesn't read all the music correctly, you might have to update the permissions on the iTunes folder -- select the folder, choose Get Info from the File menu in the Finder, and make sure that the new user is listed as the folder owner under Sharing & Permissions at the bottom of the Get Info window.

If you're comfortable with the Terminal you can do this in one step by using a sudo mv command, but if you know what that is, I needn't explain it, and if not, I'd just do it the two-step process above with the Finder.

Before you do any of this, I highly recommend having a backup of the entire ~/Music/iTunes folder.

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