Ask TUAW: Recovering video files, moving from an old Mac to a new one, MobileMe Sync and more

That's a very "Apple" response to the question about a 10.6 upgrade. Why focus on the "not optimal" aspects, thus suggesting he would be better off with a newer machine, rather than pointing out that 10.6 will nevertheless be an extreme improvement even on an older iMac? Are you getting commission from Apple or something?

Anyone with a compatible machine will benefit from Snow Leopard, and $29 is definitely "worth it". Saying it's "up to you" is a silly reply. I'm sure he knows it's up to him- he was asking advice.

Hi,

I'm planning to buy a 5-licenses family pack for Snow Leopard for my iMac and MacBook. My girlfriend has a MacBook Air, the first model. As her concerns are mainly about performance, I'm wondering if you think it will be worth upgrading for her. She will not benefit from OpenCL, so I'm just trying to evaluate if she will gain or lose performance when upgrading?
Thanks!

My 13" MacBook's hard drive (120GB Hitachi) recently failed. It makes clicking noises when trying to boot from it and after a few minutes a flashing folder with a question mark appears. I have two questions, I know it is very unlikely but, how can I get any data back from the disk? And which hard drive would you recommend getting as a replacement, will a 7200rpm hard drive have work well with my Mac or should I stick to a 5400rpm hard drive?

Thanks,
elvic

I am starting law school and I was curious if there was a way to extend Apples dictionary application to add a legal dictionary? I've been told by the professors that I need a paperback Black's Law Dictionary, but I'd also like something on my machine since I brief everything on my Unibody MacBook (a collectors item i promise).

Question about downloading iphone email attachments to computer?

I received an email attachment (word doc) on my iphone that I wanted to have on my laptop, but I didn't have internet access on my laptop, just my iphone. Is there any way to get an attachment from the iPhone on to my macbook?

Dear Ask Tuaw,

I frequently have to access the Network System Preference Pane, and like a good OS X user, my muscles automatically want to use Spotlight to open it up, just like I would with any System Preference Pane.

The problem is that the Network Pane does not show up in Spotlight, only MobileMe and Security.

I've tried rebuilding my Spotlight database to no avail, so now I am seeking the help of a higher power, as my google-fu lacks the skill to find an answer.

Thanks in advance,

Lost without Network Pane

My music library is split between 2 iTunes libraries. I often purchase music on either. One is my personal MacBook that I take to and from work. The other is a shared MacMini being used as a home theater/jukebox machine.

My wife and I both have iPhones that we want to be able to sync with the jukebox machine to load up any new music either of us have purchased. We each have our own iTMS accounts, but we would be willing to consolidate under one identity.

Currently, I have my iPhone setup to automatically sync on connect. That way I can plug it into the jukebox machine and the Recently Added smart playlist will get synched to my phone. (I do this to avoid having to turn on the TV and grab the keyboard/mouse whenever i want to load new music)

Now my MacBook is used for 2 main things: managing podcasts and listening to music in the office. Connecting that same phone to my MacBook's iTunes causes the music to be totally wiped and re-baselined to the last time I connected my iPhone to that library. Newly added music from the jukebox can't be added, since an iPhone doesn't seem to be allowed to move music from one copy of iTunes to another (This doesn't seem to have anything to do with DRM either, since this happens with mp3's purchased from Amazon).

Ideally, I'd like playlists with the same name in both places to be merged once I sync to both instances of iTunes. Anyone know if this is possible? I'm a software engineer, so sophisticated hacks are fine with me.

I've got a question for the next Ask TUAW:

Now that iPhone 3.x software finally synchronizes with the Notes store in Leopard (to the delight of many), I'm reminded that the only way I know of to access those notes is via Mail.app. For those Mac users who don't use Mail, is there some other application or method that exists to interact with the Notes store? If not, it sure seems like that'd be a great opportunity for some Mac developer.

Tapes? Instant?

I'm curious about Migration Assistant. I switched from a PC to a Mac two years ago, so I haven't used it yet. At present, I have a Core2Duo 15'' MBP (late 2007). I just ordered a new Unibody 15'' that will be here next week. My current MBP is pretty customized and has lots of s/w installed. It also has 10.5.8 with all the latest updates (same thing my new MBP will have). If I use Migration Assistant, will it get everything over? applications? preferences? documents? music? Or, if I also have a copy of SuperDuper! am I better off using that to make a final image of my existing MBP and restoring it to the new one?

Additionally, my current MBP had a stock 10.5.0 install including the extra languages and print drivers, etc. I had run monolingual on it, but that broke Office updates and I had to completely re-install Office to be able to update it. I understand that I can do a customized install and skip the foreign language options, extra print drivers, etc. However, if I use SuperDuper! to restore from old to new, these will get put back. So with a brand new MBP, am I better off removing the default install, doing a new custom install (skipping the extra languages and print drivers), then using Migration Assistant to get everything over?