Existing users, 
User Name OxyParadox
Member Since 2000-12-18
Total number of Feedback Posts: 182
Total number of comments: 1
Last 10 Feedback Posts by OxyParadox [ Search for All ]
Carbon Copy Cloner 3.2.1 (Mac OS X)
wow... what on earth went wrong?
I've read nothing but glowing reviews of CCC, and very much wanted to love it, too. My primary HD started getting hinky, and no disk utility seemed able to solve the problem. So.... I used CCC first to create a bootable disk image (took 6 hours), then used an external FW drive and backed everything on to that. Then, erased the startup drive, re-formatted it and re-partitioned. Launched CCC, and the disk image "fails to mount due to....". OK, went to backup the backup from the external FW drive, and CCC tells me it cannot create a bootable disk due to missing critical files - or something. So, I'm hanging out to dry. Should have known better than to try this on primary drive. Am reinstalling OS X from scratch, and praying - hoping against hope - I can get the needed data off of the FW drive once a working startup volume is mounted on there. [alert admin]
Read Comments (5) | More Info | 1 of 11 users found this helpful
Monday, June 15 2009 @ 06:20 PM PDT
ChronoSync 4.0.1 (Mac OS X)
I would love to love Chronosync 4, but the day I installed it was the day countless problems have sprung up on all my machines. Econ lists the insane permutations it runs to determine whether a backup should take place, but in the end, I can't spend ten minutes watching a beachball turn. If I disable everything except file modification date, it still runs forever and forever. The interface went from intutive to counter (folders containing files that are going to be altered show a "--->", but only if the files to be changed are within that immediate folder! if they're in a sub-folder, there's no indicator). The permissions issues that arrived with Mac OS X 10.5.6 have turned Chronosync into a dangerous user folder wrecker. If I sync two desktops together (and I couldn't decipher how to tell Chronosync not to sync surrounding folders), when I go on the other Mac, I can't write a Word document and save it to the desktop! I don't have "correct access permissions" to save my own file. The nightmare goes on from there, and I've even had to re-install the Mac OS twice to try and get around this mess. Sadly, I'm abandoning ship and moving on... but where to? At present, it looks like Carbon Copy Cloner is my best bet. [alert admin]
Post a comment | More Info | 2 of 3 users found this helpful
Saturday, March 07 2009 @ 04:26 AM PST
ChronoSync 4.0.1 (Mac OS X)
Send version 4 back to sleep with the fishes 
After years of relying on Chronosync to handle backups - even though it wasn't perfect, version 4 has thrown everything out of whack. The program "sets up" to upgrade v 3 files and then countermand settings that were exactly the way I wanted them in version 3 - I've ended up with my desktop and my laptop having dozens of files and folders which can't be opened without running them through BatchMod to repair permission errors. Unlike other users, I have had very responsive results when contacting Chronosync - but the answers have made the use of the program even more of a challenge. According to them (if I understood and am quoting them correctly), the problems lie in a change in the way Apple's Mac OS X 10.5.6 handles user permissions. I was told that I shouldn't use "Target Drive" mode any longer, but should connect the two machines via Ethernet. Even with Gigabit Ethernet, I sat there watching the 'spinnning beach ball' as Chronosync tried to make sense of ONE 16MB file (albeit an Address Book archive that is made up gazillions of little metatext files) - and finally gave up. The results of dealing with trying to sync Mac Mail (my Mail folder is 1.6 Gigabytes) was almost funny, if you don't count the fact that I waited so long I was late for dinner one time too many and my girlfriend is moving out now. Sync my entire Home folder this way? My cats may leave! I back-graded to version 3 and that seemed to work okay, but the program altered the permissions settings by copying some (not all) files and folders - a folder with 2,200 music files that was sync'd perfectly in version 3, all of a sudden Chronosync 4 wants to overwrite my entire iTunes music folder - because of one difference in the permissions settings. The tooltips - not unlike many tooltips in the Mac world - are laughable. If you hove over a checkbox, the tooltip repeats the name of the checkbox, but in a sentence: Example "Preserve access control lists" is explained by saying "Preserves access control lists on filesystems that support them." Well, thank god for the explanation - that's certainly a huge help. At this point, I regrettably am ready to abandon Chronosync entirely - and try some other stuff (Backup? Retrospect? Carbon Copy Cloner? Synchronize+?). I really can't take any more of mucking around with this stuff - it's the EXACT OPPOSITE of getting actual work done on the Mac. [alert admin]
Read Comments (1) | More Info | 1 of 1 users found this helpful
Friday, January 23 2009 @ 09:08 PM PST
Repair Disk Utilitys Permissions 3.0 (Mac OS X)
I apologize for posting a commentary without being a consistent user of this software - I've had OK results with it. But given the complaints listed in the feedback, it seems odd to me that no one has mentioned BatchMod, which also has its quirks (unexpected quits in 10.5.5 from time to time, etc) but performs many of the same tasks well, can focus in on individual files and folders, and is freeware. But I'm going to download this latest edition of RDUP and see what's what. [alert admin]
Friday, December 12 2008 @ 07:54 AM PST
Stationery Pack 2.0 (Mac OS X)
Upgrades for registered users?
Version 1 was $30 - what I thought was a hefty price for a product with a fairly mediocre assortment of templates (given the fact, say, that iWeb, Keynote and Pages, which contain totally professional design templates, are effectively sold at around $35 each ($100 for all 3) But SP1 did have a few gems mixed in. The lack of customizability of the templates was a frustrating feature - nice backgrounds but one can't delete an obnoxious photo or graphic plopped in the middle. A price jump clear up to $50US is pretty intense. Add to that - absolutely no discount offered to those of us who supported Equinux and plunked down cash for Stationery Pack v 1 - when it was not a tried & tested product - feels enough like a slap in the face to me to take a pass on this. I hope Equinux will reconsider and offer SP2 to previous users for, say, a $25 upgrade price. Otherwise, I'll build my own in HTML. [alert admin]
Read Comments (1) | More Info | 1 of 1 users found this helpful
Thursday, October 02 2008 @ 03:00 PM PDT
MacPilot 3.0.6 (Mac OS X)
I agree with a previous poster - this version is terrific (for those of us who find Terminal too much to take on). My only complaint is, I'd like one button per pane (well, actually, one button for the entire program) to re-set my Mac OS X 10.5 installation back to factory settings. A few times I've experimented and been unable to track down mysterious behavior in the system. [alert admin]
Read Comments (1) | More Info | 5 of 5 users found this helpful
Monday, June 16 2008 @ 09:29 AM PDT
PopChar X 4.0 (Mac OS X)
Free update - what's the problem?
PopChar has saved my heinie so many times I've lost count - it's a must-have utility for anyone who does text editing. As a web designer, having HTML codes at my fingertips has saved hours. The newest version (4) just arrived by announcement, and at no charge for registered users of previous versions. I think the price - in any currrency conversion you'd like - is well worth it. A TOP TEN Mac utility! [alert admin]
Post a comment | More Info | 1 of 4 users found this helpful
Monday, June 16 2008 @ 09:21 AM PDT
BBEdit 8.7.2 (Mac OS X)
Unless one is so versatile with XHTML as to be able to write pure code down on napkins (or in TextEdit or WordPad), I can't imagine living without BBEdit. I only wish it's Help files & built-in "tutorial" were better organized & indexed - starting with an alphabetical index built in to the help system. Trying to find solutions to arcane problems can be a real challenge, and some topics significant enough to be menu items aren't even listed in the help files. That said - this is the heavy fuel of choice for most web coders I know. [alert admin]
Post a comment | More Info | 1 of 1 users found this helpful
Sunday, May 18 2008 @ 09:19 PM PDT
Microtek ScanWizard Pro 7.60 (Mac OS X)
Just had to add, that after the last post, I downloaded a fresh copy of ScanWizard Pro 7.60 - and experienced very different results. This time the software crashes upon launching - period. Can't get it to even go past the startup screen (after deleting ALL prefs and user files the Uninstaller left in Libraries. Congratulations, Microtek! Anyone have an Epson V750 for sale? [alert admin]
Thursday, May 01 2008 @ 07:09 PM PDT
Microtek ScanWizard Pro 7.60 (Mac OS X)
Our Microtek i900 has been almost impossible to wrestle under control using Microtek's PHENOMENALLY badly designed ScanWizard software. Starting off, when you install the software, it actually creates a folder called "Applications" - in the primary user's folder! Helloooooo? After you've wrestled with ScanWizard for enough hours of sudden crashes, impossibility of getting the TWAIN drivers to work importing directly into Adobe CS3 apps, you might be tempted to run the "Uninstaller" which Microtek sees fit to install with every installation. Let's see - if I were going to automatically install an uninstaller, I wonder... would I also contemplate the fact that perhaps some users are uninstalling in order to attempt a clean install? If so, I might be tempted to have the uninstaller actually UNINSTALL THE APPLICATION. Which it will do, provided you've left in the unecessarry Scanwizard folder it created in your Applications folder, which - you guessed it - contains the application, and the uninstaller! Then, it might be a good idea if the uninstaller actually removed the plug-ins it's placed in the Adobe CS3 apps' plug-in folders, the Application Support files it's installed, and last but not least, six or seven preference files for "Microtek" "ScanMaker" "Scanwizard" a bunch of other stuff. This semi-workable scanner is hobbled by the lamest software ever attempted by a company who obviously run Windows EVERYTHING, bought one Mac (a used iMac, I'd guess) and tried to build software for it. [alert admin]
Read Comments (1) | More Info | 1 of 1 users found this helpful
Thursday, May 01 2008 @ 06:37 PM PDT
Last 10 Comments by OxyParadox [ Search for All ]
Can't Uninstall in System Prefs!
HardDrive>Library>Preference Panes Drag the Peripheral Vision.prefPane out of that folder, leave on your desktop or trash - whatever Restart or log out & back in That's it
Original feedback item : Read More
Saturday, September 22 2007 @ 01:06 PM PDT
