Monthly Archives: June 2012

iSensei is here for you!

An old friend of the iSensei wrote in with a question whose answer may benefit the larger audience:

Alright iSi, I got a good one for ya.
I have an iMac with an external hard drive connected via USB. Many times, if I leave it alone and come back later, when the screen comes back up I am confronted with a warning message:
“The disk was not ejected properly. If possible, always eject a disk before unplugging it or turning it off”…blah blah blah.
It’s my archive drive so it’s a little scary that I could be slowly corrupting files.
My question: What the heck is my HD doing while I’m away and how do I stop it from doing it?
Looking forward to you wisdom.
 JB

iSensei wisely responds:

hmmmm, could be nasty… or nothing. I would try hooking it up to a different USB port (on both ends, if possible) and use a different cable. May be a loose or broken connection there. Also, run Disk Utility and have it examine the disk for any error messages. Given the cost (not much) for large hard drives these days, I’d seriously think about buying a another drive to act as a secondary backup/archive.
Redundancy! Security! Liberté!

Got a question? Stumped? Just plain out of options? iSensei offers joy and enlightenment.
Just post your inquiry to the Comments & Questions area to the right.

(The iSensei reserves the right to reproduce your letter, but will only credit it to your initials or a pseudonym of your choice, and he’s morally obligated to fix really horrendous spelling and punctuation. This IS a classy site, remember?)

Don’t Be Shy!

Devoted Acolytes,

I know responding or commenting on iSensei’s postings may seem untoward or even sacrilegious, but honest, you’re not going to hurt his feelings (well, you could, but you’re all such nice folk). The Exalted One seeks your input to insure ever greater enlightenment for us ALL!

AND, if you have a question about your hardware or software of the kind we’re covering here, bring it! (It’s easier than iSensei having to figure out what to write about.) Remember, there are no dumb questions… only dumb answers, I guarantee you.

AND, AND, please be sure to send iSensei’s link* to ALL of your friends. Even your acquaintances. (I’d stop at relatives you don’t like, as we don’t need them at our party, now do we?)
iSensei takes no monetary compensation for sharing his wisdom.
The ego boost is enough to pay the rent. It’s a Win-Win for all!

AND, AND, AND, just to make this annoying talking in the third person easier, iSensei will now also go by “iSi” (aye-sigh). Plus it made for a cool new logo – see above!

*Just right-click (if nothing exciting happens, just hold down the Control key and click) on this colored text following, which should allow you to COPY THIS LINK to your clipboard. Then you can paste it anywhere: an email, a document containing important stuff, whatever.

As a matter of fact, that addresses a useful topic that will be covered in greater depth quite soon: The Right Stuff…no, I mean The Right Click! Easy for the experienced to assume all know its power but interactions with mortals have taught this one not to take any knowledge for granted. Some folks don’t ever use it even. iSensei cries for you. Anyway, that’s the Something Useful, This Way Comes I threatened you all with recently. Very useful. You’ll see.

Good Deal, Good App

PHONE DRIVE (+File Sharing)
The full version is currently free on the App Store.
Note: there is also a “PHONE DRIVE FREE” app, which is a limited tester version. Phone Drive icon

Regularly $1.99 (or something), iSensei tripped upon this useful utility app (Universal, one download works on both iPh & iPa) that helps you get files of all sorts from your iPhone or iPad to Mac, and also between those iOS devices. Always one of the concerns of these devices, transferring files back & forth has never been as straightforward as we’d like (though iSensei predicts that change is coming soon).

Here’s the link to Phone Drive app page to get more info. iSensei tested it out a bit and seems to do what it promises (which is more than just transfer files). Wanted to get this post up soonest so all followers can benefit from the half-price offer of 99¢!

%d bloggers like this: