Q. We recently had our Network Storage Drive fail and we managed to copy the files to a hard drive. How can we share the files with the rest of our workgroup?

A. Network Storage drives are an inexpensive alternative to have a full blown file server in your office. They normally run on a version of Windows and can publish shares via Apple FileSharing Prototcol (AFP), the Windows version of Samba (SMB), FTP and HTTP, the latter two being Internet protocols not really designed for office file sharing.

The problem with them is that people generally don’t think about backing them up in case of disaster. If the system fails you can get at the data without removing the hard drive and voiding the warranty. If the drive fails, you may not be able to recover the files at all. So no matter what solution you choose, you should always have a systematic back up to tape or to another hard drive.

If you can afford it you can put in a File Server, like an Xserve with a RAID system. A RAID is a collection on hard drives and a controller computer that create a live back up of the existing data. They can be set up to Mirror, where a file is written two identical hard drives or they can be set up with Parity, where a group of three or more drives contain a snapshot of the contents of the other drives. With mirroring the contents are identical so if one drive fails you can get the information from the second. With a parity set (aka RAID 5) if a drive fails the system does not stop. It runs a 80 percent and agives you time to replace one of the drives. When the drive is replaced the controller rebuilds the contents on the new drive with information saved on the other drives.

With a proper server like an Xserve you can also set up shares, put users into workgroups and control access to the files with access control lists. This can be necessary if you have production, sales and administration using the same server. You control who can access certain areas of the server, no matter if they are coming from a Macintosh or Windows computer. Servers can also manage printers, mail, ftp, web, as well as many other services.

If you don’t have the budget for a full blown server or you have a small workgroup you can use a plain Mac and download SharePoints (http://www.hornware.com/sharepoints/). SharePoints allows you share folders to groups you create in the same fashion as the MacOS 9 Finder. MacOS X uses unix POSIX pemissions so that normally a file and folder belongs to the creator. This is very secure, however when working in groups files and folders need to accessible to the members. SharePoints makes the Mac act like a file server. As a result members of the group have complete control over the files.

October 16, 2007. Apple Inc has announced today that it will ship the next generation of its operating system 10.5 (aka Leopard) on October 26, 2007. It continues to be innovative, stable and highly compatible. It maintains Apple’s tradition of stunning graphics and incorporates over 300 new features and continues to be extremely compatible with other hardware and devices – while being built on top the extremely secure and stable UNIX operating system.

Many new software enhancements will make the system easier to organize and make users more productive. One such feature is “Spaces”, which allows the user to create groupings of applications into separate workspaces. For instance grouping Mail, Address Book and Safari in one group and QuarkXpress or Indesign, PhotoShop and Illustrator into another. The user could then switch between communications and page design and layout with cluttering up the activities.

Within the Finder are many new features that will speed up work. Using “QuickLook” users will be able to preview movies, multiple page documents and images without having to launch another application. The Finder also incorporates “CoverFlow”, originally introduced in iTunes 7, which allows users to flip through large previews of documents like a digital rolodex. “Stacks” aims to clean up the Desktop clutter by creating groups or stacks of documents and downloaded files.

“TimeMachine” is another breakthrough application which with the purchase of a second hard drive will allow users to painlessly back up their work. “TimeMachine” creates snapshots of the files on the computer which will enable users to “go back in time” to find files or versions of files saved on previous days. By scrolling back to an earlier state, users can recover a previously deleted file and drag it back to the present day Desktop.

Additionally “Back to My Mac” will give users a connection to their other Macs and home or while on the road. Users will be able to connect and navigate their remote machine to get that presentation file that left on their remote Mac. iChat adds the ability to share each user’s desktop and files with others while chatting via video conference. With this kind of built-in collaboration users can work in groups across the office or across the country.

Currently users can use .Mac to share photos, blogs and create web sites as well as being able to sync Bookmarks, Addresses and email. With Leopard users will be able use .Mac to sync their Dashboard widgets, Dock settings, etc, so that all of their Macintosh computers will appear the same and have the same settings.

Apple has also included more features in Parental Control to protect tender minds. BootCamp is also now a standard feature allowing users to run Windows XP SP2 and Vista on an Intel Mac.

Any new Mac purchased since October 1, 2007 is entitled to a free copy of Mac OS X 10.5. Otherwise it can be purchased for $129 for single copies or $199 for a five-user Family Pack. Leopard also requires that users have a Macintosh with Intel Mac, PowerPC G5 or PowerPC G4 processor, a minimum of 512 MB RAM, a DVD for installing and 9 GB of hard drive space. (TimeMachine and .Mac require additional purchases.)

Apple has also announced Mac OS X Server 10.5 (aka Leopard Server), with an enhanced clean interface, which employs a new simplified “Easy Setup”. This means that you don’t need an IT Guy (Hey! Wait a minute…) to quickly set up and configure a server. “Server Admin” has been enhanced for advanced users. You can also pre-configure settings on Leopard Macs from the server. Both Macintosh and Windows users can share files, share managed printers, employ virtual private networks as well as Mail, FTP, Web and Open Directory services.

New features in Mac OS X Server 10.5 includes iCal server for collaborative publishing and sharing of events and appointments. The new “Directory” application is like AddressBook for the network combining contacts, groups, locations and maps. “Wiki Server” takes the “geek” out of setting up a company wide web site where users can create and edit content collectively using drag and drop. Also included is a Podcast Production server so that companies can easily create and publish podcasts to share information and create training materials. The Spotlight Server can search through files on mounted volumes throughout the office allowing users to use QuickView and CoverFlow

Mac OS X Server 10.5, ships on October 26, 2007, will sell for $499 for a 10 – user license or $999 for an unlimited license. Leopard Server will also require a minimum of a Macintosh with an Intel processor, a PowerPC G5 or a PowerPC G4 (867 Mhz minimum). It will also require one gigabyte of RAM and 20 gigabytes of hard drive space.

Q. Our company just upgraded our Microsoft Exchange server and I can no longer send attachments. If I attach a jpeg it arrives as zero K in size unless I sending in a zip file. Is there a workaround?

A. The Internet deals best with ASCII text files. However many of the files we deal with regularly are also binary files. When a binary file is transferred on the Internet via an email program or via FTP transfer , the file may become corrupt. As a result the files should be “encoded” into a text format before they are transferred.

When you create a “zip” archive or use stuffit “.sit” or Apple’s disk image “.dmg” you are in fact storing the file into a format that will survive transfer on the Internet. When you attach a file in an email client it will normally encode the files based on a default set up.

I recommend that all users of Microsoft email clients set the default attachments to “Windows base64/MIME” format. Apple Mail users can choose “Windows Friendly Attachments”. This is an encoding that all Windows machines understand. Windows computers comprise about 80% of all computers so conforming doesn’t affect Mac users that much. In the case of the Exchange Server the base64 formatted files will remain intact.

Q. I have heard that iPhones can be unlocked and used in Canada. Can I drive to the US and buy a iPhone?

A. Hopefully by the time this article is published iPhones will be available in Canada. Rumor has it that Rogers will start carrying the iPhone in November. The iPhone runs on the GSM network and Rogers is the only carrier providing GSM in Canada. As far as I know Rogers is still in discussions with Apple and Rogers is also reviewing its data packages for all phones similar to the iPhone. When these phones are in use they transfer a lot of data. By comparison the phone packge that AT&T offeres iPhone users in the US for $60 a month would cost over $350 on Rogers.

In September a number of hackers developed third party applications to unlock the iPhone. Normally the iPhone is activated with iTunes and also requires an account with AT&T. With the software workarounds it is possible to activate and unlock iPhones for use in Canada. What you end up with is a functioning wireless iPhone with which you can surf the web and with a Rogers SIM card you can make and receive phone calls. A few applications, such as Visual Voice mail, require a connection to AT&T in order to function so they will not work.

So the answer is Yes, maybe. There are unlocked phones already available in The GTA (it is legal to unlock a cellular phone) and there are many users who have them. Some early adopters have even been able to purchase iPhone in the US and have successfully received the $100 store credit – which Apple provided when they cut the iPhone’s price.

Apple recently sent out an update which, while fixing some bugs in the original iPhones, they also deactivated some hacked iPhones. Fortunately there is also a downgrade available to recover the iPhone. That is the price of living on the edge. You can spend $500 or more on the phone and there is no telling what the unauthorized service will cost when you receive your service bill. Exercising patience may be the best approach.

Q. My hard drive seems to be full and Photoshop says my scratch disk is full. I can’t find any more files to through away what can I do?

A. Often your computer will complain that it s full yet there doesn’t appear that there are any big files. In fact there could be a temporary file or and index file and it may be invisible.

The first thing to do is to navigate to the top most folder. Start by clicking on your hard drive. It may be called “Macintosh HD”. From the “View” menu chose “ShowView Options”. You can choose “This Window Only” and check off “Calculate Folder Sizes” near the bottom. Then switch the view for the Finder window to “list” again from the “View” menu. Next click “Size” to sort the items by size, with the triangle pointing down the largest folder will go to the top.

After a short while the folders with the most files by size will move to the top. You can easily clean up files in your own home folder however you should leave the “System”, “Library” and “Applications” alone.

Occasionally you may find a folder has more data in it than its members add up to. In this case there is an invisible item that it taking up a lot of space. This will require a visit from your friendly neighborhood IT guy or a clean up utility to fix

Recently we discovered an invisible 135GB index file called “v_m.txt” that was preventing a user from working. In that case, the file was deleted with the Terminal. You can read about cleaning up space at: http://www.thexlab.com/faqs/freeingspace.html or if you feel inclined you can download TinkerTool from: http://www.bresink.com/osx/TinkerTool.html . Keep in mind my advice and proceed with caution.