Here are the specs:
10 point multi-touch FHD screen (1920x1200)
1.33 GHZ ATOM Z3740 QUAD Core Processor
2GB RAM and 64GB Flash Storage
Showing posts with label Windows. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Windows. Show all posts
Saturday, October 4, 2014
Lenovo Miix 2 10 inch 2-in-1 hybrid tablet ultrabook
Here are the specs:
10 point multi-touch FHD screen (1920x1200)
1.33 GHZ ATOM Z3740 QUAD Core Processor
2GB RAM and 64GB Flash Storage
Tuesday, January 28, 2014
January Updates
This month has been interesting. I took on some freelance work for guys running old Classic ASP websites. Dealing with Windows again is the theme this month. I'm constantly reminded why I went the Linux/UNIX route 14 years ago. It has been fun; refreshing myself from something I used to do 14-15 years ago.
Sunday, February 17, 2013
Windows 3.1 under VirtualBox
Words can't describe the nostalgic feeling. I was never really fond of Microsoft's original major Windows operating system, 3.1. It had its uses back in the day on those old dual-scan TFT Toshiba laptops I use to run in college. I can still remember the flickers and the side trackballs. I was always an Amiga guy back then. I was the only one in college to do all my homework and work on an Amiga 1200.
Here it is running in 2013 under VirtualBox.
Notice how DOS 6.22 even recognizes my AMD FX-8320 8 core processor.
The year 2013 doesn't seem to effect to operating system. Windows can go well past any Y2K fears.
Unlike Mac OS 9, I couldn't get Windows 3.11 to run 2560x1600 on a 30" screen. I don't know what to say about the 800x600 256 colors!
Here it is running in 2013 under VirtualBox.
Notice how DOS 6.22 even recognizes my AMD FX-8320 8 core processor.
The year 2013 doesn't seem to effect to operating system. Windows can go well past any Y2K fears.
Unlike Mac OS 9, I couldn't get Windows 3.11 to run 2560x1600 on a 30" screen. I don't know what to say about the 800x600 256 colors!
Monday, December 3, 2012
Windows and Thunderbolt. What works and what doesn't.
So, I've been playing with Thunderbolt on Windows and here is a follow-up report.
My motherboard is a GIGABYTE GA-Z77X-UP5 TH. I am running an i7-3770K Ivy Bridge CPU with 32GB of RAM. I got to say, it is a very sweet motherboard CPU combo. You can allocate resources and memory in the BIOS.
Most Thunderbolt drives should work with exception. The Seagate GoFlex Thunderbolt Adapter (STAE121) works great. See screenshots below.
Connected via Thunderbolt. You wont get this performance with USB 3.0.
Built in SATA.
Drobo has posted the following:
http://support.drobo.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/677/~/windows,-thunderbolt,-drobo-5d-%26-drobo-mini
USB 3.0 works on the Drobo 5D just fine. This is a major bummer for those looking to use the Drobo in Windows. This may change in the future.
Thunderbolt mini-Displayport works but I could not do a iMac Target monitor connecting to a Windows machine. Next, displayport via Thunderbolt only works with Intel integrated GPUs. On the Ivy Bridge models, it is the HD4000. I could not get my Kepler Nvidia GPU to pipe the display out to Thunderbolt.
So those are my initial findings. I have not seen any other personal blogs regarding Thunderbolt usage under Windows on the net. Maybe this will be the first post of its kind.
Thunderbolt still seems to be very much a Mac exclusive for the time being.
Mount,read,write NTFS on Macs and do the same with HFS on Windows.
The title of this blog is very long, "Mount,read,write NTFS drives on Macs and do the same with HFS drives on Windows."
If you want to share and mount drives between Macs and PCs you can either use FAT32 or exFAT formatted drives.
exFAT works on OSX versions 10.6.8 and higher and is preferred over FAT32 for support of files larger than 4GB. I actually like exFAT because it is the fastest middle-road solution when you take account Linux usage.
For most purposes, exFAT works great. However, there are times you want to have access to the 'other' OS preferred filesystem such as NTFS on Windows and HFS + on OSX.
I have a few large RAID drives that I would like to occasionally see from either side of the fence.
Hence, I decided to fork out the cash and buy commercial drivers from Paragon system to mount, read and write NTFS volumes on Macs and do the same for HFS+ volumes on Windows.
I've tried other products including various free ones but performance was lacking. I was pleasantly surprised with both piece of software from Paragon.
So today, I will do a dual review on both products as a single end-user.
HFS + for Windows
http://www.paragon-software.com/home/hfs-windows/
and
NTFS for Mac OSX10
http://www.paragon-software.com/home/ntfs-mac/
Pretty much install and reboot. There is nothing to configure on Windows as I can tell. On the Mac, you have a System Preference pane.
First of all, I did not notice any significant speed handicaps. The drive access seemed as fast as native on both Mac and PC. I've used other filesystem drivers such as NTFS-3G on Mac, Fuse on Linux and they all seemed very, very slow. Here, it is blazing fast. 7GB files took about a minute to copy and copy reliably.
Benchmarks on both pc and mac seem to indicate no performance penalty but the real test was real-world copies which appeared normal to me.
Both screenshots below are benchmarks of drives that were 60% full with operating systems on them.
USB 3, eSATA and Thunderbolt are both supported. Thunderbolt was not disclosed in their marketing but as you can see from the Windows screenshot above, a Samsung 830 SSD via a Seagate Thunderbolt adapter on a Gigabyte motherboard does indeed work. I was also able to connect a HFS formatted Drobo 5D via USB 3.0. All the USB 3.0 sticks and external drives I have in my possession work on both.
I run 64 bit on both OS so it is safe to say it works otherwise this review would not exist. I am running the latest Mountain Lion 10.8.2 and no problems to report.
Next, I tested them both by making and copying large encrypted Truecrypt container files. TrueCrypt (for my mac readers) is an encrypted file container like an encrypted DMG that works cross platforms on Windows, Mac, Linux. Think of it as open source, open platform DMG that is encrypted.
I made my truecrypt containers 7GB to see if there was any corruption. I then copied a clone disk image of a fresh Mountain Lion install. I made the container on my Windows system NTFS drive on the Mac and copied the DMG into the container. I then booted into Windows , mounted and copy the container to various HFS and NTFS drives. I was able to mount and copy, restore the clone image reliably.
It is safe to say, mounting TrueCrypted volumes on either platform works. For example, a HFS truecrypt container created on a mac will mount on the Windows side.
Next, in Windows, you can toggle hidden directories in the explorer. It was very nice. No more ._files or .DS_Store files.
See below. The first image is with the default Explorer view. Clean and tidy. The second image is after I enabled hidden file view in the Explorer preference.
The cons are:
Neither will see software raids created by the opposing OS. For example, I plugged my Thunderbolt LaCie into Windows (which works via Thunderbolt) and I can see the drives in the Device Manager but not the RAID volume.
Neither will see encrypted file systems created by the other.
For example, you can't see a FileVault HFS+ on Windows. To me, this is considered to be a good thing because I keep my work on encrypted volumes.
There are other issues as well. For example, symlinks, permissions, and extended attributes are not preserved on the Windows side when dealing with HFS drives. Certain mac files still use resource forks (which contain extended meta-data) and labels. If you copy them on Windows using HFS+ (copy HFS to HFS), they will not be preserved.
Below is an example. The script folder is highlighted in red label on OSX. Those attributes get stripped when you copy under Windows. Same with the broken link icon on files that have resource forks.
The meta-data, resource forks , symlinks are preserved on the mac side when working with NTFS drives. Meaning, if you copy specials files on OSX onto NTFS drives, you will be fine.
You just can't do that on the Windows side.
Apparently you can set an NTFS as a startup disk on OSX. I did no test this.
This is a minor inconvenience but it is something to know. It is also disclosed in the manual.
You wont be able to use Windows cloning software to clone a Mac Drive. If you need anything that maintains permissions or meta-data, copy the files in the native operating system. The resource forks and labels are relics from the classic Mac past. I love my colored labels but this is not a show stopper.
Overall, I am pleasantly surprised. Both app drivers are $20 and you have the option of getting multi computer home licenses.
If you want to share and mount drives between Macs and PCs you can either use FAT32 or exFAT formatted drives.
exFAT works on OSX versions 10.6.8 and higher and is preferred over FAT32 for support of files larger than 4GB. I actually like exFAT because it is the fastest middle-road solution when you take account Linux usage.
For most purposes, exFAT works great. However, there are times you want to have access to the 'other' OS preferred filesystem such as NTFS on Windows and HFS + on OSX.
I have a few large RAID drives that I would like to occasionally see from either side of the fence.
Hence, I decided to fork out the cash and buy commercial drivers from Paragon system to mount, read and write NTFS volumes on Macs and do the same for HFS+ volumes on Windows.
I've tried other products including various free ones but performance was lacking. I was pleasantly surprised with both piece of software from Paragon.
So today, I will do a dual review on both products as a single end-user.
Here is a HFS Plus volume under Windows 7.
A NTFS volume under MacOSX.
http://www.paragon-software.com/home/hfs-windows/
and
NTFS for Mac OSX10
http://www.paragon-software.com/home/ntfs-mac/
Pretty much install and reboot. There is nothing to configure on Windows as I can tell. On the Mac, you have a System Preference pane.
First of all, I did not notice any significant speed handicaps. The drive access seemed as fast as native on both Mac and PC. I've used other filesystem drivers such as NTFS-3G on Mac, Fuse on Linux and they all seemed very, very slow. Here, it is blazing fast. 7GB files took about a minute to copy and copy reliably.
Benchmarks on both pc and mac seem to indicate no performance penalty but the real test was real-world copies which appeared normal to me.
Both screenshots below are benchmarks of drives that were 60% full with operating systems on them.
USB 3, eSATA and Thunderbolt are both supported. Thunderbolt was not disclosed in their marketing but as you can see from the Windows screenshot above, a Samsung 830 SSD via a Seagate Thunderbolt adapter on a Gigabyte motherboard does indeed work. I was also able to connect a HFS formatted Drobo 5D via USB 3.0. All the USB 3.0 sticks and external drives I have in my possession work on both.
I run 64 bit on both OS so it is safe to say it works otherwise this review would not exist. I am running the latest Mountain Lion 10.8.2 and no problems to report.
Next, I tested them both by making and copying large encrypted Truecrypt container files. TrueCrypt (for my mac readers) is an encrypted file container like an encrypted DMG that works cross platforms on Windows, Mac, Linux. Think of it as open source, open platform DMG that is encrypted.
I made my truecrypt containers 7GB to see if there was any corruption. I then copied a clone disk image of a fresh Mountain Lion install. I made the container on my Windows system NTFS drive on the Mac and copied the DMG into the container. I then booted into Windows , mounted and copy the container to various HFS and NTFS drives. I was able to mount and copy, restore the clone image reliably.
It is safe to say, mounting TrueCrypted volumes on either platform works. For example, a HFS truecrypt container created on a mac will mount on the Windows side.
Next, in Windows, you can toggle hidden directories in the explorer. It was very nice. No more ._files or .DS_Store files.
See below. The first image is with the default Explorer view. Clean and tidy. The second image is after I enabled hidden file view in the Explorer preference.
The cons are:
Neither will see software raids created by the opposing OS. For example, I plugged my Thunderbolt LaCie into Windows (which works via Thunderbolt) and I can see the drives in the Device Manager but not the RAID volume.
Neither will see encrypted file systems created by the other.
For example, you can't see a FileVault HFS+ on Windows. To me, this is considered to be a good thing because I keep my work on encrypted volumes.
There are other issues as well. For example, symlinks, permissions, and extended attributes are not preserved on the Windows side when dealing with HFS drives. Certain mac files still use resource forks (which contain extended meta-data) and labels. If you copy them on Windows using HFS+ (copy HFS to HFS), they will not be preserved.
Below is an example. The script folder is highlighted in red label on OSX. Those attributes get stripped when you copy under Windows. Same with the broken link icon on files that have resource forks.
The meta-data, resource forks , symlinks are preserved on the mac side when working with NTFS drives. Meaning, if you copy specials files on OSX onto NTFS drives, you will be fine.
You just can't do that on the Windows side.
Apparently you can set an NTFS as a startup disk on OSX. I did no test this.
You wont be able to use Windows cloning software to clone a Mac Drive. If you need anything that maintains permissions or meta-data, copy the files in the native operating system. The resource forks and labels are relics from the classic Mac past. I love my colored labels but this is not a show stopper.
Overall, I am pleasantly surprised. Both app drivers are $20 and you have the option of getting multi computer home licenses.
Thursday, November 29, 2012
Windows and Thunderbolt
I recently got myself a GIGABYTE GA-Z77X-UP5 TH (Ivy Bridge z77 chipset motherboard) along with an i7 -3770k; fully loaded with 32GB RAM and dual SDDs.
As you can see in the photo below, it has two Thunderbolt ports! I will report shortly on how well it performs under Windows with the various Thunderbolt devices I have as I get settled in with the computer.
First of all, as a Hackintosh, Thunderbolt does work with devices plugged in at boot. You can't hotswap after the OS is loaded.Displaylink-HDMI works. I had 4 monitors connected.
Overall, this is a great motherboard. 6 USB 3.0 ports in the back. Motherboard has 3 USB 3 headers so you can add another 6 ports in the front. It has two USB 2.0 ports in the back and many more headers as well. My case adds another 6 USB 2.0 ports. Plenty of SATA. The ESATA is a Marvell chipset and supports 6.0 Gbs SATA III.
I've got 16,000 + Geekbench scores with this board and a 4.0GHZ clocked i7 3770K.
Stay tune as I will report back on how Thunderbolt works under Windows 7.
Monday, November 12, 2012
Windows to Go and the OSX take on it.
Windows to Go is making big news in the tech scene this past Summer and Fall. Every where I go, I read something about it. People are making a big deal about it.
So what is the big deal? Windows to Go is a feature in Windows 8 Enterprise that allows you to boot and run from USB. This is different than LiveCD/USB with persistence you find in Linux or previous USB OS installers in Windows. You get to run the full operating system via a USB stick or drive.
It is designed for Windows Enterprise users (Admins) to provision and build custom images for deployment. This is specifically aimed for the enterprise.
Feature Overview: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/f82d1a0a-d8f7-4e8a-86a6-704166969a42#wtg_hardware
FAQ: http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows-8/windows-to-go-faqs
Wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_To_Go
Enable Apps Store install in Windows to Go Workspace: http://blogs.msdn.com/b/hyperyash/archive/2012/08/15/enabling-windows-store-on-windows-to-go-machines.aspx
Step by Step /how-tos for building a bootable USB image:
This is tailored for the enterprise and Windows 8 Enterprise provide easy provisioning tools.
You dont necessarily need Windows 8 Enterprise and I've found countless how-tos online which drag you along a trail of steps.
The whole process seems convoluted. You have to extract .WIM (Windows Image File) from the Install DVD and prep your USB by format and partitioning.
Then there is the issue of licensing which Microsoft hasn't touched on yet.
Once installed, I've read there are some issues with it such as the physical disks are hidden from view. There are others like performance issues. It seems to me like a form of persistence found in Linux distros and not a true full install.
A Mac user's take on this.
Now, this blog would do an injustice if it didn't show you how it is done on another operating system with a bit more elegance.
Mac OSX has been booting off portable USB/Firewire since 1999. I mean full working OS booting and not some sort of USB installer or some sort of live USB with persistence. In fact, I remember installing OSX and booting off the original 5GB Firewire iPod to do system imaging for Macs.
The preferred way to do this is cloning.
If you ever "ghosted" or clone a machine (regardless of platform), on a Mac, you can boot off the ghost clone on any drive. It is really that simple. You can do a clean fresh install to any physical media type you wish as there is no limitation in the OS.
Next, there is no concept of "workspace" that Microsoft has implemented. You can see other drives and hardware on your clone boot. Nothing is hidden. And unlike some Linux distros, OSX does not load the OS read-only into RAM. The persistence method found in most Linux USB, to me, is not a full running install.
Moreover, on a Mac, it also doesn't have the limitations such as "apps" being locked to hardware or other issues I've read on Windows to Go. You install Photoshop and Office on one build, it works once booted off another machine.You can clone off one image and run pretty much on any mac of comparable generation. You won't be able to boot a 2012 Mac off a 2006 clone which is given but you can pretty much go up and down at least 2-3 generation of hardware.
There is no provisioning tool necessary and you don't have to extract anything from any an ISO or DVD like you do with Windows 8.
In fact, you can take your live running mac and do a live hot-clone. All your existing files, emails, applications and preferences will carry right over. The next time you boot off your USB stick, it will remember where you last left off on your original drive.
No special apps is necessary to accomplish this feat. In fact, you can do it with the built in Disk Utility or simply run from the command line. There are apps that allow you to simplify things like Carbon Cloner (which for years was free). These apps allow you to do things like schedule synching of a working mac. E.G. make nightly clones, synchronize and update your USB stick off your original drive. If you wish, you can sync back from your USB to your hard drive.
The only requirement is that you format your drive in GUID format which you already do anyways on a Macintosh. There is no need to build a boot partition or master boot record.
You don't even need a USB drive. You can boot off Firewire, Thunderbolt, SDcard, and even off another Mac via a normal Firewire/Thunderbolt cable.
Another plus, if you have existing apps on other mounted partitions, no re-installation necessary for 90% of those applications. Since Mac Apps are special clickable folders, all you need to do is click to run. This is equivalent to Windows' portable apps but default on OSX. They are mostly self-contained. You simply copy the app over if you want them permanently installed on your new USB drive. No running "setup.exe" or "install.msi" necessary.
You can boot your OS off USB and run your apps off SDcard if you are limited by storage.
Now lets compare how it is done between the two.
Example how-to build a Win-to-Go. You can read various how-tos online like this. Unless you have the Enterprise provisioning tool, expect to google various how-tos and articles showing you the beauty of it all.
And here how it is done on a Mac with 2 commands in the terminal. This is done on a live running machine or you can do this clone cold.
asr -source /Volumes/Macintosh\ HD/ -target /Volumes/backup -erase -noprompt
bless -folder /Volumes/Macintosh\ HD\ 1/System/Library/CoreServices
No reformat necessary for existing HFS formatted drives.. You can even keep your existing content on your destination drive!
Then boot from your desired drive connection. Below, I have the same build cloned to a Firewire, USB 3 drive, USB 3 stick, Thunderbolt, and SDcard.
As you can see here, I can select the various bootable volumes. Hit the option key at boot to prompt your boot selection. Notice the nice graphical boot menu which has been around since 1999.
Or if you prefer, boot off another Mac using Target Disk mode by connecting two cables to one another.
Thats it. So you can see why I chuckle whenever I read something on the Internet about Windows to Go. I've been doing this since 1999. In fact, I've probably built hundreds of clones and imaging on various media formats for over 13 years now.
I guess I've taken this feature for granted. I recently bought some external drives and when I format them, I often have a 16 GB partition where I clone over my latest build and I don't even think about it because it comes natural on the Mac.
In fact, I've been booting off a portable Thunderbolt drive and it is faster than running off the internal drive of a 27" iMac. I often swap machines and boot off the same drive on other macs; running Adobe Creative Suite and MS Office all day long. I get 8 second boot, 300 MB/s writes and 400-500 MB/s reads. Photoshop and Dreamweaver launches in 2 seconds flat. This is how I've been taking my work home for years. There is absolutely no difference whatsoever or work-around running from an alternate external boot.
Then if I get bored, I can clone my working, running mac to a disk image and boot that image off a netboot share.
So what is the big deal? Windows to Go is a feature in Windows 8 Enterprise that allows you to boot and run from USB. This is different than LiveCD/USB with persistence you find in Linux or previous USB OS installers in Windows. You get to run the full operating system via a USB stick or drive.
It is designed for Windows Enterprise users (Admins) to provision and build custom images for deployment. This is specifically aimed for the enterprise.
Feature Overview: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/f82d1a0a-d8f7-4e8a-86a6-704166969a42#wtg_hardware
FAQ: http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows-8/windows-to-go-faqs
Wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_To_Go
Enable Apps Store install in Windows to Go Workspace: http://blogs.msdn.com/b/hyperyash/archive/2012/08/15/enabling-windows-store-on-windows-to-go-machines.aspx
Step by Step /how-tos for building a bootable USB image:
- link 1: http://social.technet.microsoft.com/wiki/contents/articles/6991.windows-to-go-step-by-step-en-us.aspx
- link 2: http://www.triballabs.net/2012/03/step-by-step-guide-to-install-windows-8-to-go-on-a-usb/
- link 3: http://www.vsszone.com/how-to-create-a-windows-to-go-usb-drive-runs-windows-8-on-older-windows-7-pcs/
This is tailored for the enterprise and Windows 8 Enterprise provide easy provisioning tools.
You dont necessarily need Windows 8 Enterprise and I've found countless how-tos online which drag you along a trail of steps.
The whole process seems convoluted. You have to extract .WIM (Windows Image File) from the Install DVD and prep your USB by format and partitioning.
Then there is the issue of licensing which Microsoft hasn't touched on yet.
Once installed, I've read there are some issues with it such as the physical disks are hidden from view. There are others like performance issues. It seems to me like a form of persistence found in Linux distros and not a true full install.
A Mac user's take on this.
Now, this blog would do an injustice if it didn't show you how it is done on another operating system with a bit more elegance.
Mac OSX has been booting off portable USB/Firewire since 1999. I mean full working OS booting and not some sort of USB installer or some sort of live USB with persistence. In fact, I remember installing OSX and booting off the original 5GB Firewire iPod to do system imaging for Macs.
The preferred way to do this is cloning.
If you ever "ghosted" or clone a machine (regardless of platform), on a Mac, you can boot off the ghost clone on any drive. It is really that simple. You can do a clean fresh install to any physical media type you wish as there is no limitation in the OS.
Next, there is no concept of "workspace" that Microsoft has implemented. You can see other drives and hardware on your clone boot. Nothing is hidden. And unlike some Linux distros, OSX does not load the OS read-only into RAM. The persistence method found in most Linux USB, to me, is not a full running install.
Moreover, on a Mac, it also doesn't have the limitations such as "apps" being locked to hardware or other issues I've read on Windows to Go. You install Photoshop and Office on one build, it works once booted off another machine.You can clone off one image and run pretty much on any mac of comparable generation. You won't be able to boot a 2012 Mac off a 2006 clone which is given but you can pretty much go up and down at least 2-3 generation of hardware.
There is no provisioning tool necessary and you don't have to extract anything from any an ISO or DVD like you do with Windows 8.
In fact, you can take your live running mac and do a live hot-clone. All your existing files, emails, applications and preferences will carry right over. The next time you boot off your USB stick, it will remember where you last left off on your original drive.
No special apps is necessary to accomplish this feat. In fact, you can do it with the built in Disk Utility or simply run from the command line. There are apps that allow you to simplify things like Carbon Cloner (which for years was free). These apps allow you to do things like schedule synching of a working mac. E.G. make nightly clones, synchronize and update your USB stick off your original drive. If you wish, you can sync back from your USB to your hard drive.
The only requirement is that you format your drive in GUID format which you already do anyways on a Macintosh. There is no need to build a boot partition or master boot record.
You don't even need a USB drive. You can boot off Firewire, Thunderbolt, SDcard, and even off another Mac via a normal Firewire/Thunderbolt cable.
Another plus, if you have existing apps on other mounted partitions, no re-installation necessary for 90% of those applications. Since Mac Apps are special clickable folders, all you need to do is click to run. This is equivalent to Windows' portable apps but default on OSX. They are mostly self-contained. You simply copy the app over if you want them permanently installed on your new USB drive. No running "setup.exe" or "install.msi" necessary.
You can boot your OS off USB and run your apps off SDcard if you are limited by storage.
Example how-to build a Win-to-Go. You can read various how-tos online like this. Unless you have the Enterprise provisioning tool, expect to google various how-tos and articles showing you the beauty of it all.
And here how it is done on a Mac with 2 commands in the terminal. This is done on a live running machine or you can do this clone cold.
asr -source /Volumes/Macintosh\ HD/ -target /Volumes/backup -erase -noprompt
bless -folder /Volumes/Macintosh\ HD\ 1/System/Library/CoreServices
No reformat necessary for existing HFS formatted drives.. You can even keep your existing content on your destination drive!
Or, point and click like below. Clone and live running Mac to USB/SD/Firewire/Thunderbolt using an app such like Carbon Cloner.
Then boot from your desired drive connection. Below, I have the same build cloned to a Firewire, USB 3 drive, USB 3 stick, Thunderbolt, and SDcard.
As you can see here, I can select the various bootable volumes. Hit the option key at boot to prompt your boot selection. Notice the nice graphical boot menu which has been around since 1999.
Or if you prefer, boot off another Mac using Target Disk mode by connecting two cables to one another.
Here, I boot off another macbook and clone it's entire working content to another bootable USB-SSD drive.
Thats it. So you can see why I chuckle whenever I read something on the Internet about Windows to Go. I've been doing this since 1999. In fact, I've probably built hundreds of clones and imaging on various media formats for over 13 years now.
I guess I've taken this feature for granted. I recently bought some external drives and when I format them, I often have a 16 GB partition where I clone over my latest build and I don't even think about it because it comes natural on the Mac.
In fact, I've been booting off a portable Thunderbolt drive and it is faster than running off the internal drive of a 27" iMac. I often swap machines and boot off the same drive on other macs; running Adobe Creative Suite and MS Office all day long. I get 8 second boot, 300 MB/s writes and 400-500 MB/s reads. Photoshop and Dreamweaver launches in 2 seconds flat. This is how I've been taking my work home for years. There is absolutely no difference whatsoever or work-around running from an alternate external boot.
Then if I get bored, I can clone my working, running mac to a disk image and boot that image off a netboot share.
Saturday, September 22, 2012
Legacy Windows Rsync Backup to FreeNAS
I have some old Windows servers (10 years and counting) and I have been using rsync to back them up to my FreeNAS box. It has been working great for me.
First of all, I do have my Windows servers backup in virtualized format. However, those are only one-time snapshops that I run once in a while. These are classic ASP IIS web servers that I can easily put up on a new VM. However, many of these legacy servers generate gigabytes of data a day in their repositories. Running VM conversion daily is not ideal.
My solution was to use some sort of rsync solution just for the data repos. I've tried some applications that didn't work too well with Samba shares and these old servers have slow I/O. Copying files to external sata or usb drive was not ideal. We've moved on from Windows to Linux and do not have any Windows file servers of capacity to provide network backups. Hence, I decided to use Delta Copy with FreeNAS. So here is a little write up on how to set it up. I have 4 Windows 2000 servers backing up daily with this method.
First, download Delta Copy and install it. It is open-source and pretty much free. It is basically a wrapper for cygwin's rsync. When you install it, it will ask you to install the Server services which allows you to run it as a Rsync server on Windows. You don't need to do this. Instead, you will be just using the Delat Copy Client application. But before we do that, we will need to configure our Rsync service for our Windows Clients on FreeNAS.
In FreeNAS, go under Services , Select Rsync > Rsync Modules > Add Rsync Module.
Then fill out the form; giving the module a name and set the path. In my example, I simply called it WIN and linked it to a user called backupuser.
Here, I made a test sync to a home folder of a virtualized windows box. As you can see, I mounted the rsync volume on my mac to see the progress. The rsync worked beautifully. DeltaCopy did what it was told.
There you have it. Windows rsync to FreeNAS using DeltaCopy.
The nice thing about FreeNAS is you don't have to modify /etc/rsyncd.conf files. Everything can be done in the web admin.
First of all, I do have my Windows servers backup in virtualized format. However, those are only one-time snapshops that I run once in a while. These are classic ASP IIS web servers that I can easily put up on a new VM. However, many of these legacy servers generate gigabytes of data a day in their repositories. Running VM conversion daily is not ideal.
My solution was to use some sort of rsync solution just for the data repos. I've tried some applications that didn't work too well with Samba shares and these old servers have slow I/O. Copying files to external sata or usb drive was not ideal. We've moved on from Windows to Linux and do not have any Windows file servers of capacity to provide network backups. Hence, I decided to use Delta Copy with FreeNAS. So here is a little write up on how to set it up. I have 4 Windows 2000 servers backing up daily with this method.
First, download Delta Copy and install it. It is open-source and pretty much free. It is basically a wrapper for cygwin's rsync. When you install it, it will ask you to install the Server services which allows you to run it as a Rsync server on Windows. You don't need to do this. Instead, you will be just using the Delat Copy Client application. But before we do that, we will need to configure our Rsync service for our Windows Clients on FreeNAS.
In FreeNAS, go under Services , Select Rsync > Rsync Modules > Add Rsync Module.
Then fill out the form; giving the module a name and set the path. In my example, I simply called it WIN and linked it to a user called backupuser.
This process is much easier than trying to configure the daemon rsyncd.conf file by hand.
Now, on the Windows Client, start the DeltaCopy Client. You will create a new Profile.
You will need to enter the IP of the Rsync server (FreeNAS) and specify the module name which will be called "Virtual Directory Name." When you pull the select menu, the list of Rsync Modules you created earlier in FreeNAS will populate.
You can set authentication. On the server, you can restrict by IP and do other things to lock down your rsync.
Next, you will add folders (and/or files) you want to synchronize.
Once the paths are set up, you can run a sync by right clicking the profile name.
Once you get everything working. The next thing to do is set schedules. If you done tasks schedules in Windows before, it is pretty straightforward. DeltaCopy has a link in the application to directly create a new task for you. I set my backups to run nightly and it has been working great.
There you have it. Windows rsync to FreeNAS using DeltaCopy.
The nice thing about FreeNAS is you don't have to modify /etc/rsyncd.conf files. Everything can be done in the web admin.
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