[dre@ms]

I am facing some serious issue with my ext. hdd and mbp. Since my ext. hdd is NTFS, writing to it from Mac is a pain.
Tried tuxera, paragon, macfuse. But all these make the detection of my HDD itself slow, and then opening multiple folders is again a pain. Due to this, my ext HDD gets corrupted and slow.

Any work arounds?

[adroit_91]

Originally Posted by dre@ms

I am facing some serious issue with my ext. hdd and mbp. Since my ext. hdd is NTFS, writing to it from Mac is a pain..

Any work arounds?

NTFS is Microsoft's proprietary file system. Is there a particular reason you have to use it? I'd recommend moving to HFS/FAT.

[Samurai]

Originally Posted by joe1980

So what are you trying to say? Are you recommending not to buy an iMac? Dont't scare me away as I'm planning to buy my first Mac Book Pro and so far I'm very much satisfied with my iPad and iPhone 4S. I'm planning to replace my Lenovo Thinkpad with a new notebook and considering to buy the Mac Book Pro.

Well, as long as you have the Apple care for 3 years, you should be ok. They will change everything for free, even the whole machine if the problem is serious. After the 3 years, then you are on your own. Parts and labour will cost an arm and an leg.

But I am disappointed with the lack of diagnosis skill.

To continue from here: http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/gadget...ml#post2734133

The iMac was freezing whenever I do something heavy with display. Like playing a HD movie and drag that window across the screen. In addition, it was not booting 9/10 times, forcing me to use safe boot option in Mac OS. This second problem had started after I removed rEFit boot manager.

Their solution... take backup, re-install OS. How to backup 2TB drive worth of data? Also, how is display freezing connected to disk corruption?

No Saar, this is the only way. Their supervisor, some lady called Rekha literally tried to drown my protest on the phone, saying re-install is the apple approved technique to solve such problem.

Twenty years back, I was one of the few professionals in Bangalore who could recover crashed hard drives. There were no recovery tools. I wrote my own tools using Assembly and C. I often had to add new features to the tool every time I come across a new problem at a client place.

Now some kid who is barely over 20 is telling me re-install is the only way. So I took matters into my own hand. I knew corruption was the legacy of rEFit Boot Manager. On a haunch, I re-installed the rEFit Boot Manager back. Voila! Booting problem was solved.

Later the tech-support kid was stunned to see the Windows partition up and running. He had told me on Monday that it was toast. He saw it from safe boot, and he didn't know Windows partitions can't be read in Mac safe boot mode. But I figured it out when I couldn't read NTFS pen drives from safe boot mode.

That left the freezing problem, it happens in both OS. It freezes full screen in Mac and half screen in Windows. Prior to that system becomes hot and fan starts going very loud. That made me realize that it is a hardware problem. In fact, when it freezes in Windows, sometimes it recovers with the message "Display Driver crashed but recovered successfully". Clearly a problem with display circuitry.

When I explained it to the supervisor lady and the Tech-support kid, they kept saying OS install will fix it. How to force them to use their brains? Sheesh, they are not technical enough to analyse the symptoms. I wonder what kind of training these people get.

Finally, when the iMac failed to work with both new and old display, the tech-support kid ventured to say "Something is wrong with the graphics card".

I said "You think that now?"

In the next one month, they changed display, graphics card, logic board, and some cable, one by one. Basically, they kept changing things until things started working. Yet, they wanted to re-install the OS first, which would have been a very wasteful affair.

I finally passed on the repaired iMac to my Apple development team since I was not really using the Mac OS. I downgraded to a Core i5 all-in-one PC (HP Omni 220-1020in).

[joe1980]

I do not know if my Lenovo Thinkpad has got ears and eyes. It somehow came to know that I would be getting a Mac Book Pro and it is now showing her resistence. The screen flickers very often and I see a patch roughly about 8 cms think running from the top to bottom and this patch constantly flickers. Thank god this is still under warranty. I hope to get it repaired soon.

[quickdraw]

Originally Posted by navin

What I liked about the Mac was that is automatically figured out I was conected to a wired LAN then when I turned on the iPad the iPad figured out the Macbook was available on wireless so via a single LAN cable I got internet access to both machines seemlessly and quickly (straight out of the box). With a PC youd have had to enter numbers and passwords etc..

Loving it already eh? There are many good switching guides available online, google them! Also many of us can recommend good apps, please do feel free to ask away.

Also one of the biggest pet peeve of mine is seeing people who try to use Mac's as windows machines (minimizing, file management etc.) These are bad habits you'll have to un-learn. Look up mission control and desktop management, you're in for a productivity boosting surprise.

Originally Posted by Samurai

Now I have given the iMac to my Apple team, they were happy to welcome it into their fold.

AppleCare, brilliant isn't it? Also most Apple Service centres will provide a temporary unit for work if repairs take this long. If I were you I would ask for one.

Word of advice for TBhpians looking out to buy a MacBook Pro, wait for a while. New models are expected anytime now. I am eagerly awaiting the launch as-well. Cant wait to get my hands on a retina display packing 15' Pro

[Samurai]

Originally Posted by quickdraw

AppleCare, brilliant isn't it?

How? In my experience PC customer care folks diagnose and fix problems lot faster than Apple care, who kept ordering new parts every 3-4 days until it worked. I buy all my hardware with 3 year warranty.

Originally Posted by quickdraw

Also most Apple Service centres will provide a temporary unit for work if repairs take this long. If I were you I would ask for one.

In my case they kept promising it is a matter of days, but dragged for a month. Besides, loaner unit won't work for me, I'll need a week to setup my work computer with WIN7 and Linux development environment.

[shajufx]

Do we have to take the 'applecare' plan within a specific period of time or at the time of purchase itself ? I never bothered to read or ask about any of it and I am on a MBPro since 4th March 2012. How much does it cost and how do I go about it ? Thanks in advance.

And how often one must use the 'time machine' back up ?

[Parthasarathig]

Originally Posted by shajufx

Do we have to take the 'applecare' plan within a specific period of time or at the time of purchase itself ? I never bothered to read or ask about any of it and I am on a MBPro since 4th March 2012. How much does it cost and how do I go about it ? Thanks in advance.

And how often one must use the 'time machine' back up ?

Within a year of purchase you should opt for it. You can purchase it at the imagine stores or even reliance digital. It should cost you around 20k last i checked.
Regards

[Jaggu]

Originally Posted by shajufx

Do we have to take the 'applecare' plan within a specific period of time or at the time of purchase itself ? I never bothered to read or ask about any of it and I am on a MBPro since 4th March 2012. How much does it cost and how do I go about it ? Thanks in advance.

And how often one must use the 'time machine' back up ?

When i picked it up couple of months back, it was 13xxx/- You can purchase withing 1 year from the original purchase date. Need couple of minutes to get your machine registered online once you have the credentials.

[rtandon]

The cheapest APP I've ever bought is in California. No state tax on APP + EPP discounts. Yay, to 17% savings.

[shajufx]

Originally Posted by Parthasarathig

Within a year of purchase .....around 20k last i checked.....

Uff thats a head spinning figure for a 'protection plan' !!! And thats valid only for 2 years right ? My health insurance premium is just half of that

Originally Posted by Jaggu

When i picked it up couple of months back, it was 13xxx/- ......

Sounds better now

Originally Posted by rtandon

The cheapest APP I've ever bought is in California......

So can I get it from the cheapest place available with no geographical restrictions ?

Note: My product is MBPro 15 inch. (MRP around 1.20 I think)

[Parthasarathig]

Originally Posted by shajufx

Uff thats a head spinning figure for a 'protection plan' !!! And thats valid only for 2 years right ? My health insurance premium is just half of that

Sir its different for different mac sizes. In your case it should be around 20k. Im talking of the three year protection plan.
I do think for mbp 15 and 17inches its the same.

Regards

[Samurai]

Originally Posted by shajufx

Uff thats a head spinning figure for a 'protection plan' !!! And thats valid only for 2 years right ? My health insurance premium is just half of that

Call it protection money, hafta, whatever... But don't be without it. Your machine is covered for 1st year by Apple warranty, this protection plan is for the 2nd and 3rd year. I asked the service center what happens after protection runs out. He said each visit will cost 2000 bucks, with additional cost for labour and parts.

[rtandon]

Originally Posted by shajufx

So can I get it from the cheapest place available with no geographical restrictions ?)

shajufx, I bought it physically, in store. You'd need an address in CA or Oregon (7% sales tax saving) and a contact in one of the companies that get EPP benefits (10% savings).
There no geographical restrictions on computer APPs.

[shajufx]

Originally Posted by Samurai

Call it protection money, hafta, whatever... But don't be without it.....

Hmm I feel the heat of being in the Mac family MBPro 15" was just an entry in my case, want to replace my home desktop with iMac 21" as I dont want to deal with windows anymore. Also my photography related workflow can not be swapped between present set up. And an iPad HD is waiting to reach me as a gift too. So, it should be a very pleasant user-friendly atmosphere with same OS throughout. Eventually I might dispose off 2 windows desktops from home (i3 & i5).

rtandon, I meant only the buying part in the 'geographical' mention. I understand the global validity. My question was if someone can buy the product here and the protection plan from some other country. If thats possible, I can ask some of my friends in US to pick it up for me.