Lately, I’ve had quite a few discussions with clients about the shrinking empty space on their hard drive. Before they know it, they’re getting the “Your hard disk is full” message.

This isn’t too surprising because, if you are like me, you take bazillions of photos and rarely delete any. And as digital cameras are capable of higher and higher resolution, their file sizes are getting larger. (Let’s not even talk about all those songs in iTunes!) Your main hard drive contains the system files for Mac OS X and all the files for all the users. Eventually, even with the best of housekeeping, you will run out of space. At that point it makes sense to invest in an external hard drive, and do a little shuffling around of files to make room on the main drive.

Just about any external drive will work. The most common type has a USB 2.0 connection. Others have Firewire connections. For all around versatility, get one with dual connectivity — both USB 2 and Firewire. You’ll also find that they come in an ever increasing range of capacities — from small 160GB models to 1TB monsters. There are lots of choices. Get the biggest one you can find at the cheapest price! Personally, I have several of the MyBook series of drives by Western Digital.

Once you have your new external hard drive, you can make the move to transfer your entire iPhoto library to it. This will free up a sizeable amount of space on your main hard drive so you can, well… fill it back up again with something else.

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Regardless of what model Mac you have or what version of software you’re using, there are some things you really ought to know about your computer setup. If you only know five things about your computer, let it be these:

1. What operating system (and version) is on your Mac?

Unless you are using an older Mac that is capable of running older, antiquated systems such as OS8 or OS9, your computer is using some form of OSX (the “X” being roman numeral for “Ten”). The first iteration of OSX was known simply as System 10 (code named Cheetah). Subsequent versions of OSX are commonly known as 10.1 (Puma), 10.2 (Jaguar), 10.3 (Panther), and 10.4 (Tiger). The most current OS available for your Mac is now 10.5 (Leopard). Knowing your specific version is quite importand, as so much depends on it. For example, very few printers work on anything older than 10.2 anymore. Similarly, many programs these days only have OS X compatibility, and you have to know which version they will support (currently, Quicken 2007 only supports 10.3+ while TurboTax 2006 still supports 10.2+). Knowing the operating system (OS) and which computer model you have (iMac, iBook, MacBook, Mac Pro, etc) will go a long way when communicating with technicians and other Mac users.

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There are times when you may want (or need) to start up your Mac in a different manner than usual, or perform certain tasks during startup.

To boot from a DVD, for instance, hold down the C key during startup. Or to put your computer into Firewire Target Disk mode, hold down the T key. Some other key combinations are especially useful during maintenance or troubleshooting.

A short list of keyboard combinations used for various tasks during startup is shown below. Click on the links within the table for more information.

These keys should be pressed right after you hear the startup tone, and held down until you get the expected response.

Sometimes, CDs and DVDs (removeable media) can be stubborn and refuse to eject via the normal Mac OS X methods

– pressing the eject key on the keyboard; using the Command-E keyboard combination; clicking the eject button next to the item in a finder window; dragging the icon on the desktop to the trash; or pressing the F12 key (usually on laptops).

There are a number of ways to help coax media out of an optical drive in such a situation.

Before applying these methods, however, note that busy discs (either startup disks or disks with an open file) should not be ejected. Using any of the aforementioned methods on a busy disc will get you nothing. Be patient with a disk that will not eject immediately. Sometimes a disk continues to be “busy” for several seconds even after you’ve closed open files or applications on the disc. Waiting a few moments, then re-attempting the ejection usually works in these situations.

If all the normal methods fail, there ARE a few more tricks you can use to help oust the troubling disc:

Hold down the mouse button at startup. Holding down the mouse button or trackpad button during startup will usually cause a misbehaving optical drive to eject its media.

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