OSX

From DigitalOps.Org Wiki

Contents 1 Links 2 Performance 3 OSX Tips & Tricks 3.1 How to display hidden files in Finder 3.2 Finding files with certain metadata 3.3 Installing Lion on 2011 Mac Mini with RAID (simple method) 3.4 Taking a screen shot 3.5 How to select and alternative iTunes Library when starting iTunes

Links

• OS X Lion Server: Advanced Administration Guide.
• OS X Server Admin Tools for Lion 10.7

Performance

Machine	OS & Config	Disk Speed Results
Mac Mini Server 2011 (5,3)	OS X Lion 10.7.0 2 GHz Intel Core i7 8 GB 1333 MHz DDR3 Twin internal 750Gb HD (WD7500BTKT)† Apple Software RAID 1 (mirrored)	111.5 MB/s Write 121.5 MB/s Read
iMac 2011 (12,2)	Snow Lepard 10.6.8 3.4 GHz Intel Core i7 12 GB 1067 MHz DDR3 Single internal 1Tb HD (WD1001FALS) ††	113.4 MB/s Write 112.5 MB/s Read

† Part number indicates this to be a WD Scorpio Black

†† Part number indicates this to be a WD Caviar Black

OSX Tips & Tricks

How to display hidden files in Finder

Use the following in Terminal

$ defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles TRUE
$ killall Finder

To hide them again just change to FALSE.

You can also see hidden files in any open file dialog by pressing SHIFT-COMMAND-. (that is a period).

Finding files with certain metadata

Use mdfind as in this example to find all files with the com_apple_backup_excludeItem = 'com.apple.backupd' attribute

$ sudo mdfind "com_apple_backup_excludeItem = 'com.apple.backupd'"

Installing Lion on 2011 Mac Mini with RAID (simple method)

• Hold Command+R on the keyboard at start up to boot from the system's recovery partition (if the recovery partition has been deleted, the system should start from Apple's Internet Recovery system; you may need to connect to WiFi if wired ethernet isn't available)
• Once you get into the recovery utility, select Disk Utility and for each of the two hard drives:
  • highlight the drive
  • select the Partition tab
  • select 1 Partition from the Partition Layout pulldown menu
  • select Free Space from the Format pulldown menu
  • click Apply
• After you've wiped both of the drives, highlight one of the disks and click the RAID tab, then create a RAID set (striped or mirrored, as you prefer)
• Quit Disk Utility and from the main recovery utility menu select Reinstall Lion (from this point on, if you have any trouble, you can restart the mini from the Internet Recovery system and return to this point, but the recovery partition will be gone as long as you keep the RAID set)
• After you install and configure Mac OS X Lion Server (which can take well over an hour to download and install), you should be able to reinstall the iLife applications by launching the App Store App and selecting Purchased, then logging in with your Apple ID and agreeing to send your system info to Apple to download the iLife Applications

Full details can be found on the Apple Support pages.

Taking a screen shot

• Command-Shift-3: Take a screenshot of the screen, and save it as a file on the desktop
• Command-Shift-4, then select an area: Take a screenshot of an area and save it as a file on the desktop
• Command-Shift-4, then space, then click a window: Take a screenshot of a window and save it as a file on the desktop
• Command-Control-Shift-3: Take a screenshot of the screen, and save it to the clipboard
• Command-Control-Shift-4, then select an area: Take a screenshot of an area and save it to the clipboard
• Command-Control-Shift-4, then space, then click a window: Take a screenshot of a window and save it to the clipboard

From Macrumors Guides.

How to select and alternative iTunes Library when starting iTunes

On a Mac hold the option key while starting iTunes. On Windows hold the shift key while starting iTunes.