J.D. Moyer

sci-fi author, beatmaker

Tag: SuperDuper!

How I Turned My Obsolete Early 2011 MacBook Pro Into a Screaming Fast Machine

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On November 14

In Problem Solving, Tech

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Back in 2011 my 15″ Macbook Pro was stolen while on vacation in Kauai. Though I never recovered that machine, Statefarm homeowner’s insurance covered the theft, and I was able to get a new 13″ MacBook Pro for the coverage amount less the deductible. I had a recent full backup, and only ended up losing a few days of email.

I’ve had the 13″ MacBook Pro ever since, and it’s one of my favorite computers ever. I use it for writing stories, making beats, writing this blog, some of my consulting work, all kinds of stuff. But over the last year it got really slow. Starting it up became a “walk away and get a cup of coffee” type of thing, and opening even lightweight apps triggered the spinning beachball.

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Protect Your External Brain

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On October 10

In Getting Organized, Health/Body-hacking

We are all cyborgs.

The day after Steve Jobs died our studio PowerMac started to show signs of failure.  It wouldn’t shut down, it wouldn’t start up, kernel panics, etc.  My first instinct when things are going to shit in computer land is to back everything up.  It was also a good time to reevaluate my backup system.

We Are Cyborgs

Like it or not, we are all cybernetic creatures.  Without machines, most of us would be barely functional.  We use a combination of computer chips, hard drive and flash memory, user interfaces, global networks, and space satellites to help us communicate, navigate, think, remember, calculate, and create.

Artificial systems are slowly learning to protect themselves.  Apple’s Time Machine is a good example — it’s a backup system you don’t have to think about.  But we’re not entirely there yet — at this point in our technological evolution we still need to put some thought into how to protect our data (extra-brain memory).

A good backup system protects against:

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