Mac Tech Support

Cleverfiles offers its Disk Drill utility in four configurations, but most importantly including a free edition that users can download at any time to scan for lost files and backup partitions or drives that are starting to fail (but haven't failed...
MacNN Rating:

Product Manufacturer: Cleverfiles

Price: $89

The Good

Does what it says it will do.

Lets users preview their chances of recovery before paying.

Refreshingly realistic tutorial and disclaimers.

Can recover lost partitions, not just files.

Free edition can be used for backup to DMG.

NTFS drives can be scanned.

The Bad

Does not repair directories.

Lists all files in the source directory, not just the deleted ones.

Some features just GUI'd versions of system utilities.

License limited to one user in a household.

Temperature monitor lacks meaningful context.

NTFS drives can't use Recovery Vault.

Read more: http://www.macnn.com/reviews/disk-drill-pro-file-recovery-software.html#ixzz264sHK9jg

You can keep any combination of volumes from automatically being available for read and write in OS X.

OS X will automatically attempt to mount an attached volume when the system is started, and if successful the volume will appear in the Finder either in the sidebar or on your desktop if you have these options enabled. However, there may be instances such as in multi-boot environments when you might want a specific volume to remain unmounted.

With multiple boot volumes in a system, when loaded in one operating system it is relatively easy to access and edit important files on the boot disk of other operating systems. Therefore, keeping the unused boot drive unmounted may be a preferred setup. Additionally, if you have numerous storage volumes for each OS and only wish to use one or two for your current boot system, then you might wish to keep those from mounting as well.

To set OS X up so it does not mount a drive at boot, you will simply have to instruct it to do so in the system's hidden fstab file, which is used for customizing drive mount points and other details about how a specific filesystem is handled.

The first thing you will need is the volume's UUID (universal unique identifier) number, which can be found by opening Disk Utility, selecting the volume of interest, and then pressing Command-i or clicking the blue information button in the Disk Utility toolbar. In the window that appears, locate and copy the UUID, which looks like a string of alphanumeric characters separated by dashes.

With the UUID, you can now create an fstab entry for the volume that prevents it from mounting:

Open the Terminal utility (in the /Applications/Utilities/ folder)Edit the fstab file by running the following command (supply your password when prompted):
sudo pico /etc/fstab

Create a new line at the end of the file that looks like the following (note: replace "NUMBER" with the full UUID string you copied from Disk Utility):
UUID=NUMBER none hfs rw,noauto

Save the file by pressing Control-O, followed by Control-X to quit the editor.

Perform these steps for each volume you wish to prevent automatically mounting, then restart the system, and they should no longer automatically mount. If you need to mount the volumes, then you can open Disk Utility and select them followed by clicking the Mount button in the toolbar, and they should become available in the Finder.

Attachments.me allows Gmail users to search and share e-mail attachments, either through the Web or on an iPhone.

While e-mail was never intended to be a file storage method, it often ends up being used that way. This design shortfall can lead to some infuriating searches for attachments you know are in your account.

Attachments.me wants to help you solve this frustrating problem. To get started, you need to visit Attachments.me on your computer, and sign in using your Gmail account. You will then be asked to grant the service permission to access your account.

After gaining access to your Gmail account, Attachments.me will index attachments in your Gmail account. Going forward, you can then visit the Web site, or install a browser extension (Firefox | Chrome) to quickly search and share your attachments.

Whether you use Gmail, Yahoo Mail, or Hotmail, using keyboard shortcuts can help improve your efficiency.

Gmail
If you haven't taken a look at what you can do in Gmail with your keyboard lately, you may want to check it out. Though Gmail keyboard shortcuts have been around a while, new ones have been added periodically, coinciding with enhancements and new features.

See: How to use Gmail with keyboard shortcuts
http://howto.cnet.com/8301-11310_39-57381488-285/how-to-use-gmail-with-keyboard-shortcuts/

If your e-mail account has turned into a time-sink, consider communicating with coworkers, associates, friends, and family via text messages, voice-to-text, and other services that avoid going through a traditional inbox.

E-mail is the greatest office productivity booster since the invention of the telephone. E-mail is the biggest waste of work time since the invention of the coffee maker.

Lately, I've been leaning toward the latter proposition. I calculate that only one in five of the messages that make it through Gmail's spam filter into my inbox are worth the time it takes to open and read them.

Related stories

Merge your Gmail and iPhone contactsSync contacts and calendars between Outlook, Gmail, and iPhoneMerge your Outlook and Gmail contactsSave Outlook e-mail to your hard diskRemove the attachments from your Outlook e-mail

This doesn't include the spam Gmail automatically identifies and blocks, which in recent years has dropped from more than 90 percent of all the messages sent to just over 70 percent, according to Symantec.

That's still a lot of junk clogging the Net-o-sphere and extending our workdays unnecessarily. Here's how to spend more time communicating and less time wrestling with your e-mail account.

If you haven't taken a look at what you can do in Gmail with your keyboard lately, you may want to check it out.

Using Gmail with keyboard shortcuts can make your time working in Gmail more efficient by keeping your hands on the keyboard. Though Gmail keyboard shortcuts have been around a while, new ones have been added periodically, coinciding with enhancements and new features.

Here's a list of some of the most useful Gmail keyboard shortcuts you can use right now:

Actions and navigation
c : compose new message
r : reply
a : reply all
f : forward
Shift + r : reply in new window
Shift + a : reply all in new window
Shift + f : forward in a new window
e : archive
y : remove label
# : move to trash
! : report spam
+ : mark important
- : mark unimportant
/ : search
s : toggle star
z : undo last action
n : view next message
p : view previous message
? : show keyboard shortcuts

You can now label and add stars to your Gmail messages before sending them, to help you better organize your sent mail.

Gmail labels and stars are a great way to organize your e-mail, especially if you keep all your messages, the way Google recommends. Now, you can add those labels and stars to your messages, before you send them.

When you compose a new Gmail message now, you'll notice the new Labels drop-down menu, next to the Discard button. Before you send your e-mail, select your label or star it, then when you're done composing your message, just hit Send.

Some e-mail messages are quickly trashed; some are better off archived, but a few need work. Gmail has a new experimental feature that lets users save their messages as Google Docs.

Cut and paste is great, but for some purposes, it's a tool of last resort. Gmail makes it much simpler to save your messages as documents and PDFs, keeping formatting intact. Here's how to do it:

Log in to Gmail.
Click the gear-shaped icon near the top right, then select Settings.
Click the Labs tab near the top center.
Scroll down and click Enable next to Create a Document.

Scroll to the top or bottom and click the button labeled Save Changes.
The next time you want to save a message as a doc, just click the More button in the top center of the message reading pane, then select Create a document.
A new tab opens in Google Docs. From here, it's easy to edit, save, and export as a PDF or some other file format.

That's it! This feature is incredibly handy for tackling invites, e-mailed schedules, and all sorts of other problems that cutting and pasting just can't solve.