FINISHED: Apple / MacOS Tip a day for a year !

I also use CMD + SHIFT + EJECT to send my mac into sleep mode when Im leaving my desk for the night :)

I use CMD SHIFT Q to log out, sleep is fine if you err... don't mind other people using your user profile ;)
 
You can set a password to come out of sleep mode and then initiate sleep mode when you want to lock your computer. If you just wander off it will just go to sleep and effectively lock automatically.
 
Friday 19th December

Tip 36 – Hardware [2] - Fitting a SATA drive into the 2nd optical bay of a Mac pro


There is no good reason to fit a SATA drive instead of the IDE drive in a Mac pro (unless like me you accidentally click on the wrong entry on an order form ☺) BUT there are TWO things you might like to install into the 2nd drive bay instead of a DVD drive.

The two spare SATA ports are NOT available under Windows with boot camp.

Blu-ray drive

Blu-ray media is horrendously expensive and so there is little use in adding a blu-ray drive in order to make backups. Also in order to watch blu-ray films EVERYTHING in the data path must be HDCP compliant which it is not on a Mac pro but you may decide you want to add a blu-ray drive anyway and so I will explain how.

5th hard drive

There are 4 drive bays on a mac pro but if you would like to install another drive you can do so by fitting the drive into a 5.25” adapter and following these same instructions.

The SATA connector.

The Mac pro has two extra SATA plugs on its motherboard, you can see this if you go into about this Mac and look under SATA where it shows 6 SATA ports.

Getting to the SATA ports is not difficult but it does involve taking a screwdriver to your computer and removing a number of components.

First remove the side cover.

Remove your graphics card and any other PCI-E cards.

Remove your memory risers

Remove the two screws below the memory risers.

Remove the two screws holding the fan assembly in place.

Slide the memory riser case to the side.

Un-pop the plastic cover next to it (the cover that covers the processors) and remove this.

Use a PCI slot metal bracket to lever the front fan assembly off.

Connect TWO SATA leads with 90 degree end connectors to the two sockets on the motherboard (fit TWO even if you only need one to avoid having to do all this again should you need the other one!)

Feed the SATA lead through the gap and into the drive bay.

Refit all the above.

You will need an “old style to SATA” power adapter lead which you connect to the old style power plug and then you can fit your new SATA drive into place following the instructions under tip 35.
 
Saturday 20th December

Tip 37 – Hardware [3] - L-Ion batteries


Never leave your laptop with a flat battery for any length of time. Once charged L-Ion batteries hate being left flat and they will permanently loose their ability to hold a charge. I know as both my daughters have had their batteries die on them in these circs. This is not an Apple problem, it is chemistry. The same happens to mobile phones etc !

NOTE: If your battery has more than 300 “Cycle count” then Apple consider it to be worn out and if it dies then sorry but batteries don’t last forever. However if the cycle count is less than 300 Apple will replace a faulty battery EVEN IF IT IS OUT OF WARRANTY! - I took back my daughter’s Macbooks yesterday and they replaced one of the dead batteries even though it was 15 months old as it had a cycle count of 213. The other had 333 so they couldn't swap it.

Checking the cycle count

APPLE >> About This Mac >> More Info… >> Power

Then look under "Battery Information"

Health Information > Cycle count and condition

TIP37.png
 
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Sunday 21st December
Tip 38 - Applications [4] “MAIL” - Move Talk Photography mails to separate folder.


Start Mail and create a “Talk Photography” folder by clicking on the [+] in the bottom left corner.

Click on the Mail menu entry and then preferences then the Rules tab.

Now click on [Add Rule] and in the Description give the rule a name such as TP rule.

You will see the following rule:

If [ANY] of the following conditions are met: [FROM] [CONTAINS] [text] perform the following actions: [MOVE MESSAGE] to mailbox [NO MAILBOX SELECTED].

You can now click on any of the parts of the rule that are in square brackets and change them. In this case we would be looking for you to change the rule as follows:

If [ANY] of the following conditions are met: [FROM] [IS EQUAL TO] [admin@talkphotography.co.uk] perform the following actions: [MOVE MESSAGE] to mailbox [Talk Photography]

Then click on [OK]

tip38.png


Using the above it is possible to create your own spam filters, move supplier emails to a “suppliers” folder etc……
 
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Monday 22nd December
Tip 39 – MacOS [14] - Installing Tiger / Leopard (customize/options)


Install the installation disc into the drive and whilst booting hold down the [C] key in order to boot from the install disc.

Select your language then…..

If you want to just do a straight install then it is a simple matter of selecting the defaults but there are a number of options that you can select. It is possible to run Disc Utility and re-partition your drive (see Utilities menu entry).

It is also possible to force the installer to re-format the drive prior to install – Click [OPTIONS] from the first install screen.

At the seconds install screen it is possible to customize what is installed – Click [CUSTOMIZE] from the second install screen…….

You will be presented with a number of installation options which vary dependent on the OS but basically you have the options to leave out the printer drivers (which saves about 25 minutes of the install and about 2-3Gb of drive spave); Install X developer tools; iLife; iWorks; MS Office trial; Language packs and extra fonts.

Select the options that best fit and click OK you can now go on to install the OS and restart.
 
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Tuesday 23rd December
Tip 40 – Applications [5] “FONT BOOK” - Managing Fonts.


There is an often overlooked application in the Applications folder called [Font Book]. Open this and you will be presented with a three pane window containing a list of all the fonts in the central pane and an example of that font in the right hand pane.

tip40.png


It is worth having an experiment with this application.

You can change the size of the example text by clicking on the [SIZE] menu in the top right corner.

In the top left corner you can select [ENGLISH] to remove the non English fonts from the list.

Using Font Book you can disable certain fonts or families of fonts by right clicking them in the central pane and selecting [Disable] or [Remove] from the pop-up menu.

You can also add fonts to your list by clicking on the [+] below the central pane and selecting either a folder containing more fonts or a font file.
 
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Wednesday 24th December
Tip 41 – Applications [6] “MAIL” - vCards


vCards are non Application specific text files containing details of a contact. You can use vCards to send a contact to another person as an attachment or to backup your contacts from Mail to transfer to a different mail program such as outlook or entourage.

In order to create a vCard with one contact in it click on [Address Book] and in the central pane click on the entry you want to export and hold the mouse button down then drag the entry to your desktop. A vCard will be created on your desktop with the same name as the contact.

In order to create a vCard to export multiple contacts click on your first entry and release the mouse button then hold the [CMD] button and click on other contacts that you want to export. When you have all your contacts selected click on one of them and drag onto the desktop where a file will be created with the name of the first contact in your list followed by “and X others”.
 
I've just found out an easy right click for macbook trackpad users,

two fingers on the trackpad and click - don't know if it's new or if i've never come across it before.
 
I've just found out an easy right click for macbook trackpad users,

two fingers on the trackpad and click - don't know if it's new or if i've never come across it before.

You have to turn it on via:

APPLE >> System Preferences >> Trackpad

"Secondary tap"

secondarytap.png
 
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Thursday 25th December

Tip 42 –

Look its Christmas day do I not get a day off !!!!!!!

I will use these next five tips as an introduction to Apple Script so I can use more of it later ☺. Like I did with the networking tips last month I am going to give you five related tips which give an introduction to Apple Script. They set up your computer and give you an idea of how to get started. I will come back to this subject several more times before the year is out but these five should make a decent start. I will be posting them all together in one go, again like I did with the networking tips. Lets hope that these are a bit more fun ☺

Apple Script [1] - Introduction


Is there some shell script (terminal) that you use regularly? We have used two bits of shell script in a previous tip [tip number 7]

Ie.

To view all hidden files:

1) Locate your route drive and run the following program: Applications>Utilities>Terminal

2) Type "defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles TRUE"

3) Type "killall Finder"

We can create an Apple script to do the above like this….

Run the script creator

In applications open the folder [AppleScript] and run [Script Editor] and type in the following:

do shell script "defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles TRUE"
do shell script "killall Finder"
display dialog "Show all hidden files" buttons ["OK"] default button 1


The first two lines just simply perform terminal commands (yes I know there are other ways of doing this but that isn’t relevant to THIS tip)

The 3rd line is to create a pop up dialog window to tell you that the script has run!

Now click on FILE [Save As] and type in a relevant name such as “Show All” then save the Apple script to a folder called “Applescripts” within your documents folder for future use.

Now click on FILE [Save As] and type in the name “Show All” again then this time change the file type to “APPLICATION” and then un-tick [Startup Screen] to remove the “Are you sure you want to run this message!”

You will now have an executable script file on your desktop (and an editable one in your applescript directory!). When you run it it will perform the two script commands then display the dialog to tell you that it has finished. You will now be able to see all those hidden files.

Now edit the first line to change the last word to “FALSE” and the 3rd line to change “Show all hidden files” to “Un-show all hidden files” and save this as “Un-Show All” in both folders as per the above instructions.

Right there you have it your first two Apple scripts and I’ll give you another one tomorrow ☺
 
Friday 26th December

Tip 43 – Apple Script [2] - [Cancel all print jobs]


Follow the instructions in [Tip 42] in order to create two files saved with the name “Cancel Print Jobs” with the following text…

do shell script “cancel –a –“
display dialog “Print jobs cancelled” buttons [“OK”] default button 1


Running this script will cancel any print jobs!
 
Saturday 27th December

Tip 44 – Apple Script [3] - [Running a script when you start your computer]

Goto APPLE >> System Preferences… >> Accounts

Click on YOUR user in the left hand pane.

Click on [LOGIN ITEMS] in the right hand pane.

Click on the [+] below the right hand pane window and navigate to the Applescript (or in fact any application or file you wish to run) and double click on it.
 
Sunday 28th December

Tip 45 – Apple Script [4] - [Setup Apple Script Menu etc]


On your route drive go to Library >> Scripts and create a folder called “My Scripts”.

Go to Applications >> Applescript and run AppleScript Utility.

Click on “Show Script menu in menu bar”

Copy the three scripts that you created in Tip 42 into the “My Scripts” folder.

Right you can now access your newly created scripts using the menu that has just appeared on your menu bar. Your three scripts appear under the folder “My Scripts” but you will find a whole host of other useful scripts in the list too. I will be adding a number of other scripts to the list over the coming months and even showing you how you can run them remotely!
 
Monday 29th December

Tip 46 - Apple Script [5] - [Running an Apple Script Remotely – by EMAIL!]


Once you have created a script you can run it by Email !!

Start MAIL and go to MAIL >> PREFERENCES then access the RULES tab.

We need to start a new rule so click [Add Rule] and give the rule a meaningful name, under this you will see the following:

If [ANY] of the following conditions are met: [FROM] [CONTAINS] [text] perform the following actions: [MOVE MESSAGE] to mailbox [NO MAILBOX SELECTED].

You can now click on any of the parts of the rule that are in square brackets and change them. In this case we would be looking for you to change the rule as follows:

If [ANY] of the following conditions are met: [SUBJECT] [BEGINS WITH] [RUNSCRIPT: XXX] perform the following actions: [RUN APPLESCRIPT] [XXX]

Where XXX is the Applescript we want to run….

Then click on [OK]

We can now run the script by sending an email with the content title starting “RUNSCRIPT: xxx” where xxx is the name of the script. You need to set up a separate rule for each script but this can be a very useful tip.
 
Tuesday 30th December

Tip 47 - Saving space on your hard drive [2] – Removing unused printer drivers


You can save VAST amounts of space by removing all the unused printer drivers from your computer. Open Finder with your main hard drive and then click Library and Printers.

You will now see a list of manufacturers of printers such as Epson, HP and Xerox. You can simply delete those that you are definitely not going to need. Some of them are possibly used to implement other print features so you could create a directory called XXX and drag possible directories into it first then delete the XXX directory after a week when you are sure that the folder is not required.
 
Wednesday 31st December

Tip 48 – User Accounts [4] - Resetting a user’s password.


You can change a user’s avatar by opening APPLE >> System Preferences >> Accounts. Now unlock the page by clicking on the padlock symbol in the bottom left and entering your password. Now click on the user in the left hand pane.

Now click [RESET PASSWORD]
 
Thursday 1st January

Tip 49 – MacOS [15] – Applications using memory!


When your computer has been switched on for a while and you have been using a number of different applications you will notice that there is a white dot next to them on your task bar. These applications are still in memory and depending on how they are written are still using up valuable memory on your computer. Right click on them on the task bar and close those that you have finished with and save yourself a little RAM.
 
Friday 2nd January

Tip 50 – Applications [7] “Activity Monitor” – What is going on in my computer?


What is slowing my computer down?
Do I need more RAM?
Would I benefit from a faster processor?
What is running on my computer?


These are all questions that ACTIVITY MONITOR can answer. If you have come from a Windows background you will be used to seeing the Windows equivalent ie the Task Manager. You see this a lot because Windows is far less stable and you regularly use the Task Manager to shut down broken tasks. Most Apple users rarely use the Activity Monitor but it can be quite useful. It is in the Utility directory of Applications and once run brings up a window containing a list of running processes then at the bottom of the screen there are a number of tabs labelled CPU, System Memory, Disk Activity, Disk Usage and Network.

A question I get asked regularly is “How much memory should I buy and will I benefit from a large memory upgrade” well click on the SYSTEM MEMORY tab and Activity Monitor will who you how much memory your computer is using. There are a number of labels that you may not understand but if you look at the [USED] label you can see how much memory is actually in use. Now run the programs you are likely to use, such as Photoshop and see what happens.

I have 6Gb on my Mac pro and now that memory prices have dropped I decided to see if it was worth replacing the 4 x 512Mb FB-Dimms with 4 x 2Gb FB-Dimms and increasing the memory from 6Gb to 12Gb. I ran Activity Monitor and then ran the software I often use and ran from thoroughly. I then realised that 6Gb was more than I needed for most of the time. For this reason it was not worth me upgrading.

If you click on a process you can see more information about the process by clicking on the [INSPECT] icon at the top of the window to the left. Once you click on this icon you can see the name of the process that created this process, the user and how much CPU time it uses plus there are three tabs for Memory, Statistics and Open Files and Ports. This last tab allows you to see what files it is using etc.

All in all this is a very useful utility which is far more powerful than its Windows counterpart!
 
Saturday 3rd January

Tip 51 - Applications [8] “Xbench” – How fast is my computer.


Xbench is THE Macintosh benchmarking utility and can be downloaded for free from Xbench’s web site handily located at www.xbench.com download the utility and install it on your computer. If you require instructions then there are comprehensive instructions on the site.

When you run Xbench you have a number of options and can test how your computer compares with a particular computer.

Xbench is useful for checking whether any upgrades or changes will effect your computer. It is advisable that you restart your computer and then run the application whilst not running anything else.

How fast is yours ?? ☺
 
Sunday 4th January

Tip 52 – MacOS [16] – Accessing another Mac on your network.

LEOPARD ONLY

In Finder under “Shared” you will see your other computers. Click on the computer you wish to access and in the right hand pane you will see “Connected as: Guest” at the top of the window and to its right “Share Screen” and “Connect As…”

Click on “Share screen” and a new window will appear showing the login screen for that computer. It will all work just as if you were sat at the machine. Log in as normal. This is really useful for accessing your main computer from your laptop for example or fixing the kids computer whilst in bed with the flu !

There is a much more powerful alternative to this called “Remote Desktop” but this is quite expensive and for most of the time does not actually give you any more facilities.
 
Thanks but the speed score isnt much use without knowing what machine you are playing with :)

:bonk: Of course :bonk:

Imac 2.4Ghz Core 2 Duo
4Gb DDR2 SD RAM
Running Leopard 10.5.5

:)
 
Xbench Result

Picture2.png


And I can't get mine to use more than 1.8GB RAM, opened a 40MB .psd and ran some filters while streaming music through the airport express, Safari and Mail open also.
 
Tuesday 16th December

Tip 33 – MacOS [12] - Finder shortcut keys

and..
[COMMAND] + [N] = open a new finder window
[COMMAND] + = get info (keyboard shortcut for an earlier tip) - this also works inside many applications, such as iTunes and iPhoto
 
Monday 5th January 2009

Tip 53 - MacOS [17] - What speed should I see.


People have been asking what scores they should expect from their computers well if you run the FULL Xbench test then you would hope to get more than 100 from any intel machine. I have tried to explain to people over and over that you cannot just look at the headline processor speed of a computer and know how fast it will be. The speed of a computer is a complex algorithm calculated from processor speed; hard drive speed; graphics chipset; graphics ram; ram amount; ram architecture; chipset; OS; OS updates; what software is running; settings on the computer; if a laptop then the battery settings (try max performance!); how long the computer has been on! etc etc etc

Now we can look any of my four Apple computers....

The one I am on at this moment

Macbook pro (17" (hi-res 1920x1200),200Gb 7200rpm Hitachi HTS722020K9500 HD, 2.5GHz core 2 duo, 4Gb Ram, Geoforce 8600M GT 512Mb)

Now I could have spent £100-200 (can't remember the actual extra at the time) on an upgrade from 2.5GHz to 2.6GHz, how would this have affected my computer?

REAL LIFE USE - None YES None. I doubt ANYONE here could tell the difference between a 2.5GHz and 2.6GHz Macbook pro

Xbench - Well the score will only benefit in SOME tests, 2.6 is 4% faster than 2.5 ie 2.6 divided by 2.5 equals 1.04! BUT there are VERY few tests that make full use of this speed as most of the time they will be waiting for the HD or GPU or something else.

ACTUAL difference in speed in reality 1-1.5%

What you actually need to improve is whatever is causing the bottlenecks. If you look at the spec of MY machine above I have upgraded the HD to a 7200rpm model - this cost about £20-30 over the cost of the 250Gb model but as this is not my main machine I do not need the extra space BUT the extra speed is more of a benefit.

I then increased the RAM myself as again this makes MORE of a difference than the processor in normal use.

Basically my 4Gb, 7200rpm machine will easily be faster than a standard 2.6GHz machine and cost less !!

My Mac Pro

QUAD 2.66GHz Xeon processors, 4x512Gb Ram+4x1Gb Ram (6Gb Total), Geoforce 1900GT, 3 x Seagate 500Gb HD + 1 x 250Gb HD

Now I'm not sure of the score of this machine as it is downstairs and off at the moment but how does this compare?

Well. Again 3 GHz is 12% faster than 2.66GHz but the ACTUAL speed increase is just 3%. 3.33GHz is 25% quicker than 2.66GHz but the actual increase is more like 6-7%

BUT if I am encoding a DVD without preview the increase in speed might be 8% for the 3GHz or 16% for the 3.33GHz because this is very processor intensive - The price however of the 3.33GHz was MORE THAN £1000 over my computer for 6-16% difference

DUAL against QUAD against EIGHT processors !!

Well in Tiger or Leopard you rarely see much of an increase when you go above 2 processors! UNTIL you run software that REALLY makes use of the extra processors such as video editing software or photoshop. ADDED: The only thing in Photoshop that I notice is significantly faster on my QUAD mac Pro against my DUAL macbook Pro is Liquify whilst it starts up!


Snow Leopard is reported to be far more capable of using the extra processors but this remains to be seen.

Other subsystems on the computer can make a BIG difference too.

RAM

Well this is the big one, let us imagine 3 Mac Pro computers with the same amount of ram in total.

a) 2 X 4Gb = 8Gb
b) 4 x 2Gb = 8Gb
c) 8 x 1Gb = 8Gb

Now RAM on the pro is QUAD channel ! The above computers ALL have the same amount of ram BUT computer (b) has all this in 4 pieces on 4 channels and is 10-15% quicker than computer (a) YES it makes more of a difference than going from a 2.66GHz to a 3.33GHz processor [in the right circs]. But what about computer (c) well this computer also has all channels running and so is quicker than (a) BUT there is a small decrease in speed due to the slight increase in lag so it is about 2-3% slower than (b) but still 12-13% quicker than (a).

What if you have 4 sticks of ram in a PRO? - Well if you have 2Gb in a pro and stick 2 more 2Gb in making 8 sticks then YES the speed decreases by 3% BUT the increase in ram from 2Gb to 4Gb makes MORE of a difference due to the computer not having to keep paging RAM to and from the HD!

[ADDED - If you have installed extra RAM in your pro then make sure it is in the right slots or you will loose about 15% as you will still be using 2 channels! - See my web site for details!]

So what am I saying?

Well make sure that any upgrades are balanced and worth the money! - 100MHz processor speed increase is virtually pointless (I feel that this is a bit of a rip off, any upgrade offered should be 200-300MHz really) but 2Gb-4Gb Ram upgrade is fantastic. Faster HDs make a big difference as does the graphics card but the amount of ram on the graphics card is usually less of a help.



Is it worth upgrading?

Does your computer run too slow? - Ignore BOOT speed as it happens once and then goes away! Most Mac pros take 2-3 times as long as Macbook pros to boot but will leave them standing when the desktop appears! Speed on the desktop - Well go to Xbench and look at the speeds of different computers, you might have a 2.16GHz Macbook pro like ROOKIES and I might have a 2.5GHz well 2.5/2.16 = 1.15 ie 15% quicker (yes I know its not that simple when comparing different processor families and chipsets but this is a rough example:)) now 15% is not much and when you consider that in reality the computer is not waiting for the processor that often my computer is more likely 7-8% quicker. This is a figure that is likely hard to notice!

I used to run CS2 on a 1.5Gb iBook 1.33GHz single core and created an A3 poster for work using Photoshop that's file contained 60+ photographs in different layers. It was usable (but slow) !!!!

Yes the modern machines are better but you have to reach 20% for the upgrade to be worth it (unless you have a lot more money than me:))


Why is my computer slow then?


Look at your settings? What processes start up when your computer does? etc etc

Things like little snitch or spotlight steal processor cycles and affect HD results, as do any other processes that run constantly! Check APPLE>>Accounts then unlock and select a user... Now select the "login items" tab and see what is starting when you turn on your computer!

Have you done all the updates?
Have you tried re-installing MacOS?
 
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Only thing i have login on my account is itunehelper and nothing else can i stop this or is that needed

Also very good read up this is and everything you have mention on this thread is great :)

as we mention before a new HD would be great but wish you live near by then you could of help me put a new on in :)
 
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You can turn it off, but I wouldn't, it does stuff like playing a CD through iTunes without you having to open iTunes yourself, I think it has a pretty small footprint.
 
Only thing i have login on my account is itunehelper and nothing else can i stop this or is that needed

You can safely delete it if you like but you loose a few automatic things that it does. Try it! if you want to put it back then it is located here >>> /Applications/iTunes.app/Contents/Resources/iTunesHelper.app

iTunes.app is the application which is basically a folder containing all the resources etc used by the program. If you double click it it will just run so you have to right/ctrl click it and select "Show Contents". It will then open as a folder.

Also very good read up this is and everything you have mention on this thread is great :)

Thanks, I will carry on doing this if people are finding it useful !

as we mention before a new HD would be great but wish you live near by then you could of help me put a new on in :)

Well I am happy to help with any hardware upgrades but yes it is a bit far!

Rookies -- The hard drive in the Macbook pro is easy to change if you really want to. I can talk you through it :) It is literally a few screws and the top comes off the computer. Once the top comes off it is in the bottom left and you just take it out and pop the new one in then do a re-install. I would personally buy an £8 2.5" SATA external case with the new drive and fit your old drive into it. (if you spend a little more and get one that has firewire then you can even boot from your old drive as if it was still inside the computer !)
 
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Would upgrading my HD to a 7200 RPM make a different in performance and speed? will it be noticeable?
 
Would upgrading my HD to a 7200 RPM make a different in performance and speed? will it be noticeable?

It would speed your computer up but how noticeable depends on how much RAM you have and what you are doing.
 
I have 3gb of ram and I do Aperture work quite a bit. and CS3 too... Would it speed up the boot up time too as my laptop use to boot up alot faster than it does now and I have done a reinstall already...

How much for a nice hd but bothered about the size 160gb be plenty
 
I have 3gb of ram and I do Aperture work quite a bit. and CS3 too... Would it speed up the boot up time too as my laptop use to boot up alot faster than it does now and I have done a reinstall already...

How much for a nice hd but bothered about the size 160gb be plenty

It would speed this up. As the drive will be quicker booting will improve.

On larger drives the speed is also improved due to an increase in the aerial density I would go for this one at £65 for a 250Gb

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/250-...o-Black-25-SATA-300-7200-rpm-16MB-Cache-12-ms
 
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