We just had full moon, and it seems like it brought a ton of new Data Recovery jobs into the MacMedics offices. Spooky!

Now that it’s Halloween, I offer you the perfect metaphor for your Mac’s (or iPhone’s) Back Up. Don’t play “Trick Or Treat” with your valuable data.

When we have clients show up at our Mac Lab with data we can’t recover it just breaks our hearts. We’ve got a great track record for Recovering AND Rescuing data for folks, but there are cases we we can’t help with. We will refer these jobs off to Clean Room recovery firms, and often they can save your data in exchange for fees as high as $2500. But, not all data can be saved, and about 10% of the cases we refer, there’s not a positive result, and that data is gone forever.

As soon as you buy a new Mac, or get an old Mac’s hard drive repaired, you need to have a back up program running. On any Mac that is running Leopard (10.5) or Snow leopard (10.6), use Time Machine! It’s very, VERY powerful, and has been used to save lots of our client’s data.

The important thing is to PLAN AHEAD. Your back up is not complete if it’s not:

1. Automatic (Use Time Machine and this point is covered)
2. Redundant (Double your back up with a clone of your data and this point is covered)
3. Off-Site (Take your double back up off-site or get Mozy and this point is covered)

See how easy it is to be 100% covered! Now think of how much better you’ll feel knowing this little project has been taken care of and that your back up has been certified! If you need help getting a back up in place, we can help. On-site, In-lab, or even Remote Desktop Support, we’re there, and we’ll help get your back up configured and tested!

While all of us at MacMedics are HUGE fans of Time Machine, it’s not 100% infallible. MacMedics recommends that you ALSO back up your hard drive via a “clone” use Super Duper or Carbon Copy Cloner, as that way you can “test” your back up to insure you have a good, bootable copy. With a “clone” back up AND a Time Machine back up, you’re covered for TWO types of back ups, and you’re DOUBLING your chances for a successful recovery.

This might also be a good time to enhance your back up plan by adding an off-site back up. MacMedics is now a Mozy partner, so click here if you’d like to sign up for that (this like usually has the current Mozy discount coupon codes on it as well). You can get a free account that will back up 2 Gigabytes of data. It’s silly not to take advantage of that. We had a client in with a bad MacBook hard drive just a few days ago, and she was mostly backed up, but she was working a major project for her employer that had huge amount of Excel data in it. All she wanted was that one folder. Sadly we could not get it for her. If she had set up Mozy, even if she did not have a back up drive *a common problem for portable computers), her data would have been “automatically” backed up AND “off-site” thus completing two points of the golden triangle of data protection. Best of all, it would have been 100% free!

We also work with CrashPlan for on-line backups, so if you’d like to check out their current off-site back up plans see this link.

We have tons of posts on Time Machine and we even have a free White Paper on it If you’d like a copy, let us know. If you’re not using an automatic backup, your data is at risk!

Also, don’t forget that hard drives don’t last forever. Our rule of thumb for hard drive retirement is as follows. In Apple laptops the hard drive should be proactively replaced after 2 to 3 years years. In Apple desktops the hard drive should be proactive replaced after 3 years. You can find out more about this on our website http://www.HardDrivesDie.com.

There’s one more thing I would like to mention here. iPhones and iPod touch models also need to be backed up. All you have to do is to sync with you Mac from time to time. People are starting to treat these portable Apple products as stand alone devices, and when you think about it, many people are generating data on their iPhones and iPods just like they do on a computer.

You’ve got photos, e-mails, text documents, bookmarks, files, contacts, calendars, and videos that all can be generated or sent to your mobile device. All you have to do is connect to iTunes, and it will back up your device.

There are not too many ways to get mission critical data off a dead iPhone. We can often do it, but the data is all stored on the logic board of your iPhone or iPod touch. If it gets wet, gets dropped, or gets lost or stolen, then there goes your data. If we can’t get your logic board to fire up, then we don’t have access to your data.

We work hard to ensure that all electronic waste is properly recycled here at MacMedics. Over the past 20-years we’ve recycled multiple tons of dead Macs, iPods, and lots of scrap parts from all of our repairs.

We’re also happy to accept e-waste for proper recycling from clients and friends at our Millersville location.

Today we made a run to the local scrap yard with some high-grade aircraft aluminum from Power Mac G5 cases that have been recycled with MacMedics. If you’ve ever wondered what over 100 pounds of G5 cases look like, here you go:

Our new generation MacBook Air 13″ arrived today at MacMedics headquarters. One of our corporate clients has already laid claim to this unit.

If you’d like to get your new MacBook Air on order, just call your local MacMedics office.

MacMedics Baltimore 1-866-MAC-MEDICS

MacMedics Washington DC 1-888-4-DC-MACS

MacMedics Philadelphia 1-877-626-MEDIC

MacMedics is again pleased to be a sponsor of AIGA Baltimore’s 13th annual paper show, Pulp, Ink, and Hops. Please stop by our booth at the event to drop your business card for a chance to win an iPod, knock back a few cold ones and talk Macs with us.

Join AIGA Baltimore for the region’s largest paper show, Pulp, Ink, and Hops featuring paper, print samples, and designer services from tons of vendors. Enjoy light fare and “hops” from our fine local breweries while you network with your fellow creative professionals and “paper-addicts”.

Pulp, Ink, and Hops will be held this year on Thursday October 21st. A networking reception for professionals starts at 5:30 P.M., with the paper show to follow from 6:30 – 9 P.M.

This year’s venue is Baltimore Print Studios, which is Baltimore’s premier public print studio and offers letterpress and screenprinting facilities to area artists. The studios are located in Baltimore’s Station North Arts District.

Don’t miss the must-attend event of the year! A networking reception for professionals starts at 5:30 p.m., with the show to follow from 6:30 – 9 p.m. Early registration is encouraged.

We thought our readers would enjoy this take on Iron Man as Mac Man. We’re not 100% sure if this is commercial or not. It looks home made. We like how the Apple logo was styled to fit the art work.

After seeing the above picture, one of our clients sent a picture of his Mac in:

This MacBook Pro Batman was spotted at Create Baltimore conference.

We have a number of clients who count on their MacBook Pros to for DJ and production purposes. We like to say we’re in the ATM repair business as these professionals count on their Macintosh computers to make them money. When you’re looking for an accurate and quick Macintosh repair, don’t think of visiting the Apple Store; just come see the Pro Mac Techs here at MacMedics. If you’re in a crisis situation, we also offer rental Macintosh systems of all models (laptops, iMacs, Mac Pros, and even Xserves).

Thanks to our client Jason Canaan of Quality Entertainment for posting the following review of MacMedics:

“These guys are great. They’re just honest, they get the job done and really it’s a business but it’s not all about money to them. These guys perform quality… they care about the client. and they do what is needed to get the job done. Kudos to these guys… they have my business again!”

Jason Canaan
Quality Entertainment
http://www.qualitydj.com
Pasadena, Maryland

Pre-Press Tips to Improve Productivity and Your Bottom Line Presented by the Greater Baltimore InDesign User Group – Sponsored by MacMedics

MacMedics is pleased to be able to sponsor an upcoming meeting of the Greater Baltimore InDesign User Group. We have long been a sponsor of the Washington DC InDesign User Group, so naturally we were thrilled to be invited to sponsor the Baltimore chapter as well. We hope you will be able to attend this meeting, as we’re giving away an Apple iPod as a door prize.

When:
Tue, October 19, 2010, 6:00 PM

Where:
The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory
11100 Johns Hopkins Road
Parsons Auditorium and Cafeteria, Building 1, Main Campus (Enter at Lobby 1)
Laurel, MD 20723

The URL for the Greater Baltimore InDesign User Group is located here, and is where you can register for the meeting.

There will be three speakers at this meeting, all production experts from local printing companies.

Our first Presenter is Martin Nibali, from KM Printing, which started out as a single Minuteman Press franchise and has grown to become “not your typical quick printer”. KM Printing is full service communications company offering marketing consulting, graphic design, print production, promotional products, and direct mail. Martin will give us many useful pre-press tips including creating InDesign preflight profiles to preflight your document as you design and choosing the correct PDF profiles, just to name a few.

Our second two presenters, Jim Hogan and Joe Wagner, are from The Whitmore Group, a commercial printing and communications company serving the mid-Atlantic region providing innovative prepress, manufacturing, and print management solutions that maximize technology and talent. Jim and Joe will demonstrate the INSITE Creative Workflow, a web-based system that enables teamwork and improves efficiency of creative development. This process allows for proof and approval of files over the internet, will track project status and support creative professionals while tracking costs and time.

Agenda:

6:00 p.m. Registration, Raffles, Networking, and Refreshments sponsored by MacMedics
6:30 p.m. Welcome, Group Business, and Adobe news
7:00 p.m. Feature Presentation I: Pre-Press Tips by Martin Nibali
7:30 p.m. Break (and final raffle sales)
7:40 p.m. Feature Presentation II: Increase Productivity with INSITE Creative Workflow, by Jim Hogan and Joe Wagner
8:10 p.m. Questions & Answers
8:25 p.m. Selecting Raffle Winners
8:35 p.m. Adjourn

Our thanks to the DC Photographers Resource for cross promoting this event on their Blog!

Lots of places that offer nationwide Macintosh service will try to you lure you to their website by saturating their webpage with geographic keywords that make it appear that they are “in” your area. This is kinda’ scammy and is often a turn-off anyways.

If you’re looking for “local” Macintosh service or repair that’s really “local” to the Baltimore, Maryland or Washington DC areas, then you’ve found the right place. MacMedics has been performing Macintosh service since before the Apple Store was even an idea. In fact, our headquarters in Millersville is LARGER then most Apple stores.

Our two walk-in service centers in Millersville and Lanham, Maryland are both Apple Authorized Service Providers fully staffed by Apple Certified Technicians who are ready to help you.

MacMedics has been repairing Macintosh computers in Maryland since 1989.

When you’re looking for local Mac service from a reputable service provider, come see us at MacMedics. We help Mac users from all over the Baltimore & Washington area.

Thinking about going to the Apple Store for service? Our service is faster, usually less expensive, and carries our full MacMedics 1-year service warranty. See our Blog post about that at http://www.NOappointments.com. The majority of our our Apple Warranty or AppleCare repairs are complete and ready to return to you within 24 hours. Need a rental while your unit is in the shop? We can do that too!

MacMedics is also and Apple Authorized Value Added Reseller, and as such, we are authorized to resell the Macintosh computer line, the Apple iPad, iPod, and Apple TV.

My 30-second elevator pitch has evolved to include ATM repairs.

So someone in the elevator will see my MacMedics jacket, shirt, or tool bag and asks, “What exactly is MacMedics?”

I say, “MacMedics is an Apple Authorized Macintosh service and consulting business. We service and maintain Macs at ad agencies and other places where pre-press and graphic design happens on a Mac like at corporate graphics or marketing departments. We like to say we’re in the ATM repair business, because when your Mac is broken or slow, you’re not making money.”

I got a huge dose of this wisdom this recently. A guy who lives and works near our shop has a video production business. He’s been asking about maybe getting a new Mac for the last year or so.

We exchange e-mails every so often when he has a question about his Mac or to ask if we need any video production help. I saw him at Subway not too long ago and he let me know that he might be getting a new Mac soon.

He came into the shop with his older MacBook Pro that was really sick. He had tried to run a Firmware update while he was in the middle of a project and it failed, thus making the unit inoperable. It’s not a common occurrence, but we do see it from time to time. As soon as it happened he ordered a new MacBook Pro from somewhere else, and then brought that in so we could transfer his data from the old unit to the new unit. Sadly, we could have saved him even more time if he had purchased the new Mac from MacMedics.

Normally this is not a big deal. We set it up the new MacBook Pro to migrate and it failed about 75% of the way thru. We tried a few other things and tried again, and it failed a second time. We then began to suspect the drive might be failing as it was getting kind of noisy and it was getting pretty hot as well.

I decided to go ahead and clone the drive on our data recovery equipment, so I could copy the data off the drive quickly. I then had to fix that data in order to get it into to shape to migrate it. His hard drive was a huge mess. The report on the drive was seven pages long! The total process ended up taking several hours and it delayed him over 24 hours from the point where his old unit blew up.

So, he’s a professional guy who makes his living with this MacBook Pro, and he had no back up, and he’s never had the unit serviced or looked at. This MacBook Pro is really his ATM cash machine as it provides him with all of his bread and butter for his business.

This is a fantastic case study in why a little preventive maintenance goes along way. If you treat your Mac like your very own ATM machine, you’ll never have these problems. Let’s get real here? Are you going to let your ATM degrade to a point where it stops dispensing cash.

1. This client’s MacBook Pro is well over two years old, so if we had seen it at any point recently, we would have most likely replaced the unit’s hard drive proactively and serviced the unit.

4. A little bit of annual maintenance and an automatic and tested back up system pay for themselves very quickly.

We’re friendly with this fellow, so if had stopped and called us on the phone, we would have been able to tell him all of this. We love to talk shop. If you have questions about how to treat your Mac like your very own ATM machine, just pick up the phone and give us a call!

We’ve done work for DJ PHAZE a few times before, but most recently we saved his MacBook from a really bad water spill. He sent us this nice note to thank us.

“Hey this is the One and Only, DJ PHAZE from Baltimore. Let me tell you a quick thing or two about the folks at MacMedics… As a Serato DJ my MacBooks are the heart of my operation. Without them… um how about we not even finish that sentence?

Thank you to Matt, Tinika, and Dana for taking care of my MacBook woes. “