Archive for the ‘Warnings’ tag
Snow Leopard 10.6.2 is now available via Software Update
Before you install this or any other software update, be sure to read our Software Update/Upgrade Warning Page which can be found here.
Here’s the text from the Apple Software Update window:
The 10.6.2 Update is recommended for all users running Mac OS X Snow Leopard and includes general operating system fixes that enhance the stability, compatibility, and security of your Mac, including fixes for:
An issue that might cause your system to logout unexpectedly
A graphics distortion in Safari Top Sites
Spotlight search results not showing Exchange contacts
A problem that prevented authenticating as an administrative user
Issues when using NTFS and WebDAV file servers
The reliability of menu extras
An issue with the 4-finger swipe gesture
An issue that causes Mail to quit unexpectedly when setting up an Exchange server
Address Book becoming unresponsive when editing
A problem adding images to contacts in Address Book
An issue that prevented opening files downloaded from the Internet
Safari plug-in reliability
General reliability improvements for iWork, iLife, Aperture, Final Cut Studio, MobileMe, and iDisk
An issue that caused data to be deleted when using a guest account.
For detailed information on this update, please visit this website: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3874.
For information on the security content of this update, please visit: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1222.
Apple releases Mac OS X 10.5.7
Apple released the much anticipated 10.5.7 update to Mac OS X today.
PLEASE be sure to have a fully tested backup before installing the update. Also, unplug that backup drive and any other USB or FireWire devices before your run the 10.5.7 update. It is also a good idea to “restart” your computer BEFORE running the update, and install the 10.5.7 update before running any applications.
In general, MacMedics does not recommend that you install this update on a production machine. We also suggest that you not install the update the very same day it comes out, in case the update is recalled for any reason.
See our update warnings page for all of the things to watch out for.
http://www.macmedics.com/updates.htm
Also, see our full 10.5.7 post from a few days ago: http://www.macmedics.com/blog/?p=615
A Western Digital firmware update issue goes very wrong on a Mac Mini
I just got off the phone with a client who has a Mac Mini and four external hard drives. Three Western Digital and one Seagate. Based on our brief conversation it sound like one of the Western Digital MyBook drives might have had an issue which triggered an unfortunate series of events. I frequently see problems in the shop with these WD MyBook drive cases.
He thought the firmware might need to be updated on the Western Digital drive. (I was not aware that WD had firmware update the you could even run on a Mac.) I’m a little unclear on the details, but he ran the firmware update with just the problematic drive plugged in, as the instructions directed him to do. Something went wrong and he was able to see his data for a moment, so he started copying as much as he could off to the Mac Mini. He ran out of space so he plugged in the chain of (2) other Western Digital and (1) Seagate hard drives as more places to copy data to. When he plugged them in they all came up with a “MyBook” drive icon (including the Seagate) and all three of them had zero items on them. (they had been full of data) Now when he plugs any of them into a Mac laptop or the Mac Mini they all have nothing on them and all have the new WD icon (including the Seagate drive).
I don’t have all the details, and I’ve not seen the case yet (he’ll be in on Monday), but I thought this was strange enough to put up a warning against running the Western Digital firmware update.
I’ll post more details when I have them.
11/25/08 – I started trying to unravel the details of this totally crazy case. It does appear that whatever happened with the first WD hard drive in question did damage data. The drive is blank, but after scanning the drive, we are pulling data off of it via data recovery. I still have no clue on what happened. We have yet to look at the remaining three hard drives, that the client reports are in the same boat.
