I’ve written in the past about Time Machine errors with the same error messages, and this is yet another one of the troubleshoots. I didn’t realize hibernation managed by Synology DSM could have an effect on the client side’s Time Machine.
Tagged macOS
App to Replace Subscription-Based Photoshop License
Adobe Photoshop is not for all consumers. This might come as a surprise for some, but there are other less known alternatives that provide more economical (i.e. less tools and options) options for average home users. I, for one, don’t do any illustrative works nor photography works; all my astrophotography hobbies often rely on open source softwares too.
App to Save Variable in iOS Shortcuts
My old iOS shortcuts usually walked the path of tedious madness for the pure purpose of compatibility. I needed a shortcut that would work equally well on all platforms, iOS, iPadOS, macOS, and even on HomePod, and that meant several things: one. I can’t have shortcuts relying on apps that do not exist universally, two. there has to be a way to save data shortcuts have treated, three. any save datas from apps had to be exported and imported from iCloud. With the sandboxing Shortcuts follow, creating a seamless shortcut was rather painful.
No Umbrellas Allowed Spiel
I found out No Umbrellas Allowed after I had short, yet fun, experience with Good Pizza, Great Pizza. I was ready to see more difficult customers in different context, and this being the pawn shop, —or secondhand shop— I was expecting to see some real actions. Not the gun blazing kind, of course.
How to Copy File Path in macOS Finder
This week is bit hectic with everything going on in South Korea. So this one is one of the reserved pieces I was thinking to publish should I need more time to work on a post. This is a commonly known trick for seasoned Mac users, and a feature I believe should be available on most GUIs.
How to Troubleshoot Steam Stuck at “Reserving Space”
This is one of the odd balls I found with Steam client. As the client hasn’t seen major improvements since release, apparently it’s a common knowledge Steam has marginal support of exFAT — unreliable even at the best of times. Back in the good ol’ days when I used HDD as the one and only drive for the computer, I probably wouldn’t have experienced it either.
How to Setup Expanded Storage for Steam
Recently I moved the m.2 SSD from a NAS to a Mac. A NAS running on Linux was better served with expanded memory, so I thought to use the SSD to expand the internal storage of my workstation. Upgrading process was straightforward, but there was a problem moving games from Steam Library to the newly expanded storage.
PCalc Spiel
Have you read any iOS, iPadOS, or watchOS rumors for this year? Behind all the ‘throw the pasta on the wall’ schtick, there was one I couldn’t laugh about. It’s the calculator app. Calculator apps on any Apple devices were either too old it was a place holder item for announcement of App Store, or it shouldn’t exist from the start. I suppose someone, or some team, in California wrote bunch of basic apps to show off what a new “smart-phone” is then forgot about it. The default app is finally brushed up for the future, but let’s talk alternatives.
Native Support, Bootcamp, and GPTK
As much as I appreciate native Mac supports in PC gaming, there is something to be said about the overall quality of the support. Some games are simply not optimized. Its performance is either subpar or some advanced settings are simply unavailable for native versions. Some games run into glitches that are unique only to Mac players. Bugs are bound to happen differently on each platforms, but it becomes problematic when the game chooses not to address it. Some games even drop the ball on cross play and cross progression, in order to release their PC version first.
App to Connect to Network Drive on Boot
This one belongs in the “there is an app for that” department. If you are an avid NAS user, chances are most of your drives are already connected via network. And that means, on every boot up, you will need to manually login to the NAS on Finder to mount the drives. One might call it a morning ritual to type in login credentials, but I think most people would find it less than ideal.
Intel Mac, DirectX 12, and GPTK
Apple Silicon is more than a mere brand name for Apple branded chips. It’s now a platform that is synonymous with every tools that come with it. This, in turns, has a side effect of “killing off” Windows compatibility softwares, for the lack of more broader term, on Intel Macs. Not that it doesn’t have a trump card in its sleeves.
Popular App Bartender Buy-out Raises Security Concerns
Probably the most unwanted surprise for many macOS users. The popular macOS app, Bartender, is indeed sold to an unknown third-party. Speculations seem to lead that the new owner is an iOS app publisher, but that is the least of our —or mine— concern. Not only Bartender already needed critical permissions to run, if you are running version 5.0.52, Bartender has already included new analytics framework without notifying the users of the changes. There could be possible changes in pricing model as well, perhaps introducing subscriptions for future Bartender.
How to Set Time Machine Quota on NAS
I don’t recall Time Machine having a quota feature when it was originally announced back in OS X Leopard. Most users would use any hard drive lying around, and if needed, can set up a pseudo-quota by creating a volume in Disk Utility.
How to Band-Aid Fix SteamAPI Initialization Issue on macOS
I do want to make it clear that this isn’t the usual ‘how to fix’ tips post. Instead, I’m hoping to log what I’ve learned for indexing purposes. I do have a band-aid solution for the time being, but I wouldn’t call this an ideal fix. Perhaps someone will pick up where I left off, or someone will make a breakthrough. Or perhaps the problem lies with the Steam or the games distributed through Steam and fixes come out of there.
How to Fix Greyed Out Files and Folders on macOS Finder
This happens more often with network drives than physically attached ones, and I, for one, had this issues happening with Synology NAS. A file or a folder that is most likely not damaged and most likely was accessible previously, is now inaccessible on macOS Finder. The real odd ball is that other devices and apps have no problem accessing it.