Thanks much for your help. I realize you have no obligation and I appreciate the time you've taken for this. I'll try and follow your steps. I fear, though, my ignorance has caused a lot of unnecessary bother. (Comments in red)
On Jan 26, 2011, at 04:36 AM, Peter Hosey wrote: > On Jan 25, 2011, at 09:41:20, Geoffrey Kloster wrote: >> Makes me wonder if there's something lurking that carried over from my old >> Mac that is slowly eating my pref files. > > It wouldn't be carried over from your Mac, but a corrupted volume or flaky > drive could cause this. Run Disk Utility's Disk First Aid, Will do run > DiskWarrior if you have it, Don't have it. Will purchase if necessary. and > run SMART Utility Don't think I have this either.(the last will tell you > about drive hardware problems). > > Also, set up Time Machine, if you haven't already. TM is set up to a Time > Capsule. Being a bit ignorant, I usually stick to expensive brand names > rather than reasonable priced unknowns. If you don't have an external drive > to back up to, I have a SuperTech (?) drive that I CCC to once a month and > keep off site. Target has a 1 TB drive for stunningly cheap ($85 USD): > > > http://www.target.com/Seagate-External-Desktop-Drive-ST310005EXA101-RK/dp/B001UI49XA > > With Time Machine set up, you can roll back any file to an older version > (including preferences files, once you narrow down to a culprit), and if you > end up replacing your internal hard drive, you can wipe it beforehand and > then restore your stuff onto the new hard drive after the transplant. > >> When I've asked this question among knowledgeable folks all say probably >> not, the pref files are problematic by themselves. > > I disagree. A file format is not inherently conducive or resistant to > corruption. It's all in how the application writes out its preference files, > and most use NSUserDefaults. > > If this were a problem in NSUserDefaults, (1) every app that uses it (which > is nearly every app) would have corrupted preferences sooner or later, and > (2) the problem would affect everybody. Not some, not even most, *everybody*. > > So, I say the problem is on your own system, and probably either the file > system (DFA/DW will reveal and fix such problems) or the drive itself (SMART > Utility will report the drive's self-diagnosis). > >> Also interesting, the USB thumb drive and the printer work just fine. > > I'd suggest taking another look in the System Profiler, then. Every USB > device that your Mac knows about will show up in the proper section in the > Profiler—and you *cannot* mount or print to a USB device that the Mac doesn't > know about. > > Also, you didn't explicitly say the printer is USB. Here my ignorance shines. > I assumed the printer is USB because it's cable goes to a USB port. Further > searching in System Profiler shows the printer in the "Printers" section, not > USB. Tried the thumb drive again. Something called "Cruzer" shows up in the > same USB bus as the Internal Memory Card Reader. Put the thumb drive under a > bright light (to aid my aging eyes) and find in very small lettering, "San > Disk Cruzer 4G." If it's not, it won't show up under USB. (One might think > this tautological, but then you might not expect the built-in Bluetooth radio > to show up under USB, and yet it does. Presumably, it is actually USB and is > plugged into an internal port.) A printer that your Mac talks to over the > network (via wired or wireless Ethernet) will not show up under USB. > Again, thanks. I've learned a great deal... but still a long way to go. Geoff > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "Growl Discuss" group. > To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > [email protected]. > For more options, visit this group at > http://groups.google.com/group/growldiscuss?hl=en. > > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Growl Discuss" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/growldiscuss?hl=en.
