I just got an email from Microsoft - they’ve given me the MVP award for the area of File System Storage!  Great news - so how do I feel?  Not quite as good as the “Steve” in this video, but pretty good…

So what does this mean?  Am I now a shill, beholden forever to Redmond?  Should I return the Mac? Hardly!

In fact, the program materials all stress that, since we were nominated for what we did in the past, we should go right on doing just what we were doing.  For me, this means remaining non-partisan in the storage wars - I’m on the side of what works and delivers results, not what one vendor or the other decides is best.  Microsoft has done some really great things in the storage arena, and has given much of it away for free, and that’s the simple truth.  If they change their stance, expect me to call them on it, MVP or not.

I believe in maintaining the best possible relationship with everyone in the business, from vendors to analysts, so I can make great things happen for my clients, the end users of technologies.  This award gives me exceptional access to Microsoft resources, and I intend to call on them when my clients need help.  Simply put, being a Microsoft MVP means I can step up the level of service I can deliver.

Only one thing bugs me about this: The name.  Seriously, “MVP”?  I’m not A-Rod!  And “File System Storage”?  I guess they had to tie the award to some product area, so “storage technologies” or “enterprise storage” wouldn’t have worked.  So, yeah baby, I hit home runs with NTFS!

Post from: Stephen Foskett, Pack Rat

Storage MVP: I Feel Great!

I’ve covered these considerations previously, but let’s just mention them again here.  Each is covered in more detail in the article and in my webinar, but I welcome comments and questions here.

1. How complete is the archive?
2. Does it record what people do?
3. Can the archive ingest an existing mail store or PST files?
4. Can the archive handle multiple email systems?
5. What about non-message content?
6. What about deduplication?
7. Will the legal department be happy?
8. How does search work?
9. Can the archive easily integrate with third-party tools?
10. What will users think?

Post from: Stephen Foskett, Pack Rat

10 Key Considerations for Email Archiving

Read on for details on swapping a disk in a MacBook Pro, finding a great deal on the drive, and how to get Boot Camp and VMware Fusion to work again after you do it!  Surprisingly, this was the hardest part…

Now for some particulars and lessons learned:

• The MacBook Pro is not an easy machine to install hardware in!  Although the RAM is readily accessible, all other components are sealed inside that sleek silver case, and it was not meant to be opened.  It is certainly doable for most people, provided they have the right tools, but closing it back up again is tricky!  There are 19 screws, both Phillips #0 and Torx T6, and the correct screwdriver is a must-have.  Apple must use some serious gorilla snot on the LED/IR cable to attach it to the drive inside, as it took much fussing to cleanly remove it.  And getting the front tabs “clicked” took some fussing and more pressure than I wanted to exert!
• I chose a Verbatim SmartDisk 320 GB FireWire/USB Portable hard drive as a donor.  It contains a very nice Western Digital Scorpio Blue WD3200BEVT drive that should be compatible with most mainstream notebooks since it’s just 9.5 mm tall.  This is a modern unit with two 160 GB platters, 3.0 Gb/s “SATA II” interface with native command queueing, and is fast and quiet.
• Why buy an portable drive instead of a bare hard disk?  Because Best Buy had the Verbatim on sale at $129, while the bare drive itself (sitting just down the aisle) was marked $179, that’s why!  Plus, the case can be re-used (see below).
• My MacBook had a 120 GB Fujitsu MH2120BH drive, which is a 2-platter 1.5 Gb/s SATA unit with modern perpendicular recording technology.  It fit nicely in the leftover Verbatim external drive case!  Sadly the case is flimsy compared to the very nice metal Maxtor OneTouch 4 Mini I use on the PC side.  But at least the FireWire interface is fast.
• I used SuperDuper to clone the Mac’s internal drive and then booted with the FireWire drive just to make sure it worked.  Very nice!  Then I cracked the MacBook and swapped the drives.

Some notes in particular for folks like me who Boot Camp and VMware Fusion and upgrade their drives:

• I chose Winclone (an OS X app) to back up the Boot Camp partition prior to the drive swap.  Worked like a charm, creating a 22 GB image of my 55 GB partition.
• To keep everything “native”, you must use Boot Camp Assistant to repartition the new drive after the upgrade.  But Assistant requires you to use GPT to partition the drive, and Verbatim shipped it with APM, so I had to repartition it in Disk Utility before using it.
• I wanted to have two partitions - one for OS X and another for my Home directory.  This is standard storage industry best practice and what I do on my Windows machines.  But Boot Camp Assistant can’t handle this, and OS X doesn’t make it easy either.  So it’s all one partition now.  Boo!
• The new Boot Camp partition has to be as large or larger than the old one for Winclone to restore to it.  I wasn’t using all my space and wanted to reduce it but couldn’t.  So even though I “only” have 22 GB of data in my Boot Camp partition, I had to devote 56 GB to it.  I’ll resize it later if I can.  Either way, I’ve still got over 200 GB free in my OS X partition!
• VMware Fusion works great with Boot Camp partitions normally, but falls on its face when you replace the drive like I did.  Fusion kept trying to use an invalid configuration for the new Boot Camp partition, and there is no easy way to make it work again after you’ve changed it.  But I found the answer - you have to delete /Users/<user>/Library/Application Support/VMware Fusion/Virtual Machines/Boot Camp, reboot into Boot Camp, and restart OS X before Fusion will correctly detect and configure the partition!  This is crazy stuff, but it works now!

Post from: Stephen Foskett, Pack Rat

Upgraded! 320 GB in a MacBook Pro!

Dave called me for this piece, and I was pleased with the question.  Truth be told, there really are compelling benefits from virtualization, but most folks have been waiting for a real “must have” killer application for the technology.  In order for this tech to make the impact it should, we in the industry have to change some of our thinking:

• Storage virtualization means more than just Fibre Channel block aggregation.  There are great applications inside servers and arrays and in the NAS world, too.
• Speaking of NAS, Microsoft DFS is probably the most-implemented storage virtualization product, and just about every NAS array has cool aggregation and migration features.
• Virtualization is a feature, not a product.  HDS has seen the amazing potential for block virtualization in migration and storage flexibility, and this is just the tip of the iceberg.
• Storage and server virtualization go well together - so well, in fact, that ESG reports that 24% of those who have implemented the latter are also using the former!

Post from: Stephen Foskett, Pack Rat

Storage Virtualization: What Is It Good For?

• The MacBook Pro is much sturdier than the average PC notebook, and even somewhat better than the high-end machines I’ve used (like my replacement Dell XPS M1330)
• The machine is hot on the bottom when using it a lot, and even pretty hot on the top!
• The fan is really loud - much louder than I was expecting
• The MagSafe power cord is cute but very delicate - I’m not surprised at all that they break and burn right and left!
• The screen is gorgeous - I got the matte model rather than the glossy since I hate the bright reflections I always fight with on my other machines
• I wish the 15″ model I got had more than two USB ports - I just know I’m going to be swapping a lot more than I used to.  But the new Dell has only two ports, too - my old XPS M1210 had four!
• Since I got the older model, it included the Apple remote, which is cute
• Everything about this machine is classier and more elegant than any PC I’ve ever used, from the packaging to the case to the documentation to the power cord
• I hate the auto-dimming screen - it reacts WAY too fast, constantly dimming and brightening as my shadow falls over the left-side speaker grille. This was the first Mac feature to be disabled!

• Anyone who complains about UAC on Windows should try OS X - it interrupts just about as much but forces you to type in your password, too!
• I love the packaging system - everything is self-contained so you can just drag and drop or delete
• It took me the longest time to figure out how to be able to shut the lid and use the computer with an external monitor - turns out it always sleeps when you shut the lid but then wakes up again when you click the mouse or type on the keyboard
• The included applications look much more useful than the ones that ship with Vista, which themselves are far better than anything Microsoft bundled in the past - I can’t wait to use iMovie and Garage Band, and iPhoto seems just as good as Google’s Picasa
• I’m loving the included UNIX utilities - ssh and scp should be part of every operating system out of the box!
• It’s ridiculously hard to change the hostname - apparently you have to edit /etc/hostconfig by hand!  Do they expect that no regular people want to name their computer?!?
• Network setup beats Vista hands-down!  It correctly suggested that my wireless router was filtering based on MAC address, while Vista just said “can’t connect”
• I already installed Boot Camp and VMware Fusion with a Windows Vista partition - talk about easing the transition!

Post from: Stephen Foskett, Pack Rat

Switch Day 1: This Mac is Hot!

I was surprised this morning with an email from Amazon touting “five albums for $5″ on the MP3 store.  Turns out, it’s five albums (today only) for $5 each.  And it’s a great set, too - I already own and love two of them, bought a third, and suspect most folks already have the fourth:

1. R.E.M.’s new album, Accelerate is just great - short, snappy, easy to get into
2. Radiohead’s In Rainbows is an album I’ve written about before…
3. I’d been enjoying songs from She & Him lately, including their appearance in Paste magazine, so decided to pick up Volume One for five bucks.
4. Does anyone not know Hotel California?
5. Finally there’s Dreaming Out Loud from OneRepublic, which I’m not familiar with.

Also, if you like the Black Keys, you can get their new Attack & Release for $2.99…

Like I said, I’m not trying to advertize this.  I’m just happy to see some great music offered legally and without DRM for low bucks.

Post from: Stephen Foskett, Pack Rat

Amazon MP3 Friday 5

So I called AT&T and asked for a reprieve.  Surprisingly, the friendly (!) rep offered to remove the charges (!) and change my plan.  I could pay $10 or $30 more for a larger pool to chat in or $50 more for “unlimited calling.”  So I asked for details.

Turns out “Unlimited” actually feels kind of limiting, and I’m not alone in my reaction…

1. (On AT&T) only voice calls are unlimited for $99
2. The iPhone data plan (which is actually really nice and cheap) is $20 extra
3. Text messaging is still embarrassingly expensive and limited
4. This is the real kicker - additional family lines are not available with unlimited calling, so I would have to pay $30 or more extra to keep my wife’s line active, even though she used 8 minutes of talk time last month.

So no thanks, AT&T.  I don’t want to upgrade my calling plan to unlimited and pay $80 more per month.

Post from: Stephen Foskett, Pack Rat

The Dark Side of Unlimited Mobile Phone Plans

Here’s the situation:  You are tired of iTunes syncing whenever you drop your phone into the dock, so you uncheck “automatically sync” in the iPhone Summary page.  While at your local Starbucks, you decide to download the latest from KT Tunstall.  Yup, it downloaded, and you can listen to it.  Later, you place your phone back in the dock and go about your business.  But, surprise surprise, Katie’s song is now gone from your world!  Somewhere, somehow, the iPhone deleted it!

As we all know, Apple doesn’t allow multiple downloads of purchased content.  So what should you do if this happens to you?  Do what I did when “I’m Shipping Up To Boston” vanished:

1. Open a copy of iTunes that is authorized and linked to your iTunes Store account
2. Click “iTunes Store”
3. Click “Account” and log in
4. Click “Purchase History”
5. Click the tiny grey arrow in a circle next to the purchase in question
6. Click the “Report a Problem” button
7. Click the words “Report a Problem” next to the track in question
8. Select “I didn’t receive this song” and explain yourself in the box provided
9. Apple will re-authorize the song(s) in a few days
10. Then, in iTunes, select “Store” and “Check for Purchases” and the missing tracks will be downloaded
11. Pray that this doesn’t happen again!

Seems like a weird problem, all told.  One would think that Apple would not allow this kind of weird interaction, lest it discourage people from using the Wi-Fi Music Store!

Post from: Stephen Foskett, Pack Rat

Watch Out When Buying From the iTunes Wi-Fi Store!

Before: Everything looks like a generic external book type thing.

But I’ve stumbled on a great method to create easy to locate the right drive using free software and the power of Google.  I create a custom drive icon that looks like the physical drive in Windows, so I can see which is which at a glance.  Here’s how!

After: Aah, now I can see which removable drive is which.  Shame about that iPhone icon, though…

1. Install a copy of Icon Sushi, a small, free icon editing application.
2. Locate a nice image of your drive and save it to your Pictures folder.  I use Google’s image search function and key in the brand name for the drive in question.  I’ve usually been able to locate a good white-background oblique shot in no time - the manufacturer or a reseller like Amazon.com or Buy.com often has just the right picture.
3. Convert the picture to a PNG file using the built-in Microsoft Paint program.  Open it in mspaint and immediately select “File”, “Save As…”, drop down the list and select “PNG (*.png)” as the type, and click “OK”.



4. Fire up Icon Sushi and open your new PNG file.  The menus are kind of confusing, but follow along here and you’ll be fine.



5. Make sure the first line on the left (under “Icon”) is selected.  Under “Edit”, select “Edit transparency mask”.
6. In the “Edit transparency mask” window, select the color dropper (third from left) and click the background of the image. This will select most of the background (as seen below) and might even be enough for your image.



7. If your picture is like my example, there are still lots of off-color areas in the transparency mask.  You can get rid of many of these easily by selecting “Use color picker continuously” and clicking on each area in turn.  Use the crayon (far left icon) to select individual pixels if you need to.
8. Once the background is cleaned up to your satisfaction, click “OK” to return to the main window.



9. Now we will save the icon to the target drive.  Under “File”, select “Save as Single Icon(s)…”  Locate your removable drive (it is connected, right?) under Computer and save the file with a descriptive name.  I like to use the model name, so in my example, I saved it as “H:\Coolmax CD-311.ico”.
10. Now we tell Windows to use this icon for this drive.  Fire up Notepad and enter the following text, substituting your own drive icon name for mine:

[autorun]
icon = .\Coolmax CD-311.ico

11. Save this as “autorun.inf” in the root directory of the removable drive.  In my example, this would be “H:\autorun.inf”.  If there’s already an autorun.inf on the drive, take a look at it and see if you can add the “icon” line to it.
12. Now eject the drive and re-insert it.  You should see your new icon in “My Computer” - much better, don’t you think?

I’ve had great luck using this with thumb drives, memory cards, and removable hard disks.  But it doesn’t work with iPods, digital cameras, and other such things that show up with bogus icons.  I’d love a suggestion if you know how to modify these!

Also, note that the icon goes with the drive.  If you’re a psycho like me that swaps bare disk drives in and out of an enclosure, you might want to use an icon that identifies the drive.  I’ve added a big numeral for the capacity on top of the enclosure image for my bare drives.

Finally, don’t buy that Coolmax CD-311 USB/FireWire/e-SATA enclosure I used in my example.  The FireWire is flaky.  It’s going back to Fry’s!

Post from: Stephen Foskett, Pack Rat

Custom Icons Keep Removable Drives Straight

So how will you make your choice?  I previously talked about the essential differentiators, and now I’ve refined these into a more complete list I’m calling “The Eleven Essential Elements of Email Archiving”.  I capitalize this because it is the basis for much of my recent writing and speaking:  I just wrapped up an article for Storage magazine on the subject, to be published next month, and spoke on the topic at Storage Decisions in Chicago.

If you missed the show last week (or really really liked it!) and can’t wait for the magazine, may I suggest tuning in tomorrow for TechTarget’s Email and File Archiving Virtual Seminar?  You can catch my session at 1:30 Eastern, with a live Q&A session following.  Or you can tune in at 9 AM for the whole day-long extravaganza, featuring sessions from other good folks from Contoural and elsewhere.

Post from: Stephen Foskett, Pack Rat

Email Archiving: Just Can’t Get Enough