How to format a USB drive to EXT4 - so that it reliably writes more than once from a Readynas 

Get these tools:
to create an ext4 partition
http://download.cnet.com/MiniTool-Partition-Wizard-Home-Edition
(freeware)
to be able to read it on Windows
http://www.paragon-software.com/registration/extfs-windows.html
(requires registration)
Paragon can be loaded just as required (don't integrate unless needed.
No reboot was required to install these two and use them on Win7 Pro :)

(or use http://www.diskinternals.com/linux-reader/
or
http://sourceforge.net/projects/ext2read/files/latest/download
neither of which I have tried)

To Brother or not to Brother?

I'll have to say this in not so many words - buy a reputable brand.

As a dealer/reseller, I may not make as much markup - but I least I don't have come-backs such as we have had with a few other newer brands - ones more normally associated with phones and TVs than printers!

See this interesting discussion on why HP hasn't cornered the copier/MFP article:
http://blog.marketpoint.com/2012/07/22/is-it-a-printer-that-copies-or-a-copier-that-prints-how-the-convergence-of-copyprintfaxscan-has-blurred-the-lines-2/

Sometimes, you just have to get the paper out, no further fixing required - even if it was a 40 minute drive to site!

One droplet of oil..

Taking the lead from a great post : http://blog.marketpoint.com/2013/01/23/hp-color-laserjet-5500-51-2-error-on-the-display/ , and with nothing to loose, as I had already disassembled the printer down to the scanner, I decided to try a wee drop of oil... (The motor that spins up the laser scanner, had almost seized up and was screaming as the printer initialized). A light clean and oil and it was fixed :)

Here is the offending scanner. There was no documentation or labelling as to which was the Cyan scanner, but the the lowest toner in the set was Cyan, so an educated guess turned out to be correct   :)
In addition, to double check that error 52.1C was in fact the scanner (and not the DC controller as the manual suggested it could be), I simply swapped the two leads to the DC controller, and sure enough the error changed to 52.1Y - the yellow scanner was the next level up.
(I didn't need to put any covers back on to run this test, just the fuser needed reinstalling, and the front door reed switch needed to be held in.)

The customer was, needles to say rather pleased at this outcome - especially as I had some years ago ordered this very part for the same error, but the issue resolved itself so we didn't actually need to change the part till now, nearly four years later!.
And when it came to replacing it, somehow I didn't have the correct part :( Luckily a drop of oil and some perseverance was all that was required.

So now I have for sale a brand new laser scanner part number C2037-69008 as pictured:

MacMail - restoring mailboxes from Time Machine.

Let's say, that you are moving into the modern way of doing things - and want your mail collected by IMAP instead of POP. (Yes, I know ther are some of you who resist!)

A lot of customers are discovering that this is the way to go to avoid having to find their message amongst all the spam and flotsam on multiple devices... And more importantly see what was Sent in reply to that important email last week when you were in Honlulu and your partner replied on your behalf..

I accomplished this (on Mavericks on an iMac), but with a few provisos and heart-stopping moments.

The pop settings had been set to delete all mail on the server after a month, and there were two xtra accounts with history back about 3 years (2016 to 2013).

After checking the amount of mail left on the server and making sure I had the passwords correct (using webmail), I deleted the two accounts in Mail.

What I forgot to do was drag the contents into folders created under the On My Mac section.

I created the two new IMAP accounts (the trick here is to purposefully put a wrong password in - or else you will simply get a POP Yahoo account created).

So I resorted to Time Machine - which I knew had been backing up OK.

Two tricks I learned here - place your cursor in the Folder or Mailbox that you want to restore before pressing the Time Machine. Either restore an entire mailbox, or select individual mail within a box.

Allow all the items to load BEFORE pressing Command-A to select all though!

Then Restore and wait a good amount of time to allow the process to complete as there is no indication of its progress or success. In future I may open a terminal to see if there any encouraging logs coming through...


The most important trick is to close Mail, and re-open it, and you should see a new folder at the bottom of the list called Recovered Messages, and Recovered Messages-1 -2 -3 if you have tried it a few times like I did (These new folders not be visible if you have a lot of folders), and copy and paste the items back into the IMAP Inbox, (or perhaps just into an On My Mac folder if you prefer - in case the IMAP server deletes them as they are not on the server) - as reported in this excellent page here: http://pondini.org/TM/15m.html

Job done.