| Home > Of things Mac > Leopard's perfect Time Machine backup device - the sixth gen. iPod |
| Leopard's perfect Time Machine backup device - the sixth gen. iPod | | Date Created: 26 Aug, 2007, 08:43 PM |
 The Apple rumour mill is in overdrive once more, just a few weeks after the release of new iMacs and iLife/iWork 08.
Some thought that that would be it after the release of the iPhone mid-year, but as I blogged a while back, it was my expectation that Apple had a few more things up its sleeve before Macworld 09.
The current rumour mill has it that new iPods are on their way, in particular a 6th Gen full size iPod and a video playing Nano.
Will the Nano contain a large flashdrive of up to 32GB? Will the full size iPod get a new Toshiba hard drive of up to 320GB (2.5") or one of the Samsung 160GB 1.8" drives? Or a version of OS X similar to that on the iPhone, or wifi or bluetooth? Touchscreens or the familiar scroll wheel?
Whatever the case, let's focus on the fullsize iPod for a moment, one that may come with a hard drive that is the same size as your iMac or your MacBook Pro (in which case it may end up double its capacity).
What's one of the most anticipated unique features of Leopard? One that exemplifies Apple identifying an aspect of human computer interaction which 60% don't bother with because it's too hard or too forgettable?
Time Machine.
From what we've seen so far, Time Machine will best work with an external hard drive that matches or exceeds the size of your Mac's drive. Now I've already prepared for Leopard's imminent arrival and installation on my Powerbook's 80GB drive by putting in a new 320GB 16MB Seagate drive, available here for $95, into my Newertech external box.
This is the one I showed on this blog some years back, which contains 3 Firewire and 3 USB slots and will accept up to a 500MB IDE drive. (Newertech has upgraded it recently to accept SATA drives.)
Now the drive I orginally had placed in the Newertech was 160GB, double the size of my Powerbook, so not only did it contain two partitions - one of which was a clone of the Powerbook - but it also contained my Bit Torrent TV shows and research documents I occasionally used.
In order to get the 160GB over onto the new drive, I purchased a $35 IDE cable which plugs into the new drive's connectors (power and data) without having to purchase an external case. Once the data had been transferred (allowing me a half hour walk in the park), the Newertech was opened, the drives transferred, and all is well again, with a faster more capacious drive ready to act as the Time Machine. |
 It's been partitioned into two drives, one of about 30GB (using Apple's Disk Utility before the transfer from the old drive) and the other is around 270GB, named Time Machine. The smaller partition's been named Leopard, and this is where I'll install Leopard first, before I do a clean install on the Powerbook.
Here I'll test out the feline's look and feel and make sure all my software and peripherals work before Leopard takes its place on my Powerbook. Which means the Newertech will need to use its Firewire connections to act as my start up disk (it doesn't work this way if you only connect using USB).
Once I'm happy with Leopard in action, I'll clean install it on the Powerbook.
To be blunt this is a clumsy way to do things. The Newertech (see version 3 above right) needs to be powered up, and so is not really a portable solution at all.
But what if Apple next week released super-capacious iPods which will act as your Leopard back up device for Time Machine. As it now stands, my iPod (stolen recently from my new car) was always plugged into the Powerbook, automatically sucking down Podcasts and purchased iTunes tracks on the fly, while keeping fully charged.
I'm guessing that a lot of people operate their iPods this way, acting as de facto backup devices for their music and photos. More advanced users will have been using it as a backup for their presentations and videos too.
And now we've seen how the new iLife and iWork apps include export options to convert files to iPod formats, especially Keynote 08.
So having trained Mac users to use the iPod for backing up, by using it as a display device for music, video and photos, how easy would it be for a high capacity iPod, permanently plugged into your Mac, to act as your Time Machine repository, in addition to whatever external hard drive you already have?
The iPod needs no power supply to operate unlike most very large external hard drives, and its ease of use is without peer. We already know how to use it, connect it, and iTunes gives us huge information about its functioning, allowing a form of syncing to occur already, via user-controlled playlists.
So what's the bet that in Leopard we will see an even greater integration between Mac and iPod? For me, in need of a new iPod (I'm creating new mp3 CDs of podcasts every couple of days just to avoid pathetic radio when driving in the new car), the release of new high capacity, and probably cheaper iPods could not come at a better time.
There's no news yet of another media-centric keynote coming, so perhaps if new iPods are released they'll either occur at the Paris Expo, or released via Apple's website.
But if a keynote does occur with Jobs at the helm, I fully expect to hear about Leopard too, and at the very least, a formal release date announced. And it will be one that Apple will stick to. After delaying Leopard to bring us the iPhone on time, so the story goes, Apple can't afford to disappoint its loyal following by delaying Leopard a second time. That would surely batter its share price too.
My guess: If a firm Leopard release date is announced at the same time as new iPods are released, up go those share prices again. Oh, and perhaps a further iPhone update with new features will be announced at the same time. After all, why do things by half when you're on such a roll, as Apple finds itself in mid-2007. |
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