Brian

You will need to delete the RAID Setup / Configuration to get them back to Single Drives. Then it’s just a matter of repartitioning / formatting.

Mirrored is Mirrored. What is on Drive #1 (Or it might be labeled Drive #0) is automatically / instantaneously copied on Drive #2 (Or labeled as Drive #1.) So if you have a bad sector / data corruption on one drive...guess what? You have data corruption / loss on the second drive!! There is no fail-safe, other than if one HD completely fails, you are still able to function with the working drive. That is a RAID1 by design, it protects you from a HD loss or failure, not corrupted / lost files. You then replace the bad / failed drive and tell the RAID to rebuild itself. If you want more of a fail safe with RAID 1, you'll need a second RAID 1 that you duplicate to, or simply a larger external HD that you duplicate your Mirrored Drives weekly, or at the very least monthly and kept off-site. This way you only lose a week's worth of data. Sometimes its really tough trying to figure out which HD is failing. You have a 50/50 chance and it's possible that you might have some diagnostic software that could let you know. That said, most of the software-based RAID systems aren't robust and don't give you a whole lot of info. My recommendation? Get a larger EHD and backup that RAID, like now and I'd replace both those drives at the same time. Since they were purchased & installed at the same time, have been running for the same amount of time, it is very possible that one HD is going and the other will then die a few months from now. Keep in mind, these are WD Caviar Black Drives, and while they are very good and I've used them in my systems for decades, they aren't meant to be in a RAID configuration. That's what WD RED drives are meant for and going forward, you want WD Caviar GOLD Drives. When I was really considering building a fancy NAS for a home media server, without question I was going to use WD Gold Drives. They are better / faster than the WD Red Drives and are meant to be in RAID Setups / NAS Units, etc.

Not much has changed, really. Data is data. What has changed is the interfaces and speed. If you want a Mirrored System, that's still a RAID 1 setup and you will need a motherboard that supports RAID in order to do this, otherwise you'll need to purchase an External Hard Drive that has this feature. As far as a machine for 2019: Intel i7 or i9 16GB RAM at a Minimum - 32GB or more preferred. 1TB Hard Drive for the main drive. If you are building your own computer, go with a SSD Drive. Please be aware, if purchasing a store-bought computer, I don't care how fast that 128GB / 250GB SSD Drive is, it won't to you a damn bit of good if it's full. Windows updates can be huge, so I would shoot for a 1TB at a minimum , though a person could get away with a 500GB SSD or M.2 HD for the main drive. A video card that has separate & dedicated video memory and does not use the RAM for its memory. 4GB of video memory is fine and since Adobe's products are using the graphics cards for a performance boost, a video card with 8GB of Video Memory is a good thing. So call it 4GB recommended / 8GB preferred when it comes to Video RAM. I like Windows 10 Pro but I'm more of a power user. Most people will be fine with Win 10 Home. Synctoy is an old Microsoft program. It's mean to keep track of changes to a folder and then automatically backup that folder to another location at a certain time you configure it. It's not a "Mirrored" method, at least not in the purest sense.

As far a special tools, this is what I used: The rounded end of a toe-nail clipper handle works great to pop in the little button to open the RAM Access Panel. The one that I used was made in China. So if you are feeling American for the 4th of July, look for one made in the USA. Static...yes, it's important to touch something metal to ground yourself before handling the RAM. Just don't go walking over to one side of the room, touch a refrigerator or something, then walk all the way back to the computer. You could build up a static charge by doing that, which defeats the purpose. Touch something metal within an arm's reach. Computer components are made A LOT better these days then back in the 80's. Back then you could wave a Styrofoam Cup over a Motherboard and it would start doing weird things. So just use common sense and go slow and methodical. Handle the RAM by the edges, wash your hands before and make sure they are dry, etc. Like I said, this should take 5-10min for the whole time. The hard part? Trying to get the stupid Access Panel Button pushed in without scratching the finish. Hence the rounded edge of the Toe-Nail Clipper. Also if you put your Mac face-down, the RAM Cage has a tendency to fall back into place, since Gravity will be working against you. So be prepared for it; it's a two hand job unless you insert the sticks with the Mac up-right. Oh, the RAM sticks only go in one way, so make note of which side the notch is (I think it's the left, facing the back of the iMac...) when you pull the Apple RAM.

The one I linked to is a different Part Number. The "M" on the end seems to be that it was tested in a Mac. Now, there are two reasons of thinking: They are both the same, and the "M" is the "Macintosh Tax." Manufacturers know that Mac owners are used to paying more money so they might be trying to add a little extra profit, although small. This "M" memory also might be more compatible with the existing Apple RAM, if you were just upgrading slightly. The other way of thinking is that there is no difference and either will work fine. Bottom Line: For the best performance and compatibility, it's best to use the SAME RAM STICKS in all your memory slots. Since you are pulling out the Apple RAM, and replacing it with a quantity of two 16GB kits, you should be fine with the cheaper option. That said, for and extra $12, you will have peace of mind knowing that it has been tested in a Mac. What would Brian do? Besides talking in the 3rd person, I'd look for a Crucial Coupon Code to get free shipping or whatever to offset the $12 cost for the "Mac Tested" RAM @$73.99. At $6 per kit difference, we are really splitting hairs.

Purchase two of these kits: Crucial 16GB Kit You will remove the existing Apple RAM and install four 8GB sticks in all the slots, totaling 32GB RAM. Big difference between 8GB and 32GB when using Mojave.

No. It should be a 4K camera. 3840 x 2160. Unfortunately, I really do not have any Drone experience. I actually just got a GoPro Hero 7 as a gift and will be learning how to do video and such. I would recommend finding and joining a DJI Mavic Pro 2 Facebook Users Group. They will be able to help you much more than I can. I will also move this thread to “The Land If Misfits” for others to chime in, but those threads never seem to get much attention. I did find this video and it seems decent: DJI Mavic Pro 2 Settings

Oh!! Now I get it!! Now that’s a better question. Actually, you don’t want to go above 80% full on ANY Mac HD, internal or external. I usually state a conservative number, like 75% to give members a bit of wiggle-room. As soon as you go above 90% full, things can get serious in a bad way...95% or more...downright scary and dangerous. You are really playing with Fire above 95% full. The reason is, the Mac OS treats both internal and external hard drives the same. (I won’t go into specifics of why, your eyes will glaze over, LOL!) So if you are full on your main drive, you will have a performance hit, if one of your externals is full, you will have a performance hit. So the fuller the HD, the slower a Mac runs. The more files / folders / crap stored on the Desktop, the slower the damn thing runs. Here is what I would do: Use your 2TB drive for TM only. Even if you reformat it and start over. Put nothing else on it. Your 5TB drives take the place of your two 1TB externals. Move the existing data / image files to two separate main folders, one labeled 1TB EHD 1 & 1TB EHD 2, unless the drives are just duplicates of each other. Then all you have to worry about is one EHD and one folder. Going forward, you can duplicate one of the 5TB drives weekly and keep it off-site. I would not let TM manage backing up your externals, YOU need to do that. Only have images / data on the 5TB EHDs. In the long run, you are keeping things simple. If you ever had a catastrophic failure, putting all your eggs one one basket with TM isn’t a good idea. TM is really meant for your internal HD only. Not your other externals. So says me. And the Apple Employees that work at the Genius Bar. For your main drive: CULL-CULL-CULL!!! You do not need 75 photos of your lunch taken 5 years ago. Those out of focus images from that family session 3 years ago and will never see the light-of-day? GONE!! BE. RUTHLESS. Your goal is to get above 350GB free on your internal Mac Laptop HD. Better yet, shoot for 400GB. Even if you have to move some items temporarily to one of the 1TB drives as a place holder. While you are at it, now is a good time to review how your file / folder structure is laid out. Does it work for you? Can you find things within 30 seconds? Or is crap all over the place? Now is the time to make things better...while culling, organize things. I’m sure this is going to take a week or so, but keep chipping away at it. When it’s done, your Mac will be in a much better place. Right now, I’m a little concerned.

It’s to eliminate the possibility of Data Corruption. You do not want Time machine creating a Time Machine Backup of your Time Machine Backup Drive to itself. Clear as mud? Plus, what happens if that Drive fails? Not only do you lose your image files, TM files are also gone. If you say, split your external drive into two partitions, one for images and one for TM, what’s the point of using TM? The EHD is backing up to itself. In reality, Time Machine is to backup your Primary Macintosh HD that contains the OS and programs, etc. It was never intended to backup External Drives, since they are external and should already be treated as external backups. Time Machine is meant to get you going again when your primary he fails, is replaced, and you need to restore the new one. Steve Jobs saw the importance of backups and wanted to make backups “fun” and “easy,” especially since the Macs were going to a sealed unit mentality; just look at how difficult it is to upgrade RAM in a 21.5” iMac or today’s modern Apple Laptops... As far as an automated way, that’s where TM is limited. It’s not like a program such as Veritas BackupExec, which is a program that servers use, that automatically does a verify at the end of a job if you tell it to. The only way to check, is to manually check them yourself. Honestly, all verification does is check the file size and extension and see if things match. BackupExec never opens the file, just makes sure the file could be read and is the same size / extension as the original.

For now, leave it as exFAT. This way you can get stuff off your Mac and copy it to a Windows Computer. To answer your question, we will use the Windows Disk Management Tool and I can walk you through it. Should take about 5 min to accomplish.

I get the "What's a good EHD to buy?" question on a fairly normal basis and my answer is, "It depends..." The problem is not the hard drive, that's the easy part. The problem is the filesystem difference between the two worlds. By default a Mac OS will READ a windows drive but not WRITE to it. It's really a one-way proposition. A few things come to mind: Use a cloud based service that works with both Windows and Mac and you upload/download stuff. Use an external HD that is exFAT partitioned Use a program that is designed to write from a Mac to a Windows EHD. Out of the three methods, 2 & 3 make the most sense. The two hard drives you linked to must be using a exFAT partition method. Please note, that exFAT while an option, is not 100% fool-proof. There could be issues and data loss; as for a long-term method of storage, it is much better for a traditional (spinning) Windows Drive to be formatted to NTFS and a Mac Drive to be Journaled HFS+. There is a newer filesystem type for the Macs that is better for SSD Drives, but lets keep things simple for now. While doing your data transfer, you want to COPY AND PASTE, NEVER-EVER CUT & PASTE. You do not want to "Move" your files, but just simply copy them. This is just in-case that writing to the exFAT partition screws up and the files get corrupted. When you just copy and leave the source files intact, you simply start over. If you move the files and things go wrong, you could have data loss. In addition, it's much better to create the partition on a Windows Computer; I've tried setting up a Windows Partition (FAT32) EHD using a Mac in the past and it never seems to work correctly. I almost always have problems and error messages. If I create the FAT32 Partition or exFAT Partition on a Windows Computer, it works just fine. The Mac OS is just really good at creating Macintosh Partitions and not Windows. I do not recommend the WD "Green" Drive or "Eco Friendly" drives as they tend to fail. A LOT. Unfortunately, it's hard to figure out which Western Digital EHD Models have Green Drives. Personally, I like the WD "Black" Line as they are very reliable and run fast and cool. From the reviews that I've read, it seems the 8TB version of the WD drive contains a WD Black 7200RPM drive inside it. I'm not 100% sure the smaller versions have a "Green" Drive or a "Blue" Drive in them. Why am I so concerned about the colors? It's how WD classifies their drives: Green: Cheap. Poorly Made. Usually fail within a year. According to a Best Buy employee, it's the #1 most returned HD and the one that people always purchase due to them being in-expensive. When you hear of people having problems with dead WD drives, chances are, there was a "Green" Drive inside the EHD case. Think entry-level DLSR, like a Nikon 3000 or Canon Rebel. Blue: Mid-Range. I've used these drives in a pinch and seem to work well. The downside is that they aren't as fast as the Black Drives but don't have the high-failure rates of the Green Drives. Think Mid-Range DSLR, like a Nikon D750 or Canon 80D. Black: Professional. I have used this line for decades and have never had a problem. This is what I look for. They run fast (7200 RPM) and run cool. Very reliable. Cost more that the Green or Blue but totally worth the extra $50 or so. Think High-End DSLR, like a Nikon D850 or Canon 5D Mark IV. Red: Professional / Server. These are meant for NAS units or Servers running 24/7. You would think that these drives would be even better than the Black Drives, but I have seen people complain about failures during some production years in the past, so my opinion is mixed. Purple: This line is meant to record video, meaning lots and lots of writing 24/7. You usually find these drives in Security Units recording video with multiple cameras. Out of all the WD line, either the Black or the Blue is the type of drive that you want. The problem is, that it's really-really-really hard figuring out what HD is inside the External Case. The 4TB My Book could be a Green Drive and the 8TB model could be a Black and they both look the same on the outside. Also, they could be formatted differently and might require and extra step or two to get working. LaCIE HDs are usually Mac Formatted and I have owned them in the past. They are decent. What concerns me is the interface port on the model you linked to. Using USB-C to USB 3.0 cable should work fine on a brand new computer that has USB 3.0 ports but I'm not sure how well on a older computer that has USB 2.0 ports. Of course I could be wrong in my suspicions and it works just fine. Anyway, since you are more than likely buying a new computer, if you do get the LaCIE, just make sure you use a USB 3.0 port. They are usually Blue or have a SS with a lighting bolt near them. The USB ports near the network jack are meant for your Mouse / Keyboard and are usually USB 2.0.

That's the problem, as Macs become more commonplace, having to reformat drives is the norm. It's not THAT hard. Just a few steps and I can walk you through it. It's literally a 5 min process. Honestly, it's better in the long run if you do it. The Amazon link I gave above has 4TB Models and it's around $92. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01LQQHL4E/ref=twister_B07CMLR679?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1

One thing I usually do not recommend are the $79 Special at the Box Stores, as they are usually lower-end, low-quality drives. You want to avoid anything "Eco Friendly" or "Green" when it comes to External Hard Drives as well. I have found those type of drives have high failure rates over the years. What to look for? A 7200RPM USB 3.0 Hard Drive. I like the Western Digital Caviar Black Hard Drive line, and I think I have found one that is in an EHD Configuration: WD 8TB MyBook One thing I noticed is that the EHD is formatted to a ExFAT partition, rather than the typical GPT Disk Type. ExFAT is compatible with both Mac & PC, but it's not fool-proof and would recommend you re-partition / reformat the hard drive to the Windows GPT Partition and NTFS filesystem. (I know, "Huh?" Just get back to me if you purchase that drive.) Is this EHD going to stay in one place, like on your desk, or move around with you? How large do you need the capacity to be? If you are going to use this on say, a laptop and carry it with you all over the place, then a SSD Drive might make more sense, though that is at a higher cost per Gigabyte.

Looks OK. I would save up a little more and get a i7 as PS CC is finally taking advantage of what makes a i7 so fast. But if that’s all you can afford, so be it. It’s fine.

Looks like it. In addition it has. USB 3.1 port. Prices sometimes vary by model years.

"Here are the specs that I recommend for a Photo-editing Machine (6-2019): Intel i7 (or i9 if you can afford it. 16GB RAM at a Minimum - 32GB or more preferred, like 64GB 1TB Hard Drive for the main drive. I don't care how fast that 128GB / 250GB SSD Drive is, it won't to you a damn bit of good if it's full. Of course the bigger the better when it comes to hard drives. Windows updates can be huge, so I would shoot for a 1TB at a minimum, though a person could get away with a 500GB HD. That said, as I write this, 500GB HD are becoming "Too Small" for today's modern Photoshop and 24MP+ cameras. A video card that has separate & dedicated video memory. 2GB - 4GB is fine (like 4GB) and since Adobe's products are using the graphics cards for a performance boost, a video card with 8GB of Video Memory is a good thing. So call it 4GB recommended / 8GB preferred when it comes to Video RAM. I like Windows 10 Pro but I'm more of a power user. Most people will be fine with Win 10 Home." I like the Dell XPS 8930 line. Here is a model that meets my criteria. As far as Monitors go, you want a IPS-Based display, at least 24" and either has a Matte Coating or Matte Glass on it, basically you don't want a glossy screen. It screws with calibration and can do weird reflections. I like the Dell line of displays. They are very affordable and are quite decent. They also tend to be easier to calibrate. Here is the Dell Ultrasharp U2417H. I also remember seeing in your post on FB Ask Damien, that you are planning on running Quickbooks? If so, you really want 32GB of RAM, heck 64GB isn't out of the question for you.

I'd get this one instead: https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1090478-REG/g_technology_0g04023_g_drive_6tb_7200_thunderbolt_usb3_sata3.html Thunderbolt 3 is FAST. It's like having another internal drive. Plus, it also has a USB 3.0 port, so it can hook up to your old MBP. As far as the size, I have a 12TB G-Drive. LOL!! 4TB is what I'd have at a minimum these days. 8TB is good if you can afford it.

Personally, I like and use G-Drives with my Macs. They are a little more expensive than the $79 special at Best Buy, but are worth it since they tend to use higher quality components. I also recommend that you don’t go cheap on your primary storage device. The other benefit to G-Drives is they come Mac formatted and are ready to go out of the box, and they include cables as well. What year is your iMac and MBP?

I'm sorry, you are SOL. It's FB Messenger, not regular messenger / SMS Texting. I don't think those FB messages are stored locally on your phone. Perhaps you should dig through your messages in a browser while logged into FB? It's a long shot and I still think they are gone.

Personally, I don't recommend laptops for photo editing, but like LR users they won't budge. People still want stupid laptops. It's really tough for me to recommend laptops as getting one with an IPS-based display is much more difficult now than ever. The HP one is a rarity; the Asus Republic of Gamers line used to be my go-to but now most of them do not come with IPS screens. Besides the hardware under-the-hood, it was the display that pushed me over the edge in recommending that one. So in my humble opinion, I'd buy a laptop that you can afford and use and external (and calibrated) display for photo editing. If you really want something decent, you should look to spend between $1000-$1500 or so. Wacom...don't have personal experience with them. Damien has though and wrote an article. You really want to choose the correct size for your primary display, that's the most important part. Give this article a read.

Neither. Well, the Dell Inspiron one for $999 looks "Okay" on the surface, but I personally prefer the Dell XPS 8930 line over the consumer-grade Inspiron Line. The XPS line has better components inside the case. That's why the low-grade Inspiron has more "stuff" in it; you are getting a PC with cheaper components and why the XPS costs more for a similar configuration.

As far as standing, when it comes to people, compression is always favored. Until it isn’t. LOL! It depends. Honestly, the short answer is yes. For your situation, stand further away and zoom in. In addition, it could be just your lens’s optical formulas and that’s just the way it is. Personally I have never had those results with any of my Nikon lenses (big forehead) at similar focal lengths, even with consumer-grade kit lenses. Hell, even my iPhone 6s which is a 28mm equivalent at the widest angle isn’t THAT bad. How to fix? Either buy a higher-end lens for your camera or switch brands. The cheap/free way is to stand further back and zoom in.

55mm should be okay but is also prone to issues, like big noses, if you get too close. Though it’s not as bad as 35mm or wider. If you shot in Raw, ACR / LR might have some built in lens correction for your lenses that might help. Unfortunately, there is no one method to fix your photos; that said, I’d start with the free transform tool.

I’m sure there are reflectors and more likely, white foam boards. Found this article to show you what I mean: http://weedit.photos/2017/white-foam-core-photography/ The most important thing with these shots is to fiddle and practice. Being aware of how aperture and flash power relate to one another AND how the Inverse Square Law works is essential. Huh? You need a large window, a better light than a speed light / Alien Bee and a white foam core board. Invest in at least a 5 foot or better yet, 7 foot wide octa softbox. The bigger the modifier, the softer and smoother the effect in the shadows and overall light. Also, practice-practice-practice! You can’t “wing it” with this type of look. One final thought, you need ROOM. A small area in your basement will just drive you nuts. I’m taking about a room with 10-15 foot ceilings and enough width and depth so the light doesn’t bounce around. Keep in mind that photographers don’t always tell you the whole truth. I’ve know of several photographers who give workshops, tell their students to use Alien Bees and cheap modifiers when they themselves use $2000+ Profoto Lights and fancy/expensive modifiers. So don’t fall for the “She says she only uses a speed light and a 60” umbrella...” statements. Most of the time, they are lying to you.

Stop using 24mm for these shots! What you are seeing is the distortion that a wide-angle lens does along the sides. If you are standing too close, you will get these results. For me, when I shoot my landscapes at 24mm, I will often move an inch or so in each direction and take a shot or two, which changes the overall “look” of the photo due to distortion For portraits, you want to take advantage of compression, and that’s why most portraits are taken between 85mm-200mm, with 85mm to 135mm being the most common focal length. My advice with out having to purchase a 70-200? Stand further back and zoom in. You want to use the 70mm end of your lens a bit more.