Review: LaCie F.A. Porsche 500 GB USB 2.0 drive

From my IBM PCjr, to my Commodore 64, Mac Classic, Mac LC III, string of PCs, and finally to my current Mac PowerBook G4 — 20 years of nerd-dom — I have never had a complete, proper backup. Dangerous, I know. I did backup my iTunes database on DVDs once, but that was a couple of years ago, and I have made occasional CDs of my documents file.

Anyway, I picked up a 160 GB Western Digital Passport portable hard drive, and that was a dud because that particular drive does not work with a PowerBook G4. So I picked up this LaCie F.A. Porsche 500 GB USB 2.0 external hard drive at Amazon.com for $119. Much, more better.

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Review: WD Passport doesn’t work with PowerBook G4

In preparation for my impending upgrade from Tiger to Leopard — and because (I am embarrassed to say) I never back up my PowerBook G4 — I picked up this 160 GB Western Digital Passport portable hard drive today at Best Buy for $99. Let me cut to the chase: This drive does not work with a PowerBook G4.

The packaging says it works for PC and Mac but should have said most Macs. Apparently, my 17-inch PowerBook G4 does not push enough power through USB to run the damn thing. Western Digital’s troubleshoot was no help.

I have ordered a 500 GB LaCie with an AC adapter. Stay tuned….

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A brief respite from my usual pointless trash…

Hopefully by now, Dear Reader, you have discovered that Apple Zombies is a website about three things:

1. Apple Computers, and the experiences of Apple newbies like me,
2. Apple Zombies, those self-absorbed know-it-alls who feel a sense of superiority while using their Apples, and believe that anything Steve Jobs does, up to and including his choice of breakfast cereals, is something we all should emulate, and
3. Zombies. Just ’cause they’re fun.

See? It all works together.

Funny how things have worked out, though. Scott seems to write all the “real” content — actual Apple rumors, Apple entertainment news, and the like. I tend to write the silly crap — mindless zombie minutia and pointless drivel about local grocery stores. See below.

OK. Some real Apple content. If you have read further down, you would know that Scott is still working off Tiger, and I have made the jump to Leopard on my swanky 24″ iMac. My dirty secret, though, is that, on occasion, I do run 10.4; I have a MacBook, that’s only a few months old.

So, this morning, I turned the MacBook on, as it still is home to my iTunes account, wanting to add a song or two that, again, will bring my manhood into question. Wow. Apple has been busy. Lots of updates had accrued in the week or two since I last used the MacBook.

Topping this list is a rather large update to Tiger. Tiger, which is now officially Version 10.4.11, had a massive 131 MB update. What was it about? Who knows? But, Steve wouldn’t lead us wrong, would he?! I’ll drink that Kool-Aid! Brains… Also on the hit parade, one found an 80 MB update to Java, a 41 MB update to iTunes, a 51 MB update to Quicktime, and a new 7 MB to iDVD. This makes me wonder, though, what do people without Broadband do? I can’t even imagine.

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New OS… already?!

Wow. That was quick.

Apple has released the first update to its much ballyhooed OS 10.5 Leopard system. The new update, dubbed 10.5.1, at just under 40 MB, addresses some basic fixes and does some dusting and cleaning in the OS. Details on the changes can be found here. It took me just a few minutes to load into my brand-spankin’ new 24″ iMac (of which Scott is sooo jealous).

So, far, it looks great. But, being a brain-numbed Apple Zombie, I have no doubt that only good things come from Cupertino. Hmmm, I have a hankerin’ for some tasty brains.

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