Mac OS X Disaster Relief, Updated Edition

by Ted Landau

This guide to troubleshooting Mac OS X offers a comprehensive discussion of ailments and cures for the operating system. It includes information on Unix commands and provides tips, diagnostic hints... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 032116847X
• ISBN13: 9780321168474
• Release Date: January 2002
• Publisher: Peachpit Press
• Length: 684 Pages
• Weight: 2.70 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.4" x 7.5" x 9.3"

Customer Reviews

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I usually have a tall stack of books in the [Mac] review pipeline, and new additions are added to the bottom of the pile. Sometimes it takes titles a while to surface, but when Ted Landau's Mac OS X Disaster Relief arrived, it went promptly to the head of the pile.When I began reading the actual troubleshooting sections, I began to worry."Did I make a mistake upgrading to Mac OS X?"When I was half finished with the troubleshooting sections, I worried some more."Maybe I made a mistake owning a Macintosh."By the time I finished the book, I was really worried."Maybe I should just get rid of all my computers!"After reading page after page of gruesome OS X problems, I felt spooked. But after a cup of warm milk, I remembered that I'd never seen many of these gremlins, and probably never will. My OS X installation runs well most of the time. But I have had troubles that took quite a while to eradicate. I wish I had Mac OS X Disaster Relief close at hand before my last experience with a disk I could not unmount.Mac OS X Disaster Relief is not the kind of book you buy to get a warm and fuzzy feeling about OS X's incredible stability, and how its bulletproof Unix foundation never crashes. You won't find any of the marketing happy-talk that spews from the depths of Apple's PR machine.What you will find is page after page of specific and detailed fixes to both common and uncommon OS X problems. Ted Landau knows his stuff; he is probably best known for the creation of the MacFixit web site, and for his Sad Macs, Bombs, and Other Disasters. Sad Macs dealt with OS 9 troubles, and Mac OS X Disaster Relief is a more-than-worthy successor.There's no fluff in this meaty book. My brain was working overtime on many pages, thinking about the variety of different problems and solutions. Landau devotes comparatively little space to OS X overview, except in places where a fundamental understanding of OS architecture is needed. While there is the usual discussion of Aqua, and OpenGL, the bulk of Chapter 4, Understanding Mac OS X, is spent on a thorough exposition of the contents of /Library and /Users/"Home"/Library. Each folder, beginning with Application Support, and ending with StartupItems, is covered in detail. While this information could be found by consulting MacFixit, Macintouch, Apple's KnowledgeBase, Mac OS X Hints, and Google.com/Mac, your Mac would be obsolete before you found it all. Mac OS X Disaster Relief is the best compendium of "what part does what job" I have ever seen for OS X.Before reading Mac OS X Disaster Relief, I thought I knew a bit about OS X. I should, after plowing through over a dozen OS X books, each one saying it is the best in the field. But Landau is the first to say OS X has at least 7 ways of crashing at startup. (Apple does like to give the user flexibility...) Chapter 5, Crash Prevention and Recovery presents the startup sequence in slow-motion detail, and you learn exactly what happens (and what can go wrong) at each step in the p

Fills a need...

This book is designed for those that are already familiar with Mac OS X and are willing to attempt to solve problems that may crop up from time to time while running Mac OS X. It's about as far as you can go short of learning UNIX commands and working "beneath the hood" (although there is a chapter on some basic specific-task-oriented UNIX). If others have had the problem you are experiencing, chances are there is a solution in this book.Highly recommended.

Great OS X troubleshooting book

If you're looking for an OS X troubleshooting book this is it! Insight from the MacFixIt guru helps cure your OS X blues along with basic OS X info. This book along with Mac OS X unleashed (John & William Ray) will help answer all your needs.

Not just for troubleshooting

Long-time Mac users will recognize Ted Landau as one of the best authorities in the business on how to keep your Mac up and running well. He brings his many years of experience and expertise now to Mac OS X. This book is chockfull of excellent advice on how to install OS X (including an excellent discussion of the pros and cons of partitioning), how to diagnose problems with OS X and with applications, how to recover from and prevent crashes, and how to troubleshoot all aspects of OS X.But the book is much more than that. If you're interested in really learning about the inner workings of OS X, from the code manager to its unix underpinnings to Agua, this book explains in clear and precise detail. There's also a section on Classic: how to optimize it, how to keep it running smoothly, etc.If you are only own one book on OS X, this should be it. If you're new to OS X, buy this one and Pogue's Missing Manual. The Pogue book will get you started. Landau's will keep you going! HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.