howto»quick tips
HARDWARE
CLONINGHELP
I needtoclonemyharddrivebeforeit
fails.I’vepurchaseda new1TBdrive,
buthowdoI attachittomyPCtobe
abletoclonetheold drive to it?
JohnAndrewsTheeasiestoptionfora2.5-inch
drivewouldbeasimpleSATA
III-to-USBcable(typicallyavailable
for$5-10)—justconnectittothe
newdriveandplugitintoaspare
portbeforecloningusingMacrium
ReflectFree.A3.5-inchdrive
requiressomethingbeefierwithits
ownindependentpowersupply—a
SATAdockingstationwoulddothe
trickhere.Thesecostaround
$30-40andcanbeusedwith
2.5-inch and 3.5-inch drives.ChooseUSB3.0for the fastest
transferrates.
IanSleightholmWINDOWS
LOCKEDOUT
I can’tlogintoWindows 10 withmy
Microsoftaccount,whichhaslockedme
outofmydesktop.I messedupthelogin
nameandnowithasa passwordof
‘unknown’.I forgottheemailaddressI
registeredonmyMicrosoftaccountandI
getnowherewiththeonlineaccount
recoveryprocess. Any way of getting
aroundthis?
‘Doowop’You’llneedaccesstoasecondPCand
thepaid-forversionofLazesoft
RecoverySuite(www.lazesoft.com/
lazesoft-recovery-suite.html). Thelatestversion(4.3)canconvert
Microsoftaccountloginsbackto
localuserones,makingiteasyto
restoreaccesstoyourPC.The
downsideisthatthisfunctionality
requiresaProfessionalEdition
license,whichcostsUS$28(around
$40).Oncepurchased,download
andinstallthesoftwareonanother
PCandchoose‘BurnCD/USBDisk’
tocreaterecoverymedia,thenboot
fromthisonyourmainPC.Choose
thePasswordRecoveryoptionfrom
themainscreenandfollowthe
promptstoconvertyouraccount
andregainaccess to your PC.
NickOdantzisHARDWARE
FUSIONDRIVE
I intendtoreplacemyiMac,andam
consideringa Fusion Drive rather than
a harddisk?
LizDentonFusionDrivesareanApple-specific
combinationofasmallerSSDwitha
largerconventionalharddisk.They
attempttodeliverthespeedofan
SSDmostofthetime,atacost
whichislittlemorethanahard
disk.
Todothat,macOSlocksthetwo
drivestogetherusingitsCore
Storagetechnology.Thisaimsto
keepyourmostactivedata–down
totheblocklevel,notnecessarily
wholefiles–ontheSSDwherethey
canbeaccessedmostquickly,and
lessactiveonesontheharddisk
withitsfargreatercapacity.Fusion
Drivesused128GBSSDsbackin
2012,butnowcomein24GBand
32GBversions.
Beingtwocomponents,Fusion
Driveswillloseyourdataifjustone
partfails–muchlikeastriped
RAIDarrayoftwodisks.Asthey’re
peculiartoApple,repairsand
replacementsnormallyhavetobe
donebyanAppleserviceprovider,
andmaybemorecostly.Thatsaid,
manyMacusershavebeenenjoying
thebenefitsofFusionDrivesfor
fiveyearsnow,andmostseemvery
reliableandeffective.
Currentlytheirbiggestlimitation
isthatHighSierra’snewfile
system,APFS,can’tbeusedonthem,
andtheyhavetobekeptinthe
olderMacOSExtendedformat.
Appleisexpectedtodeliveran
updatetoHighSierrawhichwill
enableAPFS’suseonFusionDrives,
althoughwedon’tknowwhen.
IfyoucanaffordalargeSSD,
that’sthebestchoice.ButaFusion
Drivedoesdelivermuchbetter
performancethanatraditional
harddisk,andisworth the extra
cost.
Howard Oakley“Theeasiestoptionfora 2.5-inchdrive
wouldbea simpleSATAIII-to-USB cable
(typically available for $5-10). “
Linkinternaldrives
quicklytoyourPCto
copy data across.Lazesof tcannow
resolveMicrosoft
account lockouts.