ARE THERE STILL
USB AUDIO ISSUES
IN MACOS 10.14.4?
Some users continue to
report periodic dropouts in
audio over USB 2.0 after
updating. These appear
worst in Macs with a T2 chip,
and can be a problem if you
use that Mac for live
performances. If your
external audio device
is affected, it’s worth
contacting the maker’s
support service, as it may
have a solution.HOW DO I CHECK MY
SPEAKERS ARE LAID
OUT CORRECTLY?
Open Audio MIDI Setup
(located in Applications/
Utilities), click the gear (at
the bottom left) and select
Configure Speakers. Choose
the appropriate
configuration, then click on
each speaker in turn to
identify it. There’s
a complete guide to the
app at bit.ly/mfams.Before going any further, check that you
didn’t install any utility software for this new
drive. If you did, uninstall it before trying
again. Although sometimes useful, these tools
aren’t necessary and can cause compatibility
issues at times like this.
Once you’ve done that, you need to
reformat the new drive using Disk Utility,
ensuring that it’s set to Mac OS Extended
(Journaled) format. Time Machine backups
can still only be made to a drive in that
format, not the newer APFS kind. Next,
in Finder, press Shift+Cmd+C, select the drive
and choose File > Get Info. In the permissions
section, ensure “Ignore ownership on this
volume” isn’t ticked.Turn off Time Machine and drag the folder
Backups.backupdb from your old drive to the
top level of the new one. You’ll then have to
authenticate using your admin username and
password, and give the copy operation plenty
of time to complete. Unfortunately, you can’t
copy a Time Machine backup using a third–
party tool like Carbon Copy Cloner.
If that doesn’t work, go to Time Machine’s
pane in System Prefs and turn on its menu
bar icon. Hold Alt, click that menu bar icon
and choose Verify Backups. Follow the on–
screen steps to check for and perform any
necessary repairs. You can try First Aid in
Disk Utility too, although that invariably takes
a long time, and can throw up its own errors.> I can’t copy my Time Machine backup
I’m trying to move my Time Machine backups from their current 2TB external drive
to a new 4TB model. About halfway through, macOS reports a “–41 error” and aborts.
What’s wrong?You can’t use APFS as the format for a drive that will be used with Time Machine.
Ask
76 SEP 2019 maclife.com