How to Get Your Mac Ready for the macOS Mojave Beta

by Tom Nelson

Itching to get your hands on the macOS Mojave beta so you can experience all the new features? There are some very important steps to take before you expose your Mac to any beta software, and when the beta is of a new operating system release, you really should consider building a wall between the beta software and the Mac OS and apps you use daily for work and play.

Before we begin constructing the beta wall, let’s take a moment to look at the macOS Beta programs available to you.

Apple Developer Program
This is probably the best-known method of gaining access to the resources needed to develop for the Mac. If you have a hankering to build an app, develop an extension, or integrate tools with the Mac operating system, the Apple Developer Program is the place to start.

There are various developer memberships levels, from free, which gives you access to documentation, the Xcode developers’ suite, and the Swift programming language, to paid yearly memberships, which include the ability to distribute your applications through the appropriate App Store, as well as access the various operating system and app betas that Apple provides to its developers.

The macOS Mojave beta was made available to developers shortly after the WWDC 2018 keynote speech.

Apple Beta Software Program
Apple also provides betas of its operating systems to the general public through the free Apple Beta Software Program. This program is open to all Apple users willing to sign up for the program and participate by providing feedback on the betas they’re working with.

The public beta releases are expected mid-summer. Sign up now if you wish to participate in any of Apple’s beta programs.

Betas provided through the public Beta Software Program lag slightly behind those given to Apple developers. I’ve always thought of the difference between the two this way: Apple gives the latest beta version to the developers to help find major issues, like a bug that deletes all the files on your startup drive. After a week or so of being in the developers’ hands with no catastrophic bugs showing up, the beta (usually under a slightly different version number) is released through the public beta program.

Having more eyes on the beta operating system through the public release should cause additional bugs and issues to be discovered and reported to Apple. The macOS Mojave public beta is expected to be released mid-summer.

Building the Beta Wall
As noted above, the purpose of betas is to help discover bugs and issues in a beta app. This means that anyone participating in either beta program should expect to encounter problems that could range from a funny misspelling in a menu, to a minor annoyance in how an app works, to system freezes or data loss.

Which brings us to the first rule of working with Apple betas: Never install a beta on your primary computer.

This rule, however, tends to be impractical for most users of a public beta. Many of us don’t have multiple computers, and if we do, we probably don’t have one that we can dedicate for use only with beta software. A more practical approach is to isolate the beta, and keep it from interacting with the startup drive and the data you use daily.

The usual methods to isolate a beta are to install it on an external drive that you can selectively boot from when you wish to work with the beta, or install it on a virtual machine, such as Parallels, that runs the beta as a guest OS, with any interaction with your main Mac being performed through the virtual machine software.

Each method has its advantages. Installing on an external bootable drive allows you to work with the beta in its normal environment; no virtual software performing translations, or pretending to be hardware devices. You experience the beta operating directly on your Mac’s hardware.

The major disadvantage is the inconvenience of having to reboot your Mac whenever you wish to use the beta software.

When you choose to install the beta in a virtual environment, you can work with both the beta and your normal Mac OS at the same time. The disadvantage is the virtual environment is generally slower, especially graphics performance, which can be subpar during the beta phase and even prevent some new OS features from working as intended.

In this article, I’m going to assume you’re installing the beta on an external drive that you will selectively boot from when you want to use the macOS beta. Because the beta install process may also update your drive to APFS, I don’t recommend installing the beta on any current internal drives your Mac may have. I’m not saying to avoid APFS; I just don’t think it’s a good idea to let a beta installer convert a drive that likely contains precious data. It’s far better to dedicate an external drive for use with the macOS beta.

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New Capabilities & Limitations: How Disk Utility’s Restore Feature Changed in High Sierra

by Tom Nelson

Disk Utility’s Restore function can be used to copy the content from one volume to another. In this respect, it’s similar to the process of cloning a volume, and indeed, the Restore function can be used to create bootable clones. But if this is your primary reason for using the Restore function, I recommend the use of dedicated cloning apps, such as Carbon Copy Cloner or SuperDuper, that have a great deal more features that are highly serviceable in the cloning process.

The Restore feature can also be used to copy disk images to a target volume, restore an image of your startup volume, or simply copy the content of one volume to another.

We’ve already covered the basics of using the Restore feature for cloning in the Rocket Yard article: Tech Tip: How to Use the Restore Feature of Disk Utility to Clone a Drive.

In this guide, we’re going to look at how Disk Utility’s Restore feature has changed in macOS High Sierra; specifically, the new support for APFS containers and volumes, and how they bring new capabilities as well as limitations to how you restore data from one storage device to another.

When you select a destination volume from the Disk Utility sidebar, you can verify the file system in use on the selected volume by checking the information pane. In this example, the destination volume is formatted with APFS.Screen shot © Coyote Moon, Inc.

What Hasn’t Changed in the Disk Utility Restore Function
The basic concept remains the same; you use Disk Utility to select a destination volume from the sidebar, and then choose a source to copy from. Once the copy (Restore) starts, the destination device is unmounted and erased, and the content from the source is copied to the new location. Once the copy is complete, the destination is mounted, and you’re ready to make use of the information.

Restore can also make copies of disk images, as well as just about any device that can be mounted on the Mac’s Desktop. This means you can make copies of just about anything you wish, including creating archives of videos from your camera’s flash drives before you perform any type of edits, creating clones before upgrading an OS or important app, and just as important, being able to return to a known good state should something befall an upgrade.

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How to Securely Wipe the Data Stored on a Drive in macOS High Sierra

by Tom Nelson

Securely wiping a drive, removing all of its data, and ensuring that no meaningful information can be recovered, has long been a feature of Disk Utility and its erase function. Even though the default for Disk Utility is a simple erase, a secure wipe was just a few clicks away.

Two recent changes have made the traditional secure wipe, performed by overwriting a volume multiple times with various types of data patterns, largely a thing of the past. The first change, leading to less reliance on the various secure wipe options, has been the proliferation of SSDs, both as original equipment provided by Apple and by resellers, such as OWC, which bring higher performance storage systems to the Mac.

Using the Security Options to sanitize a volume may be a thing of the past. Screen shot © Coyote Moon, Inc.

The second change that directly affects the Mac community, at least in the way free space can be securely erased, is the release of the APFS file system, and how it makes use of shared space between multiple volumes.

In this guide, we’re going to look at erasing volumes, partitions, and containers. We’ll be looking at drives formatted with APFS as well as those formatted with the traditional HFS+ file system. If you’re working with macOS Sierra or earlier, you may find the Rocket Yard Guide: How to Use Mac’s Disk Utility to Securely Wipe a Drive a good source of information for erasing your drives.

We’ll be using the Disk Utility app included with macOS High Sierra and later.

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First Aid: Verify and Repair HFS+ and APFS Drives with Disk Utility

by Tom Nelson

Disk First Aid, currently part of Disk Utility, has long been the go-to utility for verifying and repairing a Mac’s storage system. Included as a standalone app with the original Mac OS, it was later folded into Disk Utility when OS X was released.

Disk Utility, and its First Aid system remains the first line of defense for drives that are experiencing a number of issues, including:

• System crashes
• Files disappearing
• File sizes changing on their own
• Inability to copy files
• Inability to open or save files
• Startup issues
• Drives unmounting or ejecting on their own
• And a host of other errors and issues

In this guide, we’re going to take a look at using Disk Utility’s First Aid tool in macOS High Sierra to repair APFS and HFS+ file systems. First Aid can actually be used on any file system that macOS supports, but APFS and HFS+ are the most popular, and the ones you’re most likely to encounter.

We’ll start by going through the actual process of using First Aid, and then take a more in-depth look at the process; we’ll also provide a few troubleshooting tips.

Before you use First Aid, make sure you have a current backup of the drive or volume you’re having issues with. If you’re using First Aid as part of a routine maintenance program, you should still have a working backup of any volume that you’ll be checking.

The Disk Utility app underwent a few updates with the release of macOS High Sierra to support the APFS file system. If you’re working with OS X El Capitan through macOS Sierra, you may find the instructions in How to Use macOS Sierra Disk Utility to Verify or Repair Disks a better fit.

Disk Utility’s Sidebar in macOS High Sierra and Later
Launch Disk Utility, located at /Applications/Utilities.

Disk Utility’s default settings use a sidebar that only displays storage volumes. Since you may need to use the First Aid tool on volumes as well as partitions, catalogs, and physical devices, it’s a good idea to change the sidebar settings to display all devices.

The View button in Disk Utility’s toolbar will expand the sidebar to show all devices. Screen shot © Coyote Moon, Inc.

Click the View button in the Disk Utility toolbar and select Show All Devices from the popup menu, or select Show All Devices from the View menu.

The sidebar will now display all devices, including the physical drive and any APFS containers it may have, as well as any APFS or HFS volumes associated with the physical drive.

The organization of the devices is hierarchical, with the physical drive listed first, using the manufacturer’s name, or the model name or number, or both. At the next level under the physical drive is the Container (APFS file system), followed by the volumes. If this is an HFS-formatted drive, there won’t be any containers under the drive level, just volumes.

Each item can be selected and repaired using the First Aid tool.

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Partition Drives & Create APFS ‘Containers’ for Space Sharing with Disk Utility

by Tom Nelson

Disk Utility has long been the workhorse of choice for dealing with hard drives, SSDs, and disk images. With the advent of APFS (Apple File System) with macOS High Sierra, Disk Utility acquired some additional capabilities that allow it to work with APFS and its support for containers.

We’re going to look at how to use Disk Utility to partition drives into multiple containers, and how to add volumes to containers. If you need to partition and manage standard HFS+ volumes, you’ll find detailed instructions in the Rocket Yard guide: How to Use macOS Sierra Disk Utility to Partition, Erase Drives.

What Are Containers?
Containers are a new abstract used in the APFS system to define a storage system that can share available free space among one or more volumes. Apple calls this Space Sharing. It allows volumes that are within a common container to grow or shrink as needed, without any type of repartitioning.

Containers, then, define a block of space on a physical drive that will be assigned to and used by volumes you create in the container. Volumes you create in a container can have a minimum size and a maximum size, but the actual amount of space they use is dynamically assigned from the container’s free space, as each volume within the container needs the space.

The selected drive shows that it contains two containers of different sizes. The smaller container houses a single volume, and the larger container holds two volumes. Screen shot © Coyote Moon, Inc.

Use Disk Utility to Create an APFS Container
Containers are only supported on drives formatted with APFS. You can format a drive or convert an HFS+ drive to APFS using the version of Disk Utility found in macOS High Sierra or later.

APFS was designed primarily for use with SSDs, though it should also work with standard hard drives. But before you decide to format a hard drive to use APFS, you may want to read: Using APFS On HDDs …And Why You Might Not Want To. At the moment, Apple doesn’t support APFS being used on Fusion drives.

Before you begin this process, take a moment to make sure you have a current backup of the information on your Mac, and that the drive used for backups isn’t one of the drives that will be involved in any of the processes we will be performing. The best way to do that is to eject the backup drive and, if possible, disconnect it from your Mac.

With your backups current, you’re ready to explore the APFS file system, including working with containers and volumes.

Launch Disk Utility, located at /Applications/Utilities.

In the Disk Utility toolbar, click on the View button and select Show All Devices. You can also use the View menu to perform the same task.

To convert an HFS+ volume to an APFS volume, select the HFS+ volume on the Disk Utility sidebar. (HFS+ volumes appear just below the physical drives in the sidebar.) Once selected, choose Convert to APFS from Disk Utility’s Edit menu. A sheet will drop down asking if you would like to convert the drive to APFS. Converting to APFS shouldn’t cause data loss on the selected drive, but it’s a good idea to make sure the data on the drive has been backed up first. When you’re ready, click the Convert button.

Disk Utility being used to convert the existing Video volume to APFS. Screen shot © Coyote Moon, Inc.

To format a drive in APFS, select the drive in Disk Utility’s sidebar. Select Erase from the toolbar or from the Edit menu. Provide a name, and then select one of the APFS formats from the Format dropdown menu. Formatting a drive will erase all of the data it contains, so make sure you have a backup of the data, if needed, before proceeding. When you’re ready, click the Erase button.

Disk Utility will create an APFS container, along with a single volume within the container.

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Want Simple Security? Hide ‘Secret’ Files With Terminal

by Tom Nelson

Your Mac is full of secrets; special files and folders hidden away so you don’t accidentally make changes to critical system components. But Apple isn’t the only one that hides items on your Mac; some developers use similar tricks to keep important secret app files, such as licensing credentials, from being used willy-nilly.

You can get in on the secrets of hiding files and folders so that others can’t easily find them, or make use of their content, with just a few simple Terminal tricks.

Using Terminal to Hide a File or Folder
Terminal has always been a favorite app of mine, so much so that I keep it in the Dock for easy access. Terminal can be used to invoke a couple of commands that can be used to hide or unhide a file or folder.

You may have already made use of the Terminal chflags command to unhide the user’s library folder, which Apple hides by default. If you’re wondering about the user’s library, often written out as ~/Library, you can learn a bit more about it in the article: Access Your Hidden Library Folder With These Five Easy Tricks.

Use the Secrets folder to hide any files or folders you wish. Screen shot © Coyote Moon, Inc.

Let’s take a look at hiding a folder using Terminal by first creating a folder that we can hide.

Open a Finder window, and navigate to your home folder. You can do this by selecting your home folder from the Finder sidebar.

Within the home folder window, either right-click in an empty area and select New Folder from the popup menu, or select New Folder from the Finder’s File menu.

A new folder will be created, and the name (untitled folder) highlighted. Enter a new name for the folder, such as Secrets.

With the Secrets folder created, it’s time to make it disappear.

Launch Terminal, located in /Applications/Utilities, and arrange the Finder and Terminal windows so that you can see both of them.

In the Terminal window, enter the following at the prompt:

chflags hidden ~/Secrets

Hit the Enter or Return key.

The Secrets folder should disappear from the Finder window.

The Secrets folder wasn’t deleted; it simply had a flag changed that told the Finder not to display it in a Finder window. The folder is still right where you created it.

We can bring it back by typing a magic word or two in Terminal:

chflags nohidden ~/Secrets

Press Enter or Return.

The Secrets folder is back.

The first chflags command hides the folder named Secrets, while the second chflags command reveals the hidden Secrets folder. Screen shot © Coyote Moon, Inc.

That’s not the only Terminal method for making a file or folder disappear. You can also make a file or folder disappear by prepending a period to its name. If we change the Secrets folder name to .Secrets the folder will become invisible to the Finder.

Alternatively, you can use the Terminal mv command, which is designed to move a file or folder to a new location, but can also be used to change a file or folder name.

In the Terminal window, enter the following:

mv ~/Secrets ~/.Secrets

Press Enter or Return.

Just as before, the Secrets folder becomes invisible in the Finder.

You can make it visible again by using the mv command to remove the period from its name.

In the Terminal window, enter:

mv ~/.Secrets ~/Secrets

Hit Enter or Return.

The Secrets folder is now visible within the Finder.

The first mv command is used to hide the Secrets folder by adding a period at the front of its name. The second mv command removes the period and makes the Secret folder visible. Screen shot © Coyote Moon, Inc.

With both the chflags and the mv Terminal commands, you’re able to make a folder and all of its contents become invisible in the Finder. You can also use the same commands on a single file, if you wish. But since the Terminal commands we mentioned require knowing the pathname to the item, it’s a good idea to just use a single folder to hide one or more items within. That helps simplify the process of remembering the required pathname when it’s time to make the items visible.

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Mac 101: How to Avoid Mac App Store Scams

by Tom Nelson

The Mac App Store was supposed to be the place to find and purchase apps for a Mac without having to worry whether the seller, developer, or some other third-party had somehow tampered with the app for nefarious purposes. You also weren’t supposed to need to worry about the download sites being full of ads that could contain malware, ransomware, or other worrisome possibilities.

For the most part, the Mac App Store, along with the other Apple app stores, has lived up to this expectation of being a place where malware and deceptive practices don’t exist. For the most part…

Unfortunately, it’s still advisable to make use of the various stores with caution; not so much about the worry of malware being embedded within an app, though it may happen once in a while, but of scammers trying to acquire personal information by using the Apple stores as bait.

Email Scams Using the App Store as Bait
I just got an email phishing scam this week that pretended to be from Apple, warning me about a purchase I made on the Mac App Store that wasn’t made by a device that Apple recognized. I should, according to this email, use the included link and log in to a special section of the Mac App Store, where I would be asked to verify or cancel the purchase.

The Mac App Store has a reputation as a safe place to purchase Mac apps from, but that doesn’t stop scammers from using the Mac App Store as bait in phishing schemes. Screen shot © Coyote Moon, Inc.

What a load of hooey. This email had scam written all over it. Besides its use of long run-on sentences and other grammar faux pas, there were a number of other indicators that can be spotted in most of these email phishing expeditions. Apple even has a guide to help you identify legitimate emails from the App Store.

Another phishing scam making the rounds involves receiving a confirmation note about a subscription you purchased in one of the Apple stores. The text of these subscription scams all start by confirming a free trial subscription to a service, and notifying you that once the free trial is over, the monthly cost is an absurdly high amount. One current example is a subscription to YouTube Red, at a monthly cost of $144.99. The purpose of this type of scam is to get you to click on the Cancel Subscription link included in the email. Doing so will take you to a site where you’ll be asked to provide your Apple ID or credit card info, or both. Of course, there never was a subscription to the service, but playing on the fear of being billed will lead some people to click that cancel link.

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macOS 101: AirDrop Tips for Mac and iOS Users

by Tom Nelson

AirDrop is a peer-to-peer file sharing system for local Mac and iOS users. It’s easy to set up with just a click or two; no special information or settings are needed. Just drag-and-drop a file to share with others.

In this Rocket Yard Guide, we’re going to take a look at AirDrop’s history, the basics of its use, and a tip or two for improving its use, including adding AirDrop to the Mac’s Dock for easy access.

AirDrop History
Originally developed for the Mac and released with OS X Lion, AirDrop made use of a new Wi-Fi standard called PAN (Personal Area Network) that allowed for the creation of an ad-hoc wireless network. To make setting up the network automatic, Apple made use of its Bonjour service, which allowed Macs to broadcast that they were part of the Wi-Fi network and could receive files from others.

When iOS 7 was introduced, it included its own version of AirDrop, but replaced the use of Bonjour with Bluetooth LE, and kept peer-to-peer Wi-Fi for sending and receiving, though it dropped the use of the PAN protocol.

When OS X Yosemite was released, it included support for both sets of AirDrop protocols, allowing supported Macs to use AirDrop with other supported Macs, as well as iOS devices.

Not all Macs or iOS devices are compatible with AirDrop. You can check this AirDrop support document to see if your Mac or device supports AirDrop.

Using AirDrop
AirDrop requires the use of either Wi-Fi or Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, depending on the version of AirDrop being used.

You can open an AirDrop Finder window by selecting AirDrop from the Finder sidebar, or from the Finder’s Go menu.

The AirDrop window displays nearby devices that have AirDrop enabled. Screen shot © Coyote Moon, Inc.

AirDrop appears as a special Finder window folder that displays any nearby Mac or iOS devices that have AirDrop enabled.

You can drag any file or folder onto a device listed in the AirDrop window. You can also use the share button within an app to send a file via AirDrop. Depending on the version of AirDrop being used, you may be asked to confirm that you wish to send a file to the selected user.

The destination device will display an alert, asking the user if they wish to accept the files being sent.

On the Mac, files being sent will appear in the Downloads folder, once accepted. On iOS devices, the files will be associated with specific apps, such as images being placed in the Photos app.

Can’t find one of your older Macs? Later versions of AirDrop changed the method used to detect AirPort-enabled devices. You may need to use the Search for an Older Mac option. Screen shot © Coyote Moon, Inc.

OS X Yosemite and later support both sets of protocols, but are set to Bluetooth LE/Wi-Fi as the default. To access older Macs, you must select the option to search for older Macs. This will reset the protocol to the older version, allowing you to connect with older Macs, but not with iOS or newer Macs using Bluetooth LE/Wi-Fi. In OS X Yosemite and later, you’ll find this option labeled “Don’t see who you’re looking for?” at the bottom of the AirDrop folder window. Clicking in this text will bring up the option to Search for an older Mac.

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How to Create Encrypted Disk Images With Disk Utility to Protect Private Data

by Tom Nelson

The Mac’s Disk Utility app supports a number of capabilities that make managing the Mac’s storage system easier. But one set of features seems to get overlooked a bit: the creation and management of encrypted disk images.

Disk images have many benefits; they can be used to distribute apps and data to users, for creating master image files for various media types, such as CDs and DVDs, and for creating archives and backups, as well as quite a few additional creative uses.

Encrypted disk images allow you to protect the content of the images from prying eyes. Encrypted disk images can’t be mounted, viewed, or accessed unless you know the password associated with the image file.

In this Rocket Yard Guide, we’re going to look at how to create encrypted disk images. We’ll start with an overview of the basics of disk images and encryption, and then show you how to actually create various types of disk images.

Encryption Type
Disk images support two types of encryption: 128-bit AES (Advanced Encryption Standard) and 256-bit AES. The two levels of encryption refer to the size of the keys used in the encryption/decryption process. The 256-bit encryption is considered more secure than the 128-bit encryption, but the 256-bit encryption also takes longer to encrypt and decrypt. The 128-bit encryption will likely meet the needs of most people, while the 256-bit encryption is a better choice for data that needs a higher level of protection.

Mounting an Encrypted Disk Image
Before you can make use of a disk image, it needs to be mounted, so your Mac can work with the data within it. Mounting an encrypted disk image isn’t much different than mounting a normal disk image; simply double-click the disk image file, or right-click (control-click) the disk image file, and select Open from the popup menu.

Before the image is mounted, your Mac will display a window that asks you to provide the password to grant access to the information stored within. Enter the password, and click the OK button.

You can also automate the task of providing the password by selecting the option to “Remember password in my keychain.” When this option is selected, either during the encrypted image file creation (OS X Yosemite and earlier), or when you’re asked for the password when mounting the image (all versions of the Mac OS), the password will be stored within your keychain and used automatically the next time you mount the image file.

Unmounting an Encrypted Disk Image
Unmounting an encrypted disk image returns the image file to an encrypted state, preventing access to the data stored within. You can unmount the image by dragging the mounted image (not the image file) to the trash, or right-clicking on the mounted image and selecting Eject from the popup menu.

Image Formats
Disk Utility supports creating a number of disk image formats that can be used for various projects. Not all of the following formats are available in every version of Disk Utility, or with every method of creating a disk image.

Disk Utility supports a number of image formats. The formats that are available can change with the version of the OS, and the method used to create a disk image. Screen shot © Coyote Moon, Inc.

Read only: Allows the content of the mounted image to be viewed, and any files it contains to be opened and read. Additions to the image or changes to any of the files are not allowed. The read only option is only available when creating an image from a folder or drive, or when converting from one image format to another.

Compressed: Similar to the read only option, but any free space within the image is first removed to reduce the size of the image file. The compressed option is only available when creating an image from a folder or drive, or when converting from one image format to another.

Sparse image: This type of image format allows the image size to grow and shrink, to accommodate the amount of data stored in the image. The maximum size the image can grow to is set during the image creation process. Sparse image files have the file extension: .sparseimage

Sparse Bundle disk image: This type of disk image is made up of multiple small files, usually 1 MB, 2 MB, 4 MB, or 8 MB in size. When data stored on this type of image is changed, only the file(s) that contains the changed data needs to be changed, created, or deleted. Just like the sparse image format, a sparse bundle disk image has a flexible size that grows or shrinks to accommodate the data within. The sparse bundle disk image is used extensively with Time Machine. Sparse bundle image files have the file extension: .sparsebundle

Read/Write disk image: This image format allows you to add files to the image after it is created. The size of the image file is predefined, and can’t be expanded or reduced once created. Read/Write image files have the file extension: .dmg

DVD/CD master: This image type is used for mastering CDs or DVDs. If you’re using OS X El Capitan or later, when this format is selected, the image size field will change to a dropdown menu with 177 MB (CD 8 cm) selected. You can use the dropdown size menu to select any of the standard DVD/CD sizes. If you’re using OS X Yosemite or earlier, you must manually change the size field to one of the standard DVD/CD sizes. DVD/CD images have the file extension: .cdr

Hybrid image (HFS+/ISO/UDF): This image format is used for creating a single image whose files can be used on multiple platforms.

Note: The two sparse image formats have a maximum size that you set during creation. This is the size the image file will appear to have when mounted on your desktop. The actual image file (the .sparsebundle or .sparseimage file) will only use the amount of space needed to hold the data within.

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Road to NAB 2018: A Guide to Mac Home Video/Audio Studio Gear, Part 2

by Tom Nelson

You may already have a video or audio studio set up in your home. Perhaps you used some of the equipment and suggestions from last week’s Rocket Yard Guide: Road to NAB 2018: A Guide to Mac Home Video/Audio Studio Gear.

You may also want to check out some related Rocket Yard Guides:

• Road to NAB 2018: Getting Started with Audio Podcasting
• Road to NAB 2018 Easy, Inexpensive Screencasting with QuickTime Player

As we mentioned in the previous guide, we’re going to expand on the topic, taking a look at ways of improving your video/audio studio to make it more versatile, and generally improve the overall quality of the content you can produce in your home studio.

Turn an iPad into a excellent teleprompter by adding a stand and holder.

Acoustic Treatment
One of the first upgrades that can really improve the sound of any home studio is to add acoustic treatment to reduce reverberation and improve the quality of the sound you’ll be recording. But don’t think this applies only to those of you with a recording studio; you may be surprised to learn that not only will acoustic treatment make your videos sound better, but it can help make them look better, too. We’ll get back to that last point in a bit, so let’s get started with fixing the sound in your studio.

One of the sound problems we want to attack is reverberation. This occurs as sound bounces off the floor, walls, and ceiling. If there are enough reflective surfaces, sound can build up a reverberation effect that can be distracting, and muddy the sound quality of your project. There are various methods to combat reverberation, from basic to expensive; which you use is up to you, but in many cases, the basic options work pretty well and are a good place to begin.

Bass traps come in many configurations, from triangular-shaped acoustic foam with large fins, to stuffed, open-sided boxes. Credit: Powerjoe CC BY-SA 4.0

Add Some Carpeting
The floor in your studio space is one of the prime surfaces for reflection, and if the floor is wood, any of the resilient floor coverings, or concrete, you probably will need to add acoustic treatment to the floor to reduce the strength of any sound reflection. This can be accomplished using any material that can absorb the sound and/or scatter the sound away from parallel planes, such as the ceiling.

Carpeting is one of the easiest and least expensive ways of treating a floor surface. It can also help fix a common lighting problem that plagues studios with wood or colored flooring material, the casting of an unwanted color tone onto subjects, props, and backdrops. Pick a carpet in a neutral color, and you’ll help both the audio and video quality of your projects.

Comfy Chairs
Those hard-surface stools and chairs you find at the local office store may be inexpensive, but they can compound sound reflection issues you may be having. Try using plush comfy chairs and couches in the studio, when you can. Once again, keep the colors neutral, unless they’re being used for props with a specific color requirement.

Wall Panels
Acoustic wall panels, available as foam panels, usually in an egg crate design, are a common sound treatment for absorbing mid- to high-frequency sounds. They can help reduce reverberation within their frequency range, and since that range covers the human voice, they’re ideal to help tame voices with a more strident sound quality.

You can also make wall panels from drapes, and even leftover carpet, but this type of treatment is for general use and doesn’t help specifically with voice quality.

Bass Traps
The last treatment to consider is bass traps, which are similar to the wall panels we mentioned. They’re made of foam, but are thicker than foam panels, and have irregular sets of fins instead of the uniform egg crate shape. Bass traps absorb the lower frequencies, and can help reduce reflections and reverb from bass instruments, and noise from some equipment common in the studio.

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