Please describe 2 procedures on a Mac

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I have a few Apple portable devices but have no access to a Mac and nobody I know with a Mac can answer these 2 questions - except for a kid who is on Vacation somewhere.

I need to write a description on a web site for 2 things for Mac users who are unware of the Mac file system and how to access it. I understand this is a big favor, but I need a brief description that is sufficiently complete for a Mac user who has never done anything but click on icons - doesn't know how to access file system locations.

1. Please describe how a Mac user would download a .rar file into the root of a partition on their Mac hard drive from an http://download link. The download consists of 10 .rar files that make up an archive set. The total download size is 8GB.

2. Using the "RAR Expander" program, how would the Mac user access the .rar files he downloaded to the root of a partition and then expand the first "-part1.rar" file of a .rar file set ?

If you wonder why, When you boot into a Mac with a Clonezilla boot CD, Clonezilla will not Restore a Disk-Image that is more than 1 level away from the root of a partition.

If someone has a better .rar expander program for multi-file .rar archives, I welcome your suggestion.

In case alarms go up in your head, this is not for over-writing the Mac drive . . its for creating a disk for a Navigation system that is attached to a USB port on the Mac. We have many Mac customers who do this daily, but we don't have the brief "how to" description for Mac on the web site as we do for Windows.

Thank You
 

vansmith

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I need to write a description on a web site for 2 things for Mac users who are unware of the Mac file system and how to access it.

[...]

1. Please describe how a Mac user would download a .rar file into the root of a partition on their Mac hard drive from an http://download link.
Simply put, don't. Users should never be downloading and placing files in locations outside of their user folder manually. Unline Windows, where, for the most part, anything goes, you really ought to limit yourself to the user folder.

2. Using the "RAR Expander" program, how would the Mac user access the .rar files he downloaded to the root of a partition and then expand the first "-part1.rar" file of a .rar file set ?
I'm not familiar with that application but I imagine that it will create file associations with RAR files and thus, you should be able to simply double click them.

In case alarms go up in your head, this is not for over-writing the Mac drive . . its for creating a disk for a Navigation system that is attached to a USB port on the Mac.
If you're not talking about the root location on the OS X install, you can ignore my previous suggestion. If that is indeed the case, I'm not sure what you mean by "root" and how, if it's simply an external drive, it's any different than any other location.
 
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Maybe I am missing something, but if you have " ..... Many Mac customers who do this on a daily basis ... " than it is either no problem ( easy to do ) or maybe one of the " many customers " can write a brief description of how they do it exactly.
Or become an Apple registered developer whereby Apple can help you.
Personally, I do not see any information in your post that helps in findings a possible solution.

Cheers .... McBie
 
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Simply put, don't. Users should never be downloading and placing files in locations outside of their user folder manually. Unline Windows, where, for the most part, anything goes, you really ought to limit yourself to the user folder.

I'm not familiar with that application but I imagine that it will create file associations with RAR files and thus, you should be able to simply double click them.

If you're not talking about the root location on the OS X install, you can ignore my previous suggestion. If that is indeed the case, I'm not sure what you mean by "root" and how, if it's simply an external drive, it's any different than any other location.

Mac owners normally download the Disk-Image archive to the root of an existing partition on the Mac hard drive. It must be at root to work. The default download directory is useless in this case . . it won't work. They are restoring a Hard Drive attached to the Mac with a USB/IDE adaptor with the disk image stored on the Mac drive.

Are you saying this isn't possible or just not the Apple way to do things . . like Windows says you shouldn't edit the registry, but its neccesary and normal to do.

Second follow up . . . what you said about double-clicking was as if you were talking to a Mac user who knows how to browse the file sytem. How does the user browse to files at the root of the partition ? What is the root of a partition called on Mac when you get there ? Do partition objects have same naming convention as in Linux ? or what ?
 
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Maybe I am missing something, but if you have " ..... Many Mac customers who do this on a daily basis ... " than it is either no problem ( easy to do ) or maybe one of the " many customers " can write a brief description of how they do it exactly.
Or become an Apple registered developer whereby Apple can help you.
Personally, I do not see any information in your post that helps in findings a possible solution.

Cheers .... McBie

Interesting. My post would have been perfectly "useful" and simple to answer for an experienced Linux or Windows user . . I just didn't realize that Mac keeps the file structure so opaque or whatever that it should require a developer to describe how to view directories on the hard drive.

I guess I should wait for my nephew to come to town rather than bother you.
 

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I admit that I'm not sure what it is that you're trying to do here - I don't understand what this disk image is, what kind of explanation is needed and how RAR files figure into all of this. I've been reading the following over a few times and don't know what it is:
In case alarms go up in your head, this is not for over-writing the Mac drive . . its for creating a disk for a Navigation system that is attached to a USB port on the Mac.
Navigation system for what? How are you updating this navigation system?

Mac owners normally download the Disk-Image archive to the root of an existing partition on the Mac hard drive. It must be at root to work.
Why does it have to be at the root directory? That seems like a really odd way to do something especially since the root directory is never meant to be manipulated by the user directly.

Are you saying this isn't possible or just not the Apple way to do things . . like Windows says you shouldn't edit the registry, but its neccesary and normal to do.
It's certainly possible but not advisable.

Second follow up . . . what you said about double-clicking was as if you were talking to a Mac user who knows how to browse the file sytem. How does the user browse to files at the root of the partition ?
Like they would any other directly. However, they'll only have read-only permissions.

What is the root of a partition called on Mac when you get there ? Do partition objects have same naming convention as in Linux ? or what ?
It's called root, just as it is in Linux. The naming conventions are slightly different but a good portion of the filesystem is similar to Linux.
 
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Why does it have to be at the root directory? That seems like a really odd way to do something especially since the root directory is never meant to be manipulated by the user directly.
.

Clonezilla is a very popular open source disk imaging program that works on all platforms including for cloning a Mac hard drive for disaster recovery.

The Clonezilla program is hard wired to not access a Disk-Image that is more than 1 directory away from the root of a partition. Clonezilla is provided as a linux boot CD running the imaging program but accessing the computer's internal and any USB attached drives as the source of the Image or the target to be over-written by the image.

We sell recovery Disk-Images to repair or replace failed hard drives in specific vehicle navigation systems. The owner gets a Disk-Image from us and it creates a new hard drive for his car . . or fixes the current drive if it fixable. The system manufactures do not sell hard drives to an owner or to a car dealer. They only sell $2000 replacement systems if the 1 year warranty is up.

The Disk Image can also be downloaded with the Mac to an attached USB drive instead of the Mac's drive. From what you are saying it sounds like that should be the way to go and not recommend using the Mac drive. Clonezilla is happy to restore the disk image from an attached USB drive to the replacement hard drive also attached to the Mac with a USB/IDE adaptor. If the root level of a Mac hard drive is read-only then it would not be practical to describe placing the download at the location.

Thank You for your help. Your'e questions are the answer . . . we will recommend using an attached USB drive instead of the Mac drive.

Why is the "Thanks Button" gone when I am logged in ? I wish to give Thanks
 
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The thanks button appears in the left hand bottom of the pane of the thread you wish to thank. See that little √/x button? Click on that and proceed.
 
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chas_m

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I need to write a description on a web site for 2 things for Mac users who are unware of the Mac file system and how to access it.

1. Please describe how a Mac user would download a .rar file into the root of a partition on their Mac hard drive from an http://download link. The download consists of 10 .rar files that make up an archive set. The total download size is 8GB.

I think the basis of the confusion you might be seeing in the posts above mine is that you may be misusing the word "root" in the context of the Mac/UNIX meaning of the word.

Would it be fair to say that what you actually meant there was the first level of the hard disk, often called the "root level" in Windows? If so, read on.

The answer to your question (1) is that they would have specified, ahead of downloading, where they would like downloads to go. Apple provides a built-in "downloads" folder that is located in Users/[username]/Downloads. This folder can be aliased ("shortcut"-ted) to the Dock if desired, or the user can simply change the target to whatever folder they want, including the desktop (not advised, except for temporary storage). So if you meant the "root level" of the hard drive, then sure you can put things there if you want (again, for organizational purposes, this is not recommended).

2. Using the "RAR Expander" program, how would the Mac user access the .rar files he downloaded to the root of a partition and then expand the first "-part1.rar" file of a .rar file set ?

Every RAR file I've ever come across was put together by double-clicking on it, because I use a program that is automatically associated with RAR/PAR files called MacPAR Deluxe (but there are a number of others, including this RAR Expander probably). So as long as the RAR set is complete and in the same location, double-clicking the "first" or "part 0" one tells the program to assemble and decompress the entire set, saving the result in the same location.

Does that help?
 

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