New Mac owner - please help!!

Fat_Tony

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Hi folks,

After recently coming back to Apple on my phone, I picked up a Macbook Pro retina in the Apple store in Belfast on Thursday, somewhat impulsively. I have never used a Mac before but the option to return it within a week or two if its not for me swung it, I'm sure it will be a big improvement but I now have to master the basics as quickly as possible.

I have done plenty of research, and picked up an "idiots guide" but I'm still struggling a bit.

All my iTunes data was already on an external hard drive, and so far I can't seem to get it to connect with my Macbook. I had to copy all the data to my windows PC hard drive, I have formatted the external drive to Fat (?) I think it was called. Its now recognised on the Mac, but not on the PC.

Im sure ill have loads of questions but initially, how do I get the 50gb of data back onto my external hard drive? I tried putting it on a memory stick but that doesn't work either, wrong format again I'm assuming?

I really want this to work out, I love the idea of the Mac and I'm picking up bits and pieces quite easily, I just need to get it up and running properly asap so I can determine if its a keeper or not.

Thanks in advance
 
Thanks, I've formatted the hard drive following the instructions here:

Format a disk to use on both Mac and PC | How to | Softonic

It says it doesn't support files larger than 4 GB. Is that individually or in total?

Can I just grab the 50gb iTunes data folder and copy it onto the hard drive as no files are anywhere near 4gb - or will I have to do them in batches under 4gb? I hope I explained that properly, and please excuse the bold type - not sure what I've done there... :)
 
I think 4GB is one file.
You could copy the files over or follow this guide...

 
Thanks again

I think I'm confident enough with moving the data, directing iTunes to the external drive etc as they are things I have done before. My hard drive is now recognised on both computers thank you, I'm currently copying the iTunes data across so hopefully it can now be recognised on the Mac.
 
So for my next daft question...

Ill usually be using the macbook at my desk, rarely on the move. On my old laptop I just permanently left it plugged in, is that ok to do or should i only plug in the power when it gets low?

Thanks
 
I used to do that with my old Macbook Pro and Air, never had any problems with it always plugged it.
 
Plodding along nicely so far,

I usually have my computer hooked up to a wireless bluetooth speaker to listen to music from iTunes all day. If I wanted a magic mouse or touchpad, do they also use bluetooth and if so, could I still use my speaker at the same time?

Thanks
 
Thanks again, do you use a magic mouse by any chance?

Ive never been able to type and navigate especially well with a laptops keyboard and touchpad. I'm using my trusty logitech wireless mouse and keyboard for now but I'm interested in the magic mouse possibly.

Ive ordered a shell case aswell, it looks like it will pick up marks easily.
 
You can use the exfat file system on the mac which unlike fat32 does not have a maximum file size limit.
 
Thank you, really appreciate all the help I've had today. I can't recall the last time I felt so clueless with a new gadget, usually I'm quite good but so much seems so different.

I feel I'm making decent progress though, and I love how it links up with my phone to share notes, messages etc.
 
Thanks again, do you use a magic mouse by any chance?

Ive never been able to type and navigate especially well with a laptops keyboard and touchpad. I'm using my trusty logitech wireless mouse and keyboard for now but I'm interested in the magic mouse possibly.

Ive ordered a shell case aswell, it looks like it will pick up marks easily.

I have only ever used my Logitech V470 Bluetooth mouse with my Macbook and Mac Mini. I did try the Magic mouse but couldn't get on with it. I use the Apple Mini wireless keyboard
 
On windows, when I hover over the iTunes logo at the bottom of the screen, it would allow me to skip a track without actually opening iTunes full page to do it. Any ideas how I would set that up please?

Thanks very much
 
So for my next daft question...

Ill usually be using the macbook at my desk, rarely on the move. On my old laptop I just permanently left it plugged in, is that ok to do or should i only plug in the power when it gets low?

Thanks



Don't know if battery tech has moved on, but I always understood that it was better to remove the battery from a laptop if you were going to plug it into the mains for a good length of time?
 
Currently I'm only charging it when it needs it, the battery life seems very impressive.

I'm loving the mac experience so far, although I've barely scratched the surface. Definitely can't see it going back in the 2 week return period.
 
I searched about clearing the cache, like I had to do on windows sometimes, and read you are not supposed to do it on macs.

Some pricing software I use for my business plays up from time to time and the advise they always offer is to clear the cache, which usually works. Im having the same issues today on the macbook, is there any similar but safe process I can do that might jumpstart things back in to life?

Thanks
 
What software is it? Have you asked them about the Mac versions?
 
The company sorted it out eventually. I had to go into private browsing, then log out then back in and then out of private browsing altogether.

No idea why but it did the trick.
 
I managed to sync my notes with my phone, so when I update on either device, its updated across both.

The problem is, only about 7 of my notes appear, I think there is more like 12 or so on my phone. Just things like todo lists, shopping lists etc, any ideas what I might be doing wrong?

Thanks
 
Go into each note and add or delete text. This should prompt the note to resync over iCloud between Mac and iPhone. (presuming you are using the default/built in Notes app on both devices and are logged into iCloud)
 
Thanks for that, ill try shortly

Another slight issue I'm having, is whenever it goes into the password screen after I've left it a while, it takes 30 seconds or so before it reconnects to the internet once I've logged in, is there any means of changing it so it holds the connection? Im assuming its a power saving feature but mines usually plugged in anyway as its rarely away from my desk.

Thanks
 
Might have actually solved that one, I think its power nap mode, I'm giving it a go.
 

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