Our home network has had a workhorse (over 1,300 days continuous uptime and counting) Thecus N2100 YES Box 2-bay NAS running since 2006. Problem is, it's running two 320GB drives using RAID 1 - so total usable capacity is only 320GB (you lose one drive to RAID mirroring). That was fine in 2006 when it stored our iTunes library and various other miscellaneous files, but today with audio AND video streaming content and an ever growing digital picture library, it simply ran out of capacity. With the latest (beta) firmware - several years old now - I could have upgraded it to 2TB with two new drives, but in the end it's still 9 years old.
Another issue is that ever since OS X Mountain Lion, transfer speeds to my various Macs have been terrible. Even with an all GigE path it would only write files at around 3 to 4 MB/s. Windows PCs had a higher write speed, but not much better. Transferring large video rips or Operating System .iso images took forever.
Last week Newegg had a great "flash" deal on the Seagate STCU100 4-bay NAS. I bought that with four 4TB Seagate NAS HDDs (ST4000VN000). One of the main reasons I bought this NAS (beside the price) was that it has two GigE ports that can be aggregated for load balancing (assuming the switch ports you connect them to can also be trunked) - more on that later.
Below are my setup process notes:
- Since I bought the NAS "diskless", the manual says to connect the LAN port(s) - I connected both to a Netgear GS724T switch) - then boot it with no drives installed. After fully booted add drives (with power on), one by one from left to right. No issues there - Drive and Power LEDs acted as they should.
- First used my Mac Mini (OS X 10.10.4). Tried "discover.seagate.com" to find NAS - no go. Installed Seagate Network Assistant - also didn't find the NAS on the network. Tried a Windows VM (using Parallels) and it found the NAS (what?!?). So I used an old Windows 7 Desktop machine to do initial setup. Note: after a restart of the Mac Mini, it too was able to access the NAS.
- Specific initial/final config items (IPs, MAC addresses, etc) are kept in a OneNote Notebook. Don't need to clutter this post with it.
- Default setup when drives were added (no other intervention on my part) was a four disk SimplyRAID volume. After more than a day of building that volume, I changed it to a straight RAID 5 volume since it yields the same storage capacity as SimplyRAID (12TB), but is supposed to allow faster transfer speeds. Note: it took over 24 hours to rebuild the RAID volume.
- Upon first powerup the NAS updated its firmware to V4.0.15.0 (2015-04-13)
- I gave the administrator account a username and password, set the correct timezone and workgroup name.
- Disabled DHCP for the LAN ports and manually gave them IPs.
- Used Link Aggregation to bond the network ports together. See the Seagate online manual for how to do this. The bonded link uses the IP of the LAN1 port and the Network Status (from the web mgmt. tool) shows a green light and new speed as 2Gb/s.
Now, onto the Netgear GS724T managed switch...
Since I received the switch as a gift a few years back, I'd been using it as simply a dumb switch, never tried to log into it to do anything. Most I'd done with it was swapped out the rattling fan for a quieter one and reset the unit to factory defaults.
Could not see the switch at first on the network using my Mac (probably my mistake - I needed to use a network tool to find out what DHCP address it was assigned) so I used the old Windows 7 PC again and loaded the Netgear "Smartwizard Discovery" tool. Using that tool I was able to find the switch and reconfigure its IP to a static address on my network.
From there it was pretty simple to log into the web interface, went to the trunking menu and checked the boxes for the two ports the NAS is plugged into. You need to make sure the two ports are in the same VLAN group to be able to trunk them.
Exited out of the web interface and everything seems to be working fine.
My only regret is that I didn't do any read/write speed benchmarks on the NAS "before and after" port trunking to see if/how much of a difference it made.
I can tell you that I can write large files to the NAS from my Mac at around 40MB/s - a 10x improvement over the old Thecus NAS!
Before I totally decommission the old Thecus I'm awaiting arrival of a 6TB USB 3.0 external drive to be able to do scheduled backups of the NAS - remember - RAID IS NOT A BACKUP SOLUTION. Yes - the 6TB external drive won't be enough to back up a full 12TB NAS, but I think it's going to take a while to get the NAS more than half full! If there are any issues of note when setting up the backup hardware/software, I'll edit this post.
Tuesday, August 11, 2015
Monday, February 9, 2015
OS X 10.9.5 Time Machine backups missing files (Mavericks)
I'm currently running OS X 10.9.5 on my 2012 Mac Mini. Based on all the trouble reports I've seen online, it'll take me at least one more release before I consider going to Yosemite (OS X 10.10.x).
Anyway, a couple days ago I was editing some old photos stored in my user/Pictures folder with a third party utility. I messed one up and to make matters worse ended up saving it over the original.
No problem I thought - I use Time Machine (and have for several years) - so I'll just open it up and restore the original photo.
Imagine my surprise when I opened the most recent TM backup and there were only 40 objects in my Pictures folder. There should have been 337 - and the photo I wanted wasn't one of the forty.
I started going back in time and had to go all the way back to Oct 14th 2014 where the Pictures folder had over 300 objects in it. The TM backup from Oct 21st 2014 only had 30 objects. Skimming forward in time from Oct 2014 the present, the backups of my Pictures folder contain anywhere between 30 and 40 items.
I have no idea what happened, (maybe I upgraded from 10.9.4 to 10.9.5 in mid-Oct???), and more importantly, no idea how to get TM to start backing up all my Pictures again.
I then checked a few other folders at random - like my Documents - to see if they're being backed up properly. From what I saw, all the other folders I checked looked OK.
Sheesh....I've never had issues with TM in all the years I've been using it until this. I've even done full machine machine restores from TM backups in the past with no problems. Needless to say, it shook my confidence that I can easily restore a file if need be in the future. Plus, I still wanted to fix my Pictures folder backups from here on out so I can restore them if I have to.
Searching on the web showed I'm not alone - people have been complaining of missing files in their TM backups for a couple years at least (and not just from their Pictures folder either).
Anyway, out of the several "solutions" people offered, here's the one I tried that worked.
I went into my TM settings and excluded my Pictures folder from being backed up the next time TM ran. After TM completed its backup, I then went in and took my Pictures folder out of the exclusion list so it would be backed up the next time.
After TM ran again I went into Time Machine to check the folder and YES - all 337 objects were backed up! So far it's been 4 days and my Pictures folder has been backed up properly every time. I'll call it case closed for now, but will have to keep a closer eye and inspect my TM backups now and again, and not just "set it and forget it" like I had been.
Anyway, a couple days ago I was editing some old photos stored in my user/Pictures folder with a third party utility. I messed one up and to make matters worse ended up saving it over the original.
No problem I thought - I use Time Machine (and have for several years) - so I'll just open it up and restore the original photo.
Imagine my surprise when I opened the most recent TM backup and there were only 40 objects in my Pictures folder. There should have been 337 - and the photo I wanted wasn't one of the forty.
I started going back in time and had to go all the way back to Oct 14th 2014 where the Pictures folder had over 300 objects in it. The TM backup from Oct 21st 2014 only had 30 objects. Skimming forward in time from Oct 2014 the present, the backups of my Pictures folder contain anywhere between 30 and 40 items.
I have no idea what happened, (maybe I upgraded from 10.9.4 to 10.9.5 in mid-Oct???), and more importantly, no idea how to get TM to start backing up all my Pictures again.
I then checked a few other folders at random - like my Documents - to see if they're being backed up properly. From what I saw, all the other folders I checked looked OK.
Sheesh....I've never had issues with TM in all the years I've been using it until this. I've even done full machine machine restores from TM backups in the past with no problems. Needless to say, it shook my confidence that I can easily restore a file if need be in the future. Plus, I still wanted to fix my Pictures folder backups from here on out so I can restore them if I have to.
Searching on the web showed I'm not alone - people have been complaining of missing files in their TM backups for a couple years at least (and not just from their Pictures folder either).
Anyway, out of the several "solutions" people offered, here's the one I tried that worked.
I went into my TM settings and excluded my Pictures folder from being backed up the next time TM ran. After TM completed its backup, I then went in and took my Pictures folder out of the exclusion list so it would be backed up the next time.
After TM ran again I went into Time Machine to check the folder and YES - all 337 objects were backed up! So far it's been 4 days and my Pictures folder has been backed up properly every time. I'll call it case closed for now, but will have to keep a closer eye and inspect my TM backups now and again, and not just "set it and forget it" like I had been.
Wednesday, February 4, 2015
Paperless Office Part 2: Connecting an Epson Workforce DS-560 Wirelessly to OS X Mavericks
The Epson DS-560 arrived and I promptly tried "connecting" it. I wanted to use WiFi so the scanner didn't have to be moved around the home office to plug/unplug a USB cable to my Mac or my wife's PC as needed, and also to allow our iOS devices to be used to scan if necessary. There were two connections that needed to be made; one to the home WiFi network, and the second to the individual computers.
Here's where the "fun" began. A quick read of the downloaded online manual (that's the only way to get it - there's no paper copy in the box, and no soft copy on the CD that comes in the box) talked about three different Epson software utilities you need to run to connect to WiFi - first in direct connect mode (use the scanner as an access point and connect the computer directly to it), then you set it to recognize your local (home) WiFi network, then finally connect it to your computer. Sounds convoluted, and it is, and you can read about other people's frustrations in the product's Amazon reviews, so I won't repeat what they've already so eloquently stated.
When downloading the manual, I noticed a video on the Epson site that shows how to connect the scanner via WiFi - which made it look like a piece of cake. Watching this, I thought maybe the PDF manual was old and Epson had updated their software to make the process much easier. Nope.
When you run the setup software you get on the CD (or via download - they were the same) it's missing some of the critical screens shown in the video that appear to make setup a breeze. The actual setup software jumps right to trying WPS mode setup, not first trying to discover and connect to your network via "magic" as the video suggests and then if that doesn't work, the video suggests trying WPS mode.
Here's where I made a mistake in not knowing my own home setup well enough. I use an Apple Airport Extreme (latest gen 802.11ac) router (which replaced a previous gen AE - so I've used Apple routers for a few years). I never saw a WPS button on an AE or had previously read anywhere that they supported WPS, so I began slogging through the manual connection setup for the DS-560.
I'll try to shorten this process here, but it took me well over an hour, with a call to Epson "Mac" support, and still couldn't get it to work. There was a lot of switching to WiFi mode, AP mode, holding buttons until lights blinked, but the "Epson Scan Settings" program would not find the scanner. Epson support threw up their hands and said to make sure my AE was only using the 2.4GHz band and not 5GHz. I do know that the AE uses both bands simultaneously - so that wasn't it.
So, after a few more attempts, I turned to Google in desperation and searched "WPS mode Apple Airport Extreme". Lo and behold - I learned that even though there's no WPS button on an AE, they do support WPS via the Airport Utility:
- Open AirPort Utility 6.x
- Click on the picture of your Base Station
- Click Edit in the smaller window that appears
So essentially following along with page 42 of the DS-560 Manual:
1. Set the connection mode switch on the scanner to Wi-Fi.
2. Open the input tray and turn on the scanner.
3. Press and hold the Connect button on the scanner for at least 3 seconds, then release it when the Status and ! error lights flash alternately.
The scanner enters standby mode for WPS connection for two minutes.
4. During those two minutes - enter the Airport Utility and tell the AE to connect a WPS printer.
It may take up to a minute, but eventually the Status light on the scanner stays on, indicating that the scanner is connected to your network.
Now - you can begin the process of connecting your Mac to the DS-560.
Luckily, I bought IP Scanner Pro from the Mac App Store a long time ago. I'm sure there are free utilities like it available if you search. What you need is something that will tell you what the IP address of your DS-560 is on your WiFi network. Once you have that, you can enter it into the Epson Scan Settings app and it then should connect your Mac to the Scanner with no issues.
So far, the only thing I don't like about using the DS-560 wirelessly is you're forced to use the Epson software for scanning, and their software is pretty rudimentary. No Paperless, or Devonthink Pro, or even VueScan. Your Mac does not see the Epson under System Prefs/Printers and Scanners and I haven't found any way to add it manually.....although I haven't tried connecting the DS-560 via USB, adding it to System Prefs and then unhooking the USB cable to go back to WiFi to see if the Scanner will "stick", but I have my doubts it will.
Anyway, the bottom line is that WPS is the way to go when hooking the DS-560 up via WiFi to your Mac.
Now its time to start plowing through my years of accumulated paper.
Monday, January 26, 2015
Chasing the elusive Paperless Office (and Home) Part 1
I retired after nearly 37 years with the Federal Government this
month. Now I can take on those projects I never had time for while I
was working. One of those projects high on my list was becoming as "paperless" as
possible at home.
To that end, I did some research and one of the first things the paperless "gurus" recommend is getting a good sheet-fed, duplex scanner - these are much faster than trying to scan everything with a flatbed one page at a time.
Further research indicated that the big three "home office" (i.e. pricey, but not ridiculously so) sheet-fed scanners are; the Fujitsu Scansnap ix500, Epson Workforce DS-560, and NeatDesk or NeatCloud Desktop models.
I researched various tech and retail sites to find comprehensive reviews of the three finalists. I won't bore you with too many details, the following is an abbreviated rationale for my "winning" selection.
My "everyday" computer is a Mac, my wife's is a PC. We both have iPhones and iPads. Ideally, we want to be able to initiate scans from any of those devices without the hassle of plugging and unplugging USB cables and physically moving the scanner close to the computer doing the scanning. Scanning from the iOS devices means the scanner has to support WiFi.
Although the Neat Scanners get high marks for their software and support all our devices, the hardware has received consistently dismal reviews on various sites - so Neat's out. The Fujitsu is pretty much the Cadillac of sheet-fed scanners and their software gets high marks, but in reading about device support, it can only be "tied" (even via WiFi) to one device at a time. When we want to scan, we don't want to have to worry that our spouse has their computer connected to the scanner, have to ask them to disconnect, then add it to our machine, etc. - as much as it pained me, Fujitsu was also out.
The winner: the Epson Workforce DS-560.
My next installment will share the process and some tips on the initial connection of the DS-560 to a Mac running OS X 10.9.5 (Mavericks) via Wifi. Something that should be fairly straightforward in 2015 - but wasn't.
To that end, I did some research and one of the first things the paperless "gurus" recommend is getting a good sheet-fed, duplex scanner - these are much faster than trying to scan everything with a flatbed one page at a time.
Further research indicated that the big three "home office" (i.e. pricey, but not ridiculously so) sheet-fed scanners are; the Fujitsu Scansnap ix500, Epson Workforce DS-560, and NeatDesk or NeatCloud Desktop models.
I researched various tech and retail sites to find comprehensive reviews of the three finalists. I won't bore you with too many details, the following is an abbreviated rationale for my "winning" selection.
My "everyday" computer is a Mac, my wife's is a PC. We both have iPhones and iPads. Ideally, we want to be able to initiate scans from any of those devices without the hassle of plugging and unplugging USB cables and physically moving the scanner close to the computer doing the scanning. Scanning from the iOS devices means the scanner has to support WiFi.
Although the Neat Scanners get high marks for their software and support all our devices, the hardware has received consistently dismal reviews on various sites - so Neat's out. The Fujitsu is pretty much the Cadillac of sheet-fed scanners and their software gets high marks, but in reading about device support, it can only be "tied" (even via WiFi) to one device at a time. When we want to scan, we don't want to have to worry that our spouse has their computer connected to the scanner, have to ask them to disconnect, then add it to our machine, etc. - as much as it pained me, Fujitsu was also out.
The winner: the Epson Workforce DS-560.
My next installment will share the process and some tips on the initial connection of the DS-560 to a Mac running OS X 10.9.5 (Mavericks) via Wifi. Something that should be fairly straightforward in 2015 - but wasn't.
Sunday, October 30, 2011
The kernel panics return
So...yesterday around noon....working along trying to set up a an IP webcam - nothing fancy or exotic. BAM! Primary screen gets the dark overlay and the several language window - "you must shut down and restart your machine".
The iMac's been running fine since the last episode (Sept 12th - see the post) and now this....I hadn't updated or installed anything in a while.
Boot to safe mode....everything's fine.....restart....kernel panic. Go to time machine backup from the previous day.....kernel panic. Oh boy - here we go again - except this time I've been running 10.6.7 and back in Sept. I was running 10.6.8 - how many versions do I have to regress this time?
Screw it....let's upgrade to Lion and be done with it. Boot to safe mode - navigate to the Lion installer and start it. A while later, Lion's installed, and I restart. Another kernel panic before it gets past the login screen. Boot to safe mode - it's fine. Dammit! WTF? Go take a break.
Return after a while...restore previous day's TM backup again. Restart for the heck of it - kernel panic. OK.....time for the snow leopard equivalent of archive and install (the process that worked back in Sept). Boot to DVD, run the installer. Back to 10.6.0 - restart - all's well. Let the machine sit overnight. Next day, still fine. Deleted a few apps I never use, shut down a few things that started up automatically on login. Ran Outlook, got my email, copied some new downloads to the NAS (just in case).
Navigate to the 10.6.7 combo updater and run it with fingers crossed. Restart - login - let the machine sit.....so far so good. Wait 10 minutes and start iTunes.....still good, then Outlook - wait - ok.....then Chrome (using it to type this now). Uptime of 1 hour 20 minutes and no KP yet....is the demon beaten into submission for good, or just regaining strength to attack in another few weeks?
My plan before all this was to upgrade to Lion over Thanksgiving....however, looks like I'll have to clone this drive (assuming no further issues) and then try the upgrade. If I get kernel panics, I'll have to do a fresh install and then bring over my apps and such.....it'll suck, but a good cleaning might be called for since some of the stuff running now is left over from my migration from my 2007 Mac Mini.
Note to self: If/when this happens again, there's a good chance iTunes won't recognize my iDevices any more....to fix that go here: http://support.apple.com/kb/TS3540
Essentially:
The iMac's been running fine since the last episode (Sept 12th - see the post) and now this....I hadn't updated or installed anything in a while.
Boot to safe mode....everything's fine.....restart....kernel panic. Go to time machine backup from the previous day.....kernel panic. Oh boy - here we go again - except this time I've been running 10.6.7 and back in Sept. I was running 10.6.8 - how many versions do I have to regress this time?
Screw it....let's upgrade to Lion and be done with it. Boot to safe mode - navigate to the Lion installer and start it. A while later, Lion's installed, and I restart. Another kernel panic before it gets past the login screen. Boot to safe mode - it's fine. Dammit! WTF? Go take a break.
Return after a while...restore previous day's TM backup again. Restart for the heck of it - kernel panic. OK.....time for the snow leopard equivalent of archive and install (the process that worked back in Sept). Boot to DVD, run the installer. Back to 10.6.0 - restart - all's well. Let the machine sit overnight. Next day, still fine. Deleted a few apps I never use, shut down a few things that started up automatically on login. Ran Outlook, got my email, copied some new downloads to the NAS (just in case).
Navigate to the 10.6.7 combo updater and run it with fingers crossed. Restart - login - let the machine sit.....so far so good. Wait 10 minutes and start iTunes.....still good, then Outlook - wait - ok.....then Chrome (using it to type this now). Uptime of 1 hour 20 minutes and no KP yet....is the demon beaten into submission for good, or just regaining strength to attack in another few weeks?
My plan before all this was to upgrade to Lion over Thanksgiving....however, looks like I'll have to clone this drive (assuming no further issues) and then try the upgrade. If I get kernel panics, I'll have to do a fresh install and then bring over my apps and such.....it'll suck, but a good cleaning might be called for since some of the stuff running now is left over from my migration from my 2007 Mac Mini.
Note to self: If/when this happens again, there's a good chance iTunes won't recognize my iDevices any more....to fix that go here: http://support.apple.com/kb/TS3540
Essentially:
- Disconnect the iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch and quit iTunes.
- In Finder, click the Go menu and then choose Go to Folder. Enter the following location into the text field that appears:
/System/Library/LaunchDaemons - Click Go.
- Locate the file "com.apple.usbmuxd.plist~orig" and drag it to the Trash. (Do not move the similarly named "com.apple.usbmuxd.plist" file to the Trash.)
- Restart your Mac, open iTunes, and connect your device.
Thursday, October 13, 2011
Upgrading to iOS5
Updated the iMac to iTunes 10.5 last night. Then attempted to upgrade my iPhone 3GS to iOS 5 (I let it go overnight)....looked at the phone this morning and it had the "plug me in" symbols on it (even though it was still tethered to the Mac.
Looked at iTunes - had the wonderful "An unknown error (3004)" on screen. A quick Google shows that Apple's servers were/are getting hammered and to be patient. So....the only option presented to me by iTunes is to restore to factory settings.....once that completed it says it's restoring the last backup made just before the update attempt. Then I guess we'll try iOS5 again. The 3GS was to be the guinea pig install for updating the iPad2 later....we shall see...
(time passes)
It took forever to do the entire restore (about 1 hour 45 minutes), which I thought was to iOS 4....however, once the phone finished and I untethered it from USB, it said I had a few more steps to perform. Turn on location services, check, pick a wi-fi network, check, enter Apple ID, check, set up iCloud - wait! what? Turns out iOS 5 was on the phone after all. The initial scare wasn't warranted after all, but the process could have gone a little smoother.
On to the iPad2...kind of anti-climactic....started the update and a while later it finished fine - just what you'd want to happen. Now I get to play with the 200+ new features of iOS 5!
Looked at iTunes - had the wonderful "An unknown error (3004)" on screen. A quick Google shows that Apple's servers were/are getting hammered and to be patient. So....the only option presented to me by iTunes is to restore to factory settings.....once that completed it says it's restoring the last backup made just before the update attempt. Then I guess we'll try iOS5 again. The 3GS was to be the guinea pig install for updating the iPad2 later....we shall see...
(time passes)
It took forever to do the entire restore (about 1 hour 45 minutes), which I thought was to iOS 4....however, once the phone finished and I untethered it from USB, it said I had a few more steps to perform. Turn on location services, check, pick a wi-fi network, check, enter Apple ID, check, set up iCloud - wait! what? Turns out iOS 5 was on the phone after all. The initial scare wasn't warranted after all, but the process could have gone a little smoother.
On to the iPad2...kind of anti-climactic....started the update and a while later it finished fine - just what you'd want to happen. Now I get to play with the 200+ new features of iOS 5!
Saturday, September 17, 2011
Playing with VMware Fusion 4.01
Loaded Fusion 4.01 on the iMac last night. Tried to load my Windows Vista bootcamp install as a virtual machine and it failed, just as it did with Fusion version 3.x...and if true to form, it also horked my ability to boot up straight to Windows using bootcamp. Since I hardly ever do that any more (since Parallels and Fusion have gotten so much better and faster over the last couple versions) it's not a big deal. Now I just run Win7 in a virtual machine.
Anyway - My iMac is running Snow Leopard (OS X 10.6.7 - see previous post as to why not 10.6.8) and I decided to try installing Lion (OS X 10.7) in a Fusion virtual machine. Guess what? It worked! See http://mattgemmell.com/2011/09/14/lion-in-vmware-fusion/ for a good runthrough. Even updated to 10.7.1 without an issue. Cool to be running a "guest" OS that's newer than the "host" OS. Now I get to see if I like Lion, before actually committing to it as my main OS. Only thing I haven't figured out is how to change the virtual display size....it's running Lion in a 1024 x 768 window which doesn't take advantage of my 1920 x 1200 monitor's screen real estate. I'll keep you updated if I get that solved.
Currently, I'm downloading Windows 8 Developer Preview so I can follow the procedure at OSX Daily to install it in a Fusion virtual machine....then I'll be able to compare Lion to Win8 to Win7. Yeah - I'm a geek....
UPDATE: A query on MacRumors led me to the way to change display resolutions in the Lion virtual machine...I needed to install VMware Tools on the Lion VM....the process of which was a little convoluted, but I finally got it. You have to shutdown the VM, go into the VM settings, then delete and re-add the CD/DVD drive so it just says "Superdrive". Then restart the VM, go into the VM menu and choose install VMware Tools. You'll get a couple windows telling you the machine is already using the drive. Just click OK and the tools installer window should pop up. Now I'm able to use Lion in a much larger window.
Also played with Windows 8 for a couple minutes....to say it'll take some getting used to is an understatement. It took me a good 5 minutes to figure out how to do get to the "shutdown" option. I have a feeling it's going to change A LOT between this developer build and the release product.
Anyway - My iMac is running Snow Leopard (OS X 10.6.7 - see previous post as to why not 10.6.8) and I decided to try installing Lion (OS X 10.7) in a Fusion virtual machine. Guess what? It worked! See http://mattgemmell.com/2011/09/14/lion-in-vmware-fusion/ for a good runthrough. Even updated to 10.7.1 without an issue. Cool to be running a "guest" OS that's newer than the "host" OS. Now I get to see if I like Lion, before actually committing to it as my main OS. Only thing I haven't figured out is how to change the virtual display size....it's running Lion in a 1024 x 768 window which doesn't take advantage of my 1920 x 1200 monitor's screen real estate. I'll keep you updated if I get that solved.
Currently, I'm downloading Windows 8 Developer Preview so I can follow the procedure at OSX Daily to install it in a Fusion virtual machine....then I'll be able to compare Lion to Win8 to Win7. Yeah - I'm a geek....
UPDATE: A query on MacRumors led me to the way to change display resolutions in the Lion virtual machine...I needed to install VMware Tools on the Lion VM....the process of which was a little convoluted, but I finally got it. You have to shutdown the VM, go into the VM settings, then delete and re-add the CD/DVD drive so it just says "Superdrive". Then restart the VM, go into the VM menu and choose install VMware Tools. You'll get a couple windows telling you the machine is already using the drive. Just click OK and the tools installer window should pop up. Now I'm able to use Lion in a much larger window.
Also played with Windows 8 for a couple minutes....to say it'll take some getting used to is an understatement. It took me a good 5 minutes to figure out how to do get to the "shutdown" option. I have a feeling it's going to change A LOT between this developer build and the release product.
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