diglloydTools IntegrityChecker: Major Release Coming Soon

See data integrity, including recent post Data Loss Prevented: IntegrityChecker Saves my Bacon by Detecting Corrupted Files after a Clone bit rot.

IntegrityChecker java runs on any platform with a JVM. I’m looking for Windows, Linux, and NAS users to test IntegrityChecker java. Contact Lloyd.

A major update to diglloydTools IntegrityChecker is coming soon. It includes many nice changes, but the key things are noted below.

New feature: folder hash hierarchies

Folder hash hierarchies record all hash values for an entire folder hierarchy or volume in a single ".icjh" file. These case can be applied to any folder and can be “nested”, and are intelligently updated. All top level folders specified automatically get their own hierarchy file.

Hierarchy files can also be used in combination with traditional every-folder “.icj” files. This may be useful when rearranging lots of folders, in that the ".icj" file travels with every folder. But for most backups and data verification purposes, the ".icj" files are not superfluous.

For folders like my Apple Mail folder with 113784 folder and growing, that’s one (1) ".icjh" file instead of 113784 ".icj" files which eliminates the need to read/write 113784 ".icjh" files—which is also a bonus for minimizing backup activity. And there is absolutely no value in having those files in each folder, since the mail folder is never rearranged and always backed up in it entirety.
Hash data for 113784 folders containing 387296 files loaded in 12109 ms.

Hierarchy files also mean that one can use icj on ".git" hierarchies without git complaining about unwanted files in its 'objects' and 'pack' folders. Ditto for any program which dislikes unknown files in its folder hierarchy, library, etc.

A folder hash hierarchy also makes it possible to hash read-only media and store that hash file elsewhere. This can be implemented if interest in it is seen.

New feature: in-place update but with full compatibility

IntegrityChecker java maintains full compatibility with prior hash formats, include the native version ".ic" format (SHA1). Backward 'verify' compatibility is essential, since many pros burn their work to read-only media—read-only media cannot be updated or changed.

A revised hash format (chained SHA512) is introduced with the update command automatically verifying the existing hash and computing the new and faster SHA512 hash. In this way, updating is seamless and results in the best possible speed once updated.

New feature: in-place update but with full compatibility

IntegrityChecker java maintains full compatibility with prior hash formats, include the native version ".ic" format (SHA1). Backward 'verify' compatibility is essential, since many pros burn their work to read-only media—read-only media cannot be updated or changed.

A revised hash format (chained SHA512) is introduced with the update command automatically verifying the existing hash and computing the new and faster SHA512 hash. In this way, updating is seamless and results in the best possible speed once updated.

Performance

Performance is terrific — shown below is icj on a 2.5 GHz 28-core Mac Pro doing 12.5 GB/sec hashing (12500 MB/sec). That’s about 446 MB/sec per real core which are running at a relatively slow 2.5 Ghz each.

File globbing

Not yet implemented but planned soon: file globbing, which will allow precise control of which files are hashed and which are not, folders to be included or excluded, etc.

56 virtual CPU cores in use (28 real cores) — diglloydTools IntegrityChecker doing SHA512 hash at 12.5 GB/sec

Insolent Software Development: Adobe Creative Cloud Background Process Mess Chews up ~1GB of Memory when not in use

Lots of people love to hate Adobe, often without good reasons. And lately Adobe has been delivering solid improvements to Photoshop and Lightroom.

But... when I disable all available update and syncing cruft that I don’t want and never will want, it is infuriating that even when I am not using Adobe software (or have not used it all day!), Adobe not only clutters up my working environment as shown, but chews up nearly a gigabyte of memory— for absolutely zero value.

Software coded this way deserves scorn (BTW, Apple does it too). I have reported it two Adobe twice now, but so far there has no statement that this will be dealt with. Apple is a hopeless case with so much crapware running that it’s not even funny, and it’s a hopeless cause with Apple.

Adobe: I accept that it might have to run while I am using Adobe software. But when all this crap won’t go away when Adobe software is not in use, it transforms itself into unwanted crapware. Adobe, stop pissing-off your customers!

Not shown: "node" process which can kick in and chew up a couple of CPU cores at random.

Adobe Creative Cloud not in use still has 11 daemon processes chewing up 1GB of memory

OWC ThunderBay FLEX 8: Eight Bays for Hard Drives, U.2 NVMe SSDs, Hard Drives or SATA SSDs — Now Shipping

See also OWC Thunderbay 8.

Read more about the OWC Thunderbay FLEX 8 at MacSales.com.

OWC’s New Award-Winning ThunderBay Flex 8 Powerhouse Solution Now Shipping

Industry-first Thunderbolt™ 3 storage, docking, and PCIe expansion solution for digital imaging, VFX, video production, and video editing professionals is available now.

OWC ThunderBay FLEX 8

WOODSTOCK, IL — July 8, 2020 — OWC®; a leading zero emissions Mac and PC technology company and one of the world’s most respected providers of Memory, External Drives, SSDs, Mac & PC docking solutions and performance upgrade kits, today announced that their new ThunderBay Flex 8 media workflow solution, revealed at CES 2020, is now shipping. A cutting-edge approach for world class Thunderbolt™ 3 storage,  dollar for dollar, there is no better way for serious media professionals to handle their storage, connectivity, and PCIe expansion needs.

The exciting new ThunderBay Flex 8 is a recipient of the 2020 Future Best of Show Award, presented by Video Edge. Video Edge awarded the ThunderBay Flex 8 their Special Edition Best of Show Award in the store, charge and connect category. The awards are evaluated by a panel of engineers and industry experts, and are selected based on innovation, feature set, cost efficiency and performance in serving the industry. A Special Edition of the award program was held this year in the absence of a physical NAB Show.

Get it done Faster, Better and Cheaper
Fix three bugs with one line of code and turn your Mac into a supercomputer with this highly configurable workhorse for high-end video, VFX, on-set DIT, and finishing work. It’s blazing fast storage, a dock, and PCI expansion combined into a next gen form factor. 

The OWC ThunderBay Flex 8 simplifies complex storage and expansion needs for serious professionals into a single easy to configure, adaptable solution. Your Mac will never be unprepared for a client job again.

OWC ThunderBay FLEX 8

Flexible Storage

• Eight drive bays: maximize 3.5” SATA/SAS1 bays for up to 128TB of capacity
• Future ready: top four bays can alternately use U.2 SSDs and you can create a hybrid config with real world speeds up to 2750 MB/s
• Powerfully easy RAID: Easily design your RAID config to your exact specs with SOFTRAID

Docking Flexibility

• Connect more: (1) USB-C and (2) USB-A 10Gb/s ports for peripherals and mobile devices
• See more: DisplayPort 1.4 for connecting up to an 8K display
• Fast media ingest: front-side SD 4.0 and CFexpress card readers with up to 985MB/s speed
• Do more: second Thunderbolt 3 port for daisy chaining devices or additional display(s)

Flexpandable for Unique Needs

• Pick your card: (1) PCIe slot for audio/video capture, networking, SSD storage, hardware RAID card, or I/O card

Perfect for:

• In house post pros who need their Mac to do be able to do it all
• DIT’s in the field with serious storage and performance needs
• The work from home high performance editor with demanding clients and serious deadlines
• High end VFX artists with 4K EXR, DPX delivery needs
• Serious colorists and finishing professionals who need a fast Mac, connectivity AND storage

Flex your storage however you need to
OWC suggests four sample configurations to make the most of the extraordinary highlights that have made our solutions the choice of performance enthusiasts and cinematographers around the world:

MAXIMUM CONFIGURABILITY 
Flex 8 DIY Enclosure 
Add your own drives and PCIe card for the flexibility to configure, and reconfigure, for a solution as unique as your project and data needs.  

MAXIMUM CAPACITY 
Flex 8 HDD 
Ideal for RAW, 4K, large format, and VR workflows. Arrives pre-set with RAID 5 speed and protection.  

MAXIMUM FLEXIBILITY 
Flex 8   - 4 SSD x 4 HDD
Get the best of both worlds: a blazing-fast, high-capacity SSD RAID 0 project drive for large-format, multi-stream workflows along with the added long-term storage security of an HDD RAID 5.    

MAXIMUM WORKFLOW 
Flex 8   - 1+7
Ingest and edit live on a hyper-fast U.2 SSD or use the drive as a swappable transport for fast lab processing while being able to edit and store entire projects on the ultra-capacity HDD RAID 5 array. 

Includes SoftRAID: Easy and Complete Drive Management
Optimize and protect your data with SoftRAID for Mac and Windows. SoftRAID makes RAID creation easy, no matter which type you need. Configure your preference of speed, size, and/or redundancy for your volume and start working. It’s that simple.

Built for future standards
Right out of the packaging, all eight bays can utilize SATA 6Gb/s 2.5-inch SSDs or 3.5-inch HDDs. The top four bays are NVMe U.2 SSD ready which means your ThunderBay Flex 8 will be future proofed against whatever future workflow the world throws at you.

Life on-set just got lighter and easier
Sending big drives to and from set is tedious, heavy and expensive. The OWC ThunderBay Flex 8  is compatible with the OWC u.2 NVME interchange System (sold separately). This allows you to keep your Flex 8 on set as you easily swap your drives to and from post with easy to transport containers that prevent costly wear and tear on your unit. 

Detach but stay connected
Eject the ThunderBay Flex 8 drives and any external drives in a single click with the free OWC Dock Ejector app. It ensures all data has been written before any drive is unmounted to protect against data loss. It will even warn you from accidentally ejecting an in-use drive.

Flexpandable for Unique Needs
By removing the enclosure’s side panel, you can expand your capabilities by installing a half-length, full-height, single-width expansion card in the PCIe x16 connector/x4 lanes slot. Typical uses for this for professionals are an i/o card, 10G networking card, additional NVME storage, SATA/SAS or other connectivity cards. The sky is truly the limit.

“The OWC team designed and engineered the ThunderBay Flex 8 with great feedback and insight from all of the guys and gals out in the field working on high-level endeavors and creations married to an expert understanding what the future held in terms of new standards and opportunities to meet these user’s needs beyond imagined expectations,” said Larry O’Connor, OWC Founder and CEO.  “We continuously strive to provide the very best for all of our users, so that they can do their best and not have to worry or even think twice about their connections and storage while they are working. With OWC, user’s works are safe, and we are excited to offer this new industry standard in the ThunderBay Flex 8, to be an even bigger and better part of the creative process. We are also absolutely thrilled to have received the Video Edge Special Edition Best of Show Award in the store, charge and connect category. Being validated by our customers and with industry recognition means the world to all of us at OWC."

"OWC’s new ThunderBay Flex 8 provides a leading-edge storage and connectivity approach in utilizing Thunderbolt™ 3 capabilities,”  said Jason Ziller, General Manager, Client Connectivity Division at Intel. “It is exciting to see OWC continue to push the limits of what’s possible with yet another innovative solution for their customers."

The ThunderBay Flex 8 comes with the same world-class experience you have come to expect with all OWC products:

• Plug and play with no drivers needed and includes Thunderbolt 3 cable
• Free lifetime US-based support
• Worry-free ownership with up to 5 Year OWC Limited Warranty

Pricing & Availability
The ThunderBay Flex 8 integrated storage, docking and PCIe expansion solution is now available at MacSales.com and other online retailers, from 0GB enclosure (add your own drives) or from 16TB to 128TB solutions. Pricing is from $1,199.00.

About OWC
Other World Computing (OWC), founded in 1988, is dedicated to helping Mac and PC enthusiasts do more and reach higher. We believe in sustainability and OWC solutions are truly built to last, go the distance, and enable users to maximize the technology investment they have already made. OWC’s operation provides leadership in business sustainability, with our headquarters among the first in the world awarded LEED Platinum status. OWC features an award-winning technical support team as well as an unparalleled library of step-by-step DIY and informational videos. From the home desktop to the enterprise rack, to the audio recording studio to the motion picture set and beyond, there should be no compromise, and that is why OWC is here.

# # #

Get social: follow OWC on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and Twitter.
Company Contact: Jennifer Myers: (815) 502-5640 or jmyers@owcdigital.com.

OWC ThunderBay FLEX 8

OWC ThunderBay FLEX 8

OWC Announces SoftRAID for Windows

Cross-platform compatibility is a big plus.

OWC Elevates Data Protection and Drive Performance with SoftRAID Lite for Windows

For the first time ever, software RAID platform now available for Windows, maximizing drive capacity, protecting against data loss and offering faster performance

Woodstock, IL – July 9, 2020  — OWC®; a leading zero emissions Mac and PC technology company and one of the world’s most respected providers of Memory, External Drives, SSDs, Mac & PC docking solutions and performance upgrade kits, announced the release of SoftRAID Lite and Lite XT for Windows. This is the first time SoftRAID is available for Windows users, who now have a cross-platform solution and can share RAID volumes between OSes. Available for purchase now; users who have previously purchased SoftRAID 5 Lite XT with their OWC solution will receive this Windows edition for free.  

SoftRAID is the powerful yet easy-to-use RAID software platform that maximizes drive capacity, offers faster performance, and protects against data loss. It’s ideal for voluminous data roles including audio/video production and editing, photography, graphic design, database servers, financial applications, and more. Featuring an all new, streamlined interface, users work worry-free with disks checked and verified before use plus early warnings prevent unexpected disk failure. New licensing of SoftRAID now enables an unlicensed version of SoftRAID to still read/write RAID volumes, making it easier to move them between different computers and locations.

Highlights

• Flexible: create RAID 0, 1 volumes with SoftRAID Lite and Lite XT (Windows)
• Verified: volume validation ensures sectors can be read, parity is correct, and volume failure is minimized
• Certified: thoroughly scans drives before use to ensure they are safe for data storage
• Vigilant: early warning prediction helps protect against unexpected drive failure
• Built-in MacDrive technology, SoftRAID Lite and Lite XT let users exchange arrays between Windows and macOS computers
• Thorough: full TRIM support improves internal and external SSD performance in all RAID levels
• Risk-free: 30-day free trial of fully functional application

With SoftRAID Lite and Lite XT, Windows users can create super-fast RAID 0 sets or ultra-secure RAID 1 sets, certify new disks before use, receive warnings when a disk is about to fail, and restore data quickly with fast rebuilding.

SoftRAID (Mac version)

Unchain Hardware RAID Limitations
SoftRAID unshackles users from expensive hardware RAID technology that’s not upgradeable or expandable. With SoftRAID, users can spread volumes over two or more drive enclosures for mind-boggling performance over a single hardware RAID device. Additionally, SoftRAID utilizes a computer’s advanced processing power versus the slow processors found in most hardware RAID enclosures. The result is a fast and flexible RAID array that doesn’t impact a computer’s system or applications.

Perhaps the biggest advantage of SoftRAID over a hardware RAID is that users are not locked into specific hardware in order to access data. With SoftRAID, users replace a bad enclosure or upgrade, and the drives can be moved to that enclosure where data can be accessed without skipping a beat. In contrast, if a hardware RAID system fails and it’s out of production or no longer supported, all the data could be lost.

The Security of Advanced Monitoring
Getting work done quickly while keeping data safe is paramount. When it comes to protection, SoftRAID was designed to keep work worry-free. SoftRAID checks and verifies new disks for errors before use, warns users when a disk is about to fail, and even keeps users working if a drive is lost. These advanced monitoring tools work in the background to ensure users are constantly protected from a catastrophic, project-killing data loss.

The Cross-Platform Workflow Consolidator
Sharing data between Macs and PCs has never been easier. Built with MacDrive technology (an OWC software technology), SoftRAID allows users to create, read, and write HFS+ RAID sets on both macOS and Windows computers so you’ll never have to worry about disk formats again.

Improving A Proven History
While becoming a leading developer of external drives over the past two decades, OWC began offering multi-drive units pre-configured with SoftRAID to offer customers enhanced data storage capabilities. Because SoftRAID proved to offer many of the same attributes our customers expect from our hardware, OWC acquired SoftRAID in 2014 so hardware and software teams could work together daily to create the easiest to use, most fully featured software RAID package available.

30-Day Risk-Free Trial
Sudden disk failure can cost time, money, and quite possibly your business. Eliminate that risk by trying SoftRAID Lite completely free for 30 days and see firsthand how it can protect mission critical data. Fully functional with no features disabled, this SoftRAID trial provides all the great disk checking, monitoring and easy volume creation attributes that made SoftRAID the most popular RAID setup and management app for years.

Pricing
SoftRAID Lite is now available for $49.99. See SoftRAID for information and to purchase.

Data Loss Prevented: IntegrityChecker Saves my Bacon by Detecting Corrupted Files after a Clone

See also:
Validating Data Transfer/Copy Before Deleting the Source/Original Data: diglloydTools IntegrityChecker
Detecting Data Corruption Caused by Bit Rot or Bad Drives or Software Bugs with diglloydTools IntegrityChecker
IntegrityChecker

There is this straw-man discussion you might find online about bit rot, the discussion focusing on bit rot and then largely dismissing it as an issue—which misses the point of the more salient factors: software and hardware errors and user errors—and that proper data management addresses those issues, in addition to bit rot, all in a single solution.

Yesterday I was transitioning to the 16TB OWC Mercury Accelsior M42 PCIe SSD as my primary data store. This meant cloning over 12TB or so of data. I have used Carbon Copy Cloner and have found it to be very reliable for some years now. But not this time.

This time, I was disturbed that CCC did a poor job of reporting a cloning failure; it had encountered a device timeout and aborted the clone. Then it repeatedly hung (or nearly so) with extremely slow I/O rates of a few kilobytes per second. Eventually I gave up and resorted to copying the remaining files with the Finder (usually a bad idea since the Finder has had many serious bugs when copying files).

Data-loss Disaster prevented

Data validation protocol:
1. IntegrityChecker 'update' the source (originals)
2. Clone or copy data elsewhere
3. IntegrityChecker verify the copy/clone data.

Following my protocol for verifying large file transfers (or backups), I ran diglloydTools IntegrityChecker on the destination volume*. It reported multiple issues:

• About 800G out of 11.6TB of data was missing. It turns out that the clone had failed. My gripe here is that CCC shows an innocuous icon for this massive failure and fails to flag the task in a visually meaningful way—super easy to assume it had succeeded and then make a 'fatal' error. IntegrityChecker saved my butt here.
• Two files out of 11.6TB were corrupted on the destination, flagged by IntegrityChecker. A 'diff' confirmed this damage. Again, IntegrityChecker saved my day.

Setting aside the aborted clone and its missing data, how did these files become corrupted? I don’t know and that’s the point—IntegrityChecker cannot diagnose the problem, but it does flag problems, which lets you take remedial action before all is lost.

It’s not about any particular problem, but about detecting problems of any kind, whether hardware or software or user mistake.

UPDATE: trying again, I saw 100% data integrity on the Accelsior and I am now using it as my main storage. Whatever caused the issue here went way, hopefully not to return.

Later, I ran a 2-pass SoftRAID Certify on the OWC Mercury Accelsior M42 PCIe SSD and it passed. The original data is fine on the SoftRAID 3-drive RAID-0 stripe.Still, that does not rule out some oddball hardware issue. CCC could be at fault or it could be something else. There is no way to be sure—and that’s why using IntegrityChecker is essential—it catches the problem regardless of cause.

See also: Validating Data Transfer/Copy Before Deleting the Source/Original Data: diglloydTools IntegrityChecker

99%: 400170 files 11600.9 GiB @ 3182 MiB/sec, 01:02:13
Waiting for 31 of 400533 files to finish...
99%: 400533 files 11609.3 GiB @ 3182 MiB/sec, 01:02:16
=================================================================================
2020-07-05 15:15:59 : 27165 folders totaling 11609.3 GiB
/Volumes/Work
=================================================================================
# With hash: 400533
# Legacy hash: 364694
# Without hash: 0
# Hashed: 400533
# Missing Files: 0
# Missing Folders: 0
# New Folders: 14
# Changed size: 0
# Changed date: 0
# Changed content + date, size unchanged: 0
# Total files differing: 0
# SUSPICIOUS: 2 same size and date, but content changed = not nice
The following file contents have changed, but file dates and size have not changed.
This could indicate data corruption.
FujifilmGFX/23f4-aseries-PescaderoCreekDarkRocksAndWater/_DSF0084.RAF
/HasselbladX1D/2017-0212-HasselbladX1D-90f3_2-Tulips/aseries-Tulips-vert/B0000245.3FR

TESTED: 4TB OWC Mercury Extreme Pro 6G SSD

Looking to upgrade an older Mac or PC with far higher performance than any hard drive?

The 4TB OWC Mercury Extreme Pro 6G is a class-leading performer at an attractive price for its capacity. With a 5-year warranty, OWC stands behind their products in a big way far exceeding most others. It’s a great way to make an old dog of a laptop run like a new puppy, to upgrade a 2009-2012 Mac Pro or Windows PC, etc.

TESTED: OWC 4TB Mercury Extreme Pro 6G SSD

This SSD will soon become the main storage of the diglloyd.com and MacPerformanceGuide.com web server, where it will run 24 X 7, replacing an older OWC Mercury Extreme Pro 6G 1TB SSD, which has run flawlessly for years.

Sustained transfer speed of 4TB OWC Mercury Extreme Pro 6G SSD, across entire capacity

TESTED: 16TB OWC Accelsior 4M2 PCIe SSD

The 16TB model (June 2020) of the OWC Accelsior 4M2 PCIe SSD delivers similar performance to the 8TB model as tested in the 2019 Mac Pro.

This runs rings around a hard drive at about 25 times faster than a hard drive across the entire 16TB capacity.

This is so fast than almost nothing can make use of the full bandwidth except specialized and optimized software like diglloydTools IntegrityChecker.

Technology like this is so wonderful: fast beyond measure and totally silent. See Putting the 16TB OWC Accelsior 4M2 PCIe SSD to Use as Main Storage.

16TB OWC Accelsior 4M2 PCIe SSD in 2019 Mac Pro: speed across entire capacity

16TB OWC Accelsior 4M2 PCIe SSD in 2019 Mac Pro: speed vs transfer size

REVIEWED: Netgear Nighthawk X10 Wireless-AD7200 Tri-Band Gigabit Router

MPG expressed expectations for a multi-antenna WiFi router with beamforming in Faster WiFi with Antennas and Beamforming? . Those expectations have been borne out in seeing a substantial performance increase using the Netgear Nighthawk X10 versus dual Apple Airport Extreme units.

Netgear Nighthawk X10 Wireless-AD7200 Tri-Band Gigabit Router

For most situations, a single high-performance WiFi router with multiple beamforming antennas using makes more sense than a “mesh” setup.

That’s because the mesh setup entails greater complexity, greater power draw, unnecessary electromagnetic saturation of a living space, and messy installation issues such as the need for multiple AC outlet strips due to power outlet blockage with a mesh node, along with unwanted blinking lights on each mesh node—inelegant and extra expense, not to mention the configuration headaches.

Two or more Netgear Nighthawk X10 units can be installed to cover very large areas, and each of them is far more capable than crude mesh units.

Buy it

MPG prefers that readers order from B&H Photo.

Get Netgear Nighthawk X10 Wireless-AD7200 Tri-Band Gigabit Router at B&H Photo
Get Netgear Nighthawk X10 Wireless-AD7200 Tri-Band Gigabit Router at Amazon.com

A more advanced model is the Netgear Nighthawk AX12 with 8 antennas. MPG has not tested it as yet, but with twice the antennas it might be better for situations with more devices in simultaneous use.

Get Netgear Nighthawk AX12 AX11000 at B&H Photo
Get Netgear Nighthawk AX12 AX11000 at Amazon.com

Background: WiFi vs ethernet

See also: Apple: Recommended settings for Wi-Fi routers and access points

TIP: when using ethernet, get an 8 or 16 port gigabit ethernet switch (not just a hub). Each device has its own cable to that switch (including any WiFi routers). A switch isolates traffic on the network, delivering full bandwidth to every device. A hub does not isolate traffic and performance drops from packet collisions.

• Gigabit ethernet is superior in every way to all forms of WiFi (except the wire!).
• Prefer ethernet over wireless until such time as WiFi gets to far higher speeds. And the latest Macs offer 10 gigabit ethernet which makes WiFi turtle slow as of 2020.
• Security of wired networking (ethernet) is always preferable to a wireless network.
• WiFi is great for entertainment and miscellaneous devices like iPad/iPhone/TV etc, but it is a terrible choice for any professional or high-performance workflow environment where speed matters.

Features

The Netgear Nighthawk X10 has a far wider features set than the Apple Airport Extreme, supporting the 60 GHz band (not supported by any Apple Macs), VLAN for all wireless bands and ethernet ports, port mapping and numerous other features. The Netgear is a far more capable unit in every way.

Setup

Most users might already have a cable modem or DSL modem with WiFi (the “internet modem”). Usually the WiFi in the internet modem should be DISABLED so that it does not interfere with the Netgear Nighthawk X10 WiFi traffic.

1. Connect the Netgear Nighthawk X10 to the internet modem via ethernet or to an ethernet switch which connects to the internet modem.
2. For most setups (cable modem or DSL), use the Netgear Nighthawk X10 in Access Point (AP) mode. Wireless devices connect to the Netgear, and it forwards internet traffic over ethernet to the internet modem. Other traffic is shuttled around via WiFi or ethernet on the local LAN.
3. Test performance as described in Test Protocol, or via similar means.

Netgear Nighthawk X10 configuration: router mode set to Access Point (AP)

Using the Smart Connect feature is a bad idea; I found that this generally selects the 2.4 GHz band and delivers half the speed that 5GHz does. What a shame, but there is nothing for it—you’ll have to choose the 2.4 GHz or 5 GHz band manually on your device based on location.

Netgear Nighthawk X10 configuration: Smart Connect consistenty chooses a much slower link

In general, multiple WiFi units will interfere with each other unless widely spaced, so start by using only the Netgear Nighthawk X10 as the only WiFi node, adding other WiFi routers later if necessary.

Use additional WiFi routers only if superior performance in desired locations is proven via testing on the local network. Do not test internet speed for purposes of validating WiFi speed because that inserts a huge variability on top of WiFi speed, confusing the results and/or severely throttling the speed.

Excepting gigabit fiber internet or similar, internet speed is far slower than WiFi speed. If you are lucky enough to have gigabit fiber internet, then WiFi will throttle performance—use gigabit ethernet or faster when performance matters.

Netgear Nighthawk X10 configuration: Advance Wireless Settings

WiFi Speed: ad-hoc testing

As a tough test, MPG subjectively tested WiFi performance at a distance of about 50 feet from the router, inside a Sprinter van which has a steel structure with only a small window for ingress of signal.

With the Apple Airport Extreme, internet is barely usable inside the Sprinter van, taking 20-30 seconds to load pages and sometimes failing. With the Netgear Nighthawk X10, pages were responsive, taking only a few seconds to load.

WiFi Speed: Netgear Nighthawk X10 vs Apple Airport Extreme

Network throughput reported by Apple Activity Monitor was observed to be at least 2X higher than the file copy speeds shown here, suggesting considerable overhead to WiFi networking (SMB). Other protocols may be more efficient.

...

These results are the best achieved in repeated testing. They show the Apple Airport Extreme in a far more favorable light than it typically delivers; speeds up to 3X slower were seen with the Airport (high variability). Minimal variation was seen with the Netgear Nighthawk X10; The Netgear is a far more consistent performer, always delivering performance very close to what is shown here. In heavy-use environments and/or with interference, it should be a far superior performer.

The Netgear Nighthawk X10 easily outperforms the Apple Airport Extreme, running about 30% faster. However, some test runs showed more than a 3X speed superiority in favor of the Netgear, with the Airport Extreme unable to deliver consistent performance and the Netgear varying no more than a few percent.

Gigabit ethernet is shown for comparison, demonstrating why it is far superior to even the best WiFi.

Netgear Nighthawk X10 vs Apple Airport Extreme: best speed test results

WiFi Speed: 2 GHz vs 5 GHz band

In general, the 2 GHz band offers lower performance at closer range, but beyond a certain range, it retains good performance even as 5 GHz drops to unusable.

Close range — 50 feet through two walls and brick fireplace area

Here, the 5 GHz band is considerably faster than 2 GHz through multiple interior walls at a distance of about 50 feet. But see the next graph.

Netgear Nighthawk X10: 2GHz vs 5GHz band speed

Distance range — 135 feet to outdoor area through three walls

Shen the distance grows and/or other conditions exist, 2 GHz is massively faster than the 5GHz band, which becomes unreliable to the point of being unusable.

Apple Airport Extreme failed this test and could not be used.

Netgear Nighthawk X10: 2GHz vs 5GHz band speed

Appendix A: Test protocol

Choose one machine as a Client; connect it to WiFi. A second machine is the Server using gigabit ethernet or faster, on the same LAN as the WiFi router. General procedure for Mac or PC, using SMB file sharing:

1. Turn on file sharing on the Server.
2. Connect the Client to the Server, mounting the appropriate file share.
3. Using a file of at least a gigabyte in size, time the file copy speed to and from the server.

Testing can be done in the Finder with a stopwatch or similar (tedious). The best way is to time it in Terminal as follows:

# download / pull
sudo purge
time cp /pathToServer/testfile.dat ./testfile.dat

# upload / push
sudo purge
time cp ./testfile.dat /pathToServer/junk.out

Thoughts on Apple’s Transition away from Intel CPUs to Apple ARM, macOS Big Sur

Apple has announced a shift away from Intel CPUs to its own internal Apple ARM* CPU architecture, with machines available to the public in late 2020. It’s likely that the full transition will take at least a year for the Mac lineup.

Wiki: ARM Architecture

While Apple has surely been planning this transition for years, the ARM chips to date have been designed with iPhone and iPad usage and thus an emphasis on power efficiency and computing that is specific to iOS needs—how that translates to general purpose desktop software remains to be seen. But there will surely be major performance advances in a few areas, and perhaps significant losses in other areas and the net benefit is not at all clear and may take years to evolve.

* ARM = Advanced RISC Machine

Emulating Intel on ARM

The transition to the the architecture means the introduction of Rosetta II, which will emulate existing Intel-based software. That approach worked quite well with PowerPC-to-Intel, but this go-round, Apple has changed so many APIs and locked down so much of the system that I have to wonder just how smoothly that will go.

Compatibility is a key concern—not likely an issue for most software, but when it comes to any specialized software... buyer beware! For example, will Java for Mac even exist initially?

How fast the emulated software runs for pro apps remains to be seen. It might be excellent, and it might be so-so, depending on the application and instruction set. I would not want to bet, for example, that Photoshop will run fast at all but presumably Adobe will issue native-ARM versions and eliminate the emulation speed hit.

macOS will get buggier and more oriented to consumer usage

ARM-based Macs will requirem macOS Big Sur, which as far as I can tell will bastardize macOS to include iOS-like features, useless visual changes*, scads of new bugs, etc.

So even if the ARM Macs emulate perfectly, the macOS Big Sure requirement carries a risk to anyone concerned with efficient workflow, GUI changes that screw with color management and dozens of other concerns. If macOS Crapalina is our guide, then things that damage my workflow to this day in Catalina will become much worse.

It is very unlikely to see much concern with software quality in macOS Big Sur, since the schedule will be all about the new and far greater complexity of making a fundamental switch in computing architecture. Bet on strong odds of macOS Big Sur being the most troubled macOS release in history.

* The new dog in town must needs urinates on the fire hydrant, and that’s waht macOS Big Sure is all about.

Pro users and pro workflow

While ARM might produce faster Macs (when is unclear), it might come with serious workflow liabilities and compatibility headaches, and thus MPG advises all pro users to get that 2019 iMac 5K or 2019 Mac Pro or iMac Pro or 2019 MacBook Pro within 3 months, sticking with macOS Mojave if it can run on the machine.

I don’t see support for those Macs being an issue in 3 years and less, and I’d expect 5 years at a minimum from Apple. Yet the disdain Apple has shown for pro users for years make me wary, so count on 3 solid years, and make a business decision on that basis.

Mark A writes:

I (and my people) will likely be giving Macs up if I can't leverage virtual machines for development and testing.

How would one boot up an Intel VM on an ARM machine? Answer: cannot. And unless VMs properly support ARM (hello VirtualBox, talking to you) and Apple's ARM designs properly support virtualization, we're screwed.

In the end, cost is a non issue for people like us. I'd pay extra for a laptop with a full keyboard (and if they want the stupid touch bar put it over the f-keys not instead of the f-keys), lots of RAM 64-128GB, big battery(ies), a Unix O/S that's flawless at the core (file systems, device I/O, process scheduling, memory management, etc.) and the rest is gravy. I really don't care about things like Finder since I'm nearly 100% command line living most of my life within Emacs/terminal windows, Chrome, and Excel/spotify/sonos and a few other apps. The amortized costs to us power users of shitty designs, underpowered computers, unreliable O/S is immense.

One other thing driving me away from Macs... I need proper GPU support for AI/ML work and the stupid AMD chips in most Macs are not well supported. That makes it painful to work disconnected and just in general having to use multiple platforms and deal with remote work/paying rent. AAPL may have Nvidia but their GPU support in software is ubiquitous.

MPG: virtualization (emulation) will presumably work at some point  via 3rd-party emulators, but Boot Camp of course can no longer function and its absence may be a huge downside for some users.

At present, virtualization can use native Intel machine instructions but with ARM it has to become virtualization on top of emulating the Intel instruction set—slower and more complex.

Update your PC or Older Mac with a FAST High Capacity SSD: OWC Mercury Extreme Pro 6G SSD Now to 4TB Capacity

Many computers out there still take 3.5" SATA SSDs, including PCs, older laptops, etc.

And while extending the life of an older computer is often about storage capacity, but it is also about performance, which means replacing a glacially slow hard drive with an SSD; see Making an Old Dog of a Laptop Run Like a Young Puppy.

Note well that the OWC Mercury Extreme Pro series maintains its high performance across drive capacity—it does not use the dual-type flash designs found in many lower-cost SSDs (including some models by OWC)—those types of SSDs see large performance losses once the faster flash is saturated by writes. While such SSDs are fine for many uses and users (since writes are relative small and infrequent), the sustained performance of the Mercury Extreme Pro line is the smart move for Photoshop, Lightroom, video, etc.

Get OWC Mercury Extreme Pro 6G SSD at MacSales.com.

MPG will be testing the 4TB OWC Mercury Extreme Pro 6G SSD soon — report to follow.

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REVITALIZE OLDER MACS AND PCS TO LIKE-NEW PERFORMANCE WITH THE MASSIVE NEW 4TB OWC MERCURY EXTREME PRO 6G SSD

UNIVERSAL FIT, BEST-IN-CLASS INTERNAL 2.5-INCH SATA 6GB/S SSD DELIVERS SUSTAINED PERFORMANCE FOR EVERYONE FROM PERFORMANCE ENTHUSIASTS TO PRODUCTION PROFESSIONALS, NOW IN UP TO AN IMMENSE 4TB CAPACITY

WOODSTOCK, IL — June 9, 2020 —OWC®; a leading zero emissions Mac and PC technology company and one of the world’s most respected providers of Memory, External Drives, SSDs, Mac & PC docking solutions and performance upgrade kits, announced the availability of the new Mercury Extreme Pro 6G SSD, in capacities from 240GB up to 4TB. OWC’s newest 2.5-inch SATA SSD is among the most versatile and reliable on the planet, featuring state-of-the-art components and engineering that bring older Macs and PCs up to current model performance levels.

The Mercury Extreme Pro 6G SSD is ideal for audio, video, photography editing, and production, for users who require sustained performance. They are the standard for use in video capture with Black Magic cameras, AJA and more, in situations where sustained write performance is critical, and when a drop in performance can lead to lost frames and production time. Some drives drop to 50-60MB/s after their cache is exhausted, but the Mercury Extreme Pro is up to 10x faster performance than what many drives deliver today after their peak speed is exhausted with as little as 2-3 percent of the drive written. When sustained performance is non-negotiable, the Mercury Extreme Pro 6G SSD has users covered end to end. 

A 10-year Legacy of Class-Leading Performance and Reliability

When the first Mercury Extreme Pro 6G SSD was launched nearly a decade ago, it was built to be the fastest, most reliable, and longest endurance 2.5-inch SATA Solid State Drive available on the market. The evolution of OWC’s premier 2.5-inch SATA SSD continues that legacy with up to 5X faster performance over the entirety of its capacity compared to other drives. For Macs or PCs with a 6G SATA drive bay, the Mercury Extreme Pro 6G SSD is the fastest 2.5-inch SSD available today, with rock-solid engineering to keep users working full speed ahead throughout its life for a lower Total Cost of Ownership.

Revitalize Beloved Macs & PCs into Modern Day Workhorses

With users’ investment in apps plus time devoted to getting that beloved Mac or PC configured just the way they like, it makes sense for users to maximize the lifespan and longevity of their machine before retiring it. By revitalizing any Mac or PC with a Mercury Extreme Pro 6G SSD, it can be transformed to like-new performance levels. Built using today’s highest quality NAND flash memory and controller design, the Mercury Extreme Pro 6G SSD delivers sustained real-world tested read/write speeds over 500MB/s throughout its storage capacity. From faster boots and application launch times to greatly improved system responsiveness, users will love using their “new” computer at a fraction of the cost of buying the latest model.

Highlights

• Ideal for high-performance computing, gaming, RAID, and audio/video/photo editing and capture applications including in-camera
• Starts Fast, Stays Fast: maintains consistent read/write speeds exceeding 500MB/s over entire drive capacity, many other drives slow down after only 2-3 percent use
• Saves Money: use drive until full vs. replacing slowed down drive 
• Big Space: up to 4TB capacity for the largest projects
• A/V Ready: use with Blackmagic, SoundDevice, Atomos devices
• Universal Fit: includes full-sized spacer for 100% secure and compatible use in applications with 9.5mm drive height 
• Peace of Mind Ownership: 5-Year Limited Warranty with award-winning live support
• Supercharges Macs and PCs: ideal for both notebooks and desktops

“With each passing day audio, video and graphic applications are demanding more and more from our machines whether you are an enthusiast or a production pro, and older Macs and PCs just can’t keep up with those demands,” said OWC founder and CEO Larry O’Connor. “Most of our loyal customers are very fond of their current laptops and desktops and can’t stand the thought of spending thousands to replace them, which is why we live by the mantra ‘repair don’t replace.’ Our new state-of-the-art Mercury Extreme Pro 6G SSD sets a new benchmark for performance, reliability and warranty support in this category, and is the culmination of over a decade of brilliant engineering innovation by OWC.”

Pricing & Availability

The OWC Mercury Extreme Pro 6G 4TB 2.5-inch SSD is available now at MacSales.com for $899.75.  The Mercury Extreme Pro 6G line starts at 240GB for $79.75.

About OWC

Other World Computing (OWC), founded in 1988, is dedicated to helping Mac and PC enthusiasts do more and reach higher. OWC creates and delivers the best storage, connectivity, software and expansion solutions for performance, reliability and longevity to enhance, accelerate and extend the capabilities of technology. We believe in sustainability and OWC solutions are truly built to last, go the distance, and enable users to maximize the technology investment they have already made. True sustainability is good business – maximizing existing hardware vs. starting over or needing to replace saves time, money and benefits the environment and resources we all share. OWC’s operation provides leadership in business sustainability, with our headquarters among the first in the world awarded LEED Platinum Certification and running as a net provider of renewable wind and solar energy to the local power grid. OWC features an award-winning technical support team as well as an unparalleled library of step-by-step DIY and informational videos. From the home desktop to the enterprise rack, to the audio recording studio to the motion picture set and beyond, there should be no compromise, and that is why OWC is here. 

OWC Envoy Express Thunderbolt 3 DIY Enclosure : World’s First Thunderbolt 3 Bus-Powered M.2 NVME SSD Solution

Great new option for turning any M.2 NVME SSD blade into a Thunderbolt 3 external drive!

OWC Announces First-ever Thunderbolt™ 3 Certified Bus-powered Portable Storage Enclosure with OWC Envoy Express

Leading tech provider puts DIY projects in the fast lane with new Envoy Express; taking pre-orders now for August shipping

Woodstock, IL – June 25, 2020  — OWC®; a leading zero emissions Mac and PC technology company and one of the world’s most respected providers of Memory, External Drives, SSDs, Mac & PC docking solutions and performance upgrade kits announces the new OWC Envoy Express, the world’s first Thunderbolt™ 3 certified bus-powered portable storage enclosure that makes for effortless DIY projects. Shorter than a ballpoint pen and weighing only 3.3 ounces, the rugged anodized aluminum pocket-sized enclosure and unique laptop mounting system are ready for go-anywhere use.

OWC Envoy Express Thunderbolt 3 Enclosure

History-Making DIY Pocket-Sized Storage Solution
While small in form, the OWC Envoy Express is big news. For the first time ever in the history of Thunderbolt™, users can buy a bus-powered Thunderbolt™ certified enclosure and install their own drive in it. Finally, a DIY kit that allows users to break free of pre-configured choice limits in order to build a pocket-sized storage solution that meets their specific needs. And rebuild it anytime those needs change. Equally revolutionary is the included slide mount. This surface-safe removable drive holder allows the user to slide the Envoy Express onto the back of a laptop screen for out-of-the-way mobile use convenience. More options. More usability. More functionality….first and only from OWC.

The Power of Build Your Own Options
Build the Envoy Express with a brand-new drive for a fast boot drive. Retask an existing drive replaced during an upgrade for added storage and backup capacity. Or, use Envoy Express to regain access to files on a drive removed from an inoperable machine. Whatever the reason for building a bus-powered Thunderbolt™ enclosure, Envoy Express has the power to make it happen.

Backup, Play and Edit. Faster.
Whether you want to backup your growing photo and music libraries, share files, play your favorite games and movies anywhere, or even want to capture and edit up to 8K video, the Envoy Express can do it all. And it’s built to support super-fast sustained data transfer rates up to 1553MB/s…often faster than a machine’s internal drive performance!

Uses Today’s and Tomorrow’s Drives
Designed to support any 2280 M.2 NVMe SSD, the Envoy Express gives users the freedom of flexibility to use any drive today - including OWC Aura SSDs up to 4.0TB capacity - as well as being ready for tomorrow’s 8.0TB, 16TB and future capacities without limit.

Highlights

• Certified: first bus-powered enclosure that meets stringent Thunderbolt™ power requirements
• DIY easy: uses any 2280 M.2 NVMe SSD available today and in the future
• Super-fast: supports up to 1553MB/s real-world performance1
• Convenient: ready to go with 10.2-inch Thunderbolt™ 3 cable
• Compact: shorter than a ballpoint pen and weighs only 3.3 ounces with drive
• Silent: runs cool and distraction-free
• Stylishly rugged: Black anodized aluminum provides “field-tough” data protection
• Gets onboard: includes back of laptop screen slide mount for safe, out-of-the-way use
• Worry-free: 2 Year OWC Limited Warranty

Gets Onboard with Macs and PCs
When working space is limited, the Envoy Express mounting system is the solution. Today’s office is where you make it - a cramped airplane seat, a tiny coffeeshop table, on your lap in a remote location. There’s no power outlet and not enough room for an external drive. Besides being the industry’s first Thunderbolt™ 3 bus-powered (no power adapter required) enclosure, the Envoy Express is the first to include a laptop mounting system.

Super-strong, removable adhesive gel and a lightweight yet durable plastic holder secure the Envoy Express to the back of a Thunderbolt™ 3-equipped Mac or PC laptop screen. Need to share the Envoy Express? It can work cross-platform with Macs and PCs using OWC's MacDrive software (sold separately).

“The entire team at OWC is excited about this first-to-market offering of a bus-powered Thunderbolt™ certified enclosure,” said Larry O’Connor, Founder and CEO of OWC. “We receive requests all of the time from customers as to what they need from OWC. Our development team and engineers worked closely with Intel on the Envoy Express, and we are proud to continue to bring our customers cutting-edge offerings that allow them to work to peak performance. The Envoy Express DIY kit allows OWC customers to build a certified ultra-portable storage solution that meets their exact needs. We can’t wait to see and hear how creatives use it and what they think.”

OWC’s Aura P12 SSDs provide a perfect fit for the Envoy Express, with an optimized blend of speed and reliability. With speeds up to 3400MB/s, the Aura P12s offer dependable speed and data protection for large media files including 8K video, high-res photos and audio files. With faster data transfer, users can quickly move to the next phase of their projects, worry-free.

The Envoy Express comes complete with the tools required for easy drive installation. OWC also offers a wide variety of the toolkits users need to support servicing of Macs, PCs and other electronics.

The OWC Envoy Express is available for pre-order now, with special pricing for a limited time. Units will begin shipping in August.

About OWC
Other World Computing (OWC), founded in 1988, is dedicated to helping Mac and PC enthusiasts do more and reach higher. We believe in sustainability and OWC solutions are truly built to last, go the distance, and enable users to maximize the technology investment they have already made. OWC’s operation provides leadership in business sustainability, with our headquarters among the first in the world awarded LEED Platinum OWC features an award-winning technical support team as well as an unparalleled library of step-by-step DIY and informational videos. From the home desktop to the enterprise rack, to the audio recording studio to the motion picture set and beyond, there should be no compromise, and that is why OWC is here.

# # #

Get social: follow OWC on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and Twitter.
Company Contact: Jennifer Myers: (815) 502-5640 or jmyers@owcdigital.com.

© 2020 Other World Computing, Inc. All rights reserved. Apple and Mac are the trademarks of Apple Inc., registered in the U.S. and other countries. Intel and Thunderbolt are trademarks of Intel Corporation registered in the U.S. and/or other countries. Other marks may be the trademark or registered trademark property of their respective owners.

Disclosures
#1:  Drive not included. Performance results will vary depending on user-installed drive.
1553MB/s performance based on testing a 2.0TB OWC Aura Pro P12 equipped Envoy Express connected to an iMac Pro Late 2017 (iMacPro1,1) with 32GB RAM and 3.2GHz processor running AJA System Test (4K-Full resolution, 16GB file size, 10bit RGB codec, single file test).

Daily Aggravation with macOS Catalina Sleep Problems: Still the Same Piece of Shit as 4 Months Ago

On the road photographing in my Sprinter van for nearly 4 months running my 2019 iMac 5K running macOS Mojave, the absence of numerous aggravations was a wonderful relief versus macOS Crapalina, which takes the prize for the most aggravating software ever designed, degrading my productivity every day.

More than four months ago in February in macOS Catalina: System Sleep Frequently Fails, I wrote about sleep problems with macOS Crapalina. Apple has had lots of time now to fix the problems in macOS Crapalina, but it has not happened—not a priority apparently.

Apple brags about being “green” as a major marketing point, but all I know is that power plants out there are burning fossil fuels to power my Mac Pro 24 hours a day because 90% of the time the 2019 Mac Pro won’t go to sleep at all, wasting huge amounts of energy. If I shut down, then it takes time to boot up and none of my USB devices work until I unplug and replug them, and I have to restart all my work windows and such. So most days, I let 'er waste power overnight.

Ironically, the displays will sleep (even as CPU does not) and then upon wakeup I often 'lose' the primary display, all my windows get rearranged, etc. A godamn mess and time-wasting daily hassle—multiple times per day.

Do Apple’s 'green' ratings take into account such end-user waste? No way, which makes the whole set of environmental claims total bullshit.

And it’s about a lot more than system sleep problems—way more bugs in Adobe software for example. Every day it’s like wearing a hair shirt.

Reader Stu from Down Under recently inquired if things had improved.

Hello, thanks for your blog. Having the same problems with a MacBook Early 2015. Fine until Catalina. Have you come across a workaround?

10.15.5 has made my laptop almost unusable—5 mins and a number of times to just power up. Hope they release an update soon.

Good luck with that. :( Go back to Mojave if feasible.

No workaround to fundamental Apple bugs that I know of. Stick with macOS Mojave—do not “upgrade” to macOS Catalina. I’d love to run Mojave instead of Catalina on my 2019 Mac Pro, but it’s not feasible AFAIK.

Jonannes B writes:

I have had the same sleep problems, including bridgeOS panics & reboots after wake from hibernation, on my 2018 MBP, on Mojave and now Catalina, but I solved it with the following Power Management settings (pmset -g) System-wide power settings:

System-wide power settings:
DestroyFVKeyOnStandby		1
Currently in use:
standby              1
standbydelaylow      30
womp                 0
halfdim              0
hibernatefile        /var/vm/sleepimage
proximitywake        0
powernap             0
gpuswitch            2
networkoversleep     0
disksleep            25
standbydelayhigh     30
sleep                5
hibernatemode        25
ttyskeepawake        0
displaysleep         5
tcpkeepalive         0
highstandbythreshold 100
acwake               0
lidwake              0

With these settings, FindMy will not always work, because that feature needs wake on network access. So if your Mac is stolen and put to sleep, it won't be found. So you'll need something like a honeypot guest account.

If I want my Mac to stay wake, and not go to sleep after a couple of minutes, which in my case means hibernation & destruction of FileVault keys, I have mapped a `caffeinate` command to a TouchBar button. Then (depending on the active processes) it might still go to regular sleep, but it won't hibernate.

MPG: additional bugs can interact with sleep problems, and these can be dependent on the hardware design, version of the Thunderbolt 3 hardware, and a host of other factors.'

Michael S writes:

On my 16 inch MacBook Pro, Catalina is running fine. No trouble at all. Sleeps like a baby, right on schedule, wakes up fresh and ready to go.

MPG: I don’t have cancer, so I don’t understand why some people do.

My car has no problems but someone else’s car of the same model has lots of problems—how can that be true? I had better let them know that my car is running fine, just to be helpful.