HeyZeus.org » Tech & Geeky

Restoring an Apple TV from Scratch on Mac OS X

Zeus — Wed, 06 May 2009 19:46:17 +0000

So I’ve had to do this a few times because my Apple TV keeps ‘acting’ up. It kept freezing during tv shows I downloaded and converted via iSquint. The ATv would then restart and not recognize what was on the hard drive (Format not recognized by Apple TV). It was pissing Mandy and I off enough for me to try to do another ‘from scratch’ restore. I’ve followed these directions before referencing Smallnum’s directions and AwkwardTV’s Wiki. I’m saving them here, because it’s more concise and may help others. These are directions for a mac OS X Leopard 10.5.6 . Download the latest Apple TV image from here and find the full url of the dmg file to download. It doesn’t matter what size the drive is you want to do this with. Assuming, /dev/disk2 is your disk. All these commands are done from terminal unless otherwise noted.

1. Connect your hard drive to a Macbook using an IDE-to-usb/firewire dongle.

2. Clear any partition information and create a new partition table (you can also just format the drive with DiskUtil, you also need to run ‘diskutil unmountDisk /dev/disk2′ after each gpt command) :

gpt destroy /dev/disk2
diskutil unmountDisk /dev/disk2
gpt create /dev/disk2

3. Create the partitions using ‘gpt’. There should be four partitions: EFI (200m), Recovery (400m), OSBoot (900m), Media (rest of the disk). The EFI and Recovery partitions can be completely blank, but those sizes must be exact.

gpt add -b 40 -i 1 -s 409600 -t efi /dev/disk2
diskutil unmountDisk /dev/disk2
gpt add -b 409640 -i 2 -s 819200 -t 5265636F-7665-11AA-AA11-00306543ECAC /dev/disk2
diskutil unmountDisk /dev/disk2
gpt add -b 1228840 -i 3 -s 1843200 -t hfs /dev/disk2
diskutil unmountDisk /dev/disk2
gpt show /dev/disk2  {*Review the next partition size and enter in the large value*}
gpt add -b 3072040 -i 4 -s 231369575 -t hfs /dev/disk2
diskutil unmountDisk /dev/disk2

4. Remounts drives with file permissions and names, this combines two things in one.

diskutil eraseVolume "Journaled HFS+" OSBoot /dev/disk2s3
diskutil eraseVolume "Journaled HFS+" Media /dev/disk2s4
diskutil unmountDisk /dev/disk2

5. Restore the image. Use disk utility, click on OSBoot, and restore the image you downloaded.

Note: I did not create and restore the recovery parition I have done this once and it was a pain. If I ever do it again I’ll document it here.

Delicious Firefox Extension breaks Flash

Zeus — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 10:49:09 +0000

I finally figured out that the Delicious Firefox Extension that I use almost daily breaks flash on some sites, specifically the Wordpress Stats from the Wordpress Dashboard. Not sure what’s going on but it took me a while to figure it out. What would happen is if I wasn’t scrolled down waatching the stats load they would load off the frame of that window. Really annoying!! Need to submit this to Wordpress or Delicious but I wanted to write about it because I couldn’t find anyone else having the same issue, but I’m sure others are. I believe this is only happening on the Mac.

Don’t ever forget it’s always…..

Zeus — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 05:22:04 +0000

A Trap!

Beautiful Gmail Interface

Zeus — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 12:47:27 +0000

I’ve seen some beauitful gmail interfaces but this is the best one! You can get it from here with the UserStyles Firefox Extension!

Apple TV has changed the way I watch TV, movies, and listen to music

Zeus — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 11:34:45 +0000

Apple TV has been a great investment for me/us. I was never using it to it’s full potential till Take 2 came out, but it has eliminated the ‘need’ for a DVR, Tivo, Sling-box, or Home Theatre PC. Let me break it down.

Music first; I love making playlists for parties, or for music I want to jam out to. I enjoy being able to play music videos easily as well. Sound quality is more than adequate for our needs. Mandy also jams out to her Jimmy Buffett from a playlist I’ve created.

Pictures; Another great feature because I can load it up with pictures and show it off on a beautiful big screen so everyone in the room can enjoy. I can set an album as a screen saver during a party (ie, this is what I did for our last party with pictures from Sydney) which people can enjoy. Pictures also make great conversation pieces!

Movies; This is my second favorite feature. I download a number of movies and put them on the apple TV for Mandy and I to enjoy! I also rip DVD’s of Mandy’s favorite movies which watches repeatably (ie. The Italian Job, Any of the Pirates, The Holiday, The Incredibles, National Treasure 1 & 2, etc.). This is very convenient because she doesn’t have to pop in a DVD and we don’t have to buy a 5 disc DVD player, we’re only limited to the amount of storage it can hold! Also being able rent HD movies from Apple is also a huge convenience for a wife that loves renting movies from Blockbuster and On-Demand.

TV Shows; This is my first favorite feature! Again I download TV shows (don’t ask how), and put them on the apple TV for Mandy and I to catch up on. This is great because I don’t have to worry about fast forwarding through commercials! That convenience alone has made this device priceless! We are usually one day behind on TV Shows, but if we can’t wait, we’ll just watch it live. This has eliminated the need for a DVR type device (although I do have a software solution on my macbook pro for how I get tv shows).

The interface is very easy and beautiful, and not having a techy wife this makes her life a lot easier and more enjoyable to watch, and listen to things on the Apple TV. We currently have the 40gb version, but I plan to hack it with a bigger drive.

So while on this aggressive travel schedule, I’ll download a whole bunch of movies, music and tv shows and then when I’m home get them on the Apple TV for Mandy to enjoy while I’m away. It’s a win win for the whole family! So if you’re on the fence between a netflix streaming box, HTPC, or other home media device, research what your needs are, because Apple TV is a sure winner for us.

Another Geek in the works

Zeus — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 21:28:47 +0000

I’m here in Landstuhl, Germany visting with a close friend who’s stationed here. He has a one month old and precious 2 year old geek (Ava Ray).

Visiting Prague, Czech Republic (pictures and video)

Zeus — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 10:54:59 +0000

I wanted to share my time at Prague for friends and family. Along with my iMovie skillz. Enjoy!

Prague, Czech Republic

View of Prague Castle from Jesus Salgueiro on Vimeo.

New ways to subscribe and design changes

Zeus — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 16:47:42 +0000

You can now subscribe to the HZ.org feed via email, so if you’re not into the whole being cool and using an RSS reader, enter your email on the right and posts will be delivered to your inbox!

I also wanted to talk about the tags in each of my posts. I’ve finally gotten really organized with my categories and in addition, can properly use tags, and sometimes they’re funny, so definitely check them out.

Lastly, is the minor design changes that you may have noticed. Feel free to let me know what you think, but things should now validate, and look a little cleaner. I’ve been working on this theme for a while and after a few more tests will release it to the Wordpress Community. Original inspiration came from Jesse at 31three and his Expression Engine Control Panel Theme. A big thanks to him!

(logo will come back, maybe the same maybe different).

Welcome The Maris Family Blog

Zeus — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 17:21:10 +0000

Here’s another one that has jumped on the ‘blogging’ bandwagon. My ’sister-in-law’ has created a blog for her husband and family to read while he is away in Iraq. Jason, Meredith’s husband has been deployed by the Marines and we anxiously await his safe return in October! Mandy and I already plan on talking to him via skype to stay in touch.

They have a beautiful 2 year old rug rat, who I’ve mentioned before, and another little lad on his way May 5th (date has been prearranged by Jason, who either loves Cinco de Mayo or just drinking!) Mandy and I are all ready for tike number 2, with Mandy already having purchased swim trunks and a hat for when we go to the beach! Jason & Mere: we’re with you both, and let us know what you need and we’ll be there faster than you know!

Blu-ray is the Winner!

Zeus — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 13:20:12 +0000

Congrats Blu-Ray you’re the Weiner!! Well, I won’t say I told you so, but I’ll pretend I did. I still don’t believe it, but I’ll trust the sources. I was always asked which should I buy, and I always said buy one or the other and just freakin enjoy it! I bought my blu-ray player and have enjoyed it tremendously! Even if I had gone the other way, I still would have been happy with the picture quality and movie selection! So now to all you doubter(s), go out and enjoy those high quality movies!!