One of the great things about the Verizon FiOS set-top boxes being IP (Internet Protocol) enabled is that it provides the opportunity for the devices to be securely accessed by remote applications. 

I find it very convenient to use these apps to see what is already recorded, or scheduled to be recorded on the DVR ("Digital Video Recorder"), while in a remote location. It's also nice to be able to schedule new recordings when I'm are not at home with the remote control in-hand. Verizon offers this capability for all FiOS customers via the Verizon website and through applications for mobile devices like the iPhone, iPad, and Android.

I had been using this feature while traveling on business or out with friends for several months without a problem. Then, for no apparent reason, the app broke.

[sigh]

Suddenly, whenever I would attempt to connect to the FiOS DVR from the Verizon website, iPhone, or iPad, I would receive an error message that stated "Set-Top Box is not responding," "Bad Gateway," or "Network connection timed out." I chalked it up to a gremlin and waited a few days before trying again. Unfortunately, I got the same result.

Searching online, I found that this seemed to be a rather common problem for Verizon. There were a number of people who complained that the Verizon Support Representatives were not of much help when trying to fix this issue. I can confirm that, as my own chat session started with the rep telling me that the iPhone and iPad were not capable of remotely accessing the FiOS DVR... which would probably be a real surprise to the Verizon folks who designed and coded the iPhone and iPad app.

After spending way too much time trying to work with the Verizon support representatives, I was able to easily resolve the problem myself. If you are having this same issue with remote DVR control capability, this blog post may be of some help.

First, two real basic things to check. 

     Is the DVR turned on?

     Is the FiOS router turned on?

Yes. I know that should be obvious, but you may be surprised...

Based upon the information I've been able to gather, the remote DVR error messages are related to a port mapping issue on the Verizon back-end system. As you may have already determined, rebooting the set-top box or FiOS router does not correct the problem. Apparently, Verizon Tech Support can perform some remote magic to fix this mapping problem, and I believe that magic is simply rebooting the ONT ("Optical Network Terminal"). 

The ONT is the device that provides the interface between the Verizon fiber optic network and the Ethernet / coax system in your house. This device is most often located in some other place away from the FiOS router, usually mounted on the outside of the building. Very close by the ONT, on the inside of the building, is the device's power supply. The unit includes a AC power transformer, AC to DC power supply and conditioner, and a large battery to provide uninterruptible power to the ONT. In order to reboot the ONT on-site, you must first disconnect the AC power (i.e. unplug the power supply from the 120 volt wall outlet) and then disconnect the backup battery.

To disconnect the backup battery, open the swinging battery door on the ONT power supply and disconnect the battery plug to the power supply (circled in blue in the photo) by squeezing the connector's tabs and pulling straight out. Wait about ten seconds and then reconnect the backup battery and plug the power supply back into the AC outlet. 

Once the power has been restored, the ONT will reboot, resetting the port mapping which should quickly fix the problems that you have been experiencing with remote DVR access. This process is straight-forward, simple, and doesn't require having to deal with Verizon Tech Support!

[yea!]

We love our Mac Pro. It's an early model from Apple; designated the MacPro1,1, it was built way back in November 2007. It has served us faithfully and reliably for several years now. However, the two 2.66 GHz Dual-Core Intel Xeon processors are getting a little old (from a technology age standpoint), and it no longer has the pep of a shiny, brand new machine. I considered the possibility of purchasing a new Mac Pro, but just cannot justify the expense at this time. So I decided to look for ways to breathe some new life into the box I already owned.

This blog post will be presented in two parts. This first part describes some zero to low-cost changes I made to boost my Mac Pro's performance. The second part will describe some modest-cost enhancements that helped to improve the user experience. Although this blog specifically references the Mac Pro, the same changes could be made to other models of Apple computers that have more than one hard disk. Use the advice provided in this blog at your own risk. We are not responsible for any damage to your computer or loss of data that may occur!

The Mac Pro uses Serial-ATA (SATA) technology operating at a 3 Gigabit link speed to support its data storage devices. I've upgraded the drives a few times and currently have 5 Tb of hard disk storage provided by a combination of four SATA drives. One drive stores the OS X operating system, the second is used for local data storage, the third is used as a backup drive for the local data, and the fourth drive is used for Time Machine. I know there is a lot of backup storage here, but the two methods of archiving copies (plus occasional backup to external hard disks) has saved my rear end more than once.

As fast as the 3 Gigabit SATA hardware is, spinning magnetic disks remain a performance bottleneck. But all is not lost, because the beauty of the SATA hardware is that it can access multiple drives at the same time. What I discovered is that Apple's default method for locating folders does not take advantage of this capability, and herein lies my zero to low-cost method to improve the performance of your Mac Pro.

A few months ago I installed a nifty menu bar app named DiskLED. This app provides a disk activity monitor that can be customized to display an icon in the menu bar that changes color with disk activity (think traffic light with red, yellow, and green indicators). What I noticed right away was that the disk where OS X resided was constantly being hit, and hit hard. The corresponding icon was almost always colored red, while the disk with my local data was only sparingly used when files were loaded or saved.

When I viewed the folder structure of the main disk, I noticed that it not only contained the OS X files, but the Users folder as well. While I had already moved much of my data from the Users folder to my local data storage (i.e. the music, movie, and photo libraries), there was still a lot of other data in the Users folder. Specifically, there are a lot of user-specific application settings and support files that are located in hidden files and folders, and they are apparently accessed quite often as you use applications. If you would like to view these hidden files and folders, you must first tell Finder to reveal them. You can do this by opening the Terminal app and entering the following commands:

To return Finder to its default of keeping these certain files and folders hidden, enter the following commands in Terminal:

It was my hypothesis that an easy way to better leverage the speed and capability of the fast SATA devices was to separate the operating system and applications from the user data. However, it's not simply a matter of dragging the Users folder to the neighboring hard disk. Here is the process that is required.

Start out by creating a backup of your hard disk that contains the operating system, applications, and users folders. It's better to be safe than sorry.

After you have successfully created the backup, it's a good opportunity to do some spring cleaning. Delete some of those old apps you have never used, delete user accounts that are no longer needed, clear your web browser(s) cache, and empty the Trash.

My final preparation step is to open the Disk Utility app and select the corresponding hard drive, and Repair File Permissions. This will help to make certain that the Users folder is in good order before it is moved.

To copy all of the files and folders within the Users folder, including the hidden, locked, and system related files, you should use a backup or copy utility such as Synchronize! Pro X, SuperDuper, or Carbon Copy Cloner. These utilities are currently free to use on a limited basis, but we believe that these types of apps are invaluable for maintaining a scheduled backup of important files and folders. We recommend that you consider supporting the developers and purchase a copy.

Select as the source the operating system drive and the Users folder only. Then as the destination, the local data drive. Click on copy / clone and wait patiently for the data to be copied between hard drives. An example screen shot from Carbon Copy Cloner is shown below.

This is an important step. You must tell OS X to use the new location for the Users folder, otherwise it will continue to look for the folder in its original location. Open System Preferences, then select Users and Groups. Click the lock to enter your admin password to make changes. Now for each account, Control-Click the account name for access to Advanced Options. Then for the Home Directory entry, click on Choose to navigate to the new location of the Users folder. An example screen shot from the Users and Groups dialog is shown below.

You must repeat this linking process for each user account.

In order to activate the link to the new Users folder location, you must restart your computer. After restarting, you can verify that you have linked to the new location by navigating to the Home Directory, Control-Click on the "Home" icon and select Get Info. Here you will see the path to the folder, and it should designate the new drive location.

With the User folder successfully moved and linked to the new location, you can now delete the old User folder. After sending it to the Trash, empty the Trash.

This last step may be the most important. Many applications (i.e. iTunes) will look for the Users folder on the same hard drive where OS X is installed. However, we have moved the folder, thereby "breaking" the application. We can fix that by creating a symbolic link to the new folder location.

Don't be fooled. A symbolic link is not the same thing as an alias. A symbolic link (symlink) is recognized by the OS X filesystem, whereas an alias is only used by Finder. The easiest way to create a symlink is to use a utility named Symbolic Linker. Download the utility and carefully follow the installation instructions. Then Control-Click on the Users folder and choose to Make Symbolic Link. You will now have a new folder named "Users symlink". While holding the Command key, drag and drop this folder to the same location as your original Users folder (that you have since deleted). Holding the Command key forces the folder to be moved instead of copied between hard drives. After you move "Users symlink", rename it to "Users". Now every application that looks for the Users folder will be redirected to the new location on your local data drive.

That's it! You have successfully moved the Users folder. Now the Mac Pro will more effectively use the computer's fast SATA capability to access data from multiple drives simultaneously, essentially increasing the speed of the computer.

I have not completed benchmark speed tests to scientifically quantify the performance improvement, but anecdotally, applications do run faster. Observing the DiskLED icons, I can visually see that the OS X drive is no longer being accessed constantly since the files have been spread across two drives. This is most obvious when using disk intensive graphics applications like iPhoto or GIMP.

As a bonus, moving the Users folder will make it easier to transition the user data to a new computer because all of the data is installed on one drive. This also makes creating backups a more simple process; I no longer have to select specific folders from the OS X drive, I just backup the entire local data drive!

Part 2 of this blog post will describe some modest-cost enhancements that helped to improve the user experience even more. I hope that these tips help you as well.

It doesn't matter if you are a Democrat or a Republican, whether you live in a big city or a small town, whether you have a lot of money or if you are struggling to make ends meet. We all stand to benefit if you please support the small, locally-owned businesses in your community this holiday season. The gifts are likely to have more meaning to the recipients, and our society is certain to benefit from the economic stimulus.