That Time of year …

Weeelll, it is, though, isn’t it?

It is!

As Trevor’s already told you, today is Stir-up Sunday; when traditionally, those of us with an inkling to, start making Christmas Pudding!

And eating loose plums.

Andrea, behave, I can see you going into Brazen Crazy Hussy mode, from here!

Tim, Trevor, Adrian, STOP GRINNING!!

Honestly, I’m expecting Cara to chip in with another ‘Beanpole Sandwich’ comment, I am!

No, don’t.

Just … don’t!

Anyway, the point I’m making, is that it’s the time of year when people start hinting about what they’d like for Christmas.

And gently asking what a body wants, themselves …

Lots of chocolate seems to be popular, I know that …

Tub sized, at that … !

Now why am I expecting Sue to make a comment, Andy?

At any rate, I do know I’ve had one or two people what Allison and I’s dream presents would be; which is simple …

Allison, I know, is a big John Wayne fan: which means I’m going to possibly have to start iBalling her collection, to see what I can do …

And, of course, me, being me …

Well …

Anything white, spotty, cat-shaped and made by Apple would be nice …

Bargain price, as well, if I recall …

But I’ve got to admit, I’ve already had … hints …

Which really is a cue for something I’ve been meaning to do for a while, now.

Do you remember, quite some time ago, I mentioned that I’d been toying with the capabilities of OS X’s on-board Disc Utility to do all sorts of burning functions, and disc wiping options?

Hmmm … ?

You might just want to use the Search box, then … !

But, at any rate, that’s got me thinking that I’ve got to at least make a vague effort to sort out the two exterior drives I have: one used as the storage for OS X’s on-board back-up facility, Time Machine, introduced originally in Leopard, and the other used as separate storage for my movies, TV shows, iTunes library, disc image software files, what have you.

Because, to be frank, the Time Machine one — at 160 gigabytes — is the smaller of the two.

And getting rather full.

So having recovered all the stuff I actually need from it, I’ve managed to use Disc Utility to completely wipe it.

Well, not completely; the 7-pass option included with Disc Utility is — according to it’s own estimate — would take thirteen hours.

So I used the Zero Out Data option, instead.

Which gave me a nice mix of security and speed; although, saying that, I don’t know how many pro users out there would use that particular option. The 7-pass, and 35-pass, may be more useful to them. Any thoughts, there, Andy, Adrian?

At any rate, I’m now copying over various bits and bobs over from the Maxtor 320 gigabyte exterior drive, to the Seagate exterior drive that had served as back-up.

That’s got about another 25 or so minutes to go.

There’s more stuff to be copied.

Which shouldn’t take that long either; it’s mostly a case of drag and drop. With both drives directly connected, rather than going through a hub, it’s fairly speedy.

However, once that’s done, my intention is — in the morning — to use Disc Utility to re-partition the Maxtor into two volumes. One serving as Time Machine, the other as more storage.

I’ll write more, in the morning.

After I’ve finished slobbering at this …