"It's been a bit and we've posted up a nice bunch of new goodies on our clearance/garage sale page. As always, items are first come - first served and the site is set to reduce/turn off items as transactions are completed to help prevent over selling of these limited avail deals. Found on our bargains page at this moment:

Apple Factory Original 512MB SO-DIMMs 667MHz PC5300 200 Pin - $17.99 each For MacBooks, Mac mini Intel, iMac Intel, and Core Duo/Core 2 Duo PC5300 PCs

Still have USB2 to 2.5" IDE/ATA at $4.50, 2.5" & 3.5" USB2 to IDE/ATA $9.95

80GB to 100GB 2.5" SATA laptop Hard drives from $46.50 each

ESATA MultiBay SATA I/II Enclosure Kits from $59.00

Apple Macintosh PCI SATA, eSATA, ATA/133 Controllers from $42.75

**'Fix er Up' Apple iBook G3/500MHZ Blowouts from $39 to $105***

FireWire & USB 2.0 Combo Hard Drive Enclosure Kits from $29.50

OWC Mercury Elite Pro FW/USB/eSATA Kits offerings from $57.75

LaCie 1.0TB USB2 External HD for $322.50

Apple Genuine DVI to VGA adapter 5" and 9" Cables from $9.99

ATI Radeon 9200 MacEdition 128MB PCI 2D/3D Video cards for $115.00

NewerTech PowerBook G4 15", 17" Models Intelligent Charger/Conditioners $99

Apple PowerMac G3 B&W/G4 Yikes 'revision 2' Logic Boards for $69.95

And plenty of other odds and ends while they last. And sure, some last a real long time as we've got a slug - but most of this stuff disappears pretty darn quick till the next posting. Check it out. :)"

• Worked around an infrequent slowdown caused by spotlight
• Corrected rare audio glitches with the end of some MP3 and AAC files
• Fixed several keyboard shortcuts
• Several other minor bug fixes

" I just purchased the HighPoint RocketRaid 1742 (2 SATA II / 2 eSATA ports) for my Quicksilver 933 with 2 (Seagate) FreeAgent Pro 750GB attached under OS X 10.4.9. Unfortunately, the eSATA connections are VERY slow, giving me only about 6-7MB/sec or about one fifth of USB 2.0 on my Mac Mini!

I also note that the RAID adapter cannot acquire SMART data and that the FreeAgents do not seem to support NCQ (this may be a driver issue).

Changing PCI slot, removing other cards, uninstalling and reinstalling drivers, etc. have not solved the problem. I have tickets in with Seagate and HighPoint. We'll see...
(he later wrote)
- FreeAgent is a standalone external drive with eSATA from Seagate. RocketRaid driver is 1.0 (10.4 only). No data on the drives, so spotlight should not be the culprit here
-Anders A."

I asked if he had tested any internal SATA drives with the card or had another Mac to try the "FreeAgent" drives with to try and isolate if the performance issue is related to the ext. drive or the card but he said he had no other drives or Mac to test with. (Assuming cables are OK.)
If anyone else is running this card in a -Quicksilver- (or similar era G4 tower - Digital Audio, etc.) or has used a Seagate Freeagent Pro 750GB drive with another Mac/SATA card, let me know if you've seen any performance issues or not. Include system/OS/drive details also. Thanks.

(The Other News/Software Updates listing has also been updated.)

• Converts native QuickTime file formats, such as DV, AVI, MOV, and MPEG-4
• Converts non-QuickTime file formats, such as MPEG-2 and DivX
• Converts DVD movies and discs created with Toast, iDVD, DVD Studio Pro, and other DVD authoring applications. (not copy protected DVDs)
• Offers multiple MPEG-4 and H.264 quality settings tailored for use with Apple TV, iPod, or iPhone
• Automatically adds converted video to iTunes library for easy syncing with Apple devices
• Includes batch video file conversion

Roxio Crunch has a $39.99 Intro price. For more info see their Features page. Minimum requirements listed are a G4, G5, or Intel processor, 256MB RAM, OS X 10.4.9 or later, 50MB free disk space (+ up to 15GB of temporary free space during usage), QT 7.1.5 or later, iTunes 7.1.1 or later. (And Apple TV, Video iPod or iPhone.) The requirements page also has comments on how Roxio Crunch differs from Popcorn 2.

DVD+R/RW + DVD-R/RW Drives:
• IDE Pioneer DVR-112D in Mac Pro (OS X 10.4.9)
  (using as a 2nd Optical drive)
• Firewire (Cased) Memorex 32023288 (DVD+-RAM 510L v1) used w/Powerbook G4 (OS X 10.4.9) (listed under "other" brand)
  
  Hard Drives:
• IDE SerialATA PCI card (Rocketraid 1742) connected Seagate 750GB (x2) in (QS) G4/AGP (OS X 10.4.9) (Said eSATA performance was very low, 7-8MB/sec - see copy in news post above.)
• IDE (SerialATA onboard) Seagate ST910021AS (7200rpm) 100GB in MacBook (OS X 10.4.9)
  (replaced a 120GB ST9120821AS that failed after 10 months he said)
• Updated May 1st report on (SerialATA onboard) Western Digital WD1600BEVS Scorpio 160GB in MacBook (10.4.9) with a note on her fix for problems reported originally (disabling hibernate mode)

You can find full owner reports (latest shown first) by searching the database by drive/brand/interface/mac models (the latest reports are shown first in searches). The database includes reports on DVD +/-R, CDRWs, Combo DVD-CDRW, DVD-ROM, Hard Drives and Removables (tape drive, ORB, ZIP, MO drives, NAS, CF/Smartmedia readers, etc.) in all interface types (IDE, IDE RAID cards, SATA, Firewire, SCSI, USB, adapters).
If you've added a IDE, SATA, Firewire, USB, or SCSI, hard drive, Optical drive/burner, NAS (including Airport Extreme base connected USB drive), tape drive, etc., send me the details (drive info/mac model/OS used, etc. - *Please take a minute to test for booting from CD with Optical drives*. Thanks.)

" Thought your readers might find this free Final Cut Pro movie valuable. It's a cool trick for adding a transition to multiple clips at once.
http://www.dvcreators.net/how-do-i-add-transitions-to-multiple-clips-all-at-once-in-final-cut/
This trick, originally posted by us in 2001, and redone for the latest FCP version, shows the secret to adding a transition to multiple clips all at once with a simple click and drag!
Thanks, Grace
(dvcreators.net) "

• Microsoft Office 2004 for Mac 11.3.5 Update
• iTunes + Ticketmaster deal (free song w/ticket purchase - I think this was originally announced earlier this year)
• LEGO Digital Designer 2.1 (major update w/new UI, performance improvements)
• Mac share of surfers doubles in 8 months
• AssistiveWare and Acapela Group introduce new educational offers for Mac OS X speech software
• Blog: Apple, record labels head for negotiating table
• Interarchy 8.5.2
• Imagine Poker 2.0
• HP to debut Blu-ray HD DVD combo drive (rebranded LG?)
• Alleged AOL password security flaw raises eyebrows
• Official Unreal Tournament 3 website
• Civilization IV: Beyond the Sword Q and A
  
  (Apple support docs updated today)
• Mac OS X: How to change the default web browser or email application (Apple)
• Trouble installing or opening iTunes or QuickTime for Windows (Apple)
• Copying songs over a network to use with iTunes for Windows Vista (Apple)