There’s a saying in the tech world that says something like this: “If something doesn’t work, wait till tomorrow and it’ll be fixed.” Well, I’m not sure who said that, but it’s true.

As you read in my very frustrated post yesterday, I upgraded Leopard 10.5 to the latest upgrade, 10.5.3. Whenever I did that, my Time Machine stopped backing up wirelessly to my external HD connected to my Airport Extreme Base Station. There was no reason why, to my knowledge. It just wouldn’t work. I tried everything, read every forum and even wrote several frustrating posts on TUAW, Macworld and even Apple.

Earlier this afternoon, I decided to literally unplug my WD Book external HD from my AEBS. I then plugged my WD Book via firewire directly to my Macbook and did a complete format (erasing every backup I’ve done for 4 months) and then I repaired all of my permissions on my Macbook HD (not my external HD, but my Macbook HD). I then went into Airport Setup and re-created my entire wireless network (simply started from the beginning). I reset my Airport Extreme Base Station, re-connected my WD Book to it and then rebooted my Mac.

Low and behold I went into Time Machine and hit “BackUp Now.” It still gave me the error “The backup volume could not be mounted.” Ugh, I was SO frustrated. So I then went into Finder, disconnected my WD Book HD (ejected it) and then went back to Time Machine and hit “BackUp Now.” IT WORKED! It began backing up wirelessly! What in the heck???

So I waited for about 2 hours for it to backup my entire Macbook. I then restarted my Macbook thinking it would surely not work again. And as I type, I’m on my third backup via Time Machine (wirelessly to my WD Book!) Woo hoo! It’s back to working again.

So what’s the fix? I have no idea… truly. But for those thousands of you frustrated with the same issue, try to do exactly what I did and see if it works.

Please leave a comment letting me know!

So I bought myself a new laptop on the very last day of 2007… and I switched. I got me a brand new Macbook and I love it. There have been countless blog articles about the benefits of switching to a Mac so I’m not going to bore you with those details.

Instead I’d like to just talk about some of the immediate changes I’ve noticed since switching over to a Mac. I’d love for you to leave a comment if you agree, disagree or even had some advice on this topic.

First and foremost, the physical appearance of this laptop is to die for. It literally is fantastic. From the beautiful white plastic (yes, I like the white color) to the way the keys feel under my finger tips, the Apple Macbook has got it right. The other initial “Ah-ha! moment” that I had was the setup of Apple’s Leopard OS. I literally set up my new Macbook in UNDER 10 minutes. Keep in mind not only did I create a user account, add .Mac to my laptop (a year subscription of great web services), add my wireless network to my laptop (it configured it on its own, ps)… I also was able to do a preliminary customization of my desktop all in those first 10 minutes. I was in awe. I don’t recall Windows ever being so user friendly and so quick.

Beyond the obvious differences (a boot time of literally seconds, the graphics kicking my IBM Lenovo laptop’s butt, the look and feel of Leopard, etc), there were also some unexpected events that I was happy to encounter. If you’ve been used to a PC like I am (my entire life practically) you’ll understand the initial fear one has when switching over to the Mac OS. But I assure you, it really wasn’t bad! I picked up on the keyboard shortcuts, commands, etc. pretty quickly if I do say so myself. So, if you’re like me (which I think a lot of you are) do not let the fear of learning a completely different OS scare you from buying a Mac. IT IS WORTH IT.

I will say that I learned so much prior to purchasing my new Macbook thanks to articles like Mike K’s “What Every Switcher Should Know“. Everything he details in his wonderfully written article are things that I am so thankful I read ahead of time (particularly in how Macs install applications versus how PCs do).

Happy Mac’ing!!

If you Wiki the word switcher, you’ll know what I’m about to become. A switcher is someone who used to be a PC owner/user but is now going to switch to a Mac.

If things go as planned, I will be purchasing a new Macbook this week. Why does this deserve a blog post? Simple. I’ve been a PC user my entire life. My Dad worked at IBM for 30+ years so we always had a IBM PC while I was growing up. Although my degree is in Marketing, I’ve always had a love for computers and I feel like I can learn anything computer related very quickly. I also feel like I am pretty well-versed in PCs and Windows. So why would I switch?

Two reasons. (1) I bought an Apple iPhone in October 2007 and it literally changed my life. I love it. It’s an amazing piece of technology and is the best smart phone up to date (in my “expert” opinion). With this iPhone purchase, I was opened to so many podcasts and other media that preached the Apple sermon. Soon after, I wanted to become a member of the Apple church. (2) Word of mouth regarding the Apple Macbook was so evident to me that I realized I was clearly missing out on something. Whether it was twitter, pownce or even Facebook, I asked a lot of my “friends” what their opinion was regarding the Macbook and I did not get ONE bad response. Not one.

So I plan on going to the Apple store very soon and I hope that my next blog post will be on my new Macbook. Here’s to Apple!