Software and Computer Systems Company, LLC


Welcome to our How-To Section




SCSC Logo






In this section of our site, we're going to add how-to documents that we hope you'll find helpful. Some of the documents will be items of general use to any user, and others will be specific to our own products. If you would like to have us cover something, click on the ABOUT link above and drop us an e-mail.
 
In addition to product development, SCSC also does IT consulting. SCSC consultants typically have a minimum of 15 years experience. Our consultants serve Reston, Virginia and the surrounding area. Contact one of our consultants at consuting@scsc-online.com  for more details.












Mountain Lion and Activity Monitor Icon

Analyzing Mountain Lion Performance Problems with Activity Monitor


This is our first entry into this How-To section. In it we describe what Activity Monitor is and how to use it. We show screen shots of Activity Monitor in use as it monitors the mds process used by Spotlight, which is often problematic. We also describe what the common causes for performance problems are.


Added: March 10, 2013






Cloning a volume

Cloning a Primary Hard Drive in Lion and Mountain Lion


In this entry, we discuss the process of using Phoenix and Disk Utility to clone the primary hard drive for a system using both Lion and Mountain Lion.
 
Added: March 19, 2013, Last Modified July 10, 2013







Bad Hard Drive Signs
          and Symptoms Icon

The Signs and Symptoms of Hard Disk and Solid State Drive Problems


In this entry, we discuss the signs and symptoms of a bad hard disk or solid state drive, and discuss other problems that may lead you to think you have drive problems when none exist.


Added: April 10, 2013, last updated June 4, 2015







split a volume



How To Split an Existing Mac HFS Volume

In this entry, we show you how to take an existing single volume backup drive and add another volume to it.
 
Added: June 25, 2013







Hard drive testing
          with Scannerz


Hard Drive Testing with Scannerz and Scannerz Lite for Mac OS X

In this entry, we discuss the basics of using Scannerz and Scannerz Lite for testing hard drives. We also cover some of the advanced features of Scannerz not available in Scannerz Lite.

Added: March 21, 2013, updated March 11, 2014








Advanced Testing
          with Scannerz


Advanced Hard Drive and System Testing with Scannerz for Mac OS X

In this entry, we discuss the more advanced features of Scannerz and how to use Scannerz to perform system troubleshooting. This is not applicable to Scannerz Lite.
 
Added: July 22 2013, updated March 11, 2014















Mac Universal Binary Icon

Scannerz, Scannerz Lite, FSE, FSE-Lite, Performance Probe 2, Phoenix, SpotOff, and Spot-O-Meter are Mac OS X universal binaries and support both 32 and 64 bit Intel based systems using Mac OS X versions 10.6 (Snow Leopard), 10.7 (Lion), 10.8 (Mountain Lion), 10.9 (Mavericks), 10.10 (Yosemite),  10.11 (El Capitan), and 10.12 (Sierra). Supported Intel based systems include all variants of the MacBook, MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, iMac, Mac Pro, and Mac Mini.