OS X hacks: how to solve Leopard problems with firewire and external hard drives

Tip: you might be interested in my DVD ripping guide ^_^

Upgrading to Leopard has not been an audacious move to me. I'm typically a little bit skeptical of new OSs, the best thing to do is usually to wait until it's been properly tested, check that all your components are supported, that all the major issues are solved and then proceed with the so long desired upgrade.

With Leopard my choice was very different though. I just upgraded. Unlike many others I did not encounter major problems, on the contrary, I've solved most of the issues I had with Tiger, so overall I consider the move quite beneficial. There is, however, one big problem that most of Leopard users seem to have stumbled upon. Apparently any external hard drive or device connected through firewire stopped working after a Leopard installation. To be precise, the drives still work with other machines, but they have a big issue with Leopard.

After Googling for quite a while a found the solution: You have to reset your Mac's PRAM and NVRAM. Here's how to do it.

1. Shut down the computer.
2. Locate the following keys on the keyboard: Command, Option, P, and R. You will need to hold these keys down simultaneously in step 4.
3. Turn on the computer.
4. Press and hold the Command-Option-P-R keys. You must press this key combination before the gray screen appears.
5. Hold the keys down until the computer restarts and you hear the startup sound for the second time.
6. Release the keys.

Happy Leopard! ^_^