In response to OS X: Hiding and Mounting a Partition, Shazron asks:

"Thanks for the tip on Hiding and Mounting a Partition.

I'm trying to hide my fat32 Windows XP partition on my MacBook Pro however (using BootCamp), and running 'diskutil info' on that partition doesn't show an UUID. Any tips on how to hide the partition without a UUID?

Thanks :)"

Answer:

In the OS 9 days, there was a low-level disk setting that told the disk whether or not it should automatically mount.  OS X does not have this option and, like many good things in the system, it relies on old-school Unix.

I actually use this trick fairly often (and, it can be considered an adjuct to my August 2006 MacTech column "GUI up Your Script).  It's great to be able to clone the system disk, and then 'hide' it.  The benefit of this is that if the primary drive fails, a cloned disk will just boot, without the operator knowing what happened.

Like many people that are my age - let's just say the 1980s were my formative years - I had a VCR, and needed someplace to rent movies from.  This started out as the small, local shop.  But then Blockbuster came along and claimed dominance.  And why not*?  Practically any movie you could think of was there and in stock.  I stuck with Blockbuster for a long time.  And then I moved.

Data theft should bother everyone.  It has happened way too much recently, and for all of the wrong reasons: employee takes data on laptop and leaves it in car, missing unencrypted backup tapes, lax policy on verification, etc.  One of the biggest cases was Choicepoint, after which, I had serious doubts about their future.  Well, it's always nice to see people learn from their mistakes:

Choicepoint's Lessons Learned

Since my initial post about my battle with RSI, a lot of people have gotten in touch with me one way or another to discuss their plights, and what has or has not worked for them.  My situation has also improved dramatically.