Press

Other World Computing, a leading provider of products and services for the Macintosh marketplace, today announced that it will demonstrate the beta version of XPostFacto© 3.0 in its booth number 2323 at Macworld Expo. The new version of the widely popular software utility is expected to be available for free download from the OWC Web site in the first quarter of this year.

Version 3.0 will enable users of older machines to boot the Macintosh OS X 10.x from an external FireWire drive using a FireWire PCI card. Booting OS X using XPostFacto was previously only possible on machines with built-in FireWire support. Other enhancements to the new version include an updated interface and integrated support of the L2 and L3 cache on G3 and G4 CPUs, which will significantly accelerate the installation process, as well as support for CD booting.

“The ability to boot Mac OS X from an external FireWire drive is huge,” said Larry O’Connor, president of OWC. “This has probably been the most requested addition to this utility because of the number of older machines out there without built-in FireWire support. This new version of XPostFacto will extend the life of an even larger number of older machines by allowing users to take advantage of all the great benefits in Apple’s latest operating system.”

Developed by Ryan Rempel and exclusively licensed through OWC, XPostFacto currently works with the 7300, 7500, 7600, 8500, 8600, 9500 and 9600 PowerSurge models, and the clones based on these systems, i.e. the Daystar Genesis and Millennium, PowerComputing PowerWave and PowerTower Pro and UMAX S900 and J700. The utility also works with the Beige G3s and on the original PowerBook G3, the 2400 and the 3400 with some limitations.

For more details and additional documentation on the utility’s capabilities and limitations, please visit http://eshop.macsales.com/OSXCenter/XPostFacto. The program is available free of charge. However, users are encouraged to pay a $10 registration fee, which will provide additional access to OWC’s OS X tech forum and also help to support XPostFacto’s continuing development.