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Unable to open transferred files
MacVector is unable to open sequence files that have been transferred from a Mac to a network drive or a PC-format diskette, or via a zip disk.
File resource forks are frequently damaged or lost when Mac files are transferred to a zip drive, network drive, or PC-format disk.
MacVector sequence and data files contain a resource fork and a data fork. When a file is transferred between a Mac and a zip disk, a network drive, or a PC-format diskette, the resource fork may become damaged or lost. As a result, the Mac operating system will be unable to determine the file type or the application that was used to create it. Files with damaged or missing resource forks display with a blank or generic icon. Two options are available to resolve this problem.
Transfer files via a Stuffit archive
If the original sequences are still available (and they can be opened by MacVector on the old Mac), then the easiest option is to use Stuffit to create an archive, stuff the files into the archive, transfer the archive to your new Mac, then open the archive with Stuffit Expander on your new Mac. The Stuffit demo and Stuffit Expander are available at www.aladdinsys.com
Repair the damaged or missing resource forks
If the original files are no longer available, then you'll need to repair the damaged files as described below before they can be used with MacVector.
Two items are specified in the resource fork: creator and type. The creator for all MacVector sequence files must be set to MVTR. The file type for individual sequence files should be set to NUCL or PROT for nucleic acid and protein sequence files, respectively. The file type for multiple sequence alignment files should be set to MSAN or MSAP for nucleic acid and protein alignments, respectively.
The creator for all AssemblyLign project files must be set to ALgn (where A and L are uppercase; for AssemblyLign). The file type for AssemblyLign project files must be set to SqPj (where S and P are upper case; for Sequence Project).
Applications such as ResEdit (OS 9) and TypeShuffler (OS X) can be used to repair resource forks.
ResEdit for OS 9.x is freely available at the Apple Support web site.
Use ResEdit to repair a Mac file resource fork as follows:
1. Open ResEdit.
2. Click File > Get Info, then use the chooser to select the file that you want to modify and click OK. (You don't actually open the file with ResEdit.)
3. When the File Info dialog opens, tab to the File Type and File Creator fields, type in the relevant information, then save the edits to your desktop or hard drive.
TypeShuffler is a shareware application for Mac OS X that can be used to repair damaged or missing resource forks. It's available at the BubblePop web site.
After installing TypeShuffler, just drag and drop the desired file(s) on top of the application icon, then choose the desired file type and file creator. If you "prime" TypeShuffler in advance by dragging a bona fide MacVector file on top of it, all of the relevant file types will populate the appropriate TypeShuffler menus which will make it much easier to specify file type and file creator using files that lack a resource fork. TypeShuffler is easiest to use if you create an alias on the OS X dock or desktop so files can be dragged onto it
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