Unless you are going for shredded (vs. grated) put a chunk of the stuff in a blender/processer and pulse to desired consistency.

My food processor has a cheese grater blade. I like the little hand crank one though, need to get a new one.

That's not what it smells like.

I use the food processor for the hard cheeses. Small batches and I vacuum seal them in a quart mason jar. The hand cranks are great, but I have a couple of nice microplanes for the smaller jobs. Oh and microplanes are great with nutmeg and cinnamon.

You grate hard cheeses days in advance of using them?

One of these does the job just fine.

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/...YL._SX522_.jpg