Hi
A well-intentioned friend has given me Diskwarrior. I have heard it's great software, but have never used it. Is this something to keep until you have issues, or should it be run occasionally?

Thanks!

Diskwarrior is a one-trick-pony, but it's a pretty damn good trick.

It rebuilds the file directory, and that's it. Damaged directories are at the root of many problems so it's always the best place to start.

I tend to run it every couple of months, or whenever things don't seem to be running as smoothly as they used to. It's saved my bacon at least 2 or 3 times. Since I started using Diskwarrior I haven't had to use any other repair utility in OS9 (about 5 years now). For OSX you'll want Diskwarrior for your directory and something else for permissions and such like Onyx.

I don't have the OSX version but I can still use the OS9 version to repair an OSX directory (as long as your computer can boot into OS9). I'm sure the OSX version will work equally as well but I don't have any direct experience with it.

I've used the OSX version on OS 9 computers and it worked fine. I also use it every couple of months or after a major OS update.
EJR

DiskWarrior is easily my favorite disk tool and the best, bar none, at directory repair. It's safe and reliable. Although once a month is probably overkill, if you run it every once in a while you should be fine, and it's pretty easy to set a reminder in iCal for once a month.

The OSX version's main benefit is it's much faster on OSX, where UNIX's habit of many small files (250,000 on a typical OSX install is quite common) used to slow down the older version. The repair of OS9 volumes is the same.

Norton, Tech Tool, etc don't do nearly as good a job; avoid using other directory tools along with DW because it does a better job and Norton usually insists on "repairing" DW repaired directories when the truth is they're fine and it's Norton that's out to lunch.

Others work by modifying the exixting, damaged directory; which can, although rare, make things wose if things are really hooped. DW builds a complete new one from scratch, compares it to the old one (which is left untouched) and if all is OK tells the OS to point to the new one. The old directory is never written to or overwritten by DW.

The directory is on a hidden partition which is why you need special tools to fix it.

The 3.02 version of DW which worked with Jaguar will not work with Panther and Alsoft has a new version at a reduced rate by ordering from Alsoft. <www.alsoft.com>. I used Norton under OS9 but did not upgrade for OSX and have never missed it . I use Cocktail and DW . Good luck with it

Brian,
DiskWarrior 3.02 works with Panther but will not Boot from the CD on newer computers eg. my iMac G5. I use it booted from my FireWire drive with no problem at all. It also boots my iMac G3 running Panther because the G3 came with an OS made earlier than the boot software on DW and is backwards compatible. My iMac G5 came with a later version of the OS therefore not backwards compatible. I chose not to update the CD as no need for me to boot from the disk, but updated the software via Alsoft for free.
http://www.alsoft.com/DiskWarrior/support.html#Panther
EJR

Whenever Apple comes out with a new model that requires a different Boot ROM file, you will need to update any bootable CD (from anyone) to include that ROM.

It will still work on the models it worked with before, so it's only an issue if you buy new hardware more recent than the software disk.

You are of course right It was my G5iMac that caused the problem. It of course was the first time on Panther so I assumed it was the OS that was causing the problem and not the box itself .....Gotta stop using that word now that there is no box LOL