[Macfriend]

Hi all

I intend to upgrade to Panther in the next weeks (from 10.1). I read that some of you use DiskWarrior, others Norton DiskDoctor and some TechTool Pro to repair permissons and what not. Which would be the best one? Do they cost about the same?

On OS 9, I found TechTool Pro to be very good. My cousin, a mac user, told me that the same s/w destroyed data on a hd on his and his daughter' s computer.

 

[monokitty]

Tech Tools Pro is apparenetly really good from what I've heard, but to repair permissions, you can just use Apple's Disk Utility - comes free and it's easy to use - and does the job right most of the time.

 

[PosterBoy]

I can't recommend any one disk repair package over another because they have all saved me, and all burned me in the past.

Some people swear by Disk Warrior, some by TechTool, but keep in mind that while it might fix a disk once, another time it might ruin a disk trying to fix it.

Apple's Disk Utility on the other hand, never leaves a disk in worse shape than before you run it.

 

[monokitty]

One of the reasons some disk utlities destroy people's drives is when they run certain features from the utlity when they a) don't need to or b) do it in a way not recommeded by the company that made the utlity. Not always, but sometimes.

 

[MACSPECTRUM]

i have never liked Norton / Symantec proudcts - their "disk optimization" always caused more headaches than it solved problems

re: os 9
disk warrior is better at:
1. repairing / optimizing directories, that's pretty much all it does
2. reparing the file system of a drive because of 1.

tech tool pro 3.0.9 is better at:
routine maintenance and file de-fragmentation and free disk fragment optimization
also, the hardware component diagnostic features in ttp are very good at giving info. on a "weak" component - also has some long RAM tests for that "flaky" RAM at hot temperatures


for OS X
i am still waiting (since april) for ttp 4 for os x

disk warrior can still do a good job of directory repair from OS 9 boot

Drive 10 isn't worth the money i spent on it - i only bought it for the sidegrade to TTP 4

with journaling in panther, optimization almost becomes a no-brainer since a journaled drive cannot be, by definition, opitmized

as always, BACKUP, BACKUP, BACKUP

 

[Mississauga]

Between Apple's Disk Utility and Alsoft's DiskWarrior for OS X, you're completely covered. There's really no need for anything else.

 

[Britnell]

I was badly burned by TT Pro. One of their upgrades had a very serious problem. To the company's credit, they acknowledged the problem, had me ship my drive to them and they tried to recover the data.

I regularly use Diskwarrior as part of my preventative practices. I have TT Pro 4, and so far, have no complaints.

Reading the various reviews, one gets the sense that no one utility will do the job all the time.

A friend of mine is a software engineer at a large computer company, and he says that Norton is "c***".

[ December 29, 2003, 09:04 AM: Message edited by: Britnell ]

 

[PosterBoy]

The reason most utilities in the world have wrecked a disk or two is actually a little more simple.

Suppose you are running Disk Utility and it finds a problem. It tries to fix the problem but can't, so it moves on and then at the end says" I can't fix this". Running Disk Utility (ne First Aid) multiple times would usually fix a problem.

A third party utility will (most times) keep trying to fix a problem until either the problem is fixed or the disk is hosed. Most times the problem is fixed, but it only takes one time to hose a disk.

 

[The Great Waka]

Could someone explain exactly what this journaling is? I mean, I understand that sense that it makes a list of changes in case of a failure so that recovery is easier (c'est vrai, non?). What exactly does this have to do with the disk not being able to be optimized? Does this mean that I shouldn't be running DiskWarrior on my journaled disk?

 

[Chealion]

The Great Waka - Journalling renders optimizing useless, and also destructive. That said 10.3 automatically defrags files as they are used. (So long as they are 20MB or smaller, and there is room on the disk.)

Check PosterBoy's explanation of journalling.