Do you need a third-party disk utility?

#1 Macworld

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Posted 12 March 2013 - 02:00 AM

Post your comments for Do you need a third-party disk utility? here

#2 noibs

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Posted 12 March 2013 - 04:43 AM

Kind of creepy. This article sounds like I wrote it. I've owned Disk Warrior since version 1.0. It's saved my *** many time over the years. However, I haven't had to use it in at least 3 years. I have used it just because I have it, but I haven't had any directory errors that Disk Utility couldn't fix during that time and frankly, there haven't been many directory errors. I gave up Tech Tool Pro about 5 years ago.

#3 JackMac

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Posted 12 March 2013 - 04:46 AM

Nice article. I have a now dusty copy of Disk Warrior and I have been wondering about getting another utility. Please check the couple of typos (eg. what key to hold down for Safe Boot).

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#4 bastion

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Posted 12 March 2013 - 05:33 AM

One neglected element of DiskWarrior is that it can fix something that's not strictly an error. Due to the way OS X applications (and an increasing number of non-commodity documents) are structured, OS X relies very heavily not only on directories being clean but also on directory access itself being as fast as possible. Disk defragmentation in a dedicated tool didn't make sense even before Apple added automatic defragmentation to the FS code, but DiskWarrior does something different. It defragments the directory files specifically. That can, in some cases, improve performance enough to not just measure but actually notice.

I do keep DW and TTP up to date. It's a form of insurance. Things rarely go wrong such that I need to have them, but when something *does* go wrong I want to have the tools on-hand to address it.

#5 davidlfoster

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Posted 12 March 2013 - 05:34 AM

Disk Warrior is a must-have. I check every disk at least once a month and it always finds things to fix that disk utility does't. And yes, it has saved my bacon numerous times in the last two decades or so. Every Mac user should acquire it and use it.

#6 fryke

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Posted 12 March 2013 - 05:44 AM

If you find most of the tools you're reviewing simply offer features you get with Disk Utility for free, then add tools like Data Rescue III to the pool, tools that offer something Disk Utility doesn't.

#7 flowney

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Posted 12 March 2013 - 05:57 AM

When you say that a utility can find a bad block, what happens next? Can that utility fix the bad block and move and data on it to a safe location? Carbon Copy Cloner identified such a problem on one of my disks but to repair it, I had to erase the disk and then restore from a clone.

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#8 sportyguy209

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Posted 12 March 2013 - 05:59 AM

>thir-party

third-party

#9 CincoMac

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Posted 12 March 2013 - 06:13 AM

FYI, think you left out the word "shift" here before "key":

"And, when you perform a safe boot (starting your Mac with the key held down)"

DiskWarrior has saved me a few times. That and Disk Utility have been enough for my needs over the years.

#10 stevesups

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Posted 12 March 2013 - 06:20 AM

What about the free AppleJack? "AppleJack is a command-line interface for Mac OS X that provides a simplified user interface for single user mode system repairs. It allows for permission repair, disk repair, cache cleaning, validation of preference- and property list files, and removal of swap files on a boot drive, without needing a separate startup disk." Wikipedia

#12 noibs

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Posted 12 March 2013 - 07:17 AM

Quote

I used to use Applejack. However, the current downloadable version isn't compatible with Lion or Mountain Lion. It's also not being actively maintained according to information at sourceforge.net.

#13 lucianP

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Posted 12 March 2013 - 07:38 AM

Over the last three months I had two occasions where Disk Utilities said my disk was irreparable and I couldn't restart my computer afterwards. Disc Warrior fixed my hard drive both times. We're not there yet with Disk Utilities.

#14 papafrank

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Posted 12 March 2013 - 07:42 AM

Quote

AppleJack is no longer supported for Lion and Mountain Lion as the Recovery HD allows you to do most of what it does.

#15 papafrank

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Posted 12 March 2013 - 07:44 AM

Of all of these, Disk Warrior is still my go to when Disk Utility can't fix a problem. It is getting a bit long in the tooth but it still does a great job.
Also, the built in SMART capability in Disk Utility is not very good. There are some third party SMART utilities that do a much better job.