Customer Reviews

Alsoft DiskWarrior 4.0: Mac Universal Binary WDD105

5 star:		(50)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

I work in a Macintosh repair shop, and deal with troubled machines all the time. When booting from the Mac OS installer CD won't fix a hard drive, this is the next tool I pull out of my bag. I've seen this program do amazing things for my clients' computers: rescuing their precious documents, photos, and iTunes libraries. It's even resurrected a couple of my own drives that even I'd lost faith in.

Yes, this "Universal" version is version 4: it will work on all PPC and Intel-based Macs running OS X. If your Mac still runs OS 9, you need Disc Warrior 3 or earlier.

DiskWarrior did what my Tech Tool Pro couldn't: it fixed all my volume errors and cleaned up my system. I had used TTP and it "said" that my computer was fine. I have an iMac G4 Flat Panel. But when I tried to upgrade to Tiger, it wouldn't allow me because it told me I still had errors. So TTP was either lying or couldn't really fix the problem. Enter DW. I used the external drive as the start-up (after backing up EVERYTHING) and put DW to the test. Within 30 minutes, it had reparied all the damage and allowed my Tiger to upgrade, error-free! Nice job DW! I will now use it to maintain my files and keep TTP as a last resort.

my advice to you is to buy this now, even if you are having no problems with your Mac at this time. I realize 99% of you won't take this advice until something goes wrong, but the 1% of you that do will thank me later on. This program is a literal lifesaver. It has saved my digital life once, and countless times for my clients. (I am a professional Mac tech) Don't wait until something goes wrong and then you have to wait a week for this to come in the mail. Just buy a copy and have it in reserve for when (not if) you have a hard drive problem. This program will save you from paying hundreds or even thousands of dollars for a data recovery service to rescue your data. This program is so amazing that I have seen it rescue ALL data from EVERY hard drive that I have tried it on. Hard drives that I thought were damaged beyond repair. if your hard drive is still spinning, then this program can help you. The only way it wouldn't be able to help is if you had a completely fried hard drive (one that wouldn't even power on) Again, just buy it now, stick it in a drawer, and thank me later on when it saves your rear end.

This highly regarded disk management utility works as claimed on most hard drives (including TimeMachine backup). Installation instructions lead one to believe to just pop the steeply-priced ver 4.1 CD into its slot, and you'll be able to rejuvenate your system volume. NOT SO!!

The latest CD (as well as the downloadable version) boots from OSX 10.4.9 and--as I discovered in a long frustrating afternoon--'Tiger' will not boot the 2008 version of the MacPro (nor some other 2008 Apple hardware). Had I known - after trolling the support database - that the fine print way down mentions ... just in passing ... that the MacPro will be supported only in a later release (no release date offered), I would not have purchased the product at this time [why bother, when the only 'workaround' is to boot from another Leopard installation].

Because the claims made are not supported by the facts, nor are the product's limitations clarified in the installation instruction sheet, I down-rate an otherwise fine product for wasting lots of my time and money.

I took my broken Powerbook to a local Apple authorized repair shop who said "Probably the disk- $315" . If I wanted them to check for software problems, they would charge more, and to save my disk data, hundreds. I decided to take a risk and see if DiskWarrior 4 could save at least the data (and lots of money, just in that!). Well, I made a few false starts hooking up to our G4 Mac Desktop, had to update that OSX to 10.2.9, learned how to connect two computers through Firewire (Migration Assistant works great).After all was said and done, everything was up and running except a few corrupted files which remained in pieces. Analysis of the hard drive shows it IS working properly.This software runs for hours, overnight and into the morning. You must MUST leave it alone even when it looks like and sounds like no one is home. It is working. And when all is well,COPY ALL YOUR DATA to DVDs or whatever! This software is amazing. I think the disk may be dying, still has bits and starts and GRINDS so I will replace it myself (see the new Apple Training :Desktops and Portables coming out in May- you can fix stuff even MacBooks with that book!)

Silly me.... I used an older version of Techtool on my G5. Duh... Completely destroyed my tree cataloges on my RAID harddrive. Purchased the newest version of Techtool (upgrade), and it didn't ressurect my computer. I thought tons and tons of photos, movies and mp3s where completely annihilated. Gone through my own stupidly, I knew not to run older programs, let alone older Utility programs. As a last ditch effort I remember reading in MacAddict (now Mac Life) that Disk Warrior did magical things that no other programs could... Bought it, received it... and it saved my life... errr... my Mac. I stronly recomend this program if you having Catalogue Tree Drive problems. Them remember to back everything up... and always remember, never use older Utility programs on your computer.

U.N.L.E.S.S. Y.O.U. H.A.V.E. A H.A.R.D D.R.I.V.E B.A.D B.L.O.C.K F.A.I.L.U.R.E, or entire sections of your drive are physically wiped out beyond compare, then this software will save your butt. But waiting three to four weeks (Alsoft.com) or possible overnight from Amazon is not going to save you when you need it.

DiskWarrior just brought my system back. I couldn't use the mouse, couldn't save properly, Disk Repair was in techno-red about the problems. (I hooked up an external drive to a dead drive computer and used Disk repair, then found a ver 3.3 copy of DiskWarrior installed there.)

After 90 minutes I was back in business. BUT GUESS WHAT? During the course of going through the process, DW flashed that it recognized the dead drive on the host computer. Now I know that the latest version can fix it, which Alsoft claims can deal with the blinking "?" and dead startup.

I've used DW for years, and keep forgetting that DW should be used in lieu of Disk Repair to keep your system humming. It is that good. Hell, tech support firms use it when you drag your 'dead' computer in and then charge you $100 for labor to fix it.

Someone complained htat they dont give enough instructions. DW made it pretty idiot proof. Spending ten minutes reading what Alsoft says on their site about it is well worth the time. Besides, when your computer is dead, you can't read PDF anyway.

If you can read this, and you're on your computer, it's working. What about the times when it isn't. If you dont have backup computers (PLURAL) then you better have this in your arsenal ASAP.

I bought the upgrade from Alsoft until I realized just now that I should have bought from Amazon -- but I didn't think Amazon would have it -- and get delivery Monday morning. I'm going ahead now with the full purchase here because I can't wait four weeks. So I have two licenses, so what.

I am an IT guy and I have used this program countless times to fix disk issues and recover data. That's what prompted me to write this review - I just successfully recovered over 20 gigabytes of data from a hard drive that was near dead - scratching sounds, beeping, etc. One of the biggest computer miracles I have seen... Worth every penny...

When my Powerbook was running Apple's Tiger O/S, Disk Warrior was my best friend and rescued me from two near-fatal hardware issues. However, when I upgraded to Leopard and experienced issues from the gate, I figured Disk Warrior would remedy the situation. First off, it didn't and secondly, it made things worse. My permissions were so corrupt that I couldn't overwrite existing files. Adobe InDesign would crash repeatedly, Photoshop would not save any of the actions I created, my Address book wouldn't allow me to add or edit entries, Apple Keynote would not allow me to import images and Mail stopped remembering sender addresses for future autofill. I finally had to wipe my entire hard drive and clean install Leopard. Everything is running fine now.

Bottom line, DO NOT USE DISK WARRIOR 4 WITH LEOPARD UNTIL ALSOFT RELEASES AN UPDATE - even though their website claims that it will work if you boot from the CD (which is what I did)

Yes This is verson 4 for those of you who are wondering... This product works great!!!