Customer Reviews

Alsoft DiskWarrior for OS X (Macintosh)

5 star:		(27)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(17)

 

 

Everybody uses their mac for different things, but this is one piece of software that should be on absolutely everyone's Mac.

DiskWarrior is a great program that has helped me out of a jam a couple times. Once, in the middle of a project, my Mac locked up and then wouldn't let me log back in completely. Needless to say, I was a little concerned, since I had a deadline looming.

I ran down to the local Apple store and paid too much (Amazon's price is great! Better than you'll get at Apple's stores!) and ran it, nervously thinking it'd never work.

After a semi-slow boot to CD, the DiskWarrior interface came up and prompted me for my password. I entered it, clicked on "Rebuild", and prayed.

In about 5 minutes, DiskWarrior had informed me that it had found errors and fixed them, and had rebuilt my directory. I half expected to lose some work or files, but I clicked on "Replace". Then I rebooted, crossing my fingers.

It worked.

And not only did it work, it worked wonderfully. My Mac had booted up faster than I remembered it booting. I logged in -- again, no problems, -- and was able to pick up exactly where I left off before the crash.

DiskWarrior has given me some reassurance. It's not the safety net that a full drive backup is, but I don't need to worry about something going horribly awry.
And, it's more than just a disaster recovery application. You can schedule periodic tests of your drive(s), and it will alert you if anything has gone wrong. So, mine checks hourly and I have some additional peace of mind. Furthermore, you don't need to be a gearhead to get this to work. I don't want to spend hours making software work, and this is so simple and intuitive out of the box.

It's great for infrequent maintenance, too. It will clean up directory structures that have gotten messed up, and everything seems to run a little smoother.

Bear in mind that a lot of files seem to bog this down. It takes about five minutes to run a full test on my main hard drive, but my second storage drive, with less (but larger) files usually gets done in about a minute and a half.

But, really, that's peanuts when you consider that you could spend all day reformatting and reinstalling, or recovering from a backup and redoing lost work.

Alsoft has made a wonderful product and I don't regret anything -- except that I could have gotten it cheaper if I'd bought it through Amazon. If you own a Mac, you really should get this if you don't have it already. Its one success in my case more than paid for its cost, had I been forced to start from scratch.

You know a programming team is good when you can take an application written for one environment (In this case Mac OS 9) and convert it to a completely new environment (Mac OS X) and still maintain the look and feel of the original application. That's the case with the new Alsoft Diskwarrior 3.0 (http://www.alsoft.com/DiskWarrior/). It's hard to believe they did a complete rewrite of the product when you compare the last Classic version to the OS X version.

The software comes on a Bootable OS X Jaguar CD so it should be able to boot all the latest computers except the new G5's and PowerBooks manufactured since September 2003. The CD also contains DiskWarrior 2.1.1, which was the last of the Classic version.

To run the application, just insert the CD into your CD-ROM drive, tell your Mac to restart and then hold down the 'C' key to boot off of the CD. Once the system has booted you will be presented with the DiskWarrior Main Window. Next you will select the drive you want to repair from the pop-down list box, and then click the Rebuild button. Then wait for the program to run its thorough test on the drive and discover everything it that's wrong with it. It will also at this time create an optimized directory for the hard drive. After the test are completed DiskWarrior will present you with a report showing all the things it found wrong and what it wants to do to correct them. The amazing thing about this program is it hasn't done anything to the hard drive until you approve and it keeps all of those changes in memory until then. This is a concept that I wish Symantec would take with Norton Disk Doctor. While Disk Doctor gives you an option to create an undo file, there are many times that if your running a repair from CD, you don't get an option to create an undo file (In other words if the only writeable drive you can write to is the one your repairing, why would you want to risk corrupting the drive your trying to fix).

On my PowerBook and iBook it seemed to take a long time to run. While I can understand my PowerBook being a little slow (PowerBook Lombard/333Mhz/256MB RAM/10GB Hard Drive) I was kind of surprised that it took my iBook (Dual USB/500Mhz/384MB RAM/20GB Hard Drive) so long to run through its test. Just for kicks I ran a timed comparison of the previous version of DiskWarrior to the new version. When run on the same drive on the same machine, they actually came within 1 second of each other in completing the rebuild process. I believe that there could actually be a speed advantage to the new version if it didn't load a bunch of additional files during Step 8 of the directory rebuild.

The most interesting thing that DiskWarrior found on both machines was the HFS Plus Disk Wrapper had a problem. This was a common issue when Mac OS 9 was released and I thought Apple had fixed the problem a long time ago. The reason I found this interesting was because the Classic version of DiskWarrior never reported this problem.

One other thing that DiskWarrior allows you to do is to install it on your hard drive. Once you do this DiskWarrior will monitor your hard drive for any pending failures. This is important feature because currently OS X doesn't report any errors that come from SMART ATA hard drives. SMART ATA hard drives have the ability to monitor themselves and report a pending drive failure. This could be a critical feature because it might mean the difference between getting your data off the drive versus not getting it at all after failure has already happened.

Things that I would like to see.
Although Alsoft has a product called DiskExpress Pro for disk optimization, it would be nice to see it added to the DiskWarrior product so they had a complete drive care package, especially at the price of $79.95.

Pro's-Still fixes problems that Disk Doctor can't
Con's-Would be nice to see this as a complete drive care package

Norton is dead as most you know. It will work on 10.2 or earlier but Norton SystemWorks does not work on any Mac OS after 10.2 very well. Norton had one thing going for it - it did a nice job of repairing B-tree catalog errors and directories - when things started going wonky, if you ran Norton, it would clear things up for a while. The other features might've worked well 5 years earlier but in the end (even though they updated them to run under OSX) were of dubious value - defragmentation, file recovery etc ... especially in the end when you no longer boot from the Norton CD, it was all rather useless and in case you hadn't noticed, the Norton UNINSTALLER only runs under OS9 so if your Mac can't boot OS9 (Classic), you can't remove all those invisible files they leave scattered around.

DRIVE GENIUS looks like the best replacement for Norton. I had a drive go down - it wouldn't mount but since APPLE's DISK ULTITY could "see" the drive, the drive was fine, it was just a matter of restoring the directory. DRIVE GENIUS was the only Mac utility that could recover the directory. My only complaint would be that under REPAIR, there are submenu choices - for some odd reason REPAIR did not repair it but REBUILD did. It would seem that users like us do not really care if you rebuild or repair - as long as you can get the directory fixed so it shows up as an HDD, all is good in the world, right?

In addition, you get other features such as DEFRAGMENT, DUPLICATE, SECTOR EDIT, SHRED, INTEGRITY CHECK, BENCHTEST & SCAN. Of course, Defrag, Duplicate and Shred are pretty obvious as to what they do. Sector Edit is for advanced users - you get to look at the underlying raw hex (?) of the data on the drive so if you feel comfortable doing that. Integrity Check & Scan seems to do the same thing in checking the underlying hardware of your HDD.

DRIVE GENIUS has a pretty nice user interface and you get a constant feedback on when it's doing repairs/rebuilding. That is an EXCELLENT feature. When you are wondering if your data is still intact, you want to know what the utility is doing. And you can boot off the CD - presumably not Intel Macs as it's 10.4

It is not perfect though. For drives that Apple recognizes as drives (you get the query if you want to initialize/eject or ignore) - I was able to get the directory fixed on an IDE USB drive but not an IDE Firewire drive so if you are in the same situation, you might need to plug it in as a USB drive versus in a firewire enclosure. But since it was actually able to see and repair the USB drive, I consider that a victory of sorts plus the the interface is much more re-assuring than the interface of TechTools Pro or DiskWarrior.

TECHTOOLS PRO is now much nicer looking and now feature laden. If you have a couple Macs and quite a few HDD's as I do, you'll most likely want to get it to have it handy to do some things that DRIVE GENIUS does not do. One advanatge is that it can actually test the hardware of your Mac including memory, cache, etc ... unfortunately, it still has the same old "feature" of the old TechTools in that it launches into the test mode as soon as you click on SUITES (what they call hardware tests if choose to do them altogether). For the unintiated, this can scare the crap out of you as when it gets to the video test, your screen changes color in rapid succession (at least it's faster than before) but it's still scary and disconcerting because they do NOT tell you it's about to happen! The other main choices are TESTS, PERFORMANCE, TOOLS & SAFETY. Tests is actually the hardware test that does not scare you. You actually have to press the start button before it races off to check your mac itself. PERFORMANCE lets you optomize the drive or fix directories. TOOLS is actually a nice addition - it is broken down into multiple parts: eDRIVE which lets you create a bootable partition. Aparently you can create this partition even if you haven't physically partitioned your main HDD - frankly, I'm a little too leery of messing with this feature to try it on my main HDD but good luck if you're brave enough. You can also create a duplicate on another HDD. In addition under TOOLS, you get DATA RECOVERY, WIPE DATA, AUDIO & VIDEO testing. The last choice is SAFETY which offers under it: PROTECTION SETUP which is nice as you can back up your directory info; DIAGNOSTICS SETUP which creates an auto schedule for checking up on your Mac & HDD; SMART SETUP for auto notification when your drive is about to have problems and ALERT so it can email you.

To be honest, I had bad experiences in using TechTool's (before it went Pro) in using to fix directories. Like other people, it seemed to have ended trashing most of my files so I can't vouch for its ability to repair anything but the diagnostics and early warning setup are unique to the Mac in one package so if you are really dependent on your Mac to start up & run everyday, it's probably worth getting the diagnostics and eDrive feature - when you actually have a directory problem though, you are probably better off running DRIVE GENIUS first.

One other nice feature of TECHTOOLS PRO is you actually get a printed manual. DRIVE GENIUS is a PDF - unless you print it out, not real useful when you can't access your Mac.

The third main Mac utility in this genre is: DISKWARRIOR. It's main feature is that it has the SMART warning system also to let you know when you might experience a HDD failure. It has some rudimentary repair/rebuild feature but I ran into two main problems. It's hard to tell exactly what it's attempting to do. The progress bar doesn't move very much but the main problem is EXACTLY what you do NOT want out of a utility ... It tells you there is directory problem but it could not fix it. Not what you want when the HDD does not mount. Since it doesn't less than DRIVE GENIUS with only about 30% of its features, you should get DRIVE GENIUS first - for critical users, they might also want to get TECHTOOLS PRO and of course, for those who have mission critical apps they must get to - it doesn't hurt to have DISKWARRIOR around.

I'm not the kind (unfortunately) to always share my experiences, good or bad, with products. However, I must say that Disk Warrior is the BEST. My iBook had crashed, losing a year of research, two vacations' worth of pictures, etc. etc. [I'll never not backup again]. Disk First Aid and Apple's help desk were useless. I took it to professional data recovery people, who said that they'd charge me $600 whether or not they saved a damn thing. DiskWarrior for OSX did what the others couldn't -- it rebuilt my drive, and I got back every single file, zero loss. This product is truly miraculous!

I would not advise anyone to purchase this utility for the Mac.
1. The tech service is unacceptable. When you call, you cannot speak immediately with a tech person. You must leave a message and wait two (2) hours for a call-back.
2. After waiting two (2) hours, the tech rep was snooty and had a real attitude. He treated me as if I was mentally defective or something. He would not even give me a target date as to when the new CDs (see #4 below) would be available. He advised me to keep checking at the web site.
3. If you are unhappy with the product, you cannot get a refund. This facts screams to me that this company does not stand behind its product. Do not make the mistake that I did and buy it. (I really was a fool because, for years, I used TechTools Pro and/or Drive 10. I should not have tried something new from a company that does not value me as a customer and as a consumer.)
4. Most importantly, you CANNOT boot up from the CD (not even in version 3.0.3) on the newest iBook. This vital piece of information is not clearly stated on the Alsoft web site and is buried deep at the bottom of the page in a techno-babble yellow box. When I pointed this out to the rep, he said that he was "not going to sit here and argue semantics.'" This is not an issue of semantics, but of plainly stating how this product can be used.
5. According to this snooty tech rep, when the new CD is available, will be free except for shipping and handling costs! Now, that says nerve as a bootable CD is vital to any utility. This should be totally free for anyone who in good-faith purchased the product with the understanding that it would be totally usable on all systems.
6. If you want to do something very simple -- like opt your drives to keep your system running fast -- you must have another computer or another hard drive. You cannot boot up from the CD for the newest iBook. (I purchased mine on 9/23/05.)
If you don't have another computer or hard drive, then you are OUT OF LUCK and this product is useless.

I had a drive that was unmountable due to a mixture of corruption and a SMART-indicated failure. The hardware was accessible at the device level, but the volume was not mountable. Thus DiskWarrior wouldn't touch it, and I had to look elsewhere (Data Rescue) to recover my data.

I had a 500mhz G3 128mb iMac. It started off with a mysteriously empty folder. When I ran the Disk Utilities, my 20 GB of info mysteriously went down to 5 GB, and Disk Utilities could not fix it.

So, in response to product recommendations on Amazon I tried this product. My first few attempts resulted without success. The "Barber Pole" froze, with a lot of activity out of my CD, none of the Hard Drive and a warning on the progress meter that speed was inhibitted due to memory. This is why I'm giving this 4 stars, as the product should modify it's minimum parameters, and suggest to people how to work around them if you fall below these parameters.

I had great success using the following steps.
1) Get another Mac operating OSX, a G5 with 512mb worked for me.
2) Connect the Good Mac and the Bad Mac via Firewire (not USB)
3) Start up the Bad Mac HOLDING DOWN THE T BUTTON. This starts the Bad Mac in "Target Mode" IE it's basically an external firewire connected hard drive.
4) You'll see a Firewire Screen saver appear
5) Start up the Good Mac off the Disk Warrior disk.
6) Find the Bad Mac's hard drive while running Disk Warrior.
7) Cross your fingers and hope for the best!

I wish I could be one of those people giving DiskWarrior 5 stars and saying "it saved my keester!" Unfortunately, my case is more "I'm still hosed...and now I'm out a hundred bucks!"

The first annoyance was that the DiskWarrior CD itself has been reproduced so cheaply (blue dye, like a 10-cent blank CDR for home burning use) that my G4 wouldn't recognize it. "Yeah, those Phillips superdrives are touchy," says tech support. Mind you, the drive has never rejected any OTHER disc I've tried.

And despite the hundred dollar price tag, there are no printed docs with the disc - just a PDF manual. You know, the kind you could read IF your computer was working. Of course, if it was working you wouldn't need DiskWarrior, would you?

In the PDF manual, it says you can make an additional startup disc (in this case to boot into OS 9 instead of the default OS X)...but it doesn't say HOW to do this, or even hint at it. It's entirely unintuitive, and I needed two phonecalls to tech support AND considerable knowledge of Macs to make such a disc. Not that it helped.

Maybe my problem is more than just a bad directory - but I don't think so. So far, DiskWarrior hasn't accomplished anything. I'd call tech support for help, but they keep only banker's hours (M-F and out the door by 5 central). Considering the markup on this disc-without-manual, you'd think they could afford decent tech support.

I've heard enough good things about DiskWarrior to think it must be doing something for somebody. But for me, the program is overpriced, under documented and a waste of time.

***UPDATE January 2008***

I'm writing this as a followup to the comments above. When I finally needed to boot from the Diskwarrior disk, it didn't work. When I looked at it, the disc itself had completely decomposed in its case - the layers separating and unreadable. It looks like I mashed cottage cheese under it. Honestly, for 100 smackeroos you'd think that Alsoft might at least include an archival quality disk. Or, just maybe, a disk which would last more than a year. The irony of a "disk repair" utility that comes on a defective disk is almost funny.

But it gets worse. I repeatedly tried to reach Alsoft tech support, and finally got someone after about a week. I was told that I'd need to talk to SALES for a replacement disk. So I called Sales, and was told that "media" is guaranteed for only 90 days (!) and moreover that they didn't support version 3 anymore. My only option for the defective disk - an "upgrade" at their standard $50 price...though they'd toss in free shipping. In the end, I paid $100 for a program which was shipped on a defective disk, was REPLACED with a defective disk, and which cannot be replaced by the manufacturer. I'm appalled, pure and simple. I'm done with Alsoft forever.

After several OSX upgrades on my G4 and never having run this software, even though I wasn't experiencing a disk crash or any problems, I decided to give it a try anyway. (I had purchased this to have on hand as cheap insurance in case of later problems).

After running it, I was surprised at how much faster my computer seemed to run. The fact that it optimizes the directories rather than just patch them probably has something to do with it. At any rate, everything seems quicker now and given that, I believe this product is worth the money. Not only can it fix a corrupt disk, but it can tune your disk so that it operates more efficiently even if you aren't experiencing problems yet.

The best at what it does -- save drives and data akin to how Norton Disk Doctor used to ably salvage OS 6-7 information 'back in the day.' This functionality, akin to most 'leading' Mac utilities, comes at a literal high cost. No one -- likely not even Alsoft -- will accuse DiskWarrior of being cheap. Related, their discs ARE cheap quality...but work.

Akin to renter's insurance, you never think it's worth the premium until you need it. The alternative is hundreds of dollars + days of lost productivity having an authorized repair center attempt to salvage your machine. If you're a novice/intermediate user, buy this software -- its your best defense against an 'oops' you wish you could rewrite. Couple this with free, automated system utilities (eg Onyx), and you'll have a happy Mac.

Power users, however, beware. Significant OS X upgrades (free or purchased) render your version of DiskWarrior obsolete. While DiskWarrior does what it promises well, it only does so on specific OS iterations. Newer, paid updates (1-2 times a year) from Alsoft will remedy this problem...updates that admittedly become old fast. Thankfully they're pretty affordable.

Moreover, using backward compatible versions of DiskWarrior with older OS X offerings is akin to removing the proverbial mattress tag: do so at your own risk.