Disaster software

[nhisim]

Point me in the right direction if I'm in the wrong place for this question.

Should I buy or upgrade my disaster software? I'm using OS X, 10.2.6 right now on a 1999 PowerBook G3 (bronze keyboard) with 192 MB RAM. It's working GREAT!

I own OS 9 versions of Symantec SystemWorks, AlSoft DiskWarrior, and MicroMat TechTool Pro and Drive10 (my only OS X utility).

What's the pleasure of the masses? In the past, I got the most use out of Norton Utilities, with DiskWarrior second place.

Nusret Hisim
Frederick, MD

[wayneyoung]

I am in a similar situation with a 2000 Powerbook (Firewire), I use Diskwarrior 2.1 first, then Norton. After buying these utilities that work fine, I see no reason to fork out more cash to replace them with native OSX apps. Now some day, if I ever own a new Mac that will not boot into OS9, I will need to change the utilities, but until then, I'll save the cash.

[macmath]

You have a good point...if you have utilities that work, why buy new ones.

Except...

Personally, I prefer DiskWarrior. If you read through the Forums, it seems to be the first-reached-for utility after fsck and Apple's Disk Utility. I have a 40 GB drive with about 7 GB on it. With DiskWarrior 2.1.1, it took about 2 hours for it to do its magic. With DiskWarrior 3 it takes about 10-12 minutes. No Kidding! That difference was worth paying for, for me. Also, DiskWarrior 3 can us S.M.A.R.T. technology to check your disk periodically and tell you if it is nearly ready to fail for certain reasons.

Anyway, just an additional consideration or two.

[DeltaMac]

Looking to the future - - I see --- an update to OS X (maybe even 10.3) that may introduce file or directory features that OS 9 generation disk tools will attempt to repair - - and leave the HD FUBAR. This has already happened (fixed with updates to repair software), and now with most utilities pretty good at the OS X generation level, the previous generation won't get updated to continue support for repairs of OS X generation features (get OS X generation versions!) We're not there yet, but what's coming with Panther that may change the rules?

[wayneyoung]

I agree, Panther may indeed render my repair utilities obsolete, but I'm not so sure Panther will be able to work on my G3 hardware anyway, I believe Apple may leave the G3 behind, especially if they move to the 970.