Norton Utilities for Mac Beta - and a word about HFS Plus repair utilities

Update: Stephen Stitle reports that Symantec has pulled Norton Utilities Beta from their ftp site. Their Web site does not yet reflect this (at least as of this morning). The status of this may change throughout the day. [As of our last check, the "nddbeta/" folder was back.]

Symantec has released a beta version of its forthcoming update to Norton Utilities for Macintosh. This is the version that will finally have HFS Plus support.

Be sure to check out the warnings in the Read Me file before using it. Personally, although I applaud Symantec's interest in getting feedback on the product before it is released, I have to question the wisdom of any user who risks using this product. A bug in a disk repair program can have more serious consequences than almost any other type of software. It can damage your drive to the point where it needs to be reformatted. The risk is there even with a released version. But it likely goes way up with a beta version. Why take that risk?

In fact, I already have two readers reporting just this sort of disaster. They may not represent the typical user's experience, but I will still be waiting for the release version before I put the Norton update on any of my drives.

"I used Norton beta to solve a b-tree error on my disk. After following all directions to fix or not fix, Disk Doctor finished. Afterwards, I noticed that I could not open any folders. When I shut down, the Mac OS advised me that I didn't have a valid System or Finder and would not be able to re-start. This was true. I got a blinking question mark at my next startup." (Michael Lincoln)

"I tried out the new beta Disk Doctor 4 and it corrupted my HFS startup disk. The instructions actually tell you that an HFS volume might produce a -50 error. If so, run it again. I did and the volume wouldn't boot up. I had to use TechTool Pro 2.03 to fix the problem." (Ken Rubin)

[I have now received three additional reports of serious problems with this Norton beta.]

TechTool Pro (from MicroMat) and the just released MacMedic (from Total Recall) are two other drive repair utilities that also work with HFS Plus formatted drives.

HFS Plus appears to have been a real challenge for the makers of these utilities. Updates and bug fixes have tended to be very slow in coming. I think it is time to start taking a closer look at this important trio of programs. Starting next week, I will be asking for (and posting!) feedback, both positive and negative, about your experiences using any or all of these products. Stay tuned.