Ted Landau's Macworld Expo Part 2: DiskWarrior 3, TechTool 4, Mac OS X 10.2.4
Ted Landau's Macworld Expo Part 2: DiskWarrior 3, TechTool 4, Mac OS X 10.2.4
Today, I set out to explore the exhibits on the Expo floor. Given MacFixIt's troubleshooting emphasis, my tour was skewed toward finding interesting utilities. With that in mind, my first stop was to check out two new OS X disk repair utilities.
Alsoft's DiskWarrior 3.0 for Mac OS X
DiskWarrior 3.0 is almost out, It was originally scheduled to be out almost a year ago, but solving Mac OS X-related problems proved to be more difficult than anticipated. As a point of contrast, it took Alsoft only 5 months to write the first version of DiskWarrior from scratch. It took one and a half years to upgrade it to Mac OS X! When making a disk repair utility, you can't afford to have a buggy first release. So you take however much time you need, which is what Alsoft did.
But Alsoft assures me that it is really almost out this time. In fact, they are selling a "sneak peek" version of it at the show. There are only a few speed issues that need to be addressed before its expected official release in February.
The new version runs native in OS X but can fix any volume, whether it contains Mac OS 9 (or earlier) or Mac OS X. The only restriction is that the boot volume must be running Mac OS X 10.2.1 or later.
The new version does essentially the same repairs as its OS 9 predecessor, which is to say it does a superb job of repairs. The major improvement is that it is much faster. For example, it can check a drive with 600,000 files in about 8 minutes. It also includes S.M.A.R.T disk checking (essentially duplicating the functionality of FWB's recently released SMART ToolKit).
Micromat's TechTool Pro 4 for Mac OS X
The gestation period for TechTool Pro 4 has exceeded even that of DiskWarrior... [continued]
The wait is almost over. It is scheduled for an April release. The new version combines Drive 10 (Micromat's existing OS X drive-checking utility) with a new OS X version of TechTool. The new version will include all the features of the OS 9 version, except for a few that are no longer relevant in OS X. As with DiskWarrior, TechTool Pro 4 will include S.M.A.R.T hard drive testing. It also now runs tests simultaneously instead of sequentially, dramatically improving performance speed.
{MacFixIt_StoryBox}Regarding OS X bootable CDs for Disk Warrior and TechTool
The most interesting thing I learned in talking to people at Alsoft and Micromat about their new utilities concerned bootable CDs. Both DiskWarrior and TechTool come on a bootable CD that you can use if needed. For example, if disk problems prevent you from starting up from your default drive, you'll likely want to startup from the CD instead. Piecing together what I was told by both vendors, here's the deal regarding these CDs:
In both cases, the CDs will boot OS X and then directly launch its respective utility. There is no Finder included and no access to the Desktop.
The code used for making these bootable CD comes from an Apple Driver Development Kit (DDK). Apple keeps access to this Kit very restricted. Not all developers can get it. In essence, Apple will only provide it if you can demonstrate that your product absolutely needs to come on a bootable CD. Even then, you have to pay Apple a licensing fee to use it. And you have to get Apple's approval for what software will be on the CD (Apple specifically prohibits inclusion of a Finder). Why is Apple going to these extremes? The answers were more speculative but focused on Apple's apparent concern for security (the potential that bootable CDs, especially ones with Finder access, could be used to bypass Unix's permissions restrictions) as well as stability (the contents of custom bootable CDs are not under Apple's control and could lead to an increase in kernel panics; something Apple wants to avoid). When I pointed out that they could use BootCD (a popular shareware utility that works around all of Apple's restrictions), the reply was that Apple would get "very upset" by such a move. The implication was that it was not in their interest to have Apple upset with them.
Bottom line: Don't expect an end-user utility for creating bootable CDS to come from Apple any time soon!
One specific issue regarding DiskWarrior and bootable CDs: Since you don't have access to the Finder when running from the CD, you can't use DiskWarrior's Preview function to compare the before and after volume structures (they would normally appear as volume icons in the Finder). As a solution, Alsoft includes a separate Preview utility on the CD that launches when you click the Preview button. It opens windows that list the contents of the two volumes for comparison; it even allows you to copy files from one to the other.
FWB Partition Toolkit
Partition Toolkit is a simple but cool utility that solves an annoying problem. For example, suppose you buy a new Mac and decide you want to partition the drive, What do you need to do? You have to completely erase the drive and partition it (using Disk Utility); then you use Apple's Restore CDs (or DVD) to put everything back. Even so, a few things (such as the iTunes pre-installed music on iBooks and iMacs) will not get restored. The solution to this hassle? Use Partition Toolkit! It can create a new partition on the fly, without any erasing. You can even use it to reduce the size of an existing partition freeing up the space for another volume to use.
The current version does have some limitations: It is a Mac OS 9 application, it only supports SCSI and ATA drives, and you cannot use it to combine two existing partitions. All of these issues will be addressed in an update scheduled for this spring.
Suitcase, Font Reserve and MasterJuggler
Alsoft was previewing their latest iteration of MasterJuggler for Mac OS X. A release version is due out in February. Extensis was showing their recently updated OS X versions of Suitcase and Suitcase Server, while DiamondSoft was just as enthusiastic about their recent OS X update to Font Reserve. As this is not a product review article, I won't go into the pros and cons of each utility here. Suffice it to say that, if you use more than the standard fonts that come with Mac OS X, you should have one of these utilities. They allow you to create sets of fonts, activate or deactivate them as needed, view fonts, and check for corrupt fonts. Suitcase and Font Reserve additionally allow you to restrict access to specific fonts for different users.
It's great to see this important utility category really taking off for Mac OS X.
Netopia's Timbuktu Pro 6.0.3
An update to Timbuktu is due out within the next week. It improves performance and has several bug fixes, including for the CPU usage and logout bugs - when running 10.2.2 or later - as previously cited on MacFixIt.
MacWireless Power Over Ethernet
Here's something completely different: MacWireless is selling a cable that runs power to an AirPort Base Station via an Ethernet cable, eliminating the need for a separate power cord. This can be especially convenient if there isn't a power outlet near where you want to use the Base Station, but there is one near the Ethernet source. Using Power Over Ethernet, the Base Station can be as far as 250 feet from a power outlet.
Just for fun
I didn't spend all my time ferreting out utilities and such. Here are a few of the more fun products that caught my attention:
El Gato has new software for its Eye TV hardware device. The update lets you edit the television recordings you make. For example, you could use it to edit out commercials.
Invader is the name of a new set of speakers from JBL. It includes 4 speakers plus a subwoofer, providing true surround sound.
iGo is the name of a new stand for the flat panel iMac that is inspired by the design of the iMac itself. You can see it here: http://www.igo4mac.com/.
iSee is a clear plastic case for the iPod from Contour Design. It protects the iPod from getting scratched while maintaining complete visibility of the iPod case. Very slick.
Statistics software
If you are interested in statistics software (as I happen to be), you will be pleased to know that the recently released SPSS Base 11.0 for Mac OS X and JMP Version 5 were on display at the Expo. As someone who used SPSS' first Mac version (which was essentially a dull text-only port of its mainframe version), it was impressive to see how far this program had come. It now features graph displays, including interactive graphs, and runs native in OS X.
Mac OS X 10.2.4 on new PowerBooks
A small follow-up to yesterday's keynote announcements: A trip to the About box on the new PowerBooks revealed that they were running Mac OS X 10.2.4, Build 6J11. My guess is that this version will not get a general release, at least not right away. It appears mainly to add just those changes needed for the new hardware to run.
Finally, here's a no-brainer prediction: As soon as the current inventory of 15 inch TiBooks dwindles, Apple will likely release a new 15 inch PowerBook that is otherwise identical to the just-announced 17 inch model.
Resources