In the mid-1990s, two of the most popular Mac utility software titles were Norton Utilities (Symantec) and Now Utilities (Now Software). Soon, Now Utilities disappeared from the Mac software market. But Norton Utilities survived the rest of the decade.
Norton Utilities was virtually THE system utility software for Mac users throughout the second half of the 90s. Nonetheless, some people didn’t like it. When I first started my Pd.D work in 1996, one female graduate student from Korea said she didn’t like it because Norton Utilities destroyed files. Then a new software title came out of nowhere and quickly captured the hearts of Mac users who needed a different choice for diagnosing and repairing disk problems. That was TechTool Pro.
Compared with Norton Utilities, TechTool Pro was a mere disk-problem diagnostic program equivalent to Norton Doctor, which is just one of the components of Norton Utilities. To my knowledge, TechTool Pro didn’t have a repair function at first. Anyway, Norton Utilities was succeeded by Symantec SystemWorks, but it was eventually discontinued around 2003. In contrast, TechTool Pro has expanded its region and now contains such components as disk optimization (Optimization), data recovery (Data Recovery), format & initialization (Wipe Data). Now, TechTool Pro sounds just like old Norton Utilities, doesn’t it?
By the way, a major reason why we decided to use the latest version of TechTool Pro 4 is that we actually have a serious system problem. I know the initial origin of the problem. It’s open-source multiplayer game Urban Terror. About 3 or 4 weeks ago, we started having a system shutdown – the desktop suddenly becomes dark with a message that you need to restart your Mac by holding down and releasing the start button at the back. It’s something that doesn’t occur very often, not even once a year. But we had this system shutdown almost every 2 or 3 hours after downloading customized maps. Eventually, we deleted entire game files, and the problem was gone, we thought. Then a system shutdown started occurring again a week ago. We now have a system shutdown almost every other day. And we just had it about 12 hours ago. This time, we get a system shutdown only while using web browser called Camino.
Anyway, when you run the installer, TechTool Pro will be installed in the Application folder with no other choice. When installation is complete, you will read a message that you only have 30 days to confirm that you can start up your Mac off the DVD disk. (See Screenshot 01.) Then you will be forced to restart your Mac. (See Screenshot 02.)
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TechTool Pro 4.6.1 has 5 icons at the top. Under Tests, there are 4 separate tests. You can perform any of these tests individually. Or you can choose Suits to perform a series of tests, depending on how extensive you want to run a diagnostic test. (See Screenshot 03.) For example, if you choose Basic Tests, TechTool Pro will performs Hardware test and Drives test, which can be found under Tests. (See Screenshot 04-5.) If you select Intermediate Tests under Suites, TechTool Pro will perform those first two tests plus Volumes test and Files test. (See Screenshot 06-7.)
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The Performance tab has two menus. They are Maintenance and Optimization. (See Screenshot 08-9.) Tests can be performed on any volume. But TechTool Pro cannot perform Maintenance and Optimization on the volume that contains the current startup system.
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The Tools tab contains 6 menus. (See Screenshot 10.) This time, we only used eDrive. We wanted to run Maintenance and Optimization on the startup volume (the volume shown as Mac OS X 2 GHz). And we performed Maintenance and Optimization by creating an eDrive.
What eDrive does is to create an independent partition out of a selected one. First, you need to choose the volume on which an eDrive partition will be created. That’s eDrive Source Volume. (See Screenshot 11.) You also have to select the system source volume. TechTool Pro will extract necessary system files out of this volume containing the startup system to create an eDrive partition. What’s interesting about eDrive is that you don’t necessarily have to have an empty volume. TechTool Pro supports disk resizing. So if you have data on a selected volume, TechTool Pro will resize the volume and move data to make space for an eDrive partition.
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Anyway, we performed Basic Tests at first. (See Screenshot 13.) When the test is done, you will get test reports. (Click here to download a report file – an RTF file put in Zip.) We also performed Intermediate Tests (See Screenshot 15-6.) And we got a report when all tests were complete. (Click here to download a report file.) (See Screenshot 17.)
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Next, we wanted to create an eDrive to perform Maintenance and Optimization. As you see Screenshot 18, we have three volumes besides RamDisk. The first two top volumes come out of one 250-GB hard drive. And the volume labeled Files comes out of one 320-GB FireWire-connected external hard drive. Inevitably, we were forced to resize the third volume to create an eDrive partition (See Screenshot 19.). That’s because the first volume contains the startup system and the second volume also comes out of the same drive. When I chose Files as eDrive Source Volume and Mac OS X 2 GHz as Source Volume, the Create eDrive button became active.
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When I clicked on Creative eDrive, I knew I made a mistake. The third volume is pretty much full of data. Resizing a 320-GB volume can take several hours. In fact, the progress meter wasn’t moving at all. (See Screenshot 20.) I was forced to quit TechTool Pro and thought that I might have lost all data on the 320-GB volume. Fortunately, no damage was done after restarting the computer.
Then what can I do to create an eDrive? Well, I also have another 250-GB FireWire drive and also a 160-GB USB external drive. Actually, I have a 40-GB hard disk drive from a broken eMac. Right, never throw away old hard disk drives. So I put this hard disk drive in the HD case. Then I chose this volume (Mac 40 GB) as eDrive Source Volume. (See Screenshot 21.) After clicking on Create eDrive, the progress meter gradually moved to the right. (See Screenshot 22.) Although I reformatted this drive, creating an eDrive on this small drive took about 25 to 30 minutes. And when an eDrive was created, the eDrive Restart button became active. This is the button you need to click on to start up your Mac off the eDrive.
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When the computer starts up, you are requested to enter your account password. (See Screenshot 24.) Then you will the usual TechTool Pro screen. (See Screenshot 25.) When you perform Optimization, expect that you cannot use your Mac for the next several hours. I performed Optimization on “Mac OS X 2 GHz” (See Screenshot 28.), whose virtual size is about 167 GB. And it took my 2 GHz G5 Mac exactly 4 hours to complete Optimization. Finally, I accessed System Preferences > Startup Disk to go back the main startup volume. (See Screenshot 29-30.)
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The last version that I used before 4.6.1 is 4.1.2. Unlike some people, I never had a single problem with Norton Utilities. But TechTool Pro 4.1.2 partially damaged my 160-GB hard disk drive, which forced me to buy a new 250-GB drive more than a year ago. That’s why I avoided using TechTool Pro afterwards.
TechTool Pro 4 costs $98, which is quite a good value considering that it supports several crucial functions including Maintenance, Optimization, eDrive and Data Recovery. We haven’t had a chance this time to find out exactly how good TechTool Pro’s Data Recovery is.
TechTool Pro 4 is a product of Micromat Incorporated.
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