Re: Third Party Utilities for Mac

2011-05-09 Thread Kevin Lock 


I use DW, although it is a bit secretive about what it is actually  
doing.   At least TechTool tells you what it is doing at any stage.


I do know that DW actually fixes something though.  Of the many Macs  
which are donated to me, I  find a few which don't present a startup  
chime.  DW somehow restores the chime.


Kev




On 10/05/2011, at 8:56 AM, Alan Smith wrote:



Thanks Daniel

Your comments match my uninformed feelings about such software.  I  
have found that an occasional Restart or a controlled Shut Down  
clears the few peculiarities my iMac displays from time to time.   
I'll keep Disk Warrior for emergencies.  I ran D.W. on a USB hard  
drive with a full SuperDuper bootable backup.   It reported a number  
of minor abnormalities I didn't think warranted a separate test and  
re-build of the internal operating disk.   (I assumed the good and  
bad directory links were mirrored.)


Regards, Alan


On 09/05/2011, at 11:32 PM, Daniel Kerr wrote:


Hi Alan

Thought others may have different schedules they follow, I find the  
only
thing I really run is Disk Utility (and only after updates or if  
something

seems amiss).
I don't really use any other software to keep it all running. I find  
the Mac

just keeps on working with no major hassle or input needed from me.
Maybe I'm not "thrashing it enough",...lol.

I know other people that use Onyx and find it quite good for certain  
things.

They run it once in a blue moon and are happy with it.

Can't comment on the second one as haven't used it. I just move them
manually if I need to.

DiskWarrior I still find good. Though I don't tend to run it unless  
I need
to. (And normally it's to fix a drive that won't mount or show up).  
I don't
run it other then that really. It won't do a lot on external drives  
with no
systems, as they don't have a large directory or a lot of use  
really. So
they tend to "zip through" external drives. I've found it comes into  
it's on
on drives that have "Fallen over". It's bought drives back enough to  
recover
data off them before it fell right over. So for those times, it's  
worth it's

weight in gold. But for regular usage,...nah.

Again, this is just my experience. Maybe I've been lucky so far, but  
I find
the "looking after routine" very easy for the Mac. Everything just  
keeps on
working and I don't lose any downtime. (which is good, cause I spend  
more

time fixing other things for people then needing to work on my own
machines...lol)

Kind regards
Daniel


On 7/5/11 5:04 PM, "Alan Smith"  wrote:

I recently installed Onyx, Preferential Treatment, and Disk  
Warrior.  Are
these utilities useful for "modern" Macs?  Any thoughts on my  
comments  below?


Onyx was recommended in an Apple discussion group as a plist  
checker.  it
doesn't do that as an obvious option, so may have been wrongly  
suggested.  To
my untutored mind Onyx just seems to wrap standard Apple iMac  
utilities in a

pretty package.  Nice, particularly at $0, but not an essential tool.

Preferential Treatment was later located in a WAMUG posting as a  
plist
checker.  It appears to work (all OK!).  If trustworthy it will be  
worth the
$0 paid!  I had been troubled with the common WAMUG advice to  
"delete the
preference file"  when strange things happened with an  
application.  Not an

elegant way to track a fault.

Disk Warrior may be like those regular backups - hope we never have  
to use it!
(Q1) Disk Warrior recommends a monthly preventative maintenance  
routine to
rebuild the disk Directory.  Is this done by WAMUG members?   Or is  
it a case

of "don't touch if its not broken"?

(Q2) D.W. seems to run three tests - Directory, Files and  
Hardware.   I used
D.W. with 2 Firewire HD and 1 USB HD connected.  Directory and  
Files could be
run on any hard drive, but only the Macintosh HD was selectable for  
the

Hardware test.  Is this normal?

(Q3) I only ran D.W. tests on the USB hard drive and was left with  
the feeling
"is that all there is?"   I was expecting a rigorous Read/Write  
hammering of
the drive, or at least a "bad sector" test.   Is Disk Warrior value  
for money
($160) or is the standard Apple Disk Utility the more appropriate  
tester?


Regards, Alan

Alan Smith
iMac 21.5" Intel Core 2 Duo 3.06GHz 4M : OSX 10.6.7
iPad2; ATV2









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Re: Third Party Utilities for Mac

2011-05-09 Thread Alan Smith 

Thanks Daniel

Your comments match my uninformed feelings about such software.  I have found 
that an occasional Restart or a controlled Shut Down clears the few 
peculiarities my iMac displays from time to time.  I'll keep Disk Warrior for 
emergencies.  I ran D.W. on a USB hard drive with a full SuperDuper bootable 
backup.   It reported a number of minor abnormalities I didn't think warranted 
a separate test and re-build of the internal operating disk.   (I assumed the 
good and bad directory links were mirrored.)

Regards, Alan


On 09/05/2011, at 11:32 PM, Daniel Kerr wrote:


Hi Alan

Thought others may have different schedules they follow, I find the only
thing I really run is Disk Utility (and only after updates or if something
seems amiss).
I don't really use any other software to keep it all running. I find the Mac
just keeps on working with no major hassle or input needed from me.
Maybe I'm not "thrashing it enough",...lol.

I know other people that use Onyx and find it quite good for certain things.
They run it once in a blue moon and are happy with it.

Can't comment on the second one as haven't used it. I just move them
manually if I need to.

DiskWarrior I still find good. Though I don't tend to run it unless I need
to. (And normally it's to fix a drive that won't mount or show up). I don't
run it other then that really. It won't do a lot on external drives with no
systems, as they don't have a large directory or a lot of use really. So
they tend to "zip through" external drives. I've found it comes into it's on
on drives that have "Fallen over". It's bought drives back enough to recover
data off them before it fell right over. So for those times, it's worth it's
weight in gold. But for regular usage,...nah.

Again, this is just my experience. Maybe I've been lucky so far, but I find
the "looking after routine" very easy for the Mac. Everything just keeps on
working and I don't lose any downtime. (which is good, cause I spend more
time fixing other things for people then needing to work on my own
machines...lol)

Kind regards
Daniel


On 7/5/11 5:04 PM, "Alan Smith"  wrote:

> I recently installed Onyx, Preferential Treatment, and Disk Warrior.  Are
> these utilities useful for "modern" Macs?  Any thoughts on my comments  below?
> 
> Onyx was recommended in an Apple discussion group as a plist checker.  it
> doesn't do that as an obvious option, so may have been wrongly suggested.  To
> my untutored mind Onyx just seems to wrap standard Apple iMac utilities in a
> pretty package.  Nice, particularly at $0, but not an essential tool.
> 
> Preferential Treatment was later located in a WAMUG posting as a plist
> checker.  It appears to work (all OK!).  If trustworthy it will be worth the
> $0 paid!  I had been troubled with the common WAMUG advice to "delete the
> preference file"  when strange things happened with an application.  Not an
> elegant way to track a fault.
> 
> Disk Warrior may be like those regular backups - hope we never have to use it!
> (Q1) Disk Warrior recommends a monthly preventative maintenance routine to
> rebuild the disk Directory.  Is this done by WAMUG members?   Or is it a case
> of "don't touch if its not broken"?
> 
> (Q2) D.W. seems to run three tests - Directory, Files and Hardware.   I used
> D.W. with 2 Firewire HD and 1 USB HD connected.  Directory and Files could be
> run on any hard drive, but only the Macintosh HD was selectable for the
> Hardware test.  Is this normal?
> 
> (Q3) I only ran D.W. tests on the USB hard drive and was left with the feeling
> "is that all there is?"   I was expecting a rigorous Read/Write hammering of
> the drive, or at least a "bad sector" test.   Is Disk Warrior value for money
> ($160) or is the standard Apple Disk Utility the more appropriate tester?
> 
> Regards, Alan
> 
> Alan Smith
>  iMac 21.5" Intel Core 2 Duo 3.06GHz 4M : OSX 10.6.7
>  iPad2; ATV2
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> -- The WA Macintosh User Group Mailing List --
> Archives - 
> Guidelines - 
> Unsubscribe - 
> 

---
Daniel Kerr
MacWizardry

Phone: 0414 795 960
Email: 
Web:   


**For everything Macintosh**





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Re: Third Party Utilities for Mac

2011-05-09 Thread Daniel Kerr 

Hi Alan

Thought others may have different schedules they follow, I find the only
thing I really run is Disk Utility (and only after updates or if something
seems amiss).
I don't really use any other software to keep it all running. I find the Mac
just keeps on working with no major hassle or input needed from me.
Maybe I'm not "thrashing it enough",...lol.

I know other people that use Onyx and find it quite good for certain things.
They run it once in a blue moon and are happy with it.

Can't comment on the second one as haven't used it. I just move them
manually if I need to.

DiskWarrior I still find good. Though I don't tend to run it unless I need
to. (And normally it's to fix a drive that won't mount or show up). I don't
run it other then that really. It won't do a lot on external drives with no
systems, as they don't have a large directory or a lot of use really. So
they tend to "zip through" external drives. I've found it comes into it's on
on drives that have "Fallen over". It's bought drives back enough to recover
data off them before it fell right over. So for those times, it's worth it's
weight in gold. But for regular usage,...nah.

Again, this is just my experience. Maybe I've been lucky so far, but I find
the "looking after routine" very easy for the Mac. Everything just keeps on
working and I don't lose any downtime. (which is good, cause I spend more
time fixing other things for people then needing to work on my own
machines...lol)

Kind regards
Daniel


On 7/5/11 5:04 PM, "Alan Smith"  wrote:

> I recently installed Onyx, Preferential Treatment, and Disk Warrior.  Are
> these utilities useful for "modern" Macs?  Any thoughts on my comments  below?
> 
> Onyx was recommended in an Apple discussion group as a plist checker.  it
> doesn't do that as an obvious option, so may have been wrongly suggested.  To
> my untutored mind Onyx just seems to wrap standard Apple iMac utilities in a
> pretty package.  Nice, particularly at $0, but not an essential tool.
> 
> Preferential Treatment was later located in a WAMUG posting as a plist
> checker.  It appears to work (all OK!).  If trustworthy it will be worth the
> $0 paid!  I had been troubled with the common WAMUG advice to "delete the
> preference file"  when strange things happened with an application.  Not an
> elegant way to track a fault.
> 
> Disk Warrior may be like those regular backups - hope we never have to use it!
> (Q1) Disk Warrior recommends a monthly preventative maintenance routine to
> rebuild the disk Directory.  Is this done by WAMUG members?   Or is it a case
> of "don't touch if its not broken"?
> 
> (Q2) D.W. seems to run three tests - Directory, Files and Hardware.   I used
> D.W. with 2 Firewire HD and 1 USB HD connected.  Directory and Files could be
> run on any hard drive, but only the Macintosh HD was selectable for the
> Hardware test.  Is this normal?
> 
> (Q3) I only ran D.W. tests on the USB hard drive and was left with the feeling
> "is that all there is?"   I was expecting a rigorous Read/Write hammering of
> the drive, or at least a "bad sector" test.   Is Disk Warrior value for money
> ($160) or is the standard Apple Disk Utility the more appropriate tester?
> 
> Regards, Alan
> 
> Alan Smith
>   iMac 21.5" Intel Core 2 Duo 3.06GHz 4M : OSX 10.6.7
>   iPad2; ATV2
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> -- The WA Macintosh User Group Mailing List --
> Archives - 
> Guidelines - 
> Unsubscribe - 
> 

---
Daniel Kerr
MacWizardry

Phone: 0414 795 960
Email: 
Web:   


**For everything Macintosh**





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Third Party Utilities for Mac

2011-05-07 Thread Alan Smith 
I recently installed Onyx, Preferential Treatment, and Disk Warrior.  Are these 
utilities useful for "modern" Macs?  Any thoughts on my comments  below?

Onyx was recommended in an Apple discussion group as a plist checker.  it 
doesn't do that as an obvious option, so may have been wrongly suggested.  To 
my untutored mind Onyx just seems to wrap standard Apple iMac utilities in a 
pretty package.  Nice, particularly at $0, but not an essential tool.

Preferential Treatment was later located in a WAMUG posting as a plist checker. 
 It appears to work (all OK!).  If trustworthy it will be worth the $0 paid!  I 
had been troubled with the common WAMUG advice to "delete the preference file"  
when strange things happened with an application.  Not an elegant way to track 
a fault.

Disk Warrior may be like those regular backups - hope we never have to use it!  
  (Q1) Disk Warrior recommends a monthly preventative maintenance routine to 
rebuild the disk Directory.  Is this done by WAMUG members?   Or is it a case 
of "don't touch if its not broken"?  

(Q2) D.W. seems to run three tests - Directory, Files and Hardware.   I used 
D.W. with 2 Firewire HD and 1 USB HD connected.  Directory and Files could be 
run on any hard drive, but only the Macintosh HD was selectable for the 
Hardware test.  Is this normal?

(Q3) I only ran D.W. tests on the USB hard drive and was left with the feeling 
"is that all there is?"   I was expecting a rigorous Read/Write hammering of 
the drive, or at least a "bad sector" test.   Is Disk Warrior value for money 
($160) or is the standard Apple Disk Utility the more appropriate tester?

Regards, Alan

Alan Smith
  iMac 21.5" Intel Core 2 Duo 3.06GHz 4M : OSX 10.6.7
  iPad2; ATV2









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