Hands-On Review--TechTool 4.0.1 for Mac OS X

Micromat finally released its Mac OS X compatible version of TechTool Pro. We received our upgrade edition of TechTool Pro 4, v4.0.1, (TTP4) on Monday, December 1. We had ordered it on July 15 and the cost was $49.95 plus $8.00 for shipping by Priority Mail. The retail pre-order full boat price is $105.48 including ground shipping direct from Micromat (MM)--street prices may vary. Apparently, MM decided to delay the release of TTP4 until Panther could be included on the CD. This may seem to have been a good decision. Here is our review based on about 48 hours of use:

We installed TTP4 on a G4 Cube Cube with a 1-GHz PowerLogix CPU upgrade, one GB of RAM and a stock Maxtor 20-GB hard drive. We also ran TTP4 from the CD on a Dual 2-GHz Power Mac G5 and a PowerBook G4 500.

The upgrade package consists of a CD and an invoice with a new, TTP4-specific serial number--period. There is a 118-page User's Guide and Reference Manual in PDF format on the CD. Micromat advises that a paper manual will be available in about two weeks for $19.95. There is also an extensive Help menu available from within the application.

Since the manual suggests that the user test and, if necessary, repair any problems on the computer by running TTP4 from the CD before installing it on the hard drive, we started there. Unfortunately, we immediately ran into trouble. The CD booted our G4 Cube but TTP4 froze after the splash screen when the main application screen displayed. After six reboots the application finally opened. Each instance the time to boot and open the application took over four minutes! A MM technical support rep we called suggested that since the files on the CD are locked and the CD did eventually boot the Cube and TTP4 did open, perhaps there was a hardware issue. Maybe. But, TTP4 didn't find any hardware issue nor did the Apple Cube Hardware Test CD. However, since the same CD did boot the Dual 2 gig G5 and the PB G4 500 and TTP4 did open without issue on those computers, we'll give MM the benefit of the doubt. We've described the incident in detail to MM tech support and if we hear back with any clarification, we'll report it. We have read elsewhere of TTP4 CD boot problems as well, so apparently our experience is not unique.

While we finally had the TTP4 application open on the CD, we created an eDrive on our hard drive. MM describes the eDrive thusly:

Use TechTool Pro’s eDrive tool to create an emergency startup partition on your hard drive containing TechTool Pro. This new partition is created WITHOUT the need to reformat the drive on which it is created. The eDrive contains your basic Mac OS X system as well as a copy of TechTool Pro. If you ever have trouble with your normal startup volume, you can simply restart your computer from the eDrive. This will give you immediate access to the tools you need for recovery and repair. It eliminates the need for a bootable CD-ROM or ancillary hard drive for system volume repair or maintenance. This may be particularly attractive for use on a portable computer. With an eDrive installed you will not need to carry a repair CD with you on the road.

The eDrive can also be useful if you have updated TechTool Pro via download and do not have a copy of the newer program CD-ROM. In that case, simply use the TechTool Pro updater to update your eDrive as well as the copy of TechTool Pro installed on your normal startup volume. You can then startup from the eDrive and run the updated version of TechTool Pro in order to work on your normal startup drive.

Later, we tried booting from the eDrive. It works as advertised! The eDrive contains the same Mac OS version as the hard drive and is updatable by the Software Update preference pane. It also allows the TTP4 application to be updated by download. Also, one can install other utilities on the eDrive. Incidentally, while the eDrive does occasionally, momentarily, show up on the Desktop of the hard drive, TTP4 Help advises that it is not supposed to be mounted so as to protect against corruption. The eDrive is a sensational feature in our opinion, eliminating the need for an external boot drive in order to use repair utilities such as TTP4.

We then installed TTP4 on our Cube hard drive. At the end of the installation a warning screen poped up to advise that the purchaser has 30 days from the date of purchase -- we assume that means the date the credit card is charged and not the order date -- to report to MM if a computer fails to boot from the CD. Hmm. Curious. Does MM anticipate that there will be problems?

The first time the application is run after installation, it requires that the serial number be entered along with the user name. An option is provided to register with MM at the same time. Here is a MM screenshot of the application's window.

The default status is the Suites test category. There are four other categories: Individual Tests, which is the view shown above, Performance enhancement options, Tools consisting of miscellaneous utilities, and a Safety category in which one can schedule automatic checkups. The application screens have a brushed metal look and the activity indicators look like little LEDs that turn green, yellow or red depending on the status of the procedure. We like it. The computer icon used is clearly a G5 Power Mac.

There are three suites of tests. The Basic Suite tests Cache, Clock, FireWire, Main Memory, Mathematics, Network, Processor, USB, Video Memory, Disk Controller, Read Write and SMART. The Intermediate Suite includes all the basic tests and Finder Info, File Structures and Volume Structures. The Advanced Suite adds a surface scan to the intermediate suite tests. We chose the Intermediate Suite, ran it and our Cube passed all the tests. We also elected to use the Performance options consisting of Directory Maintenance and Volume Optimization. The directory was rebuilt and the volume optimized without incident.

A real plus with TTP4 is the extensive test reports it provides, describing in detail what has been tested and the results in easy-to-read format.

So far, so good. But, stay tuned. Our luck is about to change.

One problem when reviewing a utility such as TTP4 is the lack of a real-world problem with which to really test its resolution powers. Little did we know that when we decided to run TTP4 on our external FW BUSlink 40-GB hard drive, such a test would present itself. Our BUSlink drive has been somewhat problematic. It refused to boot using Jaguar on any version higher than Mac OS 10.2.3. But, it has booted using Panther, i.e. Mac OS 10.3 and 10.3.1, without any problems. Furthermore, it has not been subject to any of the reported Panther Oxford chip FW drive issues. We use it primarily for Retrospect backups and, up to now, as a boot drive so as to run various repair utilities on the internal hard drive.

We ran the same intermediate test suite on the FW BUSlink drive without any problem being reported. Then, we turned to the Performance category. We ran Directory Maintenance. It failed to even run and reported a (-2) problem. It requested that Volume Structures be run.

Oh oh.

So, we ran Volume Structures which reported:

If the volume structure routines of TechTool do not bring your drive and data back to a usable state, you may need to recover the files (at the Data Recovery panel) and save them to another drive.

Failed. Error Encountered. (-2)

Whatever Error (-2) is, it isn't good. It looked as if our external FW BUSlink drive was a disaster with no apparent solution other than to save files and reformat. Ouch. So much for TTP4 problem resolution.

But wait! Let's fire up Micromat's Drive 10. Bingo. Drive 10 repaired the FW external drive Directory Structures without any problem! We then reran TTP4 and it now found no problem with Directory Structures. Hmm.

Being a glutton for punishment, we then ran TTP4 Volume Optimization on the external FW hard drive. TTP4 started moving files -- and then ground to a halt. Perhaps half an hour passed with a repetitive, grinding drive activity noise and no progress. We reluctantly decided to stop TTP4 Volume Optimization. Our Editor in Chief once stopped Drive 10 while in the middle of volume optimization and it badly damaged the contents of the hard drive on which it was working, making him wonder why there was no warning of the likely consequences. Would TTP4 do the same thing? Well, here goes! We pressed the stop button. TTP4 acknowledged the request and implemented a procedure apparently intended to provide a soft landing. But that procedure kept going and going and going... It appeared that TTP4 hung. So, we quit TTP4 completely. Oh swell. One FW drive hammered.

Not to worry. Once more Drive 10 came to the rescue, this time to optimize the FW hard drive. It proceeded to accomplish the task relatively quickly. And, the FW hard drive then successfully booted. Life is good.

Later, we booted into the eDrive and ran the TTP4 Intermediate Suite and the Performance optimization procedures on both the Cube internal hard drive and the FW hard drive simultaneously! TTP4 bogged down again on Volume Optimization of the FW hard drive which thanks to Drive 10, by this time only had 36 disk fragments and no file fragments or fragmented files. We decided to let it run regardless of how long it took. About an hour later, it successfully finished optimizing the FW drive. It completed Volume Optimization of the internal hard drive in about half the time.

Finally, we ran the same procedures on the G4 PowerBook 500 booting from the CD. The PB hard drive reported 324 fragmented files, 647 file fragments and 2,703 disk fragments. TTP4 did successfully complete all procedures but Volume Optimization alone took about an hour and a half to finish.

In summary, based on our limited experience, TTP4 seems to be a comprehensive utility with many features that more closely resemble TechTool Pro 3 than does Drive 10. It is the only utility that will boot the new G5 Power Mac computers at this time. The unique eDrive alone is worth the price in that one avoids the need for an external boot drive to run optimization utilities. But, don't discard Drive 10 just yet. Drive 10 Rebuild Volume Structures and Volume Optimization procedures seem to be more robust than those offered by TTP4. At least that was our experience.

Dana Baggett
NE Editor