Hands-On Report--The Brand New TechTool Pro v4.0.2
Micromat (MM) posted the availability of TechTool Pro 4.0.2 (TTP4) on this MM web page. No download updaters from v4.0.1 have been posted so far on the MM web site. An Update CD can be purchased for $24.97. No description of the changes to the application have been posted so far, except to note that the new CD "contains [the] latest version of TechTool Pro 4 and latest systems." An update feature from within the TTP4 application doesn't recognize the availability of TTP4 v.4.0.2 when we checked.
As readers may recall from our original review of v4.0.1 on December 4, 2003, one of our biggest problems was booting from the TTP4 v.4.0.1 CD which contained a version of Panther - Mac OS X 10.3 - that Apple licenses to developers. It took six attempts before we were finally able to boot from the CD. The same sequence of events was reproducible; it took several more attempts before the upgraded G4 Cube would boot again. And, it took several minutes before it finished booting once it finally started.
MM did pay attention to my report to its technical staff and spent weeks running down possible explanations. Collaboratively, we finally determined that it was the version of Mac OS X 10.3 on the CD that was the culprit. MM promised to send me an upgrade CD gratis when it became available. It arrived today, having been mailed from Santa Rosa, CA, on March 15.
The CD has Mac OS X 10.3.2 on it and it booted successfully in about three minutes on my Cube with a 1 GHz Powerlogix CPU upgrade installed. My recollection is that on the rare occasion when it did boot from the TTP4 v.4.0.1 CD, the process took twice that long to complete; MM advised at the time that booting from the CD could take as long as ten minutes. Hopefully, that issue has been resolved for everyone.
After installing the revised application on the internal hard drive from the CD, TTP4 asks that one enter their registration number. If one wants to perform some tests, however, one has to run the application from the CD or the innovative eDrive. The primary advantage of installing TTP4 on one's hard drive is to facilitate booting into the eDrive. The only way to install the eDrive is from the CD once one has booted from it. And it is necessary to remove a prior eDrive before installing the latest version. Those procedures went well. Installing the eDrive really eliminates the need to boot from the CD unless the computer becomes unbootable from the internal hard drive altogether. Once booted into the eDrive, TTP4 v.4.0.2 opened up and asked for a registration number. I sighed from relief.
The application itself hasn't changed much, in appearance at least. The Suites category of tests is no longer the default status, a desirable change in our opinion. One can choose to launch any of five categories of tests. I ran the Intermediate Suite of tests and they finished rather rapidly. I optimized the directory structures which again took only a few minutes. Volume Optimization took longer, about 30 min with 1600 frags, but completed without incident.
Our major concern with Drive 10's Volume Optimization was that it allowed one to cut short Volume Optimization without any warning of dire consequences. That is not a problem in TTP4 v.4.0.2. I attempted to stop Volume Optimization after it apparently completed - one frag left - but hadn't stopped running. Now a drop down warning appears to indicate that you have to wait until the procedure finishes before you can shut down or move to another test. You can push the stop button but nothing happens. And, apparently, you can't Force Quit either.
To sum up, if one could not boot reliably from the original TTP4 v.4.0.1 CD, the upgrade v.4.0.2 CD may resolve the issue--it did for me. If you thought the initial version of the application was slow, you may find v.4.0.2 runs a bit faster--I did.
In any event, TTP4 is a useful utility for maintenance and emergency repair.
Saw something? Send a tip
The archive ran on reader tips. What did you see, where, and do you want the credit?