Hands-On Review--Micromat TechTool Pro 4.0.6 Update

Micromat (MM) just released TechTool Pro (TTP) 4.0.6 Updater, which includes all the contents of prior updaters plus:

• Improvements to the eDrive creation routine.
  
• Additional FireWire hard drive support in Drives category.
  
• Addressed Optimization with File System Journaling active.
  
• Updates to TechTool Pro 4 Help.
  
• Other minor fixes and updates.
  

Version 6 requires Mac OS X 10.3 or greater as did Version 5.

MacUpdate initially posted the updater that caught our eye. But, servers were already overloaded. When we finally managed to get the 20.7 MB download, it was password protected, a new one for us. After trying our Administrator system password and our TTP registration number without success, we contacted MM to ask what password was needed. The technical staff responded promptly to indicate that an error was made in the download link and the real 4.0.6 updater download was not password protected. A correction had been made and would we try again, please? We did although the servers were very slow. We finally downloaded the file a second time and this time it opened routinely. (We posted the feedback from the MM technical staff on the MacUpdate page for the benefit of others.)

We ran the updater successfully to update TTP 4.0.5 on our internal hard drive and the unique eDrive. We also updated TTP 4.0.5 on our external Firewire hard drive successfully. As in the past, the updated utility when first opened asks that you reenter the user name and registration number, a pesky step that many other utilities do not require.

Finally, we launched TTP 4.0.6 and booted into the eDrive which we continue to find a nifty feature of this utility. We left our FW hard drive connected and ran the Intermediate Suite of tests on both the internal and external drives simultaneously. All tests completed successfully except for minor errors found with Finder files on the internal hard drive. A rerun of that test with the file repair feature implemented resolved the problems. We ran Directory Maintenance successfully on both hard drives. We skipped disk optimization in the interest of time. We did not test the reported improvements to the eDrive creation routine as we had successfully created such drives with TTP 4.0.5. Other improvements were not easily observed, except that we did notice that Help has been beefed up and is now extensive.

We have used every version of this utility including and subsequent to version 4.0.1 and continue to find it first class in every respect. It takes full advantage of the multi-tasking nature of Mac OS X. We think it has gotten faster and better with each subsequent update.

The update to 4.0.6 is highly recommended. [Dana Baggett]