Techtool Pro 5 [Old Version]

I almost lost my old G4 iMac as the hard drive was trashed but then I remembered that I had the Techtool Pro bootable DVD. Thanks to Micromat my computer was resurrected from the grave! If you have an older Mac this is an incredibly useful utility to own.

I purchased this product after buying a new MacBook Pro. There was nothing on the packaging describing what operating system is worked with. During the install, I find out that it is for an older OS and would not work on my new Mac. The company won't accept a return once the package is opened, so I am not out my money and the product! Will not be using this company again!

I have Tech Tool 3 & 4 so I felt it was time to upgrade to version 5. First let me say I use SoftRAID for Mac. This review will not apply to if you don't use SoftRAID. SoftRAID is a program that creates a mirror of your hard drive in real time on a second disk. I got my copy of Tech Tool Pro 5 and installed it without a hitch on my PowerBook G4 1.25 GHz, (running OS X 0.4.11). I rebooted using the DVD for the startup disk and all went well, however when I went to use the Tech Tool Pro tools such as: 1. Create eDrive a separate partition for booting Tech Tool 5 or 2. File optimization or 3. Volume optimization or 4. Hard disk defrag. nothing works. I quick call to tech support confirmed that TTP 5 will not work with SoftRAID. Nowhere on the website does it say it's not compatible with SoftRAID. I wish I could tell you more about how beautiful the interface is and how well it works, but I can't. The only thing I can tell you is customer support was very friendly, I got a RMA and I was able to send it back. If you use SoftRAID look else where. John Schubert

I have Powerbook G4 15", 1.5GHz, 2005 model. I installed OSX 10.5 and occasionally have a problem as it won't boot up. This time, the Mac installation disk utility did not fix the problem, so I purchased this. Yeah, it saved my old buddy. I used to use Norton, and I miss it, but this Techtool does the job. I give 4 stars now because I have not used all the function, but it can be 5.

Old version but qualifies for an upgrade saving you big money.

I was running TechTool Pro 4.61, and received the upgrade to version 5. When I tried to boot from the DVD to do the recommended installation, the software corrupted my directory to the point where my mac could not be booted from the hard drive. After 24+ hours of going back and forth with a clueless and rude tech support, I got this email, which I will be qouting in its entirety: "If TechTool Pro froze while optimizing from the DVD, it can cause volume corruption. If you are unable to repair the volume corruption, you will need to erase the drive and perform a clean install. If you perform a clean install, that would be a good time to create an eDrive since a corrupted volume can affect the ability to create an eDrive. Thank You Micromat Inc. Technical Support Team" So there you have it- a OS X disk utility that even its own tech support admits can destroy your data. Still feel like buying it?

A must have for Macs! I have "repaired" many macs using this software.

Have not used this particular one yet, but we have used Tech Tool Pro for years now. We like it, therefore continue to buy it. Micromat TechTool Pro 5

TechTool Pro provides a wide variety of diagnostics and fixes for Mac hardware and for the integrity of the Hard Disk, and will boot up on its own DVD so as to allow you to correct errors on the start-up drive. As importantly, it comes with a proper paper manual -- crucial for this kind of software, because if your computer is having difficulties you may not be able to access a PDF or web version. We found it was highly effective in diagnosing faults, but was less powerful than Diskwarrior 4.2 in fixing them, largely because TechTool requires a substantial amount of free disk space to replace a bad Volume directory, whereas DiskWarrior recommends the free space, but is still able to complete the operation if you choose to do so. TechTool has been around for a number of years, and is a descendent of Micromat's original MacEKG diagnostic extension which ran on System 7. Apple has a strong degree of confidence in TechTool -- the Deluxe version is part of Apple's AppleCare Protection Plan, and this is probably the strongest endorsement you'll find for the product. The Pro version is more specified than the Deluxe version, including a slew of features such as Volume/File recovery, backup of volume directories, rebuilding directory structures, secure file deletion and checking file integrity, as well as the aforementioned printed manual. As well as diagnostics for every part of your hardware, which take about an hour to run on a 2.5 Ghz Core Duo Intel Mac with a 200 GB harddrive, TechTool offers selected fixes and optimisations. These include correcting disk permissions (which could be done with DiskUtility) but more importantly correcting the volume directories and recovering crashed volumes and files. If these errors are on the startup drive, you'll need the release TechTool DVD to boot from, for which the boot instructions (hold down C while restarting) are helpfully printed on the disk. In principle TechTool should be able to fix absolutely everything which is fixable with your disk. However, in our test, with the aforementioned Mac having only 13 GB free, it was able to diagnose the volume directory errors, and go through the whole process (another 40 minutes) of creating a corrected copy, but then insisted that it was not able to complete because there was insufficient disk space. We ran the same test with Diskwarrior, as above, and Diskwarrior came up with the same problem. However, it did offer us the option of writing directly over existing volume directory, which, if the process were interrupted during the 25 seconds it was running, might have made the disk inaccessible. This is naturally a risk, though less of one if the machine is backed up via TimeMachine, and protected either by a laptop battery or an uninterruptible power supply. As well as error corrections, TechTool also offers disk optimisation and defragmentation, though these are nowhere near the problem they were a few years ago, because of the way OS X handles file storage. It can also run as a system preference panel, providing early diagnostics and keeping notes on deletion of files, which will assist later if you want to recover files using TechTool. You don't have to run the protection panel, and TechTool will restore deleted files which have not been overwritten as well as any software we've tried. Like the venerable Norton Utilities for DOS and Windows PCs, TechTool also recommends you create an emergency repair partition, which is an additional safety net for TechTool to recover from issues. However, if you are short of disk space (TechTool suggests that anything less than 20% free space could lead to trouble), you may not wish to do this. All in all, our conclusion was that TechTool provides absolutely first-rate diagnostics, beyond anything else on the market. We don't think its disk repair is as good as DiskWarrior's, which would remain our top recommendation for disk repair issues. However, it's wider functionality means that for most tasks that DiskWarrior doesn't do, it would be our first choice. This includes recovering deleted files and non-disk diagnostics. Should you buy this? If you are the local or office Mac guru, then you certainly ought to own it. Apple will do all of these tests for free for you at the Genius bar in the nearest Apple Store, but if that store is more than half an hour's drive away, then TechTool is probably a better option. Likewise if you are trying to keep a number of old Macs alive, TechTool is probably the lifesaver you need when you want to know whether it's the memory which is flakey or the motherboard. Finally, keeping your drive in good condition by periodically running diagnostics and correcting B-Tree and other errors is the best way of staving off a catastrophic data loss at the moment you most need to be up and running. On the other hand, most disk problems can be overcome (though not necessarily as swiftly) by reinitialising the hard-drive, reinstalling the system, and restoring your backup. TechTool isn't a backup, and it won't restore files that have been deleted and overwritten, or which have been corrupted by something going seriously wrong with your disk. Likewise, if you lose your laptop or your computer is physically damaged beyond repair, TechTool won't help you. Verdict: if your Mac setup is complex, you have a number of Macs you are looking after, or if you need to recover data from external devices which can't be backed up (such as camera data cards which a camera has itself wiped), or if you just want to keep your system tidy and running at maximum efficiency, TechTool is an excellent product and worth using. --- The current version is 64 bit operation on the Protection panel.

I got an old iMac PowerPC G4 and this just a sort of tool I need badly for keeping it running for a few years more. It takes a while to run, but any HDD diagnosing and repair software takes forever to run through and do whatever is supposed to do. I use my Mac every day, I move a lot of stuff around and have a few external HDDs. This is an excellent utility to keep your (and my) Mac running smoothly I would recommend it highly, and not just to owners of old PowerPCs like mine. Just be patient.

I'm not a at all techie so was heartened by the appearance of giant dials which graphically showde me the state of matters in my machine. I realise these are perhaps just showy add ons to help the consumer but cheesy as they are I liked them. I have no idea whether my Mac functions better because of this but would use it again to check if I encounter future problems.

...and it mainly depends on your OS. Firstly, the program itself. Installation and set-up were easy and pain-free, and a quick scan of my system whowed everything was as I had expected. The main difference between this and other similar applications is the presentation. It is excellent, I've used dozens of applications like this on both Mac & PC and this is by far the most visually appealling. All the readouts make everything instantly understandable without needing to look at a list of numbers. The options cover everything you could reasonably want on a Mac, but of course many of them ar eonly useful when you have a major problem, and so are difficult to test out. As I mentioned earlier your OS will be vital in deciding to buy this, as Leopard and newer OS versions have most of the functions of TechTool built into the OS already. Overall a useful program for seeing what's going on under the cover of your Mac, but one which hopefully you will never have to use, as that means something has gone wrong with your (expensive) computer.

I've had a tough time reviewing Home Computer Security software in the past as most of them are virtually identical. All slow down your system and none are impervious to all of the worms and viruses out there. So I approached TechTool Pro for the MAC with some apprehension. MACs by their very nature are less likely to be hit with a virus, but it's best to be prepared. TechTool Pro isn't a virus guard or firewall however, it's a software package that repairs and analyzes your MAC to keep it flowing smoothly and efficiently. I don't have a MAC, but I know someone who does, so I loaded it into her system in order to test drive. It's not really THAT much different from error check's built into nearly every other computer that ever existed. If your the kind of person who is always chopping and changing your MAC content then you'll find some useful tools in this package, but if you only use it for word processing or Internet then never-useful tools like the long-mysterious "Defragmenter" will only eat up your CPU for half an hour. TechTool is a very slick and user-friendly package. Nothing feels stiff or beyond any basic understanding. But for those of you with a healthy MAC and a decent firewall you'll probably find this software a bit superfluous. On the other hand, if your MAC is already acting up then TechTool will get you well on your way to fixing it and prevent any data loss happening in the future. On this basis alone it's worth a purchase.