How good is Techtool Pro to use and maintain my Mac?

If you just want a disk maintenance tool, then Disk Warrior would be my recommendation as well. Tech Tool Pro does a lot more, though, so it's worth considering. I have both; I consider it well worth the cost to have more than one tool in my kit, and both have proved useful at times (though I should mention that I support a large number of Macs, so I encounter more issues than the average personal user would).

I use TechTool (Protogo version) and am quite satisfied with it.

Nonetheless, Time Machine can potentially provide more protection than any disk tool, at least for some situations, since you can "rewind" your setup even if you cannot repair it.

The most important tool you can use for your Mac is a backup tool:

http://www.macmaps.com/backup.html

If you don't backup, and try to use one of these repair tools without a backup, you could end up with a dead hard drive before you know it, and no place to turn unless you have tonnes of money in your pocket.

So backup your data first. Repair later, but only to make the recovery from backup quicker. Never use a utility in lieu of having a backup.

- * Links to my pages may give me compensation.

I have had the file recovery feature come in handy on occasion as well as the hardware testing features which I have used often. The ability to create a separate partition from which you can boot the system and run the tools should you have a problem with your primary drive partition can be a life-saver. For all of these functions there are other tools available, but to have them all on one package is handy (and less expensive). In addition, there are times when one tool can't repair a particular problem but another one can.

You can read up on the full features of TechTool, if you're not already familiar with it, here:

http://www.micromat.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=48

Regards,

Disclaimer: any product suggestion and link given is strictly for reference and is not an endorsement of that or any other vendor. I get no personal benefit from the sale of any product I may recommend in any of my posts in the Discussions.

I use Time Machine/Time Capsule for backup.
The frequency of updates to applications and the OS has made me think seriously of getting Diskwarrior as a preventive tool. All these updates seem to have enough visible problems, I would like to think that I could be on top of stuff going on under the hood
The sites that sell DW are religious in their praise, some siting the only "con" to it as its inability to make you breakfast.
Coming from a Windows background, I am nervous about programs which "solve" all your problems all in one go, find a zillion of them, and leave you with what feels like an emasculated machine.
Basically, what I would like to know from someone who is not selling the software, is Diskwarrior a suitable program for a newbie to keep his cherished ticking over nicely, or is it best reserved , like Pacifist perhaps , for those who really like to go where most shouldn't?
TIA

The reason why DiskWarrior seems to magically repair numerous problems is because it doesn't bother trying to repair them at all. Rather than attempt to discover logical inconsistencies in the existing filesystem's catalog it opts to obliterate it, reconstructing it in reverse based on what's actually on the drive. Invalid filesystem data structures will be overwritten entirely; this may result in data loss, which is why it gives you the opportunity to preview the catalog file it intends to write if and when you approve the repair. If something you need is going to disappear as a result of its corrections then you need more traditional data recovery.

Thank you for that quick reply.
Not to mention the explanation, quite clear.
I get the feeling that you would NOT recommend it to a tech-challenged newbie to run occasionally for housekeeping purposes.

I've used both, and TechTool Pro is getting close to releasing 5.0 (4.6.2 is current) which will be a free upgrade when 5.0 comes out late summer.

I've used DW for... 8-9 yrs I guess but with Leopard I favor TTPro.

DW is a one trick pony, does a good / excellent job at it, but it also only comes with 10.4.9 CD (no problem, just put it on an "emergency boot drive" one of your SuperDuper clones just for that purpose.

I acquired Intech Speedtools ($89) along the way to test media, benchtest drives, map out bad blocks and some other features.

When I want to do backup or synch folders, I use TriBackup 5 for things that CCC and SuperDuper aren't suited for.

My order of use is daily SuperDuper for home account (backing up to disk images as well as external drives), Disk Warrior, checking files and volumes with TTPro on monthly-ish basis, and burn in and torture new drives for a few days with SpeedTools. And I use SuperDuper to restore my boot drive almost monthly to reorganize and optimize folders files and directories.

Thank you.
Most interesting. I never realised the lengths that folks feel they have to go to protect their stuff.
Now I must add an inferiority complex to my paranoia!
I think I'll wait and see what techTool Pro 5.0 looks like.

DW is a one-trick pony! Now thats jargon I can understand!!
I looked up TechTool looks very user friendly, doesn't look like the right time to buy, with another version on the horizon.
Thank you for all that information.

TechTool Pro is a great tool to check and scan your Mac. It is also included with AppleCare Protection Plans. You might want to consider purchasing that as you will get a better value for your money. Disk Utility will find and search for problems on your mac and repair some issues, too.

Thank you.
It certainly is much easier to read their stuff than the DW equivalent.
Even though it reminds me of the interface of the old "Stacker' program for Windows 3.1!
I thought I might wait for the 5.0 version to appear.
This thread is doing OK for one that is officially closed, isn't it?

What I sometimes do is run a test on backup systems that are just spares that I can afford to nuke if something happens and get a hands on feel for program and its options.

Over the years, and this year even, I've just seen where Apple First Aid didn't see or address or report problems that other two (DW and TTP, don't own Drive Genius or others) will - once where 10.5.1 was flailing about and having trouble but DU found nothing but DW solved.

I do not like the huge icons and how the screen in TTP will run below the Dock and not always able to fit well on screen, but I can partially live with that.

I did have TTP just sit there and wasn't progressing, and couldn't really cancel the test, and it didn't want to allow me to close and quit what it was doing, so it got "lost" but I tend to push the envelope, running backups, tests, and mounting drives and disk images.

And, TTP shows hidden partitions created and used by partition table for EFI and GPT (GUID) that I hope disappear in 5.0, those little 128MB and 200MB partitions you normally aren't aware of.

They were saying "Spring" now they say "sometime this summer" which might mean September 20th of course, but as long as not just upgrading but buying full price the update to 5.0 will be free.... when it ships.