10.5.6 and DiskWarrior

DW works just fine here. version is 4.1. also, it makes absolutely no difference which version of OS you've got when you are booting from a DW disk. at that point your main hard drive is not in play.

yes I understand but this means that the problem is either with the disk you are using (most likely) or with the DVD drive. as i said, the internal hard drive with the OS X (whatever the version) doesn't come into this. personally, I never boot from the DW disk. I have a clone of my main drive on a different internal and when I need to use DW I boot from the clone and run DW on my main drive from there. this is much faster too. you might consider doing the same.

Dennis,

According to Alsoft System Requirements...NOTE: The current DiskWarrior DVD cannot start up the new MacBook/MacBook Pro/MacBook Air models introduced on 10/14/2008. An updated disc that will also start up these recent Mac models will be released as soon as Apple, Inc. releases new startup files to Alsoft, Inc. and other developers. Click here to learn how to repair the directory of a disk in a Mac model that cannot be started from the DiskWarrior DVD.

;~)

did you see Ferd's post? it explains the problem. the recommended workaround is the same though. make a clone and run DW from there.

Dennis,

Glad to help.

it seems that the best, easiest and most time efficient way to rebuild a directory is to run disk warrior that is installed on another drive, boot from that drive and run disk warrior on the drive that needs directory rebuilding.

Concur!

;~)

DiskWarrior 4.1.1 boots a current iMac fine - I ordered the CD from them. However it took 15 minutes ⚠ to load, so running it from a clone would save a lot of time.

This feels related so I will try here. I have Diskwarrior 4.1.1 installed on both partitions of my Macbook Pro's drive.

(Backstory: I've got a 250g drive, split into a 230g working volume and a 20g rescue volume. Also have Drive Genius on both. When I want to run either, I'll restart from the rescue volume, run repairs/rebuilds on the working volume, then restart back into the working volume. Saves a lot of time, and I can also clean up "rescue" from "working" from time to time.)

If I'm in "working", I can fire up DiskWarrior fine (it asks for my password), run it on "rescue", and all's well. But when I restart in "rescue" in order to clean up "working," launching DW results in "unexpected error - be sure to mention -120" (words to that effect), and then quits. Both volumes have 10.5.6; both run Drive Genius fine on each other. Any thoughts on why DW would run ok from one partition to the other, but not the other way around?

I am copying what was sent to me from Alsoft about Diskwarrior. This maybe the solution.

You have a "revision 42" DiskWarrior CD (which contains Mac OS X 10.4.x
Tiger) but this computer requires at least a "DVD revision 810" (which
contains Mac OS X 10.5.x Leopard) to start up from a DiskWarrior disc.

When Apple releases new hardware, a newer version of the operating
system is required to support all of the hardware features that have
been added.

In most cases, older DiskWarrior 4 discs cannot start up newer machines
because they do not have the necessary System files.

The downloadable updater modifies the DiskWarrior application - it does
not update the operating system on the CD. As your original DiskWarrior
disc does not start up this computer, neither will the disc that you
have created using the downloadable updater.

As stated on the Alsoft website, and in the ReadMe file which comes with
the updater: "Please note that the new startup disc you create will
start up the same set of Mac models as your current DiskWarrior disc.
Your new disc will not start up any Mac that your current DiskWarrior
disc can not."

The DiskWarrior 4.1.1 (DVD revision 901 - newer than the 810), which
contains an operating system capable of starting up this MacBook 4,1 is
now available.

Please contact our Sales Department to purchase an updated DVD. They
can be contacted at 1-800-257-6381 (US Toll Free) or at 1-281-353-4090
(International). You can also email them at "sales.info@alsoft.com", if
you prefer. The updated disc is around $20 shipped.

Alternately, you could utilize one of the following configurations to
use your current DiskWarrior 4.1.1 CD.

(1) Alternate Startup Disk: If you have an external drive such as a
FireWire or USB2 drive (Intel-based Macintosh only, formatted with the
GUID Partition Scheme) or a secondary internal drive or partition, you
could install OS X (the version which shipped with your computer or
higher - must be Mac OS X 10.4.x "Tiger") on that drive and then start
from it. Install DiskWarrior into that drive's "Utilities" folder,
(which is inside the "Applications" folder) and run DiskWarrior from there.

(2) Target Disk Mode: Connect two Macs with a FireWire cable where the
one is the "host" and the other is a "target". The host Mac should be
running OS X (10.4.x "Tiger" or higher). In this scenario, the target
Mac is the MacBook 4,1 that cannot be started from the DiskWarrior
disc. Start by shutting down the target Mac. Then turn it on while
holding down the "T" key. The target Mac's drive will appear as a
usable drive on the host Mac. Run DiskWarrior from the host Mac and
rebuild the target Mac's disk.

Joyce

On the advice of many here at these forums, I bought DiskWarrior on Friday from my local Apple Store to help me with an ailing G5.

I originally went to their website to purchase & download but their site advises that a downloaded version can't make a bootable disk & that if you need to be able to start up from a disk, you should purchase DW at a local retailer... so I did.

As soon as I got the disk, I tried to create an updated disk following their link & instructions. It failed, said that my disk was "not eligible for the update." It asked me to be sure to use the original disk (I had) & also said that "foreign CDs are not eligible" (mine isn't). No big deal, I figured that I just had to call Alsoft to get this resolved.

I called them yesterday, all lines were busy so I left a message. They called me back in about an hour, I explained to a fellow named Mark my situation. He said that I didn't need an update. I mentioned that there were several revisions listed on their site beyond the one that I received. He said that I didn't need them. I've got to admit that he caught me off guard, I had their site loaded & ready when I called them but this was an hour later & I was working on other things so I thanked him for getting back with me & ended the call.

Later last night, I realized that one of the features of the newer revisions was "+complete compatibility with Mac OS X 10.5.5 (Leopard). Version 4.1.1 restores the ability to use DiskWarrior to repair permissions while started from Mac OS X 10.5.5.+" I read that this was part of their software before making the purchase, it was one of the factors that I considered as I am running "Leo" & wanted to be able to repair permissions without switching to Apple's Disk Utility.

I'm all for making a buck & this software seems valuable, but in 20 years of Mac computing I've never encountered a software company whose policy is, "buyer beware". I'm not one who believes that I'm entitled to free updates for life but I do assume that I should be able to upgrade to the current version of a given piece of software the same day that it was purchased!

Right now DW is working on day two on my Time Machine external drive, when it finishes I think I'll either try calling again or send an email in the hopes that I'll get someone reasonable.

Just wanted to let others know to be careful, if purchasing from a local retailer, to make sure you get the most current revision since Alsoft, from what I've read here, apparently charges you a "thanks for buying our product" $20 fee to get you the current disk. This puts the retail version at $120.