Would you recommend OSX Cocktail for a disk utility?

amember wrote:
I think I need more than my built-in Mac disk utility to keep my machine clean and running well.

no you don't. Mac OS X is very capable @ that.

Is there only the one "OSX Cocktail" version 4.7.2

a free alternative would be OnyX.

and does anyone here use it and think that it's useful?

i have Cocktail installed and it is useful but i hardly ever use it because mostly there's no need.

J GG

I have Onyx, but don't use it, not liking any app that does things without allowing you to control its actions. For disk directory issues, I recommend DiskWarrior, and for better disk repairing than Disk Utility, I use TechTool Pro 5 (Apple provides TechTool Deluxe as part of its AppleCare package). For other maintenance tasks, see:

Mac Maintenance Quick Assist,
Mac OS X speed FAQ,
Speeding up Macs,
Macintosh OS X Routine Maintenance
Essential Mac Maintenance: Get set up,
Essential Mac Maintenance: Rev up your routines,
Maintaining OS X, and
Myths of required versus not required maintenance for Mac OS X for information.

amember wrote:
I think I need more than my built-in Mac disk utility to keep my machine clean and running well. Is there only the one "OSX Cocktail" version 4.7.2 and does anyone here use it and think that it's useful?

Well try either Yasu or Onyx. Running all the cleaning routines about once every four months should be enough to keep OS X running almost like new. Let the program reboot your Mac then upon the reboot manually reboot again to completely rebuild your mac startup/shutdown cache.

I have used OS X Cocktail for years and think it's one of the best utilities out there.

I have personally used it on hundreds of eMacs, iMacs, iBooks, PowerBooks, MacBooks, MacBook Pros of all sorts of vintages - Panther, Tiger, Leopard, Snow Leopard

It works well, have never had a problem with it, swear by it.

I use it mainly under three circumstances:
1) when building a new system, after all installs and configurations are done, I use it to clean the system before I build a disk image of the installation,
2) periodically to clean out all logs & caches,
3) on occasion to clean out the system (including the system cache) before I start a new (significant) video editing project

Yes, there are other ways to do all of the above, but after trying a bunch of similar utilities including the free ones, I thought Cocktail was the best of breed solution.

WRT Onyx, I see one has to enter an admin password to reveal the preference settings for each action. However, there's nothing there that one can't do independently, especially if one isn't Terminal-phobic. 😉

I would not consider Cocktail a disk utility. It is a +system maintenance utility.+ It's never going to repeatedly ask you if you want to delete 'file xyz ...'.

The documentation/help file is pretty good and Kristofer has always been helpful if there was something I needed to inquire about.

For most users, the "Pilot" function is all you need. The other tabs are useful if you ever need them for more detailed functions.