linda2009 Author

Level 1

76 points

Alternative to Disk Utility?

El Cap's Disk Utility is severely crippled. So many things are either missing and/or not user friendly. I am talking about the GUI Disk Utility. I know you can still do things from the Command Line (terminal).

I'm not talking about being able to Verify & Fix permissions. That was convenient, but it's not the only thing missing. A lot of basics are messed up. You can't resize the window or the column. It makes you think maybe you can, because you can put the cursor there and try, but it does nothing! You're stuck with a column where you can't see the full name of drives and if you have a long list, you have to continue to scroll down. This is so frustrating. You need to be able to resize these things.

When I initially upgraded, I made the mistake of trying to partition my hard drive (which I had done lots of times in Mavericks all the way back to Snow on another machine). Well, after that debacle, which yes - was "green" user error, I had to get a Fusion Drive education! Without the debug menu, you can't see all the partitions on your drive either! The partition area was easier to understand than the circle which bounces around and is difficult to even type a number in the box. It also makes those of us with CD/DVD drives work harder to do basic things. Thank goodness for some good 3rd party apps that make it easier/ simpler.

I've searched around and it seems some people re-install Yosemite's Disk Utility. I'm not one to experiment quite that far.

So okay another Apple included program basically useless that they probably will let die instead of fixing.

So my question: Is there an alternative GUI type Disk Utility program out there that one can use?? Most importantly, one that functions similar to the old Disk Utility. Just a simple little utility app? Any recommendations?

Please, I understand that I can get a lot of the functions using Terminal. But, I don't want to do that for things that I used to be able to do in GUI. Thank goodness I can learn to do that, but some people shouldn't have to use Terminal. This isn't a post about how to do a certain function. I just want to know if anyone has found an alternate GUI disk utility.

Thanks!

Mac mini, OS X El Capitan (10.11.2), 2 GHz Intel Core i7

Posted on Feb 5, 2016 7:33 AM

72 replies

linda2009 Author

Level 1

76 points

Feb 6, 2016 2:37 PM in response to Kurt Lang

The forum won't let me mark any more post as helped me. But, you all have helped so much!

Kurt Lang, are you the Font Guy 😉 ??

Yeah, I also used DiskMaker to create an installer usb drive. One of Mavericks, Yosemite, & El Cap!

Don't know why the Create Recovery Disk doesn't work. I never got far enough to choose where. It gave me an error and quit. I wasn't going to try and create it on my internal hard drive. Oh well it doesn't matter, because I basically think an installer usb is a better choice.

I'm going to try and install Yosemite on (create internal) partition and do an immediate clone to external drive. Because I have discovered the DU for the installers does not have the Debug menu option which allows you to see all the hidden partitions.

I really like being able to use a GUI for disk utility, not Terminal, even though I have done that. That's how I fixed the fusion drive. The DU interface was pretty good - better than any 3rd party app. I never looked into a 3rd party disk manager, because DU worked so well!! I'm one of those still using my Superdrive, too.

Thanks again for so much help. I'm off to complete my tasks.

Kurt Lang

Level 9

68,514 points

Feb 6, 2016 3:29 PM in response to linda2009

The forum won't let me mark any more post as helped me.

You can assign two Helpful stars and one Solved. So you're out of Helpful's in this topic. Though in the latest iteration of the Jive software these forums run on, any post where five or more users click on the "This helped me" link at the bottom left of a post will also earn that one a Helpful star.

Kurt Lang, are you the Font Guy 😉 ??

Assuming you're referring to this font article, guilty as charged. 🙂

linda2009 Author

Level 1

76 points

Feb 6, 2016 3:50 PM in response to Kurt Lang

Yeah! Very good stuff on fonts. The best I've seen. I've checked it a time or two or more!

Thanks for keeping that updated. (I would contribute, too, but I absolutely won't do paypal.)

Oh, I did a partition for Yosemite on my macbookpro (it is my Mavericks machine).

The Yosemite Disk Utility is missing the Debug Menu. I tried the Terminal command to get it and it just does nothing. I guess Mavericks is the last OS DU with Debug. I liked Debug, because it can "Graphically" show you all the hidden partitions. Dang! I was thinking I would up my Mav to YM. Fiddlesticks.

dialabrain

Level 10

135,893 points

Feb 6, 2016 4:00 PM in response to linda2009

linda2009 wrote:

The Yosemite Disk Utility is missing the Debug Menu. I tried the Terminal command to get it and it just does nothing. I guess Mavericks is the last OS DU with Debug. I liked Debug, because it can "Graphically" show you all the hidden partitions. Dang! I was thinking I would up my Mav to YM. Fiddlesticks.

Linda, (my sister's name btw)

I don't mean to be funny (maybe a little) and I know you really like some features of the older version of DU, but not moving up to a better version of OSX because of DU sounds a little like saying you aren't ever going to buy a new car because they don't come with 8-Tracks. 😎

linda2009 Author

Level 1

76 points

Feb 6, 2016 4:22 PM in response to dialabrain

dialabrain,

You are so lucky your sister's name is Linda! LOL!

Laughter is always the best way to approach!

I see your point. My main computer that I use is El Capitan on a Mac mini. And, I'm not saying I won't update the Macbookpro (Mavericks). It's just the dang fusion drive thing. I just like being able to check on the fusion drive; I guess because I messed it up before. Like I said, sometimes I feel like un-fusioning it. Can it really be that much faster? It's a 90gb SSD fused with the 500gb HDD. I've only used about 60gb.

No biggie.

Do you really think El Capitan is a better version? Faster, what?

Thanks

dialabrain

Level 10

135,893 points

Feb 6, 2016 4:30 PM in response to linda2009

i am lucky! 😁 It's easy to remember.

As far as Fusion drives, I did mess the one up once something like 3 or 4 years ago but not since. And I did order my 2015 5k with one.

As far as El Capitan, I do like some of the new features and unlike some others my age, I like the interface look better. If I had to absolutely run a particular piece of software (my livelihood depended on it) that wouldn't run on 10.11 and I only had one computer, I suppose I would stick to whatever would run said software.

Kurt Lang

Level 9

68,514 points

Feb 6, 2016 5:30 PM in response to linda2009

One minor note. Yosemite is the last version of OS X with the older Disk Utility interface. Mavericks of course is the same.

linda2009 Author

Level 1

76 points

Feb 6, 2016 6:40 PM in response to Kurt Lang

I don't know Kurt if Mavericks and Yosemite are the same. I could not get the Debug Menu to load under Yosemite. I used a Terminal command. It just never showed up.

I search and I did find where others said the same.

Can you confirm your Yosemite DU has the Debug Menu? If so, then it just wasn't working for me...

Kurt Lang

Level 9

68,514 points

Feb 7, 2016 8:30 AM in response to linda2009

I have the Debug menu for DU in Yosemite on all the time. If I remember correctly, the Terminal command to turn it on is different between older versions of OS X and newer. However, I think the following command works for both Mavericks and Yosemite. Disk Utility must not be running when applying the changes.

defaults write com.apple.DiskUtility DUDebugMenuEnabled 1

To reverse it, shut down Disk Utility again and repeat the command, except change the 1 to a 0.

This was the older command. If that's the one you were trying, that's why it doesn't work.

defaults write com.apple.DiskUtility advanced-image-options -bool true

Feb 16, 2016 2:08 PM in response to Kurt Lang

To be perfectly clear, the article you linked mentions 4 apps, but I would only recommend 2 of them for the average user.

iPartition is quite well known and I've used it myself and can attest to its reliability.

Stellar Partition Manager I hadn't heard of until reading about it in this thread, which means its probably not well-known. (Not to toot my own horn, but I work in tech support and keep up with these things, so if I haven't heard of it, usually there is a reason for that). If you do want to read about it, this is a much better link than what that article provides: http://www.stellarinfo.com/mac-software/partition-mac/partition-mac-drive.php

GParted is well known in the Linux community and although they provide a version that will work on the Mac, it is a bit of an eyesore compared to the Linux version (which also isn't anything special, but easier on the eyes), so I can't recommend it.

I have never heard of Partition Magic Mac, and based on the poor English on and construction of the website for this software, it seems like a potential adware/malware risk. You'd be better off with one of the first two options.

Also, keep in mind that Apple's own Disk Utility app was rewritten for El Capitan, so I'm guessing that it will see many improvements over a short period of time, just as other apps they rewrote changed and improved fairly quickly (i.e. Pages, Numbers, Keynote, Final Cut Pro, Photos/iPhoto).

Cheers!

Kurt Lang

Level 9

68,514 points

Feb 16, 2016 2:25 PM in response to mfvisuals

To be perfectly clear, the article you linked mentions 4 apps, but I would only recommend 2 of them for the average user.

Hi mfvisuals,

When I posted the link, I hadn't done anything other than do a generic web search for "Disk Utility alternatives". That was the top page that came up, and with four choices in there, it would be a fairly good place to start.

From what you've written, I'd say then that there's only one of those I'd recommend. It was found out about halfway through this topic that Stellar Partition Magic and Partition Magic Mac will now download the same software. So that gets it down to three right there. GParted I simply wouldn't trust on an HFS+ system. Down to two. And with your notes on Stellar/Partition Magic, I'm not sure I'd use that one now, either.

So that only leaves iPartition, which I have also heard of, has been around for quite a while and gets very good reviews.

Apr 3, 2016 4:03 AM in response to Kurt Lang

Hi,

Let me place a remark about Coriolis iPartition - it does NOT SUPPORT Core Storage

(and i think i will never)

I am also looking for a disk/partition manager that will support CS

I am going to give Stellar a go

There is also a Pre Release version of a Diskmanager from Paragon (and according to their site it supports CS)

Kurt Lang

Level 9

68,514 points

Apr 3, 2016 8:45 AM in response to WolffLord

Good note, WolffLord. I hadn't even thought to look on Paragon's site.

Apr 11, 2016 7:51 AM in response to linda2009

Has anyone found or made a Disk Utility which restores/brings together all the stuff that was lost from the new one?

The disk burners, imaging, scan-image-for-restore, verification, partitioning not for idiots etc. ?

Apr 11, 2016 8:46 AM in response to Grant Wray

Grant Wray wrote:

Has anyone found or made a Disk Utility which restores/brings together all the stuff that was lost from the new one?

The disk burners, imaging, scan-image-for-restore, verification, partitioning not for idiots etc. ?

Disk burning is so much simpler now: select disk image in the Finder, control-click, Burn.

Imaging works about the same as it always has.

Verification? Of what?

While I do prefer the old rectangular display vs the new circular one, I fail to see why one would be for idiots.

I hardly think that anyone can produce a clone of the old application. Apple is not going to bring it back. It may or may not add back the RAID functionality, but it would not be a bright prospect for some developper to try and emulate the old DU. Some people would rejoice, and may a few would pay for it, but realistically it is an effort that would be difficult to justify.

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Alternative to Disk Utility?