linda2009

Q: 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 7:37 AM

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Q: Alternative to Disk Utility?

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  • by dialabrain,

    dialabrain dialabrain Feb 5, 2016 12:25 PM in response to Kurt Lang
    Level 5 (5,890 points)
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    Feb 5, 2016 12:25 PM in response to Kurt Lang

    My assumption is Apple redesigned DU for the masses. I think some of us forget not everyone is a power user who miss certain features. New buyers have no clue you could resize the DU window and no doubt wouldn't know to miss it.

     

    It's the same thing with experienced Windows and Linux users. Every time something is changed they freak.

  • by dialabrain,

    dialabrain dialabrain Feb 5, 2016 12:28 PM in response to linda2009
    Level 5 (5,890 points)
    Mac App Store
    Feb 5, 2016 12:28 PM in response to linda2009

    I'm still an Apple fan and I still think it's heads above a windows machine.  I just hope they improve it instead of crippling it.

    You also seem to think Apple designs their products for power users. The are designing "Appliances" for the masses. Which is what new users expect.

  • by Kurt Lang,

    Kurt Lang Kurt Lang Feb 5, 2016 12:36 PM in response to dialabrain
    Level 8 (37,681 points)
    Feb 5, 2016 12:36 PM in response to dialabrain
    My assumption is Apple redesigned DU for the masses.

    It's also possibly a withdrawal to Apple's early design default - simplify to the max to make it as easy as it can be to use a computer for those who have never used one.

     

    That's like the desktop. From day one of the Mac desktop, the default has been to hide drive icons, and still is! That maybe made sense at the time as people had never seen a GUI before, and the slow acceptance of it (most users still bought PC's with command line DOS) kind of continued to make it a good default to give users less to have to look at as they learned how to use a GUI.

     

    But how long has it been now? Five year olds know what a GUI looks like and how to use it. Virtually every person who uses a computer looks at a GUI interface. Continuing to hide the drive icons is now a very outdated default. People expect to be able to see their drives. They know what they are and what they're for.

  • by dialabrain,

    dialabrain dialabrain Feb 5, 2016 1:01 PM in response to Kurt Lang
    Level 5 (5,890 points)
    Mac App Store
    Feb 5, 2016 1:01 PM in response to Kurt Lang

    But how long has it been now? Five year olds know what a GUI looks like and how to use it. Virtually every person who uses a computer looks at a GUI interface. Continuing to hide the drive icons is now a very outdated default. People expect to be able to see their drives. They know what they are and what they're for.

    Seriously? I know your read the posts here. New buyers are lucky if they know what a drive even is.

     

    I gave my g/f an iMac and an iPad mini. She uses both on a daily basis. She still doesn't know that when she clicks on the close button in Firefox it doesn't quit the program. I have offered many, many times to show her some things that would help her. She has ZERO interest in learning anything about computers as long as she can use one.

     

    I have a friend who teaches Word at a local college. she was demonstrating how to cut and paste a word to her class. She asked if they had any questions. One person put up their hand and asked, "Well, I see how to do it but what if I want to cut and paste a different word?"

     

    Like i said, new buyers don't care about the inner workings. They want them to just work, like their TV or toaster. Heaven help them if their TV comes with a programmable remote.

     

    Do I sound a bit cynical? lol

  • by Kurt Lang,

    Kurt Lang Kurt Lang Feb 5, 2016 1:01 PM in response to dialabrain
    Level 8 (37,681 points)
    Feb 5, 2016 1:01 PM in response to dialabrain
    Seriously?

    Yes, of course. There are few schools (at least in the U.S.) that don't teach every student from an early age how to use a computer. By the time they reach even 9th grade, they all know more about computers than many adults.

     

    Are there plenty of people who just don't get it? Sure. There are people like that in every habitable part of the world. They not only don't get even only slightly more advanced notions of using a computer, they don't want to. They just want to turn the computer on, hope it actually does turn on the way it's supposed to, and then hope the apps they use launch and their files get saved as they're supposed to. Anything that goes even slightly amiss, and it's a trip to some store to pay someone to fix it, no matter how minor. And that's not just a "for instance". I've worked with several people exactly like that.

  • by Luis Sequeira1,

    Luis Sequeira1 Luis Sequeira1 Feb 5, 2016 1:03 PM in response to Kurt Lang
    Level 6 (11,834 points)
    Feb 5, 2016 1:03 PM in response to Kurt Lang

    Kurt Lang wrote:


     

    That's like the desktop. From day one of the Mac desktop, the default has been to hide drive icons, and still is!

     

    On the contrary, on the classic Mac OS the drives were ALWAYS  visible on the desktop (and so was the trash can).

    And by drives I mean 3.5" 400KB disquettes - yes, I am that old.

  • by Kurt Lang,

    Kurt Lang Kurt Lang Feb 5, 2016 1:04 PM in response to Luis Sequeira1
    Level 8 (37,681 points)
    Feb 5, 2016 1:04 PM in response to Luis Sequeira1

    Hmm, I must not have gone back quite far enough. That I can recall, Simple Finder was always the default. That included no desktop icons.

  • by dialabrain,

    dialabrain dialabrain Feb 5, 2016 1:06 PM in response to Kurt Lang
    Level 5 (5,890 points)
    Mac App Store
    Feb 5, 2016 1:06 PM in response to Kurt Lang

    I knew you know this. It was rhetorical.

     

    My only point is, I believe Apple wants to make their products as accessible to everyone that they can. In the process it makes certain things for experienced users less accessible. But since we are experienced users we know how to get around.

  • by Limnos,

    Limnos Limnos Feb 5, 2016 1:06 PM in response to Kurt Lang
    Level 9 (53,643 points)
    Mac OS X
    Feb 5, 2016 1:06 PM in response to Kurt Lang

    As was said, it's for the masses.  I too know people who feel that an on/off button is about a technologically challenging and they can manage and think computers should be like Star Trek where you can utter a poorly phrased request and it will solve world hunger.

     

    One target is to stupid-proof the OS.  The top level of the drive is not where it is at. You have to dig three layers down to the user folder, and then probably to the folders inside of that and those are in the sidebar.  You put the top level of the drive in front of somebody and they will probably wonder what that 9GB of stuff in "System" is and drag it to the Trash.  It started with hiding the user library which oddly is something to which even the novice occasionally needs access.

  • by dialabrain,

    dialabrain dialabrain Feb 5, 2016 1:12 PM in response to Luis Sequeira1
    Level 5 (5,890 points)
    Mac App Store
    Feb 5, 2016 1:12 PM in response to Luis Sequeira1

    Luis Sequeira1 wrote:

     

    yes, I am that old.

    Me too.

     

    Years ago someone asked me what kind of computer they should buy that was easy to use. I told them, buy a Mac. Less than a week after they bought it it no longer worked. Why? because one of them thought the System Folder (which used to be right on the desktop) made the desktop look messy so they tossed it in the trash (yes, you could throw away the system then).

  • by grdh20,

    grdh20 grdh20 Feb 5, 2016 1:12 PM in response to linda2009
    Level 1 (43 points)
    Feb 5, 2016 1:12 PM in response to linda2009

    Google around to get a pre-made copy of the old disk utility from Yosemite that works along side the new one in EL Cap. Do  not overwrite the one in EL Cap. Place it somewhere else. It works fine.

  • by Kurt Lang,

    Kurt Lang Kurt Lang Feb 5, 2016 1:12 PM in response to dialabrain
    Level 8 (37,681 points)
    Feb 5, 2016 1:12 PM in response to dialabrain

    I knew you know this. It was rhetorical.

    Sorry if I didn't get that across in my post. Yup, I did get that.

     

    @ Limnos,

    One target is to stupid-proof the OS.  The top level of the drive is not where it is at.

    That's for sure! Structurally, OS 9 and earlier were simpler. Or at least as simple as a computer could be. Unix under OS X added a lot of complexity that came with the added security. That is the main thing. As "simple" as computers comparatively are to use than they used to be, they are still incredibly complex underneath.

  • by woodmeister50,

    woodmeister50 woodmeister50 Feb 5, 2016 1:25 PM in response to linda2009
    Level 5 (5,505 points)
    Mac OS X
    Feb 5, 2016 1:25 PM in response to linda2009

    Apple, like many others, have invoked the 95% design paradigm.  Develop a system

    that will meet the needs and provide as little issue as possible for the 95%.  If that

    means tossing functionality/features that the 5% rely on, use, or otherwise find convenient,

    too bad!

  • by dialabrain,

    dialabrain dialabrain Feb 5, 2016 1:27 PM in response to woodmeister50
    Level 5 (5,890 points)
    Mac App Store
    Feb 5, 2016 1:27 PM in response to woodmeister50

    Which is how it should be if they want to stay in business.

  • by linda2009,

    linda2009 linda2009 Feb 5, 2016 2:32 PM in response to grdh20
    Level 1 (65 points)
    Mac OS X
    Feb 5, 2016 2:32 PM in response to grdh20

    grdh20,

     

    You confirm that you are running them side-by-side within El Cap?

     

    I thought I read somewhere that it would give an error about not working with this OS version - it won't completely load up.

     

    All::

    I don't have a problem with Apple making DU easier for the casual user.  Why not have an Advanced tab that requires a password?  That usually makes casual users change their mind!

     

    In my experience, the casual users never even opened DU.  Mostly their resident "geek" family member or friend who they call when they run into trouble!  You all know who I'm talking about!!  I still get calls from Windows users because I used it at work for so long.  Why fashion DU for them?  Fashion it for those that are going to use it and make it password required.  Or flash up some kind of dire warning box!  Designing it for the masses that don't use, don't want to use it, don't want to know that it is even there, makes NO sense.  And yes, most people that I help are asking about far more trivial things that are not going to harm the system!  They would never think to open DU, Terminal, Activity Monitor, Console, etc!! 

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