Disk Warrior vs. TechTool

Disk Warrior is used to rebuild the file system. It uses a unique method that some say is the best there is -- it checks where everything is and creates a brand new file system from scratch. The file system is how your computer locates where files and pieces of files (some files are stored in pieces in multiple places across your drive) are on the disk.

Tech Tool Pro also has a utility to rebuild the file system, but it uses a different method than Disk Warrior. Tech Tool Pro also checks the state of just about every piece of hardware in your Mac (RAM, video RAM, logic board etc.) and can do a surface scan of your hard drive and check reading and writing. [Disk Warrior can do a very simple check of the hard drive using something called the S.M.A.R.T. reading, but you can also do that directly from Apple's built in Disk Utility.]

The main times you would care about this stuff is when something serious goes wrong with your Mac. Disk Warrior has been hailed as rescuing some hard drive file systems that no other utility could rescue ... thus saving all the files from being lost when the file system was damaged or corrupted (say, after a power failure).

Since these two programs overlap some in functionality but each can do things that in some situations the other might not be capable of, it would be best to buy both. If you can't afford both, it's a bit of a toss up ... Tech Tool Pro does more things, but some claim that Disk Warrior is the best for what it does. Disk Warrior does not have the hardware checking capability of Tech Tool Pro, but you do have the Apple Hardware Diagnostic disk anyway ... and the problems that Disk Warrior is good at fixing are probably much more common than the extra hardware problems that Tech Tool Pro can detect but Disk Warrior cannot.

One thing you need to do is pay attention to the version number and be careful about getting one that is correct for your computer and operating system. And be sure to get these utilities updated when updates are available.

imac G5, 2GHz, 1.5 Gig RAM Mac OS X (10.4.8) (also imac G3 10.3.9; and Macbook Pro 10.4.8)

I would say from experience with Tech Tool that they charge for minor upgrades (even compatibility fixes), their tech support is slow to respond and often denie that their product is at fault for causing problems (when it clearly does), and it has never worked for me once to repair or adequately recover a truly corrupted volume. I would not recommend it. I wish I had bought Disk Warrior.

i am a collector of iCons and probably have @ least one of the largest collections world wide.

a couple of years ago, while using Norton, one of my partitions disappeared: invisible! i had about 1.3 million icons invisible!!! they showed up in a search, but nothing on my desktop, nada!

i played around for a couple of days but brought my G4 to my local super Geek and he used Disk Warrior. It ran for 8 days! but it finally rebuilt my partition. He said that there would be "changes" but he didn't know what. i said OK cause i already had "lost" my collection. 2 days more… and i had my drive back. There were a few changes (maybe 1000 files) but everything else was OK.

i swear by Disk Warrior now!! i've got over 2 million iCons now and i do periodic Disk Warrior preventive runs! i tossed Norton. i feel i've got too much to loose!

follow your bliss

debbye =)

DiskWarrior wins hands down. Mainly because it provides a solution for the most common and problematic issue that most users will face - a disk structure problem.

However, you should never underestimate what a Mac breakdown can really cost you, so you should invest in both. Sacrifice the money and have peace of mind that if something goes wrong you are prepared and have the tools to address it. It's like an insurance policy.

Here is an excellent way to look at it - this is what I say to students and colleagues who question investing in utility software or in doing regular backups:

1. Ask yourself how long it would take yout to replace EVERY file that you have created on your drive, if it were to get fried somehow. Think about it; letters, designs, projects, music, notes, anything and everything. How long will it take to:
- recreate the files
- re-install your system and applications
- re-configure all your settings for everything

Write down an estimate of how many hours you think this will take you.

2. Estimate what you think an hour of your time is worth in dollars - to you or to your clients. For some people it might $5, for others who are consultants and charge time to clients it might be $200 or more.

3. Now multiply the total hours by your per-hour dollar value. The figure you have should be quite surprising.

4. Compare that figure to the cost of buying a couple of utilities like DiskWarrior and TechTool.


Just one way to look at it. Obviously this will be different for those who only use the Mac a bit for web and email and those who use their Macs to earn a living. In my case it's the latter.

I have used the Disk Warrior utility twice on an aging hard disk. The utility was very good for restoring the file structure and saved the business a significant expense of having the hard drive recovered by a specialist data recovery company.

The utility is easy to use and will happily fix many of the gradual decay of the file structure. I am trying to get into the habit of running Disk Warrior on the office computers every other month or so in an attempt to preempt problems. I would definitely recommend Disk Warrior and as the program is relatively inexpensive it is not too big a burden to purchase.