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Mac OS X  |  System / Utilities  |  Maintenance / Optimization  |  TechTool Pro  |  Everthing I expected from Micromat

TechTool Pro

TechTool Pro

hardware/software diagnostic tool

Version:  4.6.2

   [ Views: 1090 ]

Everthing I expected from Micromat

Feedback Type:  Review

Contributed by: steeldriver Monday, March 26 2007 @ 12:31 PM PDT

Product Platform: MacOSX

Used Product For: Less than a month

Recommend Product: YES

Noting that all gripes ceased and vanished from VT Feedback after Micromat offered the upgrade from 4.5.1 to 4.5.2 as a free download, I wonder why none of the gripes have been replaced with praise in the past four months.

I have relied on TechTool Pro for years, and gladly paid the upgrade fee ($25) to adapt my existing 4.0.x version to an Intel-capable version.

Recently I needed to confirm my late-2006 iMac hardware is fully functional, and had only the PPC version of TechTool Pro on hand. Micromat shipped the DVD promptly, my Core 2 Duo CPUs and everything else passed without a red mark anywhere. I re-checked software and discovered my mistake in Startup Items (system) preferences.

If I had time, I could have sought out all the freeware and shareware others mentioned. But getting it all in a bundle, a single DVD, let me focus on the many other issues -- most of them not related to Macs or Mac OS X -- that take most of my time.

Like the user-friendly Macs we all admire and depend on, TechTool Pro delivers everything seamlessly, ready to use and well supported when a dysfunction arises.   
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1 of 7 users found this helpful.

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Comments

4 comments |

What do you use TTP for? - MatrixPT

You haven't yet mentioned how you actually USE the TechTool Pro software. I have written comments before about TechTool Pro stating how its test data relating to hard disks is bogus, and it often provides false positives when running surface-scan tests.

In January I purchased a new hard disk but was unable to read any data after writing files to it. I formatted it a few times and it made loud 'clunk clunk' noises. However, TechTool Pro gave it the thumbs-up and told me the hard disk was fine. Booting up into OS9 and running an old copy of Norton Disk Doctor soon confirmed that the disk was full of bad blocks and failed the Read/Write/Verify test. I already knew that, NDD knew that, but TTP was oblivious to the fact.

Tonight, a client brought around his hard drive, again making the Clunk-Clunk-of-death sounds. It was quite obviously dying, and it hung the computer when trying to access certain files. I've been trying to recover data from it so we can claim a replacement under warranty. Norton Disk Doctor immediately verified that the disk is full of bad blocks and gave me the option to map out bad blocks, however just for a JOKE I ran TTP, and guess what? The hard drive passed all tests with flying colours! How does a KNOWN BAD hard disk pass a surface-scan integrity check?

If you are happy in the FALSE belief that TTP is making your system safer and informing you whenever there is a problem before it happens, good on you, but you will be in big trouble if you rely on it.

With the price of hard disks these days, you're better off putting the money from your intended TTP purchase into funding an external backup hard disk, because it is the most reliable way to ensure data safety.

I honestly cringe thinking about all the people who rely on products like TTP to 'protect' their system. They have no idea how computers and hardware work on the inside.

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Saturday, March 31 2007 @ 08:22 AM PDT


The Mugabe solution - michaelmarsden0

They should arrest a few people to make sure the surface scans are edible!

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Friday, July 27 2007 @ 10:25 AM PDT


We didn't have Intels, that is why! - Ilgaz

They tried to sell a bugfix to Intel owners: 4.5.2 , if you read "what's new" you will see the horrible bugs existing in 4.5.1 , the one people paid for.

PowerPC owners didn't get ANYTHING in 4.5 except the real drive tests. It is 40 line C program to move a drives head back and forth and the one people paid $100 does that, nothing else unless it is 4.5.

I didn't pirate the software and happily paid horrible shipping price in Drive 10 days. I was interested in a commercial disk utility, not something that will write zeroes to my memory. They upgraded Drive 10 to Techtool Pro for free (had SN inside box), thank to them. The issue is: Drive 10 owners left out in the cold and invited to pay another price for Techtool since they didn't care to update it for 10.3 , yes 10.3 I am talking about.

I must have defended people's choice here, on VT as user for commercial disk utility but this is horribly much. There is some suit there wasting all engineers work I am sure but it is Micromat to solve the problem, not us. We did all we can and sent feedback. You should thank us for it, not other way around.

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Sunday, June 10 2007 @ 02:12 PM PDT


We didn't have Intels, that is why! - Jay

I too think TTP sucks. But, does anyone understand the jibberish in this posting?

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Friday, July 27 2007 @ 11:44 AM PDT