DiskWarrior 5.1 Update is Out

[CheMillan]

Alsoft has released DiskWarrior 5.1 and DiskWarrior Recovery Maker 1.2. for download.

1) DiskWarrior Recovery Maker 1.2 is compatible with macOS 10.13 High Sierra. Creating a 10.13 recovery flash drive WILL NOT allow DiskWarrior to rebuild APFS disks.

2) The APFS Recovery Disk is now recognized and will show as a source from which to build a recovery disk.
1) A free updater is available for owners of DiskWarrior 5.0.

2) The updater will replace the DW partition on the DiskWarrior flash drive. The updated flash drive will contain DiskWarrior 5.1 and DiskWarrior Recovery Maker 1.2.

3) The updater will also update any installed copy of DiskWarrior 5.0 that is located in the Applications folder.

4) The updater will also update DiskWarrior 5.0 that is located on any attached recovery flash drives that were created with earlier versions of DiskWarrior Recovery Maker.

 

[Mr_Brightside_@]

OH YES
[doublepost=1525368978][/doublepost]How do I update?
[doublepost=1525369420][/doublepost]https://www.alsoft.com/DiskWarrior/diskwarrior5update
[doublepost=1525369638][/doublepost]Hm, that link downloads a blank DMG. Anyone have luck?

 

[campyguy]

Thanks for the update (really). Just in time for macOS 10.14...

 

[CoastalOR]

I downloaded the Updater, ran it, it found the installed DW 5.0, I selected "Update", but the update failed with “Error 5012”. Now DW 5.0 will no longer launch. A re-run of the Updater no longer finds a eligible DW app.

I sent a email to Alsoft tech support. Fortunately I have multiple backups, but I would prefer to hear back from Alsoft before trying to restore my DW 5.0.

 

[jasnw]

Question for users - is it really worth $120, and if so why? What can it do that cannot be done via other (less expensive) tools?

 

[star-affinity]

So it still can't rebuild APFS formatted drives:

4) Apple File System (APFS) disks are recognized by DiskWarrior 5.1 but are not able to be rebuilt. Click here to learn how to identify an APFS disk.

https://www.alsoft.com/DiskWarrior/highsierraapfs.html

I thought that was one of the points with the 5.1 update. Maybe it will come in a later update… Not that I know how often that will be useful (if ever?) on a APFS formated drive.

Edit:
Okay, seems it will come in a later update according to Alsoft, since Apple is still doing adjustments to APFS.

 

[CheMillan]

DiskWarrior 5.1 Update Install Instructions

Note: An internet connection is required for the update to work

Installing DiskWarrior Updater
To install the software, simply drag the DiskWarrior Updater icon into the Applications folder of the computer’s main hard drive.

Launching DiskWarrior Updater
To launch the software, double-click on the installed icon. This will present the DiskWarrior Updater main window.

The DiskWarrior Updater main window will contain up to three sections for possible update candidates. Each candidate may be updated individually by pressing the Update button to the right of it, or all may updated as a group by pressing the Update All button.

1) Serialized DiskWarrior Application in the Applications Folder
The Application folder hierarchy is searched for an eligible serialized DiskWarrior application.
If there are multiple DiskWarrior applications found in the Applications folder which meet the parameters of the software, the first one found will be the target of the update. Note: Only one installed DiskWarrior application will be updated at a time. To update a second installed DiskWarrior application, Quit and relaunch DiskWarrior Updater.

2) DiskWarrior USB Flash Drive
This is the USB Flash Drive that you received when you purchased DiskWarrior.
Note: Updating this USB Flash Drive will replace the DW partition. Make certain you have made a safe copy of any files that may have been stored on this partition of the drive.
If there are multiple devices connected to the computer which meet the parameters of the software, the first one found will be updated.

3) DiskWarrior Recovery USB Flash Drive
This option will only show up if a USB Flash Drive created by DiskWarrior Recovery Maker is found.
If there are multiple devices connected to the computer which meet the parameters of the software, the first one found will be updated.

Updating an Installed DiskWarrior Application
If a serialized DiskWarrior Application was found in the Applications folder hierarchy that is eligible, then the Update button to the right will become enabled.

Clicking the Update button will commence downloading the update. Once the download is complete, you will be prompted to authenticate with an Administrator password and the application will be replaced with the newer version and the old version will be moved to the trash.

Updating a DiskWarrior USB Flash Drive
If an eligible DiskWarrior USB Flash Drive was found, the Update button to the right will become enabled. A valid DiskWarrior USB Flash Drive must contain the red DW partition and either the green or blue DiskWarrior Recovery partition.

Clicking the Update button will commence downloading the update. Once the download is complete, you will be prompted to authenticate with an Administrator password and the DW partition will be replaced with the newer version.
Note: Replacing the contents of this partition deletes all the data on that partition. Make certain you have made a safe copy of any files that may have been stored on this partition of the USB Flash Drive. This process also updates DiskWarrior Recovery Maker.

If this USB Flash Drive also contains a blue DiskWarrior Recovery partition, the application on that partition will be updated and the old version moved to the trash.

Updating a DiskWarrior Recovery USB Flash Drive

A DiskWarrior Recovery USB Flash Drive is a USB Flash Drive that was created with the DiskWarrior Recovery Maker application. If an eligible DiskWarrior Recovery USB Flash Drive was found, the Update button to the right will become enabled. If a DiskWarrior Recovery USB Flash Drive was not found, this section of the window will not be shown.

Clicking the Update button will commence downloading the update. Once the download is complete, you will be prompted to authenticate with an Administrator password and the application will be replaced with the newer version and the old version will be moved to the trash.

Troubleshooting:

*Problem: The Updater did not find an installed DiskWarrior Application.
The updater only searches for DiskWarrior in the Applications folder hierarchy, so make sure your copy of DiskWarrior resides in this folder or a subfolder of it. Also, the DiskWarrior application must be serialized. To serialize an application, simply launch it and enter the registration information when prompted. Quit the updater and relaunch it. Note that if the application is already up-to-date then it is not considered for updating.

*Problem: The Updater did not find my USB Flash Drive.
If the USB Flash Drive does not appear on the desktop, ensure that the USB Flash Drive is fully inserted in to the port. If the USB Flash Drive appears on the desktop, then make sure that the DiskWarrior application has been serialized. To serialize the application, locate it on the red DW partition, in the Installer Items folder, launch it and enter the registration information when prompted. Quit the updater and relaunch it.

*Problem: The USB Flash Drive does not start up my computer.
The DiskWarrior Updater modifies the version of DiskWarrior and DiskWarrior Recovery Maker on the USB Flash Drive. It does not update the operating system the USB Flash Drive uses to start up the computer. Please launch DiskWarrior Recovery Maker and click the Create (or Recreate) button to update the USB Flash Drive to contain an operating system that can start up your computer.

 

[dianeoforegon]

the update failed with “Error 5012”.

I got error 5011. I quit the updater then selected to run again and it worked. Had a beachball through the entire process but in the end it activated and was successful. I think perhaps their server is overloaded and it failed to download all the bits needed.

I would highly advise everyone to backup the flash drive before updating.

 

[CoastalOR]

Update: The update worked for me now. I think the server was busy as dianeoforegon suggested. I also found the install instructions posted by CheMillan helpful.

It appears that DW 5.1 still can not read APFS drives.

EDIT: Removed the attached image.

 

[Gravydog316]

Thanks for the update (really). Just in time for macOS 10.14...

awww

 

[rpmurray]

It appears that DW 5.1 still can not read APFS drives.

It appears that Apple still has not released any useful documentation to 3rd parties that will allow them to support APFS.

 

[ignatius345]

Question for users - is it really worth $120, and if so why? What can it do that cannot be done via other (less expensive) tools?

I haven't used it in years but it has definitely saved my @$$ in the past. I had a pretty new iBook (that tells you how long ago this was) where the HD came up totally unrecognizable, and like an idiot I didn't have any good backups. Long story short, DiskWarrior was able to rebuild the directory completely and I saved everything.

Now that we have the MacOS Recovery Partition and continuous Time Machine backups, it's seemed a little less necessary to me. Interested to hear what others think, though.

 

[jasnw]

Now that we have the MacOS Recovery Partition and continuous Time Machine backups, it's seemed a little less necessary to me. Interested to hear what others think, though.

My thoughts exactly (although I use daily CCC backups instead of TM). If this item cost $20 or so, maybe I could see investing in it. Or perhaps if I were in the computer tech repair business and could write it off as a business expense. Seems like a steep price otherwise.

 

[HobeSoundDarryl]

Question for users - is it really worth $120, and if so why? What can it do that cannot be done via other (less expensive) tools?

Not worth a nickel... until you need what it does and the less expensive tools can't help you. Then it might be worth thousands or tens of thousands depending on the value of your data, backup or lack of, and so on.

Generally this is the BEST of this kind of tool. The vast majority of the time, even the free, default Disk Utility might do the job. But then there's the other scenario.

 

[jasnw]

Granted, but if you keep daily backups of the directories in which files change with that frequency and, say, weekly boot-able backups of the entire filesystem, what exactly does having this tool get you? As I said, I can see its use if you're in the business of saving the bacon of people who DON'T do these things, but I can recover from a disk collapse (which are pretty rare these days) in a matter of an hour or so, max. In these days when you can easily boot from, and even work from, an external SSD I'm not sure I see this sort of expensive tool (which may fail you anyway) as a benefit. Put the $120 into a good external SSD.

So, my question was, and is, just what exactly does this $120 buy for me, a user who is paranoid about keeping current backups?

 

[chscag]

So, my question was, and is, just what exactly does this $120 buy for me, a user who is paranoid about keeping current backups?

Have to agree. DW has always been overpriced and in my humble opinion, overrated. I'm sure there are others who have benefited from it, but there's nothing better than a good backup regimen.

It appears that Apple still has not released any useful documentation to 3rd parties that will allow them to support APFS.

Not true. A good example of understanding and using APFS can be found in Carbon Copy Cloner. Because some developers are lazy and haven't caught up is not Apple's fault.

 

[HobeSoundDarryl]

How sound are your backups? Sometimes when hard drives have trouble, data is damaged... but you don't know that immediately. Backup options can't tell- data is data- so backups may back up bad data. Now you might have 2+ copies of bad data.

I have TimeCapsule and also use SuperDuper regularly. I store a TC backup at the same location but rotate hard drives in and out of a Safe Deposit box elsewhere. At select points in time, I actually have 3 complete backups. Thus, I feel pretty confident I can recover in just about any scenario. But I have Disk Warrior too. Instead of $120, I think I got it for less, maybe in one of those bundle offers... or maybe that was an upgrade price from something prior (I can't remember). I think I remember maybe $60 or $79.

However, in spite of my, probably over-and-above, backup strategy, I've had to use it a few times... and it tends to be the best- sometimes only- option to save the day.

I've paid far more than $120 per year for annual homeowners and car insurance against which I've never made a claim. Through one lens, I could look at all of those premiums as a complete waste of (lots of) money. However, if the house or car was destroyed, I'd see the incredible value in those "expensive" premiums. I see this as pretty similar to that, except that it's not $120 per year.

 

[GolferWithMacs]

Have to agree. DW has always been overpriced and in my humble opinion, overrated. I'm sure there are others who have benefited from it, but there's nothing better than a good backup regimen.



Not true. A good example of understanding and using APFS can be found in Carbon Copy Cloner. Because some developers are lazy and haven't caught up is not Apple's fault.

I think that's a pretty naive statement. Backing up or imaging a file system versus repairing and recovering mangled data of a file system are worlds apart in difficulty, and likely require dramatically different sets of specifications. Big time apples vs oranges. The only disk utility that has any support for APFS admittedly just runs fsck_apfs, which is what DiskUtility runs when you Repair an APFS disk with it. So no repair utility yet supports APFS with their own work. None. Is every one of the repair utility companies lazy?

 

[jasnw]

I still don't know what it will do for me that a backup won't cover. Can it be used to patch together a file that, for the sake of argument, is sitting on a spot on the drive that has been corrupted bad enough to make the file unusable but not bother the OS? And does it make the file whole again in some manner? I'm not clear on the use-case here. My experience over 50+ years has been that it's rare to be able to get anything useful out of a partially-corrupted file, although this is definitely a YMMV situation.

 

[HDFan]

I still don't know what it will do for me that a backup won't cover.

If your main disk (RAID) is very large (20TB+) then keeping other 20TB+ drives around just for backups can be impractical. A differentiated backup to different locations may be needed. Time machine disks for OS and frequently changed files, other disks for files that don't change much (media files), etc. Some files may be local, some may be in the cloud.

The process of finding and restoring the appropriate disks or tapes is time consuming. A cloud restore download could take weeks, or even months. Backblaze's Disk exchange program just uses 4 TB disks, and it takes time to get them.

Disk Warrior can be a real time saver as you avoid the very tedious and time consuming process of putting Humpty Dumpty back together again.

 

[jasnw]

OK, I can see dealing with a very large drive (or collection of drives) as a valid use case for this product. I don't fall into that category, so I don't see the gain. Thanks.

 

[Recoveryboy23]

Have to agree. DW has always been overpriced and in my humble opinion, overrated. I'm sure there are others who have benefited from it, but there's nothing better than a good backup regimen.



Not true. A good example of understanding and using APFS can be found in Carbon Copy Cloner. Because some developers are lazy and haven't caught up is not Apple's fault.

OK, I can see dealing with a very large drive (or collection of drives) as a valid use case for this product. I don't fall into that category, so I don't see the gain. Thanks.

(If your backup contains this following damage just as the internal; then the backup would be no good)

Use Cases:

You should run DiskWarrior if your Mac explicitly warns you of a problem with your disk in the form of an error message. Most of these errors are reported by the built-in Disk Utility whether your OS X version is 10.5 Leopard, 10.6 Snow Leopard, 10.7 Lion, 10.8 Mountain Lion, 10.9 Mavericks, 10.10 Yosemite, 10.11 El Capitan, 10.12 Sierra or 10.13 High Sierra. Here are some of the most common messages:

• Disk Repair: The disk was not repairable by this computer. It is being made available to you with limited functionality. You must back up your data and reformat the disk as soon as possible.
• The underlying task reported failure on exit.
• Invalid node structure.
• Keys out of order.
• Invalid key length.
• Invalid directory item count.
• Invalid extent entry.
• Invalid record count.
• Invalid index key.
• Invalid sibling link.
• Missing thread record.
• Invalid B-tree node size.
• Invalid leaf record count.
• Invalid volume file count.
• Invalid volume directory count.
• Invalid volume free block count.
• Invalid volume header.
• Volume header needs minor repair.
• Volume bitmap needs minor repair.
• Incorrect number of thread records.
• Incorrect number of extended attributes.
• Incorrect number of Access Control Lists.
• Unused node is not erased.

These messages are less common:

• Invalid node height.
• Incorrect block count for file.
• Overlapped extent allocation.
• Invalid number of allocation blocks.
• Invalid BTH length.
• Overlapped node allocation.
• Invalid catalog record type.
• Invalid catalog PEOF.
• Invalid extent file PEOF.
• Invalid B-tree header.
• Catalog file entry not found for extent.
• Missing directory record.
• Invalid key for thread record.
• Invalid parent CName in thread record.
• Invalid BSD file type.
• Incorrect number of directory hard links.
• Incorrect number of file hard links.
• Invalid finder info for file hard link.
• Incorrect flags for file hard link.
• Orphaned file inode.

These messages occur with the least frequency:

• Missing file record for file thread.
• Invalid root node number.
• Invalid map node.
• Invalid header node.
• Invalid directory record length.
• Invalid catalog record length.
• Invalid file or directory ID found.
• Indirect node needs link count adjustment.
• Incorrect folder count in a directory.
• HasFolderCount flag needs to be set.
• Invalid parent for directory inode.
• Incorrect owner flags for directory hard link.
• Previous ID in a hard link chain is incorrect.
• Next ID in a hard link chain is incorrect.
• Incorrect flags for file inode.
• Invalid first link in hard link chain.
• Orphaned file hard link.
• Incorrect size for file.

 

[MacBH928]

Question for users - is it really worth $120, and if so why? What can it do that cannot be done via other (less expensive) tools?

I am not sure what this tool does that no other tool can but...
One time I had an iMac that was shutdown several times via electricity while it was sleeping. It did not boot, IIRC it was dead. I used DW and everything worked again like magic and used my imac for several years more no problem..

It was worth it to me. This was long ago, probably over 10 years but my only guess is that if they still make it and support it there are still people using it and buying it. Today I keep regular backups.

 

[justperry]

Diskwarrior is by a long distance the repair program to have.

There are still a lot of fools in this world without backups, those fools then have to pay the hefty price for DW instead of less for a Harddrive if they had a backup regime.

It is really a shame though it's as expensive as it is, most likely too much for the liking of most people, but then again, it's no easy feat coding this program and be rock solid.

 

[ThrowerGB]

I got the 5011 error as well. The processes it went through were:

1. Downloading
2. getting pw because the app wanted to change the disk
3. updating - then the error during this process.

I run Sophos virus scanner, so I turned it off and tried again. Viola! the operation completed.