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DiskWarrior
- Thread starter VerizonLover
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I ran the 5.3 Updater app. It worked and I was able to now launch DiskWarrior 5.3 on my M1 MBP and check/rebuild some external drives formatted HFS+.
I personally very much look forward to this. As somebody who has now had an APFS volume go "bad" three times with the end result being more or less "hope you had a backup lol" , there is definitely a need for this kind of tool at times.
And now time machine disks are APFS too? Sheesh.
And now time machine disks are APFS too? Sheesh.
Apparently, Alsoft tweaked DiskWarrior to run under Rosetta 2 as v.5.3 doesn't appear to contain any Apple Silicon code.
Also, the app appears in Finder as "Application (Intel)" in Finder, unless anyone who patched it on an AS machine sees it as a Universal?
Also, the app appears in Finder as "Application (Intel)" in Finder, unless anyone who patched it on an AS machine sees it as a Universal?
^^^^^^^
I patched my DiskWarrior 5.2 using the DiskWarrior 5 Updater.app on a M1 Mac. The result was a DiskWarrior to 5.3 (Intel) that will launch on the M1, will scan, & repair HFS+ disks. It was not a Universal app.
I patched my DiskWarrior 5.2 using the DiskWarrior 5 Updater.app on a M1 Mac. The result was a DiskWarrior to 5.3 (Intel) that will launch on the M1, will scan, & repair HFS+ disks. It was not a Universal app.
There are some issues that Disk Utility just won't repair in my experience. Apple's expectation is that you were running a Time Machine backup all along, which sometimes isn't possible. Apple expects you to wipe, reinstall, restore in case of stuff that DU won't fix.
Up until Monterey, you used to be able to just wipe a drive with Disk Utility in HFS+ format, designate it as a Time Machine drive, and start backing up.
In Monterey and up, when you designate a Time Machine drive, you are required to enter a password to encrypt the backup.. the system then wipes the designated drive in APFS format (you don't get a choice) and you get an encrypted backup by default, you don't even get to name the drive, the system just calls it "Backup of <<your hostname>>"
So it's even more important that we have an APFS repair utility as I've had previous TM HFS+ backups go wonky and DW helped save the data in a lot of those instances.
They wrote that several years ago. But if you look closely on the web site they have said NOTHING about version 6 since then. Not even a "we're still working on it".
Not exactly… This is what Alsoft said on 10th January 2023:
We are working to release DiskWarrior 5.3 with Apple Silicon compatibility to rebuild macOS Extended (HFS+) Volumes. We will then focus on DiskWarrior 6.0 with the ability to rebuild APFS Volumes. There is no release date yet for the next major version of DiskWarrior.
twitter.com
So, they said recently that they are working on DiskWarrior 6.0. As I said before, they took seven years to update DiskWarrior from 32- to 64-bit. Expect DiskWarrior 6 for APFS in due time, which may be years from now.
We are working to release DiskWarrior 5.3 with Apple Silicon compatibility to rebuild macOS Extended (HFS+) Volumes. We will then focus on DiskWarrior 6.0 with the ability to rebuild APFS Volumes. There is no release date yet for the next major version of DiskWarrior.
Tweets with replies by Alsoft Inc. (@diskwarrior) / Twitter
DiskWarrior is a utility program designed from the ground up with a totally different approach to preventing and resolving directory damage.
So, they said recently that they are working on DiskWarrior 6.0. As I said before, they took seven years to update DiskWarrior from 32- to 64-bit. Expect DiskWarrior 6 for APFS in due time, which may be years from now.
By the time Alsoft finally comes out with that new version of DiskWarrior (that supports APFS), Apple will have moved on to another filing system...! 
That is not my experience on two counts.
1) Create an APFS volume with the name of your choice. Ask TM to use it and it will be reformatted with the same name.
2) The TM backup disk is only encrypted if you ask for it to be encrypted.
It is easy to do and is much more robust than the old HFS+ format.
I have never needed DU to fix an APFS drive - either internal or external SSD or HDD. But if I did, "wipe, reinstall, restore" is easy and quick enough.
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If that person is Rusty Little, that's all they need, the man is a wizard with HFS+, he needs time to program in strategies for the new APFS scheme and its not like its territory that's been covered by other people.
DW 5.3.1 is basically 5.3 modified to run under the most current OSes and support Dark Mode.
DW 5.3.1 is basically 5.3 modified to run under the most current OSes and support Dark Mode.
Where did you get such information about "only one person working (part time) on Disk Warrior 6"?
There was a discussion thread last year, sorry I didn't bookmark it, and I can't remember if it was on MacRumors. Someone had gotten in touch with Alsoft and was able to wrangle out a statement from them that I paraphrased in my statement here. I believe they also mentioned that Apple had not been very forthcoming in answering any questions from Alsoft about certain ambiguous details about APFS and so they were working with incomplete information, which is why everything has been dragging on their end. It appeared that APFS was still a moving target and changes were still being made to the specs. Sorry I don't have any concrete details.
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For whatever it’s worth:
I have been more than skeptical about the probability of this “next major version” of Disk Warrior ever surfacing, yet this week I needed some help with the current version of Disk Warrior, contacted Alsoft’s support email and received assistance immediately until my problem was resolved.
I have been more than skeptical about the probability of this “next major version” of Disk Warrior ever surfacing, yet this week I needed some help with the current version of Disk Warrior, contacted Alsoft’s support email and received assistance immediately until my problem was resolved.
I have not had success making a Big Sur Diskwarrior Recovery Disk yet. It says that the USB stick is unreliable. But the same stick can make a bootable Catalina Disk. I have upgraded to Diskwarrior 5.3.1 and Diskwarrior Recovery 1.4.1. I have an Intel Mac mini 2014. Anybody have any luck?
I hope DiskWarrior 6 comes along soon, I have an APFS disk that’s acting like it could use some help. I tend to think it will happen eventually, and they said they would make it. They don’t seem like a big outfit. I’m sure something like this is very tricky to develop. It hasn’t been done before as far as I know, it’s new, probably it’s a lot different than HFS+ with new things to learn and various theories to test on approaches, and I don’t know the exact words for this but it’s using very low level information in a clever way that even Apple didn’t do with Disk Utility, or at least not publicly released, if they have a similar tool. Given the company’s reputation revolves around not screwing up when dealing with already problematic disks, and it’s highly technical, it probably requires a lot of r&d and testing and that’d probably include breaking APFS intentionally and seeing all the ways it can break and then figuring out how to fix it. Probably it’s good a product like this is not rushed as it’s critical it work reliably and in multiple scenarios, but damn I wish it’d come out.
Diskwarrior saved me a few times, but I have few HFS+ disks. Given the time since the introduction of APFS there seems to be massive technical or Apple secrecy issue. I hope we see something - crossed fingers Alsoft!
www.alsoft.com
DiskWarrior 5.3 & APFS — ALSOFT
www.alsoft.com
I've long given up the ghost on Diskwarrior. Does anyone remember iPartition, or iDefragment, programs used to "defrag" Mac disks. They were great for the time, but time moves on. I don't think it's economically feasible for Alsoft to continue with Diskwarrior. They should spend their time (and money) on working on new apps that address a function we need but isn't covered. Otherwise they'll just follow the path of Kodak.
The Auryn wrote:
"Does anyone remember iPartition, or iDefragment, programs used to "defrag" Mac disks. They were great for the time, but time moves on."
I do.
The software company that created "iPartition" and "iDefrag" has graciously made both of those apps FREE for downloading and personal use:
(scroll down to see "the museum")
I still have numerous disks in HFS+ format, and these tools remain useful.
"Does anyone remember iPartition, or iDefragment, programs used to "defrag" Mac disks. They were great for the time, but time moves on."
I do.
The software company that created "iPartition" and "iDefrag" has graciously made both of those apps FREE for downloading and personal use:
(scroll down to see "the museum")
I still have numerous disks in HFS+ format, and these tools remain useful.