test reliability

[swordfish86]

This is something i have been wondering for a while now.

How reliable are things like the apple hardware test, and techtool deluxe ect
in terms of testing your mac for problems (and finding them)

For example, if you were to test a mac using these apps and the result says it finds no problems, how confident can you be that you are 'all clear' as it were. If you check these after you have any small upsets, or even just on a regular basis and these sufficiant, or is there and othe apps or ways of testing that give a more 'set in stone' answer??

many thanks

 

[Legolamb]

Good question. I'm no expert, but I’ve had problems that TechTool Pro, Norton Utilities, and Disk Warrior (these are the heavy weights) never found or fixed but Disk Utility did. Sometimes I had to run TechTool Pro three times to fix a problem. If you are log-savvy, you can actually see what is happening in some problem situations.

 

[flyinmac]

Well, when they find a problem, they are usually right.

But, when they don't find a problem, all it means is that they didn't find a problem.

The memory is the hardest thing to get a definite result from. Bad memory will often pass all tests, but still cause a system to go into a kernel panic.

So, when a problem is believed to exist, old fashioned knowledge and physical trouble-shooting are still the best method for proving the culprit.

But, if the hardware test does find the problem, then it saves you some work.

It is also far easier to get Apple to agree to a service request for something if you can provide an error code from their own hardware test utility. Otherwise, if you can't prove the problem (such as intermittent problems) and can't provide an error code, you may have to live with a defect (it's been known to happen).