Disk Warrior

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A friend recommended I buy Disk Warrior to "take care of" my MacBook running Snow Leopard. The version I bought was 4.1.1, so the web site said I had to download 4.2 for Snow Leopard. Okie-dokie. The only way I could download it was to a clean DVD (a CD wouldn't work), then was told to start it using that "new" DVD. When I did start my system with the new DVD, it STILL showed 4.1.1. being called up. Two questions, please:

1 - How do I actually call up the Disk Warrior program? Even clicking on the Disk Warrior "Helmet" icon doesn't help... it still calls up 4.1.1.
2 - What is it supposed to do for me?

TIA
 
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I've run the DW 4.2 update to produce a 4.2 DVD disk - so I know it works. Somewhere in the your process, your new DVD did not update - it appears that somehow only a duplicate DVD was made in your case.

I would suggest you get a new blank DVD and start the update process again. You will need your original 4.1.1 DVD. Here's the link to the starting point of the update:

DiskWarrior 4 Version 4.2 Update
 
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billwill
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Thanks, Sputacus

This time, it worked! Go figure... your input must have inspired my MacBook. So I now have a Disk Warrior 4.2 DVD.

When I go to use it, do I just insert it into the drive and be prompted or something else? Should I go ahead and use it now?

Also, is there any "regular" thing I need to do with Disk Warrior, like every week or month or so?

Thank you VERY much for your help. I'm a Mac newbie and need all the help I can get.
 
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Pop your disc and reboot. After the chimes hold down 'C' and you will boot from the disc. Then let it run under the 'Rebuild' button and be patient as sometimes it does take quite a while. Find it a good idea to drag a copy of DiskWarrior to Utilities. You can then build a graph showing error per cent. When it gets to say 5%, run from the disc again.
 
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This time, it worked! Go figure... your input must have inspired my MacBook. So I now have a Disk Warrior 4.2 DVD.

When I go to use it, do I just insert it into the drive and be prompted or something else? Should I go ahead and use it now?

Also, is there any "regular" thing I need to do with Disk Warrior, like every week or month or so?

Thank you VERY much for your help. I'm a Mac newbie and need all the help I can get.

I've been doing the following at least once per month on my internal drive, or if my machine seem to be running sluggish or slower than normal, or if there where any major changes to my machine (major update or upgrade to the OSX or applications):

1. "Directory" - Rebuild the directory. The "Graph" feature allows you to see how many items are out of order. It will tell you that an optimized directory will have "0" items out of order, but in most cases there will still be a few items out of order after running the rebuild - anything less than 1% out of order after running the rebuild is fine.

Keep in mind that this procedure will dis-mount your internal drive from your system (the drive icon will disappear). Don't let this alarm you - the drive needs to be free from your system for this to run. Also before it make changes to your directory, DW gives you the opportunity to review the changes it will make if you continue. It advises you to inspect each change. Personally, I have been allowing it to make the changes without inspecting - NEVER had any problems with the changes made by DW. Plus I always have an updated clone of my system in case of problems. I have yet to encounter any problems with DW in the 5 months I've been using it.

2. "Files" - be sure to check both, "Repair Disk Permissions" and "Check All Files and Folders" (the latter is the only option available when working on a non-bootable drive).

3. "Hardware" - just a test to see if your internal drive is working.

______

I'm fairly new to Macs myself (since 2/09). But from reading the forums, more than once it was advised if you can have only one application for preventative maintenance on a Mac, it would be DiskWarrior. If you could have two, it would be DiskWarrior and Tech Tools Pro. A third utility that is highly recommended is Onyx (and its FREE).

Good luck!!!
 
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billwill
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Disk Warrior problems

I put the 4.2 DVD in the drive, then shut down, waited a minute, then powered back up. The Disk Warrior icon came up on the desktop as well as the box with the 5 or 6 choices.

My "Macintosh HD" icon is always on my desktop. I selected that drive for the graph which showed 29% of its items are out of order. However, it never gave me the option to Rebuild but said, "Directory cannot be rebuilt because this is the Startup Disk." And another site said "The Directory is not on your Desktop." However, it IS on my desktop?

Obviously, I'm not doing something correctly. Any advice will be appreciated. Thanks.
 
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I put the 4.2 DVD in the drive, then shut down, waited a minute, then powered back up. The Disk Warrior icon came up on the desktop as well as the box with the 5 or 6 choices.

My "Macintosh HD" icon is always on my desktop. I selected that drive for the graph which showed 29% of its items are out of order. However, it never gave me the option to Rebuild but said, "Directory cannot be rebuilt because this is the Startup Disk." And another site said "The Directory is not on your Desktop." However, it IS on my desktop?

Obviously, I'm not doing something correctly. Any advice will be appreciated. Thanks.
To rebuild a directory, you will need to run DW from a different drive than your target drive (in this case your "Macintosh HD"). You can do this one of two ways -

1. Boot your computer from the DW 4.2 DVD. Running your computer for the DW DVD will free up you Mac HD - you will then have all options available to you. NOTE: I've never booted from the DVD - I've read that it can take several minutes, so be patient (this is why I use the second method...)

2. Make a clone of you Mac HD (using "SuperDuper!" or "Carbon Copy Cloner") onto an external HD. Then boot your system from the external HD clone. From there you will be able to access DW as you would from your Mac HD and have all options available to service your Mac HD. This is how I use DW.

Good luck!!!
 
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billwill
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Thanks again!

I booted from the DVD and it worked! It optimized "Macintosh HD". I'll do this about once a month from now on. Thanks very much for your help!
 
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Booting from the disk is that 'holding down 'C' after the chimes' business. Nothing will happen without that just boot into your operating system. Same applies when booting from an install DVD.
 

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