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Mac Forum / Applications / Mac Applications / December 2007Is MicroMat DiskStudio any good?
Hello, Today I noticed a partition app available from MicroMat, called DiskStudio. Of course, the manufacturer's description makes it appear to be a wonderful tool for those of us who use disk partitions, so I'm interested in any user experiences before trying it out for myself. I'd be using the software on a G4 Sawtooth and a G4 Quicksilver, each housing a 120GB slave drive in addition to their stock internal masters. The masters each hold one partition for OS X Tiger (10.4.11). The slaves each hold a partition for OS 9.2.2, so I can use them for Classic Mode as well as stand-alone bootable volumes, as I'm not yet ready to bid farewell to OS 9. All feedback will be most welcome! Thanks, Eric > Today I noticed a partition app available from MicroMat, called > DiskStudio. Of course, the manufacturer's description makes it appear to > be a wonderful tool for those of us who use disk partitions, so I'm > interested in any user experiences before trying it out for myself. My feeling on these kinds of partition-on-the-fly software is that they are a waste of money. All of them will insist that you make complete full backups of your data in case anything goes wrong during the partitioning. My thought is that if you have full backups, why spend $49 on their program in the first place. Use the free tools that come with OS X to reformat and repartition, and then restore your data from the backups. You might find this software worth the $49 if you repartition often. But users who find they need to repartition often probably could avoid doing that if they just got bigger disks. And disks are cheap these days.  SignatureK. Lang may your lum reek. >My feeling on these kinds of partition-on-the-fly software is that they >are a waste of money. All of them will insist that you make complete [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] >with OS X to reformat and repartition, and then restore your data from >the backups. I used several generations of Partition Magic on Windows machines, back when it made sense to have multiple partitions, but gradually it became used less and less. The last time I used it was to format a too-large drive to FAT-32 so I could put it in a USB drive enclosure so that it could be used by both Windows and OS-X. > > Today I noticed a partition app available from MicroMat, called > > DiskStudio. Of course, the manufacturer's description makes it appear to [quoted text clipped - 13 lines] > avoid doing that if they just got bigger disks. And disks are cheap > these days. Hmmm...I'm someone who likes to go one-shot with partitioning, when possible, and if a drive is small (under 100GB), I don't always partition it, depending on its use. I do have a very simple and effective back-up strategy, but still need to work out a regular schedule for it. Thanks, Eric > Today I noticed a partition app available from MicroMat, called > DiskStudio. Of course, the manufacturer's description makes it appear to > be a wonderful tool for those of us who use disk partitions, so I'm > interested in any user experiences before trying it out for myself. I've no experience with DiskStudio, and I don't recall ever having read any comments about it in the c.s.m. groups. It has a 3.5 out of 5 rating at versiontracker.com, though, and you can read user comments about it there. Frankly, even if it had a 5.0 rating, I wouldn't trust it with any volumes I didn't already have backed up - there's just too much that can go wrong along the way > I'd be using the software on a G4 Sawtooth and a G4 Quicksilver, each > housing a 120GB slave drive in addition to their stock internal masters. > The masters each hold one partition for OS X Tiger (10.4.11). The slaves > each hold a partition for OS 9.2.2, so I can use them for Classic Mode > as well as stand-alone bootable volumes, as I'm not yet ready to bid > farewell to OS 9. What would you be using DiskStudio for if you decide to buy it? You certainly don't need to partition a drive to have both OS X and OS 9 on it. Signature<http://designsbymike.info/shop/mac.cgi> Mac and geek T-shirts & gifts <http://designsbymike.info/shop/musings.cgi> Muckraking T-shirts <http://designsbymike.info/shop/prius.cgi> Prius shirts/bumper stickers <http://bogart-tribute.net> Tribute to Humphrey Bogart > > Today I noticed a partition app available from MicroMat, called > > DiskStudio. Of course, the manufacturer's description makes it appear to [quoted text clipped - 9 lines] > volumes I didn't already have backed up - there's just too much that can > go wrong along the way That's my feeling about doing things to the drive on the fly... > > I'd be using the software on a G4 Sawtooth and a G4 Quicksilver, each > > housing a 120GB slave drive in addition to their stock internal masters. [quoted text clipped - 6 lines] > certainly don't need to partition a drive to have both OS X and OS 9 on > it. That's true, but I like having the two systems on separate volumes, if not on separate physical drives. Overly cautious? Perhaps, but in case something goes Horribly Wrong, I'd rather have one OS mangled than both. I'll probably reconfigure to a more efficient and still safe arrangement of everything at some point. For now, though, I'm comfortable with things as they are. Still considering upgrading the Sawtooth's CPU, but I'm in no hurry for that. Thanks, Eric > Today I noticed a partition app available from MicroMat, called > DiskStudio. Of course, the manufacturer's description makes it appear to > be a wonderful tool for those of us who use disk partitions, so I'm > interested in any user experiences before trying it out for myself. DiskStudio's only advantage over the pre-Leopard versions of Apple's Disk utility is that it does non-destructive partitioning. The only advantage of that is speed: it's faster than backing up, partitioning, and restoring -- assuming the drive doesn't need to be optimized to make room for a new partition. But live partitioning also carries some risk of data loss, so the safe way to do it is by backing up first; and that reduces the speed advantage. The question is whether the remaining speed advantage is worth the cost of the software, especially considering that this isn't something you'll be doing very often. (DiskStudio's list price of $49 is about what 160GB hard drives are going for these days.) > > Today I noticed a partition app available from MicroMat, called > > DiskStudio. Of course, the manufacturer's description makes it appear to [quoted text clipped - 11 lines] > this isn't something you'll be doing very often. (DiskStudio's list > price of $49 is about what 160GB hard drives are going for these days.) Point taken. Even with all the time I spent using OS 9.2.2 exclusively (meaning from the time it came out till just this year), once I had my partitions set, I usually left them alone. Silverlining was my hero for that, and I miss its functionality, but I've been learning what a different computing world it is with a Tiger in my tank, so to speak :) Thanks, Eric In article <ericp06-FDA718.23265509122007@newsclstr03.news.prodigy.net>, Eric P. Peterson <ericp06@sbcglobal.net> wrote: > > > Today I noticed a partition app available from MicroMat, called > > > DiskStudio. Of course, the manufacturer's description makes it appear to [quoted text clipped - 17 lines] > that, and I miss its functionality, but I've been learning what a > different computing world it is with a Tiger in my tank, so to speak :) Eric, I don't understand your comment re: missing SilverLinig's functionality. It runs perfectly for me under Tiger 10.4.11, performing automatic back- ups every night with total reliability. Is your experience at odds with this? Cheers! Mudge > In article > <ericp06-FDA718.23265509122007@newsclstr03.news.prodigy.net>, Eric P. [quoted text clipped - 33 lines] > > Mudge Following up my own message here . . . Mea culpa, mea culpa! I got my Silver*'s confused. Eric was discussing SilverLINING and I was discussing SilverKEEPER. Doh! I hate when that happens! A senior moment: Please ignore . . . Cheers! Mudge |
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