DiskWarrior and Leopard PSA

12.03.07 | Apple, Ramblings

From MacFixIt today…

Running DiskWarrior on startup volumes with Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard installed can have a problematic effect on permissions. The problem, according to Alsoft, is that DiskWarrior includes a repair permissions routine similar the one performed by Apple’s Disk Utility, but has not yet been updated to be compatible with the changed repair permissions routine used by Mac OS X 10.5. In other words, running the repair permissions routine in DiskWarrior while booted from the DiskWarrior disk (or booted from any other startup volume) is akin to running the version of Disk Utility included with Mac OS X 10.4 (Tiger) — a no-no if the target of the repair is a Mac OS X 10.5 volume.

And from the same article, Alsoft’s support site says…

You should not use any utility to repair permissions of a Leopard start up disk while started from Mac OS X 10.4.x or earlier. Permissions will either not be be repaired or will be repaired improperly. This is true whether you repair permissions with Apple’s Disk Utility, DiskWarrior, or any other third-party utility.

This makes total sense, but should still be noted for those who might think of trying it. Tiger and Leopard are as much two totally different cats as Panther and Tiger were. Don’t ever use one kitty to fix the other!

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4 Responses to “DiskWarrior and Leopard PSA”

  1. Robert - 12.20.07

    I think it’s a pity that you repeat MacFixit’s FUD (which I guess they need it to jack up the traffic to their website).

    As you can read on http://www.alsoft.com/DiskWarrior/support.html DiskWarrior will work o.k. with Leopard, there are just some things to check if you run it from Leopard itself. No restrictions if you run it from Tiger or the DiskWarrior CD.

  2. Jim - 12.21.07

    Well, Robert, I think it’s a pity that you’re not taking into account just who the average users of DiskWarrior are — not so technically savvy individuals who more than likely would go about running DW without stopping to think of the potential consequences.

    To me, having to worry about caveats (such as the ones AlSoft gives) when running a disk altering utility is a recipe for potential disaster for unwitting users. In my book, “sort of not” compatible is still not compatible. I stand by my post.

  3. Rod - 01.04.08

    I see where you’re coming from Robert, but I would entirely and unreservedly agree with Jim’s rationale here. Consider how many millions of machines must be owned by ‘civilians’ like me, who can only bring a non-technical consumer’s approach to the table. The first glimpse of that “However, …” is enough for me. I’ll wait for the updated version with full Leopard compatibility. I know, I know, I’m a wimp : ))

  4. smaugthewyrm - 01.12.08

    well, this warning came too late for me. i have hosed my leopard install. all apps work fine, logged in as root. otherwise all of the adobe apps are broken. others have partial function. vlc for example will not save any permissions now.

    a fix for the above would be nice.

    doh.

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