DiskWarrior and Big Sur

[Earl Urley]

Alsoft posted a new page regarding DiskWarrior and Big Sur compatibility.

macOS 11 Big Sur — ALSOFT

www.alsoft.com

In a nutshell, they're going to release a new version (5.3) via a free, downloadable that will work in Big Sur and on M1 Macs.

It will still only fix/repair HFS+ volumes only, it won't touch APFS volumes, whether they be startup or data (Time Machine volumes.)

 

[CoastalOR]

Alsoft posted a new page regarding DiskWarrior and Big Sur compatibility.

macOS 11 Big Sur — ALSOFT

www.alsoft.com

In a nutshell, they're going to release a new version (5.3) via a free, downloadable that will work in Big Sur and on M1 Macs.

It will still only fix/repair HFS+ volumes only, it won't touch APFS volumes, whether they be startup or data (Time Machine volumes.)

Thanks for the link and information, but to Alsoft I would say so what? DW 5.3 will recognize M1 Macs & Big Sur but it can't do anything with them since M1 & Big Sur are APFS and DW 5.3 will STILL NOT support APFS! It will still only support HFS+.

DW is becoming not relevant and useful since newer Macs have been using APFS since 2018 (High Sierra was released September 2017 & new Macs released since 2018). It is a shame since I am a DW customer and have used it for quite a few years (since DW 2).

 

[Marx55]

Looking forward to DiskWarrior 6 (hopefully, within three to six months, as they said in Twitter), which will rebuild the directory of APFS disks. Then, time will tell if it is useful. I expect it will be less needed than with HFS+, since APFS is more robust, but still will be a life-saver when issues arise with APFS. Because they do arise. Search the Internet for horror stories about it…

 

[steve62388]

Wow! Still doesn’t have proper support for APFS? They’ve had three and a half years to get into gear. Pretty slack. It’s not like they have any other product distractions, fiddling about with file systems is their raison d’être.

Every macOS release DW users post about APFS support (or lack of it) and it’s always ‘coming soon’.

 

[weckart]

Wow! Still doesn’t have proper support for APFS? They’ve had three and a half years to get into gear. Pretty slack. It’s not like they have any other product distractions, fiddling about with file systems is their raisin d’être.

Every macOS release DW users post about APFS support (or lack of it) and it’s always ‘coming soon’.

Apple has had three years to provide documentation about how to write to APFS volumes so that utilities like DW or TTP can actually update their products. From what I can gather, Apple took a year after releasing APFS before providing documentation about how to read such volumes. The bottleneck still seems to be Apple's lack of transparency.

 

[honestone33]

Note that Tech Tool Pro works fine with the APFS format. I use it every week (along with Onyx), and that combination hols me keep my Macs "lean, mean, and clean". An update for Big Sur compatibility will most likely be released in January. That's good, as Big Sur is still not stable enough yet, even with V11.1 due to arrive soon.

 

[Marx55]

There is a lot of confusion in this topic. There is no utility that can rebuild the directory of APFS disks yet. That includes DiskWarrior (Alsoft), TechTool Pro (Micromat) and Drive Genius (Prosoft Engineering). TechTool Pro web page is confusing about it and actually misleading if you do not read with extreme care, but Micromat explains it clearly in their knowledge base documentation and forum. In short, TechTool Pro can repair (not rebuild) APFS disks, and for the former it just uses fsck, as Disk Utility does. Just run it and check Activity Monitor to see which process is running. Please, prove me wrong!

 

[honestone33]

Understand. However, Tech Tool Pro is the only third party utility that can work safely with APFS-formatted disks. It also performs other useful functions. And based on my experience, it works well "together" with Onyx. I run Onyx first, then Tech Tool Pro, and the two of them help in keeping both of my Macs "lean, mean, and clean". Of course, I also do a good amount of disk cleanup on my own, which helps a lot. Most folks neglect to do that.

 

[Earl Urley]

DiskWarrior 5.3 & APFS — ALSOFT

www.alsoft.com

The next major release of DiskWarrior (DiskWarrior 6.0) will include the ability to rebuild APFS disks. Apple released a majority of the APFS format documentation in June of 2020 . Our developers are now using this documentation to update DiskWarrior in order to safely rebuild Apple File System (APFS) disks.

DiskWarrior 6.0 is in active development and coming soon. Hopefully.

 

[mikzn]

Thanks for the link and information, but to Alsoft I would say so what? DW 5.3 will recognize M1 Macs & Big Sur but it can't do anything with them since M1 & Big Sur are APFS and DW 5.3 will STILL NOT support APFS! It will still only support HFS+.

DW is becoming not relevant and useful since newer Macs have been using APFS since 2018 (High Sierra was released September 2017 & new Macs released since 2018). It is a shame since I am a DW customer and have used it for quite a few years (since DW 2).

I agree - was a paying client of DW for many years - but I don't see any benefit to buy it again - never really saw any value in the past - what does it really do? - Data Rescue saved me a few times over the years - but I can't remember any reason to keep buying Disk Warrior

 

[weckart]

I agree - was a paying client of DW for many years - but I don't see any benefit to buy it again - never really saw any value in the past - what does it really do? - Data Rescue saved me a few times over the years - but I can't remember any reason to keep buying Disk Warrior

DW has saved me countless times. The fragility of HFS(+) at times and every other utility failing to save the volume. Data Rescue and others are fine when all hell really breaks loose and you are cutting your losses but having every data file spat out with a long anonymous filename and no filetype to help you means that it really is a last resort when you only really want one or two particular files and have days to spare.

I haven't had a volume corruption on APFS yet, so the jury is still out on newer iterations of utilities until that time happens.

 

[Eli Kabong]

Alsoft have been promising to deliver support for APFS-formatted disks ever since Apple started using that format, which was Sierra, March 27, 2017 - over four years ago. They have yet to deliver. I'm thinking they will drop it in the too-hard basket. Meanwhile, I have moved on to using TechTool Pro to repair APFS drives with Directory issues. It's a slower process than DiskWarrior but at least it's capable of doing the job.

 

[CamNYC]

Disc Warrior 6.0 is *still* unavailable! To you guys who tout the sturdiness of APFS, let me say this: I’m glad for you that you’ve been lucky so far. I’m less lucky. My brand new MacBook Pro M1 corrupted an APFS drive that’s still fairly new and never gave me problems on my intel Mac. I had the drive plugged in my new MacBook and all of a sudden I got a message saying the drive “kept disconnecting”, which I thought was strange, since that didn’t seem to be the case. When I checked It, I noticed several folders were missing. I then ran “First Aid“ on it which I deeply regret. Beforehand the drive was mountable and I just didn’t realize the severity of the damage. After “First Aid”, which ran for a few minutes before quitting and telling me it failed, and recommending I “backup the drive”, it no longer mounts, and its name even has disappeared. I wish First Aid would recommend I backup the drive before wrecking it. I‘m great with backups of my SSD, but this was a fairly new drive where I’d recently put lots of personal files that I hadn‘t yet backed up anywhere else… The drive was partitioned into 2 volumes, APFS and HFS+ for time machine. The HFS+ partition seems fine. First aid did report errors with it but didn’t fail the process and in any case I had no problems with that partition. If this was an HFS+ volume, I bet first aid could’ve fixed it.

I ‘m upgrading my old license of TechToolPro after reading you guys here, and will try that. It’s like the drive just slipped away from me for no reason. I also don’t want the mess of recovery: I spend time organizing my media and video footage to keep all accessible and easy to locate: getting a thousand random files would be a nightmare. Although of course I’ll take it if it’s all I can get…

I still remember Disk Warrior, many years ago, doing what no other piece of software could. But this open-endedness and incapacity to again and again meet their promises and projections has turned a once reliable brand into the last thing one would want to have to rely on…

 

[Eli Kabong]

I have also mostly given up on DiskWarrior in favour of Tech Tool Pro although DW is still viable on Time Machine drives which are still HFS+ format.

 

[ipedro]

Disc Warrior 6.0 is *still* unavailable! To you guys who tout the sturdiness of APFS, let me say this: I’m glad for you that you’ve been lucky so far. I’m less lucky. My brand new MacBook Pro M1 corrupted an APFS drive that’s still fairly new and never gave me problems on my intel Mac. I had the drive plugged in my new MacBook and all of a sudden I got a message saying the drive “kept disconnecting”, which I thought was strange, since that didn’t seem to be the case. When I checked It, I noticed several folders were missing. I then ran “First Aid“ on it which I deeply regret. Beforehand the drive was mountable and I just didn’t realize the severity of the damage. After “First Aid”, which ran for a few minutes before quitting and telling me it failed, and recommending I “backup the drive”, it no longer mounts, and its name even has disappeared. I wish First Aid would recommend I backup the drive before wrecking it. I‘m great with backups of my SSD, but this was a fairly new drive where I’d recently put lots of personal files that I hadn‘t yet backed up anywhere else… The drive was partitioned into 2 volumes, APFS and HFS+ for time machine. The HFS+ partition seems fine. First aid did report errors with it but didn’t fail the process and in any case I had no problems with that partition. If this was an HFS+ volume, I bet first aid could’ve fixed it.

I ‘m upgrading my old license of TechToolPro after reading you guys here, and will try that. It’s like the drive just slipped away from me for no reason. I also don’t want the mess of recovery: I spend time organizing my media and video footage to keep all accessible and easy to locate: getting a thousand random files would be a nightmare. Although of course I’ll take it if it’s all I can get…

I still remember Disk Warrior, many years ago, doing what no other piece of software could. But this open-endedness and incapacity to again and again meet their promises and projections has turned a once reliable brand into the last thing one would want to have to rely on…

I had an APFS SSD corrupted in the same way. Nothing too urgently critical on that drive, though it was an archive of files that I expect I’ll need. Been waiting for DiskWarrior to get their act together but I’m starting to concede that DW6 will never happen.

DiskWarrior saved me a few times so I’m trying my best to be loyal and to buy the next version, but I’m losing hope. I might have to get something else.

Did TechToolPro fix your drive?

 

[Earl Urley]

Alsoft has mentioned on their website that they will be releasing DiskWarrior v.5.3, which will essentially be their M1-compatible version of v.5.2. It will still only rebuild HFS+ disks but there is no ETA / schedule mentioned.

However, they have removed the top yellow banner on their website that used to proclaim that DW5.2 doesn't support APFS, but don't worry, 6.0 will..

If you go to

DiskWarrior 5.3 & APFS — ALSOFT

www.alsoft.com

They still briefly note that they are working on 6.0 and APFS compatibility, but if you didn't memorize that previous URL, there's no way you can spot it on their site unless you type diskwarrior 6.0 into their internal search tool.

 

[Marx55]

DiskWarrior 5.3 to rebuild the directory of HFS+ as native application on ARM-based Apple Silicon Macs was announced to be released soon on November 2020. And then again saying that it was in testing phase on January 2021. It does not make sense that it has not been released yet, except if key engineers have left Alsoft for some reason (coronavirus? underpaid? accident? passed away?). The main one is Rusty Little (Project Manager). Someone has some insider information? Lives nearby and can check if Rusty Little still works at Alsoft?

DiskWarrior 6 is other beast, since it should rebuild the directory of APFS disks, which depends on Apple releasing all required documentation and API. So, maybe we see it, or maybe it will be never released. Reverse engineering does not work here, because it could have catastrophic consequences. Either Apple discloses all information and API, or there is no way to make a reliable rebuild of APFS disks. But DiskWarrior 5.3 should have been released many months ago, as said above.

Conclusion: if DiskWarrior 5.3 is not released, much less DiskWarrior 6. What a shame!

 

[Bandaman]

They still haven't updated this app in two years. This company is ridiculous.

 

[Earl Urley]

They're at the mercy of Apple who was slow to release the documentation they needed to write APFS compatible DiskWarrior.

The APFS format is also still a 'work in progress' so it's hard to write a repair utility for a disk format that keeps changing with each major release.

Not trying to white knight for them, but they are resolute in wanting to release apps that work right 100% out the door, but hard to do that when Apple keeps playing Calvinball with the format they need to work with.

 

[CoastalOR]

I now can't use DiskWarrior to optimize the directories on my HFS+ disks any longer since I got a 2021 MBP with Monterey. Here is my post in another thread:

macOS Monterey Working/Not Working Apps

DiskWarrior fails to launch. It fails to communicate with required system software. I tried reinstalling DiskWarrior, but the problem remains. I still use the app to optimize directories for my HFS+ external drives.

forums.macrumors.com

I can't even report the problem since their Web Support page is so out of date. The pull down menu for macOS versions only goes up to 10.13. Processor selections are also out of date. Ridiculous.

ALSOFT - Makers of DiskWarrior.

DiskWarrior is a utility program designed from the ground up with a totally different approach to preventing and resolving directory damage.

www.alsoftinc.com

Their support page asking for your information is even not secure! Really?!

 

[Earl Urley]

You could always try emailing tech.support@alsoft.com.

The last time I ever emailed them, they told me to disable SIP to get a certain function working, which felt odd..

The other day I ran Disk Utility 20.1 from Monterey and it actually resized the Core Storage Logical Volume and repaired something I forgot to take a screenshot of, which is a lot more than when I was getting fsroot errors where the only advice I could find was to reformat the drive?!

 

[ImaxGuy]

I now can't use DiskWarrior to optimize the directories on my HFS+ disks any longer since I got a 2021 MBP with Monterey. Here is my post in another thread:

macOS Monterey Working/Not Working Apps

DiskWarrior fails to launch. It fails to communicate with required system software. I tried reinstalling DiskWarrior, but the problem remains. I still use the app to optimize directories for my HFS+ external drives.

forums.macrumors.com

I can't even report the problem since their Web Support page is so out of date. The pull down menu for macOS versions only goes up to 10.13. Processor selections are also out of date. Ridiculous.

ALSOFT - Makers of DiskWarrior.

DiskWarrior is a utility program designed from the ground up with a totally different approach to preventing and resolving directory damage.

www.alsoftinc.com

Their support page asking for your information is even not secure! Really?!

Over a year later, and STILL no DW 5.3 or Apple Silicon support. Sheesh. This used to be my go-to app for disk maintenance, sadly going the way of Norton Disk Doctor and FWB Hard Disk Toolkit.

 

[jdw13]

When I opened DW 5.2 to repair an external HFS+ disk, I was prompted 5.3 was out.
I've updated and it seems alright. I've never received notification of an update, but should be on the mailing list. The updated version for current owners is at DW 5.3 updater. Seems to work fine for me on my 2014 MBP running Big Sur latest. It claims to run on the newer Macs, OSes, and M1 platforms but I have not put that to a test.

Note: To keep from giving the wrong impression, there is no change in what it will repair, only HFS and HFS+. The files on installer are from 30Jan2023, so perhaps an official announcement is in the works.
Presumably, functionality is the same as 5.2 but now version 5.3 will at least run on newer machines and repair external disks.

I updated my DiskWarrior USB stick with the installers, and it would not boot on my MBP with Big Sur, and I have not tried to make new recovery disk.

Files on updater are 30Jan2023, so perhaps an official announcement from ALSOFT is in the works.

 

[Earl Urley]

It's actually v5.3.1 now.. Alsoft released an updated updater that makes DW compatible with Dark Mode and other system compatbility tweaks.

 

[Nicole1980]

Files on updater are 30Jan2023, so perhaps an official announcement from ALSOFT is in the works.

Don’t hold your breath. DW is dead in the water.