Drive Genius going Subscription!

[BasilFawlty]

I have been a happy Drive Genius (Prosoft) user for a long time. Lately I started getting popups for a new "subscription" based Drive Genius. I contacted Prosoft and it seems they are going to move to a Subscription system. I HATE subscription-based Apps. This is very disappointing in that, once they roll out this new subscription model I'm told they will no longer support/ upgrade the non-subscription version I currently paid good money for.

Drat!

 

[Partron22]

Gotta make a living somehow. Apple store's req for constant updates requires constant work.
We'll not be seeing the end of subscription models anytime soon.

 

[BasilFawlty]

I don't mind paying a fair price for software, and even paying to upgrade for major upgrades, but with subscriptions, you keep paying forever. That makes me want to look for alternatives. Then, if you are auto renewing your subscriptions you need to make sure your family knows what subscriptions need to be stopped when you die!

 

[dumastudetto]

I don't mind paying a fair price for software, and even paying to upgrade for major upgrades, but with subscriptions, you keep paying forever. That makes me want to look for alternatives. Then, if you are auto renewing your subscriptions you need to make sure your family knows what subscriptions need to be stopped when you die!

You keep paying as long as the software is useful to you. In a way, subscription pricing is more honest. It lets you know how much it will cost to stay current with software updates, and from there - you can determine whether the price is reasonable weighed against the value the software brings to you.

If this is an app you rarely use, and rarely look to upgrade, then their demand for subscriptions would be a good reason to try and find an alternative application. You have to weight it all up, because almost everyone will have a limit as to how many software subscriptions they are willing to take on. Is this app one you need to budget for, or is the money better spent elsewhere?

 

[honestone33]

I thought both Drive Genius and Disk Warrior still have issues with the APFS format. I myself use (and rely on) TechTool Pro, and it works very well with APFS formatted devices. So far, it is still not subscription based. And I just recently signed up for the Catalina upgrade for a slight discount. Most likely will be available in December or January.

 

[BasilFawlty]

Is this app one you need to budget for, or is the money better spent elsewhere?

It's an app I really like but I don't use it often enough to justify a subscription for. I will be looking for alternatives when I finally upgrade to Catalina (when I buy a new iMac)

 

[Mr_Brightside_@]

I thought both Drive Genius and Disk Warrior still have issues with the APFS format. I myself use (and rely on) TechTool Pro, and it works very well with APFS formatted devices. So far, it is still not subscription based. And I just recently signed up for the Catalina upgrade for a slight discount. Most likely will be available in December or January.

How do you use it with APFS drives? Their documentation indicates support is not complete for APFS.

 

[BasilFawlty]

I thought both Drive Genius and Disk Warrior still have issues with the APFS format. I myself use (and rely on) TechTool Pro, and it works very well with APFS formatted devices. So far, it is still not subscription based. And I just recently signed up for the Catalina upgrade for a slight discount. Most likely will be available in December or January.

Thanks, I'll check out TTP.

 

[honestone33]

How do you use it with APFS drives? Their documentation indicates support is not complete for APFS.

Hmm, never realized that. But I do not use any of the Optimization Tasks inside TTPro, as I have SSDs inside both of my Macs (and all my external drives are SSDs). The tasks I run via TTPro are:

Memory Test
SMART Check
Partition Map
Volume Structures
Video Memory
Sensors Test
File Structures
Fans Test
(On my Mac Book Air Only) Battery Check
Volume Rebuild

So, according to that link from Micromat, I might not be getting a "full, complete" Volume Rebuild. Never have had any issues, so I seem good to go. Not sure if those issues are being addressed/fixed in the upcoming version of TTPro for Catalina. But using both Onyx and TTPro (along with my own daily clean up efforts) keep my Macs "lean, mean, and clean".

 

[Riqiv]

There is nothing wrong with subscription based service...but when you switch the company should be polite to long-term customers and have some real answers.
Here was my review of the service on MacUpdate:
19 September 2019
I rate DG5 five stars before it lost support to monitor Time Machine Hard Drive, however... I am getting ads for DG6. First I'd like to say DG has saved me heartache several times with my iMac HD and externals failing when Techtool Pro didn't find anything. For $85.00 they are offering a yearly subscription which is bound to be higher if I don't grandfather in. Now the bad side: DG can NOT monitor Time Machine anymore. Customer Service can not tell me when and if they will rectify this. No warning was given customers when this happened and it slowed my iMac to a crawl and took me days to discover that DG was the culprit. I told them if you can let me know that DG6 is available you certainly could let customers know when something becomes deprecated in DG5. I have to turn off ALL external drives (8 including Time Machine) from monitoring and Prosoft had no answer as to whether or not they would allow us to turn off drives individually in the future. I asked: When DG6 subscription becomes public will there eventually only be support for the subscription model (yes, is the answer)? Their answer was "There is no further information at this time. More will be known upon the official release of version 6." Really unconcerned (or uninformed) support and yet DG5 has been the best protection I've had so far. However, without the ability to monitor my external HD's I don't think I can upgrade to DG6.
___
And others:
https://www.macupdate.com/app/mac/17099/drive-genius/reviews
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I gladly pay a subscription for Sibelius, my music composition program, but they grandfathered in customers with a 3-yr cheaper subscription, were POLITE, and had answers.

I will try contacting Prosoft again because frankly, their drive pulse save my a__ a couple of times. (I have 8 external drives.)

I will look for alternatives though, even subscription based.

 

[GerritV]

For an app that used to be a one time purchase of, let say, $10 - I wouldn't mind paying a yearly subscription fee of $10. However, for that I expect the developer to come up with a substantial yearly update.
Two problems here:
1- I haven't yet seen a developer that lived up to my expectation.
2- Quite some developers are charging a heavier subscription fee that the initial selling price of their app.

 

[ImaxGuy]

I have Drive Genius 6, and want to cancel auto renewal. The don't offer ANY easy way to do this that I can see.

BEWARE. 😡

 

[thebart]

I'm grateful my most used utility, keyboard maestro, is still one time payment. Upgrade to new major version requires additional payment, which I'm happy to do. But if they go subscription, I'm going to stay with the current version forever. If I can.