SystemWorks 2.0 shipping, including all other Symantec X utilities

[simX]

MacFixit.com is reporting that SystemWorks 2.0 (the Symantec package that includes Retrospect 5.0 – yes 5.0 that includes OS X support – and Norton Utilities 7.0 and Norton AntiVirus 8.0) is shipping. They also say that all other Symantec utilities that are built for OS X are shipping as well, which implies that Norton Utilities 7.0 and Norton AntiVirus 8.0 are shipping.

This is more good news for OS X! Now we have antivirus software and (finally) a GOOD piece of disk utility software that is built for OS X (sorry Drive 10, you just don't cut it). I hope Norton Utilities 7.0 includes Speed Disk 7.0 that is also built for OS X.

One interesting note abount SystemWorks 2.0 -- it includes a special version of Alsoft's DiskWarrior. What the! Bundling a competing application with your own? That's a tactic of which I've never heard before. It's just the "Recovery Edition", so it's not the full verison of DiskWarrior, but it's a nice addition to the box anyway. It's not clear whether this version is OS X native or not, but I would assume it is (which means the OS X version of DiskWarrior is on the way!).

[amo]

I was under the impression that Norton software isn't as good for Macs as other sytem utility software that's out there. I'm guessing you would recommend this Norton package over say, TechTool Pro or DiskWarrior? (not including the anti-virus software, of course)

[simX]

I used to swear by Norton Utilities, and it's still the disk recovery/repair software that I usually go to first before any other. However, I'm all for the combination repair thing, and I like to have all 3 recovery utilities (DiskWarrior, Norton Utilities, TechTool/Drive 10) on hand in case one doesn't work.

With that said, I've had surprisingly few problems with my cube in relation to disk problems (I had a problem with the touch-sensitive button on the cube being super-sensitive, and a problem where the optical drive failed, but no disk problems) that the "fsck -y" has served me well. I do have TechTool 3.0.6 installed on OS 9.2.2 on my iPod just in case, though. I'll need to get my hands on the latest versions of DiskWarrior and Norton Utilities, though.

[amo]

Pardon me asking, but what does 'fsck -y' do? I imagine it's a terminal command that checks the harddisk or something. Do I just open up terminal and run that if I'm having OS X problems?

[simX]

It's best to run the "fsck -y" command when you've started up in single user mode, so that no processes interfere.

To do this, restart your computer, and hold down the the command (or the Apple key) and the S key.

Once all the UNIX garbage stops flowing by, just type "fsck -y" and it'll verify/repair your disk. If there are any errors, type "fsck -y" again and have it do a second run. Keep redoing the "fsck -y" command until it tells you that your disk is OK. Then you can just type the command "logout", and it'll continue to boot up normally.

[serpicolugnut]

From the literature and Symantec's website, it looks like SpeedDisk is a OS 9 only product. The OS X version of NUM/Systemworks will not include a carbonized version of SpeedDisk.

I believe one of the reasons Symantec didn't make SpeedDisk OS X native, is that they expect people to boot from the CD anyway to optimize, hence running in X is superfluos (in their eyes)...

I'll save my money for a tool that runs in OS X, and doesn't seize your system while performing disk checks/optimizations. Heck, if Symantec can do this for Windows Norton, they can do it for the Mac...

[simX]

Damn, that sucks. Maybe I should abandon Norton Utilities... whatever.

[simX]

Interesting.....

Now MacFixIt.com is reporting that Norton Utilities 7 and Norton AntiVirus 8 are EXCLUSIVELY made for OS X. NU 6 and NAV 7 are provided for OS 9 users.

Hmm... do I sense a trend?