APPLICABILITY  I've had mixed experiences with Drive Genius. A while ago I got it as part of a MacUpdate promo and had a disastrous experience trying to use the "DriveSlim" option--and that with only the last three options checked (no checks for large/duplicate files, just unused optimizations, non-Intel binaries, and cache/temp files). It basically froze/became unresponsive (although the purty *cough gimmicky* animations kept on going), while driving CPU usage through the roof. I had used a similar tool, Xslimmer, to remove PPC binaries/localizations in the past, and the interface was much more user-friendly, responsive, and a whole lot faster. To this day I will never again trust Drive Genius to accomplish this task, update or no. The DriveSlim function may well be fixed by now, but I will never find out.

In fact, I was just about ready to never touch Drive Genius 2 again, when yesterday I decided it was time for a defrag. The first time around I tried TechTool Pro 5, only to discover that, when it comes to defrag (what it calls "Volume Optimization"), it might as well be called "Torture Tool" for what it does to the system. 5 hours in, the CPUs and consequently the system fans were screaming, and it seemed to have barely made any progress. After researching online I discovered that multiple-day defrag sessions with this thing are common--what a joke. So I looked for an alternative. iDefrag seemed like the most-recommended way to go, but I didn't want to pony up more cash if I could just use a tool I already owned. Although I was aware of the defrag issues users had had with Drive Genius 2, they had supposedly been fixed with version 2.1.1, and as I was using version 2.2.1 (on my Snow Leopard machine) I decided to give it a shot. What a difference in comparison to TechTool Pro! The thing was done in 3 hours, with absolutely no fan noise. It freed up around 2.5 GB. Not bad.

In conclusion, Drive Genius 2 is definitely a mixed bag, if for no other reason than that its reputation has already been ruined, between the DriveSlimmer issue I experienced and the defrag, partition, and repair problems I have read about on the web. On top of that, they charged users for an upgrade that for the first time fixed the horrendous problems that should never have made it in in the first place--not exactly what one would call a show of good will from the developers.

I will say, however, that version 2.2.1 was able to defrag my Snow Leopard machine no problemo. So props for that. If they keep making solid releases maybe they can slowly--very slowly--win back some reputation. But it will be a long and painful journey after the dogfood they served us in the   
(Version 2.2.1)

ICONZ113  Drive genius is a good application. I have purchased both drive genius and diskwarrior, in my opinion the 2 best. I only wanted to have one of them installed. After getting familiar with them I've decided to install drive genius and not diskwarrior. I did this because Drive genius can perform other tasks that are useful such as cloning drives, defraging, drive slimming, repartitioning, zero out data, perform verification tests, formatting, cloning, and a few other things. I felt I was better off having this installed over diskwarrior which only performs one function basically. However If my drive ever crapped out, I'm reaching for my disk warrior DVD first. So if you ask me which product is better at recovering your harddisk in a jam, my answer is diskwarrior. If you ask me which of the 2 Id rather have installed Im gonna say drive genius for the other things it can do. But when shiz hits the fan, Diskwarrior all the way. I like having the tool set drive genius offers available to me, if my boot drive crapped out having disk warrior installed wouldn't help me anyway, but when theres an emergency I'm reaching for the disk warrior. so if your looking for something that will bring your HD back get diskwarrior but if your interested in the large toolset drive genius offers then get DG.  
(Version 2.2.1)

DANIEL LEDERGERBER  I have been using Drive Genius for a while, but i don't use most of the functions. I just tried to repartition a rather big drive... I recommend not to use it - and, instead, to repartition drives the old way if possible. DG's function is somehow scary and takes as long as backing up and recopying the data.  
(Version 2.2.1)

STAINER  Without RAID-support Drive Genius is not particularly useful. The fact that not even DriveSlim™ works with a RAID is just plain weird.  
(Version 2.2.1)

JAN13  NO (!) partitioning PLEASE !!!old way is The Way !!!

I have lost a 100 Gb of data using partitioning future of this other vise very good software. This partitioning option is simply nightmare ...  
(Version 2.2)

CHRISWILLARD  Recenty the Prosoft technical support folks went beyond expectations in helping solve a problem with a drive partition that refused to be defragmented. After the simple things failed to solve the problem they offered to examine the entire disk image of the drive in search of a suspected corrupt file that was causing the error.

They were able to find the file and provide instructions for deleting and re-constituting a non-corrupt version. Kudos for going the extra mile. Both the drive and I am now happy campers.  
(Version 2.2)

GORDON BELL  Hi all,

We did see some Defrag issues that would affect less than 1% of customers in past versions. Although that's a small percentage, considering the sales of Drive Genius, that was affecting a group of customers and we had strived to improve on that.. Even with a warning message to recommend a backup before running Defrag (or any major disk utility type of feature) we still saw many that didn't backup and if they were one of the very few that had an issue, it was indeed pretty upsetting (Understandably). Of course, when that happened, and there was no backup in place, it was frustrating and those customers would post their experiences (which is what MU is for..)-- Unfortunately most of the 99% that didn't have a problem usually wouldn't post and therefore doing a search would typically only show the posts of those that came into problems.

Defrag was greatly improved with 2.1.1 and therefore we're not seeing that at all now. However, with any disk utility software it's always recommended to have a backup before you work on your drive (we include the Clone feature which provides you with the fastest most thorough type of backup with a quick click).

We're very excited about these latest versions of Drive Genius as they represent improvements in all features, especially the popular features like Defrag and Repartition and DriveSlim.

Even with the improvements and continued performance boosts, we still always recommend a backup before using any disk utility. Any company that tells you to use their disk utility product and not worry about backing up first is indeed leading you down the wrong path, so we'll never really change that recommendation. Some people will take that recommendation and think, "Oh, wow, they want me to backup, their product must not be very stable." but that's just the case with this type of software. Even apple warns customers to backup before doing major changes or upgrades to your system---

We do appreciate all the feedback and I truly welcome those comments as they help us strive to improve our product.

Cheers,

Gordon from Prosoft-  
(Version 2.2)

OSXI  I had heard some amazing things about Drive Genius, but hearing about a $5 charge to download an update is troubling. In professional music software there is copy protected software that requires registration for it to work, and to get updates. There must be many ways that the developer could "verify" that the people downloading are registered customers. Also, to here about people loosing their whole drive while defragging is not very encouraging. I hope these issues get fixed and policies changed, because I've heard other good things about this product.   
(Version 2.2)

ALEXANDRE ACKERMANS  Ditto for corrupted disk after optimizing with drive genius on macbook Pro os x 10 5 6

I used it succesfully twice in the past, but after such a bad experience, I am extremely wary to try it again. Unfortunately the lost time+work on that problem will never be made up by any speed gains due to a succesful optimization.

To optimize, the most efficient and free techinque seems to boot from an external CD, create a disk image copy to an external drive, reformat and recover the disk image. This will copy all files as a contiguous, defragged block. No hassle no backup on the fly defrag seems too risky to try.  
(Version 2.2)

MACLOVER1.1  Also lost a disk to optimisation with this.. interface looks swell but who cares... I've wanted to "hate" TechTool Pro for years.. but TTP has never failed me.  
(Version 2.2)

MJKPHOTO  I used Drive Genius to optimize the HD in my MacBook Pro. When it was finished, I had a blank drive. Not the kind of optimization I wanted. So I'm hesitant to use Drive Genius in light of that catastrophic crash.   
(Version 2.2)

ZEBA  To charge for the 0.0.1 upgrade that mainly consists of bug fixes, that should not have been there in the first place, is outrageous. 5$ or 1 cent, it's all the same. Supporting developers with such an attitude is a big mistake. I suggest that you do not buy this software as long as they do not change the upgrade policy for the better.  
(Version 2.1.1)

BOBZOZUS  For Those Ticked off About the Drive Genius Upgrade Policy.

PolkaDot below offers a free way to update Drive Genius 2.1 to

2.1.1 without paying the upgrade fee. Big thanks goes to him!

Be sure to read the replies to his post- as they offer further

clarification of how to burn the new drive genius 2.1.1 start-up

disk. It works- and is fairly easy to do!  
(Version 2.1.1)

CASTLE  Seemed a reasonable app until the upgrade policy turned out to have hidden costs. Now I cannot possibly recommend it.

At the very least they should provide a small tool to convert an existing disc image to one with the latest version on. The comments below indicate that it would be a relatively simple matter to do this.  
(Version 2.1.1)

D.B   A couple of comments. . . . . First, I think it is misleading and bad business for ProSoft, the developer, to NOT provide the link for the upgraded app as a bootable DVD image. Life is complicated enough, and to have to pay even a small amount, $5, for the privilege of downloading the updated DVD image is pathetic. They probably spend more on managing that payment process than dollars that are generated, AND, the cost in customer goodwill is added to THAT. If they offer free upgrades to paid customers, then downloads for making a bootable disk for a product such as this should absolutely be included. . .

And, to the commenter re: the Apple advice re: defragging - I saw severe fragmentation of my partition after doing an 'expand my partition size'. Doing a DriveGenius defrag fixed this and made my system run much faster. . . . .In normal use, defragging may not be needed in the MacOSX environment, but if one starts messing about with partitions, I can see the need for the process.  
(Version 2.1.1)

PABLOHENRYGUZMAN  the animated interface is extremely easy to use and even kind of fun, as drive utilities go. it's friendly.

I've called tech support a number of times, and the service is consistently outstanding.

the nondestructive repartition feature definitely saves time versus the old way I used to repartition drives.   
(Version 2.1.1)

JAN13  I have purchased $5.00 DVD update ... I did burn my own DVD and it works absolutely FANTASTIC !

Tested on Mac G5 and New !7 Inch Powerbooks.

I am very happy with this update !!!  
(Version 2.1.1)

CHELSEL  This software is NOT compatible with Bootcamp. It will destroy your partition without warning!!! Avoid this software, seriously. Thankfully Time Machine saved the day.  
(Version 2.1.1)

DONMONTALVO  Read this KB article:

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1375

Armed with this knowledge, please avoid this product. Too many people lose data to these kinds of sugar pill utilities.

Don Montalvo  
(Version 2.1.1)

GEORGEW  I would avoid this program like the plague. It has corrupted three of my hard drives and could not bring any of them back to life. I had to use the Apple Disk Utility to get them back working. Stick with it, you are safer.  
(Version 2.1.1)

POLKADOT  This applies to owners of Drive Genius 2.1 who received a dmg to burn a bootable DVD with their version already.

You can simply convert that dmg with disk utility into a read/write one, mount it, trash the old Drive Genius.app and replace it with the the new one (v2.1.1). If you burn a DVD from this disk image you can boot your mac with it and use the new version without paying the 5$ download fee for an updated dmg.

The updated "old" DVD still has MacOS 10.5.5 on it of course, butl it works flawlessly with my (early 2008) Mac Pro.  
(Version 2.1.1)

JAN13  I LOVE this application it never let me go down as well as their technical support which is friendly (!) and always there for you.

With Disk Warrior this is my Swiss Knife to repair and maintain the arsenal of G5 Macs.  
(Version 2.1.1)

THE GRAPHIC MAC  While I truly like this product, I'm put off by the fact that I can't download the Bootable DVD update without the $5 charge. I understand that bandwidth costs money, but that should be taken into account in the cost of the software. The update is useless without a bootable DVD because most of the useful features of the app require you to boot off the DVD or an external drive. I hate to have to install Leopard on an external drive simply to run this utility.

Other than that, it's a great product.  
(Version 2.1.1)

FLASH1296  Excellent set of Utilities.

Best feature is resizing partitions "on the fly"  
(Version 2.1.1)

TOM_BOVO  I have been a user of Drive Genius since version 1. The sales staff and tech support staff have always been responsive and easy to deal with, and the product itself has kept my Macs going. I disagree with the reviews here about the DeFrag function--it has worked for me, but then I make sure the disk is repaired BEFORE and AFTER running the Defrag. As a matter of fact, I think its time to use this on my desktop again!  
(Version 2.1.1)

VICTORB  This is one of the best utilities in the Mac Universe.  
(Version 2.1.0)

KVARMA  Great Product!!!

I needed to repartition my external drive without deleting any of my important data. Since using this product for the first time I wasn't sure what steps to take. I contacted tech support and they have send me some instructions on how to combine my partitions. I was amazed how the product works very well!! It was a little time consuming but it works!!! I've also ran the defrag function to defrag my main drive. My drive feels as good as new!! A definite must buy!!!  
(Version 2.1.0)

SUM1  I upgraded to 2.0 thinking it will resolve my HD problem. I keep getting a node error which can't be repaired. I contacted tech support and was told that I need to keep trying until it can fix it which may take about 10 to 15 tries. He claimed that some customers where successful with this method. Well each try cost me about 30 minutes before getting an error and have tried several times without success.

I even reinstalled Leopard then ran the DG with the same errors. This is a lousy product that can't solve a problem with lousier tech support that have no straight answer.  
(Version 2.1.0)

STEVEW1  I am a user of DG 2.1, I have used Drive Genius since 1.0, and can tell you it is an outstanding product that works as advertised. I maintain a network of 10 Macs and it is software I would not do with out. I defag the drives on a regular basis and have yet to have a drive not boot afterward.  
(Version 2.1.0)

WHOSYOURTATOR  Defrag feature should be renamed the destruct feature. Drive Genious 2.1 completely hoses my disk on my Mac Pro. The first time I tried it the disk wasn't even bootable. I had to restore from Time Machine.

Later on, I tried the degraf again. I created a disk image of my drive first, this is a must. The second time I booted to OS X install disk and ran a permission repair and a verify to ensure there were no errors on the disk. I ensured the volume would still boot, then rebooted into Drive Genius. I ran verify and no errors reported. I then ran defrag. Defrag completed and the computer rebooted. Files in OS X where hosed. Some I could not delete. I could not save files. I rebooted and my Mac Pro would just shut down during boot. Blah!

This time I restored from a disk image and was back up. Don't waste your time with Drive Genius.  
(Version 2.1.0)

RY.MA  Horror. After a Defrag process the fixed disk is no longer boatable.  
(Version 2.1)

CHRISWAN  I got this as a part of recent MUPromo bundle

The defrag algorithm need some improvement

It need to fill the beginning of the disk with system files instead of filling it with random files

I was surprised to see a 600MB file of Wing Nuts 2 data file put at the beginning of the disk

I use competitor's defrag app I already have to sort it out, it can put important system files at the beginning of the disk, and left some empty space in case Mac OS X would like to fill it in with whatever files it sees fit  
(Version 2.1)

GIAMOULA  I obtained Drive Genius 2.1 as a special offer from OWC bundled with a higher-capacity replacement drive for a MacBook Pro 2.33. It sounded like a good all-in-one tool for $30. I wanted to verify (and repair if necessary) the old drive and duplicate it before swapping drives. I ran the verify utility but it failed because of an unknown error. I tried the repair function and got the same message. I decided to just duplicate the old HD to the new one, but DG didn't recognize the firewire drive, even after repairing with Apple DiskUtility.

Now to be fair, I didn't try ProSoft support because I was doing this late on a weekend night, so I can't complain about ProSoft support. I may have gotten a reasonable explanation and solution. But shouldn't it just work out of the box like the other products? Wouldn't a *Genius* do that?

I ditched DG, found my old DiskWarrior4 cd, downloaded the free update to 4.1.1, created a new DW boot CD and it ran flawlessly - it found a couple of minor problems. Then I downloaded the free version of SuperDuper and duplicated the hard disk - flawlessly. No need to contact support - these software packages just did their jobs.

Maybe this product does work if you have time to get support, and maybe a revsion or update will render it more useable, but until then a more apt name would be DriveDunce.  
(Version 2.1)

UNCOY  Thank you to all of you guys who lost your data with the Defrag tool for reporting it here.

Drive Genius 2 has a lot of useless animation but there is no way such a buggy feature as Defrag should be out in the wild.

The benchmarking tool is okay I guess (I have InTech's SpeetTools Utilities as well and they do an even clearer job). I used some of the other testing tools as well (if the scan does work, that's a useful test but I think InTech has that as well).

I think I am going to retire Drive Genius now, before I lose data. I can't believe they allow the Defrag tool to be marketed or to run when it is in this condition. I really don't have a day and a half to set up my computer again after a Drive Genius explosion. If you want to defrag it's cheaper and faster to buy a second external backup drive (you need two backups to do this safely) to clone to the external drive and then clone back to your boot disk. Keep in mind that one of those backup drives has to be Firewire (so you can boot from it).

Clearly, the only Mac disk software you need - or is safe - besides DiskUtility, is Disk Warrior which has saved some buggy disks for me. Oh, and SuperDuper for backups.  
(Version 2.1)

DR.APP  Not so genius after all.

I purchased this app in a bundle and I decided to use it to defrag my leopard system volume on my mac. Everything when apparently fine until I sadly found that the volume had been severely corrupted by the defrag process.

Fortunately I had a backup of most of the important data.

I quickly removed this app from my app list and I wish I read reviews before attempting the defrag on such an important disk (like there were unimportant disks that is useful to defrag) since I would have found that I'm not the only one left in the dark by this app.

Don't trust this app.  
(Version 2.1)

PSCHONIG  I wish I had found this site as well before I purchased DG II from Other World Computing. Only half of the programs work, the others just sit there and nothing happens. I could not get "defrag" to work and now after reading the posts here, I am glad I did not pursure it furhter. I requested to return DG II to Other World Computing (OWC / Macsales.com) and OWC sent an email advising I had to contact Prosoft for the return since I had opened the package. I emailed Prosoft Customer Support, explained the issues I had with DG II and requested RMA to return for a refund. Their response, "We have a no-return policy." I will me disputing the charge to my VISA, providing my bank a copy of the rejection emails from OWC and Prosoft. I am sure once they read the emails, the charge will be reversed. Lesson learned, AVOID Other World Computing (OWC) and anything from Prosoft.  
(Version 2.1)

SIMONCOOKE  I acquired DG through the recent MU bundle & yesterday I thought I would try out the defrag on my (early model) Intel MacBook Pro.

Big mistake.

Despite an apparently successful defrag, DG left my internal HD in a corrupted state & it refused to boot or let me access any files from it. I had to erase the drive and restore from SuperDuper - luckily I had the foresight to backup beforehand and lost very little data.

It appears that the developers are well aware of the flakiness of their defragging code - given the dire warning they flash before you start the defrag. Needless to say I did not experience any power loss or interruption during the defrag and DG did not report any errors.

My drive was working fine beforehand, with no errors and a fairly recent install of Leopard.

That there exists so many reports of HDs being trashed should make anyone very wary indeed of using the defrag option at least. Although TBH I doubt very much I will try any more of DG's features - given the many hours it has lost me already.  
(Version 2.1)

BARRYB  I have found Drive Genius v2.1 to be an excellent and important addition to the software I use. I have found it ease to use and fast. It has done an excellent and fast job of defragmentation, scanning, repair to mention just a few of its available functions. It does require boot from a boot disk in order to do its stuff on the boot hard drive but that is normal for all of the software I have used in this category. When working with all of my external hard drives it works from my primary hard drive without the need of the boot disk.

I thought I would mention that I obtained my software through MacHeist and I had an initial problem. Prosoft's technical support was fantastic - well above average. They responded within one day and gave me the information I needed to get up and running. My experience is going to lead me to check out the other software offered by ProSoft.  
(Version 2.1)

MAXIMUSMEDIA  I spent the $100 on Drive Genius II to keep my Macs happy. All were running wonderfully, I just wanted to provide the best maintenance possible. I ran DG II defrag on a non-critical drive and all seemed well. Next I ran defrag on a perfectly functioning G-4 which DG II managed to render totally unbootable, unrecognizable and unusable. DG II would not recognize the drive that it trashed nor would it repair it. I contacted the manufacturer and have not heard a response in two days. I wish I had discovered this website before I wasted my time and money and now have to do serious repairs (hopefully successful). Over the decades I have used Tech Tool, Norton and Disc Warrior hundreds of times with absolutely no issues and have been able to fix many problems. Here it seems that Drive Genius II is a great way to quickly make your life and computer problematic and frustrating. What a great deal at only $100 (please note VERY sarcastic tone) . If you see this program anywhere near your Mac I suggest that you move it as far away as possible in case it is contagious.  
(Version 2.1)

ALEXLAND  If i had read this Site's review of DG, and in particular the one's written by people who obviously know what they're talking about, i never would have gone anywhere near DG. So while there are plenty of negative DG reviews on this Site (in fact, i would guess most of the DG reviews posted here are negative) my review is based on a difference experience--in particular, i never lost any data while using DG, rather i just found it too difficult to reliably use. Here are my experiences. Just after i bought DG (in January 2008), i tried to use for volume repair on my MBP, and it didn't work. I checked a few Mac forums and discovered that that DG cannot be used on MBPs with the Santa Rosa chips (those refreshed in June 2008). This was corroborated on DG's Site-but only after some digging. This information was never made available to me at the time i purchased it online. For this problem, DG blames Apple, yet Disk Warrior and TechTool work just fine on Santa Rosa MBPs, and have since they came out as far as i'm aware.

In addition, the majority of DG's "features" are only accessible from the DG start-up disk, which is fine, but booting from it is problematic. There is nothing difficult about inserting a DVD into your Mac, and clicking "Restart" while holding down the "C" key--and yet DG routinely failed. Disk Warrior, which i bought after DG repeatedly failed to do what it is supposed to do, gets this right, and in fact starts to work immediately upon reboot--it performs some prelim diagnostics and if it finds a problem then it gets to work fixing it (e.g., a Volume Repair) before the first user prompt .

In sum, as a Developer, i was impressed by the new DG UI, but pretty clearly there's nothing under it but a lot of smoke.  
(Version 2.1)

PAPAZAP  I had an issue with Drive genius2. And the tech at prosofteng had a very nice approach to my case. He suggested different venues and did a very good after sale service. I was pleased with my experience.

Papazap  
(Version 2.1)

JMKMMRR  I agree with the previous post. I used DG2 to defrag my original aluminum iMac. It worked perfectly. My Machine was much more responsive. Totally satisfied. The customer service a Prosoft is the best.  
(Version 2.1)

MACUPDATE ADMIN  I am truly confounded by all these reports of defrag disasters. I've used this software to defrag my internal HDs and Firewire HDs for some years now and with several different Macs: iBook, PowerBook, MacBook Pro, iMac; PPC and Intel.

I currently have a 2 year old MacBook Pro (2.33 GHz C2D) with a Mercury Elite Firewire drive. I have Drive Genius installed on both HDs and use the Drive Genius installation on the external Firewire HD to defrag the internal MacBook Pro HD, and vice versa. I also use the very same Firewire HD in conjunction with our daughter's year-old iMac to defrag her iMac's HD.

Never had an issue.  
(Version 2.1)

AZCACTUS2008  I bought the latest bundle with Drive Genius 2. I thought I would try and see how the defrag worked. BIG mistake. I screwed everything up. I had to re-install OSX. It has been a nightmare. Good thing I have a Time Capsule backing everything up. What I learned after all of this, is that you almost have to forget everything you learned about hard drive maintenance from your old PC. I learned the hard way.   
(Version 2.1)

JMKMMRR  Recently purchased Drive Genius2 and found, for some reason, the boot DVD would not boot my aluminum iMac. I contacted Drive Genius support via the Prosoft website, and heard back in very short order. Through a series of emails they were able to sovle my problem and provide me with a working version of the software I had purchased. The entire issue was handled with the utmost care. Great company. Great support. Great product.   
(Version 2.1)

MACLODGE  Drive Genius is part of the 2009 Holiday MacUpdate Bundle, which I just purchased. Today, Drive Genius caused massive directory damage (overlapped files) using it's defrag option.

The hard drive no longer boots Mac OS X, and Disk Warrior (a great utility) is now trying to undo the damage.

Avoid Drive Genius, and avoid the Mac User Bundle if your primarily buying it for Drive Genius (the other bundle app are great though).  
(Version 2.1)

JDUB800  I have to fully agree with the comments below - Drive Genius is worthless. I got it as part of the MU bundle a few days ago and thought I'd use it to defrag my HD as it contains a lot of files larger than 20MB. Bad move.

It 'found' a btree error which then stopped all the repair features of the program from working correctly. It's repair and rebuild features were unable to fix it. So I wiped my spare Time Machine drive and cloned the data...

I thought I'd run a couple of tests to see what happened (with the cloned data) and after an initial green light from the disk verification feature, tried the defrag again. Now I was getting file extent warnings - Again DG was unable to repair them. Support 'advised' me to format the HD. Easy way out, eh??

Finally, I decided the wipe the backup drive, re-clone and try one last time. The same thing happened. Now doing a final clone and then format and rebuild my internal HD - Without going anywhere near DG. What a waste of my time!!

In my experience, DG's defrag feature is seriously flawed. This is garbage - Don't go anywhere near it.  
(Version 2.1)

EGN  This is a nice interface with a lot of hot air under the hood. Period. Out of 2 Macs I used it on, one defragamented and is still working. Mind you, it did not really do much in terms of speed. The other, with an external FireWire HD which was the subject of the second defrag and had been working perfectly before, was turned into a brick. None of the DG utilities was able to fix it. Even the eternal Scan failed to report anything wrong with it.

So, I used Apple's Disk Utility, erased the drive, partitioned it again and now it works perfectly! Just cloned my disk using Carbon Copy Cloner.

I did contact support and they gave me the same response others have gotten about backing up (which I had) and that those utilities can mess up your disk, and that I had been warned by the program, and that even the guys at the Genius Bar used this to defrag clients Macs, etc., etc. All very nice but no fix to my problem.

So, in the end, no lost data but about a day worth of work gone down the drain. If I had not gotten this with the MU promo I would have had a fit. Disk Utility fixed what this $99 program could not.   
(Version 2.1)

MACNERD1984  Hard to really judge this app. On my MBP it worked flawlessly. Defragged, repaired, did it all and WAY faster than TechTool Pro. Unfortunately when I attempted to use it on my 24" iMac it hosed my HD completely. Thousands of files were left with "overlapping extents" and neither Drive Genius, TTP or DiskWarrior (which I had to buy to try and see if it could rescue my HD) could fix the problems. The entire weekend was taken up with trying to fixz the issues. In the end I had to take my cloned disk image (remember, backing up is always handy, kids), initialise my HD and restore it. Not good. The defrag appeared to go OK, but it was in the repair section that it all went pear shaped. No idea why. After the defrag I ran the verification, just to see everything was fine. It wasn't. Either way, I'm not best pleased with DriveGenius right now. Interface wise, it's pretty cool and I guess if it worked on one Mac but knackered up another I am getting a 50% success rate, but that's not exactly anything to crow about. The repair section also seems to be nothing more than a mirror of the Apple Disk Utility - Bit cheeky, that. Oh, and Disk Utility couldn't fix the overlapping extent files either....

So, DriveGenius has cost me not only the price of the SW, but also another $99.00 for DiskWarrior, which ended up not working anyway. That's a bit rubbish really so I can't endorse this app at this time. I should add that I realise that the use of any disk utility carries with it the possibility of failure. Why, I'm unsure, since I'd imagine that's the whole point of them - To prevent data loss, but there you go. Us mere mortals clearly expect far too much. DG Makes this clear before you defrag so you go in with eyes open.

Proceed with caution...

PS. I rated it high on value since I got it with the MU Bundle. If I had paid full price I'd be giving it a 1.  
(Version 2.1)

TITANIUMDECOY  I used Drive Genius to defrag my Macbook Pro's hard disk with no problems. It has a clean interface and many useful features. I highly recommend this product.  
(Version 2.1)

ESPIRIDION  Ten months ago I wrote that for $59 plus shipping I would not upgrade my copy of Drive Genius. Prosoft's upgrade fee was -and still is- insulting. Because of the recent MUPromo, for $50 I now have Drive Genius 2.1 as well as 10 additional applications.

Here and at VersionTracker there are many glowing reviews praising Drive Genius and Prosoft's customer service. My experience has been different. Hopefully Prosoft's service has improved. Fortunately Gordon and others from Prosoft (e.g., Valorie, John) take the time to help users who post here and at VersionTracker, but Prosoft has often dropped the ball when I have emailed them with support issues.

Regarding Drive Genius 2.1, I see no need and no use for the new animations. Is that the reason why the upgrade is expensive?

Back when Micromat's Drive 10 became available (2001) there was a certain "Wow!" factor given the beautiful interface, but in this case the animations add nothing to the program's functionality. Why spend time/money/effort on something so trivial for this type of program? It's not as though the previous version had an ugly interface. It is usable and practical.

It's not all bad, though. Prosoft did add some useful features with DriveSlim. Some features I will not use since they can potentially cause more problems (e.g., removing code, removing languages) and for other features I prefer to use different applications (e.g., Find Duplicate Files, FileBuddy).

In summary, Drive Genius is a good program hindered by questionable support and an absurd upgrade fee. I only got it since it came with the MUPromo bundle, otherwise I wouldn't have purchased it. But my rating should reflect the program's quality, and as I said, it is a good program.  
(Version 2.1)

MARGOLISD  Drive Idiot 2 just trashed my Macbook Pro hard drive after using the defrag tool. DiskWarrior spent 8 hours finding over 415 overlapped files before I gave up and recovered using Time Machine. I'm horrified to find this is a well known issue with Drive Genius 2. The fact the company haven't disabled this feature or even warned their customers shows you how much they care about your data. Don't buy.  
(Version 2.1)

WILDINI  Found Prosoft's support to be great. Got a real person within seconds. Friendly, non judgmental as I am a recovering Windows user and don't always know what I am doing in Mac territory. Nice user interface, product won't let you hurt yourself.  
(Version 2.1)

IRISHMAC75  A must have in your utilities - keeps you Mac running its best. Great company - dependable software!  
(Version 2.1)

IRISHMAC75  Excellent Company - dependable software! Worth every penny, and a bargain to boot.  
(Version 2.1)

RICHCASTILLO  Very good support from the developer. Answered my emails within the same day and after normal working hours. "Talked me through" my problem. I was playing around with Drive Genius and I thought I had damaged a drive by force quitting during a partition shift. At first I thought, what the heck, I'll just reformat the drive if the force quit messes me up. All the data was backed, anyway. What happened though is the drive refused to be formatted in Apple Disc Utility. ADU could find the drive but would run into an indefinite stall after beginning the format. To Drive Genius's credit, it was able to undo the damage that it allowed me to do through my curiosity.

Although the repartition interface seems clear enough at first glance, I found it somewhat difficult to use. Sometimes the buttons would go inactive (indicating that you can't do that operation right now) but no explanation why? And how do you move clockwise vs counterclockwise? It was not evident to me but the documentation discussed the merits of moving a partition counterclockwise.

Drive Genius is a very good and powerful utility. The truth is that with a utility program of this sort there are always going to be people in distress who post low star ratings. Its sort of like root canals. Root canals have a horrible association. As my dentist explained it to me, its not the root canal that is so unpleasant, its the pain from the preceding infection, so don't blame the root canal. I bought drive Genius because I knew someday it may be my root canal.   
(Version 2.1)

FORREST LOVE  Ok I'm a real jerk in terms of the software/hardware I've dropped mad cash on and have gotten no support. Paul and David from Prosoft were extremely patient and knowledgeable about my issues and it cost me NOTHING. Drive Genius has been a great tool for me and a few of my fellow Apple Video Editors. I'm just very impressed with both the product and their support, I'm not going to drop any names, but when you spend over $10K on a product and have to pay for a support call is BS. These guys are spot on, courteous, patient and knowledgeable. If you are a serious OSX user and have to deal with drive issues, DG will save your ass. I’ve seen many companies who want a $450 BS support contract. These cats do it for a product costing $100.00 for FREE which is well worth the price of DG... My Name Is Forrest Love  
(Version 2.1)

JAN13  AWESOME ! This is a MUST in addition to DISK WORRIER to keep Mac healthy and happy !  
(Version 2.1)

BACKPACKER  Tools of this type invariably advise having a recent backup ready, just in case something goes awry during defragging or re-partitioning. With cost of storage dropping and interface speeds increasing, just cloning that backup increasingly becomes a viable alternative to using such tools.

Maybe in recognition of this, drive-restore is found in iDefrag/iPartition to offset the risk of power-cutoff etc.. I mean, if it's risky, I may as well risk nothing more than an easy clone.

Another very useful feature missing from Drive Genius 2.x is partition table/scheme conversion, particularly when there's still a lot of switching going on between APM and GUID schemes etc. as Intel Mac usage grows.

Features like shredding, disk-checking/repairing, intializing, iconizing can easily be found elsewhere, but serious defragging and repartitioning tools are rather rare.  
(Version 2.1)

CHRISWAN  Wow, now they add XSlimmer capabilities into their app

Nice addition...  
(Version 2.1)

MACINTOSH SAUCE  I recently purchased this program in ProSoft's bundle with Data Rescue 2. Drive Genius is a fantastic program and defragments HDs really well IMO. Their customer service is also excellent. Earlier today, I emailed them for the link to the new DVD image for Drive Genius 2.1. Got a reply back in minutes - now that is top notch customer service!  
(Version 2.1)

VLDU2  As a new IMAC user, (though I've been using DOS-based computers for 25 years)I felt the need to find a good disk utility package to keep the hard drive working as it should. After doing my homework - comparing software and prices etc, I felt that Drive Genius 2 would meet the need. After finding it, for a great price from an Internet retailer, I bought it about a week ago. After discovering that I would have to boot the computer from the Drive Genius disk, in order to perform the needed tasks on the hard drive, I did so. I then attempted to Defrag the drive, and ran into an immediate problem with the 'catalog btree'. This appeared to be a show-stopper. I attempted to "Repair" the drive, without success. I then sent email to customer support and received excellent results. The problem was specifically explained, and explicit instruction given as to how to fix it. I was told to run "Repair" again, more than once if needed, and if that didn't work to run "Rebuild".

I ran "Rebuild" just once, and things worked as advertised. The btree catalog and the Volume header were restored without any problem. I then defraged the drive, again with great success. There were absolutly no bad sectors on the drive, and this produce is well worth the price. Thanks Prosoft.  
(Version 2.0.3)

SWASH  As someone who reluctantly switched from Mac 9.2.2 to OS10, I think the thing I missed most was having a decent disc utility either to check my drives out when I had a while to do maintenance or to get things working properly when something nasty arose. In fact I'd go so far as so say that finding Drive Genius gave me the confidence to know that I could put stuff right in OS10 and so I haven't booted up my old Mac in 9.2.2 for some time now, I almost feel a little unfaithful.

I have to say that the support I received from Prosoft Engineering is also excellent. They reply very quickly in my experience, and don't make you feel stupid for asking what might be to them, stupid questions. It's good to find a product that does just what it says it does.  
(Version 2.0.3)

DRADY  I've used v1.5 and earlier w/o problems on earlier versions of Mac OSX.

BUT ... just used 2.0.3 to defrag on 10.5.3 and had my volume damaged such that if fails Verify/Repair.

Reinstall time ... and pray the backup I took just before the defrag will restore cleanly.  
(Version 2.0.3)

DOUG BROWN  I bought Drive Genius 2.0.2 and it would not work with my new Mac Pro dual Quad. I started what turned out to be a long dialog with Prosoft Software via email. They were alway patience with my impatience essentially waiting for Apple to release information they need to make their program work with the Mac Pro. Finally, 2.0.3 was released and they walked me through the process to upgrade my current software and finally get the defragging function to work... and it all works great now. But it was Prosoft's technical support that came through and worked with during this process... always professional, always timely responses...

Thank you Prosoft!

Doug Brown.  
(Version 2.0.3)

JAMESDEMO  Hi Prosoft

I just received my disk from your company. After many years of using the other TTP. I must say that they telling me that you must pay for the latest up date again. Because it’s a few weeks past due, I decided to give your product a try. I must admit when my new disk did not work I was a little skeptical . But today I must say I can’t believe how easy and faster your product works. I did not make a boot up disk but just used it from a new reboot. Congratulations it is a great product. James.  
(Version 2.0.3)

FLASH1296  The current version (2.0.2) is priceless. It is beyond a Five Star production. Its feature set and ease of use are matchless. Along with Disc Warrior4.1, it is the only software utility that I suggest to my Mac consulting clients. NOTE: This is far preferable to TechToolPro, which looks great but has absolutely unreliable hardware tests.

A reviewer below obviously does not know how to properly burn a bootable Mac disc. (He probably tried to burn the disc with the image mounted. That is the most common mistake.  
(Version 2.0.2)

KAMALAKANTA  Hi!

Recently my main hard drive became seriously corrupted. A friend and I had to spend hours on end saving the info. to other drives and re-installing software. then I had to spend a few days re-installing and authorizing virtual instrument libraries which I use to do music.

Last night, working on a music project, I heard the computer do a "click" once every few minutes. It did not sound right.

Sure enough, the drive was corrupted again. I tried fixing it with Disk Utility (I have an Intel Mac, OSX 10.4.11) but the drive was too corrupted.

I had heard about Drive Genius from a friend, so I decided to buy it on the spot. I got the downloadable version, and it also showed that the drive was too corrupted for repair.

Thanks to Drive Genius and its "Duplicate" tool, I was able to copy all he information to a separate drive, INCLUDING all the software permissions.

This meant that once the process was over, I was able to use my virtual instruments libraries right away, no problem!

I was able to de-fragment the drives that needed it, and also to install the software in two different drives, so that if I booted from an alternate drive, I could still use it.

Buying Drive Genius was definitely a worthwhile investment, and I thank the engineers at ProSoft for a great product.

Kamalakanta Nieves  
(Version 2.0.2)

IGREG  Congrats to Prosoft, they turned a quality utility into a gold-plated mess that only works booted from an older OS. What kind of beta program did they run of version 2 ??  
(Version 2.0.2)

WAR  I purchased an update (Drive Genius 2.0.1) at the reduced price of USD59+. Installed it. Burnt a DVD of the .DMG file, hoping to do a Defrag of my HD by booting up on the DVD. Was unable to DrFrag or to Repair Disk (the only to functions I dare try) from the DVD. Sent a hail to the ProsoftEng support setting out clearly what my error message was. The imbecile that they have working in their support replied back with a number of inane questions regarding information, I'd already set out in my initial email. I played along and in my reply set out once again the precise error message I got when I tried the DeFrag and Repair Disk functions/applications. In response I get queried by the same support moron on why I was attempting to use these applications. WELL, I DONT KNOW - PERHAPS, JUST PERHAPS, THATS WHY I GOT THE SOFTWARE IN THE FIRST BLOODY PLACE - SO THAT I COULD CARRY OUT REGULAR MAINTENANCE ON MY IMAC HD!!

Quite frankly I was appalled by the absolute lack of support and the absence of basic intelligence in the type of response I got from ProSoftEng's Support staff in relation to not being able to run their software as promised on the box. Even when you do provide them with the information they require, you get asked why you are using those functions - why the heck not - why else would I have bought your damn software!!

I used the earlier version of Drive Genius with regular issues creeping up almost every second time I used it. I thought this upgrade in view of Mac OS X 10.5 would allow me to continue to maintain my HD as before but without those issues. Well!! I wasnt even able to get off the ground. Suffice to say I have asked for a refund and have been promised one by Andy Lau (their internal sales rep). Will be checking with my bank to ensure this is followed through.

I have Disk Warrior, but the earlier version. Will be waiting for them to release a new version so that I can run it on Leopard without issues. Suffice to say Drive Genius 1 &2 will be promptly thrown into my bin without further ado!  
(Version 2.0.2)

GLOBETROTTERDK  Thanks to Gordon Bell and Alan Lau. Prosoft lived up to their promise and I just received an upgrade free of charge. Others should be aware that submitting their serial number to the website isn't enough to get the free upgrade as the serial numbers are apparently not flagged by purchase date. You have to write directly to sales.  
(Version 2.0.1)

GORDON BELL  Any customer who purchased a full, new version of Drive Genius 1.x after October 1st, 2007 qualifies for a free upgrade to Drive Genius 2!

If you qualify, simply contact our sales team- If you bought directly from us, we can look you up.. You'll get a free boot DVD download link and a new serial number for Drive Genius 2... If you bought somewhere other than our online store, you only need a dated receipt.

Yesterday, in our release of Drive Genius 2, we also posted an all-new website. The free upgrade info had been posted for past 3.5 months, but was not present on the new pages yesterday (or this morning). We've since corrected that, and put that text on our upgrade page (thanks for the heads up!)

If any customers purchased the license today or yesterday, and now realize that they fall into that free upgrade range, they can simply contact us and we'll do a full refund, assuming they qualify according to the upgrade window.

I apologize for the sales person last week not informing you of an impending release. We've been telling customers of that release for some time now, and we even previewed Drive Genius 2.0.0 at Macworld in San Francisco last month (so it's not something we were hiding).. No fear though, you as well as many others do qualify for a free upgrade (4 month window actually!)....

Thanks for the support and please feel free to contact me or any other Prosoft team member if you need anything--

Cheers,

Gordon from Prosoft  
(Version 2.0.1)

GLOBETROTTERDK  I just purchased version 1.5.3 ONE WEEK AGO. Unlike most developers, I see no free upgrade offer for having purchased within the last month or two.

There is no way that the sales department did not know that a new version was being ramped up when I purchased Drive Genius. An honest developer and/or his sales department would have made the customer (me) aware of the upgrade and asked if they would like to wait for the new version CD and provide the download as a freebie.

I also purchased Data Rescue II last week. Is this going to be upgraded from version 1.2 to 2.0? Yes, I and I am sure, many others at MacUpdate have noticed that Drive Genius jumps from version 1.5.3 to 2.0.1.  
(Version 2.0.1)

ESPIRIDION  Wow, I'm entitled to a "special upgrade price of $59 plus shipping"

I'm definitely not upgrading.  
(Version 2.0.1)

GORDON BELL  Thanks for the heads up on the incorrect text for the demo limitations..

We launched a new site to coincide with the launch of Drive Genius 2 and it seems that the demo limitations text for DG 2 were incorrect--

Drive Genius 2 does indeed have a very limited demo. Truth be told, it's hard to have a demo of a utility like this (one that doesn't need to be installed, used for one-time maintenance, etc..)--

As far as the product and being able to trust us... Well, part of that trust comes from dealing with us, but you can also get some idea of the product simply from the fact that Apple uses Drive Genius at the Genius Bar (and you've been using Prosoft code for years now, since we've sold quite a bit of technology off to apple over the years...)...

That said, we've gone ahead now and updated the text to better explain the limits of Drive Genius (which, as mentioned, is very limited)...

Thanks for your feedback and update--

cheers,

gordon from prosoft  
(Version 2.0.1)

FATFREDDYSCAT  The demo information lies. The information for the demo states "The Drive Genius 2 evaluation copy is fully functional, although there are limits to how many times you may use each function." but when you try to run many of the functions, including the Integrity and Benchtest, the application reports "This feature is not available in the trial version of this application" and won't run that function at all. Not what I call "fully functional" by any measure.

Not only does this make it impossible to properly evaluate the product (and I'm not spending $100 on a critical utility whose proper functioning I cannot verify), does anyone really want to trust their system to a company that can't even post accurate information for their demo?  
(Version 2.0.1)

GLOBETROTTERDK  I have a copy of Drive Genius and need some advice with regards to a second drive in my G 5 single (OS X Tiger). I have a Seagate Barracuda (500 GB) drive that I would like at least one HFS+ partition (possibly 2 HFS+ partitions or one HFS+ and one FAT partition). The (one) HFS+ partition would have an OS X system. I would like to install Ubuntu PPC or YDL 6 (depending on which system includes a working sound support) on separate (2nd. or 3rd.) partition.

Should I just leave part of the disk unformatted and then create a Linux partition by using GParted during the Linux install or use Drive Genius?

Should I create the partition(s) with Disk Utility and then resize with Drive Genius or should I just create them with Drive Genius?

When using Drive Genius, I can see that when Disk Utility formats multiple partitions, there are some small, odd partitions on the disk as well. Does Drive Genius create these extra bits automagically or do they have to be created by hand?

Any advice would be appreciated.  
(Version 1.5.3)

KFARVER  I purchased Drive Genius so I could do backups and defrags on my laptop. When Apple replaced my laptop with the latest 2.4 gig intel version, I could no longer get Drive Genius to boot. Drive Genius Tech Support hung with me until I was able to download a beta version and get it to mount. I appreciate the fact that they were so helpful via the telephone or email.  
(Version 1.5.3)

AZJOJO  I had a hard drive filled with over 8 years of family pictures, as well as some of my writing. I had faith in the drive and had not done any utility work on it ever. My bad! It came up with an error that could not be fixed with Apple's Disc Utilities.

I bought Drive Genius and had immediate success. It is very easy to use, intuitive and comprehensive for my needs. I guess the fact that it was so simple and easy to get to the meat of the problem impressed me the most. I highly recommend it!  
(Version 1.5.3)

TATA  I recently had a problem with my MB. It simply continued to restart... never allowing me to login. On the advise of DG support I ran repair 10x then rebuild 10x. Each resulted in a FAILED message back along with a number of errors. I was able to login to my MB though.

DG tech support replied.

======

Could you tell us more about what happen to the drive?

Drive Genius has great success in repairing Drives, but like any other utility there may be some

situations that severely damaged drive may not be corrected.

If repair or rebuild did not work, we would suggest to use Data Rescue II and recover your data then

use Drive Genius to reinitialize your drive.

=======

I'm happy to report that even though DG did not have success in my case Disk Warrior did. I ran it once and it found & repaired alot of errors. Thank you Disk Warrior.

I'm not saying DG is of no use...it just didn't work for me in this case.   
(Version 1.5.3)

MEL5051  I was in trouble, I couldn't defrag, I couldn't repair I didn't know what to do!

My problem was this error " Invalid catalog btree depth information (4,1).

I sent a mayday e-mail to ProSoft Engineering. I got an immediate response!

Run Repair at least 5 times and up to 10 times if I could. If I got an error each time I was then to run Rebuild at least 5 times and again up to 10 times. EUREKA!!

Rebuild FIXED the problem and I was up and running defragment, which took 16 hours but the problem is GONE!

You have to buy ProSoft Engineerings applications. They come through for you with immediate responses and are very very patient and helpful!

These are quality applications people! You can't afford NOT to buy these applications!

Mel R.

LifeTime Member

Mac User Group Detroit.  
(Version 1.5.3)

JIM MONROE  "THE LEOPARD ATE MY DINGOS!"

Once upon a time, my G5 was happy... and then I installed Leopard and the leopard ate my dingos! I have the G5 Jive with three internal Seagate 750 GB drives utilizing a Sonnett Tempo Sata X4i and my drives all freaked out- Warning messages stating I should pull all my data off as these drives were failing. Disk Utility First Aid warned: "Invalid Node Structure-Volume Check Failed".

Of course I did disk permissions & repairs prior to the OS 10.5 install and disk utility stated all my drives were "ok".

After a restart- no drives appeared except my Macintosh HD. I tried the competitions drive repair/recovery product that everyone at the Apple Store claimed was great... but it failed.

Then I googled Mac drive failure and up came Prosoft's Drive Genius. I knew of Prosoft because I had to use Data Rescue a while back and it worked perfectly.

Knowing that it was the same programmer/engineering folks I took a chance. Drive Genius worked wonders on rebuilding my directory and all my dingoes are happy and healthy again.

I'll tell everyone I know to use the best, Prosoft, and forget the rest. I’m a Prosoft customer for life!

Cheers,

Jim Monroe  
(Version 1.5.3)

TOM_BOVO  This is the first tool in my bag of tricks to keep my Mac running. It checks, it repairs, it tests, it clones and more. The company has been responsive, and they are very fair in their pricing policy.

This is a great tool to have. I used used it to repair the disk, then cloned a Tiger system as a backup disk, then updated Tiger to Leopard. Perfect.

Hopefully, a Leopard compatible version will be here soon.  
(Version 1.5.3)

GORDON BELL  Hi, Gordon from Prosoft here,

I'm always shocked at some folks' postings here and this last one is quite interesting.

Drive Genius not finding any problems with a drive not booting is definitely strange. Drive Genius has been winning awards for the past 2 years (yes, even head-to-head against Diskwarrior). I'd recommend you contact our free technical support department since you're seeing results that are very non-typical.

I am surprised that you mentioned using Norton Utilities. Most folks know that that product hasn't worked well for years now...

As far as the serial number issue: If you have Drive Genius loaded onto the drive as an application (with the serial number loaded), then when you boot from the emergency CD it will not need the serial number... Yes, if you boot from the CD to scan a drive that doesn't have Drive Genius on it you will need to plug in the serial, but how often is you main boot drive crashing? Entering a serial number once should've really cause that much despair.

The serial number (as with all software), is the license key that proves you own the software.. There's not a whole lot of software out there that will run without a serial number.

The problem is that we really can't ship Boot CDs out that don't require a serial number cause that would allow anyone to make 10, 20, 500 copies of that CD and sell/distribute pretty easily. Hopefully you can see the reasons why the serial number is needed  
(Version 1.5.3)

VIRTUALRUFFY  So far I've found this software to be abolutely useless. To test this software I checked several drives that will not boot. I have run Diskwarrior and Norton Utilities first, both of which identify severe problems and cannot repair them. This program however says all is fine and finds zero problems. Pathetic.

Additionally when you boot from the cd to repair a drive some MORON at the company thought forcing you to register it to use it in this mode was a good idea! If you do not register it then its in 'trial' mode and even more limited in its pooor functionality. Again WHAT IDIOT THOUGHT IT WAS A GOOD IDEA TO MAKE THE EMERGENCY BOOT FUNCTION OF A REPAIR DISK REQUIRE REGISTRATION TO USE?!?!?!?!  
(Version 1.5.3)

GETSOMESAUCE  This is some good stuff! Don't pay full price though...you can get it from Other World Computer for about $34 bucks less (I don't work for them, but people should know how to get good software at a better price). Just go to http://www.macsales.com/prosoft and toss it in your basket for a mere $65. I don't know if/when this price will expire. Powerful program! Thank you, Prosoft!  
(Version 1.5.1)

GORDON BELL  This is indeed a free update! There are update links all over the Drive Genius page to click on--

If you need to update just the application, please note that that will only help you when you use Drive Genius on your non-boot drive.. Most likely people will want the new Boot CD, so they can boot from the CD and then use Drive Genius on their boot drive--- If that's the case, you can make a $10 order ($5 plus shipping)--- This $10 gets you download links for the new Boot CD download (it's about a 240MB download) AND we also ship out the CD to you via US Mail (in case you can't download the large files, or prefer the official, stamped CD from us).

This new version, 1.5.1 is now shipping on a dual-boot CD... For customers who already purchased the 1.5 updated CDs, the Intel-Boot CD included in your shipment is indeed a dual-boot CD (will boot both the PPC and Intel-based Macs)-- If you have any questions though, definitely call us at 1-877-4-PROSOFT or email us at sales@prosofteng.com  
(Version 1.5.1)

FOULGER  I hope I'm wrong but this new version appears to require another US$99. I purchased the product a year ago and now it seems I must pay again. Seems a bit unfair, even an upgrade fee would be good.

Prove me wong guys.  
(Version 1.5)

DAMIAN CHENNELLS  This app has forced me to rebuild 2 drives after i used it to defrag, please dont use to defrag. with tiger anyway,  
(Version 1.2)

DA MAN  This roduct should be called Drive Moron. Drive Moron destroyed the directory structure and block count synchronization drive on my new PowerBook G4. Prior to running Drive Moron, everything was running fine. I wonder if this so-called product was tested before it was shipped. Bottom line, don't touch this piece of junk.  
(Version 1.1.5)

ANONYMOUS  DiskWarrior states the Directory if ok but Drive Genius said a problem existed and could not correct it…go figure.

Think Aqua interface rather than Metal as well as "Apple" appropriate icons would be an improvement.

Multiple windows to open and close is inconvenient and clunky.  
(Version 1.1.5)

THE MASKED MACMANIAC  Just started using it...

Seems to do exactly what you pay for. I bought it for the defragging and benchmarking. Seems to repair permissions pretty well too, I know OSX does that but it's good to have one less disc to load for HD maintenance. Between Disk Warrior, Tech Tool Pro and Drive Genius...a person can be set for almost any task.  
(Version 1.1.5)

LAURA MOORE  I purchased this product because I upgraded to Tiger, and couldn't get Tech Tool 4 to upgrade the edrive, so could not use it anymore. I had a problem downloading the dmg file, so I eemailed the company and they promptly sent me another link which worked fine. After booting from the cd I made, I used a few different tools which were offered, including partitioning, and everything worked just fine albeit slowly. Personally I think it is a good tool, but I liked Tech Tool 4 better.  
(Version 1.1.5)

OCEAN  Superb, does exactly what it says it does!!

OSX does not de-frag!

Drive Genius does!

Well worth the fee!

An essential application for anyone who wants to look after their machines.  
(Version 1.1.5)

SCOTT GARDNER  The demo does not offer the partitioning function. After several attempts to speak with a human at Prosoft (including several canned email responses that did not address my question), I finally spoke with someone who said 'unfortunately, no, you cannot demo the partitioning function...and no, we do not offer a money-back guarantee.' She went on to say that they felt that if they offered partitioning in the demo, people would just use the demo and then delete the app. I explained that I was a sincerely interested customer, and she said she'd consult management. Shortly thereafter I received the same answer (at least she followed up timely, I'll give her that). In other words, I can either choose to pay $100 for this application for the partitioning functionality (the *only* function I am interested in that TechTool Pro 4 doesn't offer), and if it doesn't work as advertised, that's my loss. Has anyone bought this software and can speak to the partitioning function? Does it work? Any problems or peculiar observations?  
(Version 1.1.5)

ANONYMOUS  You guys that think the OS does it's own defragging are FULL OF CRAP!! I'm a Mac systems guy and I see the OS doing absolutely nothing to defrag a HD. You need maintenance to keep a HD running well and if you think optimizing wears a HD out...then so be it (it does) and that's the life of a HD. I'd rather have a short lived high perfromance HD than a long living poor performer.  
(Version 1.1.5)

ANONYMOUS  im seeing all the defrag apps around there is no need for it the OS defrags it's self all your going to do with this is put strain on your drives and shorten the life of the drive let the OS do what it's made to do and you'll be all set too much defragmenting is not good for your drives and on slower systems will take a long long time.   
(Version 1.1.5)

ANONYMOUS  If you value your data,I wouldn't use theses kind of apps.Just backup and use disk utility,then you wont have to worry about anything.  
(Version 1.1.5)

ME  Drive Genius 1.1.5 worked fine on Powerbook 12" and Powermac DP 1.3 GHz each w/ multiple partitioned drives. Also, worked fine on FireLite firewire SmartDisk. DeFrag and Repair done w/ no issues. Can't use imaged CD as startup disk, but started up from other disks and used imaged CD with no problems. So far, excellent. BYE BYE Norton Utilities! And Good Riddance!  
(Version 1.1.5)

ANONYMOUS  "Version 1.1.1 hosed (erased!) an external LaCie Porsche FW HD". 164Mo to do that, great, genius !!!  
(Version 1.1.5)

ANONYMOUS  For 100 bucks it seems it's no genius in business.  
(Version 1.1.5)

MR. BEN  Drive Genius? Version 1.1.1 hosed (erased!) an external LaCie Porsche FW HD connected to my eMac running Tiger 10.4.2 and even Prosoft's disk recovery software was useless. I was unable to unmount any other of my drives as well. I hope they fix this pronto or I'll have to find another solution for my school district.  
(Version 1.1.1)

U. BEUTNER  Unfortunately, I have to confirm the bad experience other reviewers made. This software is certainly not bullet proof, and a disk utility that is not a 100% reliable is in essence worthless.

Here my so far limited experience:

Tried to defragment internal hard drive partition (without the system).

First refuses to do so without giving a reason. Reason was, I tried this without being administrator. While this certainly makes sense, the program should tell me so and should give me temporary admin rights as it is possible under MacOS 10.3.

With admin rights again no success. Program tells me the partition is corrupted (but works perfectly). Corruption is confirmed by Apples Disk Utility and Drive Genius. But neither can fix it. What is a drive utility worth, that cannot fix such a problem.

Then I tried to use the software from the CD, takes for ever to load (more than 5 min on a Powerbook G3 400 MHz, 768 MB). I guess this might be due to the CD.

Tried to defragment a firewire drive. Since this takes for ever, I let the Powerbook go. When I came back, the Powerbook was asleep and after wake up, nothing worked. Mouse pointer moved, but no click did a thing. Completely frozen. Brutal reboot. Afterwards the Firewire drive (actually the partition used for defragmenting) was "gone". No mounting. Drive Genius unable to fix the problem, did not even try. Problem must have been really serious, since Apple's Disk utility and even DiscWarrior could not fix it. Only Prosoft's Data Rescue II could recover the files, but not the disc itself. (In my experience a much better software than Prosoft's Drive Genius)

Based on this experience I can only give a 1 for stability

While it seems that Drive Genius (1.1.1) works fine for many people, there are certainly very serious flaws with the program.

Furthermore it is my impression, that the disk fixing capabilities of the software are the same or only minimally better than Apple's own Disk Utility. However, this is an impression, I cannot prove it.

Finally, if one buys this software due to the repartition and defragmentation capabilities, one should consider whether this is really economical. Nowadays big Firewire HDs cost about the same as Drive Genius. And copying back and forth a partition using MacOS X own tools is faster and more reliable. (thus a 2 for value in combination with flaws in stability)  
(Version 1.1.1)

WILL CROFT  The software is excellent for the usual host of repair features, however in my experience I have found that there is one fatal flaw.

Twice now I have tried to repartition (dynamically) a 80gb external firewire disc and in both cases it has aborted the defragmentation half way through for no apparant reason which has left the disc in an un-mountable state.

I am able to recover the data on the disc with a data rescue utility however the disc is now unusuable until reformatted.

I cannot stress how much of a pain this has been to restore a back and reinstall twice, however I have learnt my lesson and will never use the defragmentation or dynamic repartitioning features of this program again - sorry!

Other than that, a well rounded, average program. For the price I would ensure I considered the rest of the market too being that in my experience the so called 'innovative' features of this program haven't worked at all!

Hopefully this is just a problem with my type of drive and will be fixed in a future release.  
(Version 1.1.1)

ANONYMOUS  This is a pretty good application. It is good but not great a la Disk Warrior or TechTool Pro. The price is double its value.  
(Version 1.1.1)

MICHAEL GIT  very fine software that works very well on my mac mini and ibook for managing my partitions and preventing errors with my disk  
(Version 1.1.1)

APPLEJACK  I don't believe even ONE of the so-called "reviews" posted here. I'm asking the web site manager to check out IP's for these posts and negative comments, for several reasons--not the least of which I believe them to all be frauds.

I own this excellent software, have used it nearly since its first release, and have tested it on a number of occasions, all to good effect, each and every time.

This is an honorable company, staffed by decent, talented and honest people, one of which I became friendly with in the course of ordering my various packages of their other softwares.

To those who are seriously looking for excellent Mac Utilities, (they carry many different types), you can't go wrong purchasing any of them, from this great company, which has been around for a long time now, servicing the Mac plaform.

You other clowns ought to be ashamed of yourselves (or your self, as they look like they were all written by the same person).

Incredible.........  
(Version 1.1.1)

PROSOFTSUCKS  It is insane to offer a 163 megabyte software and only provide dialup bandwidth: I am currently attempting to download this software and it is downloading at 7 KB/s, it will take SIX HOURS to download this junk.

No way. Forget it, you cheapskates at Prosoft. Get a clue.  
(Version 1.1)

ANONYMOUS  The download is very very slow using a fast connection (hours).

And after that, the application disturb my iBook.

Too much time is wasted.  
(Version 1.1)

ZATHRUS  This totally killed my iBook!!!! If I ever meet the person who authored this dangerous piece of software, I will do the same to them!!  
(Version 1.1)

ANONYMOUS  Thank god he put gradients in the lists!  
(Version 1.1)

ANONYMOUS  Drive Genius Defragmentation simply copied the

starting blocks to the other end of the harddisk,

overwriting thousends of files, after that, restarting was impossible....

I underwrite the above Reviews!  
(Version 1.1)

G4 IN FLIGHT  This is another big joke of the year. A $99 rip off. Most developers charge a high(er) price for their software coz they want to make it looks like their software are working. A lower price can only make them look like a cheap software and consumers would wonder if they work or not.

First of all, this developer won't even let you to download due to only allow 60 downloads (I wonder why it's posted up for downloading by MacUpdate).

Secondly, there is no short cut for partitioning a drive other than a tradition way (reformat and partition with disk utility) or better still, get a new drive and use CarbonCopyCloner or new install the OS X.

Thirdly, to repair a drive or volume, use only TechTool Pro 4X and DiskWarrior 3X only. For quicker start up with TechTool Pro, create a eDrive is the best way.

Lastly, stay away from this software. It can only screw up your drive (or volume) by trying out on your operating drive. REMEMBER there is NO SHORT CUT for partitioning.

Can't stand bad software.  
(Version 1.1)

TRM1945  I have a G4 with two identical hardrives called OSX1 and OSX2. The latter is a backup/copy of the first. I ran version 1.01 of this software and did the repair and defrag on both drives. Afther that, neither drive would mount. A restart gave only a folder on screen. An email was sent to these people on a neighboring Windows machine complaining about an obvious problem. They were quick to respond by saying they would send me a data rescue program for free and were posting this new version 1.1. I'll try it after repairing my two drives if possible but I'm not a happy camper with version 1.01.  
(Version 1.1)

ANONYMOUS  We should have a usable disk utility by 2010 or so, at this rate...  
(Version 1.0.1)