I've found Checkmate causes fewer problems on my 3GHz Quad Core Mac Pro (16GB of RAM) than have been reported here by others. Perhaps the issues are hardware specific. Time will tell. I certainly would not discount other people's experience.

I've found Micromat support to be very responsive. I had some problems when I first started using Checkmate. It turned out, after extensive troubleshooting, to be a problem with permissions in my user folder. So, though Checkmate did not report that problem, the problems I had with Checkmate led me to discover the source of the trouble. So Checkmate helped indirectly. Which is often the case in troubleshooting.

That said, the Checkmate interface is too cute by half and not nearly as useful as it could be. For one thing, the bright blue background color in the app window makes reading the status and logs difficult because of the low contrast, even with the thick black text it uses. The lack of scroll bars is also an issue; so is the fixed window size.

I use Checkmate primarily because of the surface scan feature - which is not supposed to run while you are using the computer. Other functions operate in the background and I've found no undue stress by Checkmate on system resources in Activity Monitor. But doing a surface scan with TechTool Pro (or other utilities) is very time consuming so I usually skip it when I'm using TTP. Nevertheless, a high number of bad blocks can be a sign of impending drive failure and I've found SMART tests are an unreliable indicators. The only sure way to find bad blocks is by scanning the surface of the hard drive.

For the reasons I've stated I cannot give Checkmate a rave review. Nevertheless, I've had fewer issues than some people so I thought it was worth reporting.

I've been a Micromat user for a very long time. So I jumped at the chance to buy their new Checkmate product at a discount. Sadly, this app is not useful for me, mainly because of how irritating it is. I have two 2TB external hard drives and Checkmate CONSTANTLY performs surface scans and other tests even while I'm using the computer, which is something Micromat advertises Checkmate will not do. Normally my workstation is fairly quite. But the constant ratcheting sound of the hard drives was too much to bear. I also wonder what the vastly increased drive access will do to the mechanical longevity of the hard drives, not to mention my internal SSD. With all that in mind, I just uninstalled Checkmate. I may try it again when they release 2.0, but at this point, it was a waste of my $29.95.

Just uninstalled, to have peace again.
Whenever I have a short pause, the app grabs 95% of my CPU and the hard drives rattle like crazy. Wonder if this additional stress may kill the hard drive sooner or later. I would like settings, how often it should do the checks. e.g. a surface scan once a week, would be enough for me. The interface looks like from the 70s. Maybe I will look at this again, once it is version 2.0.

I tried it based on the reputation of Micromat - and it really sucks....hogs resources and there's no way to stop it if you happen to miss the "warning" that it's about to do it's thing. No config options at all. Now uninstalled, and unless they fix it and make it worth using it's a $20 lesson learned.

I bought this because I have used and liked TechTool for years. However, this is the most obnoxious and intrusive application I have ever used. It completely takes over at a time of its own choosing, frequently using over 90% of cpu. I have spent hours trying to take back control and often a forced shutdown of the computer is the only solution. Even if I succeed in shutting down Checkmate it is only a temporary reprieve. The concept is good and it has proven capable of providing useful information, but the execution is badly flawed and I am going to have to remove it.