Micromat Inc. has announced the release of TechTool Pro 4, its diagnostic and repair utility for Mac OS X. The new version features improvements for both Mac OS X v10.2 “Jaguar” and Mac OS X v10.3 “Panther,” as well as a bevy of new features.
TechTool Pro incorporates repair and diagnostic features that enable Mac users to recover data from their hard drives when things go wrong. The software can also test system hardware including your Mac’s CPU (or CPUs), memory, controllers, and power supply. It also checks things like Internet connections, network connectivity, modem and some third-party external peripherals.
Micromat indicated that TechTool Pro 4 has been completely rebuilt from the ground up to support Mac OS X. It was created using Mac OS X’s Cocoa application frameworks and features a new interface.
New to TechTool Pro 4 is the “eDrive,” a bootable Mac OS X emergency partition containing TechTool Pro 4. The eDrive is actually created on one of your hard drives, and can boot up your Mac to run TechTool Pro 4 if things go wrong. The new version also features a suite of “Self-Monitoring Analysis and Reporting Technology” (SMART) tests that help determine when a hard drive will fail before it happens. TechTool Pro 4 can also e-mail you to notify you of problems.
TechTool Pro 4 is available from Micromat and dealers for US$99.99. Upgrades cost $49.95.