One of the most important factors in the performance of Mac systems is the status of the hard disk drive. For one thing, Macs use virtual memory more heavily than other types of computers, so the hard disk drive plays a larger role than it otherwise would in terms of the machine’s processing speed and efficiency.
This fact has given rise to optimization software packages that focus mainly on hard disk management, and Drive Genius is one of the most popular of these. Drive Genius 3 promises to do more than ever to help improve and maintain the speed and performance of your Mac, but is it really worth paying for a tool like this, or can you do without it?
The Basics
Drive Genius 3 runs on Mac OS X version 10.4.9 or higher. It requires at least 512 MB of RAM, and a 1 GHz Intel or PowerPC G4 or G5 processor. It’ll cost you $99 US for a personal license, or $249 for a professional use license, with discounts available for Drive Genius 2 owners.
The Drive Genius 3 package is aimed primarily at getting the most out of high performance machines. What you get is a suite of optimization tools intended for this purpose. New to Drive Genius 3 is the DriveSlim feature, which identifies and eliminates unnecessary files. Also new is the Enhanced Repartition feature, which allows you to Add, delete, hide, expand or shrink OS X partitions so you can organize your drive more efficiently.
The Pros
Drive Genius 3’s greatest strength is the huge variety of ways in which it can help augment the performance of just about any Mac system, especially those that have been in use for a while. These tools include:
Data Shredding, which eliminates all traces of deleted files from your hard disk, reclaiming space and privacy; Simplified Disk Formatting, which makes adding new hard drives to your system easier; Drive Cloning; Disk Error Checking and Repair; Application Permissions Repair; Disk Defragmentation; various benchmark tests and other performance-related information monitoring and analysis; and more.
Simply put, each of these will make some difference in the speed & performance of your Mac, and some will also help you avoid problems before they actually start to take their toll. Some have a more noticeable effect than others. The Disk Defragmentation feature is particularly useful, as it can help cut seconds off of the load times of applications.
The interface for Drive Genius 3, as well as the tools themselves, are extremely user-friendly and simple to use, and you’ll have no problem in figuring out what to do.
The Cons
While fairly simply to use, we found that some of Drive Genius’s tools and their aims are somewhat obscure, even for die-hard Mac performance geeks!
Furthermore, some features, like the Sector Editor, which allows you to edit data at the byte level, are intended explicitly for advanced users. This tool could cause problems to your system if used improperly. Even some of the more benign things, like the defrag tool, may take a little too long to complete the whole process.
The Verdict
Despite some minor nuisances, Drive Genius 3 is a great program, from a respectable company that features some powerful tools that will keep your Mac running smoothly.
If you’re a sucker for performance, chances are you already know about Drive Genius 3. If you haven’t and your Mac is running slower or perhaps your hard drive is filling up you’re having other issues with your hard drive – perhaps it’s time you try Drive Genius 3 (free download) without doubt the best hard drive utility for the Mac.
Our rating: A “Must Have” tool!
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informative stuff, thanks