Intech debuts SpeedTools Utilities 1.0 for Mac OS X
updated 07:25 am EST, Thu December 4, 2003
SpeedTools Utilities 1.0
Intech Software has launched its new flagship product for Mac OS X: . The suite consists of several disk utiliies managed by single application which controls the launching, documentation and version control of each individual component utility. It includes Device Tunder (modify attributes of FireWire drives), Disk Defrag (disk optimization), Drive PC (setup/partition volumes), Integrity (check drives), Media Scanner (detect/map bad drive sectors), QuickBack (full-featured backup utility), and QuickBench (benchmark utility). The utility is available for $90 for a limited time and offers automatic internet checking for updates.
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Jul 2001
Sounds cool... but.
Too bad about the $90. I don't see a lot of use for Device Tuner and QuickBench. Device Turner appears to solve a very specific problem with Firewire devices, and freeware benchmarkers already exist. I think Disk Utility (Disk Copy) can format disks Windows-compatable already, and even if it can't you can just use a real PC to format the disk (you should have a real PC if you have a use for this utlity), so I don't see the point to to Drive PC. Disk Defrag is pretty cool: it can defrag on your boot volume, but it doesn't appear to do Optimization, which is to write the files such that you get the largest free block of data so you don't keep fragmenting. Media Scanner just flags defective HD blocks, and Integrity doesn't appear to do anything useful other then tell you something's wrong with writing data to your drive (no repairs are made). These two tools don't even compare to the likes of say, Diskwarrior, which actually solves disk problems. Quickback appears to be the most useful of all the tools: backups can be scheduled, compressed, and encrypted. You can backup on a file-by-file basis, and backups can be bootable.
So all in all, it appears you spend $90 for a defragger, a decent backup program, and a bunch of very specialized programs you will likely never use. Doesn't seem like a good value to me. I'll pass.