Mini Review: Micromat TechTool Pro 5

We got our hands on a just-burned copy of Micromat’s TechTool Pro 5. Now, around the office, we’ve kinda been mixed about Micromat. They’ve nickle-and-dimed customers unfairly by forcing them to pay for DVD copies of 25 MB software updates in the past. Sure, you can BitTorrent your way around that FUD, but what does that say about Micromat?

And, wasn’t TechTool Pro 5 supposed to be out last year? Okay, enough griping, we’ve got it, and we’re ready to get our EFI diagnostics on.

Oh, sorry, all the EFI diagnostics were removed. In case you weren’t waiting for those with baited breath, Micromat had touted that TTP 5 would include firmware tests that could run separate from the Mac OS. That is the holy grail of what EFI was (and still is) meant to deliver for PCs.

Unfortunately, Micromat says that the problem is at Apple’s doorstep. They say it’s because Apple keeps tweaking EFI, and hasn’t yet bolted down specifications to prevent their diagnostics from breaking with an update. We’re a bit skeptical, since most Intel-based Macs haven’t gotten an EFI update in years. But, we did see them working last year in demos at the Micromat booth. So, we don’t know who’s really to blame for that… but either way… it is a real letdown. That killed the one generational new feature in TTP 5.

What’s really disappointing though is that Micromat’s web site still notes EFI diagnostics as being included with TechTool Pro 5. They aren’t!

So, without EFI, what is new in TechTool Pro 5? Well, not much. Thankfully, Micromat is only asking for $38 to upgrade. And, at $38 for existing users, there are some good new features. Optimization is more advanced, with both file and volume optimization… and this may finally knock competitor iDefrag off its pedestal. Until now, we’ve been having to juggle between TTP for tests, and iDefrag for optimization. It’s hard to say at this point, as usual with defrags, if there is a performance gain over the competition though.

The file structures test now goes deeper, and will detect malformed music and video files, as well as improper XML documents. It’s funny to note that TechTool Pro 4 was guilty of spitting out corrupt XML preference files, so it’s welcoming to see Micromat get vigilant about bad preferences.

The eDrive (which dynamically creates a partition with TechTool Pro installed on it has improved a bit). First, it’s more reliable, and it now lets you chose more easily where you want to source the OS X install from. But, it’s still missing stuff we want to see… like adding the Time Machine System Recovery feature from the OS X install disc. That would enable you to recover your Time Machine system… without needing to tote around your install disc everywhere.

In all, this doesn’t seem like the major upgrade that we were expecting. It’s much more minor, perhaps better laid out, but not a major revision. We’d tell folks with TechTool Pro 4 to upgrade, and new users will probably still want to add it to their toolbox… but this won’t be a great release unless Micromat adds back the EFI diagnostics. That would end arguing at the Apple Store’s Genius Bar about if a video card is actually broken or not.