Hi Guys ...

I have been working with the Lab Guys in sorting out this TTP software bug in the Volume Rebuild.

On my iMac (27 inch late 2013 on OS 10.13.6) the Volume Rebuild tool when it discovered that Apple OS was not cooperating it did not revert to the original Desktop Folder that it was working on to either repair or make more efficient. So the damage was done and seated into the OS.

I tried every repair and diagnostic I could think of including doing a Command + R cold start up so I could use the Apple Disk Utility .. and it did find a line code to repair in the first 3 seconds of operation (it was to fast for me to eyeball what line code it fixed) .. but that did not fix the Finder Preferences being damage and I was into a cascading failure.

Eventually .. my monitor screen would go Black ... basically fall asleep ... and the System Preferences were basically turned off .. no hot corners ... and the appearance was off and could now be adjusted.

So I did a cold start up with Command + R keys down and did another Download of the Mac OS (I am loath to do this as TTP is so much faster - hence me working the problem with due diligence).

Three hours later .. I had the Mac OS restored to factory settings ... and all is well.

Now ... when I can calendar up another 10 minutes to 'Test' the Volume Rebuild and get some more information to the Lab Guys .. in juxtaposition to the over night repair to the Mac OS as I sleep .. the I can get them some more information.

The Problem with the Code .. is that it is usually 3 or 5 things that are making the issue (TTP failure to work the Rebuild successfully) manifest.

So the Lab Guys have their work cut out for them .. this is not so easy to cut code.

Anyhow ... for all the people who have ran into the problem unique to their situation as it is not identical to mine in the hardware / software configuration.

Give a think to doing the Command + R cold start up ... after that is successful ... then shut down .. power off for 90 seconds .. then cold start up again with Command + Option + P + R keys down to Zap the PRAM.

I am convinced your Mac OS will be back to normal operating conditions .. so you can start up your edrive or External Hard Drive if you are lucky enough to have a bootable OS courtesy of Carbon Copy Cloner (there are other programs that do that same sort of thing to be of assistance to you - the Moderator here will educated you on those if you have an interest).

Then I can Optimize the Primary Start up hard drive in the iMac I use all the time to do business.

BTW .. I optimize with TTP at least once a day .. often times two or three a day ... as the internet does that much damage (err .. scattering data ducks about as the ducks work so much better in a straight line ) ... to the software hard drive.

Hope this is a help.

My very warmest regards.

sumbuddie wear blind sea

Thanks for your report. I hope it will be of help to someone having similar problems. And thanks for all the time and effort and thought you have put into cooperating with the people trying to fix the code.

First let me say thanks for the information.

Now, if you could explain to me

what is a " cold start " ?

and

do you select in the Optimize in Tool Selection the File Optimization and also the Volume Optimization ?

Thanks for your help .

Walter wrote:
///////

A Cold Start ... is when the Computer is shut down .. with the power off ... for about 90 seconds to be sure that the residual power that is in there holding data (such as on a re-start) ... has quieted down.

If you have ever done any Router diagnostics with your Internet Service Provider .. they often times ask you to unplug the router from the wall socket for a minute ... so that gives the router time to re-set for a cold start.

As for the second question .. I just do a File Optimization.

In my opinion a Volume Optimization stacks all the data software cheek to jowl .. and as soon as the computer is restarted that is all scatter to heck .. as the computer must make more room .. nearby to the software you have made active so as to be more quick about it. Just doing File Optimization seems to make the iMac work longer .. as there is more available room on the hard drive to find code instructions. Again .. just my opinion. I do not have a Master of Science in Electronic Engineering ... I am just a psychology major.

If you have ever heard of the card game "52 pick up" ... the person introducing you to the game tosses all the cards in the air .. and says ... ok .. go pick them up. That cards are so much easier to deal with when stacked up in the hand. Similar to the computer .. when the data is so scattered about .. it is to much for the computer to deal with in any efficient and timely manner .. so it gets a brain cramp.

The computer software .. efforts to work as long as it came ... trying to keep all this information together.

When I do NOT have TTP optimize working at all .. my iMac will last about 3 days .. and then basically refuse to work with screen freeze and other head aches such as mouse dysfunction ... rendering the iMac worthless to use.

The iMac wants to work .. it just can not find the next command code to do its job.

sumbuddie wear blind sea

The Volume Optimization preview shows the size of the largest piece of disk space that is both free and contiguous (all in one piece). It is shown as "Largest" at the right end of the graphic while the volume is being analyzed , and as "Largest Contiguous Free Space" in the final result for the preview.

If the largest piece of disk space that is both free and contiguous is too small, performance suffers because virtual memory swapfiles are created in a fragmented state.

Check to make sure that the startup volume has at least 15% free space, and that a least a few gigabytes of virtual memory swapfiles will fit into the amount of disk space shown as "Largest" in the Volume Optimization preview.

In the screen capture below, the Volume Optimization preview shows that the volume has 47.88 GB of free space, but the largest piece of free, contiguous disk space is only 1.07 GB. That volume would perform poorly if it were used as a startup volume, even though it is a clone of a properly functioning startup volume.

You can see how much disk space is being used by virtual memory swapfiles at the bottom of the Memory pane of Activity Monitor, located in /Applications/Utilities.

Big News guys ...

The Lab has the new Beta 10.0.2 out (I just got it yesterday) for testing.

My configuration in hardware and software .. so far it works rather well.

The last one would 'walk' though the tools and tests .. this one is more of a 'sprinter'.

I did the Volume Rebuild and it did do a satisfactory completion .. however ... just a small however ... TTP reported it was an 'Unusual' fix (it is reported in red font). All the other TTP tools and tests worked. So for me .. so far .. I have a 100 % function.

I sent all the reports and files that I could find that would be a help.

So ... progress is being made.

I dunno ... maybe .. just maybe ... you guys just might get it this weekend.

See what happens.

sumbuddie wear blind sea

Thanks for the update.

If anyone else has encountered a problem with the Volume Rebuild tool in TechTool Pro 10.0.1 and has not contacted This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. , please do so. Thanks for your cooperation.

Alan Mac Farlane,

You note that
" TTP reported it was an 'Unusual' fix (it is reported in red font)."

Does it clarify just exactly what was " Unusual " ?

Page 6.8 of the TechTool Pro 10 manual (page 58 of 133 of the pdf file) shows the Technical Comparison window produced by the Volume Rebuild tool.

The Technical Comparison window shows the total number of files and folders, the amount of disk space occupied by the files, and the number of free and occupied nodes in the disk directory for both the present directory and the proposed rebuild. The general rule is that if the total number of files and folders and the total amount of disk space occupied by the files is the same in both the original disk directory and the proposed rebuild, it should be safe to rebuild the disk directory.

Walter wrote:

To my uneducated eye it was a number of ( 450 ) ... 'lost record count' .. on the "Extent B Tree Informaion" which as other posters have noted .. has to do with 'nodes' ... which on the face of it I do not find that specific at all but then again I do not have a educated degree as an MSEE..

I did a screen shot of the rebuild outcome that TTP wanted me to approve of prior to the rebuild being re-installed back into the Mac OS ... and also sent the TTP rebuild report to the Lab Guys. TTP reported it as a 'successful outcome' ... or 'completed'.

I am operating the iMac on the Rebuilt Desktop Directory Folder now and all day today (yesterday was a new Mac OS download from Apple as the prior one was corrupted)

... and there has been lots of little improvements to the performance of the iMac that I am impressed with ... even a faster internet service. Which I am guessing is something having to do with my computer end receiving the You Tube movies .. or doing a download of software.

I did the TTP intenet speed test .. and that reports a slightly higher value then before.

However ... every thing else seems to be the same as before.

My ISP did not improve any thing ... they give me data .. what ever ATT gives them at the end of the line. I am so far away in the country there is no cell phone service out here .. no cable TV either. Lots of rattlesnake ... cougar ... deer ... quail ... squirrel ... possum ... woodpecker .. and oak trees.

There is a description of nodes on pages 14.4 through 14.6 of the TechTool Pro 10 manual (pages 118 through 120 of 133 in the pdf file.

Alan Mac Farlane,

Thanks for the update and all information you have provided to me.
When ever I find my macos high sierra acting up especially after unleashing TTPro and it still leaves me in the dark I run EtreCheck www.etrecheck.com/ and submit the EtreCheck report to the Apple discussions group. More than often it takes a fresh mind and keen eye to spot the problem. Please excuse me if you are well aware of that programme.

Walter wrote:

That is a new one for me ... I will go download it if it is free to do so. It might be of help to the Micromat guys in the Lab next time I run a Beta test for them.

As for Apple Inc .. they have me on a Life Time Ban and never .. ever ...want me to post in the Apple Discussion Group again.

Seems my sight and insight on the problem is far to difficult for them to deal with.

So have to kick away the messenger ... as the message is poop to their discerning eye and must be kept away from the pubic.

BTW ... I started out with the Apple II way back in the day when there were dot matrix printers .. now I want to go to Lenux self build unlimited hardware upgrades. Spending $4000 every few years for new hardware is not to my taste when all I need is a $300 chip to plug in.

sumbuddie wear blind sea

Good morning,

I am running TTP 10.0.1 under OS X 10.13.6. I have experienced a "cancellation" of the Volume Optimization (VO) as well. It was running fine under 10.13.5, so I can gather it is OS-related.

I ran it off the Drive...I also made a TechTool Protogo flash drive, but MAN did it take a longtime to load the OS...I eventually gave up on this route.

That being said, is this 10.0.2 going be released publicly? I hope it addresses this VO issue.

I have found that after running VO, my MBP (mid 2015) runs a lot better!

Thanks for your report.

TechTool Pro 10.0.2 is still in development. I would appreciate it if you would send a message to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. , indicating the trouble you have encountered, and offering to test the latest build of the beta, to see if it solves the problem in your case.

Some flash drives that meet the USB 2.0 standard are ten times faster than others. It is fine to use a slower drive for file storage, but when shopping, it is a good idea to buy at least one flash drive with the best possible performance, and use that one for the Protogo device.

The improvement in performance that you noticed after running the volume optimization is most likely due to the ability of the operating system to create virtual memory swapfiles that are in one piece each. Fragmented swapfiles greatly reduce performance. In the earliest versions of OS X, the creation of a fragmented swapfile resulted in a kernel panic. Fortunately, that is no longer the case.

I am working the 10.2 Beta right now .. and it has been my second run of the Volume Rebuild that has been the big bug bear apparently. On my OS 10.13.6 the TTP is reporting a Normal or Usual rebuild now (the First rebuild I ran it was an 'Unusual rebuild).

Otherwise .. in addressing your concern over the 10.1 TTP you are working right now ... you might have a corrupted Mac OS if that kind of problem you mention is manifesting. Still .. just ask .. and you might be the Beta access as the Moderator purports.

As you know there are many software/hardware Mac configurations that have to be sorted out .. and the bug as it were .. could have 3 to 5 vectors that are making the problem manifest. Such as my 'Unusual' rebuild on the first go .. and it was on a Fresh Mac OS download (on a cold start just keep the Command + R key down) that seems to have made a lot of difference to my 2013 iMac operation. It is now telling me that software has to be optimized (it is 32 bit .. and the future is 64 bit programming). So the Developers in the Lab have a bit of work to do in sorting this out.

Finally ... I work my TTP problems on a bootable OS hard drive that is a mirror of the iMac hard drive that I use all the time. It is Carbon Copy Cloner from Bombitch that saves my bacon a lot.

There are other programs that allow you to have a bootable external hard drive I understand .. but I do not know what they are. If you seek that information from the Moderator ... I am sure that information would be forthcoming.

sumbuddie wear blind sea

ChronoSync and Super Duper! also make bootable clones.