Backblaze is back, in a blaze with new hard drive reliability stats. This are always fascinating, especially for our customers. Check it out at their website.
Note that Seagate had some pretty bad drives, and the failure rate for 4TB drives is not good for either them or Western Digital. I’d avoid those if possible.
Here is an update on the compatibility of SMART Utility with the next version of OS X: 10.11, El Capitan. SMART Utility is mostly functional on El Capitan. However, due to changes in the security policy in the next version the menu extra does not work.
There is a solution but it does involve a lesser user experience. The current solution makes the menu extra behave just like the built in extras- they can be moved around and removed quickly. The new way locks them in to a place based on the order of launching and makes them harder to remove.
Unfortunately there is no other alternative. Bug reports have been filed in the past but to no avail.
Rest assured that the alternative will be implemented to ensure compatibility with El Capitan, despite the lesser user experience. It will be as good as possible however.
Other than that, SMART Utility is good to go. The next version is coming on nicely- look for an update about that soon!
The new website is here! I really like the look of the new site, and how it functions. I’m hoping everybody else does too. Most things are the same, but updated. For example the SMART Utility FAQ has been updated, as well as the SMART Utility page itself- including new screen shots.
If you have any thoughts, let me know in the comments, or via email in the Contact page!
Apple finally announced their Watch this month, and it was some pretty exciting news. I have been using the Pebble for two years, and it really has changed my life. Now, the Pebble is very simple- just showing notifications, with some options to interact with apps. But that is powerful in and of itself. It may sound lazy, but its really efficient to not have to pull out my phone every time I get a notification. I can see a text, email, score update, Facebook update, or any other notification without twisting or turning to pull out my phone. While driving, its so much safer because instead of doing that twisting I can at a glance see the notification and decide if I should respond (at say a red light). The new Pebble Time looks even better, with a color screen and retaining the same week long battery.
But of course Apple’s Watch is so much more insanely great. Being able to talk and hear on the watch, as well as interact in so many amazing ways- well its typical Apple. I’m going to get the steel (no not the gold one!), but I haven’t decided on a band. I’m already looking forward to developing apps for it. I really think its going to be another game changer.
They seem to release these twice a year or so, which is actually awesome. Their current post has some fascinating numbers. I’m surprised and shocked the WD Reds did so terribly. Looks like my next NAS drives will HGST NAS 4TBs (Amazon affiliate links). Anyway, check out the numbers for yourself.
Volitans Software is doing well, at least from my expectations and desires. VS has been around for over nine years, and a lot has changed in the Apple world- mostly for the better (the loss of Steve Jobs being one of the few exceptions). SMART Utility has been out for nearly eight years itself, and the code base is in decent shape. That’s especially good considering it was written for 10.4 and runs on 10.10. However, adopting new OS technologies has been held back due to keeping backward compatibility.
Version 3.2 will change that. Version 3.2 will drop support for 10.5, 10.6, and 10.7. Combined, they only make up 20% of the users of SMART Utility, and that number is dropping fast. Dropping support for 10.8 also might be added, as that is only 11% of the users of SMART Utility. There will be a lot of code refactoring, and a lot of new features due to supporting new OS technologies. This will set the stage for version 4.0, which will add a brand new UI among other features that are in development.
In addition to SMART Utility, there are three iOS apps in planning stages or in development. These are exciting times for Mac and iOS development, and Volitans Software is committed to supporting existing and new users.
SMART Utility 3.1.4 has been released, which fixes two small bugs.
Note that this will be the final versions that will support 10.5, 10.6, and 10.7.
Download for 10.5 (Leopard)
Download for 10.6 (Snow Leopard), 10.7 (Lion), 10.8 (Moutain Lion), 10.9 (Mavericks), and 10.10 (Yosemite)
Here’s the full release notes:
SMART Utility 3.1.3 has been released, which brings a few new features as well as many bug fixes and enhancements.
This version fixes the issue in this post about MacBook Air drives.
Note that this will be the final versions that will support 10.5, 10.6, and 10.7.
Download for 10.5 (Leopard)
Download for 10.6 (Snow Leopard), 10.7 (Lion), 10.8 (Moutain Lion), 10.9 (Mavericks), and 10.10 (Yosemite)
Here’s the full release notes:
I just wanted to say things are still happening around here! A new release (3.1.3) will be out soon, which should fix the MacBook Air SSD issue. Plans are in place for 3.2. The new website is still being worked on- as always I’ve changed it a few times. And there may be an exciting announcement in the new year!
We’ve had a few reports of recent MacBook Air SSD issues. The drive reports as passed, but the attributes report FAILING_NOW. This is a possible firmware bug, but the drives are fine. We are doing more research and will keep the blog updated if anything changes.
SMART Utility 3.2.6 has been released, which adds full support for Catalina. NOTE: This is the last free version. Version 4.0 will be out soon, and will be a paid upgrade, unless you purchased after May 1st, 2016 and then it is free. NOTE: This is the last version for 10.9 (Mavericks) and 10.10 (Yosemite). Version […]
Continue readingThis is following up on the last post. Some great news! Made great progress with the external SMART driver. Getting it signed and notarized was a ton of fun. However, currently the driver doesn’t automatically load, so need to figure that out. Hopefully have a fully 10.15 compatible version out soon! PS. Once this is […]
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