System Requirements

DiskWarrior 4 supports any Mac OS Standard (HFS) or Mac OS Extended (HFS Plus) disk including RAID volumes, journaled disks, case-sensitive disks, FileVaults, Time Machine backups and iPods.

DiskWarrior requires a G3 Mac or better (such as a G4, G5 or any Intel processor) with built-in FireWire and a minimum 256 MB RAM (512 MB recommended) to start up and run from the DiskWarrior CD regardless of what operating system is installed on the disk to be rebuilt.

NOTE: The current DiskWarrior CD cannot start up the new Mac Pro and Xserve models introduced on 01/08/2008, the MacBook Air introduced on 01/15/2008, the MacBook/MacBook Pro models introduced on 02/26/2008, or the iMac models introduced on 04/28/2008. An updated disc that will also start up these recent Mac models will be released as soon as Apple, Inc. releases new startup files to Alsoft, Inc. and other developers. Click here to learn how to repair the directory of a disk in a Mac model that cannot be started from the DiskWarrior CD.

To install, you must be started from Mac OS X 10.3.9 through 10.5 with at least 256 MB RAM. DiskWarrior 4 version 4.1 is completely compatible with Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard. The older DiskWarrior 4 version 4.0 has some compatibility issues when running an installed copy of DiskWarrior under Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard (see this support database entry). Alsoft recommends that you don't run DiskWarrior 4 version 4.0 while started from Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard. Instead, you should download the free DiskWarrior 4 version 4.1 CD Update. This free updater allows you to create a new startup CD containing DiskWarrior 4 version 4.1.

If you plan to rebuild the directory on your startup disk, you need to start up from another disk capable of starting up in Mac OS X 10.3.9 through 10.5, such as the DiskWarrior CD. DiskWarrior cannot be run while started up from the Apple Mac OS X install CD.

If you want or need to run DiskWarrior 4 version 4.1 from Mac OS X 10.4 or earlier, there are two features of DiskWarrior that are not available for a Mac OS X 10.5 startup disk. First, you cannot repair the permissions of a Mac OS X 10.5 startup disk. Second, you cannot rebuild a FileVault that was created under Mac OS X 10.5. You will be able to rebuild a FileVault that was created on a startup disk that was later upgraded to Mac OS X 10.5. Your DiskWarrior CD may start up in Mac OS X 10.4 and would therefore have these features disabled for a Mac OS X 10.5 startup disk. See the DiskWarrior manual for additional procedures to rebuild the startup disk.

The computer must also have the latest firmware updates installed. The disk to be rebuilt must be locally connected and must not be write protected.

If you wish to enable DiskWarrior's automatic hardware monitoring, you will need to install the DiskWarrior application on your Mac OS computer. To install the DiskWarrior application see the install requirements above. Installing DiskWarrior is not required to run the application from the DiskWarrior CD to rebuild a disk directory. If your Mac is running Mac OS 9.2.2 or earlier, DiskWarrior 2.1 is still available for purchase directly from Alsoft. Please contact our Sales Department to order.