BootCD

I have a copy of TechTool Pro 4 I’ve been using to maintain the hard disks on my Macs, but I’ve been unable to use it to defragment the hard disk on my G5 iMac. Well, almost. I can’t boot from the CD and use its tools, but I have been able to boot from an external Firewire clone of the iMac’s hard disk and run it from there. Still, I wanted some means of running from the CD and without buying a new copy of the utility. The answer proved to be a donationware utility named “BootCD”.

BootCD lets you build a bootable CD from your Mac’s operating system and also lets you include applications loaded on your hard disk. It automatically includes Terminal and Disk Utility, two tools you might need to troubleshoot a system in the event of a crash. Including Tech Tools added another layer of usability.

Version 6.0 of BootCD only made two coasters out of the two CD’s I burned with it. They would hang at the OS X sign on screen at the “Starting Login Windows” phase. Version 6.03, the latest version, worked. I was able to boot from the CD it made and run Tech Tools to examine and refine my hard disk.

Of course, my victory is short-lived. Word on the ‘Net is that Tiger is already shipping. If I’m going to defrag my hard disk using my current tools, I better do it now. Tech Tools Pro 4 is incompatible with Tiger which introduces some changes to the file system. I just learned about that this morning and am still evaluating what that means. I also read that Tiger, for reasons not clear to me, kills any retail version of Quick Time Pro 6; and I do own one. I think, though, the one installed on the G5 PowerMac is the one that came with Final Cut Pro 4, and the retail version is the one on my PowerBook. I’ll have to check into that.