Used AppleJack for Mac? Share your experience and help other users.
Key Details of AppleJack
- troubleshooting tool that runs in single-user mode
- Last updated on
- There have been 4 updates
- Virus scan status:
Clean (it’s extremely likely that this software program is clean)
Editors’ Review
Like a fire extinguisher by your stove or a lead pipe by your front door, AppleJack can be extremely useful to have in the right situation. This free command-line utility can help you do a small suite of essential Mac maintenance tasks, without needing an OS X install disk or secondary startup disk.
Don't be intimidated by hearing the words "command-line": if you already have AppleJack installed on your machine when you start up in Single User Mode (the only time you'll ever want to use AppleJack, by holding down command-s when you restart), you'll see a prompt asking you if you want to use AppleJack "for troubleshooting assistance." Then you'll be given a user-friendly list of basic maintenance options, including repair disks, repair permissions, cleanup cache files, validate preferences files, and remove swap files. These are all things that you can already do with the command line, or that you can do with Disk Utility if you're starting up from a secondary disk--but if you're traveling or otherwise don't have your install disks with you, AppleJack can be a lifesaver for getting an ailing machine up and running again. AppleJack supports Snow Leopard, and recent updates have improved the start-up process.
Like that lead pipe or fire extinguisher, though, AppleJack is not necessarily recommended for recreational use. A small number of users on some systems have experienced issues running this app, so there's no need to run AppleJack unless you are already having problems--and as always, make sure you have a backup of your hard drive.
What’s new in version 1.7b1
- Snow Leopard compatibility [feature 2845796] (Thanks again to Steve Anthony)
- Improved limits on output from syslog to STDOUT
- Simplified startup of services on Leopard and Snow Leopard
- Fixed bug in creation of user account lists in Snow Leopard where system accounts would show up
- S.M.A.R.T. status verification is now being done in the expert mode. I still want to implement this using smartmontools, but for now diskutil will do.
- Blessing of Mac OS X System folders on attached volumes is now possible. This is a primitive bless, ie, it does not create boot files, but simply blesses the chosen System folder and (optionally) sets it to be used for startup on next launch.
Used AppleJack for Mac? Share your experience and help other users.
