[bezoar]

I spent half a day trying to optimize the hard drive of my g3 powerbook OS9.2 using the Norton Utilities disk v.5.0. I booted up with the Norton disk, ran Disk Doctor, cleared up the minor problems (mostly bundle bit stuff) and then proceeded to use Speed Disk. Well, every time it got to the optimization part it would get about a quarter of the way then freeze, I'd reboot and go through the motions again, all the while the Norton man on the box mocked me with his knowing smirk.

One thing I noticed is that Disk Doctor kept finding some sort of disk mounting error, which I would then choose to repair only to have it show up again, unrepaired. Either Disk Doctor's a quack or something else is horribly wrong. Again I searched the pic of Norton man's face for some trace of sympathy and found none.

I thought maybe this version of Norton wasn't jiving with 9.2 so I clean installed 9.04 and had the same problem. I also tried Disk FirstAid and it had no effect. The fragmentation of the hard drive is light, so it's not a big deal but I'd feel better if I could successfully optimize it anyway. Short of wiping the hard drive, can anyone suggest some tips to solve this?

[CharlesS]

Originally posted by bezoar:
Either Disk Doctor's a quack

That's your problem. You need DiskWarrior to fix your drive - when Disk Doctor is doing this "recurring error" thing, you need to be sure not to run it - it can actually do a lot of damage to your drive when it gets locked into cycles like this.

[Ω]

Word on the street:

"Norton is arse"

Virus protection, maybe, disk repair, no way! Too many horror stories out there for me to even try it. As posted above, DW, is the repair util of choice.

Good luck!

(and yes, I have been partaking in a few liquid golds so be gentle!)

[bezoar]

Thanks to all, I posted in the powerbook forum too and the overall consensus is DiskWarrior = good, Norton = bad. Also, Peter Norton = Ed Begley Jr.

[bezoar]

I wiped the hard drive and all is well again. oh well... guess I'll take a hammer to this Norton disk so I'm never tempted to use it again.