Path: utzoo!dciem!nrcaer!scs!spl1!laidbak!att!osu-cis!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!mailrus!ames!pasteur!ucbvax!decwrl!purdue!i.cc.purdue.edu!j.cc.purdue
From: ajq@mace.cc.purdue.edu (John O'Malley)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac
Subject: Re: MacZap's about as useful as a crashed hard disk
Message-ID: <108@mace.cc.purdue.edu>
Date: 4 Jun 88 01:06:58 GMT
Article-I.D.: mace.108
References: <107@mace.cc.purdue.edu> <2734@utastro.UUCP>
Reply-To: ajq@mace.cc.purdue.edu.UUCP (John O'Malley)
Organization: Personal Computing Learning Resource Center, Purdue University
Lines: 100


Open mouth, insert foot ... Go ahead and say "I told you so" if you want
to.  Another try (the next day, when I had more resolve to learn how to
make MacZap do what it's designed to do) at recovering lost files WORKED. 

My flame of MacZap was premature.  But I've got to respond to some of these 
comments.  MacZap works, but I think it could use some improvement.

In article <2734@utastro.UUCP> werner@utastro.UUCP (Werner Uhrig) quotes me
and also writes:
>> The documentation is absolutely horrid
>	well, yes, I have seen better;  but I've seen Les learn and work
>	with Apple's "Inside Macintosh"  for many years now.  something must
>	have rubbed off, I guess, and it wasn't very "user-friendly".

I'd think that Les would have seen Apple's bad example and then wanted to
come out with something better ...
 
>> and the MacZap utilities are not only incredibly un-user friendly
>	now, now;  have you ever before worked on the low machine-level
>	that disk-repairs unavoidably have to take you ...??!!

... There's no reason that a complex task has to be difficult.  Programs
like Microsoft Excel take complex tasks and make them more simple.
And documentation can, metaphorically speaking, take finding a needle in
a haystack and make it as easy as ... well, using a Macintosh, provided it's
written and organized well.  MacZap could be even more powerful if its
documentation were improved.
 
>> but they actually bomb right and left!

I really did have an easy time getting the program to bomb.  Even clicking
outside the active window or clicking where there isn't an on-screen button
sometimes bombed the MacZap programs.
 
>	it's not the authors fault that outfits like MacConnection sell you
>	a version that has long since been upgraded;
 
I agree completely.  If this copy is old, my friend (you'll remember that I
just borrowed the package) should see if he can get an upgrade.

>> I had absolutely no success with the floppy and I was only able 
>> to salvage ONE file (a MacWrite file) off the hard disk.
>	often, setting just one switch or data value different can make
>	all the difference;  soemtimes a situation is hopeless.

Indeed, the floppy was hopeless.  And that file I saved later bombed
MacWrite.  But MacZap successfully recovered other files after I made sure
I followed the online help exactly.  MacZap's success the second time
around made my posting flame-able.
 
>	you must be one of those silly ninkompoops that plays lot of games.

Actually, most of my Mac work involves MacDraw, ReadySetGo, MacWrite, MacPaint,
and Microsoft Word, but I enjoy playing a game ocassionally...  Flames for
flaming MacZap prematurely I deserve, but I don't think I'm a "silly
ninkompoop"... 
 
>	[ ... Deleted stuff about Mac system version numbers and the like ]
>	what kind of version-numbering system would take care of this in
>	only 5 versions?

I agree;  there's no standard for creating version numbers.  A 5.0 of one
program could be better than a 7.0 of another program.  Or the reverse could
be true.

>	you showed off being a "recovery expert" and when you could
>	not recover once the program arrived, you blame the program... right!
>	I wonder what "knowledge" you had to recommend to someone to go
>	out and buy ZAP?

A "recovery expert" I'm not, and never claimed to be.  A while back, there
were good things about MacZap posted on the net.  Net postings are, for the
most part, quite reliable.  It's not too much to expect a Mac program to be
user friendly, and MacZap could be made more user-friendly.  Coincidentally,
my roommate discovered that someone else thinks so too ... on page 8 of
the June Macworld is an ad for Symantec Utilities, described there as "an
advanced, expanded, and more friendly version of the best-selling 
MacZap recovery utility ..."

>If nothing else, don't judge the quality of the tools by the results of 
>your first repair-experiment.

Reasonable advice ... I learned from experience.

>Disclaimer:  I speak as a "deliriously happy" user of MacZAP and customer
>		of MicroAnalyst Inc

That much is certain!  :-)

If you're "deliriously happy" with MacZap and these Symantec Utilities are
really a user-friendly MacZap, then maybe here's a program that could make
BOTH of us happy!  Meanwhile, my friend will have to put up with the 
complexities of MacZap.  Power for the price of patience.

OK, here's the inevitable question:  Anyone tried Symantec Utilities yet?


John O'Malley         \ Personal Computing       \ Purdue University \ (317)
mace.cc.purdue.edu!ajq \ Learning Resource Center \ Computing Center  \ 494-9944