TechTool Protégé is a bootable 1-GB FireWire flash drive that contains TechTool Pro 4.5.1, a diagnostic and repair utility; and DiskStudio 1.2.1, a disk partition utility that allows you to partition your hard drive on the fly. There is enough room to add more of your favorite utilities.

The cool design of this flash drive is matched only by its speedy performance. It comes with Protégé Manager to configure TechTool Protégé for use with either a PowerPC or Intel-based Macintosh. It is geared for the professional technician and it's a must-have tech tool.

The flash drive's compact size makes it easy to carry in your pocket but also makes it easy to lose. Its best feature is its speed and speed counts when you have deadlines to meet. It takes nowhere near the 10 minutes booting from a CD can take. Time is precious when you have to work on many Macs. Plus, CDs can scratch, rendering them useless. It comes pre-loaded with all the software and configured for a PPC-based Macintosh. There is a Protégé Backup and Restore to create a DiskImage of your custom configuration to quickly restore the configuration of the Protégé.

To use this flash drive, insert it into any available FireWire port. If your Mac is powered on and running well, double-click the TechTool Protégé icon to boot the computer from it. If the computer is not running properly and is not powered on, start it up while holding down the Option key and select the TechTool Protégé icon. If your computer is a PPC-based Mac, press the right pointing arrow on the screen. Your Mac will then boot the computer from the flash drive.

If your Mac is Intel-based, just follow the clear directions enclosed for that. The window will display the choices of programs on it: TechTool Pro 4, DiskStudio, Disk Utility, System Profiler, or Terminal. Select one.

I want to stress the importance of the eDrive for portable computers. An eDrive is an emergency startup partition containing your Mac OS X System and a copy of TechTool Pro. It eliminates the need for a bootable CD or peripheral hard drives containing repair or recovery utilities. It is also useful if you need to upgrade TechTool Pro and don't have a newer program DVD. Specific instructions are in the manual.

You get a CD ROM which also contains all the programs and documentation:

• Protégé Backup,
• TechTool Pro 4.5.1,
• Protégé Manager.app,
• DiskStudio 1.5.1,
• TechTool Protégé Updates, and
• TechTool Protégé ReadMe.PDF.

It is pricey at $229 because it's FireWire and can boot your Mac, but if you're a professional you need it. This award-winning product was introduced at the 2006 Macworld Conference & Expo in San Francisco.

I feel compelled to disclose that I have been an admirer and user of Micromat's TechTool Pro for a long time. My Intel-based MacBook Pro has not been touched by any other utility. I am so pleased that Micromat has finally come out with a Universal version of TechTool Pro, V 4.5.1. Thanks, Micromat. I've been waiting for it. Now I can keep my MacBook Pro healthy.