Using DiskWarrior 5.3 while started (booted) from macOS High Sierra (10.13) or later.
What you need to know (Click here for the summary)
1) Apple File System (APFS) disks (typically a macOS 10.13 High Sierra or later Startup Disk) are recognized but ARE NOT able to be rebuilt by DiskWarrior 5.3. Click here to learn how to identify an APFS disk.
2) Apple Silicon (M1 & M2) Macs are now supported when rebuilding external Mac OS Extended Disks.
3) Click here to join the Mailing List to be notified of progress regarding Apple File System (APFS) support and other updates to DiskWarrior.
4) Mac OS Extended (HFS Plus) disks can be rebuilt as before, when rebuilding from an Intel or Apple Silicon Mac.
5) The Startup Disk of Macs are automatically converted from Mac OS Extended (HFS Plus) to Apple File System (APFS) when installing or upgrading to macOS 10.14 Mojave or later. Only internal SSD drives are converted to APFS by macOS.
6) External drives are not automatically converted to Apple File System (APFS). Your Mac OS Extended external drives can be rebuilt as before.
7) DiskWarrior 5.3 is compatible with OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion through macOS 14 Sonoma when rebuilding Mac OS Extended external drives.
8) DiskWarrior 5.3 now runs within macOS 10.14 Mojave through macOS 14 Sonoma Recovery on Intel Macs.
9) The Preview application in DiskWarrior can now copy files to APFS disks when recovering data from a failing Mac OS Extended (HFS Plus) disk.
10) Numerous minor updates were made to accommodate additional security measures in the latest macOS.
11) To rebuild Time Machine disks in macOS 10.14 Mojave and later, DiskWarrior must be given “Full Disk Access” from within System Preferences.
The following applies only when running an installed copy of DiskWarrior from within macOS 10.13 High Sierra, macOS 10.14 Mojave, 10.15 Catalina and 11 Big Sur; not when booted from the DiskWarrior flash drive or macOS Recovery.
12) Due to the ever enhancing security of macOS you might need to first "Allow" the system extension portion of DiskWarrior to be loaded on your Mac if you are running macOS 10.15 Catalina or earlier. The first time you launch DiskWarrior 5.3, the system extension might be blocked. You will only need to allow the system extension once.
Follow the instructions in the System Extension Blocked message to allow the DiskWarrior system extension software to be loaded. Open the Security & Privacy System Preference and click the lock and then click the Allow button.
Quit DiskWarrior, reboot your Mac and launch DiskWarrior again.
Click here for a step-by-step video guide on installing DiskWarrior 5.3 in these newer versions of macOS.
What's in the works
The next major release of DiskWarrior (DiskWarrior 6.0) will include the ability to rebuild APFS disks. Apple released a majority of the APFS format documentation in June of 2020 . Our developers are now using this documentation to update DiskWarrior in order to safely rebuild Apple File System (APFS) disks.
Using DiskWarrior Recovery Maker 1.4.
What you need to know
1) DiskWarrior Recovery Maker 1.4 is compatible with macOS 10.14 Mojave and macOS 10.15 Catalina. You will need DiskWarrior 5.3 to run DiskWarrior from a recovery flash drive created while running macOS 10.14 Mojave or macOS 10.15 Catalina. Creating a 10.14 or 10.15 recovery flash drive will not allow DiskWarrior to rebuild APFS (Apple File System) disks.
2) An extra step is needed to create a DiskWarrior startup recovery flash drive on the latest Mac that are equipped with Secure Boot via Apple’s T2 Security Chip. By default, Secure Boot does not allow starting up from an external disk such as a DiskWarrior recovery flash drive. Also by default, Secure Boot prevents the creation of a macOS startup disk except for those created using Apple's Installer.
To create and use a DiskWarrior Recovery disk for Macs with Secure Boot, it will be necessary to change the default Secure Boot and External Boot settings using the Startup Security Utility. The Secure Boot setting will need to be changed to Medium Security or No Security. Alsoft recommends Medium Security. Additionally, the External Boot setting will need to be changed to Allow booting from external media.
Please follow the instructions found on Apple's web site using the following link to make the needed changes.
Notice: Creation of, or start up from, a DiskWarrior recovery flash drive will fail if the above steps are not taken.
Didn't read all of the above? At least read this summary:
1) DiskWarrior 5.3 is compatible with macOS 10.13 High Sierra or later when rebuilding external Mac OS Extended disks.
2) Your external drives (including Time Machine Volumes) can be rebuilt as before.
3) The Startup Disk of Macs are converted to APFS (Apple File System) when installing or upgrading to macOS 10.14 Mojave or later.
4) APFS (Apple File System) disks ARE NOT able to be rebuilt. Click here to learn how to identify an APFS disk.
5) In macOS 10.14 Mojave and later, Time Machine disks cannot be rebuilt with DiskWarrior unless DiskWarrior is given “Full Disk Access” from within the Security pane of System Preferences. Otherwise Time Machine disks must now be rebuilt from macOS Recovery or the DiskWarrior Recovery Flash drive. Starting with macOS 11.0 Big Sur, Time Machine disks can be formatted as APFS and cannot be rebuilt. Mac OS Extended (HFS Plus) Time Machine disks can be rebuilt under Big Sur.
6) The next major release of DiskWarrior will include the ability to rebuild APFS disks.
7) Click here to join the Mailing List to be notified of progress regarding Apple File System (APFS) support and updates to DiskWarrior.
Updating to DiskWarrior 5.3
1) A free updater is available for owners of DiskWarrior 5.0, 5.1 and 5.2.
2) The updater will replace the DW partition on the DiskWarrior flash drive. The updated flash drive will contain DiskWarrior 5.3 and DiskWarrior Recovery Maker 1.4.
3) The updater will also update any installed copy of DiskWarrior 5.0, 5.1 or 5.2 that is located in the Applications folder.
4) The updater will also update a DiskWarrior 5.0, 5.1 and 5.2 that is located on any attached DiskWarrior recovery flash drives that were created with earlier versions of DiskWarrior Recovery Maker.
5) Click here to download the DiskWarrior 5.3 updater.