FlashMount Makes Disk Loading Faster on Mac OS X

Originally downloaded March 4, 2006. Not that disk loading is slow, mind you… but faster is usually better. There are a couple of caveats, which is why I’m trying this out before recommending it. Free is also good.

Update: I installed the software and changed my .dmg files to use it by default when called. Unfortunately, it turned out that FlashMount couldn’t handle .dmg files that require a license approval before being mounted. It took me a while to figure out what the problem was, because the symptom was just inaction when I tried to mount some .dmg files. This kind of software certainly doesn’t save you any time if you have to open Get Info and change handlers back and forth, or use the “Open with” contextual menu. So, I removed FlashMount and went back to Apple’s default DiskImage Mounter tool.

Version as tested: 1.5.

Update 2/14/07. Just goes to show you that it pays to keep an open mind and “never say never.” Recently I started seeing quirky behavior in Mounty, the free tool that does the same trick as FlashMount. I had recommended Mounty last fall after finding that it worked great and avoided the problem I had originally noted in FlashMount (see above). So, I thought I’d head back to the FlashMount developer and see if he had any updates… and sure enough, he did… two in fact! By version 1.5.2, FlashMount not only avoids the “EULA screen” problem it had originally, it does Mounty one better by simply accepting the EULA for you! Of course, you need to understand what it’s doing, but basically it just saves you a click (I mean, who reads EULA’s, anyway? unless they’re from Microsoft…) In my quick testing tonight, FlashMount worked great. I followed the readme file’s suggestion and turned FlashMount into a background application. This lets FlashMount do its thing without yanking you out of the Finder. More later after I’ve run with it for a few days…

Update 4/6/07. Yes, indeed! FlashMount works flawlessly in the latest version, handling the EULA interrupt screen flawlessly. I highly recommend this freeware if you want to shave a few seconds off the time it takes to load disk images on your Mac.

Version as tested: 1.5.2.