So at long last my fav OS X tool is back. Applejack is a wicked utility that does all the command line work when in Single User Mode under OS X. Applejack has been updated to be 10.5 compatible.
Get it now at Macupdate.com

--Not for Snow Leopard Yet--

I have a new favourite tool that I used to have to buy. VirtualBox.
It’s a software virtualizer for installing guest OS’s inside of. I used to use Parallels Workstation for this but needed to upgrade it with my last OS upgrade but didn’t have the coin. Virtualbox is free from SUN Microsystems.
Find it through:
Macupdate.com

Being the vicitm of a hard drive failure is no fun. I know first hand. That being said, I stongly urge anyone with data they can't afford to lose, to have a backup system.
I highly recommend investing in an external Firewire Hard Drive. Firewire lets you transfer data at a sustained data rate (where USB 2 does not). Combined with the hard drive, you should download a program like Carbon Copy Cloner. This can make a bootable backup of your internal hard drive and be set to backup your drive at regular intervals. This is a more manual way of backing up, when compared with Apple's new Time Machine, I personally like to know when and where my data is being backup up to. There are lots of ways to back up. Just make sure you have a way. If you don't have 2 copies of a file on 2 different mediums, then you don't really have any.

I provide Mac Tech Support to my local community. Some things I can fix, some things I can't. Here I post helpful hints inspired by actual cases. I hope you find them interesting and useful.