And can anybody explain why TechTool Deluxe's "surface scan" is so much faster than "dd?"
Huh? Wait... wasn't #2 (dd)
faster than #1?
If so, perhaps the question could be rephrased.
#2
was faster than #1, but only by a nominal and surprising 30 sec.
(I'll rerun both scans when I'm off-line, but I'm certain that what I've posted is accurate.)
Edit: Could the apparent anomaly have anything to do with the differences in "top's" %CPU and Time figures for the two scans?