Disk Utility and DiskWarrior can't fix my hard drive. How?

For some strange reason, my startup external Firewire hard drive decided not to work.
Used my Mac internal startup disk and ran Disk Utility and I got this only error message:
*Error: The underlying task reported failure on exit*
Couldn't even mount it. So, I ran DiskWarrior 4.1 and the external FW HD showed up as an *Unknown Disk* and it stated +Directory cannot be rebuilt due to disk hardware failure (-36, 2268).+
Ran TechTool Pro 4.6.1 and the FW HD passed the Read Write test but failed on the Surface Scan with lots of bad blocks.
So, is this a gone case? Any other method or utility to revive the FW HD?

Hard drive failures are not that uncommon because hard drives still have moving parts. Since TechTool's surface scan came back with a lot of bad blocks and DiskWarrior noted that there was a hardware failure, my guess would be that the disc itself may be damaged or scratched.
There are companies that can recover data from damaged discs, but I would not put too much effort into reusing this particular drive.
Keith

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Can't open disk utility at startup, can't format new hard drive

My hard drive on my 2011 macbook pro recently went out, so I purchased a new one. I plugged it in internally and brought up disk utility in internet recovery, but it didn't recognize the drive. So I tried using an external hard drive reader, but now recovery mode can't be accessed at all, whether I press option or command r after startup, it still gives me the same gray folder with a question mark icon. Is my recovery mode damaged, and is that possible to fix?

You can use an external USB disk/flash drive which has Recovery (or a full OS - requires a 16GB disk space on a USB flash or a JHFS+ partition with the OSX) on it. Boot from that recovery USB drive. if Internet Recovery worked once, the MBP is already capable of repeating it. It requires an Ethernet or WiFi connection. If neither is available, or is spotty, Internet Recovery will not work. Can you try Internet recovery via Ethernet cable, if all your previous attempts have been via WiFi?
If the drive is not recognized when plugged into the internal SATA bus, either a cable is not plugged in properly (the replacement drive never showed up successfully as per the OP even once, or the drive is DoA). It should be tested externally. Pulling the drive out and putting it back is fairly easy in the 2011/2012 MBPs. The cable could have been damaged during the replacement. The non-drive end of SATA/IR Sensor cable on the main logic board could be loose or damaged.
If you have a external cable SATA-to-USB or SATA-to-FW (very unlikely), format the new drive using a different PC/MAC to make sure it is not DoA. What brand/model is this new drive? Is it an SSD? It may require a FW upgrade.
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Format : Winows NT Filesystem Available : 465.7 GB (500,022,378,496 Bytes)
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The drive has been pre-formatted for NTFS. You need to do the following:
Extended Hard Drive Preparation
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2. After DU loads select your hard drive (this is the entry with the mfgr.'s ID and size) from the left side list. Click on the Partition tab in the DU main window.
3. Set the number of partitions from the drop down menu to one. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Options button, set the partition scheme to APM then click on the OK button. Click on the Partition button and wait the process has completed.
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5. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Options button, check the button for Zero Data and click on OK to return to the Erase window.
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Disk Utility and DiskWarrior trouble with external hard-drive.

I got an external hard-drive that doesn't show up on finder. On both Disk Utility and DiskWarrior it keeps mounting and unmounting. Disk Utility when trying to repair, spits this out when it unmounts...
2011-07-28 22:43:43 -0700: Problems were encountered during repair of the partition map
2011-07-28 22:43:43 -0700: Error: Some information was unavailable during an internal lookup.
2011-07-28 22:43:43 -0700: : Some information was unavailable during an internal lookup.
2011-07-28 22:43:43 -0700: [DUDiskController mountDisk] expecting DUDisk, but got nil
On DiskWarrior it simply says 'Directory cannot be rebuilt due to disk hardware failure (-36,2747)
Earlier today it would stay mounted and Disk Utility would spit out...
Verify and Repair volume “Back-up Hard Drive”
Checking file systemChecking Journaled HFS Plus volume.
Checking extents overflow file.
Checking catalog file.
Invalid sibling link
Rebuilding catalog B-tree.
Invalid node structure
The volume Back-up Hard Drive could not be repaired.
Volume repair complete.
Updating boot support partitions for the volume as required.
Error: Disk Utility can’t repair this disk. Back up as many of your files as possible, reformat the disk, and restore your backed-up files.
while DiskWarrior would try to fix it, but on
Step 5: Locating directory date...
Speed reduced by disk malfunction: 339,474, er make that 340,239, er make that 341,327
and I finally gave up there.
I try to fix the Invalid sibling link error via Terminal and I get this...
imac-2:~ Migrated$ fsck_hfs -r /dev/disk2s2
** /dev/rdisk2s2 (NO WRITE)
Can't open /dev/rdisk2s2: Resource busy
Is there ANY THING I can do to get it to stay mounted and possibly fix this? This is my back-up hard-drive!!

It's the cord that's being used that decides if it shows up, or if it shows up and then goes away over and over. Using a cord where it stays on in the programs, when I run Disk Utility of the darked out part of the hard-drive, it spits out...
Verifying and repairing partition map for “MICRONET”
Checking prerequisites
Checking the partition list
Checking for an EFI system partition
Checking the EFI system partition’s size
Checking the EFI system partition’s file system
Checking all HFS data partition loader spaces
Reviewing boot support loaders
Checking Core Storage Physical Volume partitions
Updating Windows boot.ini files as required
The partition map appears to be OK
while the part of the disk just below it that's light spits out
Verifying volume “Back-up Hard Drive”
Checking file system
Error: This disk needs to be repaired. Click Repair Disk.
Verify and Repair volume “Back-up Hard Drive”
Starting repair tool:
Checking file system
Volume repair complete.
Updating boot support partitions for the volume as required.
Error: Disk Utility can’t repair this disk. Back up as many of your files as possible, reformat the disk, and restore your backed-up files.
Disk Utility stopped repairing “Back-up Hard Drive”: Disk Utility can’t repair this disk. Back up as many of your files as possible, reformat the disk, and restore your backed-up files.
while DiskWarrior tries to rebuild it and spits out a memory error.

I have an error in Verify disk permission and i can not fix it

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How can I fix my hard drive?

I have this nag of a PowerBook that I can't seem to fix. Before I send old paint out to the glue factory, I'd like to try to at least try to get some use as a web & email machine for a while. Here's the problems:
1 - CD-DVD drive is shot. Can not install anything from CD-DVD drive. Don't want to invest in a replacement drive.
2 - The somewhat infamous "2007-004 security update" of this past April sort of killed this machines ability to connect to wireless networks. There are many threads on these forums on how machines running 10.3.9 had an adverse reaction to this security update. My machine never recovered.
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Well, Gary, it sounds like you've got a mess there. Since you can't fix the hard drive, maybe replacing it is the answer — but only maybe. Given its problems, the Powerbook has essentially no market value as anything but parts, so the only investment in it that might make any sense is a new hard drive, which (installed in a Firewire enclosure) could be used with any other Mac even if it doesn't result in your being able to use this one again. If the present drive has a mechanical problem, that may be why FWTDM doesn't work for you now, and a new drive should take care of that problem.
On the free side, you might consider downloading and installing Security Updates 2007-005 and -006, which have resolved the problems inherent in -004 for most users. (Once bitten, twice shy, I know.)

I want to keep my music on my macbook and my movies on my external hard drive how do i get itunes to recogonise my external hard drive.?

I want to keep my music on my macbook pro and my movies on my external hard drive how do i get itunes to recogonise my external hard drive.? so i can drag more movies across later. i am able to plug my external into my Apple Express to stream to my apple Tv arent i..???

Post your question in the iTunes area:
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Disk utility won't let me erase my hard drive

I'm giving my old PowerBook to a family member and want to erase the HD and reinstall 10.5.4 fresh. I opened Disk Utility and selected Erase and the drive bu the Erase... button is not available (transparent). How do I do this?

That or another Mac OS X installation.
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Disk utility to make bootable Vista on external hard drive

Hi All,
I've browsed a bit in search of an answer to this question but I've not gotten anything definitive yet. I hope you can help...
My goal is to do turn a disk image (iso) into a bootable Vista install, on an external hard drive. I have successfully done this on the EHD using this process:
http://iuseapple.com/blog/apple-how-to/advanced-os-x/2007/10/29/how-to-install-l eopard-from-external-firewire-hard-drive/
My reasoning was that a similar process would work for Vista, but I'm hitting a wall. Some ideas of what may be the problem:
The Vista partition on my EHD is 2.5 gigs, which is just a hair larger than my iso of Vista. Should I make the partition more generous?
The partition is formatted in FAT32. I have had issues with this before, when trying to put over 2GB (or was it 4GB?) onto a FAT32 disk at once. I learned how to split dmgs/isos into pieces and move them over like that. Could that be the issue? If so, is it possible to accomplish my goal with a multi-part image?
I don't know that much about Vista. Will it just not tolerate a boot from an EHD?
The progress I've made so far is limited--I keep hitting a wall in Disk Utility. As in the Leopard approach, I attempt to Restore the image (Vista.iso) to the target drive (Win Vista). The computer thinks about it and then gives me a 254 error and a message along the lines of "could not validate source."
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Thanks in advance,
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Windows will neither install on nor boot from external drives.

Using Disk Utility to Migrate TM to a New Hard Drive

I'm posting this for search/google posterity:
Along with SuperDuper and CCC, plain old Disk Copy works perfectly for migrating a TM backup from one HD to a new, empty one. What I did:
1. Turn off TM
2. Go to Restore tab of Disk Utility
3. Set existing TM HD as the source, and the new HD as the destination
4. Click Restore button. Depending on the source HD size, this could take a while. My 400 GB source drive took about an 1.5 hours, with verification.
5. When done, you will have two HDs with the same name. Change the source drive's name.
6. Turn TM back on.
If all went well, TM should begin using your new HDs backup folder without a hitch.

This is great info. I use a 160gb portable drive with my MacBook Pro as my TM device. I have a fear that if anything happens to my laptop, the portable drive would be lost too since I carry them together. Ideally, I would like to periodically backup the portable drive to the Maxtor I have at home too and this seems like the easiest way to do it.
My question is, if I use the method described here with Disk Utility, does my Maxtor HD need to be a dedicated TM drive too? Will I have to create a partition so that I can continue to use my Maxtor to archive my data?

Low disk space (Boot Camp) - can I repartition my hard drive?

Hi there -
I am a MacBook user through and through. However, I partitioned my hard drive 3 years ago using Boot Camp to do some light Windows-only work. I only partitioned 8 GB to Windows, which wasn't a problem til now. I'm now trying to use some Windows-only software again, but am faced with a "low disk space" message. I cleaned up as much as I could with 8 GB, but it's still not enough. Can I re-partition the hard drive to more like 20 GB without losing any of the data and/or installed software (I don't have access to the install disks...)? I tried to install WinClone but I have OSX 10.5.8, and it said it only runs on 10.6 or 10.7. Can anyone offer advice on an option to re-partition with Boot Camp, without losing the installed software and files/data?
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Thanks

The correct answer to the question was given by The hatter so take notice please. I will help you gain knowlege ot CampTune by providing the url to the site. Happy sailing!
http://www.paragon-software.com/home/camptune/

Does disk utility repair delete any files on external hard drive?

Does disk utility repair disk delete any files on the external hard drive?

diskutil list
Last login: Sun Dec 21 16:07:46 on console
Justins-MacBook-Pro:~ justinmontoya$ diskutil list
/dev/disk0
   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
   0:      GUID_partition_scheme                        *750.2 GB   disk0
   1:                        EFI EFI                     209.7 MB   disk0s1
   2:          Apple_CoreStorage                         749.3 GB   disk0s2
   3:                 Apple_Boot Recovery HD             650.0 MB   disk0s3
/dev/disk1
   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
   0:                  Apple_HFS Macintosh HD           *748.9 GB   disk1
                                 Logical Volume on disk0s2
                                 4A646B29-3794-4A34-AC98-C0FB505D402B
                                 Unlocked Encrypted
/dev/disk2
   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
   0:     FDisk_partition_scheme                        *500.1 GB   disk2
   1:                 DOS_FAT_32 500HDD WD               500.1 GB   disk2s1
Justins-MacBook-Pro:~ justinmontoya$

Disk utility keeps failing to repair my external hard drive?

My disk was working completely fine about two weeks ago, but today when I plugged it in to back up it didn't show on my finder. When I checked disc utility, it did though but when I clicked "verify", it said I had to "repair" it. So I tried, but it didn't work.
What should I do? It's obviously recognized by the computer, just not usable.

greenteafrappucinos wrote:
, it said I had to "repair" it. So I tried, but it didn't work.
If there was a message in red that said the HDD could not be repaired, then the disk should be replaced.
Ciao.

Fix my hard drive - Disk Utility won't repair

I have a powerbook g4 1.5 17" 1.5 gig ram
it has annnn 80gig hard drive
it's only about a year or 2 old
now recently i've been having hard drive trouble
when i play movies off the hard drive they kinda freeze up and stuff, not cos of the file but the hard drive it's like they're copied onto a bad sector or something.
i have files such as pictures and movies that i try to move or copy but they wont let me, or they get half way and cant copy the rest....
oh i was using bit-torrent to download some big files and it kept stuffing up with a hard drive read/write error
now the 1.7 gig i just downloaded wont open or copy to somewhere else to open it
and thats not good
so i've tried Disk Utility and got it to Verify the hard drive and it recognises some errors and stops scanning and says you need to fix it
i think one of them is a checksum/table error or something or.... i will have to get the exact error message off it later. but it tells me to fix it but i can't press the 'repair' button cos it's not available to be clicked! so that's a bugger
is there another program i can get off version tracker to help fix this or something else i can do? any way to try and recover that huge file too?
let me know what you think and i'll give u any more info that you need cos i definately dont wanna replace the hard drive!

is that just the 2 dvd set that came with the computer?
it's like a system restore disc or something
i dont have an actual OSX disc cos it came with OSX 10.4 loaded
i'm worried that my dvd restore discs will have 10.3 on them and it wont be compatible.. although i'm not sure, does anyone know what it originally shipped with?
apple-history doesn't seem to know
and the other thing
IF i do need a new hard drive what size can i upgrade to? it's 80gig now, i know they went up to 100gig at the time but can i put anything bigger in it or will it crack it?
and what kind of hard drive do i need, i'll probly buy one off ebay - so some kind of bits that help me identify it would help heaps
THEN should i pay for someone to repair it and put it in or open her up and do it myself? i'm not worried about the changing it over part it's more how do i then format it and get it ready to go into the computer
any help will be deemed HELPFUL
thanks heaps

Flashing file folder - can't find the hard drive-imacG3 - 9.1

When I attempted to start up I got a flashing "?" in a folder. I loaded the hardware test CD and everthing tested fine but no hard drive was listed. I loaded the software install CD and got the message"disk is unreadable. Do you want to inintialize". Options were Standard 9.5 GB or extended. Is there anything I can do other than initialize and lose everything? If I do initialize should it be standard or extended? If the hardware test can't find the hard drive how did the software install disk recognize it. Any ideas? Thanks
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jalacqua...
Unfortunately both of those must run from a bootable CD or bootable device that isn't the startup volume. And, by the way, both of those applications do cost money.
TechTool Pro comes from Micromat and you would need version 3.0.9 (final for Mac OS9) from them.
DiskWarrior is a bit tricky as the CD is bootable only in Mac OS 10 and can cripple an iMac Slot Loading machine that hasn't had the Firmware update. They include an older Mac OS 9 version on that CD however you would have to install it into something that is bootable.
...Ron

Disk Utility and DiskWarrior can't fix my hard drive. How?

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