Is a Disk Utility "fatal hardware Error" Always fatal?

Help!
I'm traveling for the next four weeks and have my lap top with me to do work.
Last night I was working fine on my computer when all of a sudden Photoshop wouldn't open files right. I quite out of Photoshop (slow)
Then tried to quit out of everything else (slow) and finally shut down holding the Power button down. I waited a few minutes and tried to reboot.
It was REALLY slow starting back up. (about 15 to 20 minutes). I held the Power key down to turn it off and left it overnight hoping it would figure itself out by morning.
This am the same start up problem happened. I finally got it opened and manuvered to Disk Utility.
IT GAVE ME THIS MESSAGE
This drive has reported a Fatal Hardware Error to Disk utility.
If the drive has not failed completely, Back up as much as you can and
then replace it with a working drive.
HERE IS WHAT I DID EARLIER IN THE EVENING THAT I THINK MADE IT WACKY.
I hadn't installed SUITCASE X1 yet and was using the program Font Book that comes with the computer. It wasn't satifactory so I went ahead and installed Suitcase X1.
FONT BOOK kept showing a ton of open faces.
I carefully (or so I thought) went through Font Books "All fonts" window and got rid of fonts that I didn't see in the system fonts folder. (I think this is where I really may have screwed up)
FYI I am a graphic designer and use many fonts.
I store all the design fonts in a folder in USERS > SHARED> FONTS
I directed SUITCASE to "Manage system fonts"
Every thing was working fine for a few hours.
I was working in QUARK 6 easily and listening to a Podcast. No problems.
When I went to open PHOTOSHOP, it (Photoshop) started running very slow.
and all the things I mentioned above started to happen.
I have the OS10.4 install disk with me so I tried to boot from it.
(I thought maybe it had a utility on it to help fix things or maybe I could copy any important fonts that I accidently trased
(btw do you hold down OPTION C to boot from a CD or APPLE C?
I tried them all)
I couldn't get it to boot from the CD
Have I really wrecked my computer?
Do we think it's a font problem.
Can I fix it. I'm at the beach in NC and there's no techys around!!!!
I am currently typing this email on the laptop so it's not completely dead.
Just super slow and threatening to die.
What should I do??!!!
Did I mention today is my birthday?
PowerbookG4 Mac OS X (10.4.6)

It's either OPTION or C. Unfortunately, the Install CD doesn't give you much access to file operations (no Finder) as Mac OS 9 and earlier did.
If you could start it in Target Disk Mode and mount the drive on another Mac, or boot it from an external drive with a Mac OS X installation on it you could try to recover files that aren't already backed up.

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Disk Utility is reporting a fatal hardware error-S.M.A.R.T. status failing. Is there hope?

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Is that on your first drive or the new one???
Only experience I had with SMART warning was that in less than 48 hrs it was dead for good.

Disk Utility Reporting Fatal Hardware Error

Hello all,
I woke up this morning to the flashing folder with a question mark in it on my MacBook. I know that that means the system can't find the OS so I assumed that my hard drive had magically failed overnight. So I turned my computer off and then rebooted and everything loaded properly. I went into Disk Utility and my main hard drive that has OS X on it is highlighted in red and when I click on it, Disk Utility only displays "This drive has reported a fatal hardware error to Disk Utility. If the drive has not failed completely, back up as much data as you can and then replace it with a working drive."
I have noticed EXTREMELY sluggish performance by my computer in these past two days which has required me to force quit programs and force shut down the system more times than I've had to in the whole time I've had this computer. Could this be a side effect of the failing drive?
I'm backing everything up right now, but I'm wondering how accurate Disk Utility is. The drive that I have in here is a non-Apple-installed 250 GB Western Digital that's been in here for nearly a year. Is it possible that the drive is failing beyond repair already? If so, is there any way to see the full extent of the damage and attempt to repair it before I go out and buy a new hard drive to replace it with?
Thanks for all the help and the fast responses!

Mateo wrote:
Hello all,
I woke up this morning to the flashing folder with a question mark in it on my MacBook. I know that that means the system can't find the OS so I assumed that my hard drive had magically failed overnight. So I turned my computer off and then rebooted and everything loaded properly. I went into Disk Utility and my main hard drive that has OS X on it is highlighted in red and when I click on it, Disk Utility only displays "This drive has reported a fatal hardware error to Disk Utility. If the drive has not failed completely, back up as much data as you can and then replace it with a working drive."
I have noticed EXTREMELY sluggish performance by my computer in these past two days which has required me to force quit programs and force shut down the system more times than I've had to in the whole time I've had this computer. Could this be a side effect of the failing drive?
yes, it could.
I'm backing everything up right now, but I'm wondering how accurate Disk Utility is. The drive that I have in here is a non-Apple-installed 250 GB Western Digital that's been in here for nearly a year. Is it possible that the drive is failing beyond repair already?
yes, it's quite possible.
If so, is there any way to see the full extent of the damage and attempt to repair it before I go out and buy a new hard drive to replace it with?
check the SMART status in disk utility as suggested. if it says anything but "verified" it means that the drive is expected to fail completely and you shouldn't try to repair it. If it says "verified" It's possible that reformatting will fix it so you can try that. this will wipe all the data on it so clone it off first as gbullman suggested. BTW, most drives come with manufacturers warranty longer than a year and you should be able to replace the drive. that's what I would recommend.
Thanks for all the help and the fast responses!

Reported Fatal Hardware Error to Disk Utility

I see the following message in my Power Book G4 Disk Utility:
"This drive has Reported Fatal Hardware Error to Disk Utility. If drive has not failed completely, back up as much data as you can and then replace it with a new drive."
I already made a back up my Home folder to my external HD. The install disk utility reports the same and has grey the repair uptions.
The spinning beachball appears constantly when using Safari and iTunes. What should I do?

If your Mac is no longer under the standard 1-yr warranty period or under the 3-yr extended warranty if you purchased the AppleCare extended warranty for your PB, you need to purchase a new internal hard drive that is compatible with your Mac model. This is something you can install yourself or take your Mac to an Apple authorized repair facility to purchase and have a new internal hard drive installed.
The repair facility should include re-installing whichever OX version and all software that was pre-installed and shipped with this Mac when purchased new. If this wasn't Tiger and you purchased a Tiger retail install package, you can re-install the Tiger upgrade yourself and then replace all data from your backup on the new hard drive.

I have a mid-2010 27" Quad Core i5 iMac running 10.8.3. Startup disk recognizes the primary hard drive as a startup volume but will not boot from it. Have tried zapping PRAM, ran disk utility. No errors reported Any thoughts?

I have a mid-2010 27" Quad Core i5 iMac running 10.8.3. Startup disk recognizes the primary hard drive as a startup volume but will not boot from it. Have tried zapping PRAM, ran disk utility. No errors reported Any thoughts?

My bad Eric. The startup preference recognizes the primary as a 10.8.3 startup volume but when u select it the system does not boot. I can only boot from my external backup drive

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Disk utility, input/output error, setup fail

Had issue partitioning 2TB my passport drive, got input/output error while using disk utility.
Here is what I did to get my external disk back
In Disk Utility
1) Try to use erase option first, it failed
2) Try to partition the disk, failed as well.
3) Then try erase option again, then ... it worked !!

Trying to install/format an INTERNAL hard drive using Disk Utility gives me "Error: -69760: Unable to write to the last block of the device". Is that a hardware problem and what could be done about it?

*** PLEASE NOTE*** - This is a query about an INTERNAL HDD not an external one. Thanks.
My Mac is a late 2009 model and the current hard drive recently failed. So I bought a new one, exactly the same, albeit 750gb instead of 500gb. The HDD is a Seagate Momentus 7200. Before the my current drive failed I made a time machine back up to an external USB HDD. I've inserted the HDD into the bottom of my Mac, plugged in the USB and started my machine pressing the 'Option' ([ALT]) key. I go into Disk Utility to try and format the new HDD by creating a new partition but I keep getting the messages,
"Error: -69760: Unable to write to the last block of the device"
or
"POSIX: could not allocate memory"
This is actaully the third HDD I've tried. The first was another Seagate Momentus 7200 500gb, but this time it was a newer model (model number ended in 423AS instead of 420AS - the new one I am trying ends with 420AS, which is the same as the current HDD). I then tried a Western Digital drive but that one didn't even show up in DU. Forums and tech support are suggesting it's faults with the HDDs but surely not three in a row?
Could this be an issue with another part of my Mac?
Is there anything else I can do to format the HDD, have I missed a crucial step?

Did you ever get a resolution to this issue?
I am having that exact error with a new 512GB SSD from Crucial, in a 15" MBP mid-2010.
I really wonder now if the stupid SATA cable could be bad - causing the initial SSD fail. I am replacing it with the EXACT same drive, and getting that "last block" error when i partition in the GUI or from command-line.
thanks!

Disk utility finds new errors after every reboot

My problem: every time I reboot my computer, disk utility shows minor corruption of the catalog, attributes, and free space maps on my internal drive. If I boot into the Recovery partition and use Disk Utility to repair the drive, the repair succeeds, and runnin Verify Disk shows a clean file system. But once I boot into the OS from the HD, shut down, and restart, a new set of disk errors appears. The errors are never exactly the same (in mismatch of clusters, for example) but are always off by a few percent.
Things that may be related:
This is a new (1-wk-old) MBP 17" (late 2011 model), which I bought to replace an older 15" MBP running OSX 10.6. I used Migration Assistant to move my data and apps from a Time Machine backup of the old laptop to the new laptop. I then made a Time Machine backup of the new laptop, replaced the factory HD with a Seagate Momentus 720GB, 7200 rpm drive, and used Time Machine to do a complete restore of OS and data onto the new drive. I later used Bootcamp assistant to create an NTFS partition (which doesn't ever show errors).
Things I've already tried to fix the problem that haven't worked:
--Repaired disk permissions as well as the disk structure.
--Using the online recovery tool to do a complete reinstallation of Lion (preserving my data and apps, so not a clean install).
--Using TechToolPro DVD to do a deeper analysis and repair of the disk's volume structure. The repair succeeded, but the disk errors came right back.
--Uninstall every utility or extension that might possibly affect the hard drive.
--Disable all login items using the Accounts preferences pane.
--Disabled Spotlight by moving the entire volume into the Private area in Spotlight preferences.
--Reset the PRAM.
--Reset the SMC.
No joy from any of these. I haven't tried running fsck (is there any reason to?). I'd love to track down the program that is causing the disk corruption, but don't know how to do that.
I would be most grateful for any suggestions on diagnosing and permanently fixing this problem, as it does seem to make my system unstable and prone to crashing.

Thanks for responding. Yes, I should have mentioned that I used the TechToolPro boot DVD to do a thorough SMART scan on the drive as well as a full scan for bad sectors. No problems were found. I also did a long scan of the RAM to rule out memory errors.
I did remove the new drive and replaced it, taking extra care to ensure the connector was seated properly. But the disk corruption/repair/corruption cycle still reoccured.
I haven't put the factory drive back in to check whether the problem affects that (smaller, slower) drive as well. If it does, should I conclude that I have a H/W problem with, e.g. the drive controller chip or the drive cable in the laptop?
I wonder if this might be related to another problem I'm seeing with the laptop, which is that the lid closure doesn't work--the OS isn't able to detect when the lid is closed. It looks like the wire to the sensor goes through the same cable bundle as the SATA cable. Perhaps there is a defect in that bundle or connector.
I will try the factory disk. If the problem doesn't show up with that, then I guess I should focus again on the possibility of a defective HD. Is there some utility other than TechTool that would do an even more thorough check of the HD?

Disk Utility Reporting Hardware Failure on Mac HD- Not Repairable

Hi! Looks like my hard drive is toast on my 24" aluminum case 24" imac. NOT under warranty although I bought it in Jan 09. DU reporting Mac HD in RED with message...'disk utility has detected hardware problem which cannot be repaired'. Ok. Will a simple hard drive replacement do the trick? Or, could there be additional grief? Thanks!

Do you have a backup of at least your personal data on the drive? If you do, you should try reformatting (erasing) the drive using Disk Utility, before giving up on it.
Restart from your Mac OS X installation disc, for the system you have installed currently; to do so, insert disc and restart with the C key held down. When you get to the first Installer screen (after language selection), go up to the menu bar. Under Utilities, select to run Disk Utility. In the sidebar, select the internal drive. On the +First Aid+ tab, run +Repair Disk+ (not +Repair Disk Permissions+ ). Do you still get that previous error at some point in this process? Do you get some other error that Disk Utility is not able to repair?

Disk utility verify drive error

When I run disk utility I receive the following error. In reading previous posts I discoverd that I needed to use the OSX install disk. So I get it showing in the utilities window on the left side and attempt to get disk utility running by following this path on the disk -- Applications > Utilities > Disk Utility. Double clicking disk utility has no result.
Any suggestions would be appreciated.
The error when running verify disk from disk utility on the iMac:
Verifying volume “Macintosh HD”
Checking HFS Plus volume.
Checking Extents Overflow file.
Checking Catalog file.
Invalid node structure
The volume Macintosh HD needs to be repaired.
Error: The underlying task reported failure on exit
1 HFS volume checked
Volume needs repair

As Doug has said, & indeed you have tried....you need to run diskutility from the OS install disk. Or more accurately, you need to run diskutility when booted from the install disk.
The following ( from diskutility help) should explain it clearly.
Start up your computer using another disk.
To use the Install Mac OS X disc, insert the disc and restart your computer holding down the Option key, then select the Install Mac OS X disc and click the arrow.
Open Disk Utility.
If you're using the Mac OS X Install disk, follow the onscreen instructions until the menu bar appears with the Utilities menu in it., and then choose Utilities > Open Disk Utility.
Select the startup disk in the list of disks and volumes, then click First Aid.
Check the S.M.A.R.T. Status at the bottom of the window. If you can't see it, be sure you selected the hard disk your volume is on, and not the volume itself.
If the S.M.A.R.T. Status is "About to Fail," back up your files on the disk as soon as possible and replace the disk.
If the S.M.A.R.T. Status is "Verified" or "Not supported," click Repair Disk to repair the disk.
If Disk Utility tells you to look for links to corrupt files in the DamagedFiles directory, two or more files occupy the same space on your hard disk and at least one of them is likely to be corrupt. Examine each affected file in the DamagedFiles folder, which at the top-level of the affected disk. If you can replace it or recreate the file, delete it. If it contains necessary information, open it and examine its data to make sure it has not been corrupted.
If Disk Utility reports "The underlying task reported failure," Disk Utility encountered a problem it could not repair. Back up as much of your data as possible, reformat your disk, reinstall Mac OS X, and restore your backed up data.

Help -- backup data with disk utility, input/output error.

My problem started when my MacBook Pro computer (with OsX) froze. When I restarted, the startup screen stayed on for a long time. Now, the startup screen stays on for a few seconds and then shuts off. I do NOT have a recent backup of my data. I have tried the following:
Went onto the recovery partition, used Disk Utility. When I verified the disk, it said it needed repair. When I tried to repair the disk, it said it could not be repaired.
I then tried to copy a disk image of the hard drive onto my external hard drive, but it says there is an "input/output error" and won't allow it. How else can I backup files on my computer at this point?

Had issue partitioning 2TB my passport drive, got input/output error while using disk utility.
Here is what I did to get my external disk back
In Disk Utility
1) Try to use erase option first, it failed
2) Try to partition the disk, failed as well.
3) Then try erase option again, then ... it worked !!

Disk Utility "Input - Output error" when attempting to erase Hard Drive

Hope that someone can point me in the right direction.
I bought an external hard drive for Windows a year back and loaded music onto it. I realized that I my MAC wasn't getting "Read / Write" privileges for the External Hard Drive, so I decided to try to Partition it and make it into a FAT readable device. It erased all data from my hard drive, but Disk Utility stopped the process and displayed an "input - output error".
Consequently, I can't initialize the external hard drive to make it usable on my MAC.
Can anyone point me in the right direction so I can "reformat" my external?
Thanks!

Hi all,
I'm having similar issues on a white macbook (2006 model). I ran into some trouble with it about a month ago, when on booting up, it showed only the folder with a question mark. Booting up from the original grey install DVD worked, so I thought the problem was most likely a faulty hard drive.
It's only after having this problem, that I came across this recall for possible faulty hard drives, that Apple offered:
http://www.apple.com/support/macbook/hd/repairextension/
Doh! Too late?
So, I got onto ebay and picked up a deal and received my new hard drive yesterday. I swapped out the original 80GB with 320GB, only to find the same input/output error described by the OP, here (also in a couple of other Apple discussion posts - see below).
Disk utility shows the new hard drive to be 2.3TB in size! Should be 320GB - but, this is also what others have described. See e.g.,:
https://discussions.apple.com/message/16090313#16090313
I've run the extended testing from the CD (holding down 'D' on boot-up) and it reported no problems. Also, similar to others experiences:
https://discussions.apple.com/message/16081818#16081818
So, what can the problem be?!?!?!?!?
In this post, JMPC suggests it has something to do with the size of the new internal hard drive....groan.....:
https://discussions.apple.com/message/16145560?tstart=0#16145560?tstart=0
Can anyone confirm this?

Unable to copy hard drive on to external device from Disk Utility. Getting error message "cannot allocate memory".

I am trying to retrieve the information on my hard drive after I spilled liquid on my keyboard . I can get to Disk Utility by using the boot up disk but when I try and copy the hard drive to an external device using "New Image" it tells me it is unable to create a copy because it "cannot allocate memory".

Were you able to get any help with this problem? My MacBook Pro out of the blue wouldn't boot up all the way and now I'm trying to get a copy of everything onto the new external drive using disc utility but am having the same errors as you! Thank you for sharing any tips!! -Norah

Disk utility 'input/output error' message?

I am "creating an image" of a DVD using disk utility (prior to making a copy on a blank DVD disk). Why am I now rec'ing an 'input/output error' message? I have already copied several other DVDs from the same author (with her permission, they are not copywrited.) w/o a problem.
What's going on? original damaged? an incorrect step on my part? some sort of space problem? ( I have tons of room on my iMac.)
Thanks for your help.

Take a look at Cinematize 2, I've used it with iMovie 06 and iDVD 08. It has several modes of converting the data. One mode is called "lossless".
For the job you're doing you may prefer to use iMovie 06 instead of iMovie 08 (I would).
iMovie 06 and iDVD 08 is a terrific combination.
Your workflow would go something like this.
Use Cinematize 2 to create a Quicktime file from the DVD.
http://www.miraizon.com/products/products.html
Important that file into iMovie 06.
From iMovie 06, share to iDVD 08 (assuming you want a DVD).

FATAL HARDWARE ERROR

My daughter has a new G4 that I tried to run a disk repair on after it started crashing continously. All that came up was: If the drive has not failed completely back up as much data as you can and then replace it with a working drive:....geesh!! Already...I know this is under repair still but is this really a hardware or a software problem and would something like this be under warranty still? She thought at first it might be a virus but couldn't seem to download any because we kept freezing up everytime we tried to. Any help?

Well, first of all you don't have a virus, if you do, it would be the first reported virus for OSX (in other words its very unlikely).
Have you tried booting from your iBooks install disk? If not do so (hold the "C" key at boot), and launch disk utility from it and try to do the repair.

Is a Disk Utility "fatal hardware Error" Always fatal?

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