Wife about to give birth and Disk Utility failing to repair HD.

Good morning. Starting last night I began having serious issues with my 2007 20" 2.4ghz iMac. I hope someone can help before I employ the "nuke" option.
First a little background. My wife is about to give birth to our second child. I have several in-laws in town and my house is a wreck. So, last night I thought it would be a great time to upgrade my iPhone 3G to iOS 4. I am not implying that updating my phone caused the problems with my iMac but they started about 30 seconds after pushing the "Update" button in iTunes.
The phone did update to iOS 4 after about 3 hours of backing up but immediately the iMac started "hanging up" and the spinning beach ball appeared for minutes at a time. late last night after my iPhone was functioning again, I went to bed.
This morning, the iMac was still responding very slowly and I was getting the spinning beach ball for even longer periods of time. So, I rebooted the machine and upon reboot the iMac would get stuck on the grey screen with the Apple logo and a spinning gear.
I tried all of the methods on this support document.
http://support.apple.com/kb/TS2570
It would not boot into Safe Mode.
I reset the NVRAM/PRAM.
I checked the power cables.
I removed all USB and perpherial attachments. (Including even trying to boot without the keyboard or mouse plugged in.)
After booting from the Install DVD and running Disk Utility, Disk Utility was telling me that almost the entire HD is available and that it could not repair the disk. I was receiving "Invalid Node Structure" and "Volume Check Failed" error messages.
So the last thing the support document suggested was a complete erase and re-install. I have been running Time Machine, but have never actually used it to recover anything, much less the 1000s of photos and 1000s of songs on the iMac.
Is there anything else I can or should try before pulling the plug and erasing the hard drive and praying that Time Machine has worked?
My very pregnant wife will have a heart attack if we lost everything on the computer. (I really am not joking that she might go into labor any second, her due date was last week.)
Thanks for the help and advice. I need it.

I know that I am a bother and asking alot of questions in quick succession, but I am hoping to take care of this before the baby makes its appearance.
I'm getting you have a lot on your mind right now, try not to not worry about it. Might be time to take a few deep breaths and try to relax.
If you have had your machine connected to Time Machine and it has been doing backups (I'm sure it has been) you have done everything necessary.
You can attempt an erase and restore however if your disk is dodgy or has failed at best it's a temporary solution. As I stated I would recommend taking it into an AASP and have it looked at.

Similar Messages

My Macintosh HD partition is damaged and the disk utility failed to repair it

I cannot boot anymore after I tried to repair the disk with Disk Utility after my Mac became very slow.
This is the second time it happened to me in a week with the same symptoms. When I try to boot, I see a gray screen and the computer just stops
When I use the recovery partition, the disk utility fails to repair the disk, stopping after failing to fix the catalog file.
I started to use TM to backup my data after erasing the disk and reinstalling Mountain Lion but I wonder if my hard drive is damaged because the same problem happened twice. (Thanks TM for keeping my data safe this time)
Any advice or ways to fix that once and for all ?
PS : The worst is that i can still boot with Bootcamp to Windows, not very useful though

rpignard wrote:
Any advice or ways to fix that once and for all ?
Since your Recovery HD and Windows partition work fine, the problem is located in your Macintosh HD partition and I very highly suspect it's bad/failing sectors that's to blame for your troubles.
This can sometimes occur if the computer was moved while the hard drive was in operation, else sectors fail all by themselves, or if the drive is having mechanical issues, which you problem will continue no matter what you do.
This time when you use Recovery > Disk Utility to erase the Macintosh HD partition, use the middle secure erase option, not the far left or right options (the right will work also just take a really long time)
What your doing is with the middle secure erase option is called a "Zero" write, which Disk Utility will write 0's over all the bits in that partition. When it's done it will read it back for confirmation and when it does so, any bits that are failing will be mapped off by the drive. Hopefully this will resolve the issue without needing a drive replacement.
Once that is completed, reinstall OS X from Recovery, any programs from original sources, files only from backup and your problems hopefully should disappear.
What happens is if your data gets corrupted on the boot drive by failing sectors, it gets transfered to TimeMachine (or to bootable clones) and when you restore your right back to square one. So it's important to rule out that possibility with original installs of OS X and third party programs.
If your problems continue, then it's possibly a problem with third party at boot kernel extension files, (and the catalog problem was yet another one) so to solve this you need to make sure all your third party software is updated and works with your current OS X version.
A trick is, if you get gray screen at boot time, is to hold the Shift Key while booting the computer, this will disable a lot of things and allow you to fix the third party software issue.
What I suggest you do is have multiple backup systems, including hold option key bootable clones, this way if your TM drive gets corrupted you can go back in time to a saved state on the clone, restore that and then your files from the TM drive.
Most commonly used backup methods

Upgraded to 10.5.6 and Disk Utility won't repair?

I upgraded to 10.5.6 and ran Disk Utility and got the report below. Should I be concerned about it?:
Warning: SUID file "System/Library/Filesystems/AppleShare/afpLoad" has been modified and will not be repaired.
Warning: SUID file "usr/bin/setregion" has been modified and will not be repaired.
Warning: SUID file "System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/Install.framework/Versions/A/Resources/runner " has been modified and will not be repaired.
Warning: SUID file "System/Library/Printers/IOMs/LPRIOM.plugin/Contents/MacOS/LPRIOMHelper" has been modified and will not be repaired.
Group differs on "private/etc/cups", should be 0, group is 26.
Permissions differ on "private/var/spool/cups/cache/rss", should be drwxr-xr-x , they are drwxrwxr-x .
Permissions repair complete

No. TM backups are not usable to downgrade to an earlier version of OS X. Archive and Install is the proper method.
How to Perform an Archive and Install
An Archive and Install will NOT erase your hard drive, but you must have sufficient free space for a second OS X installation which could be from 3-9 GBs depending upon the version of OS X and selected installation options. The free space requirement is over and above normal free space requirements which should be at least 6-10 GBs. Read all the linked references carefully before proceeding.
1. Be sure to use Disk Utility first to repair the disk before performing the Archive and Install.
Repairing the Hard Drive and Permissions
Boot from your OS X Installer disc. After the installer loads select your language and click on the Continue button. When the menu bar appears select Disk Utility from the Installer menu (Utilities menu for Tiger.) After DU loads select your hard drive entry (mfgr.'s ID and drive size) from the the left side list. In the DU status area you will see an entry for the S.M.A.R.T. status of the hard drive. If it does not say "Verified" then the hard drive is failing or failed. (SMART status is not reported on external Firewire or USB drives.) If the drive is "Verified" then select your OS X volume from the list on the left (sub-entry below the drive entry,) click on the First Aid tab, then click on the Repair Disk button. If DU reports any errors that have been fixed, then re-run Repair Disk until no errors are reported. If no errors are reported, then quit DU and return to the installer.
2. Do not proceed with an Archive and Install if DU reports errors it cannot fix. In that case use Disk Warrior and/or TechTool Pro to repair the hard drive. If neither can repair the drive, then you will have to erase the drive and reinstall from scratch.
3. Boot from your OS X Installer disc. After the installer loads select your language and click on the Continue button. When you reach the screen to select a destination drive click once on the destination drive then click on the Option button. Select the Archive and Install option. You have an option to preserve users and network preferences. Only select this option if you are sure you have no corrupted files in your user accounts. Otherwise leave this option unchecked. Click on the OK button and continue with the OS X Installation.
4. Upon completion of the Archive and Install you will have a Previous System Folder in the root directory. You should retain the PSF until you are sure you do not need to manually transfer any items from the PSF to your newly installed system.
5. After moving any items you want to keep from the PSF you should delete it. You can back it up if you prefer, but you must delete it from the hard drive.
6. You can now download a Combo Updater directly from Apple's download site to update your new system to the desired version as well as install any security or other updates. You can also do this using Software Update.

G4 Dual 1.43 Ghtz won't boot and disk utility won't repair it

I can't get the Boot Disk Disk Utility to repair the drive on my old G4 Dual 1.43 and desparately need the Documents file and home folders. Any ideas ?

This isn't going to be easy.
Does disk utility try to repair the drive? If it mounts, you could try the software I list below.
You either goint to have to get an external firewire drive & install some mac os on it. Then run some utilities from this drive or you going to have to get the drive out and mount in an external enclosure & run utilities.
There our commercial places that recover data. They will not be cheap.
I do not know what type of drive you have in the machine. So before buying an empty enclosure check.
Has everything interface:
FireWire 800/400 + USB2, + eSATA 'Quad Interface'
save a little money interface:
FireWire 400 + USB 2.0
This web page lists both external harddrive types. You may need to scroll to the right to see both.
http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/firewire/1394/USB/EliteAL/eSATA_FW800_FW400_USB
The latest the hard drive enclosures support the newer serial ata drives. The drive and closure that I list supports only older parallel ata.
Here is an external hd enclosure.
http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Other%20World%20Computing/MEFW91UAL1K/
Perhaps Disk Warrior will be of some help:
http://www.alsoft.com/DiskWarrior/
"Stellar Phoenix Macintosh - Mac data recovery software, recovers data from damaged, deleted, or corrupted volumes and even from initialized disks."
They have a trial version, so I guess you can see if your data can be recovered...
http://www.stellarinfo.com/mac-data-recovery.htm
"Data Rescue II is the best data recovery software on the market for recovering files from a problem hard drive. Data Rescue II works when other tools fail. Data Rescue II is also completely safe to use since it does not attempt any risky repairs to the drive while its scanning."
http://www.prosofteng.com/products/data_rescue.php
FileSalvage is an extremely powerful Macintosh application for exploring and recovering deleted files from a drive or volume. FileSalvage is designed to restore files that have:
-- been accidentally deleted.
-- become unreadable due to media faults.
-- been stored on a drive before it was re-initialized/formatted.
http://subrosasoft.com/OSXSoftware/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id= 1
"TestDisk is a free data recovery utility. It was primarily designed to help recover lost data storage partitions and/or make non-booting disks bootable again when these symptoms are caused by faulty software, certain types of viruses or human error (such as accidentally erasing a partition table)."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TestDisk
"*Hard drive data recovery and warranty implications*
Hard drives that have become non-functional through normal use, and have had data recovery performed on them by DriveSavers or Ontrack Data Recovery can be returned to Apple for warranty service. This includes products covered by the AppleCare Protection Plan. The cost of any data recovery attempts is not covered by the Apple Limited Warranty."
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3974?viewlocale=en_US
Entering:
mac data recovery
into Google will list some firms who specialize in recovering data. Data recovery isn't cheap.
Examples:
1) Ontrack Data Recovery is the world leader in data recovery services and data recovery software offering the fastest, most convenient and cost-effective solutions to clients who have experienced data loss.
http://www.ontrackdatarecovery.com/
2) Enter the world of DriveSavers Data Recovery…
    * Data Recovery Tools
    * Data Recovery Process
    * Data Recovery Cleanroom
http://www.drivesavers.com/

DiskWarrior and Disk Utility can't repair volume after 10.4.6 upgrade

I appreciate any advice on the following problem:
After installing the 10.4.6 update On April 4 (which installed just fine), I did my usual post-installation system maintenance including repairing permissions, running CRON scripts and cleaning the caches. I got a strange Apple Script error that flashed on and off the screen (too quickly for me to document) while I was cleaning the caches, then the process finished. Then when I used DiskWarrior as part of my usual maintenance, it "stuck" while saying that the process was slowed because of a disk error. I waited for an hour, and it never completed. I then restarted using the OS install disk, called up Disk Utility and selected Repair Disk. This is what I got:
Verifying volume "Macintosh HD"
Checking HFS Plus volume
Checking Extreme Overflow file
Checking Catalog file
Invalid node structure (in red font)
The volume Macintosh HD needs to be repaired (in red font)
Error: The underlying task reported failure on exit (in bold red font)
1 HFS volume checked
Volume needs repair (in bold red font)
I cannot repair this problem using either DiskWarrior or the OS installer disk with Disk Utility. In addition, I was unable to archive & install the system while using the OS install disk! I have tried repairing permissions and using DiskWarrior and the OS Installer disk again with no success.
I am able to work on my Mac, but things seem slower and I get occasional oddball errors that make no sense. A few times, applications have quit unexpectedly when they weren't before.
Am I going to have to initialize the hard drive and reload everything?
Many thanks!
--Melissa
Mac G5 (dual 2GHz) Mac OS X (10.4.6)

I had a similar experience after installing 10.4.6.
The messages I got in Disk Repair were:
Checking Catalog file.
Illegal name (in red)
Illegal name (in red)
Keys out of order (in red)
The volume Rich's HD could not be repaired. (red)
Error: the underlying task reported failure on exit. (In red)
After a long time on the phone with Apple, we decided to reinitialize the hard drive. I have reinstalled the OS and am in the laborious process of restoring my user files and non-Apple applications. What a hassle! And I am not even sure all will be restored to proper functionality.
Don't know if either yours or my disk failure are related to 10.4.6 but Apple better watch closely for user feedback. These are potentially disastrous problems for users if they have not backed up.

Disk Utility - get errors and disk utility can not repair, even start ext.

Hello
I am using Mac OS X 10.5 on a MacBook Pro intel 2.4 Ghz Intel Core 2 Duo, 2 GB RAM, Intel and Boot Camp / Win XP installed.
To check my user rights and repair the main HD I have installed 10.5 on my external 500 GB USB 2.0 HD. Started from it and started the disk utility trying to check and repair the Macintosh HD Partition (not win xp). I got following error messages:
2007-12-01 10:47:12 +0100: „Festplatten-Dienstprogramm“ wurde gestartet.
2007-12-01 10:47:20 +0100: Zugriffsrechte für „Macintosh HD“ reparieren
2007-12-01 10:53:51 +0100: Warnung: Die SUID-Datei „usr/libexec/load_hdi“ wurde geändert und wird nicht repariert.
2007-12-01 10:53:51 +0100: Warnung: Die SUID-Datei „System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/DiskManagement.framework/Versions/A/Resources /DiskManagementTool“ wurde geändert und wird nicht repariert.
2007-12-01 10:53:51 +0100: Warnung: Die SUID-Datei „System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/DesktopServicesPriv.framework/Versions/A/Reso urces/Locum“ wurde geändert und wird nicht repariert.
2007-12-01 10:53:52 +0100: Warnung: Die SUID-Datei „System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/Install.framework/Versions/A/Resources/runner “ wurde geändert und wird nicht repariert.
2007-12-01 10:53:55 +0100: Die Zugriffssteuerungsliste wurde gefunden, jedoch nicht für „private/var/root/Library/Preferences“ erwartet.
2007-12-01 10:53:55 +0100: Die Zugriffssteuerungsliste wurde gefunden, jedoch nicht für „private/var/root/Library“ erwartet.
2007-12-01 10:53:55 +0100: Die Zugriffssteuerungsliste wurde gefunden, jedoch nicht für „private/var/root“ erwartet.
2007-12-01 10:53:57 +0100: Warnung: Die SUID-Datei „System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/Admin.framework/Versions/A/Resources/readconf ig“ wurde geändert und wird nicht repariert.
2007-12-01 10:53:57 +0100: Warnung: Die SUID-Datei „System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/Admin.framework/Versions/A/Resources/writecon fig“ wurde geändert und wird nicht repariert.
2007-12-01 10:54:00 +0100: Warnung: Die SUID-Datei „usr/libexec/authopen“ wurde geändert und wird nicht repariert.
2007-12-01 10:54:01 +0100: Die Zugriffssteuerungsliste wurde gefunden, jedoch nicht für „System/Library/CoreServices/Finder.app/Contents/Resources/CannedSearches/All PDF Documents.cannedSearch/Resources/version.plist“ erwartet.
2007-12-01 10:54:01 +0100: Warnung: Die SUID-Datei „System/Library/CoreServices/Finder.app/Contents/Resources/OwnerGroupTool“ wurde geändert und wird nicht repariert.
2007-12-01 10:56:07 +0100: Die Zugriffssteuerungsliste wurde gefunden, jedoch nicht für „Applications“ erwartet.
2007-12-01 10:56:07 +0100: Die Zugriffssteuerungsliste wurde gefunden, jedoch nicht für „Library“ erwartet.
2007-12-01 10:56:11 +0100:
2007-12-01 10:56:11 +0100: Reparatur der Zugriffsrechte abgeschlossen
2007-12-01 10:56:11 +0100:
2007-12-01 10:56:11 +0100:
Translation: wurde geändert und wird nicht repariert. = was changed but was not repaired.
Because it can not repair the errors I have started "repair disk". It says "can not unmount Macintosh HD". Even if I have started from the external disk?
So I get my install CD (Mac OS X 10.5) and started from that. I got the same errors with that disk utility.
Can someone tell me, if this are "right" errors or do I have to try more to repair this errors? My computer is running fine.
I am a bit irritated now.
Best regards
arjello
Message was edited by: arjello
Message was edited by: arjello

Way back in Jaguar Disk Utility would pop up dozens of "advisory" messages of no interest nor meaning to anyone except possibly some programmers. This needlessly alarmed regular users. The same thing is happening again in Leopard. The SUID messages are not meaningful nor are they errors, in effect they are announcements that some list being consulted by the utility says one thing, the actual files say something else, Disk Utility is going to assume there is a reason for actual setting and not going to change it, but you (it's kind of assuming you are the programmer) should know this. If the "Die Zugriffssteuerungsliste" is German for ACL (Access Control List) it is the same deal: an ACL was found, but no one told Disk Utility there was suppose to be one.
If the messages bother you download the whole 110MB 10.5.1 update and run it. It quiets down the output for all the SUID statements save one. Might even shut down the ACL advisories--don't know because I haven't bothered to download 110MBs of updater, I just ran the patch update.
Francine
Francine
Schwieder

Flash drive somehow corrupt. Finder won't recognize it and Disk Utility won't repair it

I have a 16 GB SanDisk Cruzer flash drive. Somehow, and I haven't figured it out yet, but is got corrupted and Finder won't recognize anymore. So I opened Disk Utility and verified the disk and it said that it needed to be repaired. So I tried it and I got the message saying "Disk Erase failed with the error: File system formatter failed." And when I try to reformat it, I get the same message. I've tried it with a PC as well but it doesn't show up and Disk Manager won't reformat it either. I've given up on recovering the files, but I still would like to recover the drive. Any solutions would be appreciated.

You may need to rebuild permissions on your user account. To do this,boot to your Recovery partition (holding down the Command and R keys while booting) and open Terminal from the Utilities menu. In Terminal, type: ‘resetpassword’ (without the ’s), hit return, and select the admin user. You are not going to reset your password. Click on the icon for your Macs hard drive at the top. From the drop down below it select the user account which is having issues. At the bottom of the window, you'll see an area labeled Restore Home Directory Permissions and ACLs. Click the reset button there. The process takes a few minutes. When complete, restart.
Repair User Permissions

Hard drive clicking and disk utility can't repair

I have an iBook G3 that recently started making a clicking noise from the left side of the computer. At the same time it froze up and now it won't start up. I tried to start it in safe mode and it didn't work. I was able to start the OS X install disc and start the disc utility, but I get an error: Invalid Sibling Link, Volume Check Failed.
Does anyone know if there is anything else I can do to try to repair the hard drive myself? If not, how do I find someone reputable to get the data off of the drive (no I didn't back it up... ever) and install a new drive?
Thanks for any suggestions!

Hi, and welcome to Apple Discussions.
You could buy DiskWarrior and see if it can repair your hard drive. It can often repair a hard drive when Apple's own Disk Utility cannot. No guarantees that it can do it for yours, but DiskWarrior has saved my hard drive several times.
If you are able to get it up and running, be sure to back things up right away.

Disk Utility Failing to Repair External HDD

I was in the midst of running a Time Machine backup from my MBA (2012, running Mavericks) to an external HDD when I moved the laptop and managed to knock the cord out of the HDD, causing it to disconnect abruptly (the drive pulled away from the plug and hit the floor). Since then, I have been unable to to access the HDD at all, although the drive itself seems to be working, insofar as the light still comes on and the disc is spinning.
The HDD isn't visible in Finder. I can sporadically see it in Disk Utility - sometimes I plug it in and see nothing, sometimes it appears in Disk Utility after an extended period of time. It won't mount through Disk Utility, however I have managed to eject it a few times.
I have tried both verifying and repairing the HDD when it is visible; all attempts have ended in an error stating that I needed to backup the files and restore the drive. I've tried a number of tools to clone the drive, including Disk Utility itself, Carbon Cloner and a few others, but all have resulted in errors.
Is there any way I can salvage the data on the HDD? There are a few files on there I really don't want to lose...

Remove the drive mechanism from the enclosure and install it in another one.

Disk Utility failing to repair permissions after 10.5.7

I have upgraded to 10.5.7 and now I am unable to repair disk permissions. I have tried using disk utility and that does not work. It says it has completed after less than a second, when it says that it will take several minutes to read the permissions database. I need the permissions repaired as Final Draft will not work at all with the current settings.
I have tried repairing from CD but my Superdrive does not recognise the install disk. My other machine shows it as readable. I think that I have a problem with the Superdrive and am dealing with that as well.
I have also tried TechTool Pro 5 and that did not work either. Any suggestions?

Firstly I never delete anything in the library folder. So nothing that I have done.
My Library/Receipts folder is very small, the actual db folder is less than 400 kb and none of the pkg's is older than 16th of May 2009, and all of them are for programs that I reinstalled since.
I can wipe the drive and reinstall Leopard and restore the data via Super Duper. Is that practical as a way of rebuilding the database? Or shall I reinstall applications? I can use Amnesia to clear everything if that helps.

Disk Utility Failing to Repair HD

I ran Disk Utility this morning from the Tiger installer CD for the sake of general maintenance. It failed, returning this:
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
Disk Utility stopped verifying “Macintosh HD” because the following error was encountered:
The underlying task reported failure on exit
1 HFS volume checked
Volume needs repair
I've been searching the forums here, but most of the similar posts seem to dealing with newly-installed hardware, or a disk with a S.M.A.R.T. status "Failing" (according to Disk Utility's Log window). Neither of these is the case. Has anyone seen this before?
Single 1.8 G5 Mac OS X (10.4.3)

Hi, Space Toast.
To add to Al's advice, see the "Disk Utility cannot repair the disk" section of my "Resolving Disk, Permission, and Cache Corruption" FAQ.
Good luck!
Dr. Smoke
Author: Troubleshooting Mac® OS X
Note: The information provided in the link(s) above is freely available. However, because I own The X Lab™, a commercial Web site to which some of these links point, the Apple Discussions Terms of Use require I include the following disclosure statement with this post:
I may receive some form of compensation, financial or otherwise, from my recommendation or link.

Disk utility failed to repair my macbook pro OS 10.6

I was using my MacBook suddenly it hanged and i restarted it by pressing power button. After that when it restarted i got startup problem with spinning gear. Then, to fix it i used Disk Utility. when it stated to repair the disk it was showing 33minutes needed. but after waiting 25minutes it still shows that 33minutes remaining. no wroking progress was seen. then i stopped it and restarted my macbook by pressing power button again. After that my MACINTOSH HD is vanished and it showing disk0s2 instead of MACINTOSH HD. Please any one help me to solve this problem. I'll be greatful to u..

Apple does not have email technical support. All support is done over the phone for that more personal service w/a human rather than a machine (email).
Call the nearest support number to Bangladesh: International Support Phone #s
or check out International AASP’s & Other Services and AASP's Outside of the USA
Another option is to join International Internet Mac User Group
Good luck!

Something's wrong with my hard drive, and disk utility can't repair it...

Lately my MacBook Pro has been running really slow, so I ran Disk Utilities to see if it could fix it. However, when I ran it, the following is what I see. Would someone help me interpret what's going on? Thanks.
Verify permissions for "HD”
Warning: SUID file "usr/libexec/load_hdi" has been modified and will not be repaired.
Warning: SUID file "System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/DiskManagement.framework/Versions/A/Resources /DiskManagementTool" has been modified and will not be repaired.
Warning: SUID file "System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/DesktopServicesPriv.framework/Versions/A/Reso urces/Locum" has been modified and will not be repaired.
Warning: SUID file "System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/Install.framework/Versions/A/Resources/runner " has been modified and will not be repaired.
Warning: SUID file "System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/Admin.framework/Versions/A/Resources/readconf ig" has been modified and will not be repaired.
Warning: SUID file "System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/Admin.framework/Versions/A/Resources/writecon fig" has been modified and will not be repaired.
Warning: SUID file "usr/libexec/authopen" has been modified and will not be repaired.
Warning: SUID file "System/Library/CoreServices/Finder.app/Contents/Resources/OwnerGroupTool" has been modified and will not be repaired.
Warning: SUID file "System/Library/CoreServices/RemoteManagement/ARDAgent.app/Contents/MacOS/ARDAg ent" has been modified and will not be repaired.
Warning: SUID file "usr/bin/at" has been modified and will not be repaired.
Warning: SUID file "usr/bin/atq" has been modified and will not be repaired.
Warning: SUID file "usr/bin/atrm" has been modified and will not be repaired.
Warning: SUID file "usr/bin/batch" has been modified and will not be repaired.
Warning: SUID file "usr/bin/chfn" has been modified and will not be repaired.
Warning: SUID file "usr/bin/chpass" has been modified and will not be repaired.
Warning: SUID file "usr/bin/chsh" has been modified and will not be repaired.
Permissions verification complete
Verifying volume “HD”
Performing live verification.
Checking Journaled HFS Plus volume.
Checking Extents Overflow file.
Checking Catalog file.
Checking multi-linked files.
Incorrect number of file hard links
Checking Catalog hierarchy.
Checking Extended Attributes file.
Checking volume bitmap.
Checking volume information.
The volume HD needs to be repaired.
Error: Filesystem verify or repair failed.

Two things. First for the permissions check, reinstall the 10.5.2 COMBO update and repair permissions. That should fix things. Alternatively, search these forums for ACL, sort by date, and read the responses and the article Apple posted three months ago: http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=306925
Second, for the *Incorrect number of file hard links* error, follow smithrj's advice. If DU can't repair the disk, you'll need something stronger, such as DiskWarrior.
BTW, please update your *My Settings* profile info. It still shows that you're running Tiger.

Disk Utility Failed permission repair

Hi, Just recently I've encountered a strange and hopefully not serious problem.
When I try to repair permissions on the volume Macintosh HD, I receive the following error:
+Repairing permissions for “Macintosh HD”+
+ Reading permissions database.+
+ Reading the permissions database can take several minutes.+
+Error: The underlying task reported failure on exit.+
+Permissions repair complete+
Any help would be great.... thanks

Ok, here's the thing. I'm abroad right now and although I did bring my Install DVD, which I was required to present along with my computer in my two previous visits to the Certified Apple Dealer in my area--even though these were both purely hardware issues(busted fan on one occasion, failing optical drive in the other), this time when my issue is purely software based it seems that the DVDs didn't work properly; they mounted, but the finder showed no content in the window. I found this rather odd, because 2 days prior to visiting I was able to boot from the DVD and repair permissions on the drive in a vain attempt to resolve the software issue I was having which was that the system wouldn't boot. Anyway, this is usually no problem in the states, where I once called applecare and told them my Install discs weren't working and was promptly shipped a new set no questions asked.
However, they seemed to insinuate that this was too much red tape or work for them, although they didn't say this outright. Instead, they simply installed Leopard on my system I guess as a concession cuz I was originally running Tiger, and suggested that it'd be most efficient if I called for new Discs upon returning home.
SO, as you can see, I'm kind of in a quandry here with no Install discs from which to repair permissions.
Can you suggest anything, anything else that might work.
I even ran TechTool that came with applecare but that doesn't seem to have a permissions repair facility.
SO I'm in DIRE, DIRE need of some HELPFUL suggestions to circumvent this temporary hurdle, and would love to get this issue SOLVED.
I'm remiss to go back to the same dealer b/c not only is it a quite long and painstaking journey there, they seem to like to hold on to the computer at their leisure even when it's clear that there only plan is a fresh install. NOTE*** by no means is this a dis to them, as they are using their due diligence and adhering to policy, but I'll be back home in a coupla months and was looking for an alternative.

Disk Utility reports minor repair required - how risky is this?

I was verifying permissions the other day and thought I'd check the hard drive as well. When running the verify hard drive it stopped with an error report as follows:
Volume Header needs minor repair
The Volume Macintosh HD needs to be repaired
Error the underliying task reported failure on exit. 1HFS volume checked. Volume needs repair.
The Macbook seem to be running fine. Should I run the repair or leave it. Someone once told me that if the Disk Utility fails to repair the problem it can leave the disk unusable. Any truth in that?
Thanks
Michael
iMac G4 15" flat screen : MacBook 1.83 (Tiger) Mac OS X (10.3.9)

Directory structure issues can lead to freezing, general slowness, startup issues (computer may not startup all the way), Applications or files may not open.
It is usually suggested to repair the disk with Disk Utility that came with the computer or a disk utility that is compatible with the operating system that you are using.
Here are some articles from Apple's knowledge base. Some are technical:
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=302411
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=13628
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=7565
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=19516
Directory structure issues usually are not HW issues, but is the way the computer or OS, stores/sorts information on the Hard drive.

Wife about to give birth and Disk Utility failing to repair HD.

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