Can't repair disk

I cannot repair my untitles disk as it states that this disc cannot be written to. This came up when trying to install the latest OS software on. As I cannot get anywhere on my mac, I am having to use my husbands windows pc.

Reboot and hold down the command-r keys to boot into the Mountain Lion recovery disk. From there you can launch Disk Utilities and run Repair Disk on your hard drive.

Similar Messages

  • My external drive won't mount. Disk Utility says it can't repair disk and to backup the disk and reformat, but how can I do that if it won't mount?

    My external drive won't mount. Disk Utility says it can't repair disk and to backup the disk and reformat, but how can I do that if it won't mount?

    See mount section in 1st linked article.
    Disk Unmount Using Terminal
    Disk Utility – Force Mount Disk

  • Disk utility can't repair disk, back up and restore files......I need help, I'm worried I'll lose all my photos, files etc

    Mac started hanging up while streamlining a kids show. Restarted and got the screen with the apple and the circle. restarted with control-option p and r. Ran disk repairitem got the following results;
    invalid index key,
    it rebuilds catalog b-tree,
    volume repair complete,
    updating boot support partitions for the volume as required,
    Error disk utility can't repair disk
    I'm then prompted to back up all files, reformat the disk and restore backed up files.
    Obviously need help here as I think I'm in danger of losing my files, photos etc if I don't do this right.
    Can anyone help
    Steve

    You might want to back up the disk as soon as possible, do the repair, then back it up again. First time will have the issues that Disk Utility can't fix, however, you'll have the data saved.  Then, once you get things repaired, make a new backup, and go from there.
    If you're going to use a hard drive directly connected to your iMac for backup, this is what I mentioned earlier: http://twelvesouth.com/products/backpack/ Great way to use space behind the iMac without adding something else to the desk top. You can buy it through Apple online/stores or Amazon, and there are probably other sources too.
    For external hard drives, I like those sold by OWC at http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/firewire/ as many of them use Oxford chip sets, wihch work well with macs (I've used several for years with no issues). Most pre-packaged drive/cases have a 3 year warranty, although you can buy a case and add your own hard drive. I like Western Digital Scorpio Blacks that have a 5 year warranty.

  • How can I repair disk permissions

    How can I repair disk permissions on a non boot drive? I have a SSD as my boot disk and a HD as a storage drive. The permissions are not correct on th HD and in disk util the option for fixing the permissions is ghosted out. I really would hate to do this one folder at a time.
    Thanks

    FYI, BB
    Below is a quote from Apple describing what Disk Permissions deals with.
    If you still need assistance, please describe what problem/issue you are trying to solve.
    http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1452
    "Many things you install in Mac OS X are installed from package files (whose filename extension is ".pkg"). Each time something is installed from a package file, a "Bill of Materials" file (whose filename extension is ".bom") is stored in the package's receipt file, which is kept in  /Library/Receipts/ in Mac OS X v10.5 and earlier. These files don't take up much disk space and you shouldn't put them in the Trash. Each of those ".bom" files contains a list of the files installed by that package, and the proper permissions for each file.
    Does Disk Utility check permissions on all files?
    Files that aren't installed as part of an Apple-originated installer package are not listed in a receipt and therefore are not checked. For example, if you install an application using a non-Apple installer application, or by copying it from a disk image, network volume, or other disk instead of installing it via Installer, a receipt file isn't created."
    Is this what you want to "fix"?

  • Disk utility can't repair disk (1 partition) on external hard drive

    I've search here some to try to find the answer to my scenario, but I really don't understand how Disk Utility got involved in my external hard drive to begin with, so here's my question.
    I have a 2TB Western Digital My Book Studio FW800 external that has 5 partitions, connected to my 2011 iMac. I had help doing the partitions and don't really remember the reasoning, but one is just for my SuperDuper! backup, one is Miscellaneous, one for movie clips off my camcorder, one for misc scanned photo's and one for my genealogy research.
    I back up using Time Machine to a Time Capsule and also to this WD hard drive with SuperDuper!
    Recently I'm getting a pop up message that "Mac OS X can't repair the disk "Genealogy"'.  And it needs to be reformatted.  It's become a read only disk.  When I look in Disk Utility it shows all the partitions as "Mac OS Extended (Journaled)" EXCEPT for the one in question.  I also noticed that there are a lot of files with "date created" being the same date in 1969!  These files may be letters I've written or photo's I added to that partition within the last few years.
    I think I have to completely reformat the entire external hard drive to repair this, but I want to make sure.  Because it's going to be a major hassle backing it all up to another external (having to get one first) and then figuring out how to make the files that have turned "read only" in that one partition, back to their original state!
    Does this sound right, that I have to reformat the entire external hard drive?  And how do I get the read-only files back to their original state.
    Thanks, Sandy

    I don't back them up.  There isn't much on them, besides the one I save video files too, but those are 2-3 min snippets of school events, that are just uploaded to youtube without any editing (like titles, fade ins, etc.) through iMovie. All those vid's are on original tapes I have.
    The partition that is giving me problems, I do have most of that on my iMac's hard drive, just not as organized.  I guess it's just seeming overwhelming to re-created those files into the same file structure on my iMac, but I think it could be done.
    I'm still not sure why my brother had me do the partitions like this.  In the past I had just two partitions, one for the back up and the other for random stuff that I didn't want to take up space on my iMac. 

  • Disk Utility can't repair disk...Can I still create a new image to back up?

    Two days ago my computer died and I haven't been able to get past the Apple screen since. I've tried starting in Safe mode, etc. that did not work. I just started up using my installation disk and got into Disk Utility. It says it cannot repair the disk and that I should back up as many files as possible and reformat the disk.  How am I supposed to back up if I can't start up? I am currently creating a new image of the HD to an external drive but my question is if Disk Utility couldn't repair the disk, with the external drive copy also be problematic? How can I tell before I reformat the whole thing and start over?
    Please help someone! I am in a little over my head!
    Thanks

    I am currently creating a new image of the HD to an external drive but my question is if Disk Utility couldn't repair the disk, with the external drive copy also be problematic?
    Maybe.
    How can I tell before I reformat the whole thing and start over?
    Run Repair Disk on the copy.

  • Macbook Pro not booting after update. ''Disk Utility can't repair disk''. Help needed!

    I have recently updated my macbook pro as I had some pending software updates. I left it to do the job over night and the next day I noticed it was not letting me sign in to my account session as usual.
    I restarted the computer and ever since then when I boot it, it just shows the apple grey screen with a bar that loads to about a 3rd and then it turns off again. I have contacted apple but they were unable to help me with this.
    So far I have tried to:
    1. Re-install OS X 10.8 - but it says the disk is locked or OS X cannot be installed on Recovery HD.
    2. Verify and Repair the disk and I errors but it cannot fix them. Some are:
                   'invalid leaf count''
                   ''missing thread record''
                   ''incorrect number of file hard links''
                   ''overlapped extent allocation''
              and it finally says ''the volume Macintosh HD cannot be repaired'' Error: ''Disk Utility can't repair this disk.. disk, and restore your backed up files.
    I would like to know a way to back up my files so that i can completely restore the disk without any data loss as I havent backed up for a while!
    If anyone has any solution to this issue it would be much appreciated!

    I just ran the Disk Utility, and cannot very disk. It gives me an error message;
    Error: The underlying task reported failure on exit
    1 HFS volume checked
    Volume needs repair
    and when I run the repair, this is the message:
    The volume GERRARD could not be repaired.
    Error: The underlying task reported failure on exit
    1 HFS volume checked
    1 volume could not be repaired because of an error
    Repair attempted on 1 volume
    1 volume could not be repaired
    Prior to running Disk Utility, I have already tried DiskWarrior, and could not repair my disk. Anyway I can fix this problem??? Formatting the disk would be my last option (though I am unsure if it will fix the problem). Any advise would be greatly appreciated. Meanwhile, I will continue to back up my file, and delete unused data and try to run it again.
    Thank you all very much for any input.
    Cheers,
    Matt

  • Macbook w/ whole slew of problems...Won't Start Up, Disk Utility Can't Repair Disk, Horizontal Lines on Screen, Etc.

    I purchased my Macbook in the summer of 2011 and before it went berserk it was running Mavericks. 3 years later, it's finally seemed to have run its course.
    It won't start up normally and it won't start up on safe boot. Attempting to use disk utility to repair the disk only gives me the message: "Disk utility can't repair this disk. Back up as many of your files as possible." There are also horizontal lines across the start screen (before it inevitably shuts down) and the screen looks very faintly purple-ish/off-colored.
    This actually didn't come out of the blue. On Monday, my macbook suddenly froze, went white, and beeped three beeps repeatedly. I restarted it and backed up all my important work files and set up an appointment at the genius bar for Friday once work ended. It remained buggy during this process with the beeps returning an occasionally a blue screen popping up.
    Unfortunately, there wasn't enough space to back up my important photos and by the time I returned on the next day with an external hard drive to store them on, my macbook would no longer turn on.
    Is there anything I can do to bring my macbook back to life? Ideally I'd like for it to last one more year before I graduate college. Is it still salvageable, and if so, is it worth salvaging?

    I hate to spread gloom, but that computer has serious problems. The only people who can diagnose the problem(s) are technicians. I would take it back to the Apple store for further testing.
    Barry

  • Mac os x mavericks can't repair disk

    thats at least what i get when i restart the computer then it tells me to back up as much of the disk as possible and reformat the disk as soon as possible. uh.......................................... do i look like an apple IT whiz to you? i'm not okay? i'm just your average user of a mac which uses mavericks 10.9.2 which just wants to get things done and repairing time machiene is one of them. then after i clicked on the red i on the disk it said the disk was read-only and i THOUGHT that was the only problem until i clicked on it just now and now it says:"time machiene cannot complete the backup to "my disk"." so i have to deal with two problems now? or just one? i'm very confused now. if you are very mac-technical and can help me out please reply to me but explain everything to me in layman's terms. i don't understand jargon.

    when i tried to repair time machiene this is what i got from disk utility: "disk utility can't repair this disk. back up as much of your files as possible, reformat the disk, and restore your backed-up files." you're talking to the average computer user here not the tech whiz. a little help would be nice here just as long as you tell me what to do in layman's terms.

  • Can't repair disk permissions on sparsebundle

    I have a 2TB Time Capsule that I've used for months without issue. I back up 2 machines to it (my wife's MacBook Pro and my iMac). Recently, when it backs up, I've noticed that it's sometimes backing up more than it should (i.e., I only added a few small files, yet the backup is indicating that several GB are being backed up). Conversely, other times I've added several video files that are upwards of 2 or 3 GB collectively, and the backup says that it's only backing up 300 MB worth of files. My exclusions are fine and accurate. I recently went into Time Machine and found that several recent additions are not there in my most recent backup. I've erased the Time Capsule a few times recently and did full restores overnight, but the problem keeps occurring. Today, I added my wife's sparsebundle file to Disk Utility and it repaired fine. When I add my sparesebundle to Disk Utility, the color wheel appears and then Disk Utility stops responding. Is this a hardware issue? I'm believing it is since I've erased the disk several times, but I welcome ideas that will prevent me from having to purchase a new backup disk . Thanks for listening!!

    timg22 wrote:
    Hi, and welcome to the forums.
    You can't repair permissions on a Time Capsule, because it doesn't have OSX installed on it, and you can only repair permissions on files that were installed by OSX or Apple apps.
    I have a 2TB Time Capsule that I've used for months without issue. I back up 2 machines to it (my wife's MacBook Pro and my iMac). Recently, when it backs up, I've noticed that it's sometimes backing up more than it should (i.e., I only added a few small files, yet the backup is indicating that several GB are being backed up).
    See #A2 in Time Machine - Troubleshooting for a couple of apps that will show exactly what's getting backed-up.
    Conversely, other times I've added several video files that are upwards of 2 or 3 GB collectively, and the backup says that it's only backing up 300 MB worth of files. My exclusions are fine and accurate.
    See #D5 in the same place, for some possible reasons and fixes. It sounds like you may have the problem detailed in red.
    Today, I added my wife's sparsebundle file to Disk Utility and it repaired fine. When I add my sparesebundle to Disk Utility, the color wheel appears and then Disk Utility stops responding.
    I assume you mean you dragged it into Disk Utility's sidebar? If so, do you mean the sparse bundle never mounts, and you can't select it, or it hangs after you click +*Repair Disk?+*
    Oddly enough, the names of some things can cause problems with Time Machine backups over a network. See #C9 in Troubleshooting.

  • Can't repair disk permissions

    I just bought a new Mac Mini (2.0 GHz Core Duo w/2 GB of RAM and 320 GB HD) and migrated all of my files over to it from my Time Machine Backup. Over the past two days my two external hard drives have developed permission problems. Yesterday, I booted my computer and my Time Machine backup drive (Western Digital 1 GB) had a small lock on the desktop icon and my permissions were all messed up. I had two versions of my account with "custom" permissions and "Staff" and "Everyone" also with "custom" permissions. I couldn't fix it, so I formatted the drive and now it is working.
    Today my other external drive (don't remember maker, 500GB) is doing the same thing (lock on icon, et al), but I don't want to erase it. I tried going to Disk Utility and the verify and repair disk permissions buttons are greyed out. Now, I can't get to my iTunes content on that drive.
    Any help would be appreciated.
    Thanks,
    - Paul

    Called Apple Support three times with less than lousy results. My Mac Mini crashed on my first call and it took three Leopard installs before I got back to where I was to begin with.
    However, none of the technicians would touch Terminal to fix this issue, but I had found instructions all over the Web. So, I ran some of the commands in Terminal and magically I could fix my permissions on the external HD. I am now repairing permissions on my Macintosh HD and hopefully that will be the end of it.
    Phew!

  • Can't repair disk/Won't boot from install disk

    Apologies in advance for how not-tech savvy I am.
    I was trying to create a partition using bootcamp but the partition failed and it told me to repair disk using disk utility.
    When I try to boot from the install dvd by holding down C the computer just gets stuck in a loop. It turns on, chimes, makes a whurring noise and then restarts again. I can select the install disk by holding down the option key but it does the same thing. If I try to safe boot it comes up with a flashing folder and a question mark.
    (Also, the install disk I'm using is not the one that came with this computer, but a OS X 10.5.4 that came with our iMac. Don't know if that would make a difference?)
    I downloaded the techtool deluxe that comes with applecare, and it says there's a problem with the volume structure, but when I try to repair using techtool it says the disk cannot be repaired and only gives me the option to start over.
    Message was edited by: lizrd91

    You would have to be booting from either a newer version retail OS X 10 install DVD
    than whatever your computer shipped with, or that original specific disc set it first had.
    No other computer's model/build specific restore-install disc set can do this job, since
    it would not be correct and can't boot the computer. The wrong software set is on it.
    There may be some way to attempt to boot into Single User mode and try fsck...
    • Resolve startup issues and perform disk maintenance with Disk Utility and fsck:
    http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1417
    • OSXFAQ - Technical stuff for OS X: how to use 'fsck'
    http://www.osxfaq.com/dailytips/07-2002/07-31.ws
    There are odd instances where users have applied incorrect use of Boot Camp
    to install a Windows version in their Mac, and in so doing, erased or damaged
    the OS X partition on their computer's hard disk drive. This is why it is a great
    idea to perform maintenance and also keep a complete bootable OS X clone
    on an externally enclosed hard disk drive, of the Mac's system & apps.
    If you had a current version of DiskWarrior on its own disc media, that may be
    able to help fix or restore some file system issues in a hard disk drive.
    Perhaps there is more you can do, but frankly if I wanted Windows, there are
    tons of old PCs out there awaiting recycle from which to choose. (Not 4 me!)
    Good luck & happy computing!
    +{PS: Hi there in the down-under ... from here, in the up-over!}+

  • How can I "repair disk" with Repair disk grayed out?

    My external back-up has been complaining of late, Time Machine can no longer access it, and now, after trying Verify Disk, it stopped that process and told me to use Repair Disk.
    Repair Disk is grayed out. But my WD unit isn't even six months old.
    Where do I turn?

    I found a Grab of part of the response from Verify Disk.
    If that's impossible to read, (1) blame Apple and (2) let me know -- I'll punch it up.

  • Can not repair disk using disk utility

    I tried using disk utility to repair the main drive of my imac 24" (2007) model and it says that the number of files are off by 1 from the total number that should be there so it could not be prepared it said to start up using the install disk but that was crack in a recent move. We tried disk warrior and it would not repair the main drive because thats where disk warrior is so i did a graph and it said 950,000 (ball park) files are out of order and could not be graphed. The only reason i could think that files would be out of order is my 3 year old he has a game on here and learned the awesome concept of click and drag so before we put a lock on it he was dragging things from the dock and putting them in the trash so he may have rearranged things without knowing. the computer has been extra slow recently and the "white screen" when you restart stays for about 2 mins before the apple timer appears. We have an antivirus so the drive is clean as far as that goes. Please if anyone could help respond back!!
    Thanks
    Luke

    you can not repair a boot up drive while you are booted from it. You really need to get your leopard install DVD replaced. You need it just for these kinds of situations.
    You can repair the drive from Single user mode
    restart the computer and hold command+S at the chime. a black screen with white text will come up. at the prompt enter
    */sbin/fsck -fy*
    that's the drive repair command. wait for the repair to finish. If there are any errors, run it again till no errors are reported.
    Once done, enter
    reboot
    to restart normally.

  • Can't repair disk with Disk Utility

    I had the spinning wheel of death on my G5 Imac so booted from instal disk and ran Disk Utility and got this message :-
    First Aid failed
    Disk utility stopped repairing disk 1 because the following error was encountered:
    The underlying task reported failure on exit
    In the list window when it got to checking catalog file I got
    checking catalog file.
    -Invalid sibling link
    Rebuilding catalog B-tree.
    -The volume disk could not be repaired
    Error: The underlying task reported failure on exit
    1 HFS volume checked
    1 volume could not be repaired because of an error
    Repair attempted on 1 volume
    1 volume could not be repaired
    Any suggestions? or is this the end of the road for my Hard Disk?
    Would another disk repair program be able to repair this problem?
    Thanks
    John

    Hi
    I tried diskwarrior but but couldn't get to the rebuild directory page.
    When I hit the agree button the screen goes grey with a spinning wheel then Imac reboots itself.
    Tech support at D.warrior suggested resetting pram and open firmware but this makes no difference I'm awaiting further suggestions from them.
    Any ideas here?
    I ran a hardware test which showed nothing wrong.
    Just read about target disk mode can link up and access my imac from my Ibook and repair the Imac with diskwarrior through the Ibook?

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