Disc utility can not verify my internal harddrive

Question

My disc utility cannot verify the internal harddrive and says that it needs to be repaired, however the repair button is greyed out. I have been told that I need the install a disc to repair the harddrive, my computer is running 10.4 Tiger, can I buy a 10.5 Leopard disc to install and repair the harddrive? or does it have to be the original 10.4 disc which unfortunately I no longer have? if so do you know where I can buy a 10.4 disc?
Thanks

Answer 1

Hi Rainbow King, and a warm welcome to the forums!
It's supposed to be OK to use a Leopard Install Disk to Repair Tiger HDDs, (though not Repair Permissions with it), but I've had real problems when I did.
Other options are...
A. Unfortunately, Disk Utility can't fix all that much, your best bet is DiskWarrior from Alsoft, you'll need the CD to boot from if you don't have another boot drive...
http://www.alsoft.com/DiskWarrior/
B. Safe Boot from the HD, (holding Shift key down at bootup), run Disk Utility in Applications>Utilities, then highlight your drive, click on Repair Permissions, reboot.
PS. Safe boot may stay on the gray radian for a long time, let it go, it's trying to repair the Hard Drive.
C. Tough without the Tiger Disk problems, but try fsck...
To use fsck, you must run it from the command line. Unlike using your mouse to open an application to do something, you'll need to type a text command at the prompt (#) to tell fsck what to do. The Terminal application (/Applications/Utilities) and single-user mode are two examples of command-line interfaces in which you can type such commands. To use fsck:
1. Start up your computer in single-user mode to reach the command line. Hold CMD+s keys down at bootup.
Note: If necessary, perform a forced restart as described in the Emergency Troubleshooting Handbook that came with your computer. On desktop computers, you can do this by pressing the reset/interrupt button (if there is one) or holding down the power button for several seconds. On portable computers, simultaneously press the Command-Control-power keys. If your portable computer doesn't restart with this method, you may need to reset the Power Manager.
2. At the command-line prompt, type /sbin/fsck -fy
(SPACE between fsck AND -fy important)
3. Press Return. fsck will go through five "phases" and then return information about your disk's use and fragmentation. Once it finishes, it'll display this message if no issue is found:

The volume (nameofvolume) appears to be OK 
If fsck found issues and has altered, repaired, or fixed anything, it will display this message:
*** FILE SYSTEM WAS MODIFIED *** 

Important: If this message appears, repeat the fsck command you typed in step 2 until fsck tells you that your volume appears to be OK (first-pass repairs may uncover additional issues, so this is a normal thing to do).
4. When fsck reports that your volume is OK, type reboot at the prompt and then press Return.
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=106214
Then Safe Boot from the HD, (holding Shift key down at bootup), run Disk Utility in Applications>Utilities, then highlight your drive, click on Repair Permissions, reboot when it completes.