Disk utility can't repair the Macintosh HD, asking toback up all files as possible? and how to reformat the disk?
disk utility can't repair the Macintosh HD, asking toback up all files as possible? and how to reformat the disk?
Some problems can indeed be fixed this way. But working from Recovery_HD or Disk Warrior DVDs and working in the restricted environment those provide can be difficult. You can literally spend days working on this problem (while your regular work is unavailable) only to discover the old drive is unsalvageable.
There is no way to know up front whether you are facing a major Hardware failure or a minor software glitch, or something in between. Often you are forced to work from the drive you no longer trust. I continue to recommend you do this work from a different, fully functioning Mac OS X booted from a different drive.
If you have had the foresight to (as The hatter often recommends) clone your virgin install onto another drive for use in such situations, you will be able to recover from such problems in record time. If not, my previous recommendations stands:
Buy a new Drive. Or two. Install Mac OS X from scratch on a new drive, and get your Mac running again. Later, you can use the full power of Mac OS X to attempt to rescue your data, if needed. Then Zero the old drive, to see if it can hold data again reliably.
If the old drive eventually provides some needed data, and is salvageable, Merry Christmas.
Similar Messages
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After getting the dreaded gray/blue screen, I tried to run disk repair on the internal disk. I got an error message saying "Disk Utility can't repair this disk and restore your backed-up files. The volume Macintosh HD could not be verified completely." What do I do now? This is an iMac and I'm running 10.6.8.
Clean Install of Snow Leopard
Be sure to make a backup first because the following procedure will erase
the drive and everything on it. See below for how to clone a drive.
1. Boot the computer using the Snow Leopard Installer Disc or the Disc 1 that came
with your computer. Insert the disc into the optical drive and restart the computer.
After the chime press and hold down the "C" key. Release the key when you see
a small spinning gear appear below the dark gray Apple logo.
2. After the installer loads select your language and click on the Continue
button. When the menu bar appears select Disk Utility from the Utilities menu.
After DU loads select the hard drive entry from the left side list (mfgr.'s ID and drive
size.) Click on the Partition tab in the DU main window. Set the number of
partitions to one (1) from the Partitions drop down menu, click on Options button
and select GUID, click on OK, then set the format type to MacOS Extended
(Journaled, if supported), then click on the Apply button.
3. When the formatting has completed quit DU and return to the installer. Proceed
with the OS X installation and follow the directions included with the installer.
4. When the installation has completed your computer will Restart into the Setup
Assistant. Be sure you configure your initial admin account with the exact same
username and password that you used on your old drive. After you finish Setup
Assistant will complete the installation after which you will be running a fresh
install of OS X. You can now begin the update process by opening Software
Update and installing all recommended updates to bring your installation current.
Download and install Mac OS X 10.6.8 Update Combo v1.1.
You may be able to backup your data if you have an erased external drive you can use. Before you do the above but after you have opened Disk Utility you can try to clone your drive:
Clone using Restore Option of Disk Utility
1. Open Disk Utility.
2. Select the destination volume from the left side list.
3. Click on the Restore tab in the DU main window.
4. Select the destination volume from the left side list and drag
it to the Destination entry field.
5. Select the source volume from the left side list and drag it to
the Source entry field.
6. Double-check you got it right, then click on the Restore button.
Destination means the external backup drive. Source means the internal startup drive.
Now this will only work if the drive is accessible and can be cloned by Disk Utility. Otherwise, you would need to access your drive from another Mac that you can connect via Firewire - Target Disk Mode. -
Disk Utility can't repair Macintosh HD. What should I do?
Here is a "quick" synopsis of what has happened thus far:
About one month ago, my computer started getting very sluggish (ie, it would take forever to startup, would always freeze after sleep, etc.) I lived with it for about two weeks, since it would always run quickly after waiting ~30 minutes after starting/waking up. Eventually, this grew old. I browsed the internet and did multiple suggested fixes (reset PRAM, run Disk Utility, ran in Safe Boot Mode, etc.). Nothing seemed to work. I opted to zero out the harddrive and reinstall Mountain Lion after making a backup. That was about two weeks ago.
Everything worked fine, up until yesterday. Once again, things started getting slow. I decided to shut down my computer for the night and would check it in the morning. When I turned it on this morning, it wouldn't startup correctly. I could login, etc., but it was frozen and I couldn't open any applications without getting the spinning beach ball. I waited about an hour, but it was still slow/loading. I shut the computer down and booted it in Verbose Mode. I ran the various commands to check the conditions of my disk, but when I ran the "fsck -fy" command, I got an "I/O Error." I then tried rebooting my Mac, but it would get to the gray screen with the apple logo and the spinning wheel, and then the progress bar would appear. Before the progress bar did anything, it would shut itself down.
I then started the computer up and directly went to OS X Utilities. I went into Disk Utility and tried to check permissions and repair the disk. Only this time, Macintosh HD was grayed out and seemed to be unmounted. I couldn't get it to mount. I went into the Apple Store to have them run their own diagnostics. However, the apple store employee was unable to get the test working, so that was basically a bust. At this point, the computer still didn't turn on.
I got home and, just for kicks, held the "N" key while booting up my computer. For whatever reason, my computer started up (though it took a long time and there was a progress bar). Now, I made another backup of my disk and am wondering what to do. I ran Disk Utility again to repair my disk, but it says that Macintosh HD is not able to be repaired. When I checked permissions, there were tons of Input/Output Errors. Based on my research, it would appear that I have two solutions.
I can either purchase DiskWarrior and use that to try and solve my problem, or I could just get a new hard drive (and I would upgrade to a SSD or SSHD). DW is about $50 if I just download it, and the hard drive would cost me $150 or so. Since I don't know exactly what is wrong with the disk, I don't know if DW would be able to fix it. That being said, if the hard drive isn't the problem, there would be no reason for me to purchase a new one. I guess I would just like some advice, as to what you would do. I apologize for the long post.
TL;DR: Disk Utility can't repair Macintosh HD. Should I get DiskWarrior or a new harddrive?
Thanks in advanced!Most importantly, youve already backed up all the data. All else is cake.
A new HD would cost you only $20 more than disk warrior,....theres no reason to repair a worthless crippled HD, .....new HD 1TB is $70.
Once you back up all the data on a failing HD, further diagnosis has no meaning,....not anymore.
Grab a 1TB or 750GB Toshiba/Hitachi (both used by Apple inside their Macbook Pro nonRetina,...both are made by Hitachi) 5400RPM SATA HD.
Forget the repair,.......repair only serves to bring a HD to a point of BACKUP.....since youve already done that, its now just wall art or trashbin fodder.
These are the same HD used by Apple in their Macbooks
http://www.amazon.com/MQ01ABD-2-5-Internal-Hard-Drive/dp/B0077CV2RO/ref=sr_1_1?i e=UTF8&qid=1376281905&sr=8-1&keywords=toshiba+1tb+2.5%22
In the future ALWAYS remember to have 2 backups for everything. 2 backups is 1, and 1 is none.
That way when something crashes (and they all do).....its no worries. -
Disk Utility can't repair Time Machine + HDneeds to be repaired using the Recovery HD
Time Machine does back up. In fact it does not even show up on my desktop. I used didk utility and msg I got is below.
I am in a place where I cannot even buy a flash drive. My harddisk is malfunctioning. Its hard to restart from the 'sleep' mode, so I have it on all the time. What can I do to fix this? HELP!
This is what Disk Utility says...
Verify and Repair volume “Time Machine Backups”
Checking file systemChecking Journaled HFS Plus volume.
Detected a case-sensitive volume.
Checking extents overflow file.
Checking catalog file.
Incorrect number of thread records
Incorrect number of thread records
Checking multi-linked files.
Checking catalog hierarchy.
Invalid directory item count
(It should be 163758 instead of 163846)
Incorrect folder count in a directory (id = 18)
(It should be 0 instead of 88)
Checking extended attributes file.
Invalid sibling link
Rebuilding extended attributes B-tree.
The volume Time Machine Backups could not be repaired.
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.
Ref the HD:
Verifying volume “Macintosh HD”
Checking file systemPerforming live verification.
Checking Journaled HFS Plus volume.
Checking extents overflow file.
Checking catalog file.
Checking multi-linked files.
Checking catalog hierarchy.
Checking extended attributes file.
Checking volume bitmap.
Volume bitmap needs minor repair for orphaned blocks
Checking volume information.
Invalid volume free block count
(It should be 78219814 instead of 78056382)
The volume Macintosh HD was found corrupt and needs to be repaired.
Error: This disk needs to be repaired using the Recovery HD. Restart your computer, holding down the Command key and the R key until you see the Apple logo. When the Mac OS X Utilities window appears, choose Disk Utility.AMBKK wrote:
The volume Time Machine Backups could not be repaired.
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.
Your backups may be hopelessly corrupted, but there's a chance an (expensive) 3rd-party Disk Repair utility might be able to fix them. For the moment, eject and disconnect the TM drive and try to repair the internal.
Error: This disk needs to be repaired using the Recovery HD. Restart your computer, holding down the Command key and the R key until you see the Apple logo. When the Mac OS X Utilities window appears, choose Disk Utility.
Do that first.
If that's not clear, see the yelow box in #6 of Using Disk Utility. -
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.
*** ??? I need to take out the data from a WD320 that shows this error and then format the WD and put the data into again
THANKS !!!I'm sorry, is there a question here? You seem to know precisely what you need to do…
-
Can I fix a disk with this message?
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.Some problems can indeed be fixed this way. But working from Recovery_HD or Disk Warrior DVDs and working in the restricted environment those provide can be difficult. You can literally spend days working on this problem (while your regular work is unavailable) only to discover the old drive is unsalvageable.
There is no way to know up front whether you are facing a major Hardware failure or a minor software glitch, or something in between. Often you are forced to work from the drive you no longer trust. I continue to recommend you do this work from a different, fully functioning Mac OS X booted from a different drive.
If you have had the foresight to (as The hatter often recommends) clone your virgin install onto another drive for use in such situations, you will be able to recover from such problems in record time. If not, my previous recommendations stands:
Buy a new Drive. Or two. Install Mac OS X from scratch on a new drive, and get your Mac running again. Later, you can use the full power of Mac OS X to attempt to rescue your data, if needed. Then Zero the old drive, to see if it can hold data again reliably.
If the old drive eventually provides some needed data, and is salvageable, Merry Christmas. -
"Disk Utility can't repair this disk...and restore the backed up files"
Hello, my macbook crashed a few days a go as well and after going to the recovery drive and OX Utilities tried to verify and repair disk it gives me this error "Disk Utility can't repair this disk...and restore the backed up files" is the second time that occurs after replacing the hard drive for a new SSD, i thought my problem was solved and is not. Any Ideas? the only other thing i can think of is the logic board?
Backup your files and arrange for an appointment at an Apple store genius bar for a free evaluation.
Ciao. -
My computer is shutting down before fully booting up. I am running the disk utilities program and have this message: Error: Disk Utility can't repair this disk . . . disk, and restore your backed-up files. Can anyone suggest what I should do next?
So, you can't Install OSX to the external?
Or you can't boot from it when you do?
You're not the only one wondering... I'm reminded of the Goose that laid the Golden Egg story. -
External Hard Drive Disk Utility Can't Repair the Disk
Hi,
I have a Seagate 1 TB Backup Plus Drive which was working perfectly fine until I plugged it into a USB hub. It detected it while in the hub and I was able to get files off of it, but when I ejected it from the hub and put it back into the USB slot on the computer it was not detected by finder. It shows up in the disk utility and I clicked verify and repair and it says:
Verify and Repair volume “Seagate Backup Plus Drive”
Checking file system
Volume repair complete.
Updating boot support partitions for the volume as required.
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.
Is there any way to get this to work properly again? Or if not is there a way for me to recover my files on the external hard drive?
Thanks
I have a Macbook PRO late 2011 running OS X Mavericks.Use a more powerful utility such as DiskWarrior, or a product such as those listed here.
(108710) -
Disk utility can't repair but can't access the HD to back-up files?
I'm relatively new to MACs and have a 2TB Seagate with a good portion of our family pics on it. I opened the Disk Utility and attempted to repair the HD but get the message:
"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."
Here's where I'm stumped...I can't actually access the disk to back it up. At one point I was able to open the disk and see the files so I went and bought another HD to back it all up....but now I can't access it. I've found a few threads discussing using recovery software but the data isn't that important. I was using the HD as my Time Machine BU so I'm more nervous about re-formatting it and trusting it with my data again. Should I bother even reformatting it or just toss the thing?You might try a force mount...
Launch/Utilities/Terminal and enter this command at the prompt
diskutil list
Press return. If it sees the disk, note the number of the disk (far left column) you want to mount.
Then, enter this command
mount /dev/(number of disk)
Put in the number no parenthesis.
Press return.
If you're able to mount copy off the data you need. Even if you can mount it, wouldn't I trust the disk again.
Try Drive Genius in demo mode to run a surface scan and see if there are any bad blocks. -
My macbook pro froze and initially would not even recognize the power chord. Now it charges, but will not load up. I opened in in disk utility to try and back it up so that I could take it to apple to have it fixed but I got the message that said "disk utility can't repair this disk backup as many of your files as possible". How do I back up the files???
Nichelle215,
you can try the method described on this Apple page, in the “Instructions for backing up to an external hard disk via Disk Utility” section. (You can skip step 6, since you already know that your disk is irreparable.) Note, however, that this method is not guaranteed to work. Once you get your disk straightened out, you might consider purchasing an external hard disk for use as a Time Machine backup destination, so that a similar problem in the future won’t wipe out the only copy of your files. -
Macbook Pro (mid 2012) Disk Utility can't repair HD
I have a friend's MacBook Pro in my possession that is not working and has not been used for about two months. After startup, seeing the loading bar, and getting stuck on the spinning wheel of death, I have taken some steps to try to get a boot into Mac OS X. I've reset the PRAM, tried booting in safe mode, and lastly tried to repair Macintosh HD via Disk Utility in the recovery partition. No luck. I get this message after an attempted repair.. "Disk Utility can't repair this disk...disk, and restore your backed up file".
This is a similar problem to this discussion thread here:
Disk Utility cannot repair Macintosh HD
However, in this scenario, my friend does not have any Time Machine backups and would like to recover his files.
I know that I can re-format and do a fresh install of OS X...but where does that leave me with file recovery?
Is it possible to retrieve the files at all?
Any help from the community would be GREATLY appreciated!
ThanksI have a friend's MacBook Pro in my possession that is not working and has not been used for about two months. After startup, seeing the loading bar, and getting stuck on the spinning wheel of death, I have taken some steps to try to get a boot into Mac OS X. I've reset the PRAM, tried booting in safe mode, and lastly tried to repair Macintosh HD via Disk Utility in the recovery partition. No luck. I get this message after an attempted repair.. "Disk Utility can't repair this disk...disk, and restore your backed up file".
This is a similar problem to this discussion thread here:
Disk Utility cannot repair Macintosh HD
However, in this scenario, my friend does not have any Time Machine backups and would like to recover his files.
I know that I can re-format and do a fresh install of OS X...but where does that leave me with file recovery?
Is it possible to retrieve the files at all?
Any help from the community would be GREATLY appreciated!
Thanks -
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 -
Hi guys,
My macbook pro late(dec) 2011, doesn't boot up anymore, it just turns off after the chime (whilst a gray bar is loading a bit and then the MB shuts off)...
This all happened after I upgraded to mavericks, safari and chrome were spontaneously shutting off, my macbook kept restarting (all after recommended app store updates), it had kernel panics etc. Last night after an update it just wouldn't boot up anymore! Pff.. what should i do?
Disk utility can't repair the damaged HD, it had something to do with volume headers..
I basically want to access my macbook's files and documents so that i can transfer them onto an external hd or back them up.. i just want my files afterwards i can reformat or whatever as long as i get the files and contents of my hd back..
Ive read of diskwarrior? Can i burn that on a dvd and insert it into my mac, then start my mac and then it allows me to drag and drop all the contents of my hd onto an external hd?
I need a genius to help me!! A step by step guide would really mean the world to me!!
Thanks in advance mysterious genius!!!Step 4(a) open Disk Utility from Utilities on the menu bar, then proceed to highlight the external drive in the left sidebar as you say and choosing Partition from the row of buttons that appear top center in the main window of DU.
5(a) click Restore on the bar of buttons top center of the main DU window, then what you say. But use the name you have given the external drive in step 4, Mac OS X Extended (Journaled) is the way it has been formatted, use a name such as Backup or something obvious to you.
Step 7, On the menu bar, click File, then New Finder Window. In the left sidebar you will see Devices and the internal and external drives will be listed. Click the name of the external drive and then in the main part of the window you should see the contents of the external drive. You can click on the folder for Users, then your user name, and see what folders appear...make sure the folders such as Documents, Pictures and whatever else you use appear and have the content you expect to be there.
You want to be sure all the content has been copied over since the step of erasing the internal drive is going to permanently remove it from that drive.
And then after step 8, add step 9, from Utilities on the menu bar, choose Install Mac OS X, and if it asks where to install, choose the internal, Macintosh HD, as where to install. -
Only turns on in OSX Recovery, Disk Utility can't repair disk
Hi guys, I really need your help, as my Macbook Pro running on OSX Mavericks is having problems.
Today I turned my Mac on, and it started up with a loading wheel and a loading bar. When the loading bar finished, the Mac turned itself off. I tried many times, same happened every time. I then went into OSX Recovery, started repairing Macintosh HD, but the error message saying "Disk Utility can't repair Macintosh HD" came up and now I don't now what to do.
Is there any way I can back up my files in this situation?
Is there any way I can repair the disk without having to erase all data and reinstalling OSX?
Or do I really need to bring it to a Apple Store for repair?
Thx for readingIf you have access to another Mac and both computers have the appropriate connects, try the Target Disk mode to see if you can copy the files.
Target Disc Mode
Is there any way I can repair the disk without having to erase all data and reinstalling OSX?
No.
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