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.

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

Disk Utility Unable to Repair External FireWire Hard Disk

Hello all.
This is the External FireWire Hard Disk that has been giving me problems for days, it is a Backup/Clone Disk of my sis's Mac mini Core Duo, and may explain why it was so hard and took so much pain to copy some of the data out, at times it failed to mount, and I manage to rescue some data after using Disk Warrior, but Disk Warrior was also unable to replace it with a new directory.
Anyway, so I (was able to) mount the hard disk, and I was successful in erase and reformating it.
But when I (try to) repair it with Disk Utility's First Aid, this report is what I get:
(The usual 'Checking...' text lines, text in BOLD indicates RED colour text)
Checking HFS Plus volume
Checking Extents Overflow file
Checking Catalog file
Checking Catalog hierarchy
Checking volume bitmap
Volume Bit Map needs minor repair
Checking volume information
The volume Untitled could not be repaired after 3 attempts
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
Then a window dropped down from the top says:
First Aid failed
Disk Utility stopped repairing "Untitled" because the following error was encountered:
The underlying task reported failure on exit
(OK Button)
I guess this hard disk is really a gone case?? I am quite OK just to replace it with a brand new one... maybe all the trouble I had in the beginning is because I may already have a faulty backup drive to begin with???
Thanks and cheers

Hi Kappy,
I knew there was something about "not mixing" PPC and Intel versions of dealing with the external drive.
The drive was originally prepared on an Intel Mac mini Core Duo. But it should also mount normally on a PPC mac as an external hard drive right?
Here's the sequence of events:
1. Tried to boot from the Back Up/Clone Drive of the Mac mini Core Duo, through my MacBook Core 2 Duo, but failed to boot up
I had to shut down the MacBook (prolonged Bluescreen)
2. When I reboot the MacBook, and tried to mount the ext drive as normal, nothing happens, I knew something was wrong
3. Able to reach the vendor, use the Mac mini again to erase and reformat the drive, then check with DU, everything is OK
Clone with SuperDuper
After that check again with DU, not everything is alright, there are errors.
4. Brought the drive home, try to mount on my iMac G5, nothing happens.
I did a check on this forum, and the reply was that I should be able to use Disk Warrior 4 (Universal) on a PPC to fix an Intel-based ext drive. I was very specific and detail in my post/question
5. So anyway, I have no other option, I ran Disk Warrior 4 from my PPC iMac G5 and scan the ext drive, trying to fix it.
It reported the drive is too damaged to be replace with a new Directory, but gave me a Preview Mode. I use this to copy some data out.
But not sure if the data is OK or not.
6. After that, I was able to mount the drive in my iMac G5, so I just use DU and erase and reformat the drive, with Zero Data
7. Ran DU again, and that's where I am now, at the very first post, getting error messages that I cannot fix the drive
Thanks and cheers

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.

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 can't repair external hard drive

A couple months back, I had to get a whole new hard drive case for my external because the power cord broke. Anyway, It's worked fine until now...
The hard drive doesn't show up with the other volumes.
It does show up on Disk Utility. When I try to repair or verify the drive, it works up until the end, but then it automatically quits and it says this:
Verifying volume “FIREWIRE”
** /dev/disk1s1
** Phase 1 - Read FAT
** Phase 2 - Check Cluster Chains
** Phase 3 - Checking Directories
Unable to read directory (Input/output error)
Error: The underlying task reported failure on exit
1 non HFS volume checked
Volume needs repair
Anyway, I have 45GB of music as well as movies and photographs that mean a lot to me so I hope I don't have to erase the drive or anything...
Thanks to anyone who helps me out.

Hmm, I can't seem to find anything on Windows (XP) that will fix my exact problem...
Then again, I am the crappiest Windows user ever so, once again, any help would be great.
I searched "disk repair" on the help and support center, and it gave me a bunch of ways to fix the drive depending on the problem. The thing is, none of the problems seemed to match mine...
Your personal data files are missing or have been corrupted, or you want to revert to a previous version of a file.
After updating a device driver, you can log on, but the system is unstable.
After installing a new device, the system is unstable.
Changes made to your system or application settings are causing your computer to run poorly and you do not know how to restore the previous settings.
After installing an application, the system is unstable or an application is not working properly.
Operating system does not start (the logon screen does not appear)
I'm not really sure what the exact problem is, I just know that it isn't working on the Mac, but it is on the PC.

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 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!

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.

Keys out of order, disk utility fails

PowerPC (?, whatever came just before Intel-based machines) iMac running 10.3.something failed to boot - hangs at "Logging into OSX" window but never gets there to log in. Booting from Install CR-ROM and running Disk Utility fails to repair Catalog. Booting in single user mode results in "Keys out of order (4, 51882)" "The volume Macintosh HD could not be repaired". Also tried to boot from Prosoft "Data Rescue II" CD-ROM but no help
Any suggestions to repair/recover?
Files all appear to be there - can navigate around in Unix and list them. Also have external Lacie hard drives connected (unconnecting does not resolve problem) - Would there be a way to cp or rcp some key files to these external drives to at least recover some?

Welcome To  Discussions jeff_st!
If all else fails, and you have access to another Firewire enabled Mac, you can also use Firewire Target Disk Mode, to backup as much data as possible.
Then reformat the HD, zeroing all data, and perform an Erase & Install.
ali b

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.

Disk utility can't repair a partition on external hard drive

I have a 1TB Western Digital external FW drive that's only a couple years old (2 or 3, probably). I have it split into partitions, one of which I'm using for Time Machine. The non-Time Machine partition checked out fine with DIsk Utility, but when I ran Disk Utility on the Time Machine partition, I received this message:
Disk Utility stopped reparing "Time Machine." 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.
Does this mean the drive itself is failing? I erased the Time Machine partition and recreated it through Disk Utility, and then I verified it. Everything checked out okay, but I want to make sure, especially since I'm hosting my iTunes music in the other partition (it's backed up to a 2nd external drive, so if the drive does die, at least I don't lose everything).
Before this problem happened, both partitions dropped off the Finder and the light on the drive went off. I unplugged the drive and plugged it back in again a couple times, but nothing happened. Finally, the light went back on after plugging it back in for the 3rd or 4th time, but I'm wondering if the drive could be going bad, which would surprise me since it isn't very old.

Brad Cook wrote:
Disk Utility stopped reparing "Time Machine." 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.
Does this mean the drive itself is failing?
Possibly, but not necessarily. The File System on the disk was so badly corrupted that Disk Utility couldn't fix it. That might indicate a problem with the drive. It's not unusual for consumer-quality (ie, inexpensive) drives to fail after 2-3 years, although many will run for several years. It's a bit of a crapshoot.
Before this problem happened, both partitions dropped off the Finder and the light on the drive went off.
Whatever caused that is another good possibility -- if a drive is improperly disconnected, OSX can't "close it out" properly, and that can cause damage to the file system. Sometimes Disk Utility can fix it, sometimes it can't. And sometimes heavy-duty 3rd-party disk repair apps like DiskWarrior can fix things Disk Utility can't.
A power dip or spike could have caused it, or an overheated electronic component, etc. If it has it's own power supply, be sure it's on a good (ie, not cheap) surge protector or U.P.S. system.
Otherwise, keep an eye on it. If you don't have "secondary" backups, this would be an excellent time to get another drive for that purpose. See #27 in Time Machine - Frequently Asked Questions for some suggestions.
Bottom line: personally, I'd not trust my only backups to that drive.
(But then, I'd never trust my backups to any single drive, no matter how new or high-quality.)

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)

Error disk utility can't repair this disk...disk and restore your backed-up files

I have been working on a project using an external hard disk. I used my Macbook Pro (2010) to create this project and files (about 31 GB). Now I am trying to open the disk on my iMac (2014) and it doesn't show up. I can see the HDD when I use disk utility but get this message when I try to repair/restore the disc:
"error disk utility can't repair this disk...disk and restore your backed-up files"
The funny thing is that the disk works absolutely fine with my Macbook Pro. What am I missing?
Imac :OSX 10.9.4 , 2.7 GHz Intel Core i5, 8 Gb Ram.

Nico,
Did you find a way?
This just happened to me too.
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/5981446
-John

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.

Disk Utility Failing to Repair External HDD

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