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.

Similar Messages

Disk utility won't repair permissions (related to error -8003)

I have an odd, recurring problem I can't diagnose. Recently my seven-month-old MacBook Pro has begun showing an error code (-8003) when I try to do common, system-related things like empty the Trash. At the same time, Time Machine stops backing up and Disk Utility can't repair permissions. If I go into System Preferences I can't open the lock to make changes, even though my account is still clearly marked as the Admin account. All third-party applications run fine, so I can't quite figure out what's going on.
I've tried repairing the disk via TechTool to see if there was directory damage and it checks out fine. I've reformatted my TM backup disk with Disk Utiity according to Apple's instructions, used the Terminal to ensure my Trash and old TM files were properly deleted, etc. Nothing seems to have made a difference.
When I restart the problem goes away for a couple of hours and then – at some point that I haven't been able to identify – the problem starts up again. This is the case whether I'm working on the MacBook or if it's just sitting there idle.
Before I reinstall I wondered if anyone had run into a similar problem and had figured out what caused it.

error code (-8003) when I try to do common, system-related things like empty the Trash
That's a common symptom of throwing stuff from a Time Machine backup into the trash in the Finder, which is a big no-no and can irreversibly corrupt your backup. In the Terminal, type the following command:
sudo rm -rf ~/.Trash/*
Copy and paste that! Don't try to re-type it, I've seen people put a space in the wrong place and wipe their whole user folder. Type your password when prompted, and expect that nothing will show until you hit return.
Next, repair your Time Machine backup according to:
http://web.me.com/pondini/Time_Machine/A5.html
At the same time, Time Machine stops backing up
If the above troubleshooting doesn't fix your backup, you may have damaged it beyond repair. In that case, you'll have to erase it and start your backups over from scratch.
Disk Utility can't repair permissions
Where are you trying to repair permissions? Note that repairing permissions is only meaningful on a drive with a system installed on it, and only repairs permissions on a specific subset of the stuff on the drive. Also, note that there are permissions messages you can safely ignore... if you think it is failing because you're seeing them over and over, it's not failing.
If I go into System Preferences I can't open the lock to make changes, even though my account is still clearly marked as the Admin account.
I've never seen that before, and it may indicate you have much more serious problems with your computer. First, try repairing your hard drive with Disk Utility. Then trash the System Preferences preference file, located at:
~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.systempreferences.plist
...where '~' means "your home folder".

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

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.

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 can't repair permissions

For the first time I neglected to repair permissions before security upgrade and now I find I can no longer repair permissions. Everything goes as normal until about 75% done and then it just freezes. I have tried running it from the install CD but it does the same. I used the disk repair and got this error message;
ERROR: The underlying task reported failure on exit (~9972)
1 Volume could not be repaired.
Computer otherwise OK. AHT reported all OK.
Is this the start of an HD failure or some querky software malfunction? Help needed!
G4 867 MDD Mac OS X (10.3.9) Extra 120Gb HD, 1.75Gb SDRAM LG 4163B Superdrive

If my HD has developed a bad sector then surely a clone will not work?
My best guess is that the cloning would fail when it tried to access the data that's referenced in the bad directory node. I've had similar problems when trying to copy files when there were directory problems. You may not have a bad sector per se, but certainly the directory record is damaged in such a way that Disk Utility can't reconstruct the record.
If I moved all my APPS folder to another HD and then did a Zero and format on this one could I then still use the APPS folder with a new install by repairing permissions?
You have to remember that apps store files in other locations - particularly in the /Library, /System/Library/ and /Users/username/Library directories. While you can copy the Applications directory to another drive, you're liable to miss supporting files the apps are going to look for. Since there's no real way to determine what the damaged directory is referencing, you'd be chancing something's going to get missed and leave you with apps that won't run. The only way I've ever been able to find what directory erorrs were pointing to was to copy files to another drive one chunk at a time until I found the offending directory and then narrow down the search by copying files individually. Given the nature of OS X to store files in directories that are otherwise hidden from the user, this can be a complicated and tedious process.
Since Disk Utility running from the install disk can't repair the damaged directoy record, I'd go to the Disk Warrior repair strategy next.
-Douggo

Disk Utility Can't Repair Permissions - A different one

I'm posting this separately from the previous thread I saw somewhere, because my situation is a little different.
I did the software updates on my G4 15" Aluminum this morning: Battery thing, iTunes, QuickTime and Safari. Security Update? FUGGETTABOUT. Went through THAT nightmare weeks ago.
Anyways: I can't repair permissions any way at all: not in Disk Utility, not in ONYX, and Not from Disk Utility from the Boot CD.
MY error reads:
"Disk Utility Internal Error: Disk Utility has lost its connection with the Disk Management Tool and cannot continue. Please quit and relaunch Disk Utility"
When I do THAT, I get the ever-so-encouraging warning, essentially telling me that I've been given a bum steer in the previous alert: "Operations Still in Progress. Disk Utility still has some operations in progress. Quitting in the middle of some operations can leave a disk non-operational. Are you sure you want to quit?"
Other details: Ran Disk Verify and Disk Repair from the boot CD and it was claimed that the disk was repaired and ok. Zapped the PRAM. Other problems are that Keychain Access just freezes when I ask to see a password. Never gets to the point of even asking for my administrative password.
Originally, too, just as when I had problems with the Security Update, I couldn't join my Airport Network, but for no apparent reason, after a couple of reboots after zapping the PRAM, I managed to connect.
This is the second time in less than a month that a machine which has always operated flawlessly has gone south after downloading Software Updates from Apple in good faith. I hardly think I should be expected to purchase third-party disk utilities to fix this myself.
Owen
G4 15" Aluminum PowerBook Mac OS X (10.3.9)

Thank you, JRSY Man SO much. Just for the sake of anyone seeing THIS forum, go to the one JRSY MAN linked in the second post of this thread. There are about a hundred posts from people with this problem, and a lot of hair-pulling, but someone has come up with a temporary solution, and it finally worked for me.
There is an incompatibility in the stupid iTunes update, that creates all kinds of havoc.
Thanks again.
Owen

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 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 Unable to Repair Permissions

Hi there
I'd recently noticed my Mac was starting to run a little slow so I thought I'd run the Verify Permissions in Disk Utility and I got a warning message:
'Warning: SUID file "System/Library/CoreServices/RemoteManagement/ARDAgent.app/Contents/MacOS/ARDAg ent" has been modified and will not be repaired'
I also got several permission errors relating to my airport which were fixed ok but not this one for Remote Management. Is this anything to worry about?
Thing is I've never used the Remote Management App and am a little paranoid that my mac has been compromised in some fashion. I know macs a pretty immune to malware and viruses but not completely invulnerable. Is this something I should be worried about or am I paranoid over nothing?
Ta in advance
John

Is this anything to worry about?
No. Click here for more information.
(53303)

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.

Disk Utility can't repair and refuse Partition to work

Hi,
Is there any ways to solve this message appearing in the Disk Utility?
When i click repair disk on Disk Utility, message shown;
Repairing permissions for “Macintosh HD”
Permissions differ on "System/Library/Frameworks/JavaVM.framework/Versions/A/Resources/Deploy.bundle/ Contents/Resources/JavaPluginCocoa.bundle/Contents/Resources/Java/deploy.jar", should be lrwxr-xr-x , they are lrw-r--r-- .
Repaired "System/Library/Frameworks/JavaVM.framework/Versions/A/Resources/Deploy.bundle/ Contents/Resources/JavaPluginCocoa.bundle/Contents/Resources/Java/deploy.jar".
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.
Permissions differ on "System/Library/Frameworks/JavaVM.framework/Versions/1.6.0/Resources/JavaPlugin Cocoa.bundle/Contents/Resources/Java/deploy.jar", should be -rw-r--r-- , they are lrwxr-xr-x .
Repaired "System/Library/Frameworks/JavaVM.framework/Versions/1.6.0/Resources/JavaPlugin Cocoa.bundle/Contents/Resources/Java/deploy.jar".
Permissions differ on "System/Library/Frameworks/JavaVM.framework/Versions/1.6.0/Resources/JavaPlugin Cocoa.bundle/Contents/Resources/Java/libdeploy.jnilib", should be -rwxr-xr-x , they are lrwxr-xr-x .
Repaired "System/Library/Frameworks/JavaVM.framework/Versions/1.6.0/Resources/JavaPlugin Cocoa.bundle/Contents/Resources/Java/libdeploy.jnilib".
Warning: SUID file "System/Library/CoreServices/RemoteManagement/ARDAgent.app/Contents/MacOS/ARDAg ent" has been modified and will not be repaired.
Permissions repair complete
Then i thought its might not be repair just by one repair.
After that i try repair again however this message still appear.
I ever try restarting and shutting down my MacBook but the message still appear.
I do some research and find that one of the message in the list can be safety ignore
http://support.apple.com/kb/ts1448
Hence i just ignore the message.
Meanwhile i try to partition my hard disk and message shown;
Partition failed
Partition failed with the error:
Could not modify partition map because filesystem verification failed
I getting too frustrated about this problem.... ARRRGGGGHHHH!!!!
Any solutions are welcome. Thanks

You can find an extensive discussion of the permissions repair messages you can ignore at Topic: Permissions Snow Leopard 10.6.4. Nothing on your list of permissions messages is unusual or indicates an issue that needs correction.
However, the partition failed message indicates that you need to run Disk Utility's Repair Disk function on the disk volume. Note that if this is your normal startup volume, you will have to start up from some other disk, such as your installer disc, & run the Repair Disk step from it.
If Disk Utility is unable to repair the HD, you can try more powerful (& costly) utilities like Disk Warrior, but there are no guarantees that any of them will be able to fix all possible problems the HD may have.

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.

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 failing to repair permissions after 10.5.7

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