Disk Utility Messages, Interpretation of

I have an external hard drive with problems, and am looking for some repair advice. When I use Disk Utility Verify, I get the following messages in red - Keys out of order. The volume needs to be repaired. The underlying task reported failure on exit (-9972).
When I run the Disk Utility Repair program, I get the following messages in red - Keys out of order. Rebuilding Catalog B-tree.The volume could not be repaired. The underlying task reported failure on exit (-9972).
Can I save this volume? Are there other disk utility programs that might be able to repair this disc and save the data? Can I erase it, and lose the data, and begin to use it again with confidence, or is it likely to fail again soon. Thanks for your help.
NJZ

As John said, DiskWarrior is a good place to start, especially if you already have it, or don't mind spending a few bucks for it. And with all due respect to John's opinion, just be aware that you may run DiskWarrior and find that it can't help either, which could indicate a failing HD. If DiskWarrior can't fix the corruption, you can back up your important data, and try to re-format the HD. If the external HD is not a boot disk and you can easily back it up and you don't have DiskWarrior already, I'd at least consider erasing (re-formatting) it before shelling out $$$ for DiskWarrior. It really depends on how much time you have and whether you can easily back up the data.
Not to be a broken record, but DiskWarrior is a great tool and may fix your problem without a hitch. On the other hand, the corruprion may not be repairable, or may be an indicatino of a failing HD and more corruption to come. If you erase the HD and you still have trouble, you'll know there's more likely a hardware problem rather than just data corruption.
Just my 2 cents.
Jeff

Similar Messages

Disk Utility messages

My i-mac G4 with Tiger upgrade is starting to act up again. Works pretty good until I try to shut it down. Takes forever to shut down, and then when I go back on it takes forever to boot up. When it says "loading Mac OSX" it goes very slow with the chug, chug sound from hard drive. Usually that speeds through. When I do a disk utility and try with verify disk, I get this message shortly after it starts, right after it reaches Checking Catalog File.
"Invalid key lenght
The volume Hard Drive needs to be repaird
Error: The underlying task reported failure on exit
1 HFS volume checked
Volume needs repair
Can anyone tell me what all that means???
Thanks

Try booting into safe mode (KB 107393, Mac OS X: Starting up in Safe Mode).
Then reboot normally and run Disk Utility.

Disk Utility Message: Invalid Sibling Link

I just verified my HD in disk utility for the first time, and I got this message:
Verifying volume “Macintosh HD”
Checking HFS Plus volume.
Checking Extents Overflow file.
Checking Catalog file.
Invalid sibling link
The volume Macintosh HD needs to be repaired.
Error: The underlying task reported failure on exit
1 HFS volume checked
Volume needs repair
What does that mean?
When I tried to do a repair disk, it failed.
Please help me!!!

Take a look at this site for the skinny on what an Invalid Sibling Link is.
According to another site, the ISL may not be repairable.
You're best bet is to run a utility like Disk Warrior and see if the ISLs can be fixed without reformatting the hard disk.
Good luck--let us know how you fare!
mg

Disk utility message "partition failed". What to do??

HI,
I just downloaded Lion and was trying to make a seperate partition for it do I didnt delete Snow Leopard..
WHen i was doing it, my computer froze for a while so i had to turn it off manually...
Now when i try to create a partition i get this message..
Partition failed with the error:
Could not modify partition map because filesystem verification failed
how can i fix this so i can install Lion on a partition??
PS I dont have a external HD so i dont want to risk losing all my files...

Well the first thing you need to do is get yourself a external powered drive, format it HFS+ Journaled in Disk Utility and transfer a copy of your Users folders off the computer.
If you can't boot off the internal hard drive, you can hold c and boot off the 10.6 installer disk and under the Utilities menu is Disk Utility which you can then (careful!) select the external hard drive to Erase and format Hfs+ journaled.
Once you do that quit and your back into the installer where you can (careful!) install OS X 10.6 onto the external drive.
Once that's completed reboot holding the Option key and select the external drive to boot from, then go through the setup using the same user name as before. Access the internal boot drive and grab your files.
If you can't access the internal boot drive in a normal fashion, you might have to install DataRescue to read your files off the platters via the 1's and 0's that make up the files themselves, not what the screwed up partition map says.
Once your files are off the computer and the drive disconnected, your free to wipe everything and reinstall OS X and programs if necessary, just follow the same steps.
Next time have a Carbon Copy Clone of your boot drive on another external HFS+ journaled formatted drive already prepared before experimenting. This drive is hold option bootable and you can erase and reverse clone if need be.

Apple Disk Utility message

Hi all,
I opened Apple's Disk Utility, chose "Macintosh HD," and clicked "Verify Disk." No more than 1 minute into the Verify, I got a message (in red) in the Show Details output box saying "Incorrect number of file hard links."
Before I boot from the OS X Recovery HD (command-r) and try to fix it with Apple's Disk Utility, I was wondering if anyone had any insight about the message I got. My HD is not experiencing any problems.
MacBookPro8,3. OS X 10.8.3.

Thanks birmingham for responding to my post. I think the problem i encountered is more common than i at first thought, so i'm gonna sum up what i learned.
Sometimes, when upgrading the OS a full dot point -- 10.7. to 10.8. for example -- via Mac Application Store, the User will get an error saying, " Incorrect number of file hard links" when running apple's Disk Utility. The error is an "inode" error -- look it up at wikipedia. The solution is simple enough: Don't freak out and run apple's Disk Utility from the Recovery HD (command-r). Don't use DiskWarrior, Drive Genius, TechTool Pro, or anything other than apple's Disk Utility. Also no need to reinstall the OS or anything like that.
hope this helps someone in the future,
jim
she's from birmingham, way down in alabam. whoa black betty. BAM-BA-LAM.

Error uninstalling, and weird disk utility message?

So I installed a keylogging app call type agent and it came with an uninstall terminal command, which I just tried to run. Unfortunately, terminal won't let me run the command, giving me this prompt:
/Library/StartupItems/Type\ Agent/uninst ; exit;
Macintosh:~ Sinemus$ /Library/StartupItems/Type\ Agent/uninst ; exit;
/Library/StartupItems/Type Agent/Type Agent: line 23: kill: (120) - Operation not permitted
I'm the admin, so I don't know why it won't let me uninstall this - what can I do?
Also, when I run disk utility (which takes forever now, btw), I get this:
Warning: SUID file "System/Library/CoreServices/RemoteManagement/ARDAgent.app/Contents/MacOS/ARDAg ent" has been modified and will not be repaired.
What's it mean?

Hello
you do not need any cd to perform a disk repair / check , you need to start in single user mode
restart your mac , just after startup sound hold on , Comande and "S" key on key board togather until fall in comande line interface
type at cursor this
fsck -fy and validate by press enter key
then WAIT until the end of verification / repaire processus ( may take long time ) when cursor appear again
type at cursor
exit and validate by press enter key
HTH
Pierre

Disk utility message...what does it mean?

Hello all
Been having a few problems with my mac book pro since iphoto (bane of my existance) crashed. Problems with iphoto are ongoing discussion on this forum - but I seemed to have concurrent issue with the computer - when I restart the dock loses word and a couple of other things, and a large question mark appears, claiming to be imovie (when infact Imovie is next door). It also no longer seems to be 'retrieving space in my file vault' when I shut down.
I ran disk utility and had a series of repaired permissions, then ran verify disk and got the following:
Verifying volume “Macintosh HD”
Checking HFS Plus volume.
Checking Extents Overflow file.
Checking Catalog file.
Checking multi-linked files.
Checking Catalog hierarchy.
Checking Extended Attributes file.
Checking volume bitmap.
Checking volume information.
Volume Header needs minor repair
d.",1)
Macintosh HD
Error: The underlying task reported failure on exit
1 HFS volume checked
Volume needs repair
Which clearly implies the volume needs repair---wasn't running disk utility off the dvd, so no repair option was visible. (The original disk is at home some distance away) Can anyone tell me if the above implies major surgery required, hence a shop, or whether I might be able to deal with it from the original dvd, once I head home in the new year?
Thanks
Vx

Vx,
No, a disk error is just that, and not generally caused by anything you may have done (unless you are in the habit of forcing shutdowns while copying or otherwise writing files, etc.). Likewise, it won't be caused by "bad" files. Actually, the opposite is true; disk errors create bad/corrupt files.
More specifically, a disk error occurs when the "index" that describes each and every file on your hard drive, and the actual physical locations on disk of the data associated with those files, fails in some way. This can be caused by some random write error at a critical point in time, or it can less frequently be caused by a true "dead spot" on the surface of the drive platter (a "bad block" or sector. You only need worry about this if the error recurs after a format).
I will second Sig's suggestion that you attempt to repair the error using Disk Utility's command line interface, while booted into "Single User Mode." Please follow his instructions for doing so, if you want to make this attempt. I will state, however, that I am pretty certain that in any case where the "Verify" function fails with the error you have reported, Disk Utility probably won't be able to make the repairs.
If this becomes an emergency, you can use one of the more powerful and flexible third-party utilities, such as Diskwarrior. They can be pretty pricey, but they can often make repairs when Disk Utility cannot.
Once you have erased that hard drive and reinstalled OS X, you can indeed copy back or otherwise re-import all of your backed up data. If at all possible, do try to make another backup copy of anything and everything in your current HOME folder before erasing that drive.
Scott

Ran Disk Utility - need interpretation.

Warning: SUID file "System/Library/CoreServices/RemoteManagement/ARDAgent.app/Contents/MacOS/ARDAg ent" has been modified and will not be repaired.
If it matters, I recently installed Snow over Tiger. Ran DU because of a problem with Safari not opening sites with multiple pictures and slide shows.

this message is harmless and should be ignored. everybody gets it.
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=306925

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.

Please help. Disk Utility Failure.

I just ran my disk utility function and received this error:
Disk Utility stopped verifying “Untitled 1” because the following error was encountered:
Filesystem verify or repair failed.
Does this mean that my hard drive is compromised? I've tried to run the first aid function several times and keep getting a failure message. Any and all help and input would be appreciated! Thanks!

If you get the Disk Utility message "Failure on exit", or the one's you received, it means there is an issue that Disk Utility can't fix. In many cases, either Disk Warrior or TechTools Pro can be used to fix it, with Disk Warrior being the more popular program. However, if Disk Warrior/TechTool Pro can't fix it, then you may be looking at a new hard drive (although you can erase the hard drive and try with a restore to keep using it). Curiously, a new drive may be less expensive than the repair software.
Smart Utility can give you a view of the SMART sensors to gain more information on the hardware health of your drive. Download with a trial license from http://www.volitans-software.com/smart_utility.php

Disk utility error message

My daughter told me her Mac mini isn't booting up past the grey screen. I put in the install disk and started it up pressing "C" and used Disk Utility to attempt to figure out what's up. I got the following error message:
Could not repair due to underlying task failure on exit (-9972)
Does this mean the hard drive is toast? I don't have any HD repair software-with all my Macs I've never run across a problem that the boards here or Disk Utility couldn't fix for me. I don't know if she damaged the drive (she claims the cat chewed on the edge of the mini-sounds a bit like the "dog ate the homework"), or if it failed. It was purchased last year when Tiger was released, so it should still be under warranty. Any ideas about what I could try next?
Thanks
~margaret
17 iMac G4 1.25GHz 160GIG HD Mac OS X (10.4.3) G4 iBook, Mac mini, 10G iPod, iPod mini (pink!), Apple IIGS

Dale, although the -9972 error is probably some serious data error on the drive, which can sometimes be solved by an Erase & Install of Mac OS X, the fact that the Hardware Test reports an issue probably means that the data error was caused by physical damage on the drive.
I have to say that I find your post(s) most unhelpful. It' true that the informatin contained in them can be useful, however, you could have made the effort to sort it for iMargB. The fact that you didn't, plus your posting of the exact same post in two different threads, makes me feel that you are in a hurry, and that you sacrifice quality to quantity. Trying to help as many people as possible is a good thing, however, we are here to help (or to be helped), not to overwhelm people with information, hoping that they will figure it all out on their own.
iMargB, the Hardware Test is not part of Mac OS X, it is a system-specific volume, which explains why it is included on your original disc rather than on the Tiger one. Your guess of using the latest OS's Install disc was a good one though, when it comes to using Disk Utility for example : attempting to repair a Tiger installation with a Panther disc is not a good idea, as it might damage it instead, because of the differences between Panther and Tiger.
Although I know little about the Hardware Test's error messages, the "Master" part is not what would worry me, as it could just be the position of your hard drive's jumper (which could be Master, Slave, or Cable Select). However, if the Mass Storage test is failing, I would suspect a hardware issue with the drive itself. Hardware Test is known to miss a few things sometimes, but the reverse isn't true. Thus if it reports a bad drive, I think it is safer to assume that there is an issue than to assume that Hardware Test is wrong. Moreover, the "Invalid Node Structure" is very likely due to physical damage (as I already said), therefore, zeroing out all data and reisntalling Mac OS X or using Disk Warrior could be very temporary fixes.
If you have a FireWire cable, I would suggest booting your Mini in FireWire Target Disk Mode to retrieve as much data as you can, with another Mac such as your iMac or iBook. Instructions can be found here. There may still be a chance that the other Mac could see the drive, so not all your data would be lost. Then, I would take it to Apple for repair, as the drive could be failing.

I am in mavericks disk utility recovery mode as my mac book will not boot up & stays only on the grey apple screen. When I verify the disk I get open error5 :input /output error on Syst stuck on 1 minute pouring out over 50 error messages & still counting

I am in Mavericks disk utility recovery mode as my mac book pro will not boot up & stays on the Apple grey screen . When I verify disk permissions I get
Open error 5:"input/ output error" on syst with over 50 of this messages & still counting . Disk Utility says 1 minute
But this has been going on for over 10 mins .
I can not verify disk or repair disk .
I have tried to reinstall mavericks operating system but it says my hard drive is locked which is very strange .
Does anyone know what is going on here ?
My system looks like it has been totally corrupted . Thanks Andrew

Could be. The "lock" isn't actually looking for a password.
WARNING: This will completely erase the ENTIRE hard drive.
What you would need to do is boot to recovery > disk utility > select the MAIN drive on the left side > partition > change partition layout from CURRENT to 1 PARTITION > ensure on the right side it says Format : Mac OSX Extended (Journaled) then push APPLY.
Then if it will allow us, close the windows until you see the 4 options popup again and select "Reinstall Mac OS X" select the Mac HD and you should be good to go!

I have an MacBook Pro 10.6, using disk utility I tried to verify my disk, but it came up with the message, please use your start up disk, I tried this, starting the computer up and pressing C, but it ejected the disk, the same thing happened while I runni

I have an MacBook Pro 10.6, using disk utility I tried to verify my disk, but it came up with the message, please use your start up disk, I tried this, starting the computer up and pressing C, but it ejected the disk, the same thing happened while I running the computer. Is the hard drive damaged as laptop doesn't seem to recognize the start up disk ? If so, I presume I will have to put in a new one.
There haven't been any problems with the computer, apart from a sticky curser,I have run a permissions programme from disk utility, there were a lot of different ones, but it seem to be able to fix them.
Any comments or ideas ?
Thank you in anticipation.

First backup your users files off the machine to a external storage drive (not TimeMachine!)
Most commonly used backup methods
Next to startup from the disk, have it inserted, hold c or option/alt (wired or built in keyboard) and then boot the computer and or select the disk when it appears and click the arrow.
Disk Utility is under the Utilities menu on the second screen.
Step by Step to fix your Mac
If you used the wrong 10.6 disk, it will spit it out or have issues, use the one that came with that machine or if it's defective, call Apple for a new one.

HT3275 I continue to get the following error message: Unable to complete back up.an error occurred while creating backup folder. It's a brand new drive. When I attempt to repair it using disk utility I get:unable to repair disk cannot unmounted

I have been trying to use time machine on a new lacie 2tb usb 2 drive for back up. I continue to get: "unable to complete backup.An error occured while creating backup folder". When I use disk utility to repair I get another error message: unable to repair disk unmountable.
Help me Obie One Canobie you are my last hope

I have confused myself with the facts! Started out keeping track of every step and every variable but have sort of lost it as we progress here. First I quit all applications then swapped connections between mouse port and backup disk port to influence possible bad connections question. Changed power outlet receptacle for the backup disk. Disabled the put-the-HD-to-sleep option. Then powered down the computerator.
Next started up computerator. Turned Time Machine ON and experienced multiple successful backups! Then I started up a few applications, Mail and Text Edit (but not Safari so far). Had a few more successes. After each backup, I used Disk Utility to verify the backup disk is still OK. This because the error about unable to unmount the backup disk seems to go hand in hand with Disk Utility finding the backup disk to be bad.
Put computer to sleep for the night. Upon starting up in the morning, and before doing anything else, I did a backup disk verification... BAD! Did a restart and verified the backup disk... OK.
Did a few Sleep-bad, Restart -OK repetitions.
It seems consistent: Sleeping the computer apparently messes up the backup disk but doing a Restart "repairs" it.
=============================
Now then, I don't understand everything I know here. Methinks that maybe keeping the HD from sleeping during lulls in activity has allowed successful backups through the day but manually putting everything to sleep for the night causes a return to the problem of spinning-back-up-too-slowly (which was explained earlier). Is there any truth in this?
I may abandon this Seagate thing for something more compatible. What's out there that we know works reliably for us?

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

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 Messages, Interpretation of

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