Disk utility? possible hard drive failure?

My Mac suddenly has acted up, very slow to load or launch anything. The spinning wheel forever and no chance to Force Quit. Some applications don't even launch at all.
I ran the disk utility, and it gave an error message plus a message that the volume needed repair though the repair button was not open to click on.
Any ideas? Could these be warning signs that my hard drive is about to go?

You cannot repair the boot volume with Disk Utility when booted from it. Boot with your install disk, select your language, and, when the menu bar pops up, select Utilities->Disk Utility and repair the boot volume. If that fails, then report back with the results.

Similar Messages

Disk utility/external hard drive failure

I have a MacBook that I got about two years ago and a Western Digital portable external hard drive (WD Passport) that's almost as old. I keep almost all of my music files on my external hard drive and then play them through iTunes. About a month ago my external hard drive stopped working. I plug the hard drive into my computer and the blue light comes on. It even shines brighter for several seconds as (it appears) the hard drive attempts to mount. But every time I do this the blue light then becomes dimmer and the drive never mounts. When the hard drive is plugged in and I open up the Disk Utility application the drive shows up. When I try to manually mount the disk it tries and fails. When I click "Verify Disk" it tries and then an error message pops up saying "Phase 1-Read FAT, Unable to read FAT (Input/output error)". I've read that the PC disk utility application may be better at reading drives so, once I'm in a place where I have access to a PC, I'm going to give that a try. Does anyone have any other suggestions?

I am assuming that you're using the Passport in the same USB port that you always have. I ask this because some people complain about USB devices working on one port but not the other, as they claim that one port may put out more voltage then the other. If this is happening in your case it would kinda make since as when you plug in the Passport all that is required is the logic board power then it will start to spin up the disk which will pull down the power and that may be why you're getting a dimmed light on the Passport.
Just try the other USB port to verify, I know it sounds silly but it's worth a shot.

Hard drive is missing. I can boot from the cd but when running the disk utility, no hard drive shows up.

Hard drive is missing. I can boot from the cd but when running the disk utility, no hard drive shows up.
This is a problem that suddenly appeared.

Please post a screenshot of Disk Utility that shows what you mean. Be careful not to include any private information.
Start a reply to this message. Click the camera icon in the toolbar of the editing window and select the image file to upload it. You can also include text in the reply.

Possible Hard Drive Failure - Please Help

Hello everyone.
I have a 24" Aluminum iMac (Mid 2007 model, I believe) that was purchased around November 2007. The internal hard drive is 500 GB (roughly 300 GB for OS X and 200 GB for Windows XP). My problem is that my iMac doesn't want to boot into OS X. Please note that I can still access my Windows XP partition by holding the option when the computer starts up.
Here's a list of the things I've tried so far:
-Calling the support number: The gentleman took me through some basic trouble shooting steps (including booting in Single User Mode and typing the fsck command) but couldn't resolve the issue, so he gave me a case number and made an appointment at a local Apple store which I could not attend. I have yet to reschedule another appointment.
-Booted the "sick" Mac in Target Disk Mode while connecting it to another "savior" Mac via FireWire: Nothing. The target Mac goes into TDM correctly (FireWire logo bounces around screen), but the savior Mac did not recognize it. (The drive didn't mount?) This was the case with two different savior Macs.
-Booted in Verbose Mode: I held down Command+V while booting the computer. The trouble seems to arise directly after the line "AppleIntelCPUPowerManagement: Intialization complete". The next step results in an error reading "disk0s2: I/O error.", then the computer shuts down after about 45 seconds.
-Inserted "Mac OS X Install Disc 1": I held down option and selected to boot from the CD. I chose English as the main language. When the welcome screen pops up (to re-install Leopard), I instead chose to run the Disk Utility option from the menu bar. I see my hard drive (465.8 GB) which is split into two partitions ("Macintosh HD" which I assume is disk0s2, and "disk0s3" which I assume is my Windows XP partition). I attempt to verify disk permissions on "Macintosh HD" but it almost immediately bumps back with an error saying "First Aid failed. Disk Utility stopped verifying permissions on 'Macintosh HD' because the following error was encountered: The underlying task reported failure on exit." Next, I click on Verify Disk instead of Verify Disk Permissions. The errors in the details list (red colored text?) include "Incorrect number of thread counts", "Invalid node structure", "Volume check failed", and "Error: Filesystem verify or repair failed."
-Tried to make an image of my current disk onto an external HD connected through FireWire: I thought this looked bad, so I figured I could re-install Leopard entirely. However, I have years of data on this hard drive that are irreplaceable (my fault for not backing it up to begin with). I hooked up a brand new 1 TB external drive via FireWire800. In Disk Utility, I can see the 1 TB external alongside my 500 GB internal. I clicked on the "Macintosh HD" disk and clicked "New Image" and directed it to create an image of my internal drive on my external drive. I click Save. After about five seconds, it bounces back with an error reading "Unable to create 'Macintosh HD.dmg'. (Input/output error)".
Questions:
1. What the heck happened? Is the problem the result of a head crash? Is it a problem in the boot sector?
2. Is there any possible way to recover the data on the hard drive?
3. Does a failure like this get covered by Apple Care Protection Plans? (the computer is covered, by the way)
Thank you very very much in advance. Sorry for the huge amount of text. :-x
Message was edited by: UnderTheMud
Message was edited by: UnderTheMud

Buy Disk Warrior and use it to repair your OS X volume (if it's repairable.) If DW cannot repair the volume then use Disk Utility to reformat the volume using the Zero Data (one pass) Security option.
Do you have a backup of your OS X volume? Since you have tried using TDM to access the drive without success it's reasonable to assume your data may be lost. If you have an external hard drive you can use, then you could attempt to use file recovery software to see if your data are recoverable.
At this point it is premature to assume the drive is bad since your Windows volume is functional. If you have Windows software for reading Mac drives you may try accessing the OS X volume from Windows.
Basics of File Recovery
General File Recovery
If you stop using the drive it's possible to recover deleted files that have not been overwritten with recovery software such as Data Rescue II, File Salvage or TechTool Pro. Each of the preceding come on bootable CDs to enable usage without risk of writing more data to the hard drive.
The longer the hard drive remains in use and data are written to it, the greater the risk your deleted files will be overwritten.
Also visit The XLab FAQs and read the FAQ on Data Recovery.

Disk Utility and Hard Drive replacement on MacBook.

I am preparing to upgrade the hard drive on my MacBook and I was reading this document http://manuals.info.apple.com/en/MacBook13inch_HardDriveDIY.pdf and a the end after installing the hard drive and preparing to install Mac OS X the directions state the following: "Leave the Disk Utility application open, and restore the backed up files from the image you created before removing the hard drive.". I think that this would be a much quicker option then having to re install every application and copy over back up user data. My question is how do I create an image of the contents of the hard drive to use once I upgrade the drive?

I'd just clone (make a complete bootable backup) the internal to a backup external drive, swap out the internal, then clone back. That way you wouldn't have to do any installations.
To backup (clone) your main drive, you can use the donationware CarbonCopy Cloner @ http://www.bombich.com/software/ccc.html , or the shareware SuperDuper @ http://www.shirt-pocket.com/SuperDuper/SuperDuperDescription.html , or the freeware IBackup @ http://www.grapefruit.ch/iBackup/index.html, or the Restore function of Disk Utility included in OS X.

Possible Hard Drive Failure on dv76175us

This Laptop has to be one of the worst pieces of technology i have ever used. The issue started last friday when i started up my laptop. The system would freeze up completely when trying to read data. I restarted to run some tests and Hp diagnostics start up test came up with the following failure id code: 9lhvwc 5rg6k7 mfh15f 6otp03. I ran a Hard drive test under the Bios, and it gave me error code 303. A web search indicated that 303 means the Hard drive is failing, but that was with a different notebook. Is this accurate with my dv76175us laptop running Windows 7 64 bit home premium? If so, what are some steps i can follow to recover my personal data (music, pictures, setup files, etc) & purchase recovery software and a new drive?
This question was solved.
View Solution.

Well if it still boots into Windows odds are very good. It is a dv7 which means there is a space for multiple hard drives. Heck it is not even impossible that a disk clone operation would still work. If you want to try the cut and paste I would remove the (now bad) drive from the hard drive bay, and put in the new one. Load Windows and drivers and then put the old drive in the secondary bay and try a cut and paste transfer from the old drive. You can also use Windows 7 Easy Transfer which would move over your browser settings, email (if you use Outlook) desktop image and a lot of other stuff that is hard to duplicate on a new computer. Boot the bad drive into Windows, use an external hard drive or network share and run Easy Transfer as the "old computer". It will make a big tarball of data that you can then import into your new system from the storage place you have chosen. It is pretty granular so you can choose just what to transfer. It works best if you set up the new installation to use the same User Name.

Disk Utility formats Hard Drives as Logical Volume Group

I just replaced a hard drive which had died in my Mac Pro which has OS X 10.9.5. To format the new 3TB hard drive I went to Disk Utility. I used "Erase" in its fastest form and the drive was formatted with the Type: Logical Volume Group.
I remember this was a problem a few years ago when I first put hard drives in this computer. I think it was considered a bug in the Disk Utility in OS X 10.8 that it would automatically format drives greater than 2 TB as Logical Volume Group. The solution for me was to restart the computer with my OS X 10.6 disk and use the Disk Utility in that to reformat the drive. I never really understood why Logical Volume Group was a problem but I just obeyed what the wise ones of the Internet had to say.
So, now I am wondering if I should reformat my new Hard Drive as GUID using my OS X 10.6 optical disk again? If it was a bug in the Disk Utility of OS X 10.8 then why is it not fixed in the Disk Utility of OS X 10.9? Is there an actual problem with having disks format formatted as Logical Volume Group? Is this now just Apple's way of doing things?
Thank you.

keg55 wrote:
You could do your reformat using your 10.6 DVD. That's a decision that's up to you.
Not every bug in a previous OS gets fixed in a new OS.
I don't believe CoreStorage (Logical Volume Group) causes any sort of issues. Whenever one encrypts their Macintosh HD, the format is converted to CoreStorage. Fusion Drives are using CoreStorage and now Yosemite converts portables (laptops) to CoreStorage during the install process. As far as Yosemite is concerned, Apple seems to have gone the route of CoreStorage for portables. Even during the Setup on a portable, FileVault is offered with the default of YES being checked. So, if a customer isn't paying attention and continues with the install, they could encrypt their drive without knowing to uncheck the default checkbox.
Thank you for your reply.
I have decided to reformat my new hard drive using my 10.6 disk. I like being able to split it up into more than one volume if need be.
I understand that not every bug in a previous OS gets fixed, but this strikes me as being really a very large bug, so I think it would be good if Apple addressed it.
It is useful to know about Yosemite's behaviour. When I upgrade to Yosemite I will be a bit more prepared. In fact my MacBook Pro has FileVault on with Mavericks so Yosemite won't change anything there.

Canceled making a new image in Disk Utility, lost hard drive space

Hi,
I was creating a new image (12 gigs) and during the process of creating it, the bar was no longer moving (for over an hour) so i canceled the process (it got a about 1/4 of the way through). But now it seems I missing about 3 gigs of space on my hard drive. It seems when it got canceled, it didnt remove it all the way. Is there a way to fix this?
Thanks

I restarted the computer, and it did not change. I ran all the terminal commands on that website, but nothing fishy came up. After i ran the disk usage command (sudo du -cxhd 1 /) it totalled up to 51 gigs of data. I have an 80 gig HD (79.68gigs) which should leave 29 gigs available. Finder says i have 24.17 gigs available, so I am missing some. maybe this is virtual memory being used? It seems like it happened after the image though. Thanks

Disk utility copying hard drive, can I use computer for other tasks

I had backup my entire hard drive and its taking forever, can I use other apps and continue to work ?
Thanks for any help!!

Best not, as files may be moved and therefore may upset the backup.

HT201071 RAW does not work in Mavericks after disk utility repaired hard drive

This worked until I had to repair a corrupted section of the hard drive, now Nikon Camera RAW files do not work for Aperture, Photoshop or even viewing in the finder. Is there a way to download just the RAW file compatability?

The latest download I could find is Digital Camera RAW Compatibility Update 5.04. Others are linked from this Apple - Support - Search. Or consider OS X Mavericks: Reinstall OS X to get all the latest software in one step.
(If you haven't already done so, set your OS X Mavericks: App Store preferences to automatically check for updates so your Mac will advise you when future Apple updates like these become available.)

Disk utility says hard drive is corrupt - can't restart in recovery HD utility

I have OS X 10.9.3 mini mac. I ran my disk utility to verify disk and I get this message:The volume Macintosh HD was found corrupt and needs to be repaired. Error: This disk need to be repaired using the Recovery HD. Restart your computer holding down the command and R key...but when I try it just restarts my mac it doesn't restart in Recovery HD utility. What should I do?

Try the option key during the startup sound. If you have a recovery hd, this should show you and let you select it.
Is it a wireless keyboard you are using?
Also have a look at this for additional suggestions.
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht4718
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4811

Disk Utility-Ext Hard Drive Locked and no options to unlock-only visible in Disk Utility- 500GB freeagent

Running latest OS

I never received a reply to this, so I'm marking it as 'answered' just to close it out.

Macbook Pro 2011 extremely slow wondering if hard drive failure

Hello, I want to start off by saying I'm not a huge computer guru, so that is why I'm coming here first. My Macbook Pro worked very well for a year, and then it has slowed down drastically. I've always been a windows user so mac is kind of foreign to me, but I'm trying to learn.
Some problems I've encountered are 1. Extremely slow running whether internet related, or just an application. I have checked the activity monitor and nothing is hogging up my memory. 2. Spinning wait cursor (rainbow circle) when I try to do ANYTHING. It takes minutes to start computer once it makes it to home screen. The circle just spins for a few minutes. Even just web surfing it's there. 3. Battery drains from 100% to less than 20% in 30 minutes, which again is annoying. 4. When battery drains the fan turns on and seems to drain battery even faster. 5. I get a lot of random errors forcing shut down of programs. I have ignored this problem for two years by not using my laptop or using it very minimally, but I am going to be needing a laptop again for school and not just my iPad and phone so I was planning on taking my macbook to genius bar, but wanted to check here first since Apple is an hour away. Plus I want to be able to use the piece of equipment that I spent a decent chunk of change on. I used time machine to back up everything today. I know its not a space issue as I have 300+ free GB on hard drive. I have tried to read through similar posts, but its overwhelming so I came here to post my own question.
I ran disc utility and there were some errors, which were able to be corrected after a couple tries. Computer still slow though when trying to do anything and running rainbow circle.
In recovery mode I reinstalled OSX
I was finally able to install updates after completing the above that were not able to be installed before.
I ran etre check, this is the report that came up:
Problem description:
Extremely slow computer, possible hard drive failure
EtreCheck version: 2.0.11 (98)
Report generated November 3, 2014 9:25:29 PM EST
Hardware Information: ℹ️
MacBook Pro (13-inch, Late 2011) (Verified)
MacBook Pro - model: MacBookPro8,1
1 2.4 GHz Intel Core i5 CPU: 2-core
4 GB RAM
BANK 0/DIMM0
2 GB DDR3 1333 MHz ok
BANK 1/DIMM0
2 GB DDR3 1333 MHz ok
Bluetooth: Old - Handoff/Airdrop2 not supported
Wireless: en1: 802.11 a/b/g/n
Video Information: ℹ️
Intel HD Graphics 3000 - VRAM: 384 MB
Color LCD 1280 x 800
System Software: ℹ️
Mac OS X 10.7.5 (11G63) - Uptime: 0:6:50
Disk Information: ℹ️
Hitachi HTS547550A9E384 disk0 : (500.11 GB)
S.M.A.R.T. Status: Verified
disk0s1 (disk0s1) <not mounted> : 210 MB
Macintosh HD (disk0s2) / [Startup]: 499.25 GB (357.49 GB free)
Recovery HD (disk0s3) <not mounted> [Recovery]: 650 MB
OPTIARC DVD RW AD-5970H
USB Information: ℹ️
Apple Inc. BRCM2070 Hub
Apple Inc. Bluetooth USB Host Controller
Apple Inc. Apple Internal Keyboard / Trackpad
Apple Inc. FaceTime HD Camera (Built-in)
Apple Computer, Inc. IR Receiver
Thunderbolt Information: ℹ️
Apple, Inc. MacBook Pro
Kernel Extensions: ℹ️
/System/Library/Extensions
[not loaded] com.Logitech.Unifying.HID Driver (1.2.0 - SDK 10.0) Support
/Users/[redacted]/Downloads/LCC Installer.app
[not loaded] com.Logitech.Control Center.HID Driver (3.5.1 - SDK 10.0) Support
Startup Items: ℹ️
HP IO: Path: /Library/StartupItems/HP IO
Startup items are obsolete and will not work in future versions of OS X
Problem System Launch Agents: ℹ️
[failed] com.apple.coreservices.appleid.authentication.plist
Launch Agents: ℹ️
[not loaded] com.adobe.AAM.Updater-1.0.plist Support
[loaded] com.adobe.CS5ServiceManager.plist Support
[running] com.Logitech.Control Center.Daemon.plist Support
[invalid?] com.luthresearch.savvyconnectmenu.plist Support
[loaded] com.oracle.java.Java-Updater.plist Support
Launch Daemons: ℹ️
[loaded] com.adobe.fpsaud.plist Support
[invalid?] com.adobe.SwitchBoard.plist Support
[invalid?] com.luthresearch.scservice.plist Support
[loaded] com.oracle.java.Helper-Tool.plist Support
User Launch Agents: ℹ️
[loaded] com.adobe.AAM.Updater-1.0.plist Support
[failed] com.apple.CSConfigDotMacCert-[...]@me.com-SharedServices.Agent.plist
[loaded] com.google.keystone.agent.plist Support
User Login Items: ℹ️
iTunesHelper Application (/Applications/iTunes.app/Contents/MacOS/iTunesHelper.app)
Dropbox Application (/Applications/Dropbox.app)
SavvyConnect UNKNOWN (missing value)
Google Chrome Application (/Applications/Google Chrome.app)
HP Scheduler Application (/Library/Application Support/Hewlett-Packard/Software Update/HP Scheduler.app)
Internet Plug-ins: ℹ️
Silverlight: Version: 5.1.10411.0 - SDK 10.6 Support
FlashPlayer-10.6: Version: 15.0.0.152 - SDK 10.6 Support
Flash Player: Version: 15.0.0.152 - SDK 10.6 Mismatch! Adobe recommends 15.0.0.189
QuickTime Plugin: Version: 7.7.1
JavaAppletPlugin: Version: Java 7 Update 67 Check version
3rd Party Preference Panes: ℹ️
Flash Player Support
Growl Support
Java Support
Logitech Control Center Support
Time Machine: ℹ️
Time Machine not configured!
Top Processes by CPU: ℹ️
      11% Safari
      3% WindowServer
      0% fontd
      0% Google Chrome
      0% ps
Top Processes by Memory: ℹ️
245 MB WebProcess
206 MB System Preferences
168 MB Safari
99 MB mds
82 MB Google Chrome
Virtual Memory Information: ℹ️
1.37 GB Free RAM
1.57 GB Active RAM
318 MB Inactive RAM
1.03 GB Wired RAM
436 MB Page-ins
0 B Page-outs
Basically I'm wondering if anything sticks out in this report. I was thinking it could be a possible hard drive failure. I know my computer has been dropped on the floor at least a few times. Thoughts are appreciated. Thank you for your patience.

Eab, I feel your pain! I am replying simply to share my similar ongoing experience with my early 2011 17 inch MacBook Pro, running Mavericks with seeming ample hard drive space, [applications requiring less than 100GB, about 200GB data (total drive space of 500GB)] & 4GB RAM. (Disclaimer: I am not a wise or computer-savvy mac guru - simply a fellow traveler who has had a very similar set of problems - apps taking forever to load, rapid battery depletion & super overheated MacBook. While I am a Genius Bar groupie, getting to the Apple store is, for me, akin to an antarctic polar expedition (i.e. problematic). Having spent endless hours struggling with a similar issue, I offer you a synopsis of my struggle/experience.
STEPS TO DATE:
1.Installed several memory utility programs (Daisy Disk & MacCleanse) system
maintenance program to regularly and thoroughly empty application caches (Adobe apps & internet browsers being tremendous hogs), identify and remove language elements and other redundant space hogs, etc.   Result: Small, but real improvement when I forced myself to perform a "scan and delete" session every second major computer run (typically about 6-8 hours in length). However, this did nothing to help the problems regularly detected when I run the Disk Utility which almost invariably demonstrates disk permissions that need to be repaired and, with increasing frequency, has demonstrated actual disk errors that require restarting and walking through a disk repair protocol. I did bring it to the Genius Bar where they kindly reinstalled Mavericks which they could do in about an hour versus the several hours that doing this at home requires. This did identify that my RAM was, on fact, a limitation on the speed at which I could run certain apps.
2. My next move was to install an additional 4GB of RAM. I bought the new RAM on eBay for about $90 because, with 3 kids equipped with MacBooks & iPhones, I simply couldn't afford the official Apple RAM. I even installed it myself, with the help of a YouTube video. Result: Giant improvement in speed (starting up or switching apps. If I had realized how simple it turned out to be, I would have done it well over a year ago. Some minor improvement in the overheating problem, but persistent problems with disk permissions continually requiring repair and periodic disk repairs (using Disk Utility) required.
PLANNED FINAL INTERVENTION:
3. I am purchasing and installing a solid state drive (ssd) and simply chucking the original hard drive, after considerable discussion with my savvier mac friends. It has become clear to me that, sadly, every hard drive has a finite life affected by a variety of factors. I am, in fact, hard on my equipment - running multiple graphic apps simultaneously, transferring massive GBs of data between my laptop, time capsule and an array of hard drives. I will let you know how it goes, but can share that the decision to get a solid state drive followed many conversations with multiple Mac guru-types (in the hope of saving you similar painful tribulations). The cost varies according to the size of the drive, but $400-$500 would buy a reasonable starting size. I am waiting for Black Friday sales, myself. Amazon (where I will likely purchase the ssd) is already offering a number of pre-Black Friday deals. While I don't really feel like putting out that amount of cash, I reassure myself that a new drive will almost certainly solve the disk errors (with a solid state one offering more durability) & will help me prolong the life of my MacBook Pro by a couple of years hopefully. It beats buying a new Apple MacBook only three and a half years after investing close to $3k for this one!
I am certain that more experienced forum users could point you to software that could help defragment your drive or may be able to offer other solutions. I've simply had enough of struggling with burning thighs and head-banging behavior triggered by slow performance. I hope this is helpful to you in some small way. The war is not yet over, but I'm feeling good about the battle plan!

MacBook Pro hard drive failure- data recovery possible?

Hi everyone, I have a June 2009 MBP that stopped turning on the other day and it just sits on a gray screen when trying to boot up. I had it taken in to a small little authorized Apple repair shop since I am living out in BFE and they said it has a hard drive failure which is causing the problems. They said there is no way to recover the data. Is that right? I'd imagine there has to be someway to recover it. Is there somewhere I can send it in or something? At this point even if it were to cost a lot I'd like to get the data off of it if there is the possibility.
Inb4: should've backed it up!

You may be able to boot from an external hard drive and repair the disk enough to copy the data from it, even if it will no longer boot. There are a number of hard drive recovery services. Apple even lists a couple of them (http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3974) that are authorized to recover data from hard drives without voiding the warranty. The warranty is not an issue with a machine from 2009, but those are high quality, reputable companies.
Most such companies have you send them the hard drive and they will give you an estimate of how much it will cost to recover the data, if possible. Some people have reported that Data Rescue 3 comes with a coupon for free diagnostics and $100 off data recovery from The Data Rescue Center. That was a couple of years ago. I don't know if the same deals are in place now.

Please could somebody help me I have an iMac which came with Tiger 10.4.10 installed I have lost my disks and I need to re-install after a hard drive failure. Where can I find this? I will upgrade to Snow Leopard after but I cannot go straight to SL

Please could somebody help me I have an iMac which came with Tiger 10.4.10 installed I have lost my disks and I need to re-install after a hard drive failure. Where can I find this? I will upgrade to Snow Leopard after but I cannot go straight to SL

You can go strait to SL, all you need is a retail SL DVD available from Apple for $20. The US online store has them at:
http://store.apple.com/us/product/MC573Z/A/mac-os-x-106-snow-leopard

Disk utility? possible hard drive failure?

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