Disk Utility reports 'Volume could not be repaired' Now what?

Disk Utility reports that my internal HD cannot be repaired (I tried booting to the installation CD as-well-as a Superduper image with the same result). Here is the complete dialogue:
Verify and Repair disk “iMac_HD”
Checking HFS Plus volume.
Checking Extents Overflow file.
Checking Catalog file.
Illegal name
Checking multi-linked files.
Checking Catalog hierarchy.
Checking Extended Attributes file.
Checking volume bitmap.
Checking volume information.
Repairing volume.
The volume iMac_HD could not be repaired.
Error: The underlying task reported failure on exit
1 HFS volume checked
1 volume could not be repaired because of an error
Repair attempted on 1 volume
1 volume could not be repaired
Unfortunately the backup image has the same problem, so no use restoring the internal HD from it. So what do I do now? I read on a forum that the 'illegal name' error is caused by Photoshop CS, but didn't see a solution. Help!
 20" Intel iMac (2.0GB RAM, 256MB VRAM, 500GB HD) Mac OS X (10.4.6)

I get this error occassionally too. In those cases I take my original install dvd, put it in, reboot and hold the c key.
It then starts an install (don't worry, it won't do anything). When the install screen appears, in the top menu you can select Disk Utility.
Repair the disk from there, it will probably manage now. I guess something is interfering with Disk Utility when all of OS X has loaded.
Once the disk is repaired, verify/repair permissions, exit the program and reboot (don't hold and press c this time around).
Hope this helps.
Lars.
20" iMac Core Duo Mac OS X (10.4.5)

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Disk utility reports "Device could not be opened" - error when trying to format a new drive in a Mac Pro 1,1

MacPro 1,1 Quadcore 3 GHz (2006 "Woodcrest")
32 GB RAM
ATI Radeon HD 5770
OS X 10.7.5 Lion
I have encountered the following behavior when trying to format a new drive with disk utility. This description has also been send via the Mac Pro feedback as a bug report to Apple.
On searching the web and forums with this particular error message and behaviour I could not find any usful results. So maybe the following description may be helpful for some users.
Best regards.
1. Drive Bay 1 contains the original 250 GB Startupdisk. It works without errors.
2. Drive Bays 3 and 4 contain each a WD Caviar Black 2 TB SATA 3 HDD. They work without errors.
3. I have purchased a third WD Caviar Black 2 TB HDD.
4. In Drive Bay 2 there has been a Seagate 750 GB HDD, which worked in conjunction with all the other drives without error.
5. I exchanged the Seagate HDD in Drive Bay 2 with the new WD Caviar Black 2 TB HDD.
6. On starting the system, it will report to initialize the new drive.
7. On trying to initialize the new drive with disk utility it reports the error [translated from German] "Erasing of the volume has failed. The device could not be opened."
8. I thought that the drive is faulty. Thus I created an RMA-Case at WD. They exchanged the drive without problems.
9. On getting the exchanged WD Caviar Black 2 TB drive I put it in Drive Bay 2 as before.
10. On trying to erase and format the exchange drive I got the same error message "Drive could not be opened."
10.1 On selecting the physical drive in the devices list, disk utility reports all information in the bottom area of its window as usual, e. g. hard disk description, connection bus, type and place, capacity, write status, SMART-status, partition scheme.
10.1 On leaving that drive selected in the devices list and clicking the info-button, disk utility will also report additional information as usual, e. g. Name, Type, partition scheme, media-identification, media name, media type, device tree, … , number of relocated sectors, etc.. All this information appears to be valid, as can be compared to the other devices information inside the other Drive Bays. Also the disk numbering scheme appears to be standard - 4 HDDs give the numbering disk0, disk1, disk2, disk3.
10.2 From that information I conclude that the SATA-bus and connectors electrically work properly, the drive has spun up and can be accessed by the system normally.
11. I powered down the computer, took out the HDDs from Drive Bays 3 and 4 and put the caddy with the new exchange drive in Drive Bay 4 [Maybe, I could have also just left it alone in Drive Bay 2, or 3].
12. After powering on the system, disk utility will quick format the exchange drive without any error message. Also, when erasing again by selecting the option to write zeros to the drive, disk utility will finish without error.
13. After disk utility finished formatting, I put back the original drives into Drive Bay 3 and 4 and put the now newly formatted drive back into Drive Bay 2.
14. After switching on the computer the system start and login proceeds without any error message. All drives appear as expected on the desktop.

If anyone is reading this still looking for what caused the issue and how to fix it here is what I discovered.
The antivirus program our company uses, Bitdefender Antivirus Plus, was causing some of the PDF files not to open. After troubleshooting the different modules and settings the culprit was..
Scan SSL in Privacy Control Settings. Turning it OFF solved the problem and all the PDF files that previously would not open now open just fine. This issue has been sent to Bitdefender for them to review. If you use a different antivirus program and are having this issue try locating the Scan SSL setting and see if turning it off solves the problem.

Have a mac book pro that crashed. ran disk utility to repair. comp booted and ran for short time. then crashed. ran repair again. disk utility said it could not repair files and i needed to format hard drive and start again. now nothing works

have a mac book pro that crashed. ran disk utility to repair. comp booted and ran for short time. then crashed. ran repair again. disk utility said it could not repair disk and needed to format and start again.
comp said it could not unmount disk and now when comp trys to boot all i get is a question mark on the screen. help

Erase and Install
1. Boot from your Snow Leopard 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 Utilities menu.
2. After DU loads select your hard drive (this is the entry with the mfgr.'s ID and size) from the left side list. Note the SMART status of the drive in DU's status area. If it does not say "Verified" then the drive is failing or has failed and will need replacing. SMART info will not be reported on external drives. Otherwise, click on the Partition tab in the DU main window.
3. Under the Volume Scheme heading set the number of partitions from the drop down menu to one. Click on the Options button, set the partition scheme to GUID then click on the OK button. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Partition button and wait until the process has completed.
4. Quit DU after formatting completes and return to the installer. Install Snow Leopard.
5. After restart into Snow Leopard download and install Mac OS X 10.6.8 Update Combo v1.1.

Disk Utility Reports Volume Check Failed

I've been having some trouble with one of my two internal hard drives, so by mistake I ran Disk Utility from the Panther install disk on my PowerPC G5 running 10.4.10...I didn't realize until after I'd run Disk Repair that it wasn't the Tiger install disk I was using.
The Disk Repair Utility from the 10.3 install disk reported an "Invalid Leaf Record Count(it should be 41 instead of 210)". It also said that "2 HFS Volumes Repaired, 1 Volume Could Not Be Repaired". This was particularly puzzling since there were only two partitions on that internal hard drive. What was this other Volume it referred to?
Upon realizing that I was using an old CD, I ran Disk Utility from the Tiger install disk, and got a report "Invalid Catalog Record Type. Volume Check Failed."
Can anyone shed any light on what this all means, and how I can fix it?
Many thanks in advance!
-Zina

Thanks, abrody, for your reply. First, I ws lucky in that there was no indication other than Retrospect reporting a problem with this, the client machine, so all data was available and the system seemed to be working fine (other than the error report).
Here's what worked for me: I ran Disk Repair (from the Tiger install disk)on all 4 partitions on my second internal HD, and came up with a clean report. I erased one of the partitions and, using SuperDuper, I cloned the system partition from the troublesome partition on the other internal HD. Then I ran Disk Repair from the install disk again, on the cloned partition, to be sure I didn't carry over the problem with the clone. It came up clean.
Then I erased the troublesome system partition and cloned the system back over from the trouble-free partition clone.
I ram Disk Repair again from the install disk, just to make sure everything came up with a clean bill of health, which it did.
But I'm going to keep a close eye on this internal HD, since I think it's possible it's failing. I always back up all my data every night, so at least I'm covered there.
Again, thanks so much for your reply and help.
Message was edited by: Zina
Message was edited by: Zina

1 volume could not be repaired because of an error

Hi,
By using 'Disk Utility: Repair Disk' option,
I got following error.
Verify and Repair disk “Macintosh HD”
Checking HFS Plus volume.
Checking Extents Overflow file.
Checking Catalog file.
Incorrect block count for file CFUniCharropertyPatabaseDdata
(It should be 10 instead of 0)
Invalid node structure
Volume check failed.
Error: The underlying task reported failure on exit
1 HFS volume checked
1 volume could not be repaired because of an error
How can i solve this error?
If i erase and format this Hard Drive, I hope i can get rid of this error.
Is there any way to check 'bad sector' in my Hard Drive?
Is there any utility rather than 'disk utility' through which i can check my hard drive throughly...?
As i have two Hard drives, i have no problem to use another HDD and erase and format problematic HDD.
I really appreciate if you give your valuable suggestions.
Thanks.
Mac G5 Mac OS X (10.4.10)

Hello! Erasing using the "zero all data" should lock out any bad blocks and then a clean install should get you back in good shape. The best tool you can have is Diskwarrior which repairs disk directory problems only but it's the best money can buy. Tom

Disc repair states volume could not be repaired - am clueless how got here

my disc utility repair states volume could not be repaired. I did this with Apple using my disc. Is there any options to repair other than reloading the operating system? I hate to loose all my updates and third party software.
For half hour I have been trying to figure out how to post a question. can you tell me how I got to this page?
Thanks
Jackie

Hello Jacqueline, welcome to Apple (user to user) Discussions
The first thing I would do is back up all vital data, iTunes folder, your username/Library/Mail and username/Library/Safari folders.
Next I would copy all passwords, network login info, mail login, third party passwords etc. You can copy third party apps as well, but it's best to use original sources if possible. Some copy protected apps can only be reinstalled via disks.
Once you have all your data backed up, use a blank external drive, repair your disk permissions and use a copy of Carbon Copy Cloner to clone your buggy boot drive to the external as a extra precaution. You can hold option and boot from this drive in the future after you have rebuilt your present drive.
Now once your data is safe, you can choose to mess around and try to fix your buggy boot drive with Disk Warrior, but it might not fix your problem and cost you a pretty penny to try.
My advice if you have followed the steps above, is to simply hold c and boot off the Tiger installer disk (not the Tiger over Panther upgrade disks) and select Disk Utility from the installer menu. Select your buggy boot drive and Erase with the option to Zero. This "low level format" will take some time and ensure you get a drive that's more reliable, (hardware malfunctions is another thing obviously) from bad sectors on the platters. (a problem Disk Warrior can't fix)
Once that's done, simply reinstall Tiger, enter your network data, go to System Preferences>Software update and repeat until it's clear. If you don't have iLife '06, you'll need to install this as it's not included in Tiger purchase disks. Update and repair permissions.
Next it's time to reinstall apps from original source if all possible and immediately update. Reason for this is security issue in apps that get fixed, but you might have a backdoor or altered app code from a previous unfixed exploit. So a fresh copy will eliminate this possibility.
Also be sure to visit your drive makers sites and update and driver software for Tiger.
You can load up the rest of your files and what not, import your mail boxes, Safari bookmarks, tweak the machine the way you like it. Once everything is done, wait to see if you forgot anything, then you can always hit the clone on the external.
Once your sure your fine, then Disk Utility Erase the clone and repeat the cloning method, using your new boot drive instead.
Now you'll have a option boot-able backup of your boot drive in case your present boot drive kicks the bucket one morning. (It's happened to me a few times)
Clone your boot drive before a OS update, or a major install, or whenever you wish. This way you have the option to "go back" in case something breaks with a OS update or something.
I advise have 2 staggered clones just in case.
So to review in short, backup, then attempt to fix, then simply reinstall to catch everything that could be wrong, then clone your drive occassionally for a alternate bootable drive.

I get the flashing question mark on my G5/10.5 system. When I booted up on the install disc and ran first aid which failed and stated "Volume check failed Error -9972 Vol 1 could not be repaired. What to do next? Do I try the hardware diags first?

I've never had to reload the original software and would like to avoid it unless absolutely necessary. Anyway any comments on what i should do next?

HW Diags aren't likely to help.
https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-1687
You must repair the HD, if Disk Utility or fsck should fail to repair it, your best bet is DiskWarrior from Alsoft, you'll need the CD to boot from if you don't have another boot drive...
http://www.alsoft.com/DiskWarrior/
Your best bet is DiskWarrior, you need the CD/DVD though.
http://www.alsoft.com/DiskWarrior/
But others that may work…
Drive Genius…
http://www.prosofteng.com/products/drive_genius.php
TechTool Pro…
http://www.micromat.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=83

Error during Tiger install, disk utility (DVD) says could not unmount disk

OK, I'll start at the beginning. I was running 10.3.9 on my iMac G4. I hooked up a new firewire external HD. Transferred my iTunes music over, everything worked fine. Ran software update to make some updates (iTunes, Quicktime, Security Update, maybe another one) that I had been putting off because I had been out of space. That's when the problems began. It said I could not install updates, so I restarted. Then it hung up at Login Window starting. I did a few hard shutdowns (holding down power button) to try again, but was unsuccessful.
Read all the forums. Decided that I should have repaired permissions, etc. before installing the updates. So I started in single-user mode, ran FSCK, all that stuff, following the instructions very closely. Still kept hanging up at Login Window. So I started up from the Panther install disk, repaired permissions (made a bunch of repairs) and checked hard drive (said no repairs necessary). Restarted, still hung up at Login Window starting.
So I did an archive and install. There were errors near the end of the Panther install, and it said it could not finish. But the computer started up OK, and I was able to back up all my personal data onto the external HD.
So I decided to upgrade to Tiger, thinking that would fix everything. During the upgrade, it said there were errors installing files and to try again. Did so, same result. The computer did start up in Tiger, but clearly was not operating at full capacity (slow, some things didn't work).
So I decided to erase and install. Again, said there were errors and to try again. Did so twice, same result. Started up from the Tiger DVD and ran Disk Utility. When I clicked Repair Hard Drive, it said "could not unmount drive."
So now I am stuck. I have a wiped hard drive. Can't repair it, and can't get Tiger to install properly. Help!
(i do have an Apple store in town, but I haven't gone to the Genius Bar. Wasn't sure how that worked.)
iMac G4 Mac OS X (10.4.6)

Hmmm. And you're sure that when you select the main
hard drive entry in Disk Utility it shows a SMART
status report that says "Not supported"? That's
really odd because your model isn't too old to have a
drive that doesn't support SMART.
Yep, looking at it right now. I've got the drive that says "38.2 GB ST3408..." selected, and it says "Not Supported."
By any chance would you have another external
Firewire drive on which you could install Tiger? If
you do, then you could try installing Tiger on that
drive. If you can then boot the iMac from the
external drive you could then try cloning the system
from the external drive to the internal drive.
I have the one external HD firewire drive. It has my backed up files on it. Could I still install Tiger on it without erasing those files?
You could do the same thing from another Mac if both
support Firewire. You could boot the iMac into Target Disk Mode while it's connected to
another Mac's Firewire port. You could then clone
from the other Mac to the iMac's hard drive that will
appear on the Desktop of the other Mac.
And I do have another Mac, which I am typing on right now. It's sitting right next to my "sick" iMac. If I recall correctly, it's an iMac DV special edition. It does have a firewire port and I think it has a DVD drive. It's running 9.0 currently.
You can use the Restore option of Disk Utility to do
the cloning. The process is as follows:
1. Open Disk Utility from the Utilities folder.
2. Select the source or startup volume from the left
side list.
3. Click on the Restore tab in the DU main window.
4. Drag the source or startup volume to the Source
entry field.
5. Select the destination or backup volume from the
leftside list and drag it to the Destination entry
field.
6. Check the box to Erase Destination. Skip this
step if you've already formatted the drive.
7. Double-check you got it right, then click on the
Restore button.
So should I use the firewire external HD or the old iMac to do this? (Thanks so, so much for all this help, by the way. I really appreciate it. I love my iMac and want to save it! I have to go cook dinner right now, but I'll come back later to check your answer and try your suggestion.)

Disk Utility -- SUID FILES "will not be repaired"

Last night I ran Disk Utility.
After repair I received this message --
Warning: SUID file "usr/liveecec/load_hdi" had been modified and will not be repaired.
There is a list of nine similar SUID errors illustrated in screen snap shot at this link:
http://homepage.mac.com/boot321/Permission/PhotoAlbum12.html
I've recently upgraded to 10.5.1
Discovering nine problems that cannot be "repaired" by disk utility gives me concern.
I run a fairly conservative series of applications on my G5. Can anyone advise on what may be needed here?
thank you,
Mike

boot321 wrote:
On the link from Michael Conniff suggesting I read the article that Mac posted saying "not a cause for concern" -- there is only ONE Warning that is illustrated. Since I had a total of NINE, I thought that may have consequence....
Yes, the article appeared just after Leopard was released, when there was only one such message. The others appeared with 10.5.1.
Maybe this will all go away in 10.5.2
There has always been a lag between strange messages appearing and a KB article to explain them. In 10.2.2, we started seeing messages saying "We are using special permissions for the file or directory …". Initially there was just one: by 10.4.4, there were almost too many to count. In 10.4.5, Apple suppressed these messages because all they did was spread alarm around this and other forums.
I have no doubt we'll see the same happen with these SUID messages. If you're interested in what happened before, look at the links in this FAQ: Permissions Issues.

I want to do upgrades but my computer reports I do not have permission, now what?

<blockquote>Locking duplicate thread.<br>
Please continue here: [[/questions/866906]]</blockquote>
security and stability update, do not have system permissions to install it. I do not know what or how to correct this

Java has faults that some apps can use to enter and control your system, so you can use it at your own risk, use java apps that you trust and don't allow everything to reach yava.

Help help!! Disk Utility reported can't repair my HD

Hello all I used Disk Utility (version 10.5.5) that comes with Mac OS X 10.4.6 to check my hard drive. The diagnostic returned a message that my drive needed to be repair. So I booted up with installation disc and did the repair.
One of the log says there is an error in red font "Invalid leaf record count"
and the repair results were as the following:
1HFS Volume repaired
1 Volume Could not be repaired.
What does "Invalid leaf record count" mean?? And why 1 volume in my drive can't be repaired? How do I repair it?
I only have 1 volume on my HD, I didn't partition my drive. So, what is causing the problem? Should I be ignored? What's the benefit of partitioning my drive?

Sometimes the file directory is corrupted or damage beyond Mac OS X's Disk Utility can repair, but don't panic just yet. Get a copy of Disk Warrior, boot from it and run it, it will build a brand new file directory and replace the old one, that should solve your problems, a lot of us here "swears" by Disk Warrior, in fact I had your similar problem, ran DW and problem solved.
As for disk partition, it is not really necessary in modern OS like the Mac OS X, one of the reason people partition disks (a long time ago) because in the older days of the older Mac OS, it is unable to read a large hard drive beyond a certain size, i.e. if you place a 250Gb (of course then there is no 250 yet) inside your Mac, your Mac probably can only read it is 120Gb large, so that's why you need to partition the drive into 2 or 3 to read.
People also partition drives to run and boot multiple OS, this is especially true maybe for tech guys etc, who may have OS X, various versions, and OS 9 running in different partitions.
Cheers

Disk utility says "keys out of order,... HD could not be repaired"

I have been trying to install osx 10.4.3 (just the update version) from the store bought kit. It fails during check of destination volume. First I found out that it was not a good idea to have 3rd party memory installed so I removed that, but no change. I have tried to repair HD using disk utility launched, at first from 10.4.3 install disk, then from original 10.3 install disk. Disk Utility now says:
Keys out of order
Rebuilding Catalogue B-tree
the volume Mac HD could not be repaired
Error: the underlying task reported failure on exit -9972
1 volume could not be repaired
Shortly after I install these 2 sticks of memory yesterday (referenced above), I was having troubles. Don't remember exactly what or what sequence, but got the locked beachball 2 or 3 times. At some point, there was a 'static' type "POP" over the speakers and maybe from the tower too but at that instant the desktop background reverted from some green apple swirls to the default blue swirls. Other than that everything continues to work perfectly fine. Static electricity is really non-existent here ; very humid, and I was carefull during install of the memory.
I made a disk image yesterday to back up selected files prior to trying to load 10.4.3 and not sure if I may have done something wrong there....
I have some 3rd party software installed like Nikon scan, Audacity, Firefox. What else do you need to know?? How do I fix the HD? How can it be messed up if everything is working normal?

It's not likely that the memory installed caused the corruption of the B-Tree, more of a coincidence that you noticed it soon after the installation. To fix a problem of that magnitude, you have two options:
1) Back up all of your important data, erase the hard drive, and reinstall everything.
2) Buy a program such as DiskWarrior to fix the B-Tree without requiring you to erase your hard drive.

Disk Utility Failed, Mac HD not working and cannot reinstall OSX

Hi,
I am totally frustrated.
Was working on capturing video using Final Cut Pro and the application froze. After repeated attempts, I kept getting the message to restart the G5.
I tried reinstalling Final Cut Pro - and installation failed. I ran disk utility first aid and found an error on the Mac HD (Startup Disk). So I restarted machine from the DVD (pressing the C button when restarting) and ran disk repair from the DVD OSX Utility. Still got the error that "First Aid Failed" Disk utility stopped repairing Macintosh HD because the following error was encountered. The underlying task reported failure on exit. HFS volume checked 1 volume could not be repaired because of an error. Repair attempted on volume 1, 1 volume could not be repaired.
Then I tried reinstalling OSX onto a second internal SATA HD. Installation failed. Try installing again.
So now what do I do?
I am running Mac OSX 10.4.9
Please help...urgent.
Thanks
MQ

Thanks for the answer...that's what I was thinking.
The following are various issues I am considering maybe the cause:
1. Memory - I installed 2GB a few weeks ago - third party.
2. External HDs - I installed an external Maxtor 1.5TB drive 3 days ago.
3. I live in Africa - and power frequently gets disrupted - even though the machine is on a "solatek" (power stabilizer and high end protector against spikes) - 2 days ago my UPS was down and for repairs - and we had three power outtages.
Lastly, as I mentioned I live in Africa - Mombasa - Apple tech support is almost non-existent here...so I am hoping I can resolve this without having to ship it abroad.
Please help and thank you...
MQ

My time machine back up failed because it says the backup volume could not be mounted

My time machine back up failed because it says the backup volume could not be mounted. What does that mean and how do I fix it so that it backs up?

A whole lot about Time Machine for help with TM problems. Also you can select Mac Help from the Finder's Help menu and search for "time machine" to locate articles on how to use TM. See also Mac 101- Time Machine.
Use Disk Utility to repair the TM drive. If that doesn't help, and you don't find help from the above, then erase the drive and start a new TM backup.

Disk Utility: "Repairing disk failed with error Could not unmount disk"

Disk Utility: “Repairing disk failed with error Could not unmount disk”
Hi. I’ve been experiencing some mildly squirrelly behaviour with my system (vide infra) so decided to repair the two internal hard drives on my computer. The primary hard drive is a 74.53 GB ST380013AS that came with the system; its S.M.A.R.T. Status is “verified” and Disk Utility repairs permissions just fine. However, the second internal drive (Maxtor 6L250S0, 233.76 GB, lower Bay, Journaled HFS+), despite being verified by S.M.A.R.T. status and apparently running OK, fails to unmount when I ask Disk Utility to repair it- I get the above error message in red. I have repaired this disk with DiskWarrior (v3.03) and all appears to run AOK. Can anyone tell me why I cannot get Disk Utility to run on this secondary (eg, non-startup) disk? I have tried many times and the error is reproducible. Thank you!
G5 1.6GHz PPC, 1 GB RAM, running OS 10.4.6

Thank you for these useful links!
For others who have this issue, I also found very helpful advice given to this question on the MacFixIt forums by MicroMat Tech3 at
http://www.macfixitforums.com/php/showthreaded.php?Cat=&Board=tiger&Number=76265 1
He said: "Use the lsof command to find the open files on a volume that does not unmount or eject. Open Terminal, located in /Applications/Utilities. Type: sudo lsof | grep Leave a space after the p in grep, then drag the icon of the problem volume to the Terminal window. The pathname for the volume is pasted in for you; press Return. Then enter your administrative password at the prompt, and press Return."
At this point, one now has a list of the open files/processes on the volume that will not unmount. You can use Activity Monitor to terminate these processes if you wish, and then the volume will unmount as it should.

Disk Utility reports 'Volume could not be repaired' Now what?

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