Disk Utility - secure erase process does not complete

Help, please!
It is taking "for ever" for Disk Utility* to securely** erase (a) the 37.25 GB hard drive in my G4 Powerbook (while booted from a startup disk), and (b) an external 55.9 GB firewire hard drive (connected to a 17" G4 iMac).
After more than a day, the progress bar for the Powerbook is only about half way over, and the progress bar for the external hard drive is only about 1/7 of the way over. (See the notes marked * and ** below.)
Additionally, the note next to the progress bar for the Powerbook has changed from "Writing random data to disk" to "Creating partition map".
Yesterday when I tried this process previously, after a very similar situation developed I quit Disk Utility on both machines and started the process again - so now the situation is about the same as before I quit Disk Utility yesterday.
* I am using Disk Utility v10.4.4 to erase the external drive. I am using Disk Utility off the boot disk for OS X v 10.3.3 for an iBook to erase the Powerbook - but I can't see what version at the moment because the pointer is currently a spinning "beach ball".
**By "securely erase", I mean I selected the option to write random data eight times to each location.
(Prior to starting the secure erasure process, I had Disk Utility write zeroes at all locations - and that process did completed within a few minutes for each hard drives.)

MacBook Pro
https://discussions.apple.com/community/notebooks/macbook_pro
https://discussions.apple.com/community/mac_os
http://www.apple.com/support/macbookpro

Similar Messages

DISK UTILITY "internal error" PERMISSIONS REPAIR NOT COMPLETING.

After downloading Software Updates, Disk Utility's Permissions Repair does not complete , says "internal error". Then must quit Disk Utility against computer's own advise that it may harm Hardrive?

From Apple's point of view, it's near impossible for them to test every possible update environments, so glitches like this are inevitable. This one seems to be quite widespread, so Apple could be accused of not testing enough. Apple may well release a new update to correct this problem.
At least, I suppose, they are good enough to provide these forums free of charge.
Before I perform any updates, I visit places like MacFixIt.com and MacInTouch.com to see if anyone has experienced any problems. There are plenty of people out there who are happy to go through the pain & frustration and to work out solutions for the benefit of the rest of us.
Did you fix your problem by the way?

When i burn a disk in Disk Utility, the burn completes but the verification process does not complete and my disk pops out. The error message i get is something like this "burn failed because disk cannot be verified," PLEASE HELP

when i burn a disk in Disk Utility, the burn completes but the verification process does not complete and my disk pops out. The error message i get is something like this "burn failed because disk cannot be verified," PLEASE HELP.
Also when i take the disk out it seems fine nd everything seems to be burned onto the disk. I am buring mac os x lion onto a disk.
The disk i am using is nextech and i am burning at the slowest speed (4x).
Also this is my 3rd time trying to do this and the verifying process keeps failing.... what do i do?

see there
http://www.techmixer.com/best-free-mac-burning-software-for-mac-osx/
what you like most
try different brand of CD/DVD

Using Disk Utility Secure Erase Makes it hang?

Hi, I wanted to erase part of my drive (I was doing a generalized clean-up). I tried using the Disk Utility Secure Erase option. Even going with the single pass -- I'm just cleaning off free space, you know? ANyhow, it seems to hang a lot. The other functions on it seem to work ok. I looked at the force quit option and it says it isn't responding.
I did try just leaving it alone for a really long time, but unless I am doing the 35-pass erase it shouldn't take all night (which it did at one point and it still wasn't done).
(Computer is a MacBook late 2008 13" aluminum)
I had it do a repair and after I forced it to quit it said it did find bad areas of the disk and repaired them, or so it said.
But then I tried a verify and it seemed to crash again. So I get the sense there is something weird or fishy with Disk Util for 10.5.8. Any thoughts? My copy of TechTool works fine, it seems. Disk Util seems a bit unreliable right now, and I don't want to damage anything. But I also want an option to clean off the disk if I ever sell the computer or something like that. (I've been ID theft-ed once already, I'd rather not go through that again).

MacBook Pro
https://discussions.apple.com/community/notebooks/macbook_pro
https://discussions.apple.com/community/mac_os
http://www.apple.com/support/macbookpro

Syncing process does not complete

I have 2 iphone 5S models that go through the entire sync process but the sync does not complete. Gets to the last step, "waiting for changes to be applied" and then the sync stops.

What step would that be - for photo transfer?

Disk Utility in Recovery HD does not see same problems as Normal Mode

[Please note my computer specs are below]
I recently upgraded to Yosemite and installed Avid Media Composer 8.2. Right after the installed the software I ran Disk Utility's Verify Disk and received the following messages after 60 seconds or so:
Incorrect number of file hard links
Volume bitmap needs minor repair for orphaned blocks
Invalid volume free block count
The volume Macintosh HD was found corrupt and needs to be repaired.
Error: This disk needs to be repaired using the Recovery HD. Restart your computer, holding down the Command key and the R key until you see the Apple logo. When the OS X Utilities window appears, choose Disk Utility.
I restarted using Recovery HD and ran Verify Disk again. It finished scanning in about one second and said everything was okay.
After restarting I ran Disk Utility a third time and received the same error messages as above.
I've just finished calling Apple support and they couldn't help me. The gentleman said it must be an anomaly because I'm using a flash disk. After several minutes it was clear he wasn't going to help me - so here I am. Computer specs below.
MacBook Pro (Retina, 13-inch, Late 2013)
2.8 GHz Intel Core i7
Intel Iris 1536 MB

Do this:
1. a. Resetting your Mac's PRAM and NVRAM
    b. Intel-based Macs: Resetting the System Management Controller (SMC)
2. Restart the computer in Safe Mode, then restart again, normally.
3. Reinstall Yosemite without erasing the drive:
Boot to the Recovery HD: Restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the COMMAND and R keys until the menu screen appears. Alternatively, restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the OPTION key until the boot manager screen appears. Select the Recovery HD and click on the downward pointing arrow button.
Repair the Hard Drive and Permissions: Upon startup select Disk Utility from the main menu. Repair the Hard Drive and Permissions as follows.
When the recovery menu appears select Disk Utility. After DU loads select your hard drive entry (mfgr.'s ID and drive size) from the the left side list. In the DU status area you will see an entry for the S.M.A.R.T. status of the hard drive. If it does not say "Verified" then the hard drive is failing or failed. (SMART status is not reported on external Firewire or USB drives.) If the drive is "Verified" then select your OS X volume from the list on the left (sub-entry below the drive entry,) click on the First Aid tab, then click on the Repair Disk button. If DU reports any errors that have been fixed, then re-run Repair Disk until no errors are reported. If no errors are reported click on the Repair Permissions button. Wait until the operation completes, then quit DU and return to the main menu.
Reinstall OS X: Select Reinstall OS X and click on the Continue button.
Download and install the 10.10.1 update
Note: You will need an active Internet connection. I suggest using Ethernet if possible because it is three times faster than wireless.
Also see:
Reinstall OS X Without Erasing the Drive
OS X Yosemite- Reinstall OS X
     Note: You will need an active Internet connection. I suggest using Ethernet
                 if possible because it isthree times faster than wireless.

Disk Utility gives error and does not rebuild mirrored RAID

After having a HDD fail on a mirrored RAID I replaced the HDD and attempted to rebuild. Disk Utility reports via Console that it can not find an Apple Boot partition to check size and then fails to repair the RAID. Details follow.
Mac OS X v.10.4.8 Server
Power Mac G3 (Blue & White)
512MB RAM
20GB ATA HDD – boot device on internal ATA bus
4x 160GB ATA HDDs - setup in RAID scheme on Sonnet ATA/133 PCI card
RAID configured using Mac OS X v.10.4.8's Disk Utility and is an Apple RAID version 2.
RAID scheme <from "diskutil checkRAID" cmd>:
Welcome to Darwin!
[myserver:~] myadminuser% diskutil checkRAID
RAID SETS
Name: Mirror_2
Unique ID: 5FF8AD5F-0892-482D-B430-C7069D63AFD2
Type: Mirror
Status: Online
Device Node: disk3
Apple RAID Version: 2
# Device Node UUID Status
0 disk0s3 1FB48B00-3E52-4C29-8F05-2ED8BDAE4544 Online
1 disk6s3 BF2E69C6-698E-4D6A-A2A9-FE8CDAD8A7B1 Online
Name: Mirror_1
Unique ID: B448A09D-EC10-41EE-BA45-4D4071A88EA5
Type: Mirror
Status: Degraded
Device Node: disk5
Apple RAID Version: 2
# Device Node UUID Status
1 disk2s3 09AD5705-CF67-48B3-8E31-79983BD4781A Online
0 disk4s3 23EB1952-8B18-4400-A6FE-22C2F707C097 Failed
Name: StorageRAID1
Unique ID: 2B8349AB-F553-4FD2-8440-C575791DA858
Type: Stripe
Status: Online
Device Node: disk7
Apple RAID Version: 2
# Device Node UUID Status
0 disk3 5FF8AD5F-0892-482D-B430-C7069D63AFD2 Online
1 disk5 B448A09D-EC10-41EE-BA45-4D4071A88EA5 Online
I configured this RAID scheme (two two drive mirrors striped together) according to this kbase document: http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=304377
As shown in the above "diskutil checkRAID" output I have a failed HDD. So I replaced the HDD with another 160GB cold spare. I added the new drive to the mirror "Mirror_1" also known as disk5 and hit rebuild. Received the normal message that all data on the new drive I was adding would be erased.
I then receive the following error immediately in the Console Log:
Rebuilding RAID "Mirror_1"
2006-12-15 23:50:24.741 DiskManagementTool [375] WARNING: Could not find Apple Boot partition to check it's size, skipping disk5s-1s.
Rebuilding RAID slice "disk4s3"
Just to stem some confusion, the device ID disk4s3 has been used by the system for both the old failed HDD and the new replacement HDD.
The result of this attempted rebuild is I end up with all the data from Mirror_1 on the new HDD but the new HDD is not successfully added to the RAID, therefore Mirror_1 is still degraded and my problem not resolved.
I ran the appropriate rebuild cmd from both the GUI Disk Utility as described and from the CLI "diskutil repairMirror disk5 disk4s3" but no joy.
Any help would be greatly appreciated. This volume houses a large amount of important data including user home directories so while some offline time may be required data loss would not be very acceptable.
Thanks in advance and I will be happy to provide more information as necessary.

I guess doing it in Terminal would fail too:
diskutil repairMirror disk5 disk4

Import process does not complete

When loading photos everything seems OK until the last photo shows being uploaded. Then the "Finishing Upload" bar never shows completion of the upload process. However, the window with two buttons (keep photos in camera or erase photos in camera) is present and operable. I can wait forever - hours for the progress bar about finishing upload to disappear indicating completion of this process but the bar just remains on the screen. I then click on the keep the photos and the process seems to complete normally. I then can edit the event just loaded, all pictures are in the event and each can be edited. The event just imported shows up in the 'all events". Then when I close iPhoto09 and later launch the application, that latest event is nowhere to be found. Last import is a blank screen. Selection of 'all events' shows all previous events but the one just imported is not there.
Then to see if it was a hardware problem with the card reader or the CF card itself, I imported them successfully on a Macbook with no problem and they were there upon and close and re-launch of the application iPhoto08.
I believe the problem lies in the fact that I never get a completion signal of the import process, but I don't have any idea of how to overcome this. All other features seem to work fine i.e. other events are available for viewing or further editing, all pictures seem available. Any ideas.
Thanks for any help.
Mike Hanrahan

Terence,
Thanks for the help, I created a new library as you suggested and successfully uploaded photos with no problem. So far so good. When I first started using iPhoto when the computer was new, the library was located on my hard drive in the pictures folder. Some time later I added two additional external drives or I guess the term is volumes. Drive 1 is for the time machine automatic backups and Drive 2 was added later and is dedicated for my iphoto library exclusively. At the time I added Drive 2 I moved (or maybe it was copying I'm not sure) all my photos from the internal drive to the external Disc2. So now I have three photo libraries.
1) The original library on the internal HD with my early photos
MacHD/Home/MP Navigator EX/Pictures/IPhoto Library
where the 'MP Navigator EX' came from I have no idea
2) Disc 2 library with all photos and which is apparently associated with the import problem.
Disc2/Pictures/IPhoto Library
3) The newly created library on the internal HD
MacHD/Home/Pictures/iPhoto Library
So when I followed your option 1, rebuilding the iPhoto Library Database , the computer just rebuilt library 3 above - the one just created with a few test pictures.
I now have three questions:
1) How do I direct/select the rebuilding of library 2 above? ( I assume that is what I should do)
2) Once this problem is fixed, how do I tell iPhoto upon launch which Library to use?
3) Once the drive2 library is rebuilt, is the rebuilding process one that generates any new
libraries or other files that I need to be concerned about?
With your additional help, I think my problem will be resolved.
Thanks so much.
Mike

Disk Utility reports DVD disc does not have enough space

I am trying to create backup DVDs of some valuable data using my Macbook
I have used Disk Utility to create a disk image of the original DVD. When trying to burn the image to the blank DVD (4.7GB DVD-R), Disk Utility reports: 'The disc inserted does not have enough free space'. This occurs for both a disk/disc image of 4.26GB and one of a mere 451MB.
Any ideas on how can I overcome this?
PS: when is a disk a disc and vice-versa? Apple don't seem to know; the spellings above are verbatim.

If you are trying to duplicate the DVD then I suggest trying this:
Duplicate a CD or DVD
1. Insert the DVD/CD;
2. Open Disk Utility, and select the DVD/CD from the left side list (select the DVD/CD icon on top);
3. from the DU File menu select New | Disk Image from Disk 1;
4. Choose to format the disk image as DVD/CD Master, name the disk image and click Save;
5. When the .cdr file is finished select it with mouse and press COMMAND-I to open the Get Info and check the box to lock the file;
6. Choose the .cdr file from the left side list, click Burn, and insert a new, blank DVD or CD.
Otherwise I would consider using backup software that can span a backup across multiple optical media such as Retrospect, Toast, etc. You can look for them at VersionTracker or MacUpdate.
It's hard to offer more because you really did not provide any detail on precisely what you are doing and how you are trying to do it. More information may enable us to provide better suggestions.

Workflow process does not complete for 3500 but works for about 10 records

Hi Gurus,
I am a novice in workflow. Pls bear if the questions are very basic.
We have a old custom workflow process which is inistaed by a PL/SQL procedure
WF_ENGINE.CreateProcess ---
WF_ENGINE.StartProcess ---
COMMIT; ---
Now this process has run for over 6-7 years but has always processed max upto 8 or 10 records at a time. Now we had about 4000 records in a table and the process was running for more than 4 days now and it has been termiinated.
I could not see any new item_keys. Is it because we have a commit only at the end.
This process has 3 sub processes. they are connected by 'AND' and then we have an 'End' node.
The first sub-process is simple and we can see a record in wf_items .
Howver no records are there in wf_items for the 2nd and 3rd sub processes.
How can we check the point where it has hanged. Querying Status monitor just gives the first sub-process that has completed. How to debug for these cases.
This has always worked for small volumes. Now we have about 4000 records and we face this problem
The process actually checks data from the table and based on some conditions , it send 5 different notifications to 5 different mail groups. So we expect about 4000*5 mails to be sent.
Any help is welcome.
Thanks,
L
Edited by: 901929 on 20-Jul-2012 01:38
Edited by: 901929 on 20-Jul-2012 01:39

L,
Please check the following:
1. Since this is pure PLSQL you can have a SQL script where you enable a database event to get a trace and then run tkprof on the output to spot any performance problem. You can use something like:
alter session set tracefile_identifier='Background' max_dump_file_size='unlimited' events '10046 trace name context forever, level 12';
begin
wf_engine.CreateProcess(...);
wf_engine.StartProcess(...);
end;
commit;
alter session set events '10046 trace name context off';
select fnd_debug_util.get_trace_file_name() tracefile from dual;
2. Do you happen to know if WF runtime tables are being purged regularly? If this is not done you can expect serious performance problems. If this is WF Apps embedded you need to clean data using the concurrent request Purge Obsolete Workflow runtime data, if not then you can use the APIs in package WF_PURGE.
3. You will only find one record in WF_ITEMS for this process if those sub-processes belong to the same item type
4. About the notifications, make sure you are not running into this design problem: https://blogs.oracle.com/oracleworkflow/entry/looping_within_a_workflow_process
Regards,
Alejandro

Sync does not complete completing

Hi syncing between my pc and iphone 3g is not completing sticking on back up routine.
Yesterday 21st April I had problems syncing taking a long time (approx 10 mins) to complete. Last night 21st I could sync I had to restore - this competed successfully. Now the sync process does not complete sticking around 70% of the backing process...when I cancel syncing by using the slider on the iphone, itunes seems to then suyn contacts/ bookmarks etc.
Anyone got any ideas
I have had my iphone 3G for over a year now and had my new lap top for over 7 months (windows 7)
I am on the latest version of itunes and iphone os.
Stuart

This is more likely a computer or iTunes problem, not an iPad problem.

When I plug in my iPhone to sync, it starts but does not complete the process and several pieces of data are not being transferred to my iPhone from my MacBook Air.

Problem:
When I plug in my iPhone to sync, it starts but does not complete the process and several pieces of data are not being transferred to my iPhone from my MacBook Air.
Any help that you can provide in helping my iPhone accurately sync with iPhoto and iTunes will be greatly appreciated.
Symptoms:
1)   Sync: It’s not completing the sync. Below, I’ve provided all of my settings from the iTunes Summary tab so that you might tell me if I’ve selected any incorrect options. I prefer to sync the “old school” way – by connecting to the computer – as opposed to syncing over the cloud. Perhaps this is what’s causing the problem? Here is a list of the steps displayed in the iTunes window as the sync progresses:
waiting for sync to start (step 1 of 7)
backing up (step 2 of 7)
preparing to sync (step 3 of 7)
determining apps to sync (step 4 of 7)
preparing apps to sync (step 5 of 7)
importing photos (step 6 of 7)
waiting for changes to be applied (step 7 of 7)
syncing apps / copying 1 of 4 (App name) (step 7 of 7)
canceling sync
apple icon
2)   Photos: I've selected only certain of my iPhoto albums to sync to my iPhone. All of the albums are correct/complete in iPhoto. All of the albums are listed on my iPhone, both before and after the sync, but the albums are empty (no actual photos) before and after the sync. Perhaps this is tied to the fact that the sync isn’t completing, but because “importing photos” is one of the steps that the incomplete sync displays, I don’t know.
3)   Apps: When I launch iTunes and click on the Apps folder under the Library listing, then click on the Updates tab, iTunes searches for any Apps needing to be updated and provides a list. If I click on Update All, the Apps are successfully updated in iTunes. But, when I plug in my iPhone so that the updates will transfer to the apps on my iPhone, the updates don’t transfer to the apps on my iPhone and those apps still reflect that they need updating on the iPhone.
Other Potential Pertinent Info:
The flash memory hard drive on my MacBook Air recently died (perhaps a month or two ago). Apple had emailed me about a known issue and literally the next day, my MacBook Air crashed. I installed a new flash memory drive and re-installed everything from a backup off of an external hard drive. Everything seems to be working fine; it recreated accurately all of my software and data, including iPhoto and iTunes, the pictures and songs (respectively) for which are stored on that hard drive, as opposed to being on the flash memory in the MacBook Air itself. However, I don’t recall if the start of the sync problem described herein started happening at the same time that I replaced the flash memory drive. All I know is that the computer is working perfectly in all respects and that even as the sync is failing, it at least says that it’s doing the right things and looking in the right places (e.g., the list of albums on my iPhone matches the list of albums in iTunes, etc.).
Settings/Status:
MacBook Air
OSX v. 10.9
iPhoto ’11 v. 9.5 (902.7)
iPhone iOS 7.0.4
iTunes v. 11.1.3 (8)
Summary Tab
Backups (This Computer)
Options
Automatically sync when this iPhone is connected
Sync only checked songs and videos
Photos Tab
Sync Photos from iPhoto (429 Photos)
Selected albums, Events, and Faces, and automatically include (no Events)
Albums – 9 are selected

You need to download iTunes on your computer. iOS 6 requires the latest version of iTunes which is 10.7.

Process does not follow the routing ends up in complete status

Installed Adobe LiveCycle server ES 2.5 with SQL Server 2008 as database
And followed the tutorial ‘Create Your First LiveCycle Application’
Deployed it on the server when I test the same
i.e. when the workspace user fills in form details and hits complete button it ends up as status complete
And not assigned to next user in the route
The process does not follow the routing it ends up in complete status
And nothing shows up when trying to record and play back the process
Tried invoking Via workbench too
no errors in the server log
Could this be an installation issue any pointers appreciated
Please advise

Issue with Jboss as it was taking longtime time to start due to low CPU ideally it should not take more than 3 to 5 minutes
Process works now

Does not complete processing of "Home" of the Creative Cloud desktop application

Someone know the way to fix the following issue?
After installed some Creative Cloud Software, I had uninstalled Adobe application manager manually and installed Creative Cloud desktop application manually. because automatic upgrade of creative cloud desktop application from adobe application manager does not work.
The creative cloud desktop application setup had been completed successfully. but, seems that it does not complete processing of displaying the history if I chose "Home". The progress Icon will stay in continuity. And any contents does not show on it.
Regards,

I'm posting this in a few threads to try to catch everyone having the problem.
The good news is that I found a way to fix this.
The bad news is that it involves uninstalling everything. (Note that reinstalling over the old installs won't cover it, I'd tried that one once too. You'll have to fully uninstall each program before redownloading/reinstalling.)
I spent many hours with tech support yesterday running through options unsuccessfully, and can very thoroughly assure you that uninstalling the desktop app, renaming any number of folders, and new user accounts all will not help you. From doing a lot of research on various similar problems, it appears that it's possible for this to spontaneously resolve within a couple of hours. If it doesn't, though, you're stuck with fixing it yourself.
The best theory I found was that it's caused by updating or installing a program without doing it through CC. If you've downloaded an installer and run that or clicked "Check for updates" in the help menu inside one of the other apps, this is you. Other people have noted that if you know which app you did this with, you can uninstall that one to fix it. If you have no idea, the simplest path is to just uninstall everything. You can try doing things one at a time, but you'll need to reboot every time the uninstaller tell you to do so and then see if it's fixed. (Personally, I got sick of that by the second time through.) I do remember clicking "Check for updates" right around the time this started for me, but I don't know which program it was in, just that I knew it would trigger the updates I knew existed but CC wasn't acknowledging.
I will also note that once I had everything uninstalled, I ran the Cleaner Tool and did a "Clean All". If you're going to or need to do that, make sure you've backed up all of your preferences, customizations, plugins, and so forth as needed.

I am now using 10.6.8. Downloaded Maverick but cannot update OS on HD because get message the disk is not formatted as Mac OS extended(journaled). Tried to use Disk Utility as per instruction but cannot complete operation.

I am now using 10.6.8. Downloaded Maverick but cannot update OS on HD because get message the disk is not formatted as Mac OS extended(journaled). Tried to use Disk Utility as per instruction but cannot complete operation.

Barney-15E:
The partition method worked after some trepidation. I got the spinning beach ball after partitioning and couldn't go further till I named the second partition. That may have done it. Right now, things seem to be working o.k. I'm updating a current iPhoto and will have to get a MS Word program that will function on the current OS and a current Quicken.
If necessary, can start up from the 10.6.8 system which I downloaded to an external HD before updating. I can always fall back on that. Also, I hope I don't get too many disconnects. Thank you for your help.

Disk Utility - secure erase process does not complete

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for