Disk Utility "Unable to create" Disk Image "error -39"

I am trying to create a disk image using Disk Utility of my wife's user area for backup. Everytime I try, I get the same result. Disk Utility spends several hours creating the archive, then at the very end it generates an error message and terminates the process. The error message is always "unable to create "user" - error -39".
The problem follows her data and not her computer. I backed up her user to an external drive and did the image creation on another computer. Same result.
When I do the same on my computer, the process completes fine.
What problem is Disk Utility having? Where can I find the meaning of Disk Utilitility's -39 error?
PowerBook G4 Mac OS X (10.4.5)

I am still experimenting. To narrow the problem, I decided to create individual disk images of the folders in the User folder. The first one I tried was 7 GB and worked fine. Overnight, I tried one that is 13 GB. It failed with an out of room message on the startup disk! The startup disk has 17 GB free. Nothing should have been written to the startup disk!
This time, I configured Disk Utility to read from the startup disk and write to an external disk. The destination disk had more than enough space. But, I ran out of space on the source. It appears that Disk Utility is writing all or a portion of the compressed file to either the startup or the source disk and running out of room.
Previously, when I created the image of my user folder (instead of my wife's), the source was my user folder on the startup disk and the destinaion for the image was on an external disk. The difference I see is that my startup disk has enough free space for the entire compressed image file.
In my first attempt that gave me the -39, both the source and the destination disks were external. So maybe Disk Utility is creating the image on the source and at the end copying it to the destination. This would explain the difference in the error messages.
I'll try to confirm all of this in the next few days and report my findings.

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Disk Utility: Unable to create "ImageName.dmg" error -39

Ladies,
Gentlemen,
I used Disk Utility to backup the internal hard drive of my iMac G5 iSight.
The last backup of the hard drive was unsuccessful, ending with next message: Unable to create "ImageName.dmg"; error -39.
The iMac is running OS X 10.4.11.
I proceed as follows:
Boot from the OS X 10.4.2 installation DVD and firing up Disk Utility.
Menu option: File, New, Disk Image from disk0s3 (Mac HD)
The target disk is Porche_LaCie FireWire drive.
After +/- 2 hours I end up with the above message.
The hard drive has following characteristics:
Name : Mac HD
Type : Volume
Disk Identifier : disk0s3
Mount Point : /
File System : Mac OS Extended (Journaled)
Connection Bus : ATA
Partition Type : Apple_HFS
Device Tree : sata/k2-sata@0/@0:3
Writable : Yes
Universal Unique Identifier : 9AFCA71A-DD8B-376E-9776-EE7EDDBB328C
Capacity : 148,9 GB (159.907.627.008 Bytes)
Free Space : 96,9 GB (103.996.362.752 Bytes)
Used : 52,1 GB (55.911.264.256 Bytes)
Number of Files : 419.419
Number of Folders : 104.321
Owners Enabled : Yes
Can Turn Owners Off : Yes
Can Repair Permissions : Yes
Can Be Verified : Yes
Can Be Repaired : Yes
Can Be Formatted : Yes
Bootable : Yes
Supports Journaling : Yes
Journaled : Yes
S.M.A.R.T. Status : Verified
Disk Number : 0
Partition Number : 3
The target drive characteristics:
Name : Porche_LaCie
Type : Volume
Disk Identifier : disk1s1
Mount Point : /Volumes/Porche_LaCie
File System : Mac OS Extended (Case-sensitive, Journaled)
Connection Bus : FireWire
Partition Type : Apple_HFS
Device Tree : fw/node@d04b7417066788/sbp-2@c000/@0:1
Writable : Yes
Universal Unique Identifier : BCCEBED2-08F5-3C21-8750-75716AF060B9
Capacity : 232,9 GB (250.056.705.024 Bytes)
Free Space : 160,8 GB (172.646.076.416 Bytes)
Used : 72,1 GB (77.410.627.584 Bytes)
Number of Files : 15
Number of Folders : 4
Owners Enabled : No
Can Turn Owners Off : Yes
Can Be Formatted : Yes
Bootable : Yes
Supports Journaling : Yes
Journaled : Yes
S.M.A.R.T. Status : Not Supported
Disk Number : 1
Partition Number : 1
The target drive already contains 3 earlier images. The biggest image has a size of 28,14 GB. And as you can see this drive ha enough place for other images.
So what is going wrong?
I Googled for this error -39 without any success and I have not found any thing about this particular error in Apple's discussions or support pages.
I would feel a lot safer with a decent image of my Hard Drive. I already lost one and do not want to repeat this again...
Can any one help?

If you want to create a backup of your system volume, then do not use disc images. They are not bootable. Here's a far better solution:
How to Clone Using Restore Option of Disk Utility
1. Open Disk Utility from the Utilities folder.
2. Select the backup or destination volume from the left side list.
3. Click on the Erase tab in the DU main window. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (journaled, if available) and click on the Erase button. This step can be skipped if the destination has already been freshly erased.
4. Click on the Restore tab in the DU main window.
5. Select the backup or destination volume from the left side list and drag it to the Destination entry field.
6. Select the startup or source volume from the left side list and drag it to the Source entry field.
7. Double-check you got it right, then click on the Restore button.
You can also do the same using other backup utilities that can create bootable backups:
Backup Software Recommendations
My personal recommendations are (order is not significant):
1. Retrospect Desktop (Commercial - not yet universal binary)
2. Synchronize! Pro X (Commercial)
3. Synk (Backup, Standard, or Pro)
4. Deja Vu (Shareware)
5. Carbon Copy Cloner (Donationware)
6. SuperDuper! (Commercial)
7. Intego Personal Backup (Commercial)
8. Data Backup (Commercial)
Also read How to Back Up and Restore Your Files.

Disk utility unable to repair disk. What next?

Disk utility unable to repair disk. What next?

I encountered the same problem. After verify disk, I got the message to repair the disk. But it was unable to complete the repair. Rather than purchase Disk Warrior, I tried something else.
What I did was reinstall the OSX (this iMac is still on Leopard). I backed up everything, naturally, before doing the reinstall. I chose the "Archive and Install" option, along with "Preserve Users and Network Settings". This method moves existing files to a folder named "Previous System" and imports existing user accounts, network settings, and home folders into the new OSX.
After the successful reinstall, I ran Disk Utility. It checked AND repaired Permissions. It verified that the disk was fine and no longer needed repair.
If this didn't work, my plan "B" was to reinstall the OSX again, this time with the "Erase and Install" option. Fortunately, I didn't have to go to plan "B".

Disk Utility - "Unable to create 'Desktop' - error 49168" - What's this?

I try to create a compressed disk image of my Desktop using Disk Utility and get the following error:
Unable to create "Desktop" - error 49168
Does anyone know what that means?

Googling for the term
"error 49168"
including the quotation marks points to several web sites, including http://forums.macosxhints.com/archive/index.php/t-45310.html
which you may find helpful.

Disk Utility - Unable to Shrink Disk Error

hey guys,
I have been trying to shrink my system partition but i keep getting an error.
I had Vista installed on a boot camp partition, but i needed to reinstall it and i decided to start from scratch. I erased the vista partition and tried to recreate it. I ran boot camp assistant but that failed at creating a new partition.
I ran disk utility to first try and shrink the system drive, then increase the size to full before i rerun the boot camp partition. however, i cannot shrink.
this is the error i get.
http://dl.getdropbox.com/u/734117/Screen%20shot%202009-10-25%20at%208.48.54%20AM .png
I had only about 35 gigs free and i tried to create a 20 gig partition. after that error, i erased some data and now have just under 100 gigs free. but the drive still cannot shrink
I was hoping to find a way to shrink the drive, or defragment without having to erase the entire disk and reinstall. i do not have the backup capabilities to move all my data at this point.
Thanks for your help

Hahmad wrote:
How do i create a clone?
first, you need an external drive. then use CCCloner http://www.bombich.com/index.html
or Superduper http://www.shirt-pocket.com/SuperDuper/SuperDuperDescription.html
to clone the OS X partition to the external. make sure that the external is formatted with GUID partition scheme before cloning. if needed reformat it first with disk utility.

Disk Utility won't create Disc Image from DVD

I'm trying to copy a DVD that I made in iMovie and iDVD. The DVD plays fine, using DVD Player. I open Disc Utility, select the DVD, click "New Image," and save to a directory. The hard drive has plenty of room. Disk Utility then shows a stop sign and says "No such file or directory".
Is Disc Utility saying that there's no such file/directory/DVD to copy from, or no such file/directory to copy to? I've tried many file names and many directories on 5 hard drives.
I've tried selecting under "Image Format" both "read-only" and "DVD/CD Master." I leave "Encryption" at "none."
My computer has had this problem for at least six months, with dozens of DVDs. I've used both the internal 105 optical drive and an external 111 optical drive.
I clicked "Help" in the Disk Utility menu, but there's no help pages.
Is there another software application that copies DVDs? I tried Mac the Ripper, but it seems to only copy DVDs to my hard drive. I can't figure out how to make a DVD from the M-the-R files on my hard drive. Dragging to a blank DVD and burning produces a DVD that won't play in DVD Player.
G5 dual 1.8GHz Mac OS X (10.4.8)

Hi Thomas,
there are several out there. Probably the one with the highest reputation is Roxio's Toast Titanium. But you could also try Fast DVD Copy or DVD2oneX2.
If this answered your question please consider granting some stars: Why reward points?

Disk Utility unable to verify disk (Error -9972)

Please help! I downloaded the Security Update 2007-004 and my comp crashed! When I turn my computer on I get a folder icon in the middle of the screen and it won't start.
I tried using Disk 1 to get to my harddrive. I got to Disk Utility and tried to verify disk. But I got the following message.
Invalid B-tree node size.
Volume check failed.
Error: The underlying task reported failure on exit. (-9972)
So I can't verify and therefore can't repair my disk. I need my computer for my school assignment. Please please help.

Welcome To Discussions jo*!
Do you know what size the Hard Drive is, and how much space is available?
Although that error is not exactly good news, it is not necessarily a death knell.
DiskWarrior, does indeed, have a high success rate at rebuilding when Disk Utility reports "Underlying task reported failure" when repairing a volume (Error -9972).
In the above link it states;
*Back up as much of your important data and files as you can, then try using a third-party disk utility to repair the drive. Be sure that you use one that works with your version of Mac OS X."
DiskWarrior, also linked above, is just such a third-party utility.
But just in case it is unsuccessful, and you need to perform an Erase & Install, I suggest that if possible, you back up the system, or at least any data that you cannot afford to lose.
If you have access to another Mac that is Firewire enabled, you might be able to backup, or retrieve data, using Firewire Target Disk Mode.
Good Luck!
ali b

Disk Utility unable to repair disk

My IMAC started to freeze up for a couple of minutes while running Word for Mac 2004 and Entourage. Microsoft tech support suggested running rebuild database for Entourage. Rebuild database did not execute citing I/O problem. Ran Disk Utility from Install Disk and it was unable to repair one volume after repeated attempts. Also tried ckfs but that found no errors. Some posts recommend Disk Warrior or other recovery software. Any suggestions before the trip to the Genius Bar?

Disk Warrior repaired the disk on its first pass. Disk Utility confirmed the repair. No symptoms any more in Word for MAC and Entourage 2004. Still could not rebuild database. Will back up to be safe.

Unable to create "filename.dmg" (error -60008) {Disk Utility Problem}

Hi:
I’ve used Disk Utilities awesome capabilities many times, but am now running into my first real problem.
I am trying to create a 100 GB new blank disk image, using the “Mac OS Extended (Journaled) option for format, 256-bit AES encryption, a single partition-Apple Partition Map, and Image Format as read/write disk image.
When I implement this, it asks for the AES password then repeatedly crashes, albeit in slightly different ways each time. The most informative was a Unable to create “filename.dmg” (error -60008) message. I can’t find anything explanatory about this in Google
I’m wondering if this has something to do with my upgrade to Lion (OS 10.7.4) yesterday from Snow Leopard.
This error occurs on both my home and work iMacs. It seems to reliably occur about 1/2 way through typing in my password. The error occurs whether I use 128 or 256 AES encryption.
There is more than adequate space on the hard drive I am attempting to place this image on. Disk Utility is version 12.1.1 (353) and all is running on a 2.66 GHz Intel Core i5 iMac.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated! Thank you
PS: This is a duplicate post from the OS Lion forums ( https://discussions.apple.com/message/18410534#18410534 ), but since a) it occurs on both my Intel iMacs, b) I totally rely on Disk Utility's capabilities, so this loss with the Lion upgrade really hurts, and c) we've had no luck in the Lion forums, we're hoping someone here has seen this issue and can help. Much appreciated.

Hello, I believe that's an authentication error, thinks your not an admin account. Might try this...
Safe Boot, (holding Shift key down at bootup), run Disk Utility in Applications>Utilities, then highlight your drive, click on Repair Permissions, move this folder to the Desktop for now...
/Users/YourUserName/Library/Preferences/ByHost /
reboot when it completes.
(Safe boot may stay on the gray radian for a long time, let it go, it's trying to repair the Hard Drive.)

I'm trying to backup a my harddrive with disk utility but I'm getting an error Unable to create Backup.dmg" (input/output error). Is there any other way to save my data? I believe my hard drive is failing or corrupt file. I can't boot up. Grey screen

I'm trying to backup a my hard drive with disk utility but I'm getting an error Unable to create Backup.dmg" (input/output error). Is there any other way to save my data? I believe my hard drive is failing or corrupt file. I can't boot up. Grey screen and spinning wheel. I've tried everything https://discussions.apple.com/message/20580424#20580424
any help will be greatly appreciated.

Check here. Also have you done a TimeMachine back up?
http://support.apple.com/kb/TS2570

Anyone know Disk Utility, Ignore Ownership, and disk image DL DVD issues?

I am currently having issues with backup DVD's I burned using Disk Utility. I can put the dual layer DVD's in and the system reads them. When I try to pull a file off the Dual Layer DVD a circle with an X appears notifying me that I cannot copy the files to my desk top.
When I check the DVD's permissions it reads Admin (me) read and write with the ignore ownership checkbox checked...which means I should be able to pull files off the DVD. The only way I can currently get information off the DVD is to duplicate the entire disk to a new folder by selecting the DVD while holding down the Cntrl key and selecting duplicate. I have had other issues with DVD's and disk images in Leopard....including having to eject either through disk utility or by selecting the image with the Cntrl key held down. Finder eject, keyboard eject, and the menu eject selections suddenly report that the disk is in use.
The DVD's were burned by creating a dual layer dvd image through disk utility with the read/write option checked.
After duplicating 2-3 disks, the system itself is unable to mount any more disks from the series of backups. When I look at disk utility it reads that the disk is not mountable. I have to restart my computer so the system can continue to read the backups.
My Itunes disk backups are marked the same way (ignore ownership) with admin read/write privlages....I have no problem pulling files off these disks.
I have tried both logging in as root and booting from an external drive...same problem. Is this some nasty Disk Utility bug? Is anyone else having bizarre permission related issues with Disk Utility and Disk Images.

When you create the image in Disk Utility, did you
change the 'Partitions' setting?
If you leave it to read 'CD/DVD', it will create a ISO9660/UDF image.
To be able to maintain permission and extended file attributes, you
need to select 'GUID Partition Map'.
I assume you used iTunes to create your music backup?
It seems it creates the correct image type for you.
Before sending this message, I actually created a single layer image,
copied some files to it and gave additional permissions to other users on my system.
Afterwards I copied the files to my Desktop, verifying that the attributes are still intact.
Best regards
(It took quite a while to burn this 4x DVD-RW Anyways, I hope I could help)

Disk Utility problems/making a good image file problems

Hi,
I am trying to make a disk image with Disk Utility. But every time when I run the program, it gathers disk info for a long time and then shuts down in unexpected error. What can be the problem here?
The reason that I want to make a disk image of my cd is this, maybe someone knows a solution for this problem well.
I have the original game cd of Alone in the Dark 1. I played this always on my pc in the past and now, with the help of a program called Boxer that allows to run dos games on the mac, it can run on my mac, but, the music cannot be found. According to the makers of Boxer this is because the music on the cd is separated from the rest of the data as audio tracks. I'm not a programmer so I don't understand everything behind this, but they advised me to make image file of the cd, mount it and then run Boxer with this mounted file.
I cannot do this however, because Toast doesn't make a good image file that includes the audio tracks and Disk Utility is shutting down with an error all the time. Maybe someone knows another solution?
Best wishes,
André

Maybe, but this cd if from 1992, did they do that already those days? However, I can make with Toast an image from the game, but the soundtracks are not included then. I can listen to the tracks in Itunes, they are visible like a normal audio cd. My only wish... is to play the games. Visiting the past, so to speak. And I can not play it on Windows, because it is not supported anymore after dos left the stage and I tried so many bootdisks on my pc, nothing works. Boxer therefore was a good help. The music though brings live to the game...

Disk Utility Freeze when using New Image

Has anybody experienced the following?:
my system:
Brand new Mac Pro 8-core 2.66GHz
24GB RAM
Snow Leopard 10.6.3 freshly installed
Apple SuperDrive DVD
I am in the process to install a lot of software and I like to make Disk Image of the software DVD to make things quicker to install.
Now what happens is that as soon as I select New Image from Disk Utility (after selecting the DVD on the left menu), the New Image progress window appears and then Disk Utility freezes. The disk image is being created in the background, but the progress window DOES NOT show the disk image status and eventually I have to OPTION-APPLE ESC from Disk Utility.
What I have tried is:
. delete plist for Disk Utility in Preferences
. repair permissions in SAFE BOOT mode
After that Disk Utility/New Image will work the first time as expected, and then the next time I am getting the same problem.
Any ideas what I could try to diagnose/fix this problem?
Thank you!

Thanks for your feedback.
As far as making a disk image or not, yes it takes some times to create it... longer? I am not sure because when you install a software there is a back and forth reading/writing, whereas when you create your disk image it does the reading and writing in a linear fashion... anyway to me the big benefit is when you have more than one disk part of an install (Apple FCS, Adobe CS, etc...) once you have created all your disk image, it will install everything automatically without having to feed each disc... and usually I have to do a fresh install later on... and finally it gives you a backup of your software...
Thanks again.

Will Disk Utility Burn a DL Disk Image to DVD?

Will Disk Utility burn a DL Disk Image created by iDVD to a DL DVD? I'd like to save myself the rendering time to find out that it won't, if that is the case.

JCC,
The last I knew there could be a problem with setting the proper break point when creating/working from the disk image of a double layer disc, but I may have missed something recent.

Disk Utility is reporting a fatal hardware error-S.M.A.R.T. status failing. Is there hope?

OS 10.5.8 on a 1.8 GHz Power PC G5. Installed Western Digital WD1002FAEX as a second internal hard drive. I also installd the jumper needed to slow HD down for this computer. Initialized and formated the HD was able to back up a large iPhoto file and am still able to acceass the file from the new HD. Now Disk Utility is reporting a fatal hardware error-S.M.A.R.T. status failing. Is there hope?

Is that on your first drive or the new one???
Only experience I had with SMART warning was that in less than 48 hrs it was dead for good.

Disk Utility "Unable to create" Disk Image "error -39"

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