Disk Utility USB problems

I have a 4GB USB stick that I'm trying to format in FAT so I can use it on Windows computers as well. The thing is, it just isn't happy. When I plug it into my macs, either my MacBook or my Mac Mini, it says "The disk you inserted was not readable by this computer." When I click Initialise, Disk Utility opens up. I can see the disk in the list on the left, and it is listed as Unformatted. I can format it in any of the Mac OS formats, but that's not good, as I need it to be readable in Windows. If I tell it to format in FAT, it says it's partitioning, but stops just before halfway through, with the error "Operation Failed, with the error POSIX reports: The operation could not be completed. Input/Output Error."
Is there any way around this?

William Boyd, Jr. wrote:
This may not help, but use the Partition tab in Disk Utility to set one partition, then click on the "Options" tab and choose and MBR boot record. Then try to format the partition as FAT32.
Thank you for this suggestion William, I tried it this afternoon, and it didn't work. It gave exactly the same error unfortunately. Thanks anyway! If you have any other suggestions, I'm more than willing to try them! I've tried doing it on my friend's MacBook both ways as well, and it gave exactly the same problem.

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Disk Utility 13 problem with USB drives

There appears to be a problem with Disk Utility 13 (part of OS X 10.9). At least, so far as I can tell, everything traces back to this app, or possibly OS X 10.9 itself.
I recently upgraded my MacBook Air to OS X 10.9 (reformatted hard drive, installed system from scratch, updated with all the latest Apple updates). I pre-checked all my third party software to make sure it was 10.9 compatible before installing it after the system cleanup, so everything I’m running supposedly has been approved as safe for 10.9. But I’m seeing a problem formatting USB drives that I do not encounter when running under 10.8.
I have a Seagate STAA500101 (“FreeAgent GoFlex”) drive connected via Seagate’s USB3 adapter that I’ve used for some time as a Time Machine backup. Post-overhaul, I decided to erase the backup and start fresh. When I attempt to format it (single GUID partition) with Disk Utility, I see the following messages go by:
Formatting disk1s2 as Mac OS Extended (Journaled) with name Untitled 1
Could not mount disk1s2 with name (null) after erase
Then there’s a pause, and the format appears to conclude fine. But if I run a “Verify Disk” immediately, I get this:
Verifying partition map for “Seagate FreeAgent GoFlex Media”
Checking prerequisites
Checking the partition list
Checking for an EFI system partition
Checking the EFI system partition’s size
Checking the EFI system partition’s file system
Checking all HFS data partition loader spaces
Volume on disk1s2 has 0 bytes of trailing loader space and it needs 134217728 bytes
Problems were found with the partition map which might prevent booting
Error: Partition map needs repair because a data partition needs loader space.
As the drive has just been formatted, that seemed odd. I took it over to another Mac still running 10.8.5 and formatted it there — it worked just fine. Verified just fine. Took the drive back to my MacBook Air and tried to verify the disk — same failure.
I wanted to rule out bad media, so I took a Lexar 16GB USB flash drive and tried to format it with Disk Utility 13 — got the same problem.
The only success I’ve had formatting USB drives under 10.9 is to boot up into OS X Recovery. Disk Utility there formatted my Seagate drive without an error. But once I booted back into normal 10.9 operating mode, the drive once again fails to verify; it makes me leery about using it as a Time Machine backup.
I suppose it’s possible there could be some background component like Sophos causing problems when formatting drives, but if I format a drive via OS X Recovery or another Mac under 10.8, that wouldn’t explain why the drives fail to verify.
Anyone got any other observations on this issue?

Problem resolved. I'm posting this note for anyone else who might run into this situation and come across this discussion.
It actually did turn out to be Sophos -- Cloud, that is. I'd been using Sophos' free Mac antivirus software on a variety of systems but forgot that I was now testing out Sophos Cloud on my own MacBook, which is their new endpoint solution, and supposed to be compatible with OS X 10.9 (although the Mac version is listed as "beta") Sophos Cloud includes a new feature called Device Control which allows you to create a company-wide policy to control access to hardware such as USB drives, optical drives, etc. But apparently it's still pretty buggy. I had my Device Control configured with the default setting of "monitor but do not block" but it was most definitely gumming up the system. With Sophos Cloud installed, here's what happens if I try to run "Verify Disk" on any attached drive. Note on the left side how "disk2s2" shows as a sub-volume for each hard drive.
So if I uninstall Sophos Cloud, reboot and rescan, here's what I get:
Works fine. Note that the "disk2s2" subvolumes are also gone. This is the way Disk Utility also appears on a 10.8 or 10.9 system, even if you have the standard free Sophos for Mac software installed. It's only Sophos Cloud that's not playing nice. It also appears to have stopped me from being able to play DVDs from an attached Apple USB SuperDrive -- that problem was likewise solved by removing Sophos Cloud.

Disk utility restore problem: cannot drag internal hdd to destination field

I'm currently trying to restore a time machine backup after my boot ssd recently failed, but am having trouble restoring the backup to my secondary internal drive in the optical bay. My set up isthe following:
Failed ssd in primary hdd bay of MacBook Pro (mid 2010)
1tb secondary hdd in optical drive bay with time machine backup of failed ssd.
2tb external drive
The following is what I have done so far...
1. Booted into the secondary internal drive and restored the time machine backup onto the external USB drive.
2. Booted from the restored backup on the USB drive (this now looks like my old computer again but is very slow as its USB 2.0)
3. Partitioned the secondary internal drive in the optical bay.
4. Now I want to copy the restored volume on my USB drive to the secondary internal drive in the optical bay.
When I open disk utility's restore function I can put my original volum in the source field, however, it will not let me put either partition of my internal drive in the destination field. It has no problem putting other partitions from the USB drive in the destination field - just will not allow anything from the internal drive. Why is this?
I'm thinking it could possibly be because it is in the optical drive bay and apple has prevented copying full volumes into this bay, but then again surely this would be needed when burning DVDs at some stage. Any ideas? Many thanks in advance for any help.

I managed to complete the restore and you may have been right - I booted from the internal hdd then restored the time machine backup stored on the usb drive to a different partition on the internal hd. Seemed to work fine now running of the hd in the optical drive bay but has still crashed a couple of times which is pretty odd. Perhaps the failed ssd in the main drive bay is still causing a bit of a nuisance (it registers for the first 3 minutes after booting up then disappears). Also didnt notice the responsiveness too much when upgrading from hd to ssd, but going the other way back to hd - can definitely now tell the difference. Painfully slow at times! I need to get that ssd replaced I think. Anyway thanks for your advice!

Disk Utility sees problem invisible to Disk Warrior?

Hi all,
In brief: Disk Utility seems to think I've got a big problem, Disk Warrior seems to be unable to fix it.
More detail: I ran verify disk from Disk Utility and was told I needed to repair my startup volume. So I ran Disk Utility's repair disk function from the install CD and it was unable to repair the disk. It was also unable to repair permissions.
So I reached for trusty Disk Warrior and ran that. It rebuilt the directory, reporting various changes, eventually ending with zero errors. That should have fixed it, right?
But then I re-ran Disk Utilty and was told, again, that the disk needed to be repaired.
Here's what happened when I ran DU's repair function from the install CD:
- I selected only the volume containing Mac OS X for repair and Disk Utility reported there's an "invalid leaf record count (it should be 3 instead of 525) and also that '1 HFS volume repaired' but '1 HFS volume could not be repaired'. (I'd selected only my startup volume).
- The verify disk function reports the same
- The repair disk permissions function cannot complete its task. Its error message reads: "Disk Utility internal error: disk utility has lost its connection with the disk management tool and cannot continue. Please quit and relaunch disk utility."
So, I ran Disk Warrior AGAIN (2nd time) and sure enough, it reports that it successfully rebuilt the directory but that the rebuilt version has no changes from the original version (meaning it's ok, right?).
Needless to say, if my startup disk DOES need repair, I want to do something about it. But does it need repair? And if Disk Warrior can't fix it, what can? Could it be that Disk Utility is seeing a problem that's invisible to Disk Warrior?
By the way, I ran DW's manual diagnostic and it said the drive itself was operating normally.
Very grateful if any of you can give me some insight into this.
Jason
Dual G5 2.5Ghz 2GB RAM, Powerbook G4 1.33Ghz, iPod 60GB Mac OS X (10.4.8) 500GB internal HDD

Hi Allan,
Sure thing. Here's the business.
Disk Warrior (v3.0.3)
DW reports that it's successfully rebuilt a new directory each time I run it. I've run it three times now. The first time, there were differences between the original directory and the rebuilt version and it displayed a message coloured red describing this. On the subsequent two occasions, it has displayed a message coloured green and said there are "no changes to the number or contents of the files and folders" in the rebuilt directory.
DW's manual diagnostic reports that the drive itself is "operating normally."
DU
Running DU internally (from the volume that also contains 10.4.9), it can only 'verify', of course. The volume's name is 'G5 hard drive'. The full message is:
Verifying volume “G5 hard drive”
Checking HFS Plus volume.
Checking Extents Overflow file.
Checking Catalog file.
Checking multi-linked files.
Checking Catalog hierarchy.
Checking Extended Attributes file.
Incorrect number of Extended Attributes
Checking volume bitmap.
Checking volume information.
d.",1)
G5 hard drive
Error: The underlying task reported failure on exit
1 HFS volume checked
Volume needs repair
Running DU (repair disk) from the install CD (for Powermac G5, OS X 10.3.5) produces the following report:
Repairing disk for "G5 hard drive"
Checking HFS plus volume
Checking extents overflow file
Checking catalog file
Checking multi-linked files
Checking catalog hierachy
Checking extent attributes file
Invalid leaf record count
(It should be 3 instead of 422)
Repairing volume
The volume G5 hard drive was repaired successfully
Repair attempted on 2 volumes
1 HFS volume repaired
1 HFS volume could not be repaired
So let's say that DW is doing it all right, and the copy of DU on the install CD (10.3.5) is producing an inaccurate result because it doesn't match up with Tiger, I can understand that. But why would the same problem come up with DU run internally from (in the course of the last 24 hours) both 10.4.8 and 10.4.9 (because the problem survived my upgrade)?
On the other hand, Allan, possibly DW isn't the right tool for the job. In that case, do you know what is?
Thanks,
Jason
Dual G5 2.5Ghz 2GB RAM, Powerbook G4 1.33Ghz, iPod 60GB Mac OS X (10.4.9) 500GB internal HDD

Disk Utility repair problem

I am running Yosemite on an mid-2011 iMac. I ran the Disk Utility and got this message after running Verify:
<< 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 followed the instructions, but when the Utilities window appeared, I was unable to start the Disk Utility from the menu. There was a dialog saying that OS X had not been successfully installed.
What could be causing this problem?

The startup drive may be failing, or there is some other internal hardware fault.
Back up all data on the drive immediately if you don't already have a current backup. There are ways to back up a computer that isn't fully functional—ask if you need guidance.
Make a "Genius" appointment at an Apple Store, or go to another authorized service provider.
If privacy is a concern, erase the data partition(s) with the option to write zeros* (do this only if you have at least two complete, independent backups, and you know how to restore to an empty drive from any of them.) Don’t erase the recovery partition, if present.
Keeping your confidential data secure during hardware repair
Apple also recommends that you deauthorize a device in the iTunes Store before having it serviced.
*An SSD doesn't need to be zeroed.

Mac HD displays as "media" in disk utility, Other problems.

Hey all,
I've got a couple problems here.
First being my hard drive is failing, I am aware of that. Not much I expect from you guys for that.
Second, my backup files have been corrupted and unusable.
Third, I can not get to single user mode.
Fourth, permissions on startup disk are most likely corrupt, stalling the system.
Fifth, Disk Utility identifies the startup disk as "media" using install CD.
So here's the deal. It started as: I suspect I had corrupted files in a folder that I can neither find nor rectify.
Upon doing backups with time machine, The program & computer would freeze for hours on end (most likely hung up on this/these corrupted files), no new backups resulted, and for some reason the original backup from a year ago disappeared. This could have been a problem from a failing harddrive, I'm not sure.
Which leaves me with no backup to start over from. (And a total loss of years of photos and documents) :-(
I can not load osx from the hard drive, it just gives me the hopeless folder with a question mark. I have tried Cmd-S, to no avail. No safe mode and holding Cmd on startup gives me nothing.
I have done the Cmd-Option-P-R with success but no helpful fixes.
So, I can sometimes, with luck, restart the computer (no buttons pressed) and I will get to the blue screen before the log in window (computer set up for multiple users, but only because of migration's automatic setup on a new computer)
But I get the spinny gear and then a sort of reset back to the blue screens (light blue, darker blue, spinny gear, reset, repeat).
I assume this has to do with a screw up in permissions or privileges amongst users and is confusing itself.
I suspect that there was an issue with backing up files in relation to this.
What if anything, can I do to reset the permissions/privileges without being able to get past the log in screen?
I can get to the Disk Utility on the Mac OS install disk but it only identifies the startup disk as "media." I understand that it's most likely because of a failing hard drive.... But is there any way to access the hard drive before the CD install disk kicks in, or regular booting starts, in the off chance the hard drive is functioning?
Also, is the terminal on the install disk software able to run fsck?
Would it be possible to clone the hard drive info (if the hard drive still works) and pop it in the machine without recourse?
Any help is appreciated
Thanks

I have exactly the same problem.
Tried all the usual things, like safe boot, and PRAM resets.
Because the drive shows as a zero byte device you can't repair or reformat it.
I did managed to get it to correctly appear and run following a very cold reboot, but it soon vanished when running disk repair.
I fear that either my HDD or the controller is kaput? Any thoughts?

Will Disk Utility fix problems with printer connection?

helping a friend with stripes in printing. iMac does see her multifunction printer, but the results have stripes in them when printed from computer. If she copies or scans a sheet and prints it, there are no stripes in the print.
We used to fix these problems by rebuilding the desktop... but, that is not available since we went to OSX...
So I thought I would use Verify Permissions in Disk Utility...
Any ideas?

Hello, Verify Permissions will do nothing, but possibly Disk Repair followed by Permission Repair, but...
It sounds more like a Hardware problem, but to test that theory 90% anyway, in the Print Dialog choose Preview... does it show stripes in the Preview?

Disk utility/repair problem - can't verify disk

i am trying to run disk utility to clean up my hard drive. i was able to verify and repair permissions without a problem. i have run into 2 problems with disk repair:
1 - i can't complete the verify disk portion. i get this error message, "Error: The underlying task reported failure on exit." the next line in the box reads, "1 HFS volume checked - Volume needs repair." this leads to the next problem ...
2 - the repair disk button is nonoperable (doesn't light up) so there is nothing to push for the repair.
i could use any help you can offer. screen shots are available upon request.
thanks,
j

Hi Dr,g
The startup drive can only be repaired from another drive. You cannot repair the boot drive from your HD (which is your boot drive). You have to boot from the install disk.
To do this: Insert the Install Disk 1 into the drive and then select Restart; when you hear the chime hold down C key until the apple logo appears.
This will take you to the installation software, but you do not want to install.
Select your language, then go up to the top menu bar to Utilities and navigate to the Disk Utilities application.
Select the start up drive, then follow the instructions in the First Aid pane where you can click on Repair Disk.
If it finds errors, repeat the process until it reports no errors.
After these repairs, quit the application, and restart normally.
Once restarted normally run Repair Permissions. from the Disk Utility application found on your hard drive in Application/Utilities.
regards roam

Help! Phantom Drive in disk Utility, causes problems

Last week I had an external firewire drive fail. I was away and just discovered it today. When I look in Disk Utility, I see a device still listed for the drive even though it won't mount. I unplugged the external drive and restarted the computer and it is still there.
This causes two problems:
1. it takes forever to reboot the computer, as it spends 10-15 minutes trying to establish communications with a hardware device that isn't there.
2. I cannot log out or shut down. I have to cut the power to the computer to restart it.
How can I remove the dead device from the list of devices OSX is looking for? I imagine my startup and shutdown problems are related to some device entry somewhere. Before I start looking into replacing the drive and recovering the data from the dead unit, I'd like to resolve the issue with the OS.
Any idea how to get rid of the traces of the old drive that are still there?
DC

While in Disk Utility and the HD disconnected, CMD or OPT click and drag that icon out of DU's window. It should go poof, just like removing stuff from the Dock.

Airport Disk Utility - Permission Problems

I have an Airport Extreme network set up - ADSL into Airport Extreme, 2 Airport Express feeding music to Bose systems, LaCie hard drive connected to Airport Extreme via USB.
Until recently I have been connected to the remote hard drive automatically each time I log in, I appears as an option under the Airport Disk Utility Icon.
When I now try to connect the original password assigned to the hard drive is not recognised.
Can I reset this?

You've posted your question in the Using iTunes for Mac forum. I'm not clear how it's related. Perhaps you'd have better luck posting in the Airport forum.
http://discussions.apple.com/category.jspa?categoryID=140

Disk Utility finds problems every time

I have a new MacBookPro 13 inch 2011 (3 months old), and -as many of you have suggested many times- every now and then I use the disk utility to analyze my HD; but every time I run it, it tells me that my files are corrupted (orphan blocks) and that I have to use the Lion Recovery tool to correct the situation. Fortunately it does, but lets me wondering: am I doing something wrong with my computer?? I do a lot of multitasking, but I don't think I misuse it to the point of breaking it.
Any suggestions???
Thanks in advance...
[Sorry for my English]

If you repair the drive yet the problem continues to recur, then something is not right. Your drive may be defective. I would take the computer in for service.

Disk Utility Found Problems

Hi, I just ran Disk Utility on my Pismo and it displayed the following error "MountCheck Found Serious Errors" and when I tried to repair the disk, it said it could not be repaired. Could anyone please tell what is 'MountCheck" and what would the problems be? Thank you.

It usually indicates hard drive directory file corruption. DiskWarrior can probably fix your problem. DiskWarrior by Alsoft http://www.alsoft.com/DiskWarrior/index.html
 Cheers, Tom

Disk Utility Permissions Problem

When I use Disk Utility to verify my startup disk I get the following message:
Disk Utility Internal Error
Disk Utility has lost its connectionto the Disk Management Tool and cannot continue.
Please Quit & Relaunch Disk Utility.
It makes no difference no matter how many times I try it always fails. I have also used Disk Utility from the CD and I get the same message.
Any suggestions on how to overcome this problem?
Thanks
Power PC G4 Mac OS X (10.3.9) 1.25 GB RAM

Stanley,
The error you're getting is consistent with a problem after installing iTunes 6.0.2. It happens on some, but not all, Panther systems running 10.3.9. It seems like it might depend on what version of iTunes was originally installed. There's a work-around that involves delete the the receipt packages for earlier versions of iTunes.
The work-around is this:
1. Drag iTunes to the desktop.
2. Repair permissions.
3. Go to the /Library/Receipts/ folder (that's the one in the top level of you hard drive, not in your Home folder) and trash all iTunes "pkg" files except for iTunesX.pkg and the iTunesPhoneDriver.pkg. Empty the trash.
4. Move iTunes back to the Application folder.
Once you've done these steps, you shouldn't have a problem repairing permissions again.
charlie

Disk Utility Says Problem! Help?

I checked my disk utility this morning and it says there is a problem, and when i try repair it, it doesn't work.
Checking HFS Plus volume.
Checking Extents Overflow file.
Checking Catalog file.
Incorrect size for file host.frm
(It should be 0 instead of 9148)
9148
Checking multi-linked files.
Checking Catalog hierarchy.
Checking Extended Attributes file.
Checking volume bitmap.
Checking volume bitmap.
",0)
The volume Daniel needs to be repaired.
Error: The underlying task reported failure on exit
1 HFS volume checked
Volume needs repair
Is this a big problem?

Is this a big problem?
Well, yes and no. It might be a problem, so you should definitively backup your data.
Then, boot from Installation disk that came with your computer and once you get to the installer, choose from Menu bar: Utilities>Disk Utility and try to repair your disk. If this doesn't help, you should try to erase your drive and reinstall the system.
If you have AppleCare, you might also consider downloading TechTools Pro from Apple for free. It is said to be more powerful than Disk Utility.
If the problem reappears, call Apple.

Internal Hard Drive Disk Utility Repair Problem

Hello all! I'm really hoping someone can help me out because I'm in a bit of a panic right now about all of this.
For starters, I have a Mid-2007 20" Intel based iMac.
The other day, I turned on my computer and got a flashing question mark and the computer would not boot. Luckily, I have an external hard drive, so I went through the process of using the Install Discs to use the Hard Drive to start up my computer. Everything worked out and once the computer turned on, I was able to access my Hard Drive and had full access to my files. I powered down my computer as I had to run out the door for school and was planning on backing all of my files up on my external hard drive tonight.
Unfortunately, when I turned on my computer, my internal hard drive had disappeared. I can only start the computer with my external drive plugged in.
I accessed the Disk Utility, and it was the first place I was able to locate my Hard Drive. On the left hand side, underneath the external drive, it simply says "Media". I cannot click on ANY of the options under First Aid and the only thing it seems I can do is Erase the drive.
I would REALLY like to avoid this option, as there are nearly 5 years worth of documents on this computer.
My S.M.A.R.T. Status says Not Supported, and it's saying that the Total Capacity is 0 Bytes.
I suppose I should also mention that with the disc I used I am now running OS X 10.4.11, but previously, I was running 10.5. I can't remember the last decimal place. I don't know why there was a difference, as I used the same disk...
I have NO IDEA where to go from this point besides taking it somewhere to see if my files can be recovered.
Can anyone help me out here?
If you need any more details about my computer/the actions I took, just let me know.
Thanks so much!!

If you cannot access the internal HD then it may have crashed, I am getting you may not have been backing up either so if it has crashed and you don't have a backup then your data is probably gone. If you can get the internal HD to show up again before you do ANYTHING else back it up using Time Machine (assuming you use 10.5.x or above) or create a clone on an external HD using either SuperDuper or Carbon Copy Cloner.
My recommendation at this point is to take the machine into and an Apple Store or AASP to have it looked at.

Disk Utility USB problems

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