Disk utility: verify selection- which to choose

When you open disk utility, you see the size/type of HD you have, then underneath usually "Macintosh HD." Assuming this is all you have and you haven't split your disk up, does it matter which you choose in order to repair and verify? Does each location produce different results?

Hi, powerbook1701.
Given the situation you described:
1. One hard drive in or attached the computer.
2. The hard drive has with only one partition/volume, i.e. you see something similar to the following in the left column of Disk Utility:<pre>233.8 GB Maxtor 7L250S0
Macintosh HD</pre>Then you can select either the device or the Macintosh HD volume.
The first line — 233.8 GB Maxtor 7L250S0 — is the device, i.e. the hard drive. The second line, Macintosh HD listed below and indented from the first line, is a volume on that device.
Note that to run Repair Disk on your normal startup disk, i.e. Macintosh HD, you need to startup from your Tiger Install Disk (or a bootable duplicate of Macintosh HD) and run Disk Utility from there.
Verify or Repair Permissions only apply to volumes on which Mac OS X is installed. Neither is an available choice for data-only volumes or devices.
When in doubt, select the volume you want to verify or repair.
Note that if you have a drive with multiple partitions, e.g.<pre>233.8 GB Maxtor 7L250S0
Data Volume 1
Data Volume 2
Data Volume 3</pre>select the device, and then select either Repair Disk or Verify Disk, all volumes on that device will be repaired or verified in sequence. Again, none of the volumes on that device should be your current startup disk, i.e. the disk from which you started up your Mac.
You can even select multiple devices by holding the Command Key while making selections. In such a case all volumes on the selected devices will be verified or repaired.
For example, if I started up from the Tiger Install DVD, launched Disk Utility, selected the two devices shown here:<pre>233.8 GB Maxtor 7L250S0
Macintosh HD
233.8 GB Maxtor 7L250S0
Data Volume 1
Data Volume 2
Data Volume 3</pre>and then clicked Repair Disk, all volumes on the two drives would be repaired.
Good luck!
Dr. Smoke
Author: Troubleshooting Mac® OS X

Similar Messages

Disk utility verify drive error

When I run disk utility I receive the following error. In reading previous posts I discoverd that I needed to use the OSX install disk. So I get it showing in the utilities window on the left side and attempt to get disk utility running by following this path on the disk -- Applications > Utilities > Disk Utility. Double clicking disk utility has no result.
Any suggestions would be appreciated.
The error when running verify disk from disk utility on the iMac:
Verifying volume “Macintosh HD”
Checking HFS Plus volume.
Checking Extents Overflow file.
Checking Catalog file.
Invalid node structure
The volume Macintosh HD needs to be repaired.
Error: The underlying task reported failure on exit
1 HFS volume checked
Volume needs repair

As Doug has said, & indeed you have tried....you need to run diskutility from the OS install disk. Or more accurately, you need to run diskutility when booted from the install disk.
The following ( from diskutility help) should explain it clearly.
Start up your computer using another disk.
To use the Install Mac OS X disc, insert the disc and restart your computer holding down the Option key, then select the Install Mac OS X disc and click the arrow.
Open Disk Utility.
If you're using the Mac OS X Install disk, follow the onscreen instructions until the menu bar appears with the Utilities menu in it., and then choose Utilities > Open Disk Utility.
Select the startup disk in the list of disks and volumes, then click First Aid.
Check the S.M.A.R.T. Status at the bottom of the window. If you can't see it, be sure you selected the hard disk your volume is on, and not the volume itself.
If the S.M.A.R.T. Status is "About to Fail," back up your files on the disk as soon as possible and replace the disk.
If the S.M.A.R.T. Status is "Verified" or "Not supported," click Repair Disk to repair the disk.
If Disk Utility tells you to look for links to corrupt files in the DamagedFiles directory, two or more files occupy the same space on your hard disk and at least one of them is likely to be corrupt. Examine each affected file in the DamagedFiles folder, which at the top-level of the affected disk. If you can replace it or recreate the file, delete it. If it contains necessary information, open it and examine its data to make sure it has not been corrupted.
If Disk Utility reports "The underlying task reported failure," Disk Utility encountered a problem it could not repair. Back up as much of your data as possible, reformat your disk, reinstall Mac OS X, and restore your backed up data.

Question on Disk Utility Verify

I have a two-week old 27" iMac, 1 TB SSD, 32 GB RAM, 1 4 GB RAID-0 external G-Drive (external Max OS drive), 2 4 GB external G-Drives (1 used as partitioned backup (1 TB for Boot Camp, 3 TB for Time Machine), 1 planned for Windows external drive). I also bought and installed the Paragon NTFS and CampTune applications.
Have setup Boot Camp on the internal 1 TB SSD (127 GB partition) and finally got things to work, but, I am continually having issues with WIndows crashing (either in the middle of use, or during startup or shutdown with the KERNEL_SECURITY_CHECK_FAILURE. I have been Googling, and this seems associated with the use of external drives?
The last time I got this, I was unable to boot back into Mac partition, and ended up having to hold down the Option Key at boot, and select the right partition to boot from, I then started verifying all my drives and paritions with Disk Utility, and was finding and repairing various issues (everything seemed to repair fine) and also the Mac HD partition seemed to have Permissions issues, which seemed to repair fine.
But, in the process of doing this, am noticing an issue, or at least a difference between the Mac HD and and the External Mac-formatted Verify logs. The External drive ALWAYS tells me the drive is good, while the Mac HD has done that only once, and usually seems just to stop with "Checking Volume Information" as the last entry. Not sure this is an issue, or not, but was looking for ANY cause for the continual Windows issue.
Disk Utility Log Dumps are below, first the internal Mac HD (two partitions, Mac and Boot Camp, checking only the Mac partition), second the External G-Drive, formatted Mac RAID HD. Both times, I am selecting the drive partition below the actual physical HW.
The Boot Camp partition checks good.
Thanks.
2014-06-15 01:54:28 -0600:
2014-06-15 02:16:43 -0600: Verifying volume “Macintosh HD”
2014-06-15 02:16:43 -0600: Starting verification tool:
2014-06-15 02:16:43 -0600: Checking file system
2014-06-15 02:16:44 -0600: Performing live verification.
2014-06-15 02:16:44 -0600: Checking Journaled HFS Plus volume.
2014-06-15 02:16:44 -0600: Checking extents overflow file.
2014-06-15 02:16:50 -0600: Checking multi-linked files.
2014-06-15 02:16:51 -0600: Checking catalog hierarchy.
2014-06-15 02:16:59 -0600: Checking extended attributes file.
2014-06-15 02:17:01 -0600: Checking volume information.
2014-06-15 02:17:01 -0600: Repair tool completed:
2014-06-15 02:17:01 -0600:
2014-06-15 02:18:21 -0600: Verifying volume “G-RAID with Thunderbolt”
2014-06-15 02:18:21 -0600: Starting verification tool:
2014-06-15 02:18:21 -0600: Checking file system
2014-06-15 02:18:21 -0600: Checking Journaled HFS Plus volume.
2014-06-15 02:18:21 -0600: Checking extents overflow file.
2014-06-15 02:18:21 -0600: Checking catalog file.
2014-06-15 02:18:23 -0600: Checking multi-linked files.
2014-06-15 02:18:23 -0600: Checking catalog hierarchy.
2014-06-15 02:18:23 -0600: Checking extended attributes file.
2014-06-15 02:18:25 -0600: Checking volume bitmap.
2014-06-15 02:18:25 -0600: Checking volume information.
2014-06-15 02:18:25 -0600: The volume External_1 appears to be OK.
2014-06-15 02:18:26 -0600: Repair tool completed:
2014-06-15 02:18:26 -0600:
2014-06-15 02:28:20 -0600: Verifying volume “BOOTCAMP”
2014-06-15 02:28:20 -0600: Starting verification tool:
2014-06-15 02:28:20 -0600: Checking file system
2014-06-15 02:28:20 -0600: Checking Volume /dev/disk1s4...
2014-06-15 02:28:20 -0600: Type of the filesystem is NTFS.
2014-06-15 02:28:20 -0600: Volume label is: BOOTCAMP.
2014-06-15 02:28:21 -0600: Verifying 9820 file(s) with EAs...
2014-06-15 02:28:28 -0600: $UpCase file is formatted for use in Windows 7/8/8.1.
2014-06-15 02:28:28 -0600:      51.90 GB in 87120 files.
2014-06-15 02:28:28 -0600:      65860 KB in 22860 directories.
2014-06-15 02:28:28 -0600:          0 KB in bad blocks in 0 fragments.
2014-06-15 02:28:28 -0600:     231124 KB in use by the system.
2014-06-15 02:28:28 -0600:         64 MB occupied by the log/journal file.
2014-06-15 02:28:28 -0600:          4 KB in each allocation unit.
2014-06-15 02:28:28 -0600:   31175679 total allocation units on volume (118.93 GB).
2014-06-15 02:28:28 -0600:   17488312 allocation units available on volume (66.71 GB).
2014-06-15 02:28:28 -0600: No repairs were necessary for volume /dev/disk1s4.
2014-06-15 02:28:28 -0600: Repair tool completed:
2014-06-15 02:28:28 -0600:

Do a backup. Boot to the Recovery Volume (command - R on a restart or hold down the option key during a restart and select Recovery Volume). Run Disk Utility Verify/Repair and Repair Permissions until you get no errors. See if the internal drive checks good.
OS X Recovery
OS X Recovery (2)

Disk Utility - Verify button greyed out.

[IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v43/pupspals/DiskUtility-noVerifyDisk.jpg[/IMG]
I'm running 10.4.9 & have everything updated except for the recent Pro App. I wanted to verify my disk before installing this when I noticed that the button was greyed out! I click on my hard drive, I click on my disk & it's still greyed out!
Any ideas?
Thanks!

I never use the Verify Disk feature from my boot volume which can report a problem that doesn't exist when later running Repair Disk via Disk Utility when booted from your install disc.
If a problem is reported when selecting Verify Disk via Disk Utility from your boot volume, you will need to do the repair when booted from your Tiger install disc anyway so best all around to go ahead and do this from the outset, select your language and at the Installer menu bar, navigate to Disk Utility. Select your boot volume in the drives and volumes window which is usually Macintosh HD and under the First Aid tab, select Repair Disk.
Selecting Repair Disk does a Verify first anyway and if a problem is discovered attempts to make the repair so running Verify Disk first or instead of Repair Disk only each time does not gain anything.

Disk utility verify

Help!!!
I finally, was able to start my iMac, using safe mode, but it prompt me to normal login, I did not opened only app, and went directly to disk utility...
I choose to verify the disk, but, after some time, it froze, and I can't do nothing (but wait)
So, my questions are:
Does anyone know how long does it takes for disk utility to verify my HD (320 GB)?
And, is it normal that it froze my iMac, to the point is completely unresponsive? How long should I wait in this state, before know something is wrong?
Thanks!

Tony:
I gave up, and decided to erase the disk. But, new issues have come...
I boot from command R, disk utility, erase disk...
First problem, is did not let me select Macintosh HD, appear in light gray color, so I went for the HD with the seria number name...
It has been almost 50 minutes, and all it say is: dismounting disk, so, my question is: is this normal? Should I panic?
I got to a pint were I borrowed a MacBook, so my business can continue working, so, I don't mind wait, but, how much is real wait, and when I will need to do another drastic move.
Thanks!
Federico

Disk Utility Verify permissions question

I have always done, since 10.x, repair permissions via disk utility by opening disk utility app, selecting the top most icon:
"drive manufacturer and size" name
and then underneath: "Macintosh HD"
and then under that "my disc drive" name
I have always just selected the top most and hit repair.
Should I have been actually selecting "Macintosh HD" instead of the top one?

Should I have been actually selecting "Macintosh HD" instead of the top one?
In your case, it doesn't matter. The distinction is only relevant for drives which have two or more partitions.
(57605)

Disk Utility - Verify Disk Permissions / Repair

I run Disk Utility > Verify Disk Permissions with this rsult:
Verify permissions for “Macintosh HD”
Permissions differ on "usr/share/derby", should be drwxr-xr-x , they are lrwxr-xr-x .
The following repair was successful.
A few minutes later I run Verify Disk Permissions again with the SAME result:
Verify permissions for “Macintosh HD”
Permissions differ on "usr/share/derby", should be drwxr-xr-x , they are lrwxr-xr-x .
What does it mean and how can I stop this error?
Thanks!

There is nothing in that message that requires repairing. That is why it keeps showing up.
The permission database has to be updated every time the system is updated. If they miss a change that they have made in the system, it will get flagged as you see, but doesn't mean anything is wrong.
That KnowledgeBase article also must be updated to reflect the things they missed.
All that message is saying is that the directory derby is now replaced with a link to another directory (the l vs the d). However, mine doesn't have a link. Did you install anything that might have updated derby?
If you open Terminal and enter this code, can you post the line that has derby on it?ls -al /usr/share/
I'm repairing permissions now to see what pops up for me, but that will take a little while.
Edit: I looked into the Derby directory and Derby is a Relational Database Management System used by Apache. So, did you install something that modified Apache, PHP, mySQL or something like that? It might have altered the link.
Message was edited by: Barney-15E

When I run disk utility, verify permissions I get "WARNING SUID file system/Library/Coreservices/Remotemanagement/ARDAgent.app/Contents/MacOS/ARDAge nt has been modified

When I run disk utility, verify permissions I get "WARNING SUID file system/Library/Coreservices/Remotemanagement/ARDAgent.app/Contents/MacOS/ARDAge nt has been modified

Please read Disk Utility's Repair Disk Permissions messages that you can safely ignore.
Roger

Disk utility verify comes back with a errors.

I am running Mac OS X 10.5.8.
When I run the disk utility verify it comes back with a message saying that it cannot repair the errors found on the drive. I also get msgs that the file counts and directory counts are not what they are supposed to be.
What do you recommend I do? Are these errors serious or should I ignore them. I only noticed these errors yesterday after my computer would not boot. I had to actually take out the power cord from the back of the computer and hold the power buttom down for 20 secs and then reattach the power cord. Only then did it boot again.
I am thinking about doing a complete reinstall from scratch however, there may be a chance that some other disk utility out there can fix my problems....any ideas?
Thanks in advance for your help.

Since your system is having trouble booting, you should probably fix those errors.
When Disk Utility can't repair a problem, you have some choices. Many people buy Disk Warrior or TechTool Pro, with Disk Warrior the preferred program, to fix those sort of errors, assuming they aren't caused by failing hardware. Those sound like 'soft' errors that Disk Warrior can repair (see their web site).
If you want to check your hard drive hardware, you can run the Apple hardware test (run the extended test), and SMART Utility is another program that will give you insights into the health of the hard drive.
If you have a good backup, another option is to boot to an OS X DVD (or a bootable backup), use Disk Utility to erase the hard drive and write zero's to it, then restore your backup. If you go this route, make sure you have a good backup because you'll be erasing, permanently, everything on your hard drive.

Disk Utility verify of ISO burn fails, but md5 sum matches

Frequently when I burn a large DVD iso to a DVD, via the "Burn" task in OS X Disk Utility, the process results in a failure at the end of the verify process. However, if I check the md5 sum of the DVD against the published md5 sum for the ISO, the checksum matches. From this I assume that the DVD must have written correctly. Why does DiskUtility report that the verify failed?
System: IMac 27-inch, Mid 2011
OS X 10.9.5 (13F34)
Disk Utility: Version 13 (517)
Example: Here's the md5 sum of the downloaded ISO, which matches the published me5 sum for the ISO on the Centos website, and of the written DVD.
     # get md5 of downloaded ISO:
$ md5 CentOS-6.5-x86_64-bin-DVD1.iso
MD5 (CentOS-6.5-x86_64-bin-DVD1.iso) = 83221db52687c7b857e65bfe60787838
     # Centos site reports: 83221db52687c7b857e65bfe60787838 CentOS-6.5-x86_64-bin-DVD1.iso
     # read DVD via dd and pipe to md5 to get md5 sum:
$ dd if=/dev/disk2 | md5
8726528+0 records in
8726528+0 records out
4467982336 bytes transferred in 63.966136 secs (69849183 bytes/sec)
83221db52687c7b857e65bfe60787838
DVD was written via DiskUtility:
     1. File | Open ->select ISO from downloads folder
     2. Select ISO in left panel of Disk Utility
     3. insert blank DVD
     4. click Burn icon (pops up Burn Disc in: SuperDrive. Ready to burn.)
     5. click Burn
Result:
     dialog with "writing track"... "verifying" "Unable to burn "Centos....iso." (Verifying the burned data failed.)

its not your drive the problem its the disk if you use singapore produce disk there is a way to find out what kind of disk is made by you could have a disk of poor quality made by Ricoh, singapore disk dual layer disk of of top quality.
apple needs to update the firmware KA19 to be compatible to the Ricoh disk.

EMac G4 fails Disk Utility Verify

My eMac has been "on the shelf" since November. I drowned my "new" (rebuilt) iMac's HD so have taken the e out for a rescue mission. It seemed exceptionally slow with a few other quirks so I did a Disk Utility on the Volume HD as well as the HD itself and got this:
Verifying volume “HD X10.4.11”
Checking HFS Plus volume.
Checking Extents Overflow file.
Checking Catalog file.
Checking multi-linked files.
Checking Catalog hierarchy.
Checking Extended Attributes file.
Checking volume bitmap.
Checking volume information.
Volume Header needs minor repair
d.",1)
HD X10.4.11
Error: The underlying task reported failure on exit
1 HFS volume checked
Volume needs repair
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
...........goldie

If you have the Install Disc handy...
"Try Disk Utility
1. Insert the Mac OS X Install disc, then restart the computer while holding the C key.
2. When your computer finishes starting up from the disc, choose Disk Utility from the Installer menu. (In Mac OS X 10.4 or later, you must select your language first.)
*Important: Do not click Continue in the first screen of the Installer. If you do, you must restart from the disc again to access Disk Utility.*
3. Click the First Aid tab.
4. Select your Mac OS X volume.
5. Click Repair Disk, (not Repair Permissions). Disk Utility checks and repairs the disk."
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=106214
Then try a Safe Boot, (holding Shift key down at bootup), run Disk Utility in Applications>Utilities, then highlight your drive, click on Repair Permissions, 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.)
If perchance you can't find your install Disc, at least try it from the Safe Boot part onward.
Other way...
Does it boot to Single User Mode, CMD+s keys at bootup, if so try...
/sbin/fsck -fy
Repeat until it shows no errors fixed.
(Space between fsck AND -fy important).
Resolve startup issues and perform disk maintenance with Disk Utility and fsck...
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=106214

Disk Utility "Verify Disk" Grayed Out

Disk Utility's "Verify Disk" button is always grayed out on my iMac 10.4.11.
It is not grayed out on my iBook 10.4.1.
Both machines have Disk Utility Version 10.5.6 (198.12).
Any ideas?

Could be many things, we should start with this...
"Try Disk Utility
1. Insert the Mac OS X Install disc that came with your computer, then restart the computer while holding the C key.
2. When your computer finishes starting up from the disc, choose Disk Utility from the Installer menu. (In Mac OS X 10.4 or later, you must select your language first.)
*Important: Do not click Continue in the first screen of the Installer. If you do, you must restart from the disc again to access Disk Utility.*
3. Click the First Aid tab.
4. Click the disclosure triangle to the left of the hard drive icon to display the names of your hard disk volumes and partitions.
5. Select your Mac OS X volume.
6. Click Repair. Disk Utility checks and repairs the disk."
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=106214
Then Safe Boot from the HD, (holding Shift key down at bootup), run Disk Utility in Applications>Utilities, then highlight your drive, click on Repair Permissions, reboot.
The usual reason why updates fail or mess things up, is if Permissions are not fixed before & after every update, with a reboot... you may get a partial update when the installer finds it doesn't have Permissions to change one obscure little part of the OS, leaving you with a mix of OS versions.
Some people get away without Repairing Permissions for years, some for only days.
If Permissions are wrong before applying an update, you could get mixed OS versions, if Directory is the slightest messed up, who knows!
If many Permission are repaired, or any Directory errors are found, you may need to re-apply some the latest/biggest updates.

Disk utility verify failure

I had system 10.4.11 and I was installing system 10.5 because my mac wasn't starting up anymore, the wheel keep on spinning under the apple logo.
Before installing the Os 10.5, i went to Disk Utility from Installation DVD to try to repair the startup disk, but it couldn't verify or repair it.
Since then, i can install the new system only by initialize and install everything, i can no longer just update the old system.
So, now i need to access my disk to backup my data.
I tried to startup the Macbook pro in firewire target Target disk mode to backup my data, and the firewire logo appears on my macbook but the disk doensn't appear on the linked mac. If i have system 10.5 installation dvd on, it will appear on linked mac properly.
The weird thing is that starting up in target mode without the dvd, a System 10.5 style firewire logo still appears, (with Leopard style battery indicator).
Is there any other way i can access to my disk?

You need to boot from the install DVD (or a clone of your internal) to run Repair Disk. Repair Disk will be grayed out, dimmed, because you can't repair from the same volume you are booted from.
EDIT: No, you do not yet need to use Disk Warrior or Tech Tool or do any reformatting. These steps might become necessary only if Repair Disk fails.
Unless you have very large video files, for example, there is no need to run any defragmenting utility. OS X does it all by itself on the fly.
Try Disk Utility
Start from your Mac OS X Install disc: Insert the installation disc, then restart the computer while holding the C key.
When your computer finishes starting up from the disc, choose Disk Utility from the Installer menu. (In Mac OS X 10.4 or later, you must select your language first.)
Important: Do not click Continue in the first screen of the Installer. If you do, you must restart from the disc again to access Disk Utility.
Click the First Aid tab.
Click the disclosure triangle to the left of the hard drive icon to display the names of your hard disk volumes and partitions.
Select your Mac OS X volume.
Click Repair. Disk Utility checks and repairs the disk.
If you don't have the install DVD, try a Safe Boot. Hold the Shift key down at startup and give it much more time to boot than usual. It's trying to repair the drive directory.
Message was edited by: WZZZ

Disk Utility Verify/Repair options

When I Verify my HD in Disk Utility I get this error.
Why does it say this? Should I Repair the disk? Will I lose data? Any help thanks!

You will need to repair the HD per the instructions, this is critcal. Prior to doing this backup your computer, that should be your #1 priority!! To repair the HD, restart the computer, when you hear the startup tone hold down the Option Key and select the Recovery Partition. Open Disk Utility, select your internal HD and run Repair Disk. If the disk has error run Repair Disk 2-3 times, if errors continue your have a damaged HD that needs to be replaced.

Disk Utility/verify and repair grayed out, using startup disk

I'm frustrated. I'm trying to repair my hard drive. I restarted from the OS X Mac Mini install CD (holding down the letter C when I heard the chime), opened Disk Utility from the Utilities folder, selected my hard drive image, but the "verify disk" and "repair disk" options are grayed out. I'm at a loss as to how to proceed. Thanks for any help.

"...opened Disk Utility from the Utilities folder,..."
If that's what you did then you didn't boot from the disk. You booted from your hard drive and that's why Repair Disk was grayed out. Try again. Insert the disk into the Mac restart and hold down the 'c' key and keep it down until you see the Apple logo and the spinning cog. You'll know you've booted to the installer disk when you need to select your language to proceed with OS installation. Select your language and then from the menu Utilities select Disk Utility.

Disk utility: verify selection- which to choose

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