Error after running Disk Utility, do I need to replace disk drive?

Question

Don't know much about MACS, switched from PC to MAC, will NEVER go back, I asked the person what they think and said " sounds like I have to replace my Disk Drive, I recently replace the Hard Drive, still new to MACS so don't know my way around yet, still trying to learn more, any suggestions mag subscriptions, books in plain english?
thanks in advance, for taking the time to respond.
Lately when I've ran Disk Utility I've been getting this message:
*Verifying volume "Macintosh HD"*
*Checking HFS Plus volume.*
*Checking Extents Overflow file.*
*Checking Catalog file.*
*Incorrect block count for file Database3_BROKEN-journal*
*(It should be 6 instead of 0)*
files.",0)
*Checking Catalog hierarchy.*
*Checking Extended Attributes file.*
*Checking volume bitmap.*
*Volume Bit Map needs minor repair*
*Volume Bit Map needs minor repair*
ormation.",0)
*Invalid volume free block count*
*(It should be 18925736 instead of 18925748)*
*The volume Macintosh HD needs to be repaired.*
*Error: The underlying task reported failure on exit*
*1 HFS volume checked*
*Volume needs repair*
What's the difference between buttons *" Verify Disk Permissions & Verify Disk "*?
After I run Verify Disk Permissions, the outcome is fine, but after I run Verify Disk, I get the error message above.
So once getting the error message, I'd click the *" repair disk permissions "*, I get "
*Repairing permissions for "Macintosh HD"*
*Determining correct file permissions.*
*Permissions repair complete*
*The privileges have been verified or repaired on the selected volume "*.
But soon after its been repaired, I click the " Verify Disk " again just to see if it'd give me the same error message, its the same every time.
So is it really repaired you think?

Answer 1

Hi, hellopinky. The error messages you're seeing don't necessarily indicate that you need to repair your hard drive. Your drive could be failing, and that might cause the reported problems, but there are other causes for those errrors besides a failing drive. If the S.M.A.R.T. status indicated in the First Aid tab of Disk Utility says "Verified", your drive is probably fine. If the S.M.A.R.T. status is "Failing", replace the drive immediately. That indicates a hardware problem that no software can fix.
"Repair Disk" and "Repair Disk Permissions" address two different classes of software problems. The former button repairs (or tries to repair) problems with the directory that records what's on your hard drive and where on the drive each item is stored. The latter button checks to make sure the read/write permissions for your files are correct, and if not, it corrects them.
The "Verify" buttons for Disk and for Permissions carry out the same checking routines as the "Repair" options, but they don't try to correct anything — they only report what they find. If there's a problem on my hard drive, I want it corrected, not just reported. So I consider the "Verify" options to be a real waste of time, and I never use them.
Your permissions appear to be fine, but your disk directory is damaged in at least one way that Disk Utility hasn't repaired. If you haven't run the "Repair Disk" routine yet (I can't tell from your post), do that now, and see whether it reports that the problems have been fixed. If it does, run it repeatedly until you get two successive reports showing a clean bill of health: no problems found or repaired.
If "Repair Disk" reports problems that it couldn't fix, or if you can't get two successive "clean" runs after half a dozen tries, you'll need a stronger, third-party disk utility such as DiskWarrior to repair the directory, or else you'll need to reformat the hard drive and reinstall everything on it from scratch — that will clear away the old, damaged directory, but is very time-consuming. Leaving a damaged disk directory unrepaired will eventually lead to loss of data, kernel panics, and other potentially serious consequences you really don't want to experience, so don't just ignore the problem.