Harddrive Upgrade Question: is my disk utility stalled out?

I recently decided to upgrade my HD on my MacBook. I have an iMac that I decided to write a disk image of the MacBook HD to, in order to get my content on to the new drive. So I used my Leopard install disc to start disc utility and copy the HD image. Its been making read/write noises for about 4 hours now, but the mouse arrow has disappeared, the progress line appears frozen, and I'm wondering if it crashed. Anyone experienced this before?

Well in my disk utility says that you can change the format in burning WINDOWS CDs. Or I'm understanding that wrong?
That doesn't mean that you pre-format the CD; i.e. do something with it before you burn your data, as would be the case with a floppy or a new hard drive. Perhaps you're referring to the disk image you're creating?
So I just copy that CD just like I do with my Mac CDs?
That's what I do when I need to copy a Windows CD; I just make a disk image of it using Disk Utility, and then burn the image, just as I would a Mac CD. No need to create a blank disk image and then alter it's format. Just make the image directly from the CD you want to copy.

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I just got a WD My Passport 1TB External Harddrive and i have already backed everything up to it but im still a little nervous about erasing things off the physical drive since it says my disk utility is out of space an implying i need to erase items.

I just got a WD My Passport 1TB External Harddrive and i have already backed everything up to it but im still a little nervous about erasing things off the physical drive on my macbook pro since it says my disk utility is out of space an implying i need to erase items.
I cant find the options to erase selected items it only shows that i can erase everything.
I mean technically i suppose i could erase everything an have a fresh start since its backed up to my external. But what exactly are the specific items being erased?
I have bought the newest OS X 10.8.2 an worried that it will get erased also an end up having to repurchase it.
Can anyone help me?
<Personal Information Edited by Host>

Black_Chevy07 wrote:
I just got a WD My Passport 1TB External Harddrive and i have already backed everything up to it but im still a little nervous about erasing things off the physical drive on my macbook pro since it says my disk utility is out of space an implying i need to erase items.
I cant find the options to erase selected items it only shows that i can erase everything.
I mean technically i suppose i could erase everything an have a fresh start since its backed up to my external. But what exactly are the specific items being erased?
I have bought the newest OS X 10.8.2 an worried that it will get erased also an end up having to repurchase it.
Can anyone help me?
If you are trying to delete some files get out of Disk Utility, it is not for that!
How did you backup and what are you trying to achieve?
Please post the exact error messages(s) you have received.

Since upgrading to 10.8, my wireless stalls out. The drop down under the wireless icon says "Wi-Fi: Looking for networks- and has a rotating gear. I have to turn the wireless off and then back on to get back on the internet. Does anyone have a solution?

since upgrading to 10.8, my wireless stalls out. The drop down under the wireless icon says “Wi-Fi: Looking for networks… and has a rotating gear. I have to turn the wireless off and then back on to get back on the internet. Does anyone have a solution? All iPhones and iPad and windows computers work fine.

since upgrading to 10.8, my wireless stalls out. The drop down under the wireless icon says “Wi-Fi: Looking for networks… and has a rotating gear. I have to turn the wireless off and then back on to get back on the internet. Does anyone have a solution? All iPhones and iPad and windows computers work fine.

Flashing Folder with Question Mark, Disk Utility Grayed Out

I was working on my macbook pro when it appeared to freeze, so I manually shut it down by pressing the power button. When I pressed it again to restart the computer, the restart "chime" sounded, and a flashing folder with a question mark appeared shortly after. The folder flashes for a few minutes, and the macbook turns off again. After consulting the internet, I restarted while holding command+r, and the computer told me to reconnect to the internet, select a language, and so on. When I reached the menu giving me choices for how to recover my information, I discovered that there were apparently no time machine backups recognized and when I tried to use the "first aid" option in Disk Utility, all of the action buttons are grayed out when I select the drives (I'm running OS X Mavericks) at the left, including the "Verify" option at the top. Is there anything I can do? I really would rather not restore a new version of OS X to preserve my information.

Thanks for the response. When I clicked on the option to reinstall, the window asking me to select the disk where I would like to install Mac OS X presents no options. There's just a blank white box with no other messages or prompts.

Hard drive upgrade wont show on disk utility

Im trying to upgrade a white 13 inch macbook from a 80gig Toshiba drive to a seagate momentus 500gb drive. Ive been at it all day with no luck. I swapped it but when i restart with the installation discs inside and go to disk utility to format, it just wont show. I ended up taking apart one of my external drives and using the adaptor from there and plugging it in as an external via usb and the drive shows on the laptop. I was able to format it (extended journaled) but as soon as i put it back in, its a ghost drive.
Im thinking since the drive works perfectly via usb but just wont work inside the laptop maybe in had something to do with the power. The old drive is rated DC+5V at 1.0A and the new seagate drive is DC+5V at 0.4...something A . This means the old one drew more current and therefore more power P=VI . So the laptop should be able to power it.
Any ideas what could be going wrong? Solutions?
any help is greatly appreciated, im getting close to giving up.

I would recommended a Hitachi Travelstar 500GB 7200 RPM HD20500IDK/7K 16MB Buffer 7200RPM 5V 800mA DC as a much better drive than the Seagate Momentus, I've seen and read many negative reviews and feedback about the Momentus.
I replaced the original 250GB 5400RPM hard drive in my MacBook 2.26GHz Intel Core 2 Duo: (13-inch, Late 2009) – Model A1342 Polycarbonate Unibody ( MC207LL/A ) with a 7200 RPM HD20500IDK/7K with no problems at all and The Hitachi Travelstar 500GB is extremely fast and quiet.

Blinking folder with question mark, and disk utility doesnt recognise hard drive, please help!!!

So today i was using my macbook pro and for some reason my CD/DVD drive was causing noise when i put a DVD inside it, and for some reason it did not recognise my DVD. I force ejected it using the restart and clicking, but after that my computer showed a blinking folder and question mark during start up. I restarted my computer to Recovery HD, but instead it took me to internet Recovery HD (i have mountain lion), and so i went to disk utility to repair my disk, but in the left it did not recognise my hard drive. Please help! Im not that experienced in computing!

Sounds like some sort of power issue and now your drive is not working.
You'll have to take this to Apple for repair.
You should read this if you don't have recent backups of your data off the machine.
My computer is not working, is my personal data lost?

Grey folder with question mark and Disk Utility can't find HDD.

I have a 2010 MacBook Pro and for some reason the OS X does not boot up. Therefore I see the grey folder flashing. I tried booting into Recovery from holding options button but there are no available startup disks. So I installed Apple recovery on my USB and I boot up with that. I opened disk utility but it does not seem to find the hard disk. I also tried reinstalling Mac OS X and it gives me an error. Is there another bootable software except for Disk Utility that can check the HDD and see if there are any errors or is the HDD just dead?

Try the steps in this support article:
http://support.apple.com/kb/TS2570
Have you tried installing the original Snow Leopard installation disk and access Disk Utility from the Utilities menu?
Ciao.

Disk Utility stalls from start up DVD disk?

Has anyone experienced this or can confirm this problem:
On my Mac Pro 2.66 with single Superdrive (Optiarc AD-7170A), I can start up from the Tiger OX Install disk one, no prblem. But I cannot seem to sucessfully run Disk Utility from the DVD. When I Launch Disk Utility from the DVD, the application opens and I get an eternal beachball. The DVD drive whirs up a short bit, then goes quiet. The only way out is to powerdown with the front power button. I only have one hard drive -- the stock 250GB WD2500AAJS
Disk Utility seems to launch fine from the hard drive itself -- although "Verify Disk" does take about a minute to process when inspecting my hard drive. Could it be it's just taking a REALLY long time when running from the startup DVD?
Please note what DVD drive you have if things work fine for you
thanks!

Hi motifone,
I presume you are using the install DVD that came with the MacPro? If not, you need to.
Make sure there is no non-Apple hardware in the system. Added RAM, hard drives from another source, etc. should all be removed, and the try again.
If still having the same issue, hen there is a hardware issue somewhere. Either the install DVD has a problem with it, or the computer itself has a problem. If you have the disk from another MacPro, try using it. If you have the same result, then the problem is with the computer and it will need to be repaired.
Good luck.
PM G5, PB G4 17", iMac G5 20", iPod 5G 30GB, iPod Nano 1G, iPod Shuffle 2G Mac OS X (10.4.9) AirPort Extreme (802.11n) WDS with AirPort Express

Disk repair button in disk utility greyed out and I cant repair my disk

Safari stopped working totally and I downloaded it again but it wont allow me to install it onto the hard drive saying it cant use the software. Disk utility has detected that the disk needs repair but the repair button is blanked out.
Also I have password issues because it wont recognise my master password even though I know what it is. Even though I dont need it now I am sure I will in the future.
Crappy apple 'support' want our money but they only give support for 90 days. If they were so confident about their products working properly they would give us more than 90 day support and if their products really were good then we woudn't need to call would we? MAC *****

I don't know about AppleCare, but they will do an electronic bank draft type vehicle for major purchases as well.
Tiger DVD (now 10.4.6):
Disk Utility - Restore to backup
Reset Password
And "fsck" is your friend to repair the boot drive when you don't have a back up system/clone. Also get a copy of Applejack and use it as well.
Always always backup before applying OS installs and updates.
Might want to start with Apple's Mac 101 Help:
http://www.apple.com/support/mac101/help/
It can help walk you (and us) through what steps...
boot into Open Firmware and Reset NVRAM
boot to your Apple Hardware Test disk using OPTION key and run tests
run Memtest 4 from Single User Mode
MacIntouch: Bad RAM
clone your boot drive system and apps and backup data
Tiger is now out on DVD with 10.4.6 - updated and easier to upgrade
boot into Single User Mode
run
- Best done after ANY freeze or hard restart
install Applejack gets run in Single User Mode
Using Applejack
MacFixit: Repairing Permissions
General Troubleshooting permissions
Repairing Drives
Backup!
G4 MDD 1.25 1.75GB UL3D 15K/10K RAID Mac OS X (10.4.6) SoftRAID 3.5

Disk Utility Zero Out Data option

I read that it can be good to write zeros to all sectors of a new external disk right away. The Zero Out Data option in the Disk Utility Erase operation states that it "writes zeros over all data on the disk". Does it actually write zeros over every sector on the disk or just sectors with data? The 7 Pass Erase option states that it "writes data over the entire disk seven times". I'm guessing this means all sectors get zeroed out whether they contain data or not. The different wording suggests that these operations do different things. Any one have clarification? Thank you.

For those who may have to reformat a new hard disk drive, one may as
well take a little more time and have another cup or three of coffee...
and let the computer utility write zeros in one pass; maybe even twice.
Some new computers, especially some sold in a few geek guy stores,
had their bogus utilities installed; an additional $40. charged on each.
If you liked it or not. Same computer elsewhere, -40 but no geek app.
And their choice caused some people issues with their new non-PC.
The best avenue was to boot from OS X install disc & choose secure
erase, and totally over-write the new computer's corrupted software.
And choose the install option after disk utility ran, and start over right.
With the correct partition map, reformat and a new full install.
New and planned replacement upgrade hard disk drives can be put
into an external HDD enclosure ahead of schedule, if not a tower;
and ready them for later use; even test them thoroughly if desired.
Especially if the computer the HDD is intended for, is hard to open.
The main consideration, other than product testing, or in feeling all
warm and techie inside, is the amount of time this sort of thing takes.
The impatient won't hold up under the strain of loftier commitments.
Oh well... coffee is cheaper if you get yours from Kona directly.
Good luck & happy computing!

Can´t delete a partition. Disk utility greyed out.

I have a problem. I can't delete or build a partition on my Macintosh HD. The options for deleting or build a partition are greyed out. I try to boot from a external drive and open disk utility, but still the same problem. I also tried iPartion but it don't work.
I have a iMac (late 2013) with 3 TB fusion drive on OSX 10.9.4

Macs with Fusion drive use CoreStorage to manage disk objects.
You should use Terminale and command
diskutil coreStorage

Unable to secure erase: "Security Options" in Disk Utility greyed out.

Ancient eMac running Leopard. I have moved data to new Mac and am ready to erase old computer and sell/give away.
Went to "Erase" tab in Disk Utilities and both the "Volume Format" option and "Security Options" fields/buttons are greyed out and uneditable. According to instructions, to erase the data I need to select "Security Options" to proceed to erase all the data on my hard drive.
How do I "ungrey" that button? Is there a lock somewhere to unlock? Something to disable first?

You cannot erase the hard drive of the eMac when it is in use. You have to insert the Mac OS X install disk, boot up from there and then erase the disk from the Disk Utility software included.

Disk utility errored out when attempting to repair Macintosh HD

My iMac suddenly got really slow this morning, occasionally freezing for a few minutes. I ran disk utility to repair permissions, MacJanitor and then restarted to no avail. Then I started up using the original install CD (10.4.4), ran the hardware test and passed, and attempted to repair the disk with Disk Utility. I got through the first steps, but then when checking the Catalog File, I got the following error:
Invalid Node Structure
Volume Check Failed
Error: Underlying task reported failure on exit.
Before I exited, I repaired disk permissions again, and this time it found a bunch of bad permissions...when I restarted, system was still slow, so I know I still have a problem
Any suggestions on what to do next?
Thanks,
Eric

Try that disk repair a few more times, you never know!
But more then likely it won't be able to repair an Invalid Node Structure. That's a pretty serious error.
If Disk Utility can't fix it, you'll need a more robust utility for the repair. I would recommend DiskWarrior. It is the best at directory repairs. It rebuilds then actually replaces your old directory. I feel every Mac owner should have a copy. Make sure you get the disk so you can boot up on it to run repairs. You can also install it on another drive and run it from there to repair this one. DW works faster that way.
I use DW once a month to try and catch errors in my system from getting too far out of hand.
If you have a good backup, hopefully a clone of your system before you had issues, an Erase and Install will also rid you of this issue. But, beware! You will lose everything on the drive with this procedure. Let us know if you need help with that!
Cheers! DALE

Disk Utility (Zero Out)

I'm looking to Zero out my HD and I've gone into Disk Utility where I have something that looks like this:
*HD IMAGE* 232.9 GB ST#######AS Q Media
*HD IMAGE* B1U3B0Y (this one is tabbed in a bit.. kinda like a sub menu..)
Do I want to Zero out the top one or the one below it?
Thanks for your help!

The top one is the drive, the other is the volume on the drive (if the drive is partitioned, there cane be more than one volume). Since you have only one volume, it doesn't make much difference whether you select the dive or volume.

Does the "Zero Out Data" feature in Disk Utility map out bad sectors/blocks?

I would like a definite answer on this one. I have heard that is does and that it doesn't.

Yes it does.
The way it works is this, your drive normally tries to write to sectors and if it can't write to one or more, then it writes someplace else and maps the bad sectors off in the driver software.
That's how it's supposed to work.
What I believe what happens is drives are made, but not checked for bad sectors at the factory as this is a considerable time consuming process.
So when a computer comes down the line, it's hard drive is just injected factory style the data it needs right on the drive, over bad sectors and everything.
Now it could be that, and or it could be the result of time and the drive sitting and being shipped. Normally the heads are locked.
Whatever, if you move a drive while the heads are over the platters, they can strike the platters and cause data loss from bad sectors. So it's important not to move or jar the computer while the hard drive is spinning, why Mac's have Sudden Motion Sensors built in.
So, if data is laid over bad sectors, or one has possibly damaged their drive slightly and the data on it, could result in glitchy or unexplained behavior.
Large files like video that take much space on the drive are more likely to encounter bad sectors and thus become incomplete when read later.
What the Disk Utility > Erase with Zero option does, is it tries to write 0's to EVERY BIT on the drive. A sector is made up of bits, 1's and 0's so this method ensures every bit is checked if it can be written too or not.
If a sector fails, then it's mapped off, never to be written too again.
When one places their data on the drive after a Zero, it's on 100% reliable bits and sectors. Thus there is less chance of file corruption when it's read later.
A video production guy told me this little trick as they have huge files so thus needed very reliable data retention and recovery.
I've been using this technique with all new drives for decades now and it's worked for me, unless I forget to do it.
Like anything, others may not require perfection. Regular users with small files all the time likely will lose a file here and there and go about living with it.
Big files are a different story obviously. So optional, not mandatory.
If your confident you can reinstall your operating system, then that's one thing, but if your not, then don't bother.

Harddrive Upgrade Question: is my disk utility stalled out?

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