Invalid Volume Free Block Count Error In Disk Utility

My Ti-Book has been acting very strange lately so I decided to run the Verify Disk Option in the Disk Utility program. When I ran it, I got a series of messages in red that were:
Volume Bit Map Needs Minor Repair
Invalid volume free block count
Error: The Underlying Task reported failure on exit
When the verify disk function completed, I was asked to enter my administrator password. When I entered it and clicked on Okay, the Disk Utility program froze up and I had to restart.
What do the two error messages mean? How do I repair my disk?

Hi, WTM. The Verify Disk routine in Disk Utility is almost never worth running. It does the same error-detection tasks as the Repair Disk routine, but then it doesn't repair any errors that it finds.
Start up from your Tiger installer DVD, open Disk Utility, select your hard drive, and run the Repair Disk routine. If you get the same "task reported failure on exit" message, you'll need a stronger directory-repair utility like DiskWarrior, or you'll need to erase your hard drive completely and reinstall everything on it.

Similar Messages

Volume needs repair..Invalid volume Free block count..

When I did a scan on the HD through Disk Utilty I got this error..."Volume needs repair...Invalid volume Free block count,,,Should be 65607....instead od 65606."
Is there any application that I can get to fix that error..so that I don't have to Reinstall with the start up disks.. I don't feel like reinstalling everything all over again. Please help or if you can direct me to the area so that I can change the numbers myself...Thank you

Hi Nvrdan1de, and a warm welcome to the forums!
You cannot repair the HD you're booted from, "Try Disk Utility
1. Insert the Tiger 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. 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."
Then 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 finishes.
Safe Boot... holding Shift key down at bootup. Safe Boot is a special way to start Mac OS X 10.2 or later when troubleshooting.
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=107392
Though this seems like a simple one for DU to fix, unfortunately DU can't fix all that much,So, if it fails your best bet is DiskWarrior, you need the CD though.
http://www.alsoft.com/DiskWarrior/

Invalid volume free block count

I have witnessed this insight from the disk repair report
persistently , lately every day . I have noticed among other
things that the bluetooth is , although active , unrecognised
by any system feature designed for that purpose . The list
of actions I have taken from plist removal , restart with USB
leads removed along with all the other leads , to permission
repair , fsck , disk utility and disk warrior have had some
effect but of little duration . The bluetooth was similarly
affected before the latest OSX system wide update and
recovered system wide recognition before this latest step
back . I am interested in some idea's perhaps indicating
the substance of a persistent invalid volume free block
count referral , and a related or not bluetooth recognition
problem with availability but the system blind to it .
Thanks Frederick
G5 Dual 2 GHz PPC G5 Mac OS X (10.4.4) Seagate 160 G and Seagate 300 G

invalid volume free block count referral
This from a 10.3.9 kb article: (perhaps not updated).
"The volume free block count is a type of cache of the real information stored in the volume bitmap, and the count being off does not mean your volume is damaged in any way. An incorrect volume block count message (block count changed from X to Y) is an example of this type of message."
-mj
[email protected]

Invalid free block count

Hi,
Earlier today I wanted to use the boot camp utility to install WinXP on my MBP. I decided to set the partition to about 60 Gb of space for Windows, but the utility crashed from some reason. (The screen went slightly dim grey and the message "please restart your computer now" appeared).
So I restarted the computer, but now, the 60 Gb I allocated for the new partition has been interpreted by the OS as used space on the Mac HD. I tried running Disk Utility to verify what was going on, and I get the message "Disk repair failed, invalid free block count".
How can I get my free space back? Do I really need to use the Leopard dvd to run disk utility again? I hope not, because I left the dvd at my other house, that's pretty far away from where I am right now. Any help would be appreciated! Thanks.

I don't know that Disk Utility can help since it will not repair the corrupted Boot Camp partition. You can run Boot Camp Assistant and see if it will remove the partition. If it cannot, then the next steps can be a gamble so you should backup your OS X partition in case you may need to repartition the drive.
If you cannot remove the partition with Boot Camp, then you can try this:
Open Disk Utility, select the drive entry (mfgr.'s ID and drive size) from the left side bar, then click on the Partition tab in the DU main window. You should now see the partition sizing graphic. Hopefully you should see two partitions. The top partition will be your OS X system volume. The bottom partition should be the one Boot Camp tried to create. Click in the bottom partition to select it (you will see it will be outlined in blue) and click on the "-" button in the lower left corner. The partition should then be removed. Click on the Apply button and wait for the process to complete. If the process fails then you will have to start from scratch and repartition the entire drive. Your OS X installation will be lost. This is why you need to make the backup in advance. If it does work then select the sizing gadget in the lower right corner of the remaining partition and drag it down to the bottom of the sizing window, then click on the Apply button again. Wait for the repartitioning to complete.
Just to be on the safe side I would repair the drive:
Extended Hard Drive Preparation
1. Open Disk Utility in your Utilities folder. If you need to reformat your startup volume, then you must boot from your OS X Installer Disc. After the installer loads select your language and click on the Continue button. When the menu bar appears select Disk Utility from the Installer menu (Utilities menu for Tiger or Leopard.)
2. After DU loads select your hard drive (this is the entry with the mfgr.'s ID and size) from the left side list. Note the SMART status of the drive in DU's status area. If it does not say "Verified" then the drive is failing or has failed and will need replacing. SMART info will not be reported on external drives. Otherwise, click on the Partition tab in the DU main window.
3. Click on the Options button, set the partition scheme to GUID (only required for Intel Macs) then click on the OK button. Set the number of partitions from the dropdown menu (use 1 partition unless you wish to make more.) Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Partition button and wait until the volume(s) mount on the Desktop.
4. Select the volume you just created (this is the sub-entry under the drive entry) from the left side list. Click on the Erase tab in the DU main window.
5. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Options button, check the button for Zero Data and click on OK to return to the Erase window.
6. Click on the Erase button. The format process can take up to several hours depending upon the drive size.
Steps 4-6 are optional but should be used on a drive that has never been formatted before, if the format type is not Mac OS Extended, if the partition scheme has been changed, or if a different operating system (not OS X) has been installed on the drive.

Disk Management Tool error in Disk Utility

Update: (first, reviewing problem that I and others have been having, including on 10.4.x systems):
When I attempt to repair permissions on my HD with Disk Utility, I get this specific error message: "Disk Utility internal error -- Disk Utility has lost its connection with the Disk Management Tool and cannot continue. Please quit and relaunch Disk Utility" and the repair-permissions will not proceed. It fails to get the proper "correct" permissions info for that drive to allow the repair. The error log points to a file in the Library called "DiskManagementToll" The path is ~/System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/DiskManagement.framework/Resources/DiskManag ementTool)
This problem is appearing in many forums here and elsewhere, including 10.4.x systems (like mine) and persists in a few after deleting suggested files. Is there a sophisticated solution that addresses the problem through the DiskManagementTool file by replacing some values or replacing the file from a backup vis SUDO or Root?
Previous posts have focused on Macs running 10.3.x and with iTunes 6.0x installed. Not here, so the problem is more general. None of the "delete iTunes / plists / Chess.app" suggested fixes have worked for me. Also tried running DU from my Tiger install disk; no luck! -- still fails when it tries to determine the correct permissions.
The "DiskManagementTool" file apparently either stores the correct file permissions or handles reading them from the receipts in the Library. If I understand things right, Disk Utility is actually a (user)-permissioned graphic front end, while DiskManagementTool is a Root-user-level tool that actually does the heavy lifting. Can I replace -- and any benefit to that -- or rewrite it with proper access?
There is a complete crash log report in Crash Reporter, by the way. Anyone want the text, and would it help figure out what's happening?
I've tried the suggested deletion of iTunes 6.0.2 or Chess.app and their plists (these and other steps were suggested on MacFixIt at http://www.macfixit.com/article.php?story=20060111090035797 the advice is, basically, to delete iTunes 6.0.2 and/or Chess.app and related plist files.) As I said, no luck!
Everyone that I talk to says it MUST be the fault of some other 3rd-party disk utility software.
For what it's worth, I HAVE run Disk Warrior -- and, the drive that's having the problem is a recent reinstall from a backup using Carbon Copy Cloner. The original disk is NOT having such a problem, only the hard drive on my iBook after the reinstall. Don't know if that gives any clues (or to how the link gets somehow disengaged between Disk Utility and the Disk Management Tool file / software).
Any thoughts on that? What about replacing the Disk Management Tool file in the Library or forcing some kind of re-link to it? some Unix guru MUST know a fix!
Obviously, the big worry for me is that I can't update my System to 10.4.5 or anything else without repairing permissions first. This IS a big deal. And others are having the same problem. Help?!?
New 2 GHz dual g5 , Dual g4, & iBook G4 (recent) Mac OS X (10.4.4)

A system problem was involved that became, briefly, a "known issue" that was solved in the next minor update. Solved, anyway, by the advice given by the last poster. Thanks! SJ

Reported Fatal Hardware Error to Disk Utility

I see the following message in my Power Book G4 Disk Utility:
"This drive has Reported Fatal Hardware Error to Disk Utility. If drive has not failed completely, back up as much data as you can and then replace it with a new drive."
I already made a back up my Home folder to my external HD. The install disk utility reports the same and has grey the repair uptions.
The spinning beachball appears constantly when using Safari and iTunes. What should I do?

If your Mac is no longer under the standard 1-yr warranty period or under the 3-yr extended warranty if you purchased the AppleCare extended warranty for your PB, you need to purchase a new internal hard drive that is compatible with your Mac model. This is something you can install yourself or take your Mac to an Apple authorized repair facility to purchase and have a new internal hard drive installed.
The repair facility should include re-installing whichever OX version and all software that was pre-installed and shipped with this Mac when purchased new. If this wasn't Tiger and you purchased a Tiger retail install package, you can re-install the Tiger upgrade yourself and then replace all data from your backup on the new hard drive.

Errors in Disk Utility

Hello. I was wondering for some opinions. i was having some problems with permission errors in disk utility so they wanted me to erase and install with a new disc set. So I completely erased the disc and reinstalled just the software on the mac os x discs. Now, after running typical software update and now I have 492 pages of permission errors. I ran it three times so far and it is still coming up with 492 errors on it.
What could be causing this?

Hi,
*"i was having some problems with permission errors in disk utility so they wanted me to erase and install with a new disc set."*
Who is they? Apple?
You have 492 pages of permissions messages or 492 messages?
It won't do any good to keep running it. Go here for information on permissions you can ignore. http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1448
Carolyn

Drive has reported a fatal error to Disk Utility, HELP ME PLEASE!!!

I'm a little worried my Macbook Pro has become an overpriced paperweight.
Here's what happened:
I had a spare 512MB RAM, which was taken out of my 24" iMac Intel Core 2 Duo when I replced it with a 1GB RAM and, after checking several sources on the web, successfully installed the extra RAM in the MBP.
I restarted the MBP and the new RAM was registered after checking in About this Mac. I then began using the MBP as normal and wrote and saved a Word document. I clicked on the email and Safari icons in the dock and they just kept bouncing in the dock without launching. Pressed Power button - nothing. Took out the battery and replaced it after 30secs and pressed power button. All I got was the grey screen with the Apple logo and the winding circle which stayed like that for 20 minutes.
First reaction was to remove the RAM and restart. Same endless grey screen and winding circle.
Rebooted from CD, checked disk and repaired and said everything was OK. Restarted without CD still nothing.
Tried Archive and Install and came back with an error during installation.
Tried Erase and Install - same error.
Tried to select startup disk and it no longer could find my HD yet Disk Utility could find it and told me everything was OK. Tried resetting PRAM nothing.
Tried to erase the HD and nothing happened. Erasing a HD takes some time, but everytime I hit erase 10 seconds later it was back to the same point where I began
Next tried to create one single partition and struck the message Drive has reported a fatal hardware error to disk utility. Even the lettering for the main drive is now in red.
Do I need to replace the hard drive altogether or is there a solution to this problem. Was it the RAM that brought me undone or was that just a coincidence?
PLEASE HELP ME!!!

make sure that you haven't used it yet as RAM can only be used in one machine, not transferred to another one (like you did).
Sorry, but that's completely untrue, and I don't know where you might have read or heard such a fallacy. RAM has no registration that even tells a system that it's been used, much less a key that would make it work only in one system. As long as the RAM is properly compatible and precautions are taken not to shock a system with static electricity while removing or inserting the component or causing mechanical damage, a RAM module can be swapped between systems as often as desired.

Endless errors on disk utility

My 2nd internal hard drive in 2.5 years just died on my iMac G5. Apple is coming on-site to fix. During the 1st hard drive death, I installed the operating system on an external drive and was able to work from that drive. I assume this was legal since I was discussing all these things with AppleCare as the int harddrive died (over the course of a week of AppleCare calls). Doing this allowed me to save a substantial amt of data. Since then I have used this drive as a backup drive, rathern than as an operating system.
Now, I'm trying the same thing with the 2nd internal hard drive death. After booting up to the external drive, the first thing I did was upgrade from 10.4 to 10.4.8. I restarted the computer using the exteral drive. The Mac OSX setup assistant wouldn't connect. I tried to disconnect and it wouldn't disconnect, either. I Force Quitted out of the setup assistant. The 2nd thing I did was run disk utility and verify permissions. It said I had no valid packages. I copied BaseSystem.pkg and Essentials.pkg into the Library. Now disk utility gives me absolutely endless errors, all of them "User differs on..." followed by "Group differs on..."
Since this is mainly a backup disk, all my files are under ExtHD/ rather than a user. I don't know anything about packages--I read the above on an earlier post and it got rid of the "No valid packages" error on Disk Utility when I first ran it. I don't know anything about receipts, etc. About the only thing I know is that I have two libraries, one for the main hard drive and one for the user.
I'd like to keep this external drive as a bootable system. I want to be able to run Disk Utility to clean it up. Any suggestions?
iMac G5, MacBook Mac OS X (10.4.8)
iMac G5, MacBook Mac OS X (10.4.8)

So I can do an archive and install, and then when the fresh Tiger is on there, would I upgrade to 10.4.8 right then? Then I suppose I copy all my backed up files to the correct user directories?
How much memory do I need on that hard drive to archive and install? I'm assuming it archives on the same hard disk. Does that mean I have to have less than 1/2 of the memory used, so it can back itself up, or does it erase old data as it archives, freeing up memory space?
Thanks for your input!

Disk Utility reports a block count error for a deleted file?

I carry out a regular scan of the hard drive and on occasions disk utility reports that a file has a bad block count. It is usually a large file like a CR2 or TIFF and is also one which has been deleted? Not only put in the trash but emptied the trash as well.
The only other thing of note, which I havn't checked if it is relevent to my problem, is on occasion when I go to empty the trash it reports it can't be fully emptied as one of the files is still in use, even though it isn't? If I use secure empty trash it dletes the file.
In case its relevent:
I use Canon's DPP & ACR for CR2 files and PS CS6/CC for TIFF's. I also delete TIFFS from within Bridge CS6/CC.
Both Disk Utility and Drive Genius report the SMART status as being OK.

Hi Hollie, and welcome to the forums!
Have you created images before successfully?
Is this to/on your boot drive, or an external drive?
Have you done any Disk/OS maintenance lately?
We might see if there are some big temp files left or such...
How much free space is on the HD, where has all the space gone?
OmniDiskSweeper is now free, and likely the best/easiest...
http://www.omnigroup.com/applications/omnidisksweeper/
WhatSize...
http://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/13006/
Disk Inventory X...
http://www.derlien.com/
GrandPerspective...
http://grandperspectiv.sourceforge.net/

Problems with External Hard drive, will not mount and errors in disk utilit

i have a powerbook g4 aluminum. i have an external hard drive for it. a simple tech 100gig portable drive, almost brand new. i dont know what happened to it, but one day i was starting my computer up with it attached. it wounldnt fully start up, said "waiting for local disks" so i uplugged the external hard drive. now it wont mount and will only show up in the disk utility of my friends macbook. i tried to verify and repair, and this is the message i got.
Verify and Repair disk “UNTITLED”
** /dev/disk1s1
could not read boot block (Input/output error)
Error: The underlying task reported failure on exit
1 non HFS volume checked
1 volume could not be repaired because of an error
Im in mexico writing a book and so i really need help on this one guys.

Hi, hjbugs, and welcome to Apple Discussions. Disconnecting the drive while your Powerbook was accessing it probably caused your problem. It may be repairable using DiskWarrior or TechTool Pro, but if you don't have access to one of those and aren't going to buy one, reformatting the drive with Disk Utility may be the only other way to make it usable again. If it contains data you need to recover first (i.e., data that isn't also stored on your internal HD or other storage media), download the free demo version of one of the data recovery utilities mentioned in this thread and use it to see what is recoverable. If the files you need are recoverable, buy the full version of one of the utilities and recover them.

No valid packages error in Disk Utility

I have been experiencing some problems with my eMac so I thought I would get Disk Utility to check my HD over. First I started by checking Permissions to which I get the following error.
Repairing permissions for “Macintosh HD”
Error: No valid packages (-9997)
I restarted using my install disk. When I ran Disk Utitlity it reported no problem with the HD. I did a repair run anyway, just in case. Then tried to repair permissions once more. Still the above error.
I had about 10mb of free space left on my HD a couple of weeks ago. After some clearance work however it is now back to just under 10GB free space.

There are Four Basic ways to use Pacifist..download from....
www.charlessoft.com
A. Drag a .pkg icon onto the Pacifist window .....proceed to step 7.
B. Click on “Open Package ....” and navigate to package desired and click “Open” in the open/save window.....proceed to step 7.
C. Insert Mac OS X installer CD and when it mounts, navigate to ....
Menu/Go/Go to Folder, and in the window, type....
/Volumes/disc name/System/Installation/Packages (where disc name is the name of the CD/DVD that you inserted.
• Click "Go".....
• Drag .pkg to Pacifist..... proceed to step 7.
D. Insert your Mac OS X install disk 1 .... and open Pacifist.
1. In Pacifist, select "Open Mac OS X Install Packages" ... dialog may appear asking for disk 2, then disk 3 and finally disk 1 again....{if CDVD is not used)...If “Stop Loading” is selected...the procedure will stop!!!
2a. When loading is complete, a new window appears, click the triangle to display contents of each package...Select item and proceed to step 7.
3b. or click the “Find” icon in the Pacifist window and type the name of the software you need.
3. In the list that comes back, click the top most entry for the item that you want. ..... that is the one for the English language.
4. On the top of the Pacifist window, click “verify” .... you will probably be prompted for your password.
5. Enter checks for.... “verify permissions” and “verify file contents.” and click “verify” ....enter password when prompted.... you will get back output which may
look like this:
20 files were scanned.
20 of 20 files were present on the hard disk.
0 of 20 files had file permissions that did not match those specified in the package.
0 of 20 files had checksums that did not match those specified in the package.
6. Click “close”. Go to step 7.
Extract or Install........
7. In the Toolbar (upper left), you now have the option to extract or install. Click a file in the lower list and those two icons will be enabled.
8. If “Extract to...” is selected.... navigate to the location where the file will be placed, select “choose”, select “extract” in new dialog that appears,authenicate , if prompted, click “OK”.
9. In the next dialog, click “Extract”.
10. If “Install” is selected... dialog will appear with the location/path of the installed software. Click “Install”
11. Type in your password, click “OK”
• Pacifist will begin to extract files.
12. In steps 8/10ß.... you also have the choice to “cancel”å
Notes.....
• Pacifist may find that a file it is installing already exists on the hard disk. Pacifist will present you with an alert panel....
Stop
Leave original alone
Update ..... Default selection
Replace .... Replace option should only be used on full install packages
george

Install errors and Disk Utility failure

Hello!
My current install of Mac OS X must have been a newer install of Panther. The retail install I bought is v10.3.5. I think the install was originally 10.3.7.
I've tried to run Disk Utility from the install Disc 1 and get a message: "*The underlying task reported failure on exit.*"
And I tried to also perform an Archive and install of Mac OS X Panther 10.3.5 and get a message: "*You cannot install Mac OS X on this volume without changing your install settings. A newer version of Mac OS X is installed*."
So, I'm asking what my options are as to keep my current user Home folder that I mainly use and delete the Administrator Account to get a fresh install that I can maintain properly without problems like I just quoted.
This is for my DA 533 MHz.
Thank you!
-Mike

How to Perform an Archive and Install
An Archive and Install will NOT erase your hard drive, but you must have sufficient free space for a second OS X installation which could be from 3-9 GBs depending upon the version of OS X and selected installation options. The free space requirement is over and above normal free space requirements which should be at least 6-10 GBs. Read all the linked references carefully before proceeding.
1. Be sure to use Disk Utility first to repair the disk before performing the Archive and Install.
Repairing the Hard Drive and Permissions
Boot from your OS X Installer disc. After the installer loads select your language and click on the Continue button. When the menu bar appears select Disk Utility from the Installer menu (Utilities menu for Tiger.) After DU loads select your hard drive entry (mfgr.'s ID and drive size) from the the left side list. In the DU status area you will see an entry for the S.M.A.R.T. status of the hard drive. If it does not say "Verified" then the hard drive is failing or failed. (SMART status is not reported on external Firewire or USB drives.) If the drive is "Verified" then select your OS X volume from the list on the left (sub-entry below the drive entry,) click on the First Aid tab, then click on the Repair Disk button. If DU reports any errors that have been fixed, then re-run Repair Disk until no errors are reported. If no errors are reported, then quit DU and return to the installer.
2. Do not proceed with an Archive and Install if DU reports errors it cannot fix. In that case use Disk Warrior and/or TechTool Pro to repair the hard drive. If neither can repair the drive, then you will have to erase the drive and reinstall from scratch.
3. Boot from your OS X Installer disc. After the installer loads select your language and click on the Continue button. When you reach the screen to select a destination drive click once on the destination drive then click on the Option button. Select the Archive and Install option. You have an option to preserve users and network preferences. Only select this option if you are sure you have no corrupted files in your user accounts. Otherwise leave this option unchecked. Click on the OK button and continue with the OS X Installation.
4. Upon completion of the Archive and Install you will have a Previous System Folder in the root directory. You should retain the PSF until you are sure you do not need to manually transfer any items from the PSF to your newly installed system.
5. After moving any items you want to keep from the PSF you should delete it. You can back it up if you prefer, but you must delete it from the hard drive.
6. You can now download a Combo Updater directly from Apple's download site to update your new system to the desired version as well as install any security or other updates. You can also do this using Software Update.

Error using Disk Utility

Hello again everybody. I am in the process of trying to repair my start up volume it appears to have an error. In disk utility I tried running "verify disk" however it gives an error that their is a"Invalid Parent CName in Thread Record." It then stops checking the volume. How would I go about fixing this. I am running a Power Mac G4 Dual 1.42Ghz with OS X 10.4.10 The start up disk is on a 20 GB hard Drive and I have a 80GB as the slave. Again any information on how to repair would be great. In fsck I get an error like above but with (4, 2065)at the end.
Matthew Williams

I apologize if I'm intruding: I'm not sure where to post a question.
I have attempted to do a disk repair and permissions repair on my mac G4. When doing the repair, I get a very long list of red "Invalid key length'. Ultimately it will indicate it can not repair. I have used Norton Systemworks; also with some problem. After reading some of the discussions at this forum, I've come to think Norton may have contributed to the problem. I have just ordered Diskwarrior from the Apple Store. I am led to believe this may help my situation. Please advise if this is correct, and/or there are any other remedies I might try. Do I need to completely erase my startup disk, or will Diskwarrior work through that? Does it sound like I have a more serious problem that may not be able to be fixed.
Thank you

Wiping free space on Lion using Disk Utility Erase Free Space

I'm using Lion (OS X 10.7.3) on a late 2011 MacBook Pro.
FileVault is active.
I tried to erase free space on my HD using Disk Utility. It started by creating a temporary file and presented me with an indeterminate indicator-bar (one that looks like a barber pole). Activity Monitor showed an average CPU utilization of 2% by Disk Utility but disk activity was normal and usage stayed constant.
I left this process on for about twelve hours but Activity Monitor showed nothing new and the DU indicator-bar stayed indeterminate with Creating Temporary File.
I tried to skip this DU process and was presented with another indeterminate bar: Skipping. Again, AM showed nothing new so I force-quit DU and used sudo find / -type f -size +500M to see if any temporary files were created. I did not find any new files.
I rebooted and tried it from the terminal: sudo diskutil secureErase freespace 1 /Volumes/Macintosh\ HD. The result was the same: No progress.
BTW, if you run the above command, make sure you include the freespace portion. If you don't, diskutil will happily start securely erasing the entire disk.
Not being able to wipe free space using DU may have something to do with FileVault being active. Can someone confirm this?
What I love about working on a Mac is I have a Unix-based computer that I can tinker with. So I was able to wipe free space manually: dd if=/dev/urandom of=~/DELETEME followed by srm -s ~/DELETEME.
Hope this helps someone.

Bidit Mazumder wrote:
BTW, if you run the above command, make sure you include the freespace portion. If you don't, diskutil will happily start securely erasing the entire disk.
Why we don't mention such terminal commands around here.

Invalid Volume Free Block Count Error In Disk Utility

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