Possibly dumb Q: Running Disk Utility when booted from OSX Install DVD

Hey there Mac folks. I was wondering about this:
I'm running OSX 10.4.5 on a 2x2.0GHz G5 with 4 internal drives. (I stuffed 2 into the PCI bay with a G5Jam bracket kit.) I use Disk Utility v10.5.3, which is current for OSX 10.4.5, when doing basic maintenance/repair on my secondary drives, as well as to repair permissions and do a verify (but not repair) on my startup drive. When I have to do a repair on my startup drive, barring the use of other 3rd party apps, I have to boot from my OS 10.4 DVD, and use the Disk Utility there. However, since it's a 10.4.0, the Disk Utility there is v 10.5.0.
So, the question: Should I care? Any chance of a problem? I know the Disk Utility's repairing doesn't really care what OS, if any, is installed on a drive it's repairing (at least I think that's true?), but I have no idea what changes/improvemnts have been made to Disk Utility. Actually, I've always wondered about this sort of thing since OS 10.0.
I think I can make a copy of my Tiger install DVD with the newer version of Disk Utility inserted onto it, replacing the old one with v10.5.3. I don't know if it's worth the trouble though. I figure that for the newbie users, Apple would have thought of this, and addressed it if it were a potential problem. (Despite this Q, I'm not a newbie!)

Hi, JonYo.
Booting from your Tiger Install DVD to Verify or Repair your startup disk is fine. No worries!
The major changes in Disk Utility from 10.5 to 10.5.3 were:
• Better handling of overlapped extent allocation errors. Third-party utilities, such as Alsoft’s DiskWarrior may still be better at this task.
• The addition of live verification: the ability to Verify your startup disk while booted from such. One of the intermediate releases
The key point is to only use Tiger-compatible disk utilities with Tiger.
If you've implemented a proper backup and recovery solution where you are creating a bootable duplicate of your startup disk, you could also start up from the duplicate and run the latest version of Disk Utility on such to Verify or Repair your usual startup disk. For advice on the backup and recovery solution I employ, see my "Backup and Recovery" FAQ.
Computing without a comprehensive backup and recovery solution is like driving without auto insurance.
Good luck!
Dr. Smoke
Author: Troubleshooting Mac® OS X
Note: The information provided in the link(s) above is freely available. However, because I own The X Lab™, a commercial Web site to which some of these links point, the Apple Discussions Terms of Use require I include the following disclosure statement with this post:
I may receive some form of compensation, financial or otherwise, from my recommendation or link.

Similar Messages

Can't restore from Disk Utility while booted from OS installation DVD

I'm absolutely astounded by this.
I have a new MacBook Pro 17". I restored my files to it and in short order, had it too full/fragmented to re-partition it for Boot Camp.
So I decided to image the disk and store that image file on a FireWire drive, wipe the system disk and restore it cleanly from the image file backup, hoping that would result in contiguous blocks used so that I could then re-partition for Boot Camp.
When booted off the OS X for Intel DVD-ROM disc (10.4.6 - the one that came with my MacBook Pro), if I get out of Installer and into Disk Utility, if I select the internal hard drive and click the Restore tab, I can easily select the hard drive backup image with the button. But the "Destination Disk:" box is only accessible via dragging the disk to the box.
There's one little problem - there is no Desktop, so the disk(s) do not appear on the Desktop. There is no way to drag the target disk to be restored to into the Destination Disk: box. You cannot drag a disk out from the little sidebar inside the Disk Utility window over to the Destination box. I tried. You can't drag any disk anywhere from that sidebar. It's clear that the only way to drag a disk anywhere is if it's shown on the Desktop in Finder (which isn't running when the installation DVD-ROM is booted from). There is simply no way that I can find to restore a disk drive from a saved backup disk image when booted from the installation DVD-ROM.
Please tell me I'm ******** and missing something, or if there's a Better Way to do this. (I can't seem to run Retrospect while booted off the DVD-ROM, so I can't restore from my Retrospect full backup of the disk, either. Joy!)
(I'm really curious if there's a Better Way - especially because it appears I can't boot from an external FireWire or USB 2.0 drive, so I need something that will work in this extremely limited installation DVD-ROM booted environment, I think.)
MacBook Pro 17" dual 2.16 GHz ; Mac OS X (10.4.6) Booted from Mac OS X for Intel 10.4.6 installation DVD-ROM

You can use an external bootable drive with a MacBook Pro -- check your manual or the built in help. Your problem is that for some reason, you can't install a bootable system on one. There are several reasons why Installer won't enable you to do so: insufficient space, incompatible partition scheme (should be GUID) or file system (should be HFS+ or similar), or wrong installation option selected.
It is possible this is related to why you can't drag the startup volume to the destination box in Disk Utility. It must be an HFS+ variant file system.
I think you should check carefully with D.U. the partition scheme of all your drives & the file system format of all the volumes involved. Also run repair disk, as someone has already pointed out.
The behavior with the Restore function is not normal -- you should be able to drag a volume to the destination box from the list.

Hard disk doesn't appear in disk utility when booting from dvd only via usb

i put a new hard disk (wd3200bevt) in my macbook white and my macbook pro 2.4 (not alu). when i boot from the dvd (10.5) disk utility doesnt find any disk. when i boot from an usb stick with leopard on it then it found the disk and i can install the system. when the system is installed and the books can boot the installed system anything looks fine, but when i boot from the original dvds disk utility doesn't find any hard disk once more.... when i boot from my usb stick it shows the new disk in disk utility. what is the problem when i boot from dvd?

don't know but try two boots in a row. worked for me.

No hard drive found on disk utility while booting from OS X dvd

My Macbook crashed recently, the screen wouldn't give me video when I opened the lid from closing it earlier and the fan was doing its ominous thing with getting louder and louder. I had to force shut down. On restarting it wouldn't boot beyond the infamous grey screen, where the loading sign eventually turned into the prohibitory sign. I found a support article and worked my way through safe boot, various resets to eventually booting from the OS X dvd (Leopard 10.6.??), at which point (according to the article), I was supposed to perform a disk utility check. Except that in disk utility nothing shows up except for the software dvd, no hard drive or anything else to be seen. On checking the system profiler I found that "there was an error while scanning for serial ATA devices" (which I found out means hard drive :-P).
What do I do from here? I haven't been able to find a support article that deals with this exact situation, what more can I try to solve this problem?
Thanks in advance.

That means the drive needs to be repartitioned if it's still functional. See:
Drive Preparation
1. 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 Utilities menu.
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. Under the Volume Scheme heading set the number of partitions from the drop down menu to one. Click on the Options button, set the partition scheme to GUID (for Intel Macs) or APM (for PPC Macs,) then click on the OK button. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Partition button and wait until the process has completed.
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 Security 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.

Kernel panic when booting from Tiger install DVD

Short version: When I try to boot up from the Tiger installation DVD, my Power Mac G5 gives me a kernel panic. Can anyone help?
Here's the story:
I have a Power Mac G5 that I've been running Leopard on for quite some time now. Unfortunately, the software I need to use (Final Cut Studio 1) has some incompatibilities with Leopard, so I was thinking I would put Tiger back on the machine in a separate partition on the second hard drive.
I tried booting the Power Mac using the retail (black label) Tiger DVD and holding down the "C" key. The Apple logo appears on screen, but is immediately followed by a kernel panic. I'm never able to access the features on the disc. The same thing happens if I try holding down "option" during boot instead: I'm correctly allowed to choose whether to boot from the hard drive or the DVD, but once I choose the DVD, I get the Apple logo and then a kernel panic.
The same Tiger DVD works fine on other computers, so I know it's not the disc. And the Power Mac itself handles everything else without problem.
I'm kind of desperate, as I need to finish this project this week. Any help you could give would be greatly appreciated!

[Apple docs: What's a kernel panic? (Mac OS X)|http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=106227]
[Topic : kmosx: Kernel Panics? Don't panic too !|http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=121923]
[X-Lab: Resolving Kernel Panics|http://www.thexlab.com/faqs/kernelpanics.html]
[Tutorial: Avoiding and eliminating Kernel panics|http://www.macfixit.com/article.php?story=20060911080447777]
[Tutorial: An introduction to reading Mac OS X crash reports|http://www.macfixit.com/article.php?story=20060309075929717]
[12-Step Program to Isolate Freezes and/or Kernel Panics|http://macosg.com/group/viewtopic.php?t=800]

Can't Boot from OSX Install DVD

my problem is identical to this one and i can't find solution. so i don't unerstand what's wrong. i try Tiger and Leopard dist on CD and DVD media without success. if i restore distributive disk on partition on hard disk my mini is boot ok from it. DVD-drive seems to be ok coz i'm boot from that drive on Ubuntu or MorphOS without any trouble.
Message was edited by: hooddy
Message was edited by: hooddy

no it doesn't. and now i know that i need disk which complected my mini or retail box. thanx.

Hard disk errors, but can't boot from the install DVD

My mini reports disk errors when I run the Disk Utility Verify on the main boot hard drive. However, I have not been able to boot the computer from the install DVD. I try restarting while holding down the C key, and still it boots from the internal drive. I've tried option-restart, and do not get the opportunity to select a boot disk. An external USB drive, on which I periodically clone the main disk, now does not mount. Disk Utility says it too has errors, and it is unable to repair them. A third external USB drive appears to be OK.
The computer is still operating, apparently normally, otherwise. This computer should still be under warranty. I bought it in April, as I recall.
Any help will be much appreciated.

<sigh>
I've attempted most of these things.
The drive on which I had the system clone died at essentially the same time as the problem came up with the errors on the main drive. I suspect this was due to the same root cause, or a related problem, just because of the timing. I'd cloned the main drive approximately a week previously with apparently no problem.
I also have been unable to boot from the install DVD.
The other external drive, the one that still works, is one I use mostly for rolling backups of my documents, photo and music folders. It is not big enough to hold a clone of the main drive. In any case, I'm assuming that if I attempted to clone it now, it would either not work, or I'd simply copy the errors to the clone.
I haven't used the Time Machine, since I didn't feel I had an external drive large enough to make it useful.
What 3rd party software do you recommend? Keep in mind, as I also mentioned earlier, that the computer is still under warranty, and I'm loath to do anything that could be construed as voiding the warranty.
I'm also on a pretty restricted budget, due to recent car repairs.

Hi, i have tryed to install os x leopard, (its a old imac) , disk utility is greyed out , my install dvd cant find any hdd to install on , my only way to format and configure is through terminal but dont know what commands to execute

hi, i have tryed to install os x leopard, (its a old imac) , disk utility is greyed out , my install dvd cant find any hdd to install on , my only way to format and configure is through terminal but dont know what commands to execute...
i tryed diffrent commands such as diskutil eraseDisk JHFS+ Disk1
diskutil list , wont show up my harddrive , i now its functionally cause it shows up in disk utility with name and i can get info about it , but everything is greyed out can only switch between "erase , partition , recover , Raid ,....
when i click the apple in the top left corner the whole menu is greyed out... what to do ? help me please
Sincerly AppleNoob92
p.s i have no experience in apple imac's at all never used before, but im kinda windows nerd so computers i understand but this imac make my insane, cant seem to find any solutions anywhere on the WWW....

Your HD may be crashed, so you probably should use the oringinal install discs to run Apple Hardware Test in extended mode. If error codes appear this confirms a hardware failure. In addition you cannnot repair the HD using Disk Utility from the startup disk, you have to use the origninal Install discs that shipped with the computer or the most up-to-date version of OS X on a disc that you have.

Cannot repair disk errors for OSX boot volume using Disk Utility while booted from different disk

I have tried three times to repair my boot volume (OSX 10.6.8 Snow Leopard) permissions using Disk Utility while booted up on a different volume (running Snow Leopard 10.6.4). After hours of Disk Utility reporting that it HAD fixed the problems, an immediate click of "Verify permissions" immediately results in the apparently same continuous stream of permission errors.

Then better luck next time around. Here are some ideas for then:
How to Install Lion Successfully - You must have Snow Leopard 10.6.7 or 10.6.8 Installed
A. Repair the Hard Drive and Permissions:
Boot from your Snow Leopard Installer disc. After the installer loads select your language and click on the Continue button. Then select Disk Utility from the Utilities. 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 click on the Repair Permissions button. Wait until the operation completes, then quit DU and return to the installer. Now restart normally.
If DU reports errors it cannot fix, then you will need Disk Warrior (4.3.) if DW cannot fix the drive, then you will need to reformat the drive and reinstall Snow Leopard.
B. Make a Bootable Backup Using Restore Option of Disk Utility:
Open Disk Utility from the Utilities folder.
Select the destination volume from the left side list.
Click on the Restore tab in the DU main window.
Check the box labeled Erase destination.
Select the destination volume from the left side list and drag it to the Destination entry field.
Select the source volume from the left side list and drag it to the Source entry field.
Double-check you got it right, then click on the Restore button.
Destination means the backup volume. Source means the internal startup volume.
C. Important: Please read before installing:
If you have a FireWire hard drive connected, disconnect it before installing the update unless you will boot from this drive and install the update on it. Reconnect it and turn it back on after installation is complete and you've restarted.
You may experience unexpected results if you have installed third-party system software modifications, or if you have modified the operating system through other means. (This does not apply to normal application software installation.)
The installation process should not be interrupted. If a power outage or other interruption occurs during installation, use the standalone installer (see below) from Apple Downloads to update. While the installation is in progress do not use the computer.
D. To upgrade to Lion:
Purchase the Lion Installer from the Mac App Store. The download will start quickly. Lion is nearly 4 GBs so a fast internet connection is essential. Download time could run upwards of 4 hours depending upon network conditions and server demands at the time.
Boot From The Lion Installer which is located in your Applications folder.
Follow instructions for installation.

Cannot boot from OSX install disk

I need to run disk utility to repair my boot drive.
I am attempting to startup from my OSX install disk. However, I can't seem to get my machine to do this.
My computer recognizes my install disk when it's in my superdrive. It mounts on the desktop and I can read from it.
However, when i go into system preferences>startup disk, OSX does not show my mounted OSX install disk listed as an option. Also, when I hold down C on startup, my machine ignores the command. And when I hold down the Option key on startup, the only startup option shown is my boot drive, not my OSX install disk.
I've tried zapping my p-ram. I've tried booting up in safe mode and then re-trying the above.
I don't know what else I can do, short of typing in scary UNIX command lines.
I'm going completely mental here. Please help me, somebody.
If it makes any difference, I've got gobs of apps installed, notably Adobe CS3, Final Cut Studio, Firefox, MS Office 2004.

Not that this solves the booting problem, but I recommend installing AppleJack, which is free (and does run on Intel). This provides easy commands for doing a disk check in single user mode (it's the same in the end as typing the Unix commands but much easier to use), and it's much faster than booting from the CD (even if you can).
Having installed it, restart holding command-S: after a lot of text you will get the line 'Type Applejack at the prompt' - you simply do this and then it's just a question of typing 'd' to check the disk and so on. (Incidentally do not run it from the Terminal when booted normally: you must use it only in single-user mode.)

Can neither use disk utility nor reinstall from original install disc

I cannot use the disk utility (pressing D / install disk) - it says that "the machine does not support it"
And I cannot delete and reinstall mac os x - if I boot from the install disk the screen stays light blue
I got my macbook with the 10.4.10 install dvds and the 10.5. update dvd.
About this mac says I have version 10.6. installed.
Why can´t i run the hardware test or delete and reinstall?
thanks
barbara
Message was edited by: barbara1234567

Still, she should be able to boot from the disks that shipped with the Mac?
-mj

How do I create a start-up disk image without restarting from the Install DVD?

(I know this is not MacBook Pro question per se, but I can't find a software discussion this applies to.)
Situation:
My MBP is running, but it's acting up and Onyx tells me that the start-up volume needs repair and directs me to use Disk Utility.
But to repair a volume using Disk Utility, you must restart from the original Install DVD (or some other start-up volume).
But although the MBP will read my old Leopard Install DVD and the Install DVD that came with my MBP, it refuses to restart from either of them. (Trying to do so gets as far as the Apple logo on a gray screen and then hangs there; all disk activity ceases.)
Question:
How can I (is it even possible to) create a start-up volume on my external FW drive without starting my MBP from a DVD?
In other words, is there a way to either:
a) create a disk image from the Install DVD on my external FW drive and then designate that disk image as my start-up drive?
OR
b) create a disk image on my MBP's internal drive that I can then use to run a System Install on my external drive?
(BTW, I know I can create disk images using Disk Utility, but it offers many options for type, compression, etc., that are beyond me. )
Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

OS X Lion includes a new feature called Lion Recovery that includes all of the tools you need to reinstall Lion, repair your disk, and even restore from a Time Machine backup without the need for optical discs.
Restart your Mac holding down the Command-R to enter the Recovery HD.
From there you can use Disk Utilty.
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4718
Stefan

"Resource Busy" error during image creation,using disk utility when booting up from installation DVD

Hi all, first post to this community, wish all well
I have a MBP which is more than three years old, installed with OSX Leopard 10.6. Recently the MBP failed to to start and I tried to follow some articles online, including some from this community, to repair my disk, and more importantly, to backup data on the startup disk. But it does not work quite well so I try to seek some help here.
What I have done is to bootup with the installation DVD, try to verify and repair the disk using disk utility, which tells me it can't repair and recommend to backup, erase and reinstall. Am fine with this recommendation but now the problem is on the backup part. There are two partitons on this 500GB hitachi SATA disk. One is 300G which is for OSX itself, and the other 200G was partitioned for Time Machine. The repair failure is on the OSX partition which contains most of the recent data that I want to backup/restore. And unfortunately the Time Machine backup was stopped about two month ago, for some stupid decision I have made , while I am hoping to recover some data for the past month.
Currently the SMART status of the whole disk is verified, the OSX partition is unmounted with no details in the Available, Used, Number of Files, etc. From what I have researched (correct me if I am wrong), I highlight the OSX partition from the list on the left, click 'New Image' button on top, and select the destination to try to create an image of the current partition. But regardless of my desintation (Time Machine partition, or external USB drive), the imaging process always failed with Resource Busy error. Some online search suggest that the partition must be in unmount status but seems it does not apply to this case.
Would be really appreciated if anyone can give me some advice on what's the 'resource busy' error mean, how to backup the OSX partition, or what are the other possible alternatives.

Very poor idea to keep the Time Machine backup file on the internal hard drive. They should always be put on an external drive. As when the internal fails you lose everything. Which is what I suspect has happened.
More then likely your internal drive is failing. the only options to get a new internal drive and a SATA to USB adapter. Install the new drive inside the system abd install OS X on it. Then once that is finished and you are booting from it connect the old drive to the system with the SATA to USB adapter and copy your files off the old drive. That is if you can.

MacBook Pro 2010 hangs when booting from Windows install disk

Hi there,
I'm trying to install Windows 7 via Bootcamp. I've used Bootcamp before so familiar I'm with how it should work. I have a USB CD drive, which I've used on other machines OK, and an official Windows Install Disk.
After Bootcamp finishes copying over all it's drivers etc to my external USB drive, it reboots. However, whenever I try to boot from a disk it always just hangs on the Apple logo (no spinning cog/wheel). This happens whenever the Bootcamp installer performs a reboot and/or when I hold down ALT on startup and select the boot CD.
I can still boot in to mac partition. Could this be a problem with the EFI? Any help with identifying this problem or how get the information to fix this problem would be much appreciated
Thanks.

Try resetting PRAM…
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=2238

Backlight shuts off when booted on Leopard Install DVD

Booting my macbook pro on the optical drive (by holding the "C" key at power up),with the Leopard install DVD causes the backlight on the display to shut off. Reboot with the OS on the hard disk (OS 10.4) and the display works fine. Playing with the screen brightness keys has no effect on the backlight when booted on the DVD. I also did a pmu reset (remove battery and hold the power button for 5 seconds) The display functions normally during regular use, It only happened when booted on the leopard install DVD. I was able to complete the install with a 2nd display connected to the dvi port and the display now works properly when booted under 10.5. Just wondering if anyone has seen this behavior or has an idea of the cause.

I have the same issue. Can some one please help? Thanks

Possibly dumb Q: Running Disk Utility when booted from OSX Install DVD

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