Repair Disk and Lion

I have Lion running on both my '07 iMac and '08 Macbook. I tried running 'Verify Disk' from the Disk Utility on my main "Macintosh HD" and was told on both machines:
"This disk needs to be repaired. Start up your computer with another disk (such as your Mac OS X installation disc), and then use Disk Utility to repair this disk."
While I have a Snow Leopard disk, Lion did not come with one. What is the easiest way to fix the drives?
Thanks for any help.

Restart with the Shift key held down to quietly run a repair tool.
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My MBP won't boot anymore after "repair disk" and "repair disk permission"

My 2011 MBP 15 with Lion stopped working after I attempted to use Disk Utility to "repair disk" and "repair disk permission".
It was having weird issues before I attempted the repairs, it was freezing every few seconds no matter what I am doing, the whole thing would freeze with only the mouse movable. then after a few seconds it goes back to normal again. This happened after I downloaded and installed some updates from Apple. I don't know if the updates would cause this or it's something else.
In Disk Utility, "Repair Disk Permission" took 5 hours. While "Repair Disk" resulted in "Disk utility can't repair this disk. Back up as many of your files as possible, reformat the disk, and restore your backed up files".
Now when it boots, there's a loading bar under the Apple logo, it loads half way and shuts down itself.
I can still get into CMD+R Utilities though.
Any idea how I can extract the data out of the disk? I'm going to format and do a clean install.

mike2016 wrote:
This happened after I downloaded and installed some updates from Apple. I don't know if the updates would cause this or it's something else. Now when it boots, there's a loading bar under the Apple logo, it loads half way and shuts down itself.
A stopped loading bar is indicative of a failed firmware install that didn't complete, it's trying to install and is failing.
Do a PRAM reset
https://support.apple.com/kb/HT1379
Reboot into Safe Mode, (shift key down) then reboot normally and see if that fixes the issue.
https://support.apple.com/kb/TS2570
You may have to try to reinstall your firmware manually, you'll need another disk burning Mac
Find your exact firmware(s) here (or on Apple Downloads page)
https://support.apple.com/kb/HT1237
Apply instructions here
https://support.apple.com/kb/HT2213
Lastly it could be your boot drive is failing or something wrong happened with the update and accounting for all the to the other issues.
A OS X "overwrite" may solve the issue, may not.
See 10.5, 106. 10.7 OS X "overwrite" here
https://discussions.apple.com/message/16276201#16276201

My external drive won't mount. Disk Utility says it can't repair disk and to backup the disk and reformat, but how can I do that if it won't mount?

My external drive won't mount. Disk Utility says it can't repair disk and to backup the disk and reformat, but how can I do that if it won't mount?

See mount section in 1st linked article.
Disk Unmount Using Terminal
Disk Utility – Force Mount Disk

Disk Utility says "drive can't be repaired, disk and restore your backed up files."

My Mac Book Pro froze yesterday and I had to force restart it. It had been showing me messages that my hard drive disk was full for a while and I was in the middle of transferring files to my external hard drive and I accidentally put a huge large file from my external hard drive into the trash on my laptop which makes me wonder if that means I added more GB to a computer that was already very full. Anyway, after freezing I restarted it and the desktop wouldn't load properly. The desktop picture was there, but folders on desktop did not appear, finder bar was missing and the dock was acting super slow and nothing worked when clicked on. Then the next few attempts were around the same result and eventually became stuck on the apple logo, spinning gear and a progress bar that was not loading at all.
Here's what I've tried so far:
Safe mode- nothing happens
Command + R - I am unsure how to work this since I can't seem to find an internet connection when it prompts for one. None of the internet connections have much signal and my own information doesn't seem to load since the gear spins to find the internet connection name and password I typed to load it but can't seem to find it. Perhaps I have the wrong internet information, but I don't think so.
I tried Command + S to use in single user mode and type in a command to help fix the drive, BUT, even though the black screen and white lettering mode did show up, it remained in a place where I was not allowed to type anything and the last thing written at the bottom of the screen was something about set up for bluetooth, I think. I tried this twice and both times it stopped in the same place and I could not type a command.
Disk Utility using installation dvd to verify and repair disk. Verify says disk needs repair and then repair has some red colored phrases: Invalid volume file count. (It should be 786374 instead of 786274) Incorrect number of thread records. And there was another problem listed but I do not remember it. Then, near the end of repairing it says: "Disk Utility stopped repairing Macintosh HD." It tells me it couldn't repair the disk and that I should back up as many of my files as possible, reformat the disk and restore backed up files.
That would be fine and dandy, but I have no idea how to back up my files and do all this. I have no idea how to exactly get the data off my hard drive. If someone does, please list a step by step guide for me on how to do so.
I have an external hard drive and I tried plugging in and selecting the hard drive and making a "New Image" to copy to the external hard drive destination, but it just stops a few seconds into it and tells me there is an input/output error. I tried read only, read/write only, compressed options for making a copy and all yield the same result.
In Disk Utility, I believe I have a partition -the Macintosh HD. I have listed on the left hand side: 320.07 GB Hitachi HTSS45.....etc. and below it in non-bolded, grey lettering it says "Macintosh HD."
The Hitachi, when clicked upon, shows the S.M.A.R.T. status as Verified and the Macintosh HD doesn't show much in details except for "Not mounted."
At one point, the Macintosh HD was in bold lettering and seemed to be mounted for a few minutes. When that happened, I was able to see the details reading: Mount Point: /Volumes/Macintosh HD, Capacity: 319.73 GB, Available: 11.92 GB, Used: 307.81 GB, etc.
I'm getting nervous to keep turning on and off the computer on force start and shut downs, especially since I have been reading up that the longer the computer is on, the more the hard drive is in use and the more chance for it to start deleting or overwriting my files. Is this true?
It's not mounted anymore since it was momentarily mounted. I just want to get my files off the disk and save them to my external hard drive. That is my main goal right now. What can I do?
Thank you in advance for your help!

If you want to preserve the data on the boot drive, you must try to back up now, before you do anything else. It may or may not be possible. If you don't care about the data, you can skip this step.
There are several ways to back up a Mac that is unable to fully boot. You need an external hard drive to hold the backup data.
1. Boot into Recovery (command-R at startup) or from a local Time Machine backup volume (option key at startup.) Launch Disk Utility and follow the instructions in the support article linked below, under “Instructions for backing up to an external hard disk via Disk Utility.”
How to back up and restore your files
2. If you have access to a working Mac, and both it and the non-working Mac have FireWire or Thunderbolt ports, boot the non-working Mac in target disk mode by holding down the key combination command-T at the startup chime. Connect the two Macs with a FireWire or Thunderbolt cable. The internal drive of the machine running in target mode will mount as an external drive on the other machine. Copy the data to another drive. This technique won't work with USB, Ethernet, Wi-Fi, or Bluetooth.
How to use and troubleshoot FireWire target disk mode
3. If the internal drive of the non-working Mac is user-replaceable, remove it and mount it in an external enclosure or drive dock. Use another Mac to copy the data.

I've tried PRAM reset, repair disk and permissions but cannot boot up after recent install of OSX 8.4. Please help

After having to do a forced shut down (holding down power button) due to freezing I cannot again progress past the grey screen with the apple logo. The spinning cog comes on at first then disappears leaving just the apple logo (in case that is sognificant).
I have tried to find a solution through the support pages but have unfortunately been unsuccessful in my endeavours so do apologise I have overlooked the obvious and would really appreciate some help. I've just started the second year of my Uni and the timing couldn't be worse.
I have tried the following:
1) held down option and started in "recovery 10.8.4" from which I used disk utility to "repair disk", which at first needed some repairs and then I ran it again for the second time to confirm it had a clean bill of health.
2) I then ran "repair disk permissions" and repeated a second time to confirm it was all working well (however one error remained "warning: SUID file "system/library/CoreS... has been modified and will not be repaired" but have read that this should not be a big problem) After which I tried to start up again and it hung with the apple logo on the grey screen.
3) tried resetting the PRAM by holding down cmd+option+P+R before powering up, but it only chimes once and then restarts the mac, then chimes once and repeats the process again in and endless cycle.
4) I then tried 1 and 2 again and then tried to reinstall OSX 10.8.4 from the recovery mode, but this came up with the message "an error occured while preparing the installation. Try running this application again" to which I followed but to no avail.
5) I tried starting up in safe mode by holding down shift after the chime at startup but safe mode did not start after 3 hours. During which point I was drowning my frustration in the pub.
6) I tried starting in verbose mode with cmd+V but after running the script it reverts back to the grey screen.
I have not tried booting from an install disk as im a few hours from home on a uni campus with no apple store in sught and all day lectures so no hope to visit far away stores. I hope I have explained it in enough detail and appreciate any direction or thoughts as to it being salvageable. Failing which it might be time go go back to the pub and remember the importance of regular backups!
Many thanks
Stephen

I have one more development to add. In step "4" above I suspected that it could be something to with the Ethernet settings as I hadn't had the option of typing in the colleges wifi credentials. So I tried the "get help online" option to test it, managed to sign in and tried the step 4 again.
This time I received a different error message "could not find installation information for this machine".
Thanks

Power Mac G5 won't start even after Repairing Disk and Permissions

I Repaired the Disk first by booting from the install disk and it did repair 1 item and then tried to reboot into safe mode to repair permissions and it didn't boot. I restarted by booting from the install disk again and repaired permissions and it seemed to repair alot of stuff. But it still won't start up.
I get stuck at the blue screen with the apple logo above a status bar that never moves.

Hi Larry,
Appears to be time for An Archive & Install, which gives you a new OS, but can preserve all your files, pics, music, settings, etc., as long as you have plenty of free disk space...
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=107120

Can mountain lion be installed on external disk and lion remain on internal?

I have an app that I need that is not ready for Mtn Lion, can I load Mtn Lion on an external disk and boot it or Lion on internat?

It sounds like you're question was already answered, but for the sake of people who want to know how to install to an external, here's a link http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/install-osx-lion-external-drive-test-mac/ .
- Luke

Mac won't start following change of permissions. I have started In recovery and run repair disk and reset permissions to all disks inc backups. What do I do now to get the mac up and running without loosing thousands of pics and all other data? I

The problems occurred after photoshop elements said I did not have the necessary permissions to save changes to a photo. I then allowed all to permissions to all disks, I have three external hard drives but I cannot restore from any as they all appear to have some kind of problem. I have repaired all disks in recovery mode and verified all inc mac hd. All permissions are repaired and all disks are saying repaired. So where do I go from here to get the mac back on running mavericks without loosing thousands of photos and all other data ?
Do I need to reinstall Mac OS ?
The only options I get to reinstall is mountain lion?.. I have been running the latest mavericks .?.
Do I reinstall and then update?
The external drives are not smart drives so how do I ensure I retain all my files?

your best option is to connect an external drive and reinstall OS X on that external to run the system from. then copy all your files over to the new install for safe keeping. then try doing a reinstall of Mavericks over the top of the current install on the internal drive and test.

DISK UTILITY PROBLEMS : unable to verify or repair disk and/or permissions

hi all...first time poster.
i have been reading past posts for 3 hours and i am still unable to resolve these issues i am having.
it all started with a failed attempt to install an update (QB2006_R4Updater.dmg) that i downloaded for a new version of Quickbooks Pro 2006 that i just purchased. the install continuously got hung up on "Searching Macintosh HD" looking for the application.
i called quickbooks tech support and after about an hour of troubleshooting and 4-5 failed attempts to boot in safe mode...the rep told me it seemed to be a system problem.
regarding safe mode:
when i try to boot up in safe mode...immediately after hearing the start up tone i press and hold shift until the gray apple appears then release it. the system continues to boot for about 30-45 seconds and then shuts down.
regarding disk utility:
i have tried to verify and repair the disk permissions to no avail...i also booted from the osX 10.4.6 installer disk (i am currently running osX 10.4.7) and tried to verify and repair the disk but on every occassion it gets hung up a little less than half way through - no error message - it will just keep going until i need to reboot the system. i cant even force quite disk utility.
i have also tried removing the itunes.pkg file as well as moving itunes to the desktop followed by running disk utility...but the same results.
some other info about this system...
as well as running all of tigers bundled software...i have installed cs2, microsoft office x, suitcase fusion, windows media player and quickbooks pro 2006.
not really sure what i need to or should do...just want to get the system so i can continue to keep up with software updates and use the utilities to keep everything working properly.
thank you in advance for any help you might be able to give me.
17" iMac PowerPC G4 Mac OS X (10.4.7)

From what you've described there are several possibilities, none very encouraging:
1. You have a motherboard problem
2. You have bad RAM
3. Your hard drive is failing or damaged
Given what you've described I would recommend trying this:
Boot into single-user mode by restarting the computer and after the chime press and hold down COMMAND-S keys until the computer starts up to a black screen with white type. When startup has completed you should see a prompt. At the prompt enter the following commands pressing return after each:
prompt> /sbin/fsck -fy
If you do not get a return message "Filesystem OK" then repeat the above command until the "Filesystem OK" message appears. If you repeat the command more than seven times without success, then the drive cannot be repaired. To restart OS X enter:
prompt> reboot
Download the utility TinkerTool System and use it to clear out all user and system caches, font caches, and log files.
If none of this works, then you will have to reformat the hard drive as follows:
1. Boot from your Tiger DVD. After the installer loads select your language and click on the Continue button, then 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. Click on the Partition tab in the DU main window.
3. 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 will take 30 minutes to an hour or more depending upon the drive size.
Quit DU and return to the installer. Proceed to install OS X. You can upgrade to the most recent version by downloading and installing the Combo Updater for the desired version level.

Repairing permissions and disk from downloaded upgrade from Leopard to Lion.

Can I make a boot disk from a downloaded version of 10.7.5? I need to repair disk and disk permissions from a boot disk, and my Leopard disk will not boot the air w/ 10.7 Lion.

You do that by booting into recovey mode (⌘R) and running Disk Utility from there.

Constantly need to repair disk using Recovery HD to get Lion 10.7.2 to boot

I have a Macbook Pro 17" 2.8ghz I7 with 8gb of ram, OS X Lion 10.7.2, model series MacbookPro6,1....
Every time i reboot the computer or turn it on i get past the gray screen with the apple, it begins to load my desktop but stops just before it finishes loading everything. I can see my background image, some of my desktop icons, anywhere from 1/4 - 1/2 of my icons at the top, then i get the pinwheel and it doesnt progress any further than that.
The only way that i can get the computer to boot after this is to hold down the power button, wait for it to turn off... wait 20 seconds, reboot into the Recovery HD and use the disk utility to repair disk and repair permissions on Macintosh HD. This usually works, but one time i actually had to download a new copy of lion. After i repair disk & permissions, i reboot the computer and it responds like nothing has happened. My problem is that i do not want to have to constantly repair the disk and permissions every time i reboot the computer.
I did have one problem before all of this began, but it was about a month before this started occuring. I sent a bunch of unneeded documents and duplicate files to the trash as well as a couple of programs that didnt work anymore using appcleaner. When i tried to empty the trash, it deleted all but one file, or should i say most of the file. It was Dragon Dictate... it deleted everything from the main app package except for a plugin file. The plugin apparantly took up 0 bytes on the disk, and nothing i could do would allow me to delete the file. Finder froze every time i tried to delete the file, or should i say hung at the emptying trash window. Finder was still working. I could still open windows and move files around, however, i couldnt get the trash to empty. I left the screen up all night into the next afternoon, and it still hadnt deleted the file. The only way i could get it to not hang was to remove the file from the trash, and delete what else i had to delete. The only way i was able to get trash to stop hanging was to force relaunch finder by going to Finder>>Force Quit...>> select finder>> relaunch. Sometimes finder would relaunch, and sometimes it wouldnt. The only guarantee that i had to relauch finder was to reboot the computer. Eventually i jsut moved the file to a folder named Can not delete..... Now a month later i have to repair the drive each tiem i want to reboot the computer.
I know the drive isnt failing because i dual boot to windows, and that works flawlessly. No problems with reading/writing, other permissions, hardware, software, bluetooth, network, monitor, sound, camera.... nothing wrong on the windows side.

Your problems started when you used AppDelete, it searches for files and can accidentally delete some files as well.
You should never use such a program, it's no subsitute for the developers uninstaller.
Because your issues reside in the Applications folder, a global use, your going to have to perform a backup, erase and resintall of Lion, all your programs and return of files from backup.
As you learned, a OS X overwrtie install isn't going to work.
Also when you use Disk Utility to Erase the Lion Parititon, use the Erase>Security Opiton> Zero aspect, it takes longer but maps off failing sectors which may be responsible for your issues and ones in the future.
Map off as many as these failing sectors as possible, with Zero Erase and Erase Free Space once in awhile. SSD owners need not apply.

Disk utility can't repair my 2011 Macbook. It says "disk and restore your backed-up files". Now what?

My Macbook crashed so I tried everything to restart it. what finally worked is opening it from the install disk. I performed a "repair disk", and after saying "invalid node structure" and "invalid record count", it says it cannot repair the disk. I don't know what step to take next. How do I see if time machine has backed my files up? Do I need to erase the HD and reinstall?
Thanks!

It seems your hard disk is dead, but you must check further. The easiest way to check is to connect your mac to another mac via firewire cable, then restart in Target Mode. this will turn you mac into an external drive, just the right place to test if your disk is still good.
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?path=Mac/10.7/en/mchlp1443.html
See also
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?path=Mac/10.7/en/mh26785.html

Have a mac book pro that crashed. ran disk utility to repair. comp booted and ran for short time. then crashed. ran repair again. disk utility said it could not repair files and i needed to format hard drive and start again. now nothing works

have a mac book pro that crashed. ran disk utility to repair. comp booted and ran for short time. then crashed. ran repair again. disk utility said it could not repair disk and needed to format and start again.
comp said it could not unmount disk and now when comp trys to boot all i get is a question mark on the screen. help

Erase and Install
1. Boot from your Snow Leopard 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 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. Quit DU after formatting completes and return to the installer. Install Snow Leopard.
5. After restart into Snow Leopard download and install Mac OS X 10.6.8 Update Combo v1.1.

Mac book pro spinning on startup but never gets to log in screen, repair disk says unable to repair, 2007 computer running Lion, how do I reinstall Lion to the Mac HD, which is the disk that needs repair, but cannot be repaired?

2007 MacBook Pro, was shut down properly last PM. Today on startup, spins and spins but cannot get to log in screen. Held option key with restart and using disk utilities the mac HD showing needs repair, but cannot be repaired. Says save as many files as possible and reinstall software. Can't save files, can't get into them. Willing to reinstall without saving, but can't because only disk option for the reinstall showing is the repair disk, and it is showing as locked. What to do?

Sounds like the drive is starting to fail. Have you ever change the drive in that system? If not then it is time to think about doing that, the sooner the better.

Time machine full backup after disk and disk permissions repair

my macbook would not boot so i inserted the snow leopard DVD and did a disk repair and disk permissions repair, after that it booted perfectly but when it went to do a backup it did a full backup of 149GB , i am unsure why it has done this and would like to know how to stop it as i am trying to save space on my time capsule.
thank you in advance

Brycycle wrote:
i do not wish to let it do a full backup so as to save space on my time capsule but this is the log up till when it started transferring data.
I'm afraid you don't have much choice. You do have lot of space available, though.
Node requires deep traversal:/ reason:must scan subdirs|new event db|
No pre-backup thinning needed: 165.92 GB requested (including padding), 507.60 GB available
The "deep traversal" means TM compared everything on your system to the backups, and estimates that about 138 GB is new/changed (it adds 20% for workspace on the TM disk - the "padding" in the message).
If there's about 138 GB on your system, see #D3 in [Time Machine - Troubleshooting|http://web.me.com/pondini/Time_Machine/Troubleshooting.html] (or use the link in *User Tips* at the top of this forum), for some common reasons for TM to do a new full backup.
If there's more, #D4 there has some common reasons for large backups.
If all you did was repair disk and permissions, neither should have resulted.
the reason i did a permission repair and disk repair while running from the install disk was because my laptop would not boot from the internal disk so i did both just to be safe.
That's fine; just do the Permissions Repair again, while running normally.

Repair Disk and Lion

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