Start up issues/ disk utility question

I can't get my iMac to start up past the grey apple screen. I booted off my Tiger disk and ran disk utility. My permissions were ok, but when I try and verify and repair the HD I get the following errors:
'invalid key length
invalid node structure
rebuilding catalog B tree
failure on exit'
Any sugestions. I really don't want to lose my current work by reformatting.
Thanks,
Tyler

Same problem with me. Happened on Monday while I was doing a complete backup (using Backup software) before installing Leopard on my Powerbook G4. The computer took ages to restart (and a significant number of hard restarts). Everything seemed to be back to normal (except the wallpaper which had disappeared).
Then I installed Leopard after a complete reformatting of my hard disk. Leopard seemed to be working OK.
Last night, after a restart (normal restart, after re-installing some software), the problem came back : extremely slow start (more than one hour), and slow response afterwards. No wallpaper, everything extremely slow.
I managed to run Disk Utility and found a "Invalid Node Structure" error.
What are the odds of that happening twice in a week ? Can the problem survive a reformatting of the hard drive ?
Or does it simply mean my hard drive is dying ?

Similar Messages

Need urgent help! Mac OS X won't start up. Disk Utility can't find harddisk

I started up my computer today, and instead of booting into Mac OS X, the screen shows a folder with a question mark on it. I can startup my machine using my Panther disks that i've got, but when I go to disk utility, it can't find my hard disk. Looks like the hard disk is not mounting at all.
If i try to install Mac OS X, that also doesn't give me a hard disk to install it on..
I really need help on this because I was supposed to get work done today.
Would diskwarrior sort this problem out?
Cheers

Hi, Ken.
Start with the troubleshooting steps outlined in "Mac OS X: Your Mac won't start up."
If you're running Tiger (your profile does not indicate what version of Mac OS X you are using) and you only have the Panther install discs, do not use Disk Utility from the Panther discs on your startup disk. See "Only use Mac OS X 10.4-compatible disk utilities with Mac OS X 10.4 volumes."
I recommend you have someone at home send you all the discs you should have with you (Apple Hardware Test, Tiger Install Discs, Software Restore and Install discs, etc.) for your eMac by overnight courier, e.g. FedEx.
When you recover from this problem, it's also time to consider investing in a comprehensive Backup and Recovery solution. For advice on the backup and recovery solution I employ, see my "Backup and Recovery" FAQ.
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.

Dual disk Mac mini server - disk issue Disk Utility can't repair

ML Server.
There are two disks: Server OS HD and Server Mac HD. The Server OS HD only contains the OS and the Apple software update catalog. The Users folder is on the Server Mac HD. When the server is started / running, I go to the Disk utility > verify the Server Mac HD and I am told the Journal needs to be replayed but the volume is read only (it can't be!) and some other errors with regards to headers and bitmaps. DU then stops verifying the disk. I start the Mac mini / Server into recovery mode, try to verify the Server Mac HD. There are no problems - the "disk appears to be okay". I did this several times to same effect! How the heck do I repair the disk?

I see what you mean about live verification.
But didn't realize that the common sensical approach of separating the OS data from non-OS (user) data was an unusual config. Figured, it couldn't have any downside to it or atleast the least drawbacks.... had considered striping etc. but coulnd't see THAT much of a benefit in striping given my particular use / scenario. I have the system backed up to an external Time Machine drive (and will be doing an offsite / online backup of mostly user folders in the near future).
It would be interesting to see the results of fsck check though, like John said.
Anyway this whole thing was initiated because one of the users was getting an error of iTunes library being on a read only volume or on a locked volume. After repairing the Mac HD through Disk Utility in recovery mode (evethough no errors were found, I simply repaired it), that issue seemed to have resolved. So eventhough DU reported no errors, there must have been some small error - atleast it seems that way!
Thanks to both for the help!

A disk utility question

Yes I have heard that before and after you install software you should run the disk utility and repair disk permissions. Is this true and I just installed something and I did not do this i'm wondering if it's going to mess up my powerbook. Any help would be great. I just want to make sure I don't mess up the hard drive or the files on the hard drive.

I posted the links to show the extent of the arguments on either side of the "issue." It is a confusing one and many people are passionate about it. Personally, I repair permissions before and after installing system updates. Can't say that I've ever seen anything repaired, but then again, Disk Utility doesn't appear to report about everything it does. I have seen lots of permissions probllems after installing certain items: Safaricon, Flash / Shockwave players, etc. So, when an app uses an installer, I tend to repair permissions afterward, whether or not it's necessary. (Who knows why I haven't had any software issues since I first started using OS X?)
Look, it's a troubleshooting step in the guise of a maintenance step. If you have an issue, try repairing permissions. If you're concerned about whether issues will arise if you haven't repaired permissions, then do it. It can't hurt. It may help, and it only takes a minute.

Cany you help me with Installation and Disk Utility questions?

Greetings.
I'm just learning this stuff, so your responses in basic terminology would be appreciated. (Instruct me as you would my grandson). I have two questions.
First, I bought a used dual 450 from a friend, and, as I do not have the disks or license for the OS, I decided to make it legal by purchasing, registering, and installing new Panther DVDs. As I have been running 10.3.9 and the new disks are labeled eMac 10.3.3, is there anything I should or should not do in the process of installing the new disks? Do I need to install 10.3.3 and then download the 10.3.9 update? Will I lose anything in the process? I assume the eMac disks will work OK on a G4 tower.
Second, After power failures (common where I live), when I re-start the computer, it won't progress beyond the spinning spoke thing (I don't know what it's called), so I have to shut the computer down, and, after one or two more attempts to start up, it seems to start up OK.
I was told that, after a situation like this, I should start up with the install disk and run Disk Utility to repair the start-up disk.
The problem is that when I attempted to do this with the new DVD (again, I have not installed the OS from the DVD yet), the computer started up fine, but Disk Utility ran for a minute or so, then gave me the following message: "Disk Utility has lost its connection with the Disk Management Tool and cannot continue. Please quit and relaunch Disk Utility." This happened twice in succession. I quit Disk Utility (although it warned me that I could rended the disk inoperable). The disk seems OK, but I don't know what the problem is with DIsk Utility, or what to do.
Thanks for your help.
G4 Dual 450 Mac OS X (10.3.9) 1 GB RAM

The problem is that when I attempted to do this with
the new DVD (again, I have not installed the OS from
the DVD yet), the computer started up fine, but Disk
Utility ran for a minute or so, then gave me the
following message: "Disk Utility has lost its
connection with the Disk Management Tool and cannot
continue. Please quit and relaunch Disk Utility."
This happened twice in succession. I quit Disk
Utility (although it warned me that I could rended
the disk inoperable). The disk seems OK, but I don't
know what the problem is with DIsk Utility, or what
to do.
Hi Jerry:
Getting back to the problem you're having with Disk Utility, a number of people have encountered this following an update to iTunes. If I understand correctly, when you bought the G4 it came with Panther installed, which your friend had updated to 10.3.9.
In an earlier post, Kappy posted the most succinct work-around I have found for this error:
1. Navigate to the /Library/Receipts/ folder.
2. Locate the iTunes.pkg and iTunesX.pkg files and move them to the Desktop.
3. Run Disk Utility and repair permissions.
4. Move the .pkg files back into the /Library/Receipts/ folder.
Give it a try and let us know how it works. As for your installation DVD, I have to concur with the others who have posted: it's meant specifically for one model of the eMac. It may work on another mac, but odds are it'll be problematic.
Andrew

Older disk utility question

I can't find my installation disks for 10.4. The most recent one I can find is 10.2
I ran verify disk on Onyx and it told me the disk needed repair and that I needed to run disk utility from the cd.
1. is there any difference between the 10.2 disk utility and the newer 10.4 version that might corrupt the system?
2. I ran multiple tests with Tech tool pro and passed everything. Is there something Disk Utility does that tech tool pro isn't doing?

Wow, you do your research in addition to answering everyone's questions! Apple should be paying you. I'll offer some personal comments, which I'm sure you're familiar with. I'm not a Mac specialist; but as one very experienced system programmer once said to me, 'All operating systems are basically the same'.
I discover things by using theory, then discover them wrong in an 'Ars Technica' article, because Mac changed something. The Wikipedia is essential for puzzling terms and even basics.
In addition to Apple's incomparable 'Help System', 'Apple Support', and 'Apple Boards', I can recommend independent forums (though I don't use them). CNET has a list:
http://forums.cnet.com/mac-forums/
Some favorites are
MacFixIt Forums
http://archive.macfixitforums.com/?tag=blankArea.1
MacRumors Forums:
http://forums.macrumors.com/forumdisplay.php?f=78
Printing
My preference has always been HP inkjet printers, if only for their level of support in CUPS for MacOSX and GNU/Linux. Using their inks & papers, I can spend my time on research rather than fiddling with ICC profiles. (I think I had four drivers, three CUPS PDD's and the standard one.) Rather than change my 'presets', I created a different virtual printer for duplex B&W, 4x6 glossy color, &c. Nice for OOUI users.
Debian GNU/Linux has an HP control panel for fine adjustments, ink levels, etc. There are better printers, I'm told; but HP is Mac & Linux friendly:
HP Support Forum for Mac Printing and Scanning
http://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Mac-printing-and-scanning/bd-p/Macintosh

RAID with Disk Utility question

I've setup a RAID array in disk utility for an external SATA NAS that I have. The Silicon Image Si3132 drivers are not working for Snow Leopard (the SATARAID 5 drivers) so I've installed the base non-raid drivers for 10.6.
I'm using Disk Utility to setup the RAID for now until I get updated drivers from SI. Here's my question:
Let's just say that my Mac Pro one day decides to die and I have to rebuild a new OS on the machine. I will then have this external drive where I've configured a software RAID with Mac OS X. Will I be able to rebuild this RAID and recover the data, or will I lose all of the data if the Mac needs to be rebuilt?
The external enclosure has its own controller, but these silicon image drivers do not seem to want to work as they are kernel panicking.
Will I be able to recover the RAID config with disk utility if I rebuild the machine? My thinking is NO

You have four internal hard drives; ability to boot from FW or USB, and I would include TimeMachine and clone (Carbon Copy Cloner or SuperDuper). Some WHS NAS servers also support TimeMachine and SuperDuper, but I would have local backups. Two minimum.
I would not rely on SI or RAID.
And all you need to boot from, and I'd have at least two, is a basic 30GB partition for Mac OS: a working copy of your system as is, a copy of last version installed also, AND, one "emergency" boot partition for disk maintenance and repairs.
Then use NAS as second line of backup for your data, disk images, etc.

Disk Utility Question

I recently upgraded from 10.5.8 to 10.6.6. Now when I run Disk Utility and use the Verify Disk feature, I no longer get the "HD appears to be okay" in green lettering at the end of the verification. Has anyone else experienced this? What can I do to regain this?

I have had this exact same problem with my Mac Pro for quite some time now. I did partition my start-up drive, and when I run Disk Utility / Verify Disk on one of the partitions, it runs to completion with no errors but also without the "HD appears to be OK" message.
It seems to be running flawlessly, but the lack of that message has made me nervous. I called AppleCare about it about a year ago, and the guy I spoke to was stumped and couldn't figure it out.
I purchased my computer in June of 2009, so it probably came with 10.5.7. I noticed the problem pretty early on, but I don't recall exactly when it was introduced, and it certainly could have been with my upgrade to Snow Leopard.
So, hard to know whether it's a problem or just a fluke. I'm now running 10.6.7 and the problem is still there.

Making disks appendable in Disk Utility question

Hi,
I found these notes about doing multiple burns on a disk (see below and it mentions changing the extention name to .img so that disk utility will give you the make disk appendable option.
I understand all that but my question is will this change the ability of the file to open in a new or old Mac (I have an old iMac G3 slot loading, PowerbookPC G4, and the new intel C2D 17"? My assumption is it will be fine in a new Mac but what about my older G3? I want to burn a disc and leave it appendable but am afraid by changing it to .img it won't open in the G3.
Thanks,
S.
1. Collect the material you want to burn in a folder on your Desktop. Open Disk Utility.
2. Select Disk>New>Disk Image from the Folder menu. Use the dialog box to navigate to the folder you have created on your Desktop, and select "Image." Name your new image, select a destination for the new file, and click "Save." Your file name should end in .img.
3. Back in Disk Utility, click the toolbar "Burn" button, navigate to the disk image you just created, selected, and click "Burn." Another dialog box will appear. Click the blue triangle but in the upper right hand corner. The dialog box will expand, giving you an additional selection of options. Click "Leave disk appendable," then click the "Burn" button to initiate the burn.
4. When you want to add a subsequent burn to that disk, repeat the process described above, but in the final dialog box, you will then see an "Append" button instead of a "Burn" button. This process can be repeated until there is no more free space left on the disk to create appended sessions.

Where is the tip of the week? When I clicked onto this site I saw it on the headline thing but then when I went into the archive of tips and to the top ones displayed I didn't see it.
I tried just using .dmg and then found another site that said to click burn then pop the disk in and then click the make appendable button but I was unable to do this as it was a faded grey colour and did nothing when I clicked on it.
S.

Repairing disk with disk utility question

hello,
I had a few questions regarding disk utility
1. I have 2 user account on my computer, one admin, one regular
2. run disk utility from regular account...tells me i need to repair disk
3. run disk utility from admin account...tells me the disk is fine
4. I want to run the repair disk function from my boot disk to be safe
5. will it erase my data or corrupt any data at all...I do have backup, just want to be prepared for anything

Hello! You can't repair the boot disk unless booted from the install cd/dvd. It sshould do just fine repairing the hd while booted from the cd/dvd but it's always a good idea to have everything backed up. Personally I use multiple bootable clones. Tom

Disk Utility Question + TM

I recently made a partition on my External USB disk for Time Machine.
I split the 120G HD into a 100G and 20G partition.
I wanted to use the 20G for the Time Machine backup... but apparently it's not going to fit on that as planned lol.
So my question is, If I use the Disk Utility app to join the 2 partitions together into 1 again, will it wipe all the files on the 120G drive clean and then join them or will it keep them there and just join them?
Second question is a quick one, can the TM backup be in the same drive as the 120G with all other files? or does it have to be on its own HD alone?
Thanks in advance! I've learned so much from asking questions on these support forums!

I would backup the HD before repartitioning it, no matter what the partition program says.
Yes, TM can use a partition on an external drive. In fact it can share the partition with other files or folders.
I have partitioned my external drive into a small partition for my Tiger backup and use the other larger partition for TM. On one machine, I also have some old backups on the same partition that TM is using
TM creates its own folder and keeps everything for its own use.
The TM partition should be at least 3x as large as the space your are currently using on your HD.
The first TM backup will copy all your files so you immediately lose that much space. Additional backups by TM only copy changes, so the TM file does not grow very fast after that.

Disk Utility Question? Volume needs repair

Hi ALL, I need some help. My system seems to be running slow, so I did a repair permissions - that was OK then I did a Verify Disk and got the message."First Aid Falled" -"Volume Header needs minor repair
d.",1)
S&M Hard Drive
Error: The underlying task reported failure on exit
1 HFS volume checked
Volume needs repair " I have my Tiger Update disk but it will not bootup from it - not sure why? I do have my old install disk form my old iMac Version 10.1 - can I bootup from this disk and try fixing the issue? I would rather download something that's not expensive or free to help fix the issue. Any and all HELP would be GREAT!!!! THANKS Scott

Because the new software is insane. If there is a leading space on a line the line gets deleted. There's more insanity as well, but I would guess that's the problem with your post.
Anyway, your problem is that there is minor damage to your startup disk, which can probably be repaired. However, you can't repair the disk while booted from the disk. Boot from your install disk, then go to the menu and find Disk Utility there and use it to run the repair function, then reboot. If Disk Utility still can't repair the damage you need to buy a copy of Disk Warrior and use it.
Francine
Francine
Schwieder

Backing up files on Disk Utility question

So I followed this steps:
Clone Yosemite, Mavericks, Lion/Mountain Lion using Restore Option of Disk Utility
Boot to the Recovery HD:
Restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the COMMAND and R keys until the menu screen appears. Alternatively, restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the OPTION key until the boot manager screen appears. Select the Recovery HD and click on the downward pointing arrow button.
     1. Select Disk Utility from the main menu then press the Continue
         button.
     2. Select the destination volume from the left side list.
     3. Click on the Restore tab in the DU main window.
     4. Select the destination volume from the left side list and drag it
         to the Destination entry field.
     5. Select the source volume from the left side list and drag it to
         the Source entry field.
     6. Double-check you got it right, then click on the Restore button.
Destination means the external backup drive. Source means the internal startup drive.
Note that the above clone includes both your internal boot volume and the Recovery HD volume you used for the above. I suggest that the backup disk you use has a larger capacity than the one in your computer. That way you should be able to boot from this backup. Since the drive you have is 500 GBs then the external drive you use for the backup clone should be at least 750 GBs.
And I followed the steps mentioned. Source: Macintosh HD ... Destination: My Passport for Mac. It asked me if I wanted to erase the content on My passport for mac and I said yes. But then it says "Restore Failure: Source volume is read/write only and cannot be unmounted, so it can't be block copied". What does that mean? And what do I do?
I already tried:
Disk ulitiy and click on "Macintosh HD" and then click "New Image" and then select "My Passport for Mac" to save on there. I put "compressed"for Image Format AND For encrytion, i pick "128-bit AES encryption (recommended)"
I put in a password when prompted but after that it says "Disk Ultitiy wants to use the "login" keychain." I put in my ususally login password that I use to get on to my desktop but that doesn't work. I have the option to press ok or cancel. I pressed cancel and the progress bar to saving my macintosh HD to MY external hard drive portable didn't show any blue bar progress for 15 mins or so...

So I followed this steps:
Clone Yosemite, Mavericks, Lion/Mountain Lion using Restore Option of Disk Utility
Boot to the Recovery HD:
Restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the COMMAND and R keys until the menu screen appears. Alternatively, restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the OPTION key until the boot manager screen appears. Select the Recovery HD and click on the downward pointing arrow button.
     1. Select Disk Utility from the main menu then press the Continue
         button.
     2. Select the destination volume from the left side list.
     3. Click on the Restore tab in the DU main window.
     4. Select the destination volume from the left side list and drag it
         to the Destination entry field.
     5. Select the source volume from the left side list and drag it to
         the Source entry field.
     6. Double-check you got it right, then click on the Restore button.
Destination means the external backup drive. Source means the internal startup drive.
Note that the above clone includes both your internal boot volume and the Recovery HD volume you used for the above. I suggest that the backup disk you use has a larger capacity than the one in your computer. That way you should be able to boot from this backup. Since the drive you have is 500 GBs then the external drive you use for the backup clone should be at least 750 GBs.
And I followed the steps mentioned. Source: Macintosh HD ... Destination: My Passport for Mac. It asked me if I wanted to erase the content on My passport for mac and I said yes. But then it says "Restore Failure: Source volume is read/write only and cannot be unmounted, so it can't be block copied". What does that mean? And what do I do?
I already tried:
Disk ulitiy and click on "Macintosh HD" and then click "New Image" and then select "My Passport for Mac" to save on there. I put "compressed"for Image Format AND For encrytion, i pick "128-bit AES encryption (recommended)"
I put in a password when prompted but after that it says "Disk Ultitiy wants to use the "login" keychain." I put in my ususally login password that I use to get on to my desktop but that doesn't work. I have the option to press ok or cancel. I pressed cancel and the progress bar to saving my macintosh HD to MY external hard drive portable didn't show any blue bar progress for 15 mins or so...

Disk Utility Questions

In disk utility on the left side i have my OS X drive, it says the Size of the formatted drive and the model number then below it and indented it has the Macintosh HD drive.
do i want to verify and repair permissions and verify and repair disks on both of those or do i just do it with one or the other?
thnx

The outermost description is the physical drive, and the indented ones are the volumes on it (you can have multiple volumes/partitions on a drive). If you have only one volume on the drive, either one will do - you don't have to do both.

Duplicating a CD from Disk Utility Question

I am trying to duplicate a disk inorder to backup my Microsoft Office X disk. After inserting the disk into my superdrive, I open up Disk Utility and select the disk on the left side of the screen. I go to New and select "Disk Image from...".
I chose "read only" and it seemed to be creating a disk image. At the end, I got an input/output error message. Should I try compressed?
Any help on this would be greatly appreciated. I feel that it's important to backup this program since I paid quite a bit for it a couple of years ago.
Thanks
iMac G5 Mac OS X (10.4.7)

This is the procedure for duplicating a disk:
Duplicate a CD or DVD
1. Insert the DVD/CD;
2. Open Disk Utility, and select the DVD/CD from the left side list (select the DVD/CD icon on top);
3. from the DU File menu select New | Disk Image from Disk 1;
4. Choose to format the disk image as DVD/CD Master, name the disk image and click Save;
5. When the .cdr file is finished select it with mouse and press COMMAND-I to open the Get Info and check the box to lock the file;
6. Choose the .cdr file from the left side list, click Burn, and insert a new, blank DVD or CD.
Be sure you have adequate free space on the hard drive for the image file (approx. 1 GB.)

Start up issues/ disk utility question

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for