Trouble w/LaCie, SuperDuper, Disk Util, & strange lockups

Hi - I have a very perplexing problem that even Dave at SuperDuper (ShirtPocket Software) can't help with.
Our 5-month old LaCie external backup drive (firewire) worked great all up til today. I had been backing up my Powerbook to a volume on the drive with SuperDuper, doing a SmartBackup each time. I also had 2 other volumes that i did drag-and-drop with files from my husband's Powerbook and our iBook, which we use only for digital photography maintenance/storage.
When I tried to do a full bootable backup with my husband's Powerbook (identical to mine in config), using his named volume, SuperDuper would freeze up on the Verifying Permissions.
Then it would not let me unmount the LaCie. Then DiskUtility crashed when I tried to erase and re-partition, then his computer would NOT shut down. I had to force shut down (ouch).
so i thought I'd erase and reformat the LaCie. I plugged in my computer which up til now worked great, and - same thing. Disk Utility would not erase or partition ("could not mount disk"). During SuperDuper, mine hung up midway on the volume writing, having a fit over first "Parent Directory/Users/Shared/SC Info does not exist" and then on the volume with ".Spotlight-V100.
It also would not unmount the laCie, and would not shut down/restart. I also got a wierd message about Mirror Agent not shutting down and to force-quit it.
Ack! Now i have no backups, and our computers are buggered. I've had NO problems with our dear Macs before this. We are both running Tiger (love it).
ANY suggestions folks? MOST annoying loss of a day's productivity.
Roseann

Hi - thanks for weighing in. I solved it, after much monkeying around. Figured out that LaCie firmware needed to be updated, but some messed up permissions files kept that from happening until i downloaded the software/driver in safe mode. I tried to run SuperDuper in safe, but it would not. But by the time i logged in and out, it worked fine and i got 2 perfect backups first try in full Tiger.
Thanks!

Similar Messages

Trouble with Fantom drive / Disk Utility won't erase it

Until a few days ago, i had no problems with my Fantom 160 GB titanium drive. Then when i connected it to a freind's Mac, it started out OK fora few minutes, when my brother was playing around with creating an air network between the friend's computer, to which my fantom drive was attached, and my laptop. When i tried to activate the network, the Mac semi froze for a few minutes and just didn't do anything. when it started to move again, the fantom drive was showing 0 files in the finder window, and wouldn't eject.
So i turned it off and back on, which was probably a mistake; then the drive gave a message that it was unreadable.
Since i wouldn't lose too much data, i had no problem reinitializing the drive, but Disk Utility kept telling me that the erase failed.
When i try to verify the drive in Disk Utility, i get the error -9972: "Error: The underlying task reported failure on exit (-9972)"
This is the same text i get when i try to erase the drive, but without the error number.
I see at http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=302411 that this message this is bad, as Disk Utility cannot fix it.
Currently, the drive does not show up on the desktop, but it does show up in Disk Utilities. It stopped telling me the drive is unreadable.
Is this drive beyond help?

Dale,
that post is helpful, but I'm not sure how much it applies to me. My ibook shows no problems when not connected to the firewire drive, while the firewire drive started acting up when connected to another computer. i have also not been able to get the firewire drive to work on two other macs. The Fantom drive showed up as unreadable on all three, and Disk Utilities on all 3 computers failed to erase the firewire drive. By brother's had Disk Warrior & it wasn't able to do anything for the fantom drive, either.

Disk Utility strange behavior

I have 3 drives on my Mac Pro
“HD 2” is declared SMART “failing” with Disk Utility.
It is “VERIFIED” and passed using TechTool Pro 5.
After this I went ahead and rebuilt volume structure with TechTool and did a complete surface scan, both were successfully completed. No bad blocks.
I went again to Disk Utility and again same “failing” messege. All other 2 drives SMART “verified”.
My question Is:
Is my hard drive “HD 2” failing or is it not failing ? If indeed It is not failing why is Disk Utility giving me a diferent messege then Tech Tool ??
How can I fix this ?
Message was edited by: bandu2

Can the drive send Disk Utility one message and a different one to tech tool ??
No. The drive merely provides information to the software that interrogates the SMART data provided by the drive. The software in turn can then choose to report that information however it wishes even if the software reports it incorrectly. But the drive is simply the messenger.
There are potentially lots of differences in how manufacturers design the SMART information reported by their drives. Some report all the SMART data while others select a subset of the information. This is usually determined by how much they will price the drive. Less expensive models usually have less SMART data reported (or none at all.) It's also up to the manufacturers to provide the statistical information that helps determine when a drive is supposedly failing. SMART software then interrogates this information directly from the drive's firmware and then reports something to the user. DU merely reports if the drive is "Verified" or "Failing." Other software may give more extensive reports. However, unless you actually know what the data means then it's pretty useless information. Most of us wouldn't have a clue as to how to interpret the SMART data reported by a drive. And drive manufacturers have no interest in telling us about how SMART is implemented on their products. Consequently most SMART software knows how to interrogate the drive and how to report the data, but not tell you what that data means.

Disk Utility - strange error - enough free space

I am trying to burn DVD-R using Disk Utility and it's giving me error after I press 'Burn" saying "The disk inserted doesn't have enough free space".
I inserted 4.7GB DVD-R drive and my original file size is 4.36 GB and the disk image version is 3.82GB.
Why would it say not enough free space? What am I missing here.
Thanks for any help. I have lot's of my own DVD-R version movies and I am trying to copy that to DVD-R.
I appreciate any help..

Welcome to Apple Discussions!
The true space of a blank DVD is not 4.7 GB based on 1024 MB GBs, but based on 1000 x 1000 x 1000 Bytes. As a result, when the original file size might be 4.36 GB it might not be enough. I've found you really have to go under 4.34 GB to fit a DVD to the brim, and sometimes less depending on the quality of the DVD media.

Trouble with LaCie Big Disk?

I saw on an archived topic that some others had problems with this 500g LaCie Big Disk. I was curious if there was anyone out there who was having the same problems I am.
The Drive will just periodically shut off for no reason whatever. It's not in use, or anything, it's just sitting there being on, and I get the warning that I've disconnected the drive and don't ever do that, etc.
I informed LaCie about this. I was out of warranty, and they just sent me a new one and it just did the same thing.
Anyone else having problems like this???
If so, was it resolved??
Power Mac G4 Dual 1.25 Mac OS X (10.4.8)
Mac OS X (10.4.8)

Hey Thomas...
Thanks so much for the reply -- a good thought - the drive actually can be connected firewire 800, fw400, or usb, and I'm getting the same symptoms when connected with any of them

Disk Utility: Strange permissions repair results

Hi,
can anyone explain what these results mean? (D.U. cannot fix these errors.)
Thank you very much!
Peter
Repairing permissions for “iMac”
Warning: SUID file "usr/libexec/load_hdi" has been modified and will not be repaired.
Warning: SUID file "System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/DiskManagement.framework/Versions/A/Resources /DiskManagementTool" has been modified and will not be repaired.
Warning: SUID file "System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/DesktopServicesPriv.framework/Versions/A/Reso urces/Locum" has been modified and will not be repaired.
Warning: SUID file "System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/Install.framework/Versions/A/Resources/runner " has been modified and will not be repaired.
ACL found but not expected on "private/var/root/Library/Preferences".
ACL found but not expected on "private/var/root/Library".
ACL found but not expected on "private/var/root".
Warning: SUID file "System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/Admin.framework/Versions/A/Resources/readconf ig" has been modified and will not be repaired.
Warning: SUID file "System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/Admin.framework/Versions/A/Resources/writecon fig" has been modified and will not be repaired.
Warning: SUID file "usr/libexec/authopen" has been modified and will not be repaired.
Warning: SUID file "System/Library/CoreServices/Finder.app/Contents/Resources/OwnerGroupTool" has been modified and will not be repaired.
Warning: SUID file "System/Library/CoreServices/RemoteManagement/ARDAgent.app/Contents/MacOS/ARDAg ent" has been modified and will not be repaired.
Permissions repair complete
Message was edited by: Peter R.
Forget it - one should always browse the posts before posting yourself. I found it. Sorry.

Please search the discussions before posting. This question has been asked and answerd dozens of times now.
You can safely ignore these messages, or you can download and manually install the 10.5.1 update to get rid of most of them.
http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/macosx1051update.html

LaCie Backup Disk needs 2 TB!!?!?!?!! On an 80 GB HD?!!! How so?

I just got a new HD installed into my Powerbook after my old one of three years started dying. All my files were successfully transfered to my new HD. I thought it would be a good idea to back up my stuff this time, and so I got a LaCie 250 GB external, partitioned it into 3 parts.
I installed the LaCie 1-click back-up and it automatically selected by user home folder or whatever (the house icon with all my files like music and movies and stuff in it) and was prepping to transfer it to my Backup partition which is around 100 GB or so. It then said...
"Cannot Backup...Hard Disk Full...system needs 2.2 TB."
Isn't a TB 1024 GB? If so, how can my home folder hold more than my HD and many times that? I don't get it. Can someone tell me what's going on here? Thanks.

It is obviously an error. Did you format the LaCie in Disk Utility? Choosing HFS+ as the format is the choice for Mac only use.

Trouble with LaCie disk and time machine

HI everyone,
I've been having trouble with using time machine to back-up to my 1 TB LaCie drive (purchased 5/12, unfornuately I was dumb and didn't register the drive and no longer have the box with the serial number and there is no serial number on my drive. The only problem I had up until the end of August was that every so often the LaCie drive (using my FW 800 port) would unmount after waking up from sleep.
The end of August the drive unmounted for no reason while I was on the computer doing a task. Could not get the LaCie drive remounted (rebooting, etc. etc.) To make a long story short, ended up calling apple care who took me through resetting my SMC and PRAM to no avail. Was booted to higher level of support who walked me through trying to repair my drive using the disk utiltiy. When that didn't work, she walked me through erasing and reformatting the LaCie drive and starting a new time machine back-up. Every thing ok until about ten days ago.
Last week, when I woke my iMac up from sleep, I got an error saying that the disk was not ejected properly and I could not mount the drive. Restarting did nothing, the disk did not mount. Shutting down and rebooting seemed to solve the problem and the disk was mounted. Every so often I've had the problem with the disk unmounting after waking up from sleep before. So, I changed my energy sleep preferences. At the end of the day when I am done, I'd unmount the LaCie drive before putting the Mac to sleep using the apple menu.
Today I came in to start my day, plugged the drive in and it would not mount. Tried rebooting nothing. Went into the disk utility, at first the LaCie drive passed the disk verify (6:26:25 and 6:26:38). Then I went into repair disk on the indented drive at 6:27:13, I wasn't sure what it is was doing, thinking that it had hung, I stopped the repair at 6:27:24. Exited disk utility, and the LaCie drive mounted. But I was getting a read only error when I tried to back-up using time machine. So, I went back into disk utility at 6:27:35, when I verified the disk (indented disk), I got an error saying the disk need to be repaired. After several minutes the disk could not be repaired. So, I erased and reformatted the drive. Ran a time machine back-up and it seemed to back-up everything on my hard drive. Just ran another verify disk and it passed.
Is the drive failing? Have some other back-ups of my documents, my address book, iCal and am going to make a backup of some of my pref files and important e-mail files and am going to do some more back-ups after I am done.
Have reached out to the women at apple care whom I talked to last August, but don't expect to hear back from her for at least 24 hours.
Here is my disk utility log
2013-11-07 06:26:25 -0500: Verifying partition map for “LaCie”
2013-11-07 06:26:25 -0500: Starting verification tool:
2013-11-07 06:26:25 -0500: Checking prerequisites
2013-11-07 06:26:25 -0500: Checking the partition list
2013-11-07 06:26:25 -0500: Checking for an EFI system partition
2013-11-07 06:26:25 -0500: Checking the EFI system partition’s size
2013-11-07 06:26:25 -0500: Checking the EFI system partition’s file system
2013-11-07 06:26:25 -0500: Checking all HFS data partition loader spaces
2013-11-07 06:26:25 -0500: Checking Core Storage Physical Volume partitions
2013-11-07 06:26:25 -0500: The partition map appears to be OK
2013-11-07 06:26:25 -0500:
2013-11-07 06:26:25 -0500:
2013-11-07 06:26:38 -0500: Verifying partition map for “LaCie”
2013-11-07 06:26:38 -0500: Starting verification tool:
2013-11-07 06:26:38 -0500: Checking prerequisites
2013-11-07 06:26:38 -0500: Checking the partition list
2013-11-07 06:26:38 -0500: Checking for an EFI system partition
2013-11-07 06:26:38 -0500: Checking the EFI system partition’s size
2013-11-07 06:26:38 -0500: Checking the EFI system partition’s file system
2013-11-07 06:26:38 -0500: Checking all HFS data partition loader spaces
2013-11-07 06:26:38 -0500: Checking Core Storage Physical Volume partitions
2013-11-07 06:26:38 -0500: The partition map appears to be OK
2013-11-07 06:26:38 -0500:
2013-11-07 06:26:38 -0500:
2013-11-07 06:27:13 -0500: Disk Utility started.
2013-11-07 06:27:21 -0500: Verifying and repairing partition map for “LaCie”
2013-11-07 06:27:21 -0500: Starting repair tool:
2013-11-07 06:27:21 -0500: Checking prerequisites
2013-11-07 06:27:21 -0500: Checking the partition list
2013-11-07 06:27:21 -0500: Checking for an EFI system partition
2013-11-07 06:27:21 -0500: Checking the EFI system partition’s size
2013-11-07 06:27:21 -0500: Checking the EFI system partition’s file system
2013-11-07 06:27:23 -0500: Checking all HFS data partition loader spaces
2013-11-07 06:27:24 -0500: Reviewing boot support loaders
2013-11-07 06:27:24 -0500: Checking Core Storage Physical Volume partitions
2013-11-07 06:27:24 -0500: Updating Windows boot.ini files as required
2013-11-07 06:27:24 -0500: The partition map appears to be OK
2013-11-07 06:27:24 -0500:
2013-11-07 06:27:24 -0500:
2013-11-07 06:27:35 -0500: Verifying volume “LaCie”
2013-11-07 06:27:35 -0500: Starting verification tool:
2013-11-07 06:27:35 -0500: Checking file system2013-11-07 06:27:35 -0500: Error: This disk needs to be repaired. Click Repair Disk.2013-11-07 06:27:35 -0500:
2013-11-07 06:27:35 -0500: Disk Utility stopped verifying “LaCie”: This disk needs to be repaired. Click Repair Disk.
2013-11-07 06:28:05 -0500:
2013-11-07 06:28:13 -0500: Verify and Repair volume “LaCie”
2013-11-07 06:28:13 -0500: Starting repair tool:
2013-11-07 06:28:13 -0500: Checking file system2013-11-07 06:28:13 -0500: Volume repair complete.2013-11-07 06:28:13 -0500: Updating boot support partitions for the volume as required.2013-11-07 06:35:05 -0500: Stopped by user
2013-11-07 06:44:56 -0500: Disk Utility started.
2013-11-07 06:45:20 -0500: Verifying volume “LaCie”
2013-11-07 06:45:20 -0500: Starting verification tool:
2013-11-07 06:45:20 -0500: Checking file system2013-11-07 06:45:20 -0500: Checking Journaled HFS Plus volume.
2013-11-07 06:45:20 -0500: Checking extents overflow file.
2013-11-07 06:45:20 -0500: Checking catalog file.
2013-11-07 06:45:59 -0500: Missing thread record (id = 5057741)
2013-11-07 06:46:06 -0500: Checking multi-linked files.
2013-11-07 06:46:19 -0500: Checking catalog hierarchy.
2013-11-07 06:46:38 -0500: Invalid directory item count
2013-11-07 06:46:38 -0500: (It should be 0 instead of 4)
2013-11-07 06:46:38 -0500: Invalid volume directory count
2013-11-07 06:46:38 -0500: (It should be 166840 instead of 166841)
2013-11-07 06:46:38 -0500: Checking extended attributes file.
2013-11-07 06:47:05 -0500: Checking multi-linked directories.
2013-11-07 06:48:10 -0500: Checking volume bitmap.
2013-11-07 06:48:12 -0500: Checking volume information.
2013-11-07 06:48:12 -0500: The volume LaCie was found corrupt and needs to be repaired.
2013-11-07 06:48:12 -0500: Error: This disk needs to be repaired. Click Repair Disk.2013-11-07 06:48:12 -0500:
2013-11-07 06:48:12 -0500: Disk Utility stopped verifying “LaCie”: This disk needs to be repaired. Click Repair Disk.
2013-11-07 06:48:12 -0500:
2013-11-07 06:50:02 -0500: Verify and Repair volume “LaCie”
2013-11-07 06:50:02 -0500: Starting repair tool:
2013-11-07 06:50:02 -0500: Checking file system2013-11-07 06:50:02 -0500: Checking Journaled HFS Plus volume.
2013-11-07 06:50:02 -0500: Checking extents overflow file.
2013-11-07 06:50:02 -0500: Checking catalog file.
2013-11-07 06:50:41 -0500: Missing thread record (id = 5057741)
2013-11-07 06:50:48 -0500: Checking multi-linked files.
2013-11-07 06:51:02 -0500: Checking catalog hierarchy.
2013-11-07 06:51:20 -0500: Invalid directory item count
2013-11-07 06:51:20 -0500: (It should be 0 instead of 4)
2013-11-07 06:51:20 -0500: Invalid volume directory count
2013-11-07 06:51:20 -0500: (It should be 166840 instead of 166841)
2013-11-07 06:51:20 -0500: Checking extended attributes file.
2013-11-07 06:51:47 -0500: Checking multi-linked directories.
2013-11-07 06:52:55 -0500: Checking volume bitmap.
2013-11-07 06:52:56 -0500: Checking volume information.
2013-11-07 06:52:56 -0500: Repairing volume.
2013-11-07 06:52:56 -0500: Missing directory record (id = 5057741)
2013-11-07 06:52:56 -0500: Look for missing items in lost+found directory.
2013-11-07 06:53:10 -0500: Rechecking volume.
2013-11-07 06:53:10 -0500: Checking Journaled HFS Plus volume.
2013-11-07 06:53:10 -0500: Checking extents overflow file.
2013-11-07 06:53:10 -0500: Checking catalog file.
2013-11-07 06:53:16 -0500: Incorrect number of thread records
2013-11-07 06:53:22 -0500: Checking multi-linked files.
2013-11-07 06:53:35 -0500: Checking catalog hierarchy.
2013-11-07 06:53:53 -0500: Invalid directory item count
2013-11-07 06:53:54 -0500: (It should be 5 instead of 6)
2013-11-07 06:53:54 -0500: Invalid volume directory count
2013-11-07 06:53:54 -0500: (It should be 166844 instead of 166842)
2013-11-07 06:53:54 -0500: Invalid volume file count
2013-11-07 06:53:54 -0500: (It should be 1056326 instead of 1056321)
2013-11-07 06:53:54 -0500: Checking extended attributes file.
2013-11-07 06:54:20 -0500: Checking multi-linked directories.
2013-11-07 06:55:25 -0500: Checking volume bitmap.
2013-11-07 06:55:26 -0500: Checking volume information.
2013-11-07 06:55:26 -0500: Repairing volume.
2013-11-07 06:58:06 -0500: Rechecking volume.
2013-11-07 06:58:06 -0500: Checking Journaled HFS Plus volume.
2013-11-07 06:58:06 -0500: Checking extents overflow file.
2013-11-07 06:58:07 -0500: Checking catalog file.
2013-11-07 06:58:12 -0500: Incorrect number of thread records
2013-11-07 06:58:18 -0500: Checking multi-linked files.
2013-11-07 06:58:31 -0500: Checking catalog hierarchy.
2013-11-07 06:58:50 -0500: Invalid volume directory count
2013-11-07 06:58:50 -0500: (It should be 166844 instead of 166842)
2013-11-07 06:58:50 -0500: Invalid volume file count
2013-11-07 06:58:50 -0500: (It should be 1056326 instead of 1056321)
2013-11-07 06:58:50 -0500: Checking extended attributes file.
2013-11-07 06:59:17 -0500: Checking multi-linked directories.
2013-11-07 07:00:22 -0500: Checking volume bitmap.
2013-11-07 07:00:24 -0500: Checking volume information.
2013-11-07 07:00:24 -0500: Repairing volume.
2013-11-07 07:03:03 -0500: Rechecking volume.
2013-11-07 07:03:03 -0500: Checking Journaled HFS Plus volume.
2013-11-07 07:03:03 -0500: Checking extents overflow file.
2013-11-07 07:03:04 -0500: Checking catalog file.
2013-11-07 07:03:09 -0500: Incorrect number of thread records
2013-11-07 07:03:15 -0500: Checking multi-linked files.
2013-11-07 07:03:29 -0500: Checking catalog hierarchy.
2013-11-07 07:03:47 -0500: Invalid volume directory count
2013-11-07 07:03:47 -0500: (It should be 166844 instead of 166842)
2013-11-07 07:03:47 -0500: Invalid volume file count
2013-11-07 07:03:47 -0500: (It should be 1056326 instead of 1056321)
2013-11-07 07:03:47 -0500: Checking extended attributes file.
2013-11-07 07:04:14 -0500: Checking multi-linked directories.
2013-11-07 07:05:19 -0500: Checking volume bitmap.
2013-11-07 07:05:20 -0500: Checking volume information.
2013-11-07 07:05:20 -0500: The volume LaCie could not be repaired after 3 attempts.
2013-11-07 07:05:21 -0500: Volume repair complete.2013-11-07 07:05:21 -0500: Updating boot support partitions for the volume as required.2013-11-07 07:05:21 -0500: Error: 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.2013-11-07 07:05:21 -0500:
2013-11-07 07:05:21 -0500: Disk Utility stopped repairing “LaCie”: 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.
2013-11-07 07:05:21 -0500:
2013-11-07 07:09:45 -0500: Disk Utility started.
2013-11-07 07:11:45 -0500: Preparing to erase : “LaCie”
2013-11-07 07:11:45 -0500:     Partition Scheme: GUID Partition Table
2013-11-07 07:11:45 -0500:     1 volume will be erased
2013-11-07 07:11:45 -0500:         Name        : “LaCie”
2013-11-07 07:11:45 -0500:         Size        : 999.86 GB
2013-11-07 07:11:45 -0500:         File system    : Mac OS Extended (Journaled)
2013-11-07 07:11:45 -0500: Unmounting disk
2013-11-07 07:11:45 -0500: Erasing
2013-11-07 07:11:54 -0500: Initialized /dev/rdisk1s2 as a 931 GB HFS Plus volume with a 81920k journal
2013-11-07 07:11:54 -0500: Mounting disk
2013-11-07 07:11:54 -0500: Erase complete.
2013-11-07 07:11:54 -0500:
2013-11-07 10:38:00 -0500: Disk Utility started.
2013-11-07 10:38:12 -0500: Verifying volume “LaCie”
2013-11-07 10:38:12 -0500: Starting verification tool:
2013-11-07 10:38:14 -0500: Checking file system2013-11-07 10:38:14 -0500: Checking Journaled HFS Plus volume.
2013-11-07 10:38:14 -0500: Checking extents overflow file.
2013-11-07 10:38:14 -0500: Checking catalog file.
2013-11-07 10:38:29 -0500: Checking multi-linked files.
2013-11-07 10:38:29 -0500: Checking catalog hierarchy.
2013-11-07 10:38:41 -0500: Checking extended attributes file.
2013-11-07 10:39:04 -0500: Checking multi-linked directories.
2013-11-07 10:39:31 -0500: Checking volume bitmap.
2013-11-07 10:39:32 -0500: Checking volume information.
2013-11-07 10:39:32 -0500: The volume LaCie appears to be OK.
2013-11-07 10:39:32 -0500: Repair tool completed:
2013-11-07 10:39:32 -0500:
2013-11-07 10:39:32 -0500:

I just got a call back from the upper level support person at apple care who had been advising me on my trouble with time machine and my LaCie 1 TB FWD. I had sent her much of the same verbiage as I posted here. As some of you have probably figured out, the verdict is that the drive is probably failing. She says this because I have had to do two erase and reformats. She thought that the intermitant problem that I have had with the drive unmounting when my iMac wakes from sleep could be related to the drive failing.
In the meantime I have a secondary back-up (not using time machine) and the LaCie 1 TB FWD is working for the moment.
Thanks to all who read all my verbiage.
And in the meantime, I've learned something. I marked this question as solved. But I'm open to other things to try.
Message was edited by: njtreehugger minor edits and update

SuperDuper! CarbonCopyCloner or Mac 10.4.11 Disk Utility?

Is one far superior to the others, and if so, why?
Thanks all.

SuperDuper & Carbon Copy Cloner are better than Disk Utility. CCC is freeware. SuperDuper costs a few $, however, the basic clone feature is free. The additional features cost.
Look at Mac Backup - Mac Backup Software, Hardware, and Guides for Your Mac
http://macs.about.com/od/usingyourmac/tp/backuphub.htm
Mac OS X data backup FAQ http://www.macmaps.com/backup.html
You can use CarbonCopy Cloner @ http://www.bombich.com/software/ccc.html , or SuperDuper @ http://www.shirt-pocket.com/SuperDuper/SuperDuperDescription.html , or IBackup @ http://www.grapefruit.ch/iBackup/index.html , or Silverkeeper @ http://www.lacie.com/silverkeeper/ or the Restore function of Disk Utility included in OS X.
 Cheers, Tom

LACIE isn't showing up on desktop-is showing up in disk utility/profiler

This morning my co-worker ejected a external LACIE drive and that went fine. She could see it on her desktop I connected it to mine and it wasn't showing up, first thing I did was restart just in case. Still didn't show up so I unplugged it. Then I got the "Device removal" message because disk utility/system profiler detect it. We tried connecting it to the two other stations in the room, still doesn't show up (except in the two places I stated) I tried a new Firewire cord, I tried to "repair" from disc utility it says it doesn't need repair.
When I have disk utility open,the "mount" is grayed out. Not sure if that means anything. Also I tried to plug it back into my co-workers computer and it no longer shows up on the desktop either but does show up in the utility/profiler areas.
What the heck is going on?

Hi and Welcome to Apple Discussions ...
Try running Disk Utility and Repairing Disk Permissions.
Launch Disk Utility. (Applications/Utilities) Select MacintoshHD in the panel on the left, select FirstAid, then click: Repair Disk Permissions. Quit DU when it's finished and reboot. Reconnect the Lacie and see if it mounts. If not...
You could try reinstalling the drivers (software) that came with the Lacie,
Also, when you disconnect an external device that has mounted on the Desktop, make sure and Command + E first to eject it.
Carolyn

Data loss Lacie 500GB external drive_ disk utility changed partition!

Details of problem. I have a 500GB Lacie mini hub HDD which is used with an iMac angle poise. Recently it has been playing up- unable to access folders/files etc. and since I know the PSU fails on these items (capacitors fail -5V and 12V go haywire- already fixed another one - I have a 320GB with a mac mini setup) I removed unit from the imac and connected in place of the 320GB lacie on the mac mini, using the known good PSU. The iMac is running latest 10.4 and mac mini is running latest snow leopard 10.6.1
The Lacie spun up and mounted OK and I was able to access all files folders with no issue, so since I was keen to make sure it was 'fixed' I ran disk utility. It ran and said it verified and then I realised I hadn't run repair so re-did this. Big mistake!
It did the same run and said no problems found, but it then said something like updating partition! Horrified I waited and it seemed to finish or had finished straight away. Not sure. I looked at folders and yes main 2 items in place, but nothing showing below this. ****. It got worse. I ejected and tried to reconnect and low and behold it says drive needs formatting now. Disk utility even shows this 500GB as having 2.2TB of space, which I see in other posts is another issue.
I have important data backed up elsewhere, but there are a large number of files I do not have copies of and suspect there is a way to recover these. I have since seen all the 'data loss' guest account issues and wonder if this is yet another bug in snow leopard.
Have tried running Techtool Pro 5.0.6 to see if it can see the data but its not seeing anything. Will try Diskwarrior and others, but may well shelve to see if apple gets an os update released for data loss issues.
Any thoughts on how to recover? Anyone with a similar issue? I am pretty certain this is not a failed hard drive as it sounds 100% normal. Thanks for any help or guidance.

Thanks for all the comments recieved. V.K. made me re-evaluate what I had proved or not. I was fairly certain (not 100%) that the drive mech was OK, because the psu had failed, but should have proved drive mech was actually OK. So I removed the mech (as USB abd firewire can't do SMART etc.) and hooked up to an old G4 Powermac. I then found that the SMART verified, but had forgotten the 128GB limitation on older macs. So removed and got a PC to hook it up and run latest IBM_Hitachi drive fitness and other diags. (its a Deskstar HD and I have had almost zero issue with these drives over the years.) It checks out fine, so I was correct in my initial thoughts, only the PSU was faulty.
So back to my initial suspicions that Snow Leopard or disk utility has screwed things up, maybe a bug, maybe not. And I did run verify first and it said it was OK, only when I re-ran the repair did it then do a "partition update" (or whatever it said - should have done a screen capture - searched apple but can't find listing of all mesgs avail. must be in developers site I expect). So I am back at looking at how to recover, if at all possible, but as Alsoft have said this is not something Diskwarrior can do directly. Files must still be there just partiton map is now in a ... needs to be initialised mode. Not that I will do that.
So I guess summary is possible bug/funny in 10.6 and/or disk utility.
sounds like I will be contacting Alsoft now
may read up on partition map damage first, so I get a better picture of whats involved.
Cheers and thanks for all the help/ideas.
BTW - been using macs_pcs for decades now and helping friends & family fix things as and when. This is first time needed to post on forum as always found answers to questions I had previously. Must remember the old adage of not jumping onto new technology until it has bedded down I bet if I had hooked up to the old G4 Powermac I wouldn't be in this position. Thanks again.

My external LaCie drive gets an error message "the disc you inserted was not readable by this computer." The only options offered are "ignore" or "eject" Disk Utility sees the disc but does not give a repair option. What can I do?

When I plug in my external LaCie drive I get an error message "the disc you inserted was not readable by this computer."
The only options offered are "ignore" or "eject"
Disk Utility sees the disc but does not give a repair option.
What can I do?

The good thing about mac-centric resellers such as OWC, is they have people on staff that can answer questions without you buying things first. They also have how-to information, and instructions are included in many of their products. I saw a link to watch a DIY video in one of their pages; an example of a RAID (with its own power supply) is shown on their drives page. Also a few in there, with no power supplies, for less money.
If I were looking to backup and perhaps also have a partition for a system clone, I'd consider something like one of these: http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/firewire/1394/USB/EliteAL/eSATA_FW800_FW400_USB
Some ideas on the RAID backup methods appear in google search, some of the pages are ideas and concepts; and the better ones also warn about using RAID for the only backup plan.
Oh, OWC has live chat. Haven't tried it, nor have I bought anything from them. I have what appears to be two products from them, but have not used either. One is in a box as-new, but has only USB2.0 ports & my Macs needed FW400/800. It has been said their RAM is a good way to upgrade, too. But I can't confirm!
A 'RAID-ready' unit for backup may be more versatile for just that, but I have not checked into these details. I use single HDDs in powered enclosures, and usually manually make backup clones to FW drives, of bootable OS X systems. Some of the OWC raid-ready use eSATA ports so that may not be viable for a computer without them.
The unused in-box external drive I have is like the base model in the link above. However mine is USB2.0 (maybe) and won't boot my older Macs due to hardware variance; and my preference would be for FireWire options, these models do offer that. But the one I have does not. Dual 500GB HDDs, and they could be used in tandem as a RAID. That would be a choice set up in software. I'm not sure and not interested enough to read up just now.
My backup method is not automatic, or a moving backup plan, if I don't get a move-on and make full system clones. I do make copies of photos and documents the manual way, to USB external drives; and occasionally backup to DVD or CD media. And USB flash, that helps to move files between computers without need to use file sharing via wi-fi. {Like Why fly? Walking is better exercise unless one is a bird. Squawk!}
https://www.google.com/#q=raid+backup+mac
Depending on the ports in your Mac, you may be able to use other cables to attach between a backup or externally enclosed hard disk drive with multiple partition and bootable clone in one of them. Not sure about the Thunderbolt, and where that is the main port, adapters are required to access other devices, as allowed.
Anyway, I am going on and on, yet not really saying anything.
My ideas would not be all that interesting to follow as a backup
plan when matching available newer hardware to task, but you
can get some into better ideas if you are not in a rush. Get a
good setup and then look into more an betterer stuff.
Good luck & happy computing!

Trouble creating a third partition in Disk Utility.

Hello, I am fairly new to the Mac as I recently switched from a PC just a few weeks ago. Now you won't be dealing with a "noob" here because I am a power user when it comes to the PC so not too much adjustment has been needed for OS X.
So I Have the MacBook White 13" Early 2009 model (MacBook 5,2). I upgraded it to a 320GB HDD and installed snow leopard the first day I got it. Then I decided that I wanted to create a bootcamp partition and install Windows 7 (Not hard to do when you have Google to provide you with any knowledge you require). Googling is how I and most people learn these days so I have gained quite a lot of experience with OS X for the 3 weeks I've been using it.
Anyway, BootCamp went as smooth as it could get, Windows 7 runs when I boot, Both OS X and Windows 7 Partitions work perfectly.
Now, My desire is to create a third partition of 25GB with Disk utility by shrinking the main OS X partition (BootCamp is at 60.73GB, OS X is at 259GB).
The reason for this partition is to Install OS X Lion Dev preview.
For some reason it is proving impossible to create this partition. The first time I tried, I had a kernel panic, but I was wondering if this may have been because I was simultaneously burning a disc image to a DVD and Creating a third partition on My HDD.
After I restarted, I again attempted to partition. Setting a new Mac OS Extended (Journaled) partition of 25GB on the Main OS X partition. It then began partitioning, trouble is it seemed to completely freeze the UI and I could not do anything other than move my cursor, I thought this was maybe because the hard disk was being partitioned and therefore affecting anything on the disc during the process (Hence the UI Freeze). So I decided to leave this for about half an hour, but I had noticed that it was still in the exact same state, it seems to be getting stuck on the Shrinking phase, which is of course the actual partitioning and shrinking of the Main Partition. I also thought I should check if there was any Hard disk activity going on, as the UI was locked up, I could only listen to the drive, the drive was spinning but the actuator head did not sound like it was reading or writing anything, it was just parked. No activity.
As it seemed to be stuck on "shrinking" forever and the UI was still locked, I forced a shutdown. Both partitions were unchanged as bootcamp and the Main partition seemed to work perfectly. So I tried the process again, this time I tried, and the UI did not lock up but I did receive the error "could not modify partition map because filesystem verification failed". So I did some googling again and arrived at the conclusion that I need to repair the disk. So I checked this in disk utility by verifying the disk, and Lo and Behold, It reported that the disk needed repairing. Now at the moment I didn't have my OS X install disk, so after another visit to google I found that using fsck -yf works exactly the same in single user mode and repairs the Disk. After the repair, I booted into OS X again and tried to partition again... And the same happened, UI Freeze, No error report, Just a pure freeze at "shrinking". I Cannot find a way around this and it's beginning to frustrate me. I attempted a few more times, force shuting down, Repairing, then trying to partition, But I'm getting Nowhere.
I'd be very thankful if you can help me solve this problem.
Thank You
Jordan L. Sutton.

Thank you for that link, with a little reading I did find that I may not have enough free contigous space on my Hard drive. I found that this could be fixed with a defrag. Now I know Macs should not need defragmenting due to their great extended format which manages this automatically. But using iDefrag, a software available for defragmenting a Mac hard drive. This seemed to free up contigous space and after a defrag, I was able to try again with creating a third 25GB partition, and it worked like a charm. I'm not sure what the core issue was but even though Macs should never need defraging, it did work.
Thank you.

Strange Disk Utility error

I've got a mid-2011 MacBook Air running OS 10.7.4. When I run Disk Utility in repair disk mode, I get a pop up that says "Alert - Storage system verify or repair failed" and in the details window it says "Problems were encountered during repair of the partition map" and (in ominous red type) "Error: Storage system verify or repair failed."
What makes this problem strange is that I only encounter this error message when running Repair Disk from the MacBook Air's hard drive. Whenever I boot from an external drive and run Disk Utility on the MacBook Air disk from the external, I get no error message. I've run Disk Warrior on the MacBook Air disk as well, but it doesn't indicate that there are any problems.
I called Apple Support and they told me to take it to the Apple Store and get the hard drive replaced, which is nice of them but which still means that I'm going to be without a computer for a few days if not longer and I'll have to deal with the hassle of transferring files. I'd much prefer to fix the problem without having to replace the drive, assuming the problem is fixable.
Any advice?

The item you select does it appear somewhat like this:
Of course the content is different, but I'm more interested in the structure you see. On your computer you see Macintosh HD whereas on mine it says Lion HD.
If so, then in order to repair Macintsoh HD you have to boot from a different drive because you cannot repair the active startup volume. When you select the top entry and click on the Repair Disk button all that does is repair or replace the drive's partition map.
Now, if the partition map is damaged, then the only way to fix it is to repartition the SSD. Doing so will erase all the data on the drive. So you need to make a backup of Macintosh HD on a cleanly erased external drive. I would suggest using the cloning option in Disk Utility to clone the SSD to the external HDD:
Clone 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.
Select Disk Utility from the main menu then press the Continue button.
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 external HDD. Source means the internal SSD.
Once you have your backup then you may proceed to repartition the SSD.
Step One: Boot from the external drive. Restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the OPTION key until the boot manager appears. Select the icon for the external drive then click on the downward pointing arrow button.
Step Two: Partition the SSD
1. Open Disk Utility in the Utilities folder of the HDD.
2. After DU loads select your new 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. 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. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Options button, set the partition scheme to GUID then click on the OK button. Click on the Partition button and wait until the process has completed.
Step Three: Clone the HDD to the SSD
1. Open Disk Utility from the Utilities folder.
2. Select the destination volume from the left side list.
3. Click on the Restore tab in the DU main window.
4. Check the box labeled Erase destination.
5. Select the destination volume from the left side list and drag it to the Destination entry field.
6. Select the source volume from the left side list and drag it to the Source entry field.
7. Double-check you got it right, then click on the Restore button.
Destination means the SSD. Source means the HDD.
Step Four: Open the Startup Disk preferences and select the SSD Macintosh HD volume. Click on the Restart button. You should boot from the SSD. Eject the external drive and disconnect it from the computer.

Update to 1.2.3 bricked 60 GB iPod video - strange things in disk utility

In brief - my wife hadn't updated her iPod in quite a while. It's been pulling nursery duty for the past year. She wanted to switch out some music, so she connected the iPod to her laptop (Powerbook running OS X.4.9).
We updated to the latest iTunes. Were prompted to update the iPod to firmware 1.2.3, then the trouble began. Update ran, files started to transfer, then everything locked up at about 2GB of music moved.
Went through the 5R's. Got in to the restore loop that so many other 1.2.3 users have found themselves in.
Decided to poke around in the file system and also to try a disk erase.
Disk Utility is showing the iPod as a 2TB drive (yes, it thinks it is two terabytes!) No option in Disk Utility will work. Tried to partition (thought it would re-write the partition table). The attempt fails with the following:
[task] failed with the error:
Input/Output error.
Now here is where it get's trippy. opened up a Terminal window and ran through some command line steps -
disktool -l reports a drive as disk 2
*Disk Appeared ('disk2',Mountpoint = '', fsType = '', volName = '')
pdisk /dev/disk2 yields this
Partition map (with 512 byte blocks) on '/dev/disk2'
#: type name length base ( size )
1: Applepartitionmap partition map 62 @ 1
2: Apple_MDFW firmware 196608 @ 63 ( 96.0M)
3: Apple_HFS disk 117013560 @ 196672 ( 55.8G)
Device block size=512, Number of Blocks=117210240 (55.9G)
DeviceType=0x0, DeviceId=0x0
So the file system appears to be there, but is totally munged up in such a way that all of the GUI tools are not able to access it.
Tried to zero-out the drive using disk utility (one site suggested this had worked for a bricked iPod) but it didn't work. Now the pdisk doesn't even report a partition map to work with. Things keep going from bad to worse... and I started at terrible.
Does anyone have any pointers on what to do next to get a this thing working? Or is it time to invoke my wife's applecare?
Thanks in advance, bill

Hi, I have the Logic3 Universal Dock, using S-Video and stereo line out for Photos and Videos with sound to my TV, which works well.
BUT NO MUSIC when I want to play just music through the TV! Is this a software issue? You say you used to be able to hear music through your TV. Apple please help here! Thanks.

Trouble w/LaCie, SuperDuper, Disk Util, & strange lockups

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