Using Tiger's Disk Utility on older systems (10.3) ??

My mom's iMac G4 has been acting up and unfortunately she can't find her
Panther Install CD.
I want to boot up from my Tiger disk and run Disk Utility for a drive check and possible repair.
Can I use the newer Disk Utility from my Tiger disk on her older Panther system?
I'd boot from my CD-Rom to scan her drive which has Panther installed on it.
thanks

Doing a disk repair should be OK, but don't do a permissions repair with the 10.4 disk on a 10.3 system. It might be fine, but it's possible that it might mis-set some permissions.

Similar Messages

Can I use the Leopard Disk Utility to repair a Tiger partition?

I have a multi-partition external disk, one partition has Tiger installed on it, while others have Leopard. (I used Leopard to partition the drive and then used SuperDuper! to copy my earlier Tiger backup from another disk to this disk.) Now I find I have errors on the partition with Tiger. Can I use the Disk Utility tool from my Leopard install to repair the Tiger partition? Earlier today I tried to boot from my Tiger install DVD and use the Disk Utility there to repair the partition, but it just hangs up and won't go forward.
thanks,
Chris Altwegg

You could use it, but if Tiger's Disk Utility couldn't fix it, it's doubtful Leopard's would fix it as well. You're better off using Disk Warrior from Alsoft.com.

I have an external hard drive from my time capsule that stopped working on me. I am attempting to access the data with a hard drive reader on my MAC. I am able to see the drive in disk utility and under system info USB. But I am unable to access the data.

I have an external hard drive from my time capsule that stopped working on me. I am attempting to access the data with a hard drive reader on my MAC. I am able to see the drive in disk utility and under system info USB. But I am unable to access the data and it does not show on the desktop when connected.

Ok if disk utility was able to verify the drive I doubt there is any problem.. are you trying to open a TM backup??
You need to mount the sparsebundle then check the actual info inside the bundle.
Don't use disk warrior.. if the disk has verified then unless you deliberately deleted files there is nothing that is going to do.
Pondini has a lot of stuff about getting access to the sparsebundle.
http://pondini.org/TM/17.html
But if you have copied info to the TC that is now gone.. and the disk is ok.. I am not sure.. the TC will not have deleted the files itself.

Using Automator with Disk Utility

I'm new to using Automator. I want to create a work flow with Disk Utility but is doesnt appear in the applications list. How do I make Disk Utility work with Automator?

If a program doesn't appear in the list, that means that Apple hasn't written actions for it yet.
You can still use Automator with Disk Utillity, but you will need to use Applescript and the 'Run Applesript' action to operate Disk Utillity.
Unfortuately the 'how' is beyond my knowledge, and the scope of this post.

Is It Safe to use an old Disk Utility on a new OS HD?

Hi - Maybe I'm too concerned about this but I need to calm the obsessive-compulsive within.
I'm in the habit of verifying permissions on my 10.4.9 system (G5) via Disk Utility (version 10.5.6) before and after every install or update. On occasion I've also hit "Repair Permissions" but I know that the only way to really do an effective job of "repairing" is by running Disk Ut from a drive or disc separate from the drive being repaired.
Now...
I have an external HD with Panther on it...and it has Panther's version of DU on it (10.4.2). I want to use the Panther version of Disk Utility to Repair Permissions on a drive with Tiger (10.4.9) on it. Is this safe? I don't want ANYTHING to be harmed. Is it safe?
Expert input appreciated.
D2

I know that the only way to really do an effective job of "repairing" is by running Disk Ut from a drive or disc separate from the drive being repaired
You can repair permissions from the same hard disk, but you can't repair the hard disk except from Disk Utility in your install disk.
Two different repairs!
So therefore no need to use the Panther version of Disk Utility to Repair Permissions on a drive with Tiger (10.4.9), BUT
Panther's version of DU on it (10.4.2) - 10.4.2 is Tiger. Panther was 10.3.x.
Put it this way: you can safely repair the hard disk of your Mac with the Disk Utility of the install disk that came with your Mac, but not from any other.
If that wasn't clear, post back!

Error during Tiger install, disk utility (DVD) says could not unmount disk

OK, I'll start at the beginning. I was running 10.3.9 on my iMac G4. I hooked up a new firewire external HD. Transferred my iTunes music over, everything worked fine. Ran software update to make some updates (iTunes, Quicktime, Security Update, maybe another one) that I had been putting off because I had been out of space. That's when the problems began. It said I could not install updates, so I restarted. Then it hung up at Login Window starting. I did a few hard shutdowns (holding down power button) to try again, but was unsuccessful.
Read all the forums. Decided that I should have repaired permissions, etc. before installing the updates. So I started in single-user mode, ran FSCK, all that stuff, following the instructions very closely. Still kept hanging up at Login Window. So I started up from the Panther install disk, repaired permissions (made a bunch of repairs) and checked hard drive (said no repairs necessary). Restarted, still hung up at Login Window starting.
So I did an archive and install. There were errors near the end of the Panther install, and it said it could not finish. But the computer started up OK, and I was able to back up all my personal data onto the external HD.
So I decided to upgrade to Tiger, thinking that would fix everything. During the upgrade, it said there were errors installing files and to try again. Did so, same result. The computer did start up in Tiger, but clearly was not operating at full capacity (slow, some things didn't work).
So I decided to erase and install. Again, said there were errors and to try again. Did so twice, same result. Started up from the Tiger DVD and ran Disk Utility. When I clicked Repair Hard Drive, it said "could not unmount drive."
So now I am stuck. I have a wiped hard drive. Can't repair it, and can't get Tiger to install properly. Help!
(i do have an Apple store in town, but I haven't gone to the Genius Bar. Wasn't sure how that worked.)
iMac G4 Mac OS X (10.4.6)

Hmmm. And you're sure that when you select the main
hard drive entry in Disk Utility it shows a SMART
status report that says "Not supported"? That's
really odd because your model isn't too old to have a
drive that doesn't support SMART.
Yep, looking at it right now. I've got the drive that says "38.2 GB ST3408..." selected, and it says "Not Supported."
By any chance would you have another external
Firewire drive on which you could install Tiger? If
you do, then you could try installing Tiger on that
drive. If you can then boot the iMac from the
external drive you could then try cloning the system
from the external drive to the internal drive.
I have the one external HD firewire drive. It has my backed up files on it. Could I still install Tiger on it without erasing those files?
You could do the same thing from another Mac if both
support Firewire. You could boot the iMac into Target Disk Mode while it's connected to
another Mac's Firewire port. You could then clone
from the other Mac to the iMac's hard drive that will
appear on the Desktop of the other Mac.
And I do have another Mac, which I am typing on right now. It's sitting right next to my "sick" iMac. If I recall correctly, it's an iMac DV special edition. It does have a firewire port and I think it has a DVD drive. It's running 9.0 currently.
You can use the Restore option of Disk Utility to do
the cloning. The process is as follows:
1. Open Disk Utility from the Utilities folder.
2. Select the source or startup volume from the left
side list.
3. Click on the Restore tab in the DU main window.
4. Drag the source or startup volume to the Source
entry field.
5. Select the destination or backup volume from the
leftside list and drag it to the Destination entry
field.
6. Check the box to Erase Destination. Skip this
step if you've already formatted the drive.
7. Double-check you got it right, then click on the
Restore button.
So should I use the firewire external HD or the old iMac to do this? (Thanks so, so much for all this help, by the way. I really appreciate it. I love my iMac and want to save it! I have to go cook dinner right now, but I'll come back later to check your answer and try your suggestion.)

IPod not recognized by iTunes & Disk Utility - Recognized by System Profile

I have a 40GB iPod Clickwheel (4th Gen?) that i'm trying to fix back to life since my mini was just stolen and i'm out on the road on tour all the time. my iPod actually powers up by itself just fine, the battery life is just peachy, and it can run independently without songs (i'm able to look around just as though i had songs on there - i can play games, alter settings, etc etc.).
However, there's a few things i've noticed!
When i go to the iPod's about menu (when disconnected from the computer), it shows there's no songs, that there's 0 capacity, 0 available - shows that the version is 3.1.1, the serial and model numbers, but the format is unknown.
I've tried plugging the dang thing into my computer to much avail - IF iTunes recognizes it, it says it needs to be restored -- GREAT! so i try to restore the iPod, however, i almost instantly get an error: The iPod cannot be restored because it is currently busy. When i clicked the help tag, it says it's a common problem in iTunes 7.0 - great, i have 8.0.2; and i've tried running everything from a restart on the ipod to a restart on the computer, updating all my system files, running the iPod in disk mode, etc, but nothing seems to make it want to restore.
when i look in system profiler; it shows that the iPod is hooked up to my USB port (which is just fine, and i've never had problems running a click-wheel iPod through that before); however both Disk Utility and iTunes do not acknowledge it's existence. what gives?
is my iPod a goner? how would i go about restoring this so i can use it? I've tried it on my Power PC (Specs below) as well as trying it on an iBook and iMac; with the same results every time. i know it's not the cable, because the iPod actually charged via that cable last night!
any help!?

If you can get it to show up in Disk Utility, try reformatting (erasing) it in Disk Utility. If that process completes without stalling or errors, quit Disk Utility and run iTunes. Immediately attempt to do another Restore to install the iPod's software and initialize.
If the iPod does not erase successfully (it should take less than one minute for a standard erase) in Disk Utility, the iPod's hard drive may be faulty.

No Disk utility app or System information app or AirPort Utility app

since upgrading to Maverick these System apps (Disk utility app, Activity Monitor app, Systems Information app and Airport Utility app) are all in shadow with a cross through them. why? at first i waited becourse i thought apple would update but it seems to be just me.

When you upgraded, were they in their default locations or did you move them to a different folder? Updates don't go looking around the computer for the Apps. If they are not in the default location they are skipped.
You could try installing the 10.9.2 combo update. That might update them.

2Can't burn a DVD using IDVD nor Disk Utility first time user-what is wrong

T he recording device reported the media error: Power calibration area error. (0x73, 0x03.)
IDVD Version 6.0.3
Emac- OS 10.3.9--- in the owner's manual it DOES state my emac can burn DVDs. Is this correct?
I am using FujiFilm DVD-R . Never used the DVD apps or burner before. I PRAM'ed 3 times. Also did 6 CD audio burns to check the drive. Is it the media-- Fuji does not work? I used Office Depot generic for audio CD-Rs.
I keep getting this error message after about 20 minutes of programming the DVD-- then it ejects with this message:
"The recording device reported the media error: Power calibration area error. (0x73, 0x03.)"
When using the IDVD application to burn my slideshow onto a DVD; Then I contacted Apple Care and I was told to use Disk Utility to burn my DVD in lieu of IDVD not working.
I converted my slideshow into a .dmg format; all was verified successfully. Then I receive this error message when attempting to BURN DVD:
"STOP The device drained its buffer without burn under run protection"
I made a WONDERFUl slideshow-- of only 17 slides-- confirmed I have plenty of room on hard drive and et al on the "disk information". I have attempted since May 7th to get this DVD to burn my slideshow. PLEASE HELP ME!!! I have deadlines-- now it is for Tuesday May 15th. Please alert me to an alternative until I can get my Emac working properly on what I can do to make copies of my slideshow ASAP. Thank you.
Now I looked thru your ERROR message archives and found NONE to match mine. What do these error messages mean-- is my Emac not working? This is first time ever I tried to use IDVD and IMovie and Disk Utility--- so the first impression is VERY VERY VERY bad for Apple's "easy to use for first time customers"....
Oh to add information-- I DO have an external DVD recorder-- have yet to even see how to hook it up to my Emac-- if this is an alternative to meet my Tuesday deadline-- PLEASE let me know-- how do I burn a copy of my slideshow into an external DVD recorder?
My emac model: 1.25 GHz Power PC G4
Memory 256 MB DDR SDRAM
Machine Model: eMac
CPU Type: PowerPC G4 (1.1)
Number Of CPUs: 1
CPU Speed: 1.25 GHz
L2 Cache (per CPU): 512 KB
Memory: 256 MB
Bus Speed: 167 MHz
Boot ROM Version: 4.8.2f1
Serial Number: G84181KDQQJ

Also did 6 CD audio burns to check the drive. Is it the media-- Fuji does not work?
Your drive is actually TWO devices - one set of optics and laser burns/reads CDs, another set of optics/laser reads/wtites DVDs. The fact that your drive can burn CDs doesn't mean it is working for DVDs.
I keep getting this error message after about 20 minutes of programming the DVD-- then it ejects with this message:
"The recording device reported the media error: Power calibration area error. (0x73, 0x03.)"
When using the IDVD application to burn my slideshow onto a DVD; Then I contacted Apple Care and I was told to use Disk Utility to burn my DVD in lieu of IDVD not working.
You might want to get back to Applecare and expalin again the error messages you are seeing. They really don't involve iDVD.
I converted my slideshow into a .dmg format; all was verified successfully. Then I receive this error message when attempting to BURN DVD:
"STOP The device drained its buffer without burn under run protection"
You either have a media problem or you have a DVD burner problem.
F Shippey

Can't burn a DVD using IDVD nor Disk Utility- first time user-what is wrong

The recording device reported the media error: Power calibration area error. (0x73, 0x03.)
May 13, 2007 8:05pm PDT
IDVD Version 6.0.3
Emac- OS 10.3.9--- in the owner's manual it DOES state my emac can burn DVDs. Is this correct?
I keep getting this error message after about 20 minutes of programming the DVD-- then it ejects with this message:
"The recording device reported the media error: Power calibration area error. (0x73, 0x03.)"
When using the IDVD application to burn my slideshow onto a DVD; Then I contacted Apple Care and I was told to use Disk Utility to burn my DVD in lieu of IDVD not working.
I converted my slideshow into a .dmg format; all was verified successfully. Then I receive this error message when attempting to BURN DVD:
"STOP The device drained its buffer without burn under run protection"
I made a WONDERFUl slideshow-- of only 17 slides-- confirmed I have plenty of room on hard drive and et al on the "disk information". I have attempted since May 7th to get this DVD to burn my slideshow. PLEASE HELP ME!!! I have deadlines-- now it is for Tuesday May 15th. Please alert me to an alternative until I can get my Emac working properly on what I can do to make copies of my slideshow ASAP. Thank you.
Now I looked thru your ERROR message archives and found NONE to match mine. What do these error messages mean-- is my Emac not working? This is first time ever I tried to use IDVD and IMovie and Disk Utility--- so the first impression is VERY VERY VERY bad for Apple's "easy to use for first time customers"....

Well I had to make the copies for my presentation-- so the cheapest I could find in my area was Walgreens-- 39.99 for ONE COPY of a DVD! So I paid $70.00 and the clerk made 4 copies for me;-) So thanks Walgreens!
Now-- my Mac-- I could not find anything on shelves at Walgreens or Office Depot but the FujiFilm I already have... So I now have time to look elsewhere.
I did PRAM my Emac 3 times-- I tried these things also:
1)Saved the IDVD- .dmg format to QuickTime .mov
I uploaded to google video.com or whatever-- they use their own software-- .gvp file and player. All was successful (even now on YouTube-
2) I then made another version in PowerPoint and saved it as an MPEG
Also for below-- I lowered the burn rate upon the 2nd try to 1x-- took one hour or more (I went to get a root canal... then exfoliate... then I came back;-)
Also tried different .mov from the web-- a great whale shark video that was only 49mb. My presentation is 120 mb. So I was just thinking-- make it smaller; burn slower.
3)I did try to burn from IDVD, Disk Utility and then the drag and burn/click method on the desktop-- put a blank DVD in-- drag the .mov icon to the blank DVD -- write a title for the blank DVD- formats it / Drag to trash-- Burn icon comes up/ Clicked it-- waited 20 minutes and received:
"Error: Error occurred while burning the disc. This disc can not be used."
So I put in another blank Fuji DVD-- just in case. Same error message-- so I am hoping it is the DVD itself and not the SuperDrive.
4)Also-- I tried to do audio CD burn-- just to make sure about the drive-- all was successful and I did a back up of my Itunes files-- 6 CDs they burned (they meaning "the Gods of Mac OS" ;-0 My audio CDs are Office Depot CD-R 52X700mb/ So the generic is better for CDs on my Emac that I know;-)
So I will use my weekend to try other DVDs-- and I have the safety net of Apple Care-- but then just realized-- my Extended Care plan is OVER at May 30, 2007!!! I called to ask to EXTEND it further-- I'll pay whatever-- NOPE-- 3 years was max on this contract. So any repairs I have to pay for after May 30th-- ISN'T THAT JUST THE WAY THE WORLD GOES? The DAY after your warranty on AnYTHING-- the thing goes kablooey?
But I still have days left--- and I know of a good Mac Repair person in area-- but it is just so darn difficult to move my desktop Emac (I got the GLASS monitor to save $300 or something) Weight Lifting is what it is-- weighs about 45lbs or more.
But it seems it may be the media I am using if the CD burner is working, right?
I can update-- if you want me to email direct-- just give me a note (my email is listed). Thanks all!!! I just want to impress everyone of how tenacious I am to find that my Emac is FINE-- it is just ME that is warped;-)

Using Spotlight and file tags on older systems

I use a Macbook Pro on a daily basis which runs Yosemite, and I also archive a lot of media files on a small Mac Mini server which runs Snow Leopard. Due to hardware limitations, I can not install any newer operating system on the server. On my laptop, I make heavy use of tagging which is tremendously helpful for keeping stuff organized. When I move files over to the server, I'm pleasantly surprised to see that the tags don't disappear from the file metadata. However, if I do a Spotlight search on the server and search by tag, the results come up empty. The most likely explanation for this is because Finder (on my laptop) is using the Mac Mini's Spotlight deamon to conduct a query and the Mac Mini has no idea what tags are. My question is this: Is there a way that I can get Spotlight on my laptop to index the drive on the Mac Mini server without depending on the server's Spotlight deamon?

Doing a disk repair should be OK, but don't do a permissions repair with the 10.4 disk on a 10.3 system. It might be fine, but it's possible that it might mis-set some permissions.

HT2711 I used the "repair disk utility" to see why my computer is running slow but it gives me an error message saying, "disk utility can't repair this disk, and restore your backed up files. My computer was running slow and taking some time to load page

I haven't used my computer in a month, so when I turned it on, I saw it was running slow. The circle that is used to load the page kept coming up and it took sometime for things to load up. I tried to go Into safe mode, and it worked, but I know your limited on what you can do in that world. I also tried to repair the disk but it kept giving me an error message. How can I resolve this problem?

Time Machine is a back up you have to set up to back up before there is a problem like a hard drive failure.
It is possible to recover files from a failed drive, but it is an expensive proposition.
There is a faint hope that an app like Disk Warrior or TechTool Pro might repair the drive. You could try making an appointment at an Apple store and ask a technician there to take a look... the diagnosis will not cost you.
http://www.apple.com/retail/geniusbar/

Is this a spurious disk utility error?

Still mianly running Tiger from my internal drive, but will transition to Leopard.
I have installed Leopard on an external drive - if I run Disk Utility to check the internal Tiger drive from Leopared i'm told the Volume Header needs minor repair.
If I run the same test using Tiger's Disk Utility, then I do not get this but there's an odd %) entry, unless it was always there:
*Verifying volume “Macintosh HD”*
*Checking HFS Plus volume.*
*Checking Extents Overflow file.*
*Checking Catalog file.*
*Checking multi-linked files.*
*Checking Catalog hierarchy.*
*Checking Extended Attributes file.*
*Checking volume bitmap.*
*Checking volume information.*
*The volume Macintosh HD appears to be OK.*
*Mounting Disk*
*1 HFS volume checked*
* Volume passed verification*
So could the error from Leopard Disk Utility be spurious (eg related to changing Startup disk to the external one), or if likely to be real is it safe to Repair from Leopard - I cannot currently find my Tiger installation disc to run DU from there!
AC

Do not use Leopard's Disk Utility to repair disk of Tiger OS. They are different OS's and have different parameters. Nothing to query about. If you can't find your Tiger installer disk then try booting (holding command-s), when you see the white text type:
fsck -yf hit return
repeat until no errors are found. Then type:
reboot -n hit return
Again do not use Leopard to repair a Tiger disk.
Then go find your Tiger installation disk. It should be in a zip lock bag in the drawer next to your Mac.

Tiger Disk Utility filled up target AND system disk, CANNOT reboot!

I used Apple Disk utility to securely erase free space on a target drive on my laptop. Disk Utility filled both my target disk and system disk (system disk was not even specified in the erase procedure). Both disks have ZERO bytes free. The System disk will NOT startup and I cannot use DiskWarrior to rebuild the directory cuz there is no space. Tried using terminal to rm temp files, but it did not see the system disk.
*Problem Path:*
1) Laptop (Leopard OS X current version) video stopped working. Likely known problem with Graphics card.
2) Connected G5 (Tiger) to Laptop via Firewire with Laptop working in Target Disk mode (data only mode).
3) Laptop disk showed up as a disk volume on G5.
4) Used Apple disk utility on Tiger G5 to securely erase FREE disk space on Laptop disk drive B4 taking it in to get repairs. Amount to be securely erased was appr 65 to 70 GB.
5) Left G5 Tiger disk utility to work overnight... had to interrupt next day. Restarted..
6) Next day, the G5 disk utility said that it would be an est. 97 hours to complete. Stopped process.
7) Both target disk and system disk showed that 0 bytes (yes, ZERO bytes free) were free on either drive.
8) Attempted to restart with literature saying that you can restart Disk Utility as though it would delete temp files and start again. System could not be found (folder/face/folder/face showed on the screen)
*Attempted Solution:* (DW ~ DiskWarrior 4)
1) Started system up using DW CD. System disk came up as unknown.
2) Used Disk Warrior to rebuild directory on disk, but I believe that there is NO space at all. Disk Warrior took a very long time...more than an hour.
3) Terminated DW (it was still verifying directory)
4) Restarted system from Tiger install.
5) Attempted to use Tiger Disk Utility to verify system disk (System still can see it, but won't mount it-- name is now disk1s3 or something like that). Disk Utility said that disk directory had problems and needed to be repaired. Ran the repair, but Disk Utility said that it could not be repaired.
6) Quit Disk Utility and entered into the terminal to see if I could access the disk through unix commands. Access volumes from root. Only the other disk on the system showed up, not the system disk. So attempt to delete temporary files that MAY have been created by Disk Utility could not be done.
7) Restarted system using DW. Drive showed up as Unknown. Clicked on [Apple key] rebuild to do scavenge function. Left it for two hours. Little to no change. Left it to work all night.
HELP!
Will DiskWarrior use other volume on system or memory to save off or rebuild directory of bad drive? Anyone know of a utility that can help?
ANY HELP you can provide would be GREATLY appreciated. I have been put behind on research in my graduate studies and am in a terrible situation in now BOTH of my systems are inaccessible.

Hello HB3, and a warm welcome to the forums!
8) Attempted to restart with literature saying that you can restart Disk Utility as though it would delete temp files and start again. System could not be found (folder/face/folder/face showed on the screen)
You really shouldn't use a lower OSes DU to work on a higher one.
2) Used Disk Warrior to rebuild directory on disk, but I believe that there is NO space at all. Disk Warrior took a very long time...more than an hour.
What version of DW?
Anyone know of a utility that can help?
If DiskWarrior can't fix it, you might try Data Rescue II...
http://www.alsoft.com/DiskWarrior/
http://www.prosofteng.com/products/data_rescue.php
(Has a Free Demo to see if it could or not, but you'll need another drive to recover to).
Or FileSalvage...
http://www.subrosasoft.com/OSXSoftware/index.php?%20mainpage=product_info&productsid=1
to recover what you can, both can work when Disks are unmountable.

Older OS Disk Utility first aid use on newer OS

I have an external drive that has a bootable backup (10.3.7) of my Powerbook. The Powerbook currently is out of commision. I plugged the drive into an iMac and found the drive would not mount. The iMac's OS is 10.0.3. Can I use it's Disk Utility, First Aid to repair the error on the backup drive? The iMac says that there is an "Invalid node structure."

No, because Disk Utility cannot repair an "invalid node structure" problem. Disk Warrior (www.alsoft.com) may - and I stress "may" - be able to repair the directory, but if not you will need to reformat the drive.

Using Tiger's Disk Utility on older systems (10.3) ??

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