Verifying Disk in 10.4.3 and above ....

I'm a little confused about what apple says about verifying your disk ..
From Apple ...
"Start up from your Mac OS X install CD or DVD to use Disk Utility when you need to verify or repair the Mac OS X startup volume.
Otherwise, Disk Utility may report errors on the Mac OS X startup disk, but not find errors on the same disk when started up from a Mac OS X disc.
Start up your computer from the Mac OS X CD when you need to use Disk Utility to verify the Mac OS X startup disk. (This is the most common use of Disk Utility.)
If the computer is started up from the Mac OS X hard disk (or disk partition) and Disk Utility finds errors on it, there is not necessarily anything wrong. Only when started up from the CD should Disk Utility reports of errors on the Mac OS X hard disk (or disk partition) be considered accurate.
Note: Mac OS X 10.4.2 and earlier do not allow you to verify or repair the startup disk with Disk Utility. With Mac OS X 10.4.3 or later, you can verify your startup disk using Disk Utility. To repair the startup disk in any version of Mac OS X, start up from your Mac OS X Install DVD or CD."
Now what are they saying? Before 10.4.3 you couldn't verify your disk from disk utility on your computer because it was greyed out ... but in 10.4.3 or above you can .... but it's not reliable .... and for truly accurate verification you have to run it from the installer disk utility?
If that's the case why did they make it functional?
Or have i got it wrong .....
Could anyone clear this up for me? Thanks .....

Hello Zorbov:
This knowledge base article may help clarify the issue:
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=302672
Bottom line, I always repair disk from my software install DVD. Actually, to be completely honest, I always use DiskWarrior to 'repair' HD directory problem (rare, but they happen).
The information you posted does seem a bit confusing. If you will post the link/source, I will pass along your comments.
Thank you.
Barry
[ Edited by Apple Discussions Moderator; _ ]

Similar Messages

Running Lion. Verified Disk. Warned HD corrupt, and need to restart from disk and run repair. No idea how to do this without a physical disk.

Hi,
My MacBook Pro has been acting up a little. I tried the usual repair options: repair permissions, zap P-ram, and Safe Boot (although I've never gotten the machine to Safe Boot properly since installing Lion). I ran Verify Disk and it stopped part way through, saying that the HD is corrupt. It instructed me to start up from the (installation?) disk and run the repair function from the disk utility. (I've included a screen shot of the Verify Disk screen). I have no idea how to go about this without a physical start up disk (Lion). I do have the disks that came with the computer at the time of purchase (Will one of those work?).
Thanks,
JGW

Thank you!
I was able to access the recovery function and used the Disk Utility to repair my HD.
Would you recommend that I still re-install Lion?
Again, thank you for taking the time to help me!
Best wishes,
JGW

Verify disk question

Imac 2.8 o.s 10.7.5 4gb ram
I ran verify disk as I usually do and it stated that HD was corrupt and needed repair, I then without doing anything ran verify disk again and it said HD was ok, whats going on please.
I also got this last night on my macbook late 2008.
Both machines are running ok

Errors reported when doing verification are not reliable.
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2711
As long as there are no errors reported when repairing the disk while booted into
Recovery HD, dIsk is fine.
Repair Disk
Steps 2 through 8
http://support.apple.com/kb/PH5836
Do you have FileVault turned on?
Sometimes this kind of anomaly can result from that.
I am sure that you have a proper, reliable backup.
Best.

Ran "Verify Disk", and gave me an error i don't know how to fix

Here is the error message that comes back after I do the Verify Disk.
Verifying volume “Macintosh HD”
Checking HFS Plus volume.
Checking Extents Overflow file.
Checking Catalog file.
Illegal name
Illegal name
Checking multi-linked files.
g Catalog hierarchy.",0)
Checking Extended Attributes file.
Checking volume bitmap.
Volume Bit Map needs minor repair
Checking volume information.
Checking volume information.
id volume free block count",0)
(It should be 39891409 instead of 39891403)
The volume Macintosh HD needs to be repaired.
Error: The underlying task reported failure on exit
1 HFS volume checked
Volume needs repair
It says i need to repair, but it won't let me hit the repair disk option. Any help for a Mac loving noob?

Hi, H.
It sounds like you ran Live Verification, i.e. used Verify Disk against your startup disk while booted from such. One can Verify, but not Repair, the current startup disk.
Run the Procedure specified in my "Resolving Disk, Permission, and Cache Corruption" FAQ. Perform the steps therein in the order specified.
If Disk Utility still fails to repair the disk, see the "Disk Utility cannot repair the disk" section of that same 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.

Installed mavericks - restarted, but didn't finish iphoto update - force quit - restart gray screen stall, powers off - safe mode says disk full - recovery mode says mac and recovery HDs locked - verify disk says recovery ok - repair says no live support?

Installed Mavericks - restarted, but didn't finish iphoto update - force quit - restart gray screen stall, powers off - safe mode says disk full -recovery mode says mac and receovery HDs locked - verify disk says - recovery ok - repair says no live support?

When you see a beachball cursor or the slowness is especially bad, note the exact time: hour, minute, second.
These instructions must be carried out as an administrator. If you have only one user account, you are the administrator.
Launch the Console application in any of the following ways:
☞ Enter the first few letters of its name into a Spotlight search. Select it in the results (it should be at the top.)
☞ In the Finder, select Go ▹ Utilities from the menu bar, or press the key combination shift-command-U. The application is in the folder that opens.
☞ Open LaunchPad and start typing the name.
The title of the Console window should be All Messages. If it isn't, select
          SYSTEM LOG QUERIES ▹ All Messages
from the log list on the left. If you don't see that list, select
          View ▹ Show Log List
from the menu bar at the top of the screen.
Each message in the log begins with the date and time when it was entered. Scroll back to the time you noted above.
Select the messages entered from then until the end of the episode, or until they start to repeat, whichever comes first.
Copy the messages to the Clipboard by pressing the key combination command-C. Paste into a reply to this message by pressing command-V.
The log contains a vast amount of information, almost all of it useless for solving any particular problem. When posting a log extract, be selective. A few dozen lines are almost always more than enough.
Please don't indiscriminately dump thousands of lines from the log into this discussion.
Please don't post screenshots of log messages—post the text.
Some private information, such as your name, may appear in the log. Anonymize before posting.

"verify disk permissions" and "Underlying task reported failure on exit"

This is more of a "How I fixed this problem, so others can benefit" posting than a current problem.
I put my MBP to sleep yesterday, and then when I tried to come out, it just sat there. After about 15 minutes, I figured I'd just force it quit and then restart.
After hitting the power button, it came up with the gray screen and apple logo with spinning gear and basically sat there for 20 minutes. Several reboot attempts were failures; sometimes I got a blue screen with spinning gears, but basically not much else.
I tried rebooting with the install disk, holding down the C key, but it gave me nothing, tried rebooting in verbose mode, tried doing CommandOption+PR, nothing, etc. So, I tried rebooting while holding down the option key, and I could see the Disk Utility.
I ran the Disk Utility to verify the disk, and that all came back fine. So, I ran Verify Disk Permissions, and i spit out "Underlying Task Reported Failure on Exit". The phone support people suggested I try reinstall with archive.
So, I tried running install with Archiving, and that failed as soon as it verified the DVD was ok - basically it couldn't access the HD.
So, I rooted around and did the following. From the Install disk, I selected "Terminal". Then, I did:
cd /Volumes
ls -lt
There I noticed that for some odd reason, Macintosh HD was listed as the following permissions:
rwxrwx---
So, admin and group had read-write-exec access to the Mac HD, but others had nothing, which I thought odd. It seems like you should at least be able to boot the computer to the login screen, and if a user is not admin or admin group, you cannot login, but I guess that's not the way it's set up.
So, I tried:
chmod o+r Macintosh HD
Then, I reran verify disk permissions. Again, I got the same "Underlying..." error. So I tried
chmod o+x Macintish HD
I then reran verify disk permissions, and it ran fine and the suggested that the Macintosh HD volume permissions should be set to:
rwxrwxr-t
So, I had the Disk Utility repair it to the way it should be, and now it all seems fine.
This suggestion basically did not come from any Apple Support people or any forums, and it seemed like such an easy fix that I'm surprised nobody (at least nobody I've found) has had the same problem or needed the same fix.
Further, I think figured out what happened. I took my computer to my local tech support guys because I wanted to turn off sharing for this MBP. So, under Macintosh HD, somebody changed the permissions under "Everyone" from "Read Only" to "No Access".
It turns out that doing this basically creates the whole problem above by making the Macintosh HD unmountable or inaccessible.
I find it truly odd that it would be so easy to remove access to the computer for mounting purposes, but this is the only thing I can think of. The tech guy realized his error and apologized and was also surprised it was so easy to hose the computer.
Anyway, this is partially a warning to everyone as well as a possible fix for the blue screen problem, especially since it was a solution I could not find anywhere.
Maybe Apple Support will see this and for its next update at least make a warning box when people try to remove "Read Only" access for "Everyone".
Good luck.

If your Mac still boots and runs most applications correctly, but applying Software Update packages fails and you decide to run Disk Utility to Verify Permissions and it fails almost immediately with the "underlying task reported failure on exit" explore this posting. If you see other errors, have slow/varied disk performance, or hear nasty grinding/clicking sounds you have a much more serious problem this solution isn't for you.
Use Applications, Utility, Console and check the messages appearing there each time you try Disk Utility. If you see:
Failed to open database on '/'. Error 14, 13, Permission denied.
You may have had your permissions reset on the receipts db. Which is found in
/Library/Receipts/db/a.receiptdb
At this point you have to enter the dark world of the Terminal and use a unix shell (command line).
If you are not comfortable doing find a Unix/Linux power user.
The simple fix for me was to open Applications, Utilities, Terminal and do
sudo chmod 755 /Library/Receipts/db/a.receiptdb
This allowed Disk Utility to read the file and move on to repairing permissions.
When things generate error messages in the GUI part of Mac OS X ...always go check the messages in the logs via the Console in Utilities. These messages are 'down a level' and get you much closer to the real problem.
Note that I did follow the instructions in Apple kb TS1901
http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1901
which did not help at all. Same problem each time:
xxxx-imac:Volumes user$ diskutil verifyPermissions /
Started verify/repair permissions on disk disk0s2 Macintosh HD
$<3>Error -9972: The underlying task reported failure on exit
$<3>[ + 0%..10%..20%..30%..40%..50%..60%..70%..80%..90%..100% ]
Finished verify/repair permissions on disk disk0s2 Macintosh HD
Error detected while verifying/repairing permissions on disk0s2 Macintosh HD: The underlying task reported failure on exit (-9972)
Now I wonder what changed the permissions on the receipts database file? I am off to use find and date fields to see what changed the permissions file last (my is dated sometime in November!).
flatiswhereitsat

Verifying Disk and Disk Repair ...

Please forgive me, but I know very little about this. I just ran "Verify Disk" on my hard drive in Disk Utility because my firewire devices aren't working and got this message:
Verifying volume “Macintosh HD”
Checking HFS Plus volume.
Checking Extents Overflow file.
Checking Catalog file.
Illegal name
Illegal name
Checking multi-linked files.
Checking multi-linked files.
og hierarchy.",0)
Checking Extended Attributes file.
Checking volume bitmap.
Checking volume information.
The volume The volume osh HD needs to be repaired.
Error: The underlying task reported failure on exit
1 HFS volume checked
Volume needs repair
It won't let me repair the disk, though.

Disk Utility will likely be able to repair this (Disk Warrior is a fine product but you have to buy it, so try the free Apple solution first.)
If you run Disk Utility & click on the "First Aid" tab, please note the last sentence in the onscreen instructions in the window just above the white area where the results of the verify come up.
It explains that to repair your startup drive, you start up from your installer DVD, & run Disk Utility from the Utilities Menu. If you are still uncertain about what this means, click the "?" bubble button in Disk Utility's window & its Help will open to an overview page. Select "Testing and repairing your startup disk" (as it explains) for more detailed info.

After clean install of Mountain Lion 10.8.5 no Gate Keeper and a ton a long list of differences in verify disk permissions after updating to Itunes 12.1

HI everybody.
I have a MacBopok Prop 15" from mid 2012, 2.6Ghz, Intel Core i7, 16GB RAM 1 TB SSD.
As my Mac was running as fast as possible it was getting slower down during start and shutdown, from 2 secopnds to 15 secconds during start and shutdown . Apps were crashing sometimes a freeze, total crash which made me go directly to Recovery HD and not my log in page after all the tricks I know I took it to service center where they zeroed my SSD HD and reinstalled Mountain Lion 10.8.5. Strangly enough Gate keeper was not in my preferences and a old version of Itunes 10.4 if I recall. The Mac is still slow while I reinstall all apps from App store and one for one documents and folders from my latest TM back up.
Updated the Security update, and other updates had the same problem as many updating Iphoto 9.4.3 error 102, still have not been able.
But running verify disk permissions there is a massive list of Itunes differences while I have not even added one song. At least 60 to 70 differences. I know a lot of these differences are nothing to worry about but a clean install without Gate keeper and an old Itunes which after update to 12.1 has so many disk differences, this can not as it should be also as I have not added anything from my Itunes library. Any feedback or advice would be very much appreciated.
Greetings
Matt

Do a backup. Boot to the Recovery Volume (command - R on a restart or hold down the option/alt key during a restart and select Recovery Volume). Run Disk Utility Verify/Repair and Repair Permissions until you get no errors. Then re-install the OS.
OS X Recovery
OS X Recovery (2)

Slow. iMac 10.5.8. Verified Disk Permissions and then Repaired Disk Permissions. Not much improvement in speed. How do I empty internet files from safari?

iMac 10.5.8 is slow. Verified Disk Permissions and then repaired. No big improvement in speed.
What about internet files (safari and firefox) ; caches and cookies?
Thank you.

Applejack might help.
Download:
http://sourceforge.net/projects/applejack/
Article on using:
http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-13727_7-10334620-263.html?tag=mfiredir
It runs in single user mode, where it runs more safely than other maintenance/cleaning programs because there is less chance of interference from the OS. After installing (you won't see it in the Applications Folder) hold CMD-S at startup. You will get a black screen with MS-DOS like text. Just follow the prompts: type in "applejack AUTO" and it will run through the following:
Correct any Disk problems.
Repair Permissions.
Clear out Cache Files.
Repair/check several plist files.
Dump the VM files for a fresh start.
Trash old Log files.
You can also run tasks selectively and for specific users by typing in "applejack." After running in "AUTO," you can go back and run it again as "applejack," steps 3 & 4 only, for your user.
The first reboot will take much longer than usual, as it rebuilds caches. It may take several restarts to see the benefits. Because of the deep cache cleaning in AUTO mode some applications may tell you they are being opened for the first time.
NOT YET UPDATED FOR LION
(Adapted from post by BDAqua)

I have a an imac with Lion OS x software 10.7.5. The built in DVD player will no longer play dvd;s and it says its an unsupported disc. I have done a risk disk permissions and verify disk and both say ok

I have a an imac with Lion OS x software 10.7.5. The built in DVD player will no longer play dvd's and it says its an unsupported disc. I have done a risk disk permissions and verify disk and both say ok.
I haven't changed any settings regarding region codes

You may have run discs from different regions,these would be commercial DVDs. If so most DVD players need to be told what region the disc is from. Have you done this by chance, if you are not sure look at the region numbers listed on the commerical DVDs you have and see if some use different numbers.

Verify Disk Error after Freezing and CD Drive Issues!

Lately, my MBP has been freezing, forcing me to close the lid/put it to sleep for a while or restart to get the mouse to move again. Also, the CD/DVD drive is no longer working.
I ran Verify Disk in Disk Utility and got this:
Verifying volume “Macintosh HD”
Performing live verification.
Checking Journaled 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.
Invalid volume file count
(It should be 583766 instead of 583930)
Invalid volume directory count
(It should be 155061 instead of 154897)
The volume Macintosh HD needs to be repaired.
Error: Filesystem verify or repair failed.
Now, I know I need to reboot from the installation CD but my drive isn't working. Can anyone think of a solution for me/tell me what the problem is?
Thanks in advance. It's a super bad time for my Mac to be doing this to me. :[

You can perform directory repairs very similar to Disk Utility's *Repair Disk* routine by booting into Single User Mode and running fsck:
http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1417
Any other repair method will require using your nonfunctioning optical drive or being able to start the computer from an external drive containing Disk Utility, so try fsck first.

Disk Utility can't Verify Disk Permissions" and "Repair Disk Permissions"

I tried to run "Verify Disk Permissions" and "Repair Disk Permissions" on an external partition, but they all grayed out! "Verify Disk" and "Repair Disk" were fine! The "Owners Enabled" is "Yes". Why they were grayed out ?!
Get Info on this volume showed:
Ownership & Permissions:
You can "Read & Write"
Details:
Owner: admin
Access: "Read & Write"
Ignore ownership on this volume: checked or unchecked STILL grayed out!
Other partitions on the SAME drive are able to do "Very Disk Permissions" and
"Repair Disk Permissions" (as they are NOT grayed out !) The ONLY difference
between the one (CAN'T) and the rest partitions is that one (CAN'T) has
owner by "admin", and the rest partitions (OK to veryify pewrmissions) are owner
by "system". ANY CLUE ?
-DC

The options to verify or repair permissions are only available on a disk with Mac OS X 10.2 or newer installed, and all Mac OS X versions set the owner of the partition containing them to system when installed.
(24684)

I have an error in Verify disk permission and i can not fix it

I have an error in Verify disk permission and i can not fix it ,is there any solutions ?

I have 38 GB (other) in my storage ,I have 120 GB storage and this other part bothers me,is there any suggestions please ?

I've never run verify disk permissions before, but I finally have, and it says it's going to take an hour and 35 minutes to complete.

Although it keeps actively finding problems with the disk, the progress bar hasn't changed for more than a half an hour, and it still says it's going to take an hour and 35 minutes. I'm starting to worry it will never be done! My laptop, a Macbook Pro, is pretty old - about five years, and I don't know if the fact that I've never run a verify disk permissions before has anything to do with it.
The only non-greyed out option is to currently 'stop permission verify'.

Just let it run, it probably won't take that long. Also you may benefit from reading Disk Utility's Repair Disk Permissions messages that you can safely ignore.
Roger

Error: This disk needs to be repaired using the Recovery HD. When I boot on Recovery and run verify disk, the error doesn't come anymore. Just when I run verify disk on normal mode. Anybody has seen this before?

My Macbook Pro (Retina, 13-inch, Early 2013) has been freezing out of the blue probably once every two months. I restarted on safe mode, went to Disk Utility, repaired permissions and ran "Verify Disk" and got the following:
Invalid directory item count(It should be 114483 instead of 114484)
File system check exit code is 8.
Error: This disk needs to be repaired using the Recovery HD. Restart your computer, holding down the Command key and the R key until you see the Apple logo. When the OS X Utilities window appears, choose Disk Utility.
Rebooted on Recovery mode and ran "Verify Disk" but the message didn't appear anymore, thus not letting me to access the "Recovery HD" procedure.
When I restart normally and do the disk verification I get the same error.
Has anybody come to something similar?
Suggestions?

I never ever run a Verify Disk. I simple repair the disk drive and then the user partition(s).
And do one or two Safe Boots.
Also helpful to have two full backups: TimeMachine at least, plus a clone of your system drive and data.
Install or clone the system to an external hard drive, repair that and then boot from it, check that everything works, repair the internal drive.
You need to use Repair to TRIM an SSD.
Lots of problems with Yosemite when updating install a new OS. Always better to backup, erase, install, and then use Setup Assistant to import and restore settings and files.
Probably better to post in the MacBook Pro forum or better yet, in Yosemite forum.

Verifying Disk in 10.4.3 and above ....

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