Volume needs repair..Invalid volume Free block count..

When I did a scan on the HD through Disk Utilty I got this error..."Volume needs repair...Invalid volume Free block count,,,Should be 65607....instead od 65606."
Is there any application that I can get to fix that error..so that I don't have to Reinstall with the start up disks.. I don't feel like reinstalling everything all over again. Please help or if you can direct me to the area so that I can change the numbers myself...Thank you

Hi Nvrdan1de, and a warm welcome to the forums!
You cannot repair the HD you're booted from, "Try Disk Utility
1. Insert the Tiger Mac OS X Install disc , then restart the computer while holding the C key.
2. When your computer finishes starting up from the disc, choose Disk Utility from the Installer menu. (In Mac OS X 10.4 or later, *you must select your language first.)*
*Important: Do not click Continue in the first screen of the Installer. If you do, you must restart from the disc again to access Disk Utility.*
3. Click the First Aid tab.
4. Click the disclosure triangle to the left of the hard drive icon to display the names of your hard disk volumes and partitions.
5. Select your Mac OS X volume.
6. Click Repair. Disk Utility checks and repairs the disk."
Then Safe Boot , (holding Shift key down at bootup), run Disk Utility in Applications>Utilities, then highlight your drive, click on Repair Permissions, reboot when it finishes.
Safe Boot... holding Shift key down at bootup. Safe Boot is a special way to start Mac OS X 10.2 or later when troubleshooting.
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=107392
Though this seems like a simple one for DU to fix, unfortunately DU can't fix all that much,So, if it fails your best bet is DiskWarrior, you need the CD though.
http://www.alsoft.com/DiskWarrior/

Similar Messages

  • Invalid Volume Free Block Count Error In Disk Utility

    My Ti-Book has been acting very strange lately so I decided to run the Verify Disk Option in the Disk Utility program. When I ran it, I got a series of messages in red that were:
    Volume Bit Map Needs Minor Repair
    Invalid volume free block count
    Error: The Underlying Task reported failure on exit
    When the verify disk function completed, I was asked to enter my administrator password. When I entered it and clicked on Okay, the Disk Utility program froze up and I had to restart.
    What do the two error messages mean? How do I repair my disk?

    Hi, WTM. The Verify Disk routine in Disk Utility is almost never worth running. It does the same error-detection tasks as the Repair Disk routine, but then it doesn't repair any errors that it finds.
    Start up from your Tiger installer DVD, open Disk Utility, select your hard drive, and run the Repair Disk routine. If you get the same "task reported failure on exit" message, you'll need a stronger directory-repair utility like DiskWarrior, or you'll need to erase your hard drive completely and reinstall everything on it.

  • Invalid volume free block count

    I have witnessed this insight from the disk repair report
    persistently , lately every day . I have noticed among other
    things that the bluetooth is , although active , unrecognised
    by any system feature designed for that purpose . The list
    of actions I have taken from plist removal , restart with USB
    leads removed along with all the other leads , to permission
    repair , fsck , disk utility and disk warrior have had some
    effect but of little duration . The bluetooth was similarly
    affected before the latest OSX system wide update and
    recovered system wide recognition before this latest step
    back . I am interested in some idea's perhaps indicating
    the substance of a persistent invalid volume free block
    count referral , and a related or not bluetooth recognition
    problem with availability but the system blind to it .
    Thanks Frederick
    G5 Dual 2 GHz PPC G5   Mac OS X (10.4.4)   Seagate 160 G and Seagate 300 G

    invalid volume free block count referral
    This from a 10.3.9 kb article: (perhaps not updated).
    "The volume free block count is a type of cache of the real information stored in the volume bitmap, and the count being off does not mean your volume is damaged in any way. An incorrect volume block count message (block count changed from X to Y) is an example of this type of message."
    -mj
    [email protected]

  • Disk Utility: "Volume needs repair" - what to do?

    I just ran Verify Disk and got this result:
    Verifying volume “iBook HD”
    Checking HFS Plus volume.
    Checking Extents Overflow file.
    Checking Catalog file.
    Incorrect block count for file Database3_BROKEN-journal
    (It should be 25 instead of 0)
    0
    Checking multi-linked files.
    Checking Catalog hierarchy.
    Checking Extended Attributes file.
    Checking Extended Attributes file.
    ,1)
    1733913 /Library/Logs/Console/501/console.log.0
    Overlapped extent allocation (file 1734737)
    Checking volume bitmap.
    Volume Bit Map needs minor repair
    Checking volume information.
    Invalid volume free block count
    (It should be 8593446 instead of 8593471)
    The volume iBook HD needs to be repaired.
    Error: The underlying task reported failure on exit
    1 HFS volume checked
    Volume needs repair
    How do I repair this volume?
    bob.m.

    bob:
    Disk Utility reports "Underlying task reported failure" when repairing a volume is a serious directory error which Disk Utility cannot repair.
    •I suggest you read through the article.
    •Then, if you do not have an up-to-date backup, it will be a good idea to try to save as much as you can of your data.
    •The article suggests using a third party utility. Disk Warrior and Tech Tool Pro are the best utilities for this job. You will need to get one of them and run it, by booting from the CD, or installing it on an external firewire drive or on a second Mac which you can then run in Firewire Target Disk Mode.
    Please do post back with further questions or comments.
    Good luck.
    cornelius

  • Message from Disk Utility:  iBook HD "Volume needs repair"

    I just ran the "Verify Disk" routine and got this error message: "First Aid Failed" because "the underlying task reported failure on exit".
    In verifying my "iBook HD" volume, the following errors were reported:
    (1) "incorrect number of thread records" in the Catalog file.
    (2) "Volume Bit Map needs minor repair"
    (3) "Invalid volume free block count (should be 7719070 instead of 7719077)"
    (4) The volume iBook HD needs to be repaired.
    I would have run the "Repair Disk" routine, but its button wasn't highlighted, so I couldn't do this.
    What to do now?
    (by the way, the Disk Permissions are all OK)

    If I were buying one, I think I'd hit Amazon (solely because of price):
    http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B0028Z1J32/ref=dpolpnew?ie=UTF8&condition=new
    Some info on NewerTech NuPower batteries:
    http://www.newertech.com/products/ibookg414_batt.php
    http://www.newertech.com/tech_support/newerbatteryconditioning.php
    Apple's recommendations for battery usage for optimal battery life and lifespan:
    http://www.apple.com/batteries/notebooks.html

  • A crash, volume needs repair?

    Hi, I have no idea what has happened. It's embarrassing but I can't even tell you accurately what OS X I was using but all my software was up to date. When I try to open applications like Safari, it says "you cannot use the application Safari with this version of Mac OS X" The same goes for iTunes and other apps. Some programs just quit unexpectedly when I try to open them. Seems like it reverted back to a very old operating system I didn't even know existed. Even the JPEGs open with a different program I don't use. When I click "about this mac" it says the memory capacity is 512 MB when I know it usually 250 GB and I currently have 25 GB free. I tried Disk Utility and the error messages read exactly as followed: Volume bitmap needs minor repair. Invalid volume free block count (it should be 6873884 instead of 6873859) The volume Machintosh HD needs to be repaired. Error: the underlying task reported failure on exit. First Aid failed. Disk Utility stopped verifying "Machintosh HD" because the following error was encountered: The underlying task reported failure on exit. HFS volume checked volume needs repair.
    I stopped messing with it because I have no idea what to do and I don't want to make it any worse. I have installation disks buried in storage but I'll get replacements if that's what it is. I'm panicked. Please help

    Welcome to Discussions - boot from your install disc and use Disk Utility to repair your volume. If that fails, get hold of DiskWarrior and use that.
    1. Insert the Mac OS X Install disc that came with your computer, then restart the computer while holding the C key.
    2. When your computer finishes starting up from the disc, choose Disk Utility from the Installer menu. (In Mac OS X 10.4 or later, you must select your language first.)
    Important: Do not click Continue in the first screen of the Installer. If you do, you must restart from the disc again to access Disk Utility.
    3. Click the First Aid tab.
    4. Click the disclosure triangle to the left of the hard drive icon to display the names of your hard disk volumes and partitions.
    5. Select your Mac OS X volume.
    6. Click Repair. Disk Utility checks and repairs the disk.
    When you have finished, reboot and repair permissions from your hard drive.

  • "Volume needs Repair" -Disk Utility--what do i do?

    So, my computer was freezing & I had the insight to run Disk Utility on the Repair part, everything comes up great, but on verify, under "Network"--Volume comes up needing repair. I looked it up under About the Mac & see that Volume is empty of info. Here is the report:
    "Checking volume bitmap.
    Volume bit map needs minor repair
    Checking volume information.
    Invalid volume free block count
    (It should be 3922629 instead of 3922551)
    The volume Macintosh HD needs to be repaired.
    Error: The underlying task reported failure on exit"
    Don't know if it matters but the indented portions of the report were in red, otherwise, in black.
    What exactly am I to do with this information? Thanks!

    In this instance, "Volume" refers to the hard drive. (I quizzed my fiancée - she thought of speaker loudness too... )
    10.1, 10.2 etc is the Mac Operating System version number. (ie My eMac is running Mac OS 10.4.9)
    If you flip down the CD/DVD drive door on the front of your eMac, there is a sticker that has the serial number, a barcode, then a series of information.
    In my case:
    1.25G HZ/512MB/160GB HD/DVD-RW/CD-RW/56K MDM
    Which means
    1.25 GHz processor
    512MB of RAM
    160GB hard disk drive
    DVD & CD burner
    56k modem
    Note that the "160GB" drive actually only holds 149GB of data - and will show up in Disk Utility as such, because of the difference between binary and actual bit sizes... (check out wikipedia...)
    When looking at the list of drives to examine in Disk Utility, the internal hard drive will show up as "internal" in the list of attributes at the bottom of the page... (ie when you click on it, it then shows you
    Disk Description - ST.......
    Connection BUS - ATA
    Connection Type - Internal
    Connection ID - Device 0
    SMART status should "work" (ie tell you if the drive is good/bad) because you're looking at the internal drive, not an external one.
    All that said and done... I still strongly suggest looking inside the eMac's inspection hatch on the base of the computer... if your eMac is freezing up for no apparent reason, it's much more likely to be the capacitor issue than an error found by Disk Utility...

  • "Volume Needs Repair"  error message

    My Mac has just recently stopped opening most applications. It started out with just Microsoft Office stuff but now won't even open itunes. I've tried using the Disk Utility and when I click on "Verify Disk" it give me this:
    +*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.*+
    +*Volume Bit Map needs minor repair*+
    +*Checking volume information.*+
    +*Invalid volume free block count*+
    +*(It should be 27508684 instead of 27503468)*+
    +*The volume Macintosh HD needs to be repaired.*+
    +*Error: The underlying task reported failure on exit*+
    +*1 HFS volume checked*+
    +* Volume needs repair*+
    As well as this:
    +*Disk Utility stopped verifying “Macintosh HD” because the following error was encountered:*+
    +*The underlying task reported failure on exit*+
    It won't even give me the option to Repair Disk.
    Any help is greatly appreciated. I'm stumped.
    -Noah

    noahandmechelle wrote:
    It won't even give me the option to Repair Disk.
    No, it wouldn't while you are booted from your Hard Disk—you need to run Disk Utility from your Instal Disk to do this. See Using Disk Utility and fsck to resolve startup issues or perform disk maintenance.

  • Invalid free block count

    Hi,
    Earlier today I wanted to use the boot camp utility to install WinXP on my MBP. I decided to set the partition to about 60 Gb of space for Windows, but the utility crashed from some reason. (The screen went slightly dim grey and the message "please restart your computer now" appeared).
    So I restarted the computer, but now, the 60 Gb I allocated for the new partition has been interpreted by the OS as used space on the Mac HD. I tried running Disk Utility to verify what was going on, and I get the message "Disk repair failed, invalid free block count".
    How can I get my free space back? Do I really need to use the Leopard dvd to run disk utility again? I hope not, because I left the dvd at my other house, that's pretty far away from where I am right now. Any help would be appreciated! Thanks.

    I don't know that Disk Utility can help since it will not repair the corrupted Boot Camp partition. You can run Boot Camp Assistant and see if it will remove the partition. If it cannot, then the next steps can be a gamble so you should backup your OS X partition in case you may need to repartition the drive.
    If you cannot remove the partition with Boot Camp, then you can try this:
    Open Disk Utility, select the drive entry (mfgr.'s ID and drive size) from the left side bar, then click on the Partition tab in the DU main window. You should now see the partition sizing graphic. Hopefully you should see two partitions. The top partition will be your OS X system volume. The bottom partition should be the one Boot Camp tried to create. Click in the bottom partition to select it (you will see it will be outlined in blue) and click on the "-" button in the lower left corner. The partition should then be removed. Click on the Apply button and wait for the process to complete. If the process fails then you will have to start from scratch and repartition the entire drive. Your OS X installation will be lost. This is why you need to make the backup in advance. If it does work then select the sizing gadget in the lower right corner of the remaining partition and drag it down to the bottom of the sizing window, then click on the Apply button again. Wait for the repartitioning to complete.
    Just to be on the safe side I would repair the drive:
    Extended Hard Drive Preparation
    1. Open Disk Utility in your Utilities folder. If you need to reformat your startup volume, then you must boot from your OS X Installer Disc. After the installer loads select your language and click on the Continue button. When the menu bar appears select Disk Utility from the Installer menu (Utilities menu for Tiger or Leopard.)
    2. After DU loads select your hard drive (this is the entry with the mfgr.'s ID and size) from the left side list. Note the SMART status of the drive in DU's status area. If it does not say "Verified" then the drive is failing or has failed and will need replacing. SMART info will not be reported on external drives. Otherwise, click on the Partition tab in the DU main window.
    3. Click on the Options button, set the partition scheme to GUID (only required for Intel Macs) then click on the OK button. Set the number of partitions from the dropdown menu (use 1 partition unless you wish to make more.) Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Partition button and wait until the volume(s) mount on the Desktop.
    4. Select the volume you just created (this is the sub-entry under the drive entry) from the left side list. Click on the Erase tab in the DU main window.
    5. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Options button, check the button for Zero Data and click on OK to return to the Erase window.
    6. Click on the Erase button. The format process can take up to several hours depending upon the drive size.
    Steps 4-6 are optional but should be used on a drive that has never been formatted before, if the format type is not Mac OS Extended, if the partition scheme has been changed, or if a different operating system (not OS X) has been installed on the drive.

  • Stuck in reboot-Volume needs repair?

    Stuck in reboot. Able to reboot using my start up disk, ran disk utilities, after running "repair disk" I get the message "HFS Volume repaired" then I ran "verify disk" I get the message "0 HFS volume verified- 1 volume needs repair. I ran each, ""repair" and "verify" several times and get the same conflicting messages and I still get stuck in reboot when trying a "normal reboot". So it looks like my hard drive needs repair? I may have access to a "Tiger" install disc which I understand has improved disk utilities, should I try this on my Panther machine? Thanks.

    As Sherry has already helpfully noted, the retail Tiger 10.4.2 (or later) Install DVD has a version of Repair Disk that has significantly improved disk repair capabilities compared to earlier versions. It remains true, however, that the best-recommended utility for handing disk directory problems is DiskWarrior. That's an option if the Tiger 10.4.2 + version of DIsk Utility can't make the necessary repairs.
    Reagrdless of what utility you use, anytime you run a repair utility that reports making a repair, best practice is to immediately run the repair (not verify) utility again. Many times, one error blocks discovery of other errors, so you want to run the repairs until you either get an all-clear report or it becomes painfully obvious to you that the repair utility isn't working.
    If you mentioned this earlier, I managed to miss it: what does Disk Utility say about the SMART status of the hard drive? If the SMART status is reporting failed, you might as well skip Disk Warrior and look to borrow another Firewire-equipped Mac so that you can try booting into FireWire target disk mode to recover what you can from your hard drive. Data Rescue has a one-file free evaluation mode; you could try that on the second Mac to see if it'll help you recover your data in the case of a failed SMART status.

  • Volume needs repair message for second hard drive

    I am getting the following message on my second hard drive (This hard drive just has data. OS is on the main HD)
    Verifying volume “Mac Second HD”
    Invalid Volume Header
    Checking HFS Plus volume.
    Invalid number of allocation blocks
    The volume needs to be repaired.
    Error: The underlying task reported failure on exit
    1 HFS volume checked
    Volume needs repair
    Any advice on what to do? Can I save my data?
    G4 Silverline   Mac OS X (10.4.3)  

    Hi Ketan,
    Welcome to the Discussions.
    If Disk Utility can't repair it try DiskWarrior. It can repair most drive directory problems.
    John

  • Volume needs repair

    Disk Utility First Aid reports the following:
    Verifying volume “Macintosh HD”
    Checking HFS Plus volume.
    Checking Extents Overflow file.
    Checking Catalog file.
    Invalid node structure
    The volume Macintosh HD needs to be repaired.
    Error: The underlying task reported failure on exit
    1 HFS volume checked
    Volume needs repair
    sudo fsck_hfs -l /dev/disk0s2 reports as below:
    ** /dev/rdisk0s2 (NO WRITE)
    ** Root file system
    ** Checking HFS Plus volume.
    ** Checking Extents Overflow file.
    ** Checking Catalog file.
    Invalid node structure
    (4, 27421)
    ** The volume Macintosh HD needs to be repaired.
    I've tried to boot up on OSX Installation disk and run Disk utility from there but with no success on repairing the fault.
    Anyone who knows how to solve this problem? What does (4, 27421) mean?
    Thanks!
    Johan
    MBP 17" Core Duo 2.16MHz   Mac OS X (10.4.9)   2GB RAM

    JS_MACNewBie,
    Assuming Disk Warrior can successfully repair your file structure (good luck, BTW), this doesn't mean that you are "out of the woods."
    When you have a disk error, especially one as serious as the current one, some files will undoubtedly be damaged. Repairing the file system, when successful, does not repair the damaged files; it only returns the file system to a "consistent" state.
    If these damaged files are critical system files, you are going to continue to have problems. Disk Repair utilities (Disk Utility included) are indispensible tools, but they should be used only in emergencies such as yours to facilitate making a good backup prior to formatting and reinstalling.
    Only by formatting, then reinstalling can you "fix" the files that may have been damaged by the disk error. I recommend that you do this immediately, once you are able to make a good backup of your important files.
    Scott

  • Disk Utility Question? Volume needs repair

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

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

  • 1 HFS volume needs repair -- can't boot from OS X Tiger "kernel panic"

    I just searched the support discussions and did find an answer so hopefully someone can help me. Today I ran Disk Utility on both my G4 powerbook and G5 desktop. Both have Tiger 10.4.8 on them and have been running good. To my surprise both came back with a message saying:
    1 HFS volume checked
    Volume needs repair.
    So I booted off my Tiger start up disk on the laptop first and went to utility and repair disk and all was good. The message came back that the volume was repaired.
    When I tried to do the same thing on my G5 desktop my computer went to a gray screen and gave an error of “kernel panic” with a page long message. I shut the computer down and rebooted normally and all was fine. I then went back to disk utility and clicked on Verify Disk again to see what it said and here is what I got:
    Verifying volume “MacOS250”
    Checking HFS Plus volume.
    Checking Extents Overflow file.
    Checking Catalog file.
    Illegal name_
    Illegal name_
    Checking multi-linked files.
    Checking Catalog hierarchy.
    Checking Extended Attributes file.
    Checking volume bitmap.
    Checking volume information.
    The volume MacOS250 needs to be repaired.
    Error: The underlying task reported failure on exit
    1 HFS volume checked
    Volume needs repair
    So i noticed that under:
    Checking Catalog file.
    Illegal name_
    Illegal name_
    came back twice. I have no idea what this means. At this point I tried to boot from DiskWarrior and the computer just sat in a state of limbo for an hour or so. I know DW can take some time but 1 hour was pushing my patients so I shut it down and rebooted normally and all was fine again except I still get the message above. I then methodically backed up all my docs, movies, photos etc to my second hard drive. I tried to boot again from Tiger and got the same “kernel panic” message. Can anyone help me?
    Thanks,
    Tim
    G5   Mac OS X (10.4.8)  
    G5   Mac OS X (10.4.8)  

    Maverick922 Before you erase, you might want to try and run fsck first even though it says you are using HFS+
    http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=106214
    Another reason is your version of disk utility on the Tiger disk might may not match the newer version of 10.4.8 My Tiger start-up disk utility is 10.5 while the OS X version on my HD is 10.5.6.
    The Finder along with other applications do not like you naming a file with a period in front of it. This turns it into a Unix dotfile and it then becomes hidden.Hence, illegal name.This may have been done by accident or with purpose.
    And a little more to read up on, http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=302672
    If these don't help, sherry johnson's suggestion is probably the next step.

  • Volume needs repair AND hard drive problem...

    OK so I have an Intel Based iMac and its about 1 year old. Randomly I got a message saying that the hard drive disc space is almost full, which makes NO sense. I have a 250 hard drive and I use it mainly for video editing. Before I got this message, I had about 100 GB left on my hard drive. I have NO CLUE where 100 GB went to, and i know it was not from video. Also I went to the disk utility and it said "Volume needs repair" and it gave me an "The underlying task reported failure,". Im not sure what to do and I'm hoping you guys will.....if this has been asked before, I apologize.

    Yes, you can delete it, but it indicates a bigger concern namely your maintenance scripts aren't running regularly to clean up the logs or you have a problem in the system or an application that is writing huge amounts of information constantly into the log file. You should check the log using the Console application (Utilities folder) and examine its content to see if this is the case.
    You should also read the following for information on installing utilities that can assure the maintenance scripts are run as well as other information on system maintenance that can help keep your computer running better.
    Kappy's Personal Suggestions for OS X Maintenance
    For disk repairs use Disk Utility. For situations DU cannot handle the best third-party utilities are: Disk Warrior; DW only fixes problems with the disk directory, but most disk problems are caused by directory corruption; Disk Warrior 4.0 is now Intel Mac compatible. TechTool Pro provides additional repair options including file repair and recovery, system diagnostics, and disk defragmentation. TechTool Pro 4.6.1 is Leopard compatible; Drive Genius is similar to TechTool Pro in terms of the various repair services provided. The current version, 1.5.1, is Intel Mac compatible.
    OS X performs certain maintenance functions that are scheduled to occur on a daily, weekly, or monthly period. The maintenance scripts run in the early AM only if the computer is turned on 24/7 (no sleep.) If this isn't the case, then an excellent solution is to download and install a shareware utility such as Macaroni, JAW PseudoAnacron, or Anacron that will automate the maintenance activity regardless of whether the computer is turned off or asleep.
    OS X automatically defrags files less than 20 MBs in size, so unless you have a disk full of very large files there's little need for defragmenting the hard drive. As for virus protection there are few if any such animals affecting OS X. You can protect the computer easily using the freeware Open Source virus protection software ClamXAV. Personally I would avoid most commercial anti-virus software because of their potential for causing problems.
    I would also recommend downloading the shareware utility TinkerTool System that you can use for periodic maintenance such as removing old logfiles and archives, clearing caches, etc.
    For emergency repairs install the freeware utility Applejack. If you cannot start up in OS X, you may be able to start in single-user mode from which you can run Applejack to do a whole set of repair and maintenance routines from the commandline. Note that presently AppleJack is not compatible with Leopard.
    When you install any new system software or updates be sure to repair the hard drive and permissions beforehand. I also recommend booting into safe mode before doing system software updates.
    Get an external Firewire drive at least equal in size to the internal hard drive and make (and maintain) a bootable clone/backup. You can make a bootable clone using the Restore option of Disk Utility. You can also make and maintain clones with good backup software. My personal recommendations are (order is not significant):
    1. Retrospect Desktop (Commercial - not yet universal binary)
    2. Synchronize! Pro X (Commercial)
    3. Synk (Backup, Standard, or Pro)
    4. Deja Vu (Shareware)
    5. PsynchX 2.1.1 and RsyncX 2.1 (Freeware)
    6. Carbon Copy Cloner (Freeware - 3.0 is a Universal Binary)
    7. SuperDuper! (Commercial)
    8. Data Backup (Commercial)
    The following utilities can also be used for backup, but cannot create bootable clones:
    1. Backup (requires a .Mac account with Apple both to get the software and to use it.)
    2. Toast
    3. Impression
    4. arRSync
    Apple's Backup is a full backup tool capable of also backing up across multiple media such as CD/DVD. However, it cannot create bootable backups. It is primarily an "archiving" utility as are the other two.
    Impression and Toast are disk image based backups, only. Particularly useful if you need to backup to CD/DVD across multiple media.
    Visit The XLab FAQs and read the FAQs on maintenance, optimization, virus protection, and backup and restore.
    Additional suggestions will be found in Mac Maintenance Quick Assist.
    Referenced software can be found at www.versiontracker.com and www.macupdate.com.

Maybe you are looking for