Xserve RAID: Server Monitor says degraded, disk utility says mirror FAILED.

Xserve Quad Intel 4x2GH
4096 GB RAM
OS X Server 10.4.11
Xserve RAID 7TB 14x 500 GB ADM via dual fiber channel, Mirrored, 3.5 TB array.
Flashing yellow indicator light on Xserve this morning. Investigated and found that RAID Admin says everything is OK, all 14 drives normal.
RAID Admin log says :"4000 1 Wed Apr 08 09:37:59 EDT 2009 Disk 2 Failed To Respond. Retrying. RETRY COUNT:0 LBA:0x1C700"
Under the RAID tab, Disk utility says: "Mirrored RAID Set: Degraded" and "Disc2s3: FAILED"
All LED's are solid green across the front of the ADMs.
Since all my drives are reporting OK, could this be a problem with the Fiber Channel interfaces?
Should I just backup (again), shut down and rebuild the mirror using Disk Utility?

Hi Kappy<
I am trying to migrate user data from a RAID - 1 slice from my old PowerMac G4 running OS X 10.4.11 to my new MacBook Pro running OS X 10.5.4 by reading a mirror RAID slice from my old Mac that is mounted in an external drive enclosure and connected by FireWire.
The problem is that the new Mac cannot read the old Mac disk, it never shows up on the desktop, or comes up as available when trying to use Migration Assistant. Then, if I go into Disk Utility, the external RAID slice shows up briefly with a locked yellow padlock beside it, then I suddenly get the window shade of death, and have to hold down the power button to reset/restart my MacBook.
Why can my new computer not read my old computers disk, and how can I change permissions, or make the old drive readable by the new mac.
Regrettably I am away from the original Desktop, and cannot load the old drive back into it, connect the two machines and migrate that way. My only option for reaching my necessary data is to retrieve it off the drive I have with me.
Thanks in advance for any help you can offer.

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Disk Utility says of USB Drive - "This partition can't be modified" "This disk is not writeable and cannot be partitioned"

Several months ago I bought a 64GB PNY USB memory stick to transpord data quickly.
It seemed to work fine. I could format it as a Mac partition and use it. I hardly ever need
it so I just put it away.
Today I wanted to use it to put a file on and take it to the Kinko's/FedEx to print, and I
find I cannot mount it on any of my computers, iMac, MacMini or MacBookPro.
In Disk Utility virtually everything is greyed out.
Disk Utility says: "This partition can't be modified" "This disk is not writeable and cannot be partitioned"
If I try to mount it, it says "This disk cannot be mounted"
There is no physical read-only switch or setting on the disk that I can see and it is very small.
I has a Mac OS installed on it, so I wonder if that is a problem? I should be able to write over that
or reformat it I would think.

Thanks for these replies.
I've got regular time machine backups and just backed up some of my data by copying some key folders to an external drive. I'm bit paranoid about backup integrity and would ideally like to do another full backup to a different drive using a system other than time machine, in the event that something goes wrong with the time machine backup. Any recommendations on good and affordable backup software to do a backup of my TM backup?
One other question: I seem to encounter problems like this pretty frequently. I'd say once a year or so, my drive fails completely or gets near enough to failing that I have to wipe and restore. (I've never had a TM backup fail to work, though the last go around there were some hiccups which has led to my backup paranoia.) I've had this happen on multiple computers, so I'm becoming pretty convinced that the problem lies somewhere in my data. Is it possible (even likely) that there's something in my data causing this recurring problem? If so, is there anything I might be able to do to try and pinpoint and address this problem? I'd love to go one year without having to wipe/restore my machine!
For a while I thought I just had bad luck. But I think this is like the 4th or 5th time this has happened in the past 4 years and every time, I'm restoring from a backup, so I come back with the same data. It's the one constant since I've had 3 different machines over this same time period.

I just got a WD My Passport 1TB External Harddrive and i have already backed everything up to it but im still a little nervous about erasing things off the physical drive since it says my disk utility is out of space an implying i need to erase items.

I just got a WD My Passport 1TB External Harddrive and i have already backed everything up to it but im still a little nervous about erasing things off the physical drive on my macbook pro since it says my disk utility is out of space an implying i need to erase items.
I cant find the options to erase selected items it only shows that i can erase everything.
I mean technically i suppose i could erase everything an have a fresh start since its backed up to my external. But what exactly are the specific items being erased?
I have bought the newest OS X 10.8.2 an worried that it will get erased also an end up having to repurchase it.
Can anyone help me?
<Personal Information Edited by Host>

Black_Chevy07 wrote:
I just got a WD My Passport 1TB External Harddrive and i have already backed everything up to it but im still a little nervous about erasing things off the physical drive on my macbook pro since it says my disk utility is out of space an implying i need to erase items.
I cant find the options to erase selected items it only shows that i can erase everything.
I mean technically i suppose i could erase everything an have a fresh start since its backed up to my external. But what exactly are the specific items being erased?
I have bought the newest OS X 10.8.2 an worried that it will get erased also an end up having to repurchase it.
Can anyone help me?
If you are trying to delete some files get out of Disk Utility, it is not for that!
How did you backup and what are you trying to achieve?
Please post the exact error messages(s) you have received.

Disk Utility says everything's fine, but Install disk doesn't find my internal drive as a possible destination. When I startup with Command S, I get a looping "cannot mount errno = 19" message.

Disk Utility says everything's fine, but Install disk doesn't find my internal drive as a possible destination. When I startup with Command + S, I get a looping "cannot mount errno = 19" message.
Problem started when I used Tech Tool Pro 6 to "de-fragment volume". Had to cancel that process before it finished because I ran out of time. Thereafter, when I startup my machine normally, I get the gray Apple logo at first, but it changes to a prohibited symbol (circle with a slash thru it) and hangs.
When I startup holding the Option key, I can see my internal drive, but I get the same results as above.
When I startup using the MacBook OSX Install DVD, it does not find my internal drive as possible destination.
When I startup using the MacBook OSX Install DVD and then run Disk Utility, it finds my drive, allows me to "repair" and says everything is fine.
When I startup with Command + S, I get a looping error message "errno = 19" and cannot stop it to do anything else.
When I startup from Disk Warrior v4.4, it does not find my internal drive to do any repairs.
When I startup from Tech Tool Pro 6 and run the "computer check" diagnostics, everything passes but the Volume Structure, which fails at "Volume Extents (B-tree)." When I use TTP's "Tools" option to run "volume repair" it will show my internal drive and allow me to click the GO button, but nothing happens and nothing changes.
I have a Time Machine backup on an external USB drive, but for as long as the internal drive doesn't mount, I can't use the backup to restore.

It's a false report and should be ignored.
I would not rely on TT as I've already said earlier even before Grant posted similar advice.
I really think the Rigid Disk Block may be corrupted. This holds the partition map and could prevent a volume from being unmounted. Unfortunately, there is no way to fix that without repartitioning the drive which will remove everything. So, before going down this road I hope you have backups or can make a backup.
Drive Partition and Format
1. Boot from your Snow Leopard 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 Utilities menu.
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. Under the Volume Scheme heading set the number of partitions from the drop down menu to one. Click on the Options button, set the partition scheme to GUID then click on the OK button. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Partition button and wait until the process has completed.
4. Quit DU and return to the installer. Proceed with reinstalling OS X.
5. Download and install Mac OS X 10.6.8 Update Combo v1.1.

I have to replace my hard drive as it is failing, I'm away and just bought a new external HD for backups,,only problem is it is fsiling to backup without a reason. Disk utility says ex HD is ok. I need to backup before i get it repaired. Any Advice?

Hi my hard drive is failing and I'm overseas in Thailand. I bought a Buffalo 1TB to back up my mac 13inch HD version 10.6.8, only problem is it wont back up. Disk Utility says ex HD is fine. I need to backup before I take it for repairs. What can I do? Thanks advice appreciated. NL

I think we both had our wires crossed a little.
Then just go ahead and clone your internal drive to your Buffalo. You are not going to use Time Machine, and you do not have to partition it. So ignore all that stuff I posted. Let me start from scratch.
First check that your Buffalo drive is partitioned GUID and formatted Mac OS Extended, Journaled. So open Disk Utility, select the topmost entry for the Buffalo drive. You should see something like this:
I have selected the entry of my CalDigit drive. Note that the Partition Map Scheme is GUID. Now, select the volume (mine is "System Backup."
Here you see it is a Format type of Mac OS Extended, Journaled. If that's what you see then you are good to go.
With Disk Utility still open:
Clone using Restore Option of Disk Utility
1. Open Disk Utility in 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. Select the destination volume from the left side list and drag it to
the Destination entry field.
5. Select the source volume from the left side list and drag it to
the Source entry field.
6. Double-check you got it right, then click on the Restore button.
Destination means the Buffalo drive. Source means the internal startup drive.

Hi, how do I manage storage? Disk Utility says "other" is taking up most of my storage but I don't know where to find "other". Please help!

Hi, how do I manage storage? Disk Utility says “other” is taking up most of my storage but I don’t know where to find “other". Please help!

For information about the Other category in the Storage display, see this support article. If the Storage display seems to be inaccurate, try rebuilding the Spotlight index.
Empty the Trash if you haven't already done so. If you use iPhoto, empty its internal Trash first:
iPhoto ▹ Empty Trash
Do the same in other applications, such as Aperture, that have an internal Trash feature. Then restart the computer. That will temporarily free up some space.
According to Apple documentation, you need at least 9 GB of available space on the startup volume (as shown in the Finder Info window) for normal operation—not the mythical 10%, 15%, or any other percentage. You also need enough space left over to allow for growth of the data. There is little or no performance advantage to having more available space than the minimum Apple recommends. Available storage space that you'll never use is wasted space.
When Time Machine backs up a portable Mac, some of the free space will be used to make local snapshots, which are backup copies of recently deleted files. The space occupied by local snapshots is reported as available by the Finder, and should be considered as such. In the Storage display of System Information, local snapshots are shown as Backups. The snapshots are automatically deleted when they expire or when free space falls below a certain level. You ordinarily don't need to, and should not, delete local snapshots yourself. If you followed bad advice to disable local snapshots by running a shell command, you may have ended up with a lot of data in the Other category. Ask for instructions in that case.
See this support article for some simple ways to free up storage space.
You can more effectively use a tool such as OmniDiskSweeper (ODS) or GrandPerspective (GP) to explore the volume and find out what's taking up the space. You can also delete files with it, but don't do that unless you're sure that you know what you're deleting and that all data is safely backed up. That means you have multiple backups, not just one. Note that ODS only works with OS X 10.8 or later. If you're running an older OS version, use GP.
Deleting files inside a photo or iTunes library will corrupt the library. Changes to such a library must be made from within the application that created it. The same goes for Mail files.
Proceed further only if the problem isn't solved by the above steps.
ODS or GP can't see the whole filesystem when you run it just by double-clicking; it only sees files that you have permission to read. To see everything, you have to run it as root.
Back up all data now.
If you have more than one user account, make sure you're logged in as an administrator. The administrator account is the one that was created automatically when you first set up the computer.
Install the app you downloaded in the Applications folder as usual. Quit it if it's running.
Triple-click anywhere in the corresponding line of text below on this page to select it, then copy the selected text to the Clipboard by pressing the key combination command-C:
sudo /Applications/OmniDiskSweeper.app/Contents/MacOS/OmniDiskSweeper 2>&-
sudo /Applications/GrandPerspective.app/Contents/MacOS/GrandPerspective 2>&-
Launch the built-in Terminal 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.
Paste into the Terminal window by pressing command-V. You'll be prompted for your login password, which won't be displayed when you type it. Type carefully and then press return. You may get a one-time warning to be careful. If you see a message that your username "is not in the sudoers file," then you're not logged in as an administrator. Ignore any other messages that appear in the Terminal window.
The application window will open, eventually showing all files in all folders, sorted by size. It may take a few minutes for the app to finish scanning.
I don't recommend that you make a habit of doing this. Don't delete anything as root. If something needs to be deleted, make sure you know what it is and how it got there, and then delete it by other, safer, means. When in doubt, leave it alone or ask for guidance.
When you're done with the app, quit it and also quit Terminal.

HD crash. Disk utility says invalid node structure, invalid record count. Disk utility cannot repair. Now what?

My hard drive crashed. The disk utility says it can not repair. I tried to boot in safe mode but I stopped after 10 minutes. Is that impatient or how long can it take?
I have the installation disk but doesn't that erase everything?

I have never bought a new computer from Apple so I don't know the details of what is covered by the warranty. You can try taking it to the Apple Store and they may have a copy of DW they can run. Or maybe not and they will just wipe the drive and reinstall the OS for you and if you haven't made a backup before they do that then tough luck. I'd check first!
If you buy Diskwarrior on DVD it will boot the computer. I think Apple Stores carry it, but you can also buy it directly from the vendor. I also don't use Lion OS so I don't know the details. You may be able to get their download version and boot from your recovery partition, then run it without a DVD.

USB Hard Drive that Disk Utility says it can't unmount

I have a 93.2 Gb Hard Drive (from an old G4 PowerBook) inside an enclosure with USB connection. While trying to recover data from it using Data Rescue (on a G4 PowerBook), Data Rescue II hung. After restart, the USB Hard Drive can not be read at all. Disk Utility says it can't repair it or erase it because it can't "Unmount" the disk. What can I do with the USB Hard Drive?

try this: open system preferences/spotlight/privacy and drag that external into spotlight privacy then try Disk Utility.

Yosemite on MacBook Air - Third time installed, now will not be startup disk. Disk Utility says OK. Disk Warrior says 375 pages of bad .plist files. How delete plist files?

Yosemite on MacBook Air - Third time installed, now will not be startup disk. Disk Utility says OK. Disk Warrior says 375 pages of bad .plist files. How delete plist files?
What does "Accessibility" mean?

Had the same problem, finally realized that the FileVault Encryption was struck at 19%. Speed back up to normal after I disabled FileVault using terminal command - sudo fdesetup diable
To check whether the FileVault is the culprit, go to System Preferences --> Security & Privacy --> FileVault to see if encryption is in progress.. For me the blue bar was less than a quarter with status 'estimating time remaining'..
Then open Terminal and type in: sudo fdesetup disable
It will then ask for the admin password (to be it asked twice), then it was disabled... Back to normal life again..
Here is my terminal log for reference:
Last login: Tue Oct 21 23:05:13 on console
Gowthams-MBP:~ asgowtham$ fdesetup status
FileVault is On.
Encryption in progress: Percent completed = 18.80
Gowthams-MBP:~ asgowtham$ fdesetup status
FileVault is On.
Encryption in progress: Percent completed = 18.80
Gowthams-MBP:~ asgowtham$ fdesetup status
FileVault is On.
Encryption in progress: Percent completed = 18.80
Gowthams-MBP:~ asgowtham$ sudo fdesetup disable
Password:
Enter a password for '/':
..fdes.
FileVault has been disabled.
Gowthams-MBP:~ asgowtham$ fdesetup status
FileVault is Off.

My external drive won't mount. Disk Utility says it can't repair disk and to backup the disk and reformat, but how can I do that if it won't mount?

My external drive won't mount. Disk Utility says it can't repair disk and to backup the disk and reformat, but how can I do that if it won't mount?

See mount section in 1st linked article.
Disk Unmount Using Terminal
Disk Utility – Force Mount Disk

Disk Utility Says System RAID Degraded - Does this mean what I think it is?

Hi All
I have a Mirrored RAID Set for my System Drive - being two 931.5 GB Hitachi Drives. This Mirrored RAID Set I have called System RAID. If I click on the RAID Slice in the Disk Utility it says that the "System RAID" is Degraded, and under this [tabbed in] it says 931.2 GB - RAID Slice (disk0s2) Failed with the other under that saying 931.2 GB - RAID Slice (disk1s2) with no comment it has failed [obviously].
So if this essentially means my the first drive in my RAID set has failed then I will lose all data if the second fails also, is this correct?
So what should my next step be? Should I shut down the machine until I can purchase a spare drive to replace the currently damaged one? AND most importantly, HOW do I replace the drive and have it rebuild as the new second drive without erasing / losing data - IE what is the protocol now??
Please your immediate assistance is GREATLY APPRECIATED!
OH and AHH I've just seen in System Profiler that a 2 GB RAM chip appears to have failed
DIMM Riser A/DIMM 4:
Size: 2 GB
Type: DDR2 FB-DIMM
Speed: 800 MHz
Status: ECC Errors
ECC Correctable Errors: 1
Manufacturer: 0x7F61
Part Number: 0x000000000000000000000000000000000000
Serial Number: 0x00000000
What is going on!!

Hi Kappy<
I am trying to migrate user data from a RAID - 1 slice from my old PowerMac G4 running OS X 10.4.11 to my new MacBook Pro running OS X 10.5.4 by reading a mirror RAID slice from my old Mac that is mounted in an external drive enclosure and connected by FireWire.
The problem is that the new Mac cannot read the old Mac disk, it never shows up on the desktop, or comes up as available when trying to use Migration Assistant. Then, if I go into Disk Utility, the external RAID slice shows up briefly with a locked yellow padlock beside it, then I suddenly get the window shade of death, and have to hold down the power button to reset/restart my MacBook.
Why can my new computer not read my old computers disk, and how can I change permissions, or make the old drive readable by the new mac.
Regrettably I am away from the original Desktop, and cannot load the old drive back into it, connect the two machines and migrate that way. My only option for reaching my necessary data is to retrieve it off the drive I have with me.
Thanks in advance for any help you can offer.

Disk utility says "RAID STATUS: Disk missing"?

When I boot up OS 10.3.9 there is error message "detected volume OS X cannot read - initialize, ignore or eject" - then it dissappears and the system drive behaves normally. But in disk utitlity it says "RAID STATUS: Disk missing".
The disk is not partitioned and it will not let me repair permissions. Any ideas?

Disk Utility monitors the status of the disks in a RAID set. If you see a message indicating that a disk is missing or has failed, try these troubleshooting steps:
If you are using a striped RAID set, delete the damaged RAID set. Your data may be lost. Be sure to back up your RAID sets and other data regularly.
If you are using a mirrored RAID set, there may have been an error writing data to the disk. Click Rebuild in the RAID pane of Disk Utility.
If a problem persists, replace the damaged disk and click Rebuild to rebuild the RAID set.
Use the First Aid pane to repair the RAID disk, then check the RAID set to see if it still reports an error. If the problem is still present, quit and reopen Disk Utility, select the RAID disk, and click RAID. Check the RAID set to see if it still reports an error. You may need to restart your computer.
iBook G4 Mac OS X (10.3.9)

Builidng RAID on mac pro using disk-utility

Hello,
i want to build a RAID on my Intel mac.
First idea was using Disk Utility (DU).
Is DU able to create RAID 5 or only RAID 0/1 ?
If yes, and hints / or useful links ?
I have googled for a while but most hints are regarding raid 0/1 and/or mac xserve systems with specific cards/controllers
or should i use: softRAId app ?
and:
if there is a solution:
is the software raid 5 at apple really too slow to be happy ? is hardware-raid the only working solution ?
best regards
fidel

Check out some of the PCIe hardware controllers. There is CalDigit
RocketRAID reviewed by AMUG (they do excellent in-depth reviews).
Areca ARC-1220 RAID might be an option at some point. Would be nice if it did - but I don't see Mac Pro or OS X support.
http://www.areca.com.tw/products/html/pcie-sata.htm
I prefer SoftRAID, but you'll have to wait for 3.6, or do as some and use Apple's and create RAID 1+0. Or XRAID

Disk Utility says "drive can't be repaired, disk and restore your backed up files."

My Mac Book Pro froze yesterday and I had to force restart it. It had been showing me messages that my hard drive disk was full for a while and I was in the middle of transferring files to my external hard drive and I accidentally put a huge large file from my external hard drive into the trash on my laptop which makes me wonder if that means I added more GB to a computer that was already very full. Anyway, after freezing I restarted it and the desktop wouldn't load properly. The desktop picture was there, but folders on desktop did not appear, finder bar was missing and the dock was acting super slow and nothing worked when clicked on. Then the next few attempts were around the same result and eventually became stuck on the apple logo, spinning gear and a progress bar that was not loading at all.
Here's what I've tried so far:
Safe mode- nothing happens
Command + R - I am unsure how to work this since I can't seem to find an internet connection when it prompts for one. None of the internet connections have much signal and my own information doesn't seem to load since the gear spins to find the internet connection name and password I typed to load it but can't seem to find it. Perhaps I have the wrong internet information, but I don't think so.
I tried Command + S to use in single user mode and type in a command to help fix the drive, BUT, even though the black screen and white lettering mode did show up, it remained in a place where I was not allowed to type anything and the last thing written at the bottom of the screen was something about set up for bluetooth, I think. I tried this twice and both times it stopped in the same place and I could not type a command.
Disk Utility using installation dvd to verify and repair disk. Verify says disk needs repair and then repair has some red colored phrases: Invalid volume file count. (It should be 786374 instead of 786274) Incorrect number of thread records. And there was another problem listed but I do not remember it. Then, near the end of repairing it says: "Disk Utility stopped repairing Macintosh HD." It tells me it couldn't repair the disk and that I should back up as many of my files as possible, reformat the disk and restore backed up files.
That would be fine and dandy, but I have no idea how to back up my files and do all this. I have no idea how to exactly get the data off my hard drive. If someone does, please list a step by step guide for me on how to do so.
I have an external hard drive and I tried plugging in and selecting the hard drive and making a "New Image" to copy to the external hard drive destination, but it just stops a few seconds into it and tells me there is an input/output error. I tried read only, read/write only, compressed options for making a copy and all yield the same result.
In Disk Utility, I believe I have a partition -the Macintosh HD. I have listed on the left hand side: 320.07 GB Hitachi HTSS45.....etc. and below it in non-bolded, grey lettering it says "Macintosh HD."
The Hitachi, when clicked upon, shows the S.M.A.R.T. status as Verified and the Macintosh HD doesn't show much in details except for "Not mounted."
At one point, the Macintosh HD was in bold lettering and seemed to be mounted for a few minutes. When that happened, I was able to see the details reading: Mount Point: /Volumes/Macintosh HD, Capacity: 319.73 GB, Available: 11.92 GB, Used: 307.81 GB, etc.
I'm getting nervous to keep turning on and off the computer on force start and shut downs, especially since I have been reading up that the longer the computer is on, the more the hard drive is in use and the more chance for it to start deleting or overwriting my files. Is this true?
It's not mounted anymore since it was momentarily mounted. I just want to get my files off the disk and save them to my external hard drive. That is my main goal right now. What can I do?
Thank you in advance for your help!

If you want to preserve the data on the boot drive, you must try to back up now, before you do anything else. It may or may not be possible. If you don't care about the data, you can skip this step.
There are several ways to back up a Mac that is unable to fully boot. You need an external hard drive to hold the backup data.
1. Boot into Recovery (command-R at startup) or from a local Time Machine backup volume (option key at startup.) Launch Disk Utility and follow the instructions in the support article linked below, under “Instructions for backing up to an external hard disk via Disk Utility.”
How to back up and restore your files
2. If you have access to a working Mac, and both it and the non-working Mac have FireWire or Thunderbolt ports, boot the non-working Mac in target disk mode by holding down the key combination command-T at the startup chime. Connect the two Macs with a FireWire or Thunderbolt cable. The internal drive of the machine running in target mode will mount as an external drive on the other machine. Copy the data to another drive. This technique won't work with USB, Ethernet, Wi-Fi, or Bluetooth.
How to use and troubleshoot FireWire target disk mode
3. If the internal drive of the non-working Mac is user-replaceable, remove it and mount it in an external enclosure or drive dock. Use another Mac to copy the data.

Disk Utility says disk can't be repaired but it is still working

Recently my MacBook Air had some performance problems--many programs crashing, etc. I ran Disk Utility and it came back saying the disk is corrupt and needs to be repaired. I rebooted and ran the Disk Utility repair function but Disk Utility said the volume could not be repaired and recommended that I back everything up, wipe the drive, and restore.
The thing is that my computer is now functioning normally. Disk Utility still says there's a huge and unrepairable problem, but aside from that, everything is working fine.
I have a time machine backup, so I could wipe and restore the drive fairly easily, but it would take some time to do it. I'm in the middle of some important things for work and so I'd rather put this off for a couple of weeks, if I can.
A few questions: (1) is there other software, aside from Disk Uility, that I should try to repair the disk? (2) How much of a ticking time-bomb do I have with this problem? Though reformatitng and restoring would be a hassle right now, it is less of a hassle than if my computer were to fail completely minutes before a presentation. So, if this is an urgent problem, then I'll probably address it now. But, if Apples have been known to soldier on for months despite error messages like what I've received, then I may take my chances and wait to reformat/restore until a more convenient time.
Any and all thoughts appreciated, thanks!

Thanks for these replies.
I've got regular time machine backups and just backed up some of my data by copying some key folders to an external drive. I'm bit paranoid about backup integrity and would ideally like to do another full backup to a different drive using a system other than time machine, in the event that something goes wrong with the time machine backup. Any recommendations on good and affordable backup software to do a backup of my TM backup?
One other question: I seem to encounter problems like this pretty frequently. I'd say once a year or so, my drive fails completely or gets near enough to failing that I have to wipe and restore. (I've never had a TM backup fail to work, though the last go around there were some hiccups which has led to my backup paranoia.) I've had this happen on multiple computers, so I'm becoming pretty convinced that the problem lies somewhere in my data. Is it possible (even likely) that there's something in my data causing this recurring problem? If so, is there anything I might be able to do to try and pinpoint and address this problem? I'd love to go one year without having to wipe/restore my machine!
For a while I thought I just had bad luck. But I think this is like the 4th or 5th time this has happened in the past 4 years and every time, I'm restoring from a backup, so I come back with the same data. It's the one constant since I've had 3 different machines over this same time period.

Xserve RAID: Server Monitor says degraded, disk utility says mirror FAILED.

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