"Volume Needs Repair"

Question

Level 1

0 points

"Volume Needs Repair"

I know this sort of question has been asked in many places, but i'm going to ask it again - sorry!

Lately, the computer has been running noticeably slower (lots of spinning beach ball), so i went into Disc Utility and hit "Verify Disc", and this is what i got

"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"

I have Applejack installed, and in the past when i've gotten the "HD needs to be repaired" message (maybe twice) i've gone into single user mode, run Applejack, and that's taken care of the problem. Not this time though, repeated tries have gotten me nowhere, and i'm concerned, i don't have all of my data backed up, and the thought of some kind of catastrophic HD failure just makes me shudder. So then, the big question - what do i do now?
Thanks in advance - Mike

Oh yeah, permissions have all been repaired, caches cleaned out, and there is plenty of free space on the drive, over 100 gigs.

intel imac, Mac OS X (10.4.8), 2.16 GHz intel core 2 duo, 1 GB RAM

Posted on Mar 6, 2009 6:21 PM

Reply

Answer 1

BDAqua

Level 10

250,409 points

Mar 6, 2009 6:30 PM in response to milomo

Hi Mike,

Don't do anything to the Disk until you repair it, not Permissions Repairs, Cache Cleaning, or anything.

Since AJ couldn't fix it...

You must repair the HD, your best bet is DiskWarrior from Alsoft...

http://www.alsoft.com/DiskWarrior/

You must repair the HD, if Disk Utility or fsck should fail to repair it, your best bet is DiskWarrior from Alsoft, you'll need the CD to boot from if you don't have another boot drive...

http://www.alsoft.com/DiskWarrior/

You can "Try Disk Utility

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."

But it likely won't if AJ didn't.

Reply

Answer 2

milomo Author

Level 1

0 points

Mar 6, 2009 6:44 PM in response to BDAqua

BD - Thanks for the reply. I'll probably try Disc Utility, just to see what happens. As far as DiscWarrior, i figured that's where i was headed, but before i spent the hundred bucks i figured i'd ask the question first.

Reply

Answer 3

Mar 6, 2009 6:47 PM in response to milomo

The other alternative is erase and install, restore from backup, but most find DW preferable.

Reply

Answer 4

milomo Author

Level 1

0 points

Mar 9, 2009 12:21 PM in response to Limnos

Is there a risk of data loss with DW? Do i need to back everything up before i run it?

Reply

Answer 5

Mar 9, 2009 12:32 PM in response to milomo

Doing anything to a disk can result in data loss. With Diskwarrior there is a good chance it will recover all intact. However, this is like going into the hospital for minor surgery, but does that guarantee nothing will ever go wrong? No. If you really want to play it safe keep any existing backup you have. Make a new backup on another drive of the bad drive as it currently stands, then run Diskwarrior. Chances are it will fix things, but if it makes them worse you still have a copy of the drive as it exists now for another try with other tools. I know a lot of people don't have large numbers of drives but that's the conservative approach.

Reply

Answer 6

milomo Author

Level 1

0 points

Mar 9, 2009 12:50 PM in response to Limnos

Thanks a lot Limnos. That's what i thought, but again i figured i'd ask just to make sure, so as i was typing the question i had Superduper making a bootable copy of the HD to an external. Once that's done, it's off to the Apple store for DW.

Reply

Answer 7

rwade

Level 1

0 points

May 16, 2009 11:20 AM in response to milomo

milomo-

How did you make out. I just started getting the exact same error message. Purchased 1.5tb seagate and back all up. Interested to see if DW worked for you. Thanks!

Message was edited by: rwade

Reply