Should I keep waiting for Diskwarrior to repair hard drive?

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Level 1

4 points

Should I keep waiting for Diskwarrior to repair hard drive?

Have spent two days trying to fix this 3 month old hard drive in my MacBook Pro. Utilities couldn't fix it. Tech Tools couldn't fix it. For a day DiskWarrior wouldn't boot, but for some reason it did today. It has been "rebuilding the directory" for about 4 hours with a message that reads "Speed reduced by Disk Malfunction" followed by ever increasing numbers. DiskWarrior site says that as long as you can move the mouse cursor, and as long as the numbers keep changing, it is working and not frozen. It also says that the hard drive is probably bad, and I should back up my files. So, my question is: is this worth it if, at the end of the day, the whole thing is bad? Or, can DiskWarrior actually fix the drive? I am more concerned about applications being lost than data. I tried using the firewire connection, but I can't get the MacBook to recognize the other computer or the external hard drive.
I am just weary of this - and don't want to spend two or three days waiting for this computer to repair itself unless I have some hope that it will work. Has anyone been through this process successfully?????

MacBook Pro 17", Mac OS X (10.6.2)

Posted on Mar 20, 2010 4:35 PM

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Answer 1

Mac-Medic

Level 6

17,301 points

Mar 20, 2010 5:23 PM in response to HGStudios

I would let it keep going--especially if you don't want to loose everything on that drive. I've seen if take a couple of days already to repair. If it does repair it, I would I would back everything up off it and replace the drive. I wouldn't risk going through this again.

Dave M.
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Answer 2

S.U.

Level 6

9,595 points

Mar 20, 2010 7:22 PM in response to HGStudios

Welcome to Apple Discussions!

Remember that there are two aspects of a hard drive--hardware and software. Disk Warrior is repairing the complex software, but if the drive is failing physically, and it sounds like it may be, Disk Warrior cannot fix it physically. It may be able to repair the software so that you can get your data off of it, and that should probably be your goal.

Since DW says your drive is probably bad, it very likely is failing. Since you are under warranty, Apple will probably replace the drive for you, but they would keep your old drive.

Once DW finishes the repair and you have backed up the drive, here is a utility that will give you a comprehensive view of the physical health of the drive:

http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/32454

You can download the demo and run it several times for free. It may also be that a failing SMART status will show up in Disk Utility.

If the drive is failing physically, I wouldn't really trust anything on it since the applications could have become corrupted. It would be better to install all applications fresh from discs or downloads if you end up fitting a new drive.

Good luck!

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