How to run First Aid to a network drive in recovery mode with Disk Utility?

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How to run First Aid to a network drive in recovery mode with Disk Utility?

I'm having trouble to understand how to mount a network drive to Disk Utility in Recovery mode and to run First Aid on it. I tried to find guides online but none was referring to a network drive. I have MacBook Pro (early 2015) and I'm connecting the network drive directly to the computer with ethernet cable and an Apple USB Ethernet Adapter (because it takes longer to run these tests over WiFi). The network drive has static IP to simplify things and to make sure the Mac and the drive are both on the same main network address. But when I in recovery mode the drive doesn't appear under Network, I can't find it (even if I'm doing Recovery mode with internet, while connecting both Mac and drive directly to the router)

Some background:

I'm using WD My Cloud (running OS3) for my Time Machine backups. Initially I've used to backup two computers on it: MacBook Pro and MacBook Air, and then just the MacBook Pro (the computer I'm still using). So there's two disk images on it (we can compare them). Three years ago I've started to receive a message saying: "Time Machine completed a verification of your backups on "Device.local". To improve reliability, Time Machine must create a new backup for you."

I've tried to use Disk Utility in order to run First Aid on the Time Machine backups. But when I run it on the Apple sparse bundle disk image Media container of the MacBook Pro backup - I got this message: "First Aid found corruption that needs to be repaired. To repair the sartup volume, run First Aid from Recovery. Click Done to continue."

However when I run First Aid on the Time Machine Backups volume itself (under it), it passed.

For the other MacBook Air backup the First Aid passed on both the Apple sparse bundle disk image Media and the Time Machine Backups volume.

Also, something I noticed, the backup volume of the Air is "Mac OS Extended (Case-sensitive, Journaled)" and the backup volume of the Pro is "HFS Case-sensitive Not Journaled".

The issue:

When I am in Disk Utility I go File→Open Disk Image... then it opens a finder window and I go to Network and choosing the network drive: Network→MyCloud→TimeMachineBackup→Name's MacBook Pro.sparsebundle and click Open. However when I'm in Recovery mode nothing comes up under Network. I've tried to load Recovery mode with Internet but it didn't change anything. I've tried it when the network drive was connected directly to Mac and I've tried it when the Mac and drive were both connected directly to the router.

I haven't figure out how to mount the disk image in Recovery mode. It just doesn't appear in Recovery mode, so I don't know how I can run First Aid on it as the message suggested.

I did more troubleshooting regarding this issue [and documenting it, like initially the sparse bundle itself and a file name "token" (inside the package) were marked as Locked with a lock icon], but this post is already too long and I don't want to go sideways from the topic.

I just want to run First Aid to a network drive in Recovery mode but suddenly can't find and open the Disk Image although the drive connected directly to the Mac with cable. I can find it outside the recovery mode.

MacBook Pro (Retina, 13-inch, Early 2015), running macOS Mojave 10.14.6 (18G9323)

MacBook Pro Retina

Posted on Feb 10, 2023 1:47 PM

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Answer 1

a brody

Level 10

85,296 points

Feb 11, 2023 5:39 AM in response to Sokuya

This may not be possible directly from recovery mode. If you are getting errors that might prevent booting, it is entirely possible the Time Machine volume itself is damaged beyond repair.

Alsoft Disk Warrior may be able to repair it, but given that may be your only backup, your best bet it is to use Shirt Pocket Superduper to copy the entire contents of that volume to another hard drive that is healthy and new. Superduper is the only cloning software known to work with Time Machine backups. Alternatively, you could run the Migration Assistant on the Time Machine backup in a recovery to an external drive that is healthy and has just the operating system installed to it that is newer than the Time Machine backup itself.

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Answer 2

Sokuya Author

Level 1

20 points

Feb 11, 2023 9:42 AM in response to a brody

Thank you for your answer.

Is it not possible to open a disk image from a network drive on Disk Utility in recovery mode at all? or is it not possible to open my disk image cause its corrupt or something? However, I can open the disk image on Disk Utility outside recovery mode, the problem is that the network drive just doesn't appear when I'm in recovery mode. I can't find the disk image sparse bundle and mount it to Disk utility in recovery mode. However, one time I was able to ping the network drive with its static IP address and Terminal, but it didn't help.

If I will buy a new hard drive to transfer the Time Machine backup, and then will use the programs you have mentioned to repair the Time Machine backup volume, will I be able to continue using this Time Machine volume for new backups so my Time Machine will have all the old backups from 2017 going forward to 2023 and beyond?

I've run First Aid to the MacBook Pro Time Machine backup volume itself and it passed. Its the sparse bundle that failed. I'm also have access to all of the files inside the backup (access while navigating with finder). I just can't continue using it further with Time Machine and renew its schedule new backups, because it promote the message that says the verification of backup failed and I need to start a new Time Machine backup from scratch.

Side notes:

I don't understand why the MacBook Pro backup volume is "HFS Case-sensitive Not Journaled" and the MacBook Air backup volume is "Mac OS Extended (Case-sensitive, Journaled)". Like why it's different?

Pro:

Air:

This is what the First Aid test says when I run it on the MacBook Pro's Apple sparse bundle disk image Media, it says there are problem with the partition map.

Running First Aid on “Apple sparse bundle disk image Media”
First Aid found corruption that needs to be repaired. To repair the startup volume, run First Aid from Recovery. Click Done to continue.

Running First Aid on “Apple sparse bundle disk image Media” (disk3)

Checking prerequisites
Checking the partition list
Checking the partition map size
Checking for an EFI system partition
Checking the EFI system partition’s size
Checking the EFI system partition’s file system
Checking the EFI system partition’s folder content
Problems were found with the partition map which might prevent booting

Operation successful.

All other disks' First Aid tests passed.

When I first tried to load the disk image to Disk Utility I've noticed that the sparse bundle was marked as Locked. I also do a right click on it and then "show package files" (or similar phrasing) and I saw that a file named "token" was also marked locked. I compared it with the MacBook Air sparse bundle package and no file was marked locked there. So I tried to remove the lock, but no idea what put it there in the first place.

If it helps, here is all the information of the disks when clicked on "Info" while in Disk Utility

1) MacBook Pro

2) MacBook Air

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Answer 3

a brody

Level 10

85,296 points

Feb 11, 2023 3:57 PM in response to Sokuya

I wonder if the locked one is related to FIleVault. FileVault can play some slowness while migrating data, and responsiveness until it asks for the FileVault password can sometimes be minutes or hours.

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How to run First Aid to a network drive in recovery mode with Disk Utility?

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