Airport Extreme Disk- Problem Can't Repair Disk

grmac wrote:
I ran disk utility on the Airport Extreme hard drive and received an error....

Verifying volume “disk2s2”
Checking Journaled HFS Plus volume.
Invalid B-tree node size
The volume could not be verified completely.
Error: This disk needs to be repaired. Click Repair Disk.

However, the Repair Disk Permissions button is greyed out an unselectable.

I have no idea what to do with this.

Use the +*Repair Disk+* button, not +*Repair Disk Permissions.+*

It's possible Disk Utility can't fix that error. You'll either need a heavy-duty 3rd-party app, such as +Disk Warrior+ (about $100), or to copy what you can off the disk, erase it, and start over.

grmac wrote:
Thanks for the help. I was able to delete everything off the drive (I was using it as a Time Machine, but kept receiving an error that Time machine could not finish and that is why I ran disk utility in the first place). However... new problem as shown up.... it is not showing in Disk Utility.

Is the drive connected directly to your Mac? If not, do that.

Disconnect it and power it down for a few minutes. Restart your Mac and try again. Try different ports, cables, and combinations of the two (a plug that works fine in one port may not make good contact in another).

If it has it's own power supply, check those connections, too, and try a different power source. If you can, see if it's actually running (indicator light, sound, vibrations).

If it still doesn't appear, it's likely dead or dying. 😟

grmac wrote:
No...it is an Airport Extreme and is being accessed wirelessly.

You can't use Disk Utility on a network drive (although you can use it on a +sparse bundle+ on it).

I'd like to start over with the Airport Extreme drive. That is, I don't want it to function as the Time Machine drive because after the first couple of successful backups, the remaining backups would stop somewhere in the middle and I would receive an error message that said the backup could not be completed.

Yes, that's common. Backing-up that way is "iffy" and +*not supported by Apple.+* See: Using Time Machine with an Airport Extreme Air Disk (or use the link in *User Tips* at the top of this forum).

However, it is still labeled as a Time Machine drive and I want to remove that label.

In Time Machine Preferences, click +Select Disk+ and choose a different destination, or the "none" option. Then connect the drive directly to your Mac and erase it with Disk Utility.

grmac wrote:
Thanks...

What I have is a 1 TB Time Machine. I have been calling it an Airport Extreme but that's not what I've got. It's the 1TB Time Machine.

Ah, you mean +*Time Capsule,+* the Apple hardware combining a wireless router and hard drive.

+*Time Machine+* is Apple's backup software, that can back up to external HDs, Time Capsules, etc.

First, should I be having any problems with Time Machine not completing backups? It worked fine for a couple of days (the size of the backup was only ~175GB) but after that I got the couldn't complete message.

That can happen, for a variety of reasons, and it can usually be fixed fairly easily.

Go to Time Machine Preferences and turn Time Machine OFF.

You said earlier that you'd deleted everything off it, so you need to start over anyhow. To be sure you got everything, use +*Airport Utility:+* Select +*Base Station > Manual Set-Up+* from the Menubar, then Disks in the tool Bar, then Erase.

Check the names of your Computer, Network, and Time Capsule, and change them if necessary, per #C9 in Time Machine - Troubleshooting (or use the link in *User Tips* at the top of this forum).

Then turn off Airport and connect to the TC via an Ethernet cable if at all possible. The first backup will be a long one, but it will be 2-3 times faster than via even a good WIFI connection.

Go to Time Machine preferences and re-select your Time Capsule as the destination. A backup should start in 2 minutes.

Second, Why would't it show up in Disk Utility? Is there a Disk Utility .plst file I could delete?

Because it's on a network, and Disk Utility can't do much to a network drive, except a few things to a +sparse bundle disk image+ that's on the network drive. (Time Machine will put your backups in one.)

grmac wrote:
Pondini... thanks so much for your help. I tell you what I'm going to do...I'm going to go back to my original intent and use the Time Machine as intended as a wireless backup device. If I get an error message I'll post here and we'll take the next step.

Cool. But don't post here; post either in the +Time Capsule+ forum: http://discussions.apple.com/forum.jspa?forumID=1253

or the +Snow Leopard > Time Machine+ forum: http://discussions.apple.com/forum.jspa?forumID=1342

And note the *User Contributed Tips* at the top of both forums.