Install Failed - Disk is damaged

Hello everyone.

Few days ago, when i wanted to update my 15" Macbook Pro i7 to iOS Lion, I got the exact same error message as you guys: "disk is damaged, can't be repaired etc.".

I dream of becoming a photographer and because of that I have a lot of irreplaceable pictures on my Macintosh HD. So it was completely stupid that I did not have a backup (Time Machine or something like that.)

I solved the problem by booting without doing anything. I went to the installer, just like you do, and then i popped in my external 400gb iOmega USB-harddrive. I installed Lion on this Harddrive, and wupti, i could now boot from this one - called "Recovery-xx" (can't remember).

And hocus pocus. Suddenly I was in Lion and got a message that says: Macintosh HD can not be repaired, you have to copy your files and then format the harddisk... OR SOMETHING LIKE THAT..

I agree: All of this is Apple's fault. But the most important thing (in my case) is that I have not lost my pictures now, thanks to this complicated method...

Jesper.

I hope you guys understand my english ;-) Feel free to ask.

bart2906 wrote:

I use Super Duper... I wonder if that had anything to do with it.

I should not suspect any issue with SuperDuper!. In simplest terms: SuperDuper! reads from one volume, writes to another volume.

As with any other utility associated with backups, SuperDuper! might sometimes write a considerable amount of data.

If with any volume there exists a minor issue — one that might be repaired easily — subsequent writes without attention to that repair might exacerbate the issue, or introduce new issues.

Metaphorically: a slow puncture. You might not notice it but an occasional check of tyre pressures reduces the likelihood of you suddenly cycling without padding (causing possibly irreparable damage to the wheel).

So, occasionally verify your starup volume and all other volumes. Peace of mind.

To the best of my knowledge: shrinking of the startup volume, attempted after the first restart in the installation routine for 10.7 (Build 11A511), occurs only if the volume is verified by fsck_hfs.

So, if you find a problem with your startup volume, or any part of that disk following an attempt to install an operating system: it could signal that there was a latent issue with the volume or disk, previously undetectable.

S.M.A.R.T. is useful but not a panacea. It's possible to have badly failing disk or disk drive with no hint of a problem reported by S.M.A.R.T.. I learnt this the hard way a few years ago, thankfully without loss of data.

I figured it out: fsck_hfs-rf /dev/disk1s3 and it ran quickly and the last line said "disk needs to be repaired". Does this mean my hard drive is bad? I had absolutely zero issues until trying the Lion intstall. I am at a lost as to what to do next. I have reset p-ram multiple time and can not get my HD as an option to boot back into SL. If i click install on SL it tells me it will erase my data.In SL disk utility "verify disk" I get "invalid node structure", "the volume mac HD needs to be repaired" and "Eror: filesystem verify or repair failed" UG!!!!!!!!

How I averted catastrophe: I threw OSX Lion in the trash bin. I booted up in Safe Mode. Then opened up System Preferences. Clicked on Start Up and it offered me to start up using Snow Leapord. I restarted the computer and it is working beautifully. Right now I am just saving everything I can externally.

Have handy a USB flash drive, then start from your Snow Leopard DVD. Whilst started from that DVD, use Terminal to run the three commands below. Save the Terminal output to a USB flash drive, then use Disk Utility to eject the USB flash drive.

Use some other computer to paste to this topic the results of the three commands.

diskutil list

diskutil info disk0s2

diskutil info disk0s3

Thank you

Hint

How to paste plain text, or code, in Apple Support Communities — a two-screenshot demonstration

Ok I will do that.and post I am posting using a PC laptop. in disk0s2 is the 0 the number zero or letter O? Also my disk is "disk1s3" so do I use that or what you have typed disk0s2???

iMac is currently running an Apple Hardware Test from the SL disk by entering "D" when starting. It "passed" with no issues on initial test and am now running extended test currently at 23 minutes with estimate of 30+ minutes with no issues. IF this passes can I assume I have a software instead of hardware problem??? I do not have anything backed up (stupid me!) and have a ton of pictures I am praying I do not loose.

I cant figure out how to paste to thumb drive??? I ran the first terminal and can copy but how do I past to thube drive?

Also my hardware test from the SL disk gave me the follow error

4HDD/11/40000004:SATA (0,0)

Exact same error with similar results..

MB aluminum 13" last model before discontinued

Botted with C with Snow leopard in mac.

can do disk utility doesnt finish verifying... i go to repair and it cant.

Tried doing to option command p r thing and that opned up lions disk utilities and there i could also verify but in lions i could not even CLICK the repair image...

i can physically not dismount in snow leopard or lion...

if i go to quit installation or w.e to go to startup disk it does not work at all.. not enough information on seleced disk

now i have been using this computer extensively all weeks.. what gives when all of a usdden i install lion and it pretty much explodes!?

edit: and if i do reinstall os x it says that disk is locked...

i have no restore to go by as my external hard drive was left in my car (like i said laptop) and it along with other things have recently been stolen.

Hi all, I like everyone had all these same issues, and was stuck not able to install Lion and not able to go back into Snow Leopard. After hours of trying different suggestions, (resetting PRAM, holding different keys at startup, using Snow Leopard Disc to repair, etc) I came across one that finally worked. As per a suggestion on another thread of a different site, I used Disk Warrior to rebuild my hard disk, as Mac OS X had failed to fix it through Disk Utility. It took a little while to run, but when it did finish it corrected the issues. I then reran Disk Utililiy's Verify Disk and it came up clean. I then rebooted and Lion of course tried to reinstall itself, but this time I could select my main hard drive and it installed just fine. I am now up in running in Lion with 100% of my files, settings, etc. Hope this helps!

Jeff

Sounds like a great idea. I am about to swap the hard drive with a new one and install SL and basically get back to an "out of the box" state then hook up the old HD as an external and see if I can pull files from it to the new hard drive. But...

I do not understand how to get Disk Warrior on the Mac that is basically not working. I can not get to the net to download so would I purchase a disk and insert it in the Mac and then get an option to install? Even with the hard drive error and SL OS not working fully? Or am I missing something?

Ok sorry for the confusion. I was lucky enough to have a bootable backup on an external drive that allowed me to download and run from within the OS, but Disk Warrior does have an option to run from a DVD, so that you can boot from the DVD to run their utility. Do you have another computer that would be able to download it and burn their recovery disc?

Yes I am about to resolve that I have a hard drive issue, If the drive was in a state of failing I assume the Lion install pushed it over the edge to finally fail? It is still jut odd that so many others had a hard drive failure issue at install and were able to correct using the many different sufggestions in this thread. If I can figure out how to use Disk warrior as "jefferson136" suggest I will try that first. If that does not work ifixit.com has a great step by step tutorial on how to replace a hard drive and I will do that and hope and pray I can salvage my pictures from the old hard drive by hooking it up as an external drive and trying to sccess from my Mac with the new hard drive. This is way to stressful and time consuming but my closes Apple Store is 75 miles away and from what I read they will just wipe the drive and fix it or replace it and will not focus on trying to save my files. I have had the Mac for 3 years and never a single problem to research. Very refreshing after going through multiple PC's and major issues about every year. PS - I am in Tennessee - USA

I have access to a Macbook pro (friends) so I could use it to download the Disk Warrior software, burn it to a disk then stick the disk in my Mac slot and it will boot / load to it and allow me to run it? Or do I need to purchase an external hard drive and make the download copy to it and then hook up to my Mac and run it? Sorry for my lack of knowledge on this stuff...

ssfelts wrote:

I have access to a Macbook pro (friends) so I could use it to download the Disk Warrior software, burn it to a disk then stick the disk in my Mac slot and it will boot / load to it and allow me to run it?

This is correct. Once you burn the disc, you reboot and hold the option key, which will give you the option to select your boot disk, where you select the Disk Warrior DVD from the options. When it runs, the only thing I had to use was their "Rebuild" feature. For me it was just one button and I let it do it's thing.

Here is the info from the Disk Warrior site:

"DiskWarrior 4 version 4.3 is now available on DiskWarrior DVD revision 1107. This DVD is a universal startup DVD that can start up both PowerPC and Intel Macs. All Mac models meeting the system requirements for DiskWarrior can be started from the DVD. Some newer iMacs with wireless keyboards have timing issues when starting up from any DVD. Instead of pressing the "C" key immediately upon start up, wait for the startup chime and then press the "Option" key. This will bring up the Startup Manager which will allow you to choose the DVD as a startup disk. If your wireless mouse is not working in the Startup Manager, use the arrow keys to choose the DVD, then press the "Return" key to continue starting up. Click here to learn how to repair the directory of a disk in a Mac model that cannot be started from the DiskWarrior DVD."