Install Failed - Disk is damaged

Ok, got the same problem... I CAN NOT BELIEVE how this was released without testing....

This is how I was able to boot my MAC again.

When you turn on the unit, press the OPTION/ALT button, this will give the oportunity to boot your computer from the original "Hard Drive". Lion creates a partion so you need to tell your computer to boot from the original one..

I had the self same problem.

Took a visit to Apple Store and help of a Genius to sort it. Need to remember that you need to be booting from the Snow Leopard DVD (or another Apple store Boot Drive) to use Disk Utility as you can't repair the disk you are working from (you can't repair a chair you are sitting on!!!).

Making sure that you have a recent back up on Time Machine, you can then erase the disk and then install a known good version of Lion Guys in Apple Stores have them on a Zip Drive. When you boot Lion for the first time, set up a User profile called TO DELETE as you can't import a User profile and content with the same name as the one you are using. Make sure that your computer name is the same as the name you had under Snow Leopard as otherwise you will freak your Time Machine out!

Once Lion is up and running you can use Migration Assistant to get all of your files back. Then just delete the user profile.

bart2906 wrote:

2. I then opened Terminal(also found under Utilities on the Snow Leopard disk). When that opened I entered fsck_hfs -rf /dev/disk0s2. This took about 10-15 mins. It eventually ended and said that it had repaired my disk. Success! I closed Terminal.

As you have discovered, Disk Utility's "Repair Disk" is just a front end for the fsck program. When running fsck is any form, the rule of thumb is to run it over and over again until it either fails or no longer finds something to fix. Sometimes it will fix one thing, but there will still be something else that needs to be fixed that can't be worked on until that first thing is fixed. So don't get suckered in to thinking -- "oh, it fixed my problem, I'm done." 99% of the time, yes, it did, and another fsck would be clean, but for that other 1%...

Once you get booted up, you can use Disk Utility, and do a "Verify" without a repair. If it all checks out, then don't worry. If it shows something else to repair, then you have to get it booted into single-user mode, or off an install disk, etc., and get it repaired.

Okay, back from the holidays now and can continue investigating the issue.

For some reason, I cannot boot up from my Snow Leopard DVD: it just makes a sound like it's booting from the DVD but eventually freezes up where there is just apple logo in the screen. Otherwise I always end up with Lion installation utility.

I opened terminal to try and run the fsck_hfs as suggested, but this probably fails for two reasons: the partition is being active but also to the fcsk giing error of "Node failure. Disk full" or something along those lines. I wonder if the repair needs more space, the volume has some 6Gb of free out of 1TB.

But the internal disk is mounted as read only, so I can't delete anything.

My next plan is to make a Lion boot DVD with my MBP which was updated just fine and try to use its tools to fix this.

I agree with the previous posts that this has been a poor decision from Apple to run the disk utility at this point with no options to revert the installation process, hence rendering the whole computer into this state.

What does Disk Utility say about the S.M.A.R.T. status of the drive?

When you select the physical drive on the left in Disk Utility (the left justified one above the volume names), does it give the S.M.A.R.T. status at the bottom?

If it is failing that, the hard drive itself is reporting it has problems and needs to be serviced. "Direct from the horses mouth" as it were.

I haven't seen that mentioned here.

ivan

What I ended up doing might be a complicated way around things but I installed Lion onto a backup empty hard drive and from there backed up all of my important files from the Macbook's original HD onto the other drive. I then completely erased the HD and installed Snow Leopard onto the Macbook's HD just to make sure everything went smoothly and then updated to Lion. I'm now using Lion on the Macbook! It doesn't have exactly the same settings and everything but I have all of my files. Hope this helps someone!

If these details matter here's from a failed lion install log file regarding my damaged disk. error was invalid node

Bookmark failed to issue extension for item (depth=4000): no such directory

Keyboard layouts duplicate keyboard layout identifier -16899

Keyboard layout identifier has been replaced with -28673

...

Unable to find authentication module ConfugurationProfiles

Unable to find service discovery callback for module 'PlistFile

Module plistfile client is using a native record type config which is not portable

Client is using an old record type type dsrectypenative:config/share points should be using kODRecordtypesharepoints

The thing is my dusk really isn't damaged until lion gets ahold of it. I'll do one more install after this transfer of files using a cd that lion is on. Does that file have to be on a bootable cd or can it just exist on the cd as an executable app?

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.

Just had the exact same experience. I am beginning to feel like Apple's products are turning into crap. I am going to be angry if this HD fails, since the one on my iMac bellied up recently.

What if #4 is not true and I get "Mac OS X Insaller" (not sure what this one is?) or "Mac OS X Install Disc 1" (my Snow Leopard). Which one do I pick and what do I do next?

I am having very same problem. When I went to Terminal an entered "fsck_hfs-rt /dev/disk0s2" it says "command not found" am I entering something incorrectly?

I think: Look at the bkgrd - Lion is grey. SL is the gallaxy.

So which one do I need to be in to do this?

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.