Verify and Repair Disk Error Mess. Meaning?

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M4rk8 Author

Level 1

19 points

Verify and Repair Disk Error Mess. Meaning?

Hi I have a probable hard disk failure in progress on my 2006 24" iMac.

It crashed again, and the disk name changed from what I named it back to Disk0s2. Verify Disk gave me these errors:

invalid key length

invalid record count

catalog file entry not found for extent

The volume could not be verified completely

Repair Disk gave me these errors:

invalid sibling link

invalid node structure (about a dozen of these)

invalid key length

This is the third time I had a freeze, did a force shutdown and then had an unresponsive disk.

Yesterday, reinstallation of Snow Leopard (complete and full install) took around 12 hours. An hour or two of that was for an easy erase of the disk.

I'm trying to zero the hard drive but the time estimate is FIVE DAYS. Is that legit?

Question:

What are these errors?

Is this likely a hard disk failure?

Is it some kind of processor failure?

Finally:

Would it be possible to run OS X from a portable HD connected by firewire?

iMac, Mac OS X (10.6.5)

Posted on Oct 27, 2011 5:20 PM

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Answer 1

Oct 27, 2011 5:23 PM in response to M4rk8

I have a probable hard disk failure in progress on my 2006 24" iMac.

Yes you do.

You need DiskWarrior 4

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Answer 2

Oct 27, 2011 5:23 PM in response to M4rk8

Those are serious error to the directory of your disk drive. Disk Utility i9s unable to repair them.

I know of two ways to repair them, either DiskWarrior or reformat.

DiskWarrior cost $100

Reformat wipes out all data on disk so backup first.

Allan

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Answer 3

BGreg

Level 6

17,552 points

Oct 27, 2011 6:05 PM in response to M4rk8

Those errors are data structure errors, and as mentioned, Disk Warrior is one option to repair them. TechTool Pro can also repair them, however, Disk Warrior tends to be the program of choice. If, for some reason, Disk Warrior can't fix it, you can try reformatting the disk (write zero's to it), however, you'll probably be on the verge of needing a new hard drive.

If you can, download Smart Utility from http://www.volitans-software.com/smart_utility.php which will give you a good readout on the health of your hard drive, based on the SMART indicators.

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Answer 4

M4rk8 Author

Level 1

19 points

Oct 27, 2011 6:47 PM in response to BGreg

Thank you for your answers. I'll look into those utilities.

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Answer 5

M4rk8 Author

Level 1

19 points

Oct 31, 2011 4:03 PM in response to M4rk8

I just wanted to say, that SMART utility in BGreg's link there is REALLY good. My mac SMART status indicator still says "Verified" which is supposed to be okay. SMART Utility showed that the disk has bad sectors and is failing. In fact, it's now kaput and I'm running off a portable.

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Answer 6

M4rk8 Author

Level 1

19 points

Oct 31, 2011 4:13 PM in response to M4rk8

Question:

Smart Utility shows

Pending Bad Sectors: 764

Removed Bad Sectors 974

Total Errors 1058

Last Error Type Uncorrectable

Overall Smart Status FAILING (which I find amusingly optimistic since the disk can't seem to hold it's data anymore).

My question (and forgive me for not knowing this): is this something that Disk Warrior could repair? I honestly don't think so, but I really don't know what Disk Warrior is capable of and I honestly don't know how bad a "bad sector" is. I imagine that after 5 years of loyal service, my mac HD is simply worn out and needs to be replaced. But thought it couldn't hurt to ask.

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Answer 7

Oct 31, 2011 4:17 PM in response to M4rk8

While I have great faith in DiskWarrior, I doubt that it can fix your drive for you. With the huge number of bad sectors and pending bad sector, that disk is dying.

I hope you have everything backed up off of that drive.

Allan

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Answer 8

M4rk8 Author

Level 1

19 points

Oct 31, 2011 8:33 PM in response to Allan Eckert

Lol, I thought so, but figure it wouldn't hurt to ask. Thank you, Allan. Yes, I had a back up. I lost a little bit, but luckily just a little. Thanks again.

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