tom5170tom
Level 1 (0 points)

Q: repair disk permissions

I'm having intermittant problems with disk permissions on the external disk that I use with Time Machine.  It is relatively new disk and has functioned perfectly until this AM without any problems.  But out of the blue this morning I got an error message when Time Machine attempted to write its hourly B/U to that disk.  The message said, or words to this effect, that Time Machine could not complete the repair process because the disk permission was "Read Only"

 

Periodically this problem crops up and I cannot seem to correct it with the Appl Disk Utility because the "Repair Permissions" option is not available when I run the disk utility.  I can fix it if I use Disk Warrior to rebuild the directory on that disk - but that takes the best part of an hour and is not convenient to do much of the time.

 

So my questions are:

 

1)  Am I doing something wrong to precipitate this problem?

 

2)  Why can't I select the "Repair Permissions" option from the Apple Disk Utility?

 

3)  Is there a quicker/easier way to fix it?

 

I am using Mountain Lion on my late 2009 iMac 27".  And I do have the latest updates of the ML OS installed.

 

Plz advise

iMac (27-inch Late 2009), OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.2)

Posted on Mar 2, 2013 10:14 AM

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tom5170tom

Q: repair disk permissions

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  • by rkaufmann87,Helpful

    rkaufmann87 rkaufmann87 Mar 2, 2013 11:41 AM in response to tom5170tom
    Level 9 (58,956 points)
    Photos for Mac
    Mar 2, 2013 11:41 AM in response to tom5170tom

    First read Disk Utility's Repair Disk Permissions messages that you can safely ignore, then try to run Disk Utility from the Restore Partion on your iMac. Finally if you are getting errors on your TM drive then you need to be more specific, if they are HD errors then you should consider replacying the HD, if they are TM errors then study Pondini's Time Machine FAQs and Time Machine Troubleshooting.

  • by Linc Davis,Helpful

    Linc Davis Linc Davis Mar 2, 2013 11:54 AM in response to tom5170tom
    Level 10 (208,037 points)
    Applications
    Mar 2, 2013 11:54 AM in response to tom5170tom

    The backup drive has malfunctioned and corrupted itself. If that has ever happened before, or if it ever happens again, replace the drive. You may want to consider replacing it anyway for the safety of your data.
      
    You should start another backup now, on another drive, if you don't already have one. One backup is never enough to be safe.
      
    If you choose to keep using the problem drive, turn Time Machine OFF temporarily in its preference pane, then launch Disk Utility, select the backup volume, and run Repair Disk. This operation may take several hours. If the volume can't be repaired, you'll have to erase it and start over. Don't do that unless you have at least one other complete backup. Remember to turn TM back ON.

    If the backup drive is internal or on an eSATA bus, and Disk Utility displays a message about a "S.M.A.R.T. error," the drive has irreparably failed and must be replaced immediately. You can't go on using it. A drive connected via USB, FireWire, or Thunderbolt doesn't show a S.M.A.R.T. status.