In Disk Utility, what is the difference between choosing the 'volume name' ("Macintosh HD") v. the actual, named hard drive in the left panel before you start running, e.g., Verify Disk -- i.e., what is the difference in what Verify Disk does (since both labels refer to the same hard drive)?
Thanks.
MacBook Pro, OS X Mavericks (10.9.5)
There is no difference. Disk Utility can be used on any physical disk or volume. Macintosh HD is the startup drive set at the factory. You can keep that name or change it. Disk Utility cannot repair the startup disk but it can do a Live Verify of it and it can repair permissions. However, to repair any disk you must do so when booted from a different disk or from an installer DVD, if there is one. Since roughly 2011 new Macs are able to do Network Recovery or disks can be repaired by starting up from the Recovery HD (COMMAND-R at the startup chime.)
Verify merely scans a disk for problems, but does not perform any repairs. To repaid a disk you must use the Repair Disk option in Disk Utility. As mentioned above you can use Verify to check the startup volume, but you cannot repair it.
Kappy wrote:
There is no difference. Disk Utility can be used on any physical disk or volume. Macintosh HD is the startup drive set at the factory.
Thanks. My question was prompted by my getting a hung screen (never happened before) when I ran Verify Disk on my internal Mac Pro HD with "Macintosh HD" selected, whereas when I selected the 'named' HD (which is the same physical media) the 'verify' was almost instantaneous.
In the case of the latter, the named HD was referred to in the readout as a Recovery HD for some reason ("The volume Recovery HD appears to be OK."). Why 'Recovery'?
I haven't noticed anything unusual in the behavior of the HD, so am wondering both why Verify Disk is hanging at all and why I'm getting different results depending on what I select in the left sidebar, since both media selections refer to the same HD.
There is a difference between selecting the out-dented entry - the physical device - and the indented entry - a volume or partition on the physical device (sometimes called the logical device.) You can Verify the physical device as well as repair it, but it doesn't take long to finish. But doing so does not verify or repair the logical device. You must select that individually for verify or repair.
Why Verify hangs is a puzzle. Are you sure it is hanging or just taking a while to finish? This does occur when you are doing a Live Verify of the startup volume. If Repair Disk does not find or repair any errors, then it will report the volume as being OK. I suggest you repeat this after booting from the Recovery HD. Also, what did you see reported for the SMART status of the drive? If it does not report the drive as "Verified," then the drive is failing. If it does report the drive as "Verified," then you have to consider that 30% of the time that could be a false positive. If the SMART status is "Failed," then 90% of the time that is correct - replace the drive.
Kappy wrote:
There is a difference between selecting the out-dented entry - the physical device - and the indented entry - a volume or partition on the physical device (sometimes called the logical device.) You can Verify the physical device as well as repair it, but it doesn't take long to finish. But doing so does not verify or repair the logical device. You must select that individually for verify or repair.
Why Verify hangs is a puzzle. Are you sure it is hanging or just taking a while to finish? This does occur when you are doing a Live Verify of the startup volume. If Repair Disk does not find or repair any errors, then it will report the volume as being OK. I suggest you repeat this after booting from the Recovery HD. Also, what did you see reported for the SMART status of the drive? If it does not report the drive as "Verified," then the drive is failing. If it does report the drive as "Verified," then you have to consider that 30% of the time that could be a false positive. If the SMART status is "Failed," then 90% of the time that is correct - replace the drive.
Thanks. Now it tests okay. I don't understand. Ran it 3 times yesterday, and it hung all three. (I know V.D. can take a while to complete; it wasn't that.)
Verifying volume “Macintosh HD” Checking file system. Performing live verification. Checking Journaled HFS Plus volume. Checking extents overflow file. Checking catalog file. Checking multi-linked files. Checking catalog hierarchy. Checking volume bitmap. Checking volume information.
The volume Macintosh HD appears to be OK.
OK! Problem Solved. Time for a beer.
The beer was great but it's just happened again.
I ran Verify Disk on "Macintosh HD" (i.e., the indented entry for the internal HD).
The lines below were the only ones displayed. Following the last line (re: "volume bitmap") there was nothing.
Verifying volume "Macintosh HD"
Checking file system.
Performing live verification.
Checking journaled HFS Plus volume.
Checking extents overflow file.
Checking multi-linked files.
Checking catalog hierarchy.
Checking extended attributes file.
Checking volume bitmap.
I assume there should be more information displayed than the above, and that the output should end with a line reporting the condition of "Macintosh HD"?
Your drive may be failing. I would replace it.
Kappy wrote:
Your drive may be failing. I would replace it.
Even though the 'named' HD (reported as the Recovery Drive) checked out 'okay'?
If Disk Utility cannot finish repairing the drive, then there is a problem with it. Now, you can continue re-running First Aid to see if eventually it comes back and reports the drive is OK, or, if you have Disk Warrior, then I would run it to see if it has success at fixing the drive.
Can you boot from the Recovery HD? When you run Disk Utility from the Recovery HD does it report the startup volume as OK? If not, then there may only be a problem with the startup volume rather than with the HDD.
Kappy wrote:
If Disk Utility cannot finish repairing the drive, then there is a problem with it. Now, you can continue re-running First Aid to see if eventually it comes back and reports the drive is OK, or, if you have Disk Warrior, then I would run it to see if it has success at fixing the drive.
Can you boot from the Recovery HD? When you run Disk Utility from the Recovery HD does it report the startup volume as OK? If not, then there may only be a problem with the startup volume rather than with the HDD.
Wondering if you're misunderstanding. I haven't tried to repair anything (not having any HD issues that I'm aware of), only to run Verify Disk -- i.e., just to get a report of the health of the drive (i.e., just a diagnostic).
If I'm correct that the indented left sidebar entry ("Macintosh HD") refers to the Recovery HD, looking in D. Pogue's Missing Manual book he writes that the Recovery HD is "invisible" to Disk Utility.
So isn't the most likely explanation that D.U. isn't intended to be run on "Macintosh HD"?
The entry named Macintosh HD is not the Recovery HD. The Recovery HD is invisible in El Capitan. You are quite wrong thinking that you do not use Disk Utility to repair Macintosh HD. That is exactly what it is intended to be run on. I don't think it is I who is misunderstanding.
Kappy wrote:
The entry named Macintosh HD is not the Recovery HD. The Recovery HD is invisible in El Capitan. You are quite wrong thinking that you do not use Disk Utility to repair Macintosh HD. That is exactly what it is intended to be run on. I don't think it is I who is misunderstanding.
By misunderstanding, I meant your referring to disk 'repair,' which I had not posted about. For some reason you've kept referring to 'repair' even though I've only written about 'Verify Disk' -- i.e., a diagnostic to determine drive condition, not to repair it. I'm sure you're aware that the option to 'repair' is a separate one.
And in my statement about "Macintosh HD" I was just reporting what Pogue wrote in "Mac OS X: The Missing Manual." He also wrote the following re: Verify Disk:
"To select, click on the name of the actual HD, not the "Macintosh HD" label below it."
The implication being (to my understanding) that Verify Disk is to be run on the named (labeled) drive, not "Macintosh HD."
Re: "The Recovery HD is invisible in El Capitan" did you mean to write "invisible in OS X"? This is the Mavericks forum. I know the Recovery Drive is invisible -- that in fact was what I wrote in my previous post ("he writes that the Recovery HD is "invisible" to Disk Utility.")
The Recovery HD is visible in Mavericks when you use OPTION boot. It does not appear in Disk Utility without settings requiring the Terminal. In El Capitan it is invisible even when using OPTION boot.
One need not ever use Verify disk. If you try to repair the startup volume Disk Utility will automatically perform a Live Verify. To repair a startup disk requires booting from the Recovery HD, another bootable disk, or a bootable DVD or USB installer.
I fully understand the difference between Verify and Repair Disk in Disk Utility. I have used the utility in one form or another since the days of System 6. I trust your copy of The Missing Manual is current up through Mavericks. I'm sure Pogue did not state that Macintosh HD is the name of the Recovery HD. Recovery HD is the name of the Recovery HD.
Using Disk Utility to verify or repair disks is probably worth reading. When you upgrade to El Capitan you will need to read Hands-on with Disk Utility in El Capitan because it is quite different from all the prior versions.
Disk Utility: choosing "Macintosh HD" v. named HD
