macOS can't repair the disk...

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brsm1990 Author

Level 2

204 points

macOS can't repair the disk...

I just spent days making a backup to a 2.5" USB 3.0 Seagate 1hard disk only to go to use it the first time and I get the message:

"macOS can't repair the disk. You can still open or copy files on the disk, but you can't save changes to fioles on the disk. Back up the disk and reformat it as soon as you can."

This drive seemed to be totally fine until I randomly got this message out of nowhere. What can be wrong? Can this be a mistake? What can I do besides just reformatting the drive?

Thanks.

Mac mini, macOS Sierra (10.12.3)

Posted on Mar 13, 2017 11:56 AM

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Answer 1

brsm1990 Author

Level 2

204 points

Mar 13, 2017 1:55 PM in response to dot.com

dot.com wrote:

Have you tried rebooting? Drives do fail - how old is this drive and is it used a lot? What did you use to create it (you call it a backup but don't say how you did it)?

If you use Disk Utility and highlight the Seagate drive on the list of external disks and then click First Aid button at top left and then click the Run button and then click on "Show Details" can you post that screenshot? Will say things like "Repairing file system.", then "Checking Journaled HFS Plus volume", etc. Need to be able to read all the messages so maybe just a screenshot of that small area - might have to be more than one screenshot depending on how many messages are output.

Good luck...

Yes tried rebooting and even plugging it into a different Mac, same result.

Drive is a few years old, but hasn't been used heavily.

I formatted it with a standard Mac partition/format (non case-sensitive). I copied the files to it just by dragging and dropping from an NAS.

I'm attaching the screen shot as requested.

I made a copy of the data on a local disk. I can reformat it now if need be.

Are there any good open source utilities for macOS to test the integrity of the drive before and/or after reformat?

What should I do to determine whether or not this drive should be discarded?

Thanks.

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Answer 2

dot.com

Level 4

2,449 points

Mar 13, 2017 1:52 PM in response to brsm1990

Have you tried rebooting? Drives do fail - how old is this drive and is it used a lot? What did you use to create it (you call it a backup but don't say how you did it)?

If you use Disk Utility and highlight the Seagate drive on the list of external disks and then click First Aid button at top left and then click the Run button and then click on "Show Details" can you post that screenshot? Will say things like "Repairing file system.", then "Checking Journaled HFS Plus volume", etc. Need to be able to read all the messages so maybe just a screenshot of that small area - might have to be more than one screenshot depending on how many messages are output.

Good luck...

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Answer 3

dot.com

Level 4

2,449 points

Mar 14, 2017 10:34 AM in response to brsm1990

For external drives there is no way to know for sure since the SMART monitor can't look at external USB drives to let you know about possible problems. Perhaps you might check with Seagate and see if they have any utility that will check the SMART status of their external USB drives on a Mac? You might try something like DiskWarrior or other apps to see if they can repair it. If this is a backup disk and you already have the files somewhere else, then you can try and reformat, but don't be too surprised if it fails this also. Better to get this figured out ASAP if this is your only backup, since right now if the original files drive(s) go belly up you will be in a real pickle.

One thing you could always do is to remove the drive from the external enclosure and install in the internal drive slot of your Mac Mini, but this will possibly force a reformat since external drives moved to internal don't get recognized. Not sure if this is even possible without doing more homework as I'm guessing this is a 2.5" external USB drive and would need to know what sort of interface it has - perhaps Seagate might be able to tell you? and will definitely void the warranty but sounds like you've had it for a while so warranty is no longer an issue? At least then you will be able to monitor drive SMART status and monitor it's "health". Also you might think about getting a server class SATA drive for your backups and install inside the Mini if this last resort doesn't help.

Good luck...

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Answer 4

brsm1990 Author

Level 2

204 points

Mar 13, 2017 2:03 PM in response to dot.com

Strangely, now it said the entire volume was full after running the first aid...

But after disconnecting and reconnecting the drive it is back to normal:

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