[dmetzcher]

I decided to try to verify my startup volume today via Disk Utility. It failed, stating that there was an error. I decided to boot from my Mac OS X Tiger installation DVD and repair the volume from there. It attempts this three times in a row, and reports an error. Here is the information below, as it appeared. If anyone knows what might be causing this, please let me know. I'm cloning the drive right now for fear that the internal disk drive in my iBook may be close to failing. I installed the 100GB drive about 8 months ago, and everything has been find up until now. What can I do?

----------------------------------------
Disk Utility Output
----------------------------------------
Checking HFS+ volume.
Checking Extents Overflow file.
Checking Catalog file.
Incorrect number of thread records.
Checking multi-linked files.
Checking catalog hierarchy.
Checking extended attributes file.
Checking volume bitmap.
Checking volume information.
Repairing volume.
Rechecking volume.
----------------------------------------

From this point on, the checking of everything happens again. It then goes through all this a third time, and says something like, "repair failed due to error."

After the third check, the output says this:
----------------------------------------
1 HFS volume checked.
1 volume could not be reparied because of an error.

Repair attempted on 1 volume.
1 volume could not be repaired.
----------------------------------------

What can I do? What can I check? Should I be worried? What should I be worried about?

Thanks so much to anyone who is able to help me out with this one. I really appreciate it.

[dmetzcher]

Ran fsck in single user mode...

fsck seems to have fixed the issue, I think. I will run Disk Utilities repair again from the install DVD to make sure nothing fails in a few minutes.

Here is what the fsck output looked like.
----------------------------------------
Checking HFS+ volume.
Checking Extents Overflow file.
Checking Catalog file.
Incorrect number of thread records.
(4, 34792) <- This is something that was not output by Disk Utility. (error code?)
Checking multi-linked files.
Checking catalog hierarchy.
Checking extended attributes file.
Checking volume bitmap.
Checking volume information.
Repairing volume.
Rechecking volume.
----------------------------------------

After the recheck, I saw the following
----------------------------------------
... (all same as above, without the "Incorrect number of thread records" line.)
Checking volume information.
The volume Macintosh HD was repaired successfully.

***** FILE SYSTEM WAS MODIFIED *****
localhost:/ root# Nov 4 23:03:18 launchd: chown("~/var/launchd/0"): Read-only file system
Nov 4 23:03:18 launchd: chown("~/var/launchd/0"): Read-only file system
----------------------------------------

So, should this mean that things are OK?
Should I still worry, even if Disk Utility tells me that nothing needs repair?
Is this typically a symptom of something that's going to rear its ugly head in the near or distant future?

[dmetzcher]

Ran Disk Utility's repair disk tool...
No errors found this time.
"No repairs were necessary" was the output.

Again, I'll ask my earlier questions again...and thanks for your help, whomever replies.

1. So, should this mean that things are OK?
2. Should I still worry, even if Disk Utility tells me that nothing needs repair?
3. Is this typically a symptom of something that's going to rear its ugly head in the near or distant future?

[reader50]

Looks like minor directory tree damage, which you have since fixed. Don't worry about it unless it returns.

You might check the cloned copy. If the clone was done via a straight bitcopy (not likely), then the clone may have inherited the error.

[dmetzcher]

Originally Posted by reader50 

Looks like minor directory tree damage, which you have since fixed. Don't worry about it unless it returns.

You might check the cloned copy. If the clone was done via a straight bitcopy (not likely), then the clone may have inherited the error.

Not sure what a "straight bitcopy" is...would SuperDuper make this kind of copy (it's a clone of the startup volume, file-for-file)?

Should I make another backup, just to be safe?
And, if yes, should I wipe the clone and make a brand new one, or just run the incremental cloning process again, which will only update changed files?

[Big Mac]

A straight copy would mean if you chose to format the drive during cloning.

[dmetzcher]

Originally Posted by Big Mac 

A straight copy would mean if you chose to format the drive during cloning.

Ah, OK. So I didn't do that. I should be OK then to keep making incremental backups using the existing clone? I suppose that if I ever restored from the clone and had the same issue, I could fsck the restored clone as well?

[Big Mac]

Correct, I don't think it would be much of a problem either way.

[Mac Hammer Fan]

I have a Powermac G5 Dual 1.8 with 2 Maxtor drives, both split in two partitions. It ran for 3 years flawlessly.
On all the partitions, at least 25 GB is free. (on one 60 GB)
A month ago, I installed on one partition Leopard 10.5.1. I still use on this Mac Tiger 10.4.11, on the most frequently used partition. I even have one partition with Panther 10.3.9 installed.
I have used the 4 partitions as scratch disk for Photoshop CS3. Despite the fact that I don't work with very large files (10 MB max) I noticed very heavy disk activity while saving a small file in Photoshop.
After that, I decided to run disk utility and it seemed to hang. I couldn't force quit neither. I couldn't go to the finder. The computer seemed to lock up, but after a lot of time Disk Utility displayed this message:
"Incorrect number of Extended Attributes.
Macintosh HD needs to be repaired"
I booted from the Leopard partition and repaired the partition but I had also to repair the 3 other partitions because of the same disk error.
What could have caused this drive damage. Luckilly it seems OK now, but the fact that all the partitions were damaged worries me.

TIA and best wishes for 2008

[analogika]

The fact that all partitions on all drives were damaged might possibly indicate a controller failure in the PowerMac.

However, a more likely problem is failing RAM: Boot the G5 from the Install Disk, holding down the "D" key to boot into the Apple Hardware Test, and run the extended test.

[Big Mac]

Small correction: I'm pretty sure that G5s (at least revision a and b G5s) still used the C key to boot from the optical drive.

[analogika]

the "C" key will boot into the Install Disk.

The Hardware Test is a separate partition, and I think you're right that the "D" key thing didn't work until the Intel Macs.

On the G5, you need to hold down the OPTION (Alt) key on boot to show all bootable partitions, THEN select the Apple Hardware Test and hit Return.

[Big Mac]

Well, with my G5 the AHT came on a separate CD that also contained Classic. It's nice that new systems have the test software on the Restore disc.

[analogika]

Originally Posted by Big Mac 

Well, with my G5 the AHT came on a separate CD that also contained Classic. It's nice that new systems have the test software on the Restore disc.

Ah, okay.

I'm *quite* sure that my PowerBooks always had it on the Install Disk.

It's been a while, though, since I had one of the demon-spawn IBM machines.

[Mac Hammer Fan]

I already did the RAM test with Rember and everything seems to be OK.
I'll check this evening with the hardware test CD
Thanks for all help.

[Mac Hammer Fan]

I checked my Dual G5 with the Apple Hardware Test CD and everything is OK too. (extended test)
(I had to boot the AHT DVD with the C key.)
I still have no answer what could have caused this disk damage. It will be difficult to tell.