S.O.S. Please!!! OS X 10.4.11 Disk Utility Not Able to Repair

[tncdel]

I tried, unsuccessfully, using the computer's utilities program to repair the disk.

I followed standard procedure, by booting up from the OS X 10.4 install disk, selecting UTILITIES, then DISK UTILITIES. Once the DISK UTILITY opened, I selected the OS X 10.4.11 disk. Then I clicked on the REPAIR DISK button, and let it go through the scan / repair cycle. But it stopped near the end, giving me this message:


______________________________________

[in red letters]
invalid node structure
The volume Mac OS X could not be repaired after 3 attempts

Error: The underlying task reported failure on exit

[in black letters]
1 HFS volume checked

[in red letters]
1 volume could not be repaired because of an error

[in black letters]
Repair attempted on 1 volume

[in red letters]
1 volume could not be repaired

______________________________________


After I got that message, I shut down, then restarted manually after waiting about ten seconds, rebooting from the OS X 10.4.11 install disk as before. But when I got to the DISK UTILITY page again, this time I did the other of the three things [verifying permissions, etc.], before re-running the disk repair again. And again I got the same message as above.

Other than that, my computer seems to be working okay, except for the iPhoto. If I edit one photo, it does nothing more. Not even quit. So I must force-quit to exit iPhoto, and re-open each time I want to edit a photo, unlike before I up-graded from OS X 10.2 to 10.4.11.


Additionally, I tried, unsuccessfully, going into SINGLE USER MODE, by rebooting again, this time holding down both the C key and the S key. But the computer monitor stayed GRAY color, without switching to BLACK. So after holding down the C and the S keys for several minutes, and still no black page came up, then I gave up waiting for it and shut down the computer manually. And let it sit for about a minute, before rebooting a fourth time, and again trying the DISK UTILITY, and again getting the above message.

So PLEASE tell me what I can do now. Is there anything I can do to repair the disk, short of saving all files then erasing the disk, and starting over?

As you may have already perceived, I'm no expert. PLEASE HELP.

Thanks in advance.


-Tom



P.S. How do I get to SINGLE USER MODE with the OS X 10.4.11?

 

[Walrus666]

Sounds like a job for Disk warrior.

 

[tncdel]

A tech guy at MacMall told me that although DiscWarrior does what it does well, it DOESN'T actually repair disks. He said it would be nice to have, and he could sell it to me, but that either Drive Genius or Tech Tool Pro, both actual disc repair programs, would be better for the task.

Additionally, another tech guy told me he thought that the underlying problem was a bad hard drive that needs replacing. And he told me that he thinks it would be a recurring problem that no disc repair program could correct. So, unless someone else comes up with a better idea, it looks like I'll have to get the hard drive replaced.

 

[Walrus666]

A tech guy at MacMall told me that although DiscWarrior does what it does well, it DOESN'T actually repair disks. He said it would be nice to have, and he could sell it to me, but that either Drive Genius or Tech Tool Pro, both actual disc repair programs, would be better for the task.

Additionally, another tech guy told me he thought that the underlying problem was a bad hard drive that needs replacing. And he told me that he thinks it would be a recurring problem that no disc repair program could correct. So, unless someone else comes up with a better idea, it looks like I'll have to get the hard drive replaced.

My first question for the tech guy at MacMall would be, if DiskWarrior doesn't repair drives, what does it do and do well? However, if one wants to be a purist, of course DiskWarrior doesn't repair drives and neither do the rest of the mentioned utilities. However, DiskWarrior will repair invalid file permissions and damaged boot blocks, and rebuild and optimize the directory structures which are located on the drive, just to name a few. I've been using DiskWarrior every month or two along with Cocktail every week or two for years on all my Macs and have never received any error messages when verifying or repairing permissions on the hard drives. Not to mention, apps that won't launch or not being able to install updates, etc. In fact, last month I used DW on my friend's Mac which was getting an "Invalid Node Structure" message along with apps that didn't launch and a Java update that wouldn't install and PRESTO, no more problems. We were able to verify and correct permissions on the disc, all the once troublesome apps were launching and the java update was installed. Later, we ran the CRON scripts emptied the system and user caches, etc, and his Mac is still purring like a kitten.
As far as the other "tech guy" is concerned. Maybe he's correct and maybe he's not, but speaking for myself, if I don't have to dish out money for a hard drive that I may or may not need that certainly don't hurt my feelings. Let alone, waiting for the repair. If you don't want to dish out the money for DW, you might want to consider backing up your files if you haven't already and reinstalling the OS. That is certainly better than spending money that you might not have had to spend and unless your files have very little significance to you, "backing up" is something that you have to do anyway as invalid node problems can lead to losing all of your data if not corrected.

 

[tncdel]

I was told I could replace the hard drive for less than the cost of Disc Warrior. So I'm leaning that way at the moment, although I won't be able to afford doing that till I get my next monthly VA check.

I was going to create back-up files for most things by burning them on CD-ROMs. What I have on my desktop should fit on a few of them.

But how can I save what's in my iPhoto library? I have several hundred photos there.

 

[Walrus666]

I was told I could replace the hard drive for less than the cost of Disc Warrior. So I'm leaning that way at the moment, although I won't be able to afford doing that till I get my next monthly VA check.

I was going to create back-up files for most things by burning them on CD-ROMs. What I have on my desktop should fit on a few of them.

But how can I save what's in my iPhoto library? I have several hundred photos there.

Again, if the money situation is tight, why not merely reinstall the OS? It won't cost anything besides a bit of time?
You can burn your iPhoto library to a disc as well. If it's too large for a cd use a dvd instead. The iPhoto library should be located in your pictures folder.

 

[tncdel]

A guy already did it for me a couple years ago, and the disk has been giving me trouble almost ever since. So it's a sure bet that it would still give me problems after erasing everything and re-installing a second time. Also, I'd like to get a disk with a bigger capacity. So as soon as I'm able to do it, I'll pay someone to install a hard drive at least twice the size of the present one.

I've been up-grading it little-by-little. Added more RAM, and replaced the processor with a 1.4G. Was thinking of getting an external hard drive. But for the same price I can simply replace the hard drive with one that will give me more size.

Thanks for your input. But I've already tried your suggestion before, and since the hard drive is bad, it would solve nothing long-term.


P.S. How do I save the entire iPhoto library of several hundred pics without having to save each one individually?

 

[Walrus666]

A guy already did it for me a couple years ago, and the disk has been giving me trouble almost ever since. So it's a sure bet that it would still give me problems after erasing everything and re-installing a second time. Also, I'd like to get a disk with a bigger capacity. So as soon as I'm able to do it, I'll pay someone to install a hard drive at least twice the size of the present one.

I've been up-grading it little-by-little. Added more RAM, and replaced the processor with a 1.4G. Was thinking of getting an external hard drive. But for the same price I can simply replace the hard drive with one that will give me more size.

Thanks for your input. But I've already tried your suggestion before, and since the hard drive is bad, it would solve nothing long-term.


P.S. How do I save the entire iPhoto library of several hundred pics without having to save each one individually?

Seeing that you want a hard drive with bigger capacity, it's irrelevant if your current drive is good or bad. Definitely, go for it.

You don't need to save your pics individually. Save the entire iPhoto library folder.

 

[tncdel]

THANKS for the helpful input!

 

[Walrus666]

My pleasure!