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Disk Utility questions

D

dilutett72

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jan 23, 2007
10
0
Hello guys I have 2 questions on Disk Utility:

(1) When I tried to make a new image of my hard disk, it is unable to do so because "Resource busy". I close all my programs, restart the MAC and tried to play with the different options but still won't work. Do you know why?

(2) When I do a "verify disk" on my hard disk, it came up with an error. It was checking a few things and then after "checking volume information", it says "volume header needs minor repair", "The volume Macintosh HD needs to be repaired" and then "the underlying task reported failure on exit". However my MB seems to be working fine. Can anybody explain? Is this related to the 10.4.10 update coz I do have problems with external harddrive?
 
not sure about #2 but #1 has to be done while booting from something other than the system disk, you need to boot from the install CD and run disk utility from there, and save it to something other than the mac HD
 
Disk Utilities Questions

Greetings.
New to Mac here: 1 month old MBP 17" -2.4ghz/160 7200rpm gbHD/2gb mem. i am still poking around the system to see what's there, how it works, etc... I know, I know... One is supposed to just fire up a Mac and "Tune" into things.
But, for example, from business experience over many years, I am a maniac about backups. Any system, any OS (from my own experience already, and frequenting these forums, seems that the Mac OS is no less susceptible to at least glitches then other OSs!). So, I went into Disk Utility and immediately spotted New Image. I use image backup at my businesses (all Win based) so that I can - hopefully - restore any workstation to some new bare metal (i.e. most likely a new HD to replace a failed one) immediately. Can't have any downtime in busness!
I came across same error message as diluttet72
Called Applecare, got a nice lady, who took me to check the system, etc..., especially trying to use Disk Utility from the Install Disk No 1. To no avail. Same error.
NOTE: I do not detect that Apple places much importance in backing up anything!
She did mention - as just did squeeks here - that the Utility and Image HAD to be initiated from the Install Disk, but she DID not mention that the Inage destination had to be somewhere else besides the macHD on board. I do not at the present time have an exterior drive.
Diluttet72, would you be so kind as to post if you succeeded in making a disk Image and saving it SOMEWHERE?
NOTE: the Lady at Apple indicated that only remedy would be to reinstall MacOS - yeah, right, just like that! I have not been told to ever re-install Win in the 2 decades I have used its various iterations... Just did some repair work occasionally.
Could the MacOS be so obscure that the Service folks cannot fix errors w/o instructing complete reinstall??? By the way, does MacOS have a repair only reinstall mode, whereby it does not reinitialize everything to straight out of the box condition? I gotta start checking into this, before I trust really important work to this computer!
Thanks!
- Roger T
 
dilutett72 said:
Hello guys I have 2 questions on Disk Utility:

(1) When I tried to make a new image of my hard disk, it is unable to do so because "Resource busy". I close all my programs, restart the MAC and tried to play with the different options but still won't work. Do you know why?

(2) When I do a "verify disk" on my hard disk, it came up with an error. It was checking a few things and then after "checking volume information", it says "volume header needs minor repair", "The volume Macintosh HD needs to be repaired" and then "the underlying task reported failure on exit". However my MB seems to be working fine. Can anybody explain? Is this related to the 10.4.10 update coz I do have problems with external harddrive?
Click to expand...

For both of these to be successful/give correct info, you must do them from Disk Utility on the OS X CD. The HD needs to be unmounted for it work properly.

WirelessInn said:
Greetings.
New to Mac here: 1 month old MBP 17" -2.4ghz/160 7200rpm gbHD/2gb mem. i am still poking around the system to see what's there, how it works, etc... I know, I know... One is supposed to just fire up a Mac and "Tune" into things.
But, for example, from business experience over many years, I am a maniac about backups. Any system, any OS (from my own experience already, and frequenting these forums, seems that the Mac OS is no less susceptible to at least glitches then other OSs!). So, I went into Disk Utility and immediately spotted New Image. I use image backup at my businesses (all Win based) so that I can - hopefully - restore any workstation to some new bare metal (i.e. most likely a new HD to replace a failed one) immediately. Can't have any downtime in busness!
I came across same error message as diluttet72
Called Applecare, got a nice lady, who took me to check the system, etc..., especially trying to use Disk Utility from the Install Disk No 1. To no avail. Same error.
NOTE: I do not detect that Apple places much importance in backing up anything!
She did mention - as just did squeeks here - that the Utility and Image HAD to be initiated from the Install Disk, but she DID not mention that the Inage destination had to be somewhere else besides the macHD on board. I do not at the present time have an exterior drive.
Diluttet72, would you be so kind as to post if you succeeded in making a disk Image and saving it SOMEWHERE?
NOTE: the Lady at Apple indicated that only remedy would be to reinstall MacOS - yeah, right, just like that! I have not been told to ever re-install Win in the 2 decades I have used its various iterations... Just did some repair work occasionally.
Could the MacOS be so obscure that the Service folks cannot fix errors w/o instructing complete reinstall??? By the way, does MacOS have a repair only reinstall mode, whereby it does not reinitialize everything to straight out of the box condition? I gotta start checking into this, before I trust really important work to this computer!
Thanks!
- Roger T
Click to expand...

That woman is a noob. I'm surprised she's working at Apple support (I was at a local Apple reseller the other day and heard the support guy on the phone say something that was completely stupid). Anyway, you must save the image to another hard drive/partition from the one you're trying to back up. The reason being that you'd be adding a new file (the image) to that partition and so it would be trying to add itself to itself, i.e. writing to the partition you're trying to back up, hence the resource is busy error.

The only way this would work is if you could selectively backup files on the hard drive, not doing a full image.
 
hopejr said:
For both of these to be successful/give correct info, you must do them from Disk Utility on the OS X CD. The HD needs to be unmounted for it work properly.

That woman is a noob. I'm surprised she's working at Apple support (I was at a local Apple reseller the other day and heard the support guy on the phone say something that was completely stupid). Anyway, you must save the image to another hard drive/partition from the one you're trying to back up. The reason being that you'd be adding a new file (the image) to that partition and so it would be trying to add itself to itself, i.e. writing to the partition you're trying to back up, hence the resource is busy error.

The only way this would work is if you could selectively backup files on the hard drive, not doing a full image.
Click to expand...

Well, hopejr, I thought something like that also. She did however repeatedly consult with some "senior" personnel in the background, and was very pleasant throughout the conversation. But, man, you do not just ask folks to reinstall an OS without exploring ALL other avenues of remedy. I am NOT going to reinstall unless the machine exhibits complete and repeated lockup or such! Especially since I have had this MBP for only a few weeks and I have installed very few things (mostly Apple/Mac upgrades!)

So, all in all, the Image utility has very little daily use. Have you tried it anyway? You also say that "The HD needs to be unmounted for it work properly." You must mean the startup HD on board? I am still curious about this Disk Utility>>>New Image tool!
Thanks so much!

- Roger T
 
WirelessInn said:
Well, hopejr, I thought something like that also. She did however repeatedly consult with some "senior" personnel in the background, and was very pleasant throughout the conversation. But, man, you do not just ask folks to reinstall an OS without exploring ALL other avenues of remedy. I am NOT going to reinstall unless the machine exhibits complete and repeated lockup or such! Especially since I have had this MBP for only a few weeks and I have installed very few things (mostly Apple/Mac upgrades!)

So, all in all, the Image utility has very little daily use. Have you tried it anyway? You also say that "The HD needs to be unmounted for it work properly." You must mean the startup HD on board? I am still curious about this Disk Utility>>>New Image tool!
Thanks so much!

- Roger T
Click to expand...

Sorry about the confusion, I was using the UNIX meaning for "unmounted", i.e. not in use by the OS (not unplugged). Unmounted volumes do not appear on the desktop or any open/save dialogs, or even in /Volumes. They only appear in Disk Utility, where you can mount it if required (or use the mount command on the command line). I use Disk Utility quite a lot, so am quite versed in how to use it. The best way to ensure that a partition is not in use is to unmount it. It cannot be in use (esp. writing to it) when doing a disk verify or even an image.
 
hopejr said:
Sorry about the confusion, I was using the UNIX meaning for "unmounted", i.e. not in use by the OS (not unplugged). Unmounted volumes do not appear on the desktop or any open/save dialogs, or even in /Volumes. They only appear in Disk Utility, where you can mount it if required (or use the mount command on the command line). I use Disk Utility quite a lot, so am quite versed in how to use it. The best way to ensure that a partition is not in use is to unmount it. It cannot be in use (esp. writing to it) when doing a disk verify or even an image.
Click to expand...

No, No, hopejr: no apology - you know what you are doing, I do not yet, but I AM trying to find out! I have on my desktop a request from AppleCare service dept. to fill out re: the Disk Utility>New Image problem.
I wish to answer positively - outside of mentioning my feelings about just dispatching Customers with an injunction to reinstall OS!
Would you be so kind as to outline a step by step process for me (and I will mention it in my answer to AppleCare - just for also them to learn something from our Forums!)
I am attaching 2 scrn prints illustrating as far as I got inthe NewImage process. The "newImageErrorMessage" appears once I SAVE from NewImageStartUpScreen.
I'll appreciate very much: I want to bring closure (!) to this matter... Before I find out about something else!

- Roger T
 

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That's a good start. Unfortunately, it's not possible to obtain screenshots while using the OS X DVD, so I did it on my iMac and used my MacBook's iSight. The basic process is as follows (be aware this takes a while):
1. Insert the OS X DVD into the computer
2. Plug in an external hard drive (if you have another partition on the internal hard drive that is large enough, this is not necessary)
3. Reboot into the DVD (hold down the 'C' key after the chime)
4. Select the language for setup
5. Select Utilities ->Disk Utility from the menu
6. Select File -> New -> Disk image from folder from the menu
7. In the next window, click Macintosh HD, and then "Image"
8. Save the image to the external hard drive/other partition

That's about it. When you want to re-image, just reboot into the DVD and choose the Restore tab in Disk Utility.

Alternatively, you could use one of the tools from Bombich.com (these in my opinion are easier and better than using disk utility).

Re-installing the OS is completely unnecessary.

By the way, for repairing the disk, you do the first 6 steps above, then select the disk, and click "Repair Disk".

Lastly, I hadn't done this for a while, so forgot it doesn't need to be unmounted, it's just that the disk you're imaging can't be the system disk where the loaded Operating System resides. I've been using the dd command on the command line too much.
 

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hopejr said:
That's a good start. Unfortunately, it's not possible to obtain screenshots while using the OS X DVD, so I did it on my iMac and used my MacBook's iSight. The basic process is as follows (be aware this takes a while)

Lastly, I hadn't done this for a while, so forgot it doesn't need to be unmounted, it's just that the disk you're imaging can't be the system disk where the loaded Operating System resides. I've been using the dd command on the command line too much.
Click to expand...

Thanks for everything, hopejr: incredibly clear and precise instructions. I trust that will be useful to other folks here. I'll try it all as soon as I get (very soon) my external HD. As to command line use, I'll keep it all for later; I am pretty familiar with cmd and Registry manipulations in Win, and I am not too eager to start here too soon. First thing I am planning to do is installing BootCamp with Win XP. Gotta determine partition size and format for optimum access to the Mac HD (and external drives for that matter) by both Win and MacOS.

- Roger T
 
Cloning Macs...

I am not sure if this is the same sort of issue, but I get the same resource busy error.

I start by booting Mac 1, then I boot Mac 2 in target mode to Mac 1 via FireWire. I made an image of the Mac 2 drive and saved it to a secondary partition on Mac 2. I then boot Mac 2 up normally. I boot in target mode, but reversed, and set about restoring the image on Mac 2's drive to Mac 1.

Every time I try to restore, I get the error 'resource is busy.' I even get this on Mac 1 booted with the OS X install disc.
 
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