have an older iMac that started to run super slow. Went to reinstall Sierra but ran into some issues so I deleted the hard drive. When I go to resintall Sierra I get an error basically saying restart and try installing again. I get an error “first aid process has failed. If possible back up the data on this volume” when I try to run first aid on my hard disk partition. The smart status of the drive reads verified when I look In the info pane in disk utility but when I look at the log from first aid it says the volume of my hard drive can not be verified completely and that the file system or repair failed . Not sure what else to try from here
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Can’t reinstall OS X, not sure where the issue is
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I think this is the situation where a bootable backup is needed. Even if you have to borrow one from a friend. So it sounds like you are saying that the Recovery partition on your disk has become unusable, at least for purposes of running First Aid?
Mechanical drives can run into problems such as wear and bad sectors as they age, even if SMART doesn't detect it yet, and bad sectors can corrupt the filesystem beyond repair. The solution I would recommend is replacing it, with an SSD if possible.
In the meantime, back up any important data you have on there, and try a clean install (format the drive and install).
In the meantime, back up any important data you have on there, and try a clean install (format the drive and install).
If the repair process was unable to fix an issue, and you as you mention its an older iMac. The odds are quite good that your hard drive is failing as the other posters mentioned