Clicked "Verify Disk" and it failed

[rgprestige]

Hey everyone, I've been lurking around here for a while but this is my first post. Today I was organizing and deleting files on my macbook pro- basically doing my first real cleanup since I bought the computer in 2009. Once in my "cleaning mode", I decided what the hell, Ill check out the disk utility which I've never used before and see if this can help further clean up my machine. Anywho, not really knowing what I am doing I first clicked "repair disk permissions" and 5 min or so later it finished up without any issue. Next, I clicked "Verify Disk" and after a minute or so I got an error message that said my disk needs repairing

For starters, my computer runs just fine. I have not noticed any issues and I'm always running multiple programs at once. Ive read several posts that describe this error message but the OP always seems to have a slow machine or some other issue to begin with.

I guess my questions are...

1) What exactly does this error message mean?

2) What could cause this any why am I getting this message when my computer seems to run flawlessly?

3)Do I need to boot it from the osx discs and attempt to repair it? I am incline to ignor this since everythign SEEMS fine.

Thanks in advance!

 

[Sirolway]

No.1 priority is to make sure you have good backups, just in case ...

Once you have that, I'd be inclined to Repair Disk

 

[John T]

If Disc Utility advises repairing your HDD it's a good idea to do so - even thought everything seems to be running ok.

In order to repair the drive, you need to run Disc Utility from the OSX Install Disc.

 

[rgprestige]

thanks guys, Ill back up my files and then try and run the disk repair from the install disk. I just hope I can find it...its SOMEWHERE in my house. Hypothetically if I can't locate the disk, is there any other way to repair?

 

[benthewraith]

thanks guys, Ill back up my files and then try and run the disk repair from the install disk. I just hope I can find it...its SOMEWHERE in my house. Hypothetically if I can't locate the disk, is there any other way to repair?

If you have a copy of Lion downloaded onto a DVD or USB, you can boot from that and repair the disk.

 

[rgprestige]

Ran the disk repair. Everything seems fine now. Thanks everyone!