Disk Utility failing me.

[narco]

I've had my G5 (2.0GHZ, 3GB RAM) for nearly a couple years now, and it's starting to act kind of weird. For one, Dashboard is extremely slow (takes about 20 seconds to load) and I've been getting a lot of "beach balls of death."

Usually the Repair Disk/Repair Permissions thing works fine. It finds stuff, fixes it all. Repair permissions still works, but Repair Disk either freezes up (it acts like it's starting, but it either doesn't do anything or times out) or it gives me this message:

Verifying volume “narcofiche”
Checking HFS Plus volume.
Checking Extents Overflow file.
Checking Catalog file.
Checking multi-linked files.
Checking Catalog hierarchy.
%)
Checking Extended Attributes file.
Checking volume bitmap.
Checking volume information.
Volume Header needs minor repair
The volume narcofiche needs to be repaired.

Error: The underlying task reported failure on exit


1 HFS volume checked
Volume needs repair

Is this an issue that I should worry about? Is this the beginning of the end of my internal hard drive? Any help will be appreciated.

Thanks,
narco.

 

[blodwyn]

I've had my G5 (2.0GHZ, 3GB RAM) for nearly a couple years now, and it's starting to act kind of weird. For one, Dashboard is extremely slow (takes about 20 seconds to load) and I've been getting a lot of "beach balls of death."

Usually the Repair Disk/Repair Permissions thing works fine. It finds stuff, fixes it all. Repair permissions still works, but Repair Disk either freezes up (it acts like it's starting, but it either doesn't do anything or times out) or it gives me this message:

Verifying volume “narcofiche”
Checking HFS Plus volume.
Checking Extents Overflow file.
Checking Catalog file.
Checking multi-linked files.
Checking Catalog hierarchy.
%)
Checking Extended Attributes file.
Checking volume bitmap.
Checking volume information.
Volume Header needs minor repair
The volume narcofiche needs to be repaired.

Error: The underlying task reported failure on exit


1 HFS volume checked
Volume needs repair

Is this an issue that I should worry about? Is this the beginning of the end of my internal hard drive? Any help will be appreciated.

Thanks,
narco.

If you haven't done so already, I would take a backup of your current disk as soon as possible. Then I would try a fsck - here's a link - and see if that fixes the disk.

 

[daveL]

I take it this disk is not your boot disk? You can't run "repair disk" on your boot drive unless you are booting off CD.

I second the post ^^^. Take a backup asap and try fsck. Sure sounds like your drive is starting to fail, which may account for the other oddities you are noticing lately.

 

[narco]

It is my boot disk. It usually lets me verify it without starting up from the Tiger disc, but it still quits or freezes just on the verify part.

I'll probably end up buying yet another LaCie 250GB external hard drive and just copy the entire contents of the internal hard drive. Any recommendations to make an exact copy of my drive, or can I just drag the whole thing over and then replace it after a fresh install. Thanks.

 

[daveL]

It is my boot disk. It usually lets me verify it without starting up from the Tiger disc, but it still quits or freezes just on the verify part.

I'll probably end up buying yet another LaCie 250GB external hard drive and just copy the entire contents of the internal hard drive. Any recommendations to make an exact copy of my drive, or can I just drag the whole thing over and then replace it after a fresh install. Thanks.

You said "repair", not "verify", thus my comment.

Carbon Copy Cloner (free) is the best way to clone a disk. It has the option to make the clone bootable, as well.

 

[Objectivist-C]

Any recommendations to make an exact copy of my drive, or can I just drag the whole thing over and then replace it after a fresh install. Thanks.

Carbon Copy Cloner.

 

[narco]

I visited an Apple reseller store and they suggested buying a 500GB internal drive to stick in my G5. I'll use that cloning program for that.

On a side note, I got my car towed away at the Mac reseller store, shortly after my digital camera AND my Treo 650 broke. On top of the 2 parking tickets I received earlier today. When it rains, it pours, eh?

 

[narco]

Quick question: if I install this internal 500GB drive into my G5, then use the cloning program to copy the entire contents of my current 160GB drive to the new drive, will I be able to boot from the new 500GB drive? Or should I just install Tiger onto it and transfer everything manually.

Thanks,
narco.

 

[daveL]

Quick question: if I install this internal 500GB drive into my G5, then use the cloning program to copy the entire contents of my current 160GB drive to the new drive, will I be able to boot from the new 500GB drive? Or should I just install Tiger onto it and transfer everything manually.

Thanks,
narco.

As I said above, CCC has the option to back the cloned copy bootable.

 

[Makosuke]

Quick question: if I install this internal 500GB drive into my G5, then use the cloning program to copy the entire contents of my current 160GB drive to the new drive, will I be able to boot from the new 500GB drive? Or should I just install Tiger onto it and transfer everything manually.

The clone will be perfectly bootable.

...that said, if something in the OS has gotten damaged by the disk issues (I'm not sure it's actually failing, it COULD just be corruption, though I wouldn't mess around with it), you might be cloning a broken chunk of OS over to the new drive.

For that reason, just to be "fresh" about it, you might consider either installing Tiger on the new drive then using the Migration assistant to bring all your stuff over, or doing a full clone then an "Archive and Install" of Tiger, to get the OS back to a fresh state.

It's more hassle, but might be a better idea in this particular situation.