Disk Verifying error... Should I reformat and start again?

[advocation]

I was trying to run bootcamp to partition my hard drive, I have done it before but simply took it off because I ran out of space on my hard drive to run both osx and xp. So I went to partition it to put xp back on, and bootcamp assistant says that it cant partition it and to use disk utility.

So, after verifying the disc, it comes up with the following...

Verifying volume “Duncan”
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.
Volume Bit Map needs minor repair
Checking volume information.
Invalid volume free block count
Invalid volume free block count
uld be %@ instead of %@)",2)
10077864
10077489
The volume Duncan needs to be repaired.

Error: The underlying task reported failure on exit


1 HFS volume checked
Volume needs repair


What the hell does that mean?! I have an external hard drive so i'm very tempted to just backup everything that I need, and then reinstall osx fresh and put xp on there also..

Can this be fixed easily?
Is it worth starting again?
If so, how would I go about backing up? Is it a simple copy and paste to the backup drive?

Thanks

 

[iBookG4user]

Try booting from the restore disks and use the Disk Utility on the restore disk to repair the internal drive.

 

[Fleetwood Mac]

Run Disk Utility from your installation disc and see if it'll verify in there.

In case you haven't before; boot the disc (holding C at after the chime), follow the wizard until the menubar loads at the top, and select Disk Utility from the Utilities menu.

 

[Sherman Homan]

You can't repair the disk if you have booted from the disk. Do what ibookg4user and Fleetwood Mac say. Disk Utility can repair many problems. Sometimes it just doesn't have the power to deal serious issues. Then you can either buy Disk Warrior or TechTools or clone your drive over to your hard driver, reformat and clone everything back. Good luck!