Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Hardisk starts to failed! Disk permission all wrong!

N

nkthen

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jul 7, 2011
6
0
The S.M.A.R.T. reported that my hard disk is on the verge of failing. I want to replace it with another hard disk. However, the following problems cause me unable to do so.

I tried to run Carbon Copy app to clone the hard disk, it prompted me to enter a password like "Type your password to allow this". However, it doesn't work.

In my investigation, I realized that it doesn't work for any of my apps that requires installation or modifications. I set my admin password to nothing and it stil didn't work. No response at all of any kind.

I believe it has to do with the hard disk and so I run Disk Utility and try to repair the hard disk. The app said that it is repaired but the problem remains. I tried to repair the permission settings and I think the problem came.

Disk utility discovered many files and directories that have wrong permission and it tried to fix it. It reported to me that it is fixed. However, when I click the button "Repair Disk Permission" again the same list of files and directories are reported to have wrong permissions! Apparently, it is not fixing it.

So I tried to load my Macbook Pro using installation disk and run Disk Utlitiy, thinking that it will be "cleaner" repair.

And it seems to be so. The initial list of files and directories are repaired but there is a list that is not repaired at all.

Here's the current list of that is "repaired":
Repairing permissions for “MacbookPro HD”
Permissions differ on “System/Library/PreferencePanes/Displays.prefPane”; should be drwxr-xr-x ; they are lrwxr-xr-x .
Repaired “System/Library/PreferencePanes/Displays.prefPane”
Permissions differ on “System/Library/CoreServices/Menu Extras/Displays.menu”; should be drwxr-xr-x ; they are lrwxr-xr-x .
Repaired “System/Library/CoreServices/Menu Extras/Displays.menu”
Permissions differ on “System/Library/MonitorPanels/Arrange.monitorPanel”; should be drwxr-xr-x ; they are lrwxr-xr-x .
Repaired “System/Library/MonitorPanels/Arrange.monitorPanel”
Permissions differ on “System/Library/MonitorPanels/Display.monitorPanel”; should be drwxr-xr-x ; they are lrwxr-xr-x .
Repaired “System/Library/MonitorPanels/Display.monitorPanel”
Permissions differ on “System/Library/MonitorPanels/Profile.monitorPanel”; should be drwxr-xr-x ; they are lrwxr-xr-x .
Repaired “System/Library/MonitorPanels/Profile.monitorPanel”
Permissions differ on “System/Library/PreferencePanes/Displays.prefPane/Contents/Resources/hr.lproj/D isplaysPref.nib”; should be drwxr-xr-x ; they are -rw-r--r-- .
Repaired “System/Library/PreferencePanes/Displays.prefPane/Contents/Resources/hr.lproj/D isplaysPref.nib”
Permissions differ on “System/Library/PreferencePanes/Displays.prefPane/Contents/Resources/sk.lproj/D isplaysPref.nib”; should be drwxr-xr-x ; they are -rw-r--r-- .
Repaired “System/Library/PreferencePanes/Displays.prefPane/Contents/Resources/sk.lproj/D isplaysPref.nib”
Permissions differ on “System/Library/PreferencePanes/Displays.prefPane/Contents/Resources/pl.lproj/D isplaysPref.nib”; should be drwxr-xr-x ; they are -rw-r--r-- .
Repaired “System/Library/PreferencePanes/Displays.prefPane/Contents/Resources/pl.lproj/D isplaysPref.nib”
Permissions differ on “System/Library/PreferencePanes/Displays.prefPane/Contents/Resources/pt_PT.lpro j/DisplaysPref.nib”; should be drwxr-xr-x ; they are -rw-r--r-- .
Repaired “System/Library/PreferencePanes/Displays.prefPane/Contents/Resources/pt_PT.lpro j/DisplaysPref.nib”
Permissions differ on “System/Library/PreferencePanes/Displays.prefPane/Contents/Resources/zh_TW.lpro j/DisplaysPref.nib”; should be drwxr-xr-x ; they are -rw-r--r-- .
Repaired “System/Library/PreferencePanes/Displays.prefPane/Contents/Resources/zh_TW.lpro j/DisplaysPref.nib”
Permissions differ on “System/Library/PreferencePanes/Displays.prefPane/Contents/Resources/zh_CN.lpro j/DisplaysPref.nib”; should be drwxr-xr-x ; they are -rw-r--r-- .
Repaired “System/Library/PreferencePanes/Displays.prefPane/Contents/Resources/zh_CN.lpro j/DisplaysPref.nib”
Permissions differ on “System/Library/PreferencePanes/Displays.prefPane/Contents/Resources/pt.lproj/D isplaysPref.nib”; should be drwxr-xr-x ; they are -rw-r--r-- .
Repaired “System/Library/PreferencePanes/Displays.prefPane/Contents/Resources/pt.lproj/D isplaysPref.nib”
Permissions differ on “System/Library/PreferencePanes/Displays.prefPane/Contents/Resources/sv.lproj/D isplaysPref.nib”; should be drwxr-xr-x ; they are -rw-r--r-- .
Repaired “System/Library/PreferencePanes/Displays.prefPane/Contents/Resources/sv.lproj/D isplaysPref.nib”
Permissions differ on “System/Library/PreferencePanes/Displays.prefPane/Contents/Resources/ru.lproj/D isplaysPref.nib”; should be drwxr-xr-x ; they are -rw-r--r-- .
Repaired “System/Library/PreferencePanes/Displays.prefPane/Contents/Resources/ru.lproj/D isplaysPref.nib”
Permissions differ on “System/Library/PreferencePanes/Displays.prefPane/Contents/Resources/no.lproj/D isplaysPref.nib”; should be drwxr-xr-x ; they are -rw-r--r-- .
Repaired “System/Library/PreferencePanes/Displays.prefPane/Contents/Resources/no.lproj/D isplaysPref.nib”
Permissions differ on “System/Library/PreferencePanes/Displays.prefPane/Contents/Resources/ko.lproj/D isplaysPref.nib”; should be drwxr-xr-x ; they are -rw-r--r-- .
Repaired “System/Library/PreferencePanes/Displays.prefPane/Contents/Resources/ko.lproj/D isplaysPref.nib”
Permissions differ on “System/Library/PreferencePanes/Displays.prefPane/Contents/Resources/fi.lproj/D isplaysPref.nib”; should be drwxr-xr-x ; they are -rw-r--r-- .
Repaired “System/Library/PreferencePanes/Displays.prefPane/Contents/Resources/fi.lproj/D isplaysPref.nib”
Permissions differ on “System/Library/PreferencePanes/Displays.prefPane/Contents/Resources/da.lproj/D isplaysPref.nib”; should be drwxr-xr-x ; they are -rw-r--r-- .
Repaired “System/Library/PreferencePanes/Displays.prefPane/Contents/Resources/da.lproj/D isplaysPref.nib”
Permissions differ on “System/Library/PreferencePanes/Displays.prefPane/Contents/Resources/Dutch.lpro j/DisplaysPref.nib”; should be drwxr-xr-x ; they are -rw-r--r-- .
Repaired “System/Library/PreferencePanes/Displays.prefPane/Contents/Resources/Dutch.lpro j/DisplaysPref.nib”
Permissions differ on “System/Library/PreferencePanes/Displays.prefPane/Contents/Resources/Italian.lp roj/DisplaysPref.nib”; should be drwxr-xr-x ; they are -rw-r--r-- .
Repaired “System/Library/PreferencePanes/Displays.prefPane/Contents/Resources/Italian.lp roj/DisplaysPref.nib”
Permissions differ on “System/Library/PreferencePanes/Displays.prefPane/Contents/Resources/French.lpr oj/DisplaysPref.nib”; should be drwxr-xr-x ; they are -rw-r--r-- .
Repaired “System/Library/PreferencePanes/Displays.prefPane/Contents/Resources/French.lpr oj/DisplaysPref.nib”
Permissions differ on “System/Library/PreferencePanes/Displays.prefPane/Contents/Resources/German.lpr oj/DisplaysPref.nib”; should be drwxr-xr-x ; they are -rw-r--r-- .
Repaired “System/Library/PreferencePanes/Displays.prefPane/Contents/Resources/German.lpr oj/DisplaysPref.nib”
Permissions differ on “System/Library/PreferencePanes/Displays.prefPane/Contents/Resources/Japanese.l proj/DisplaysPref.nib”; should be drwxr-xr-x ; they are -rw-r--r-- .
Repaired “System/Library/PreferencePanes/Displays.prefPane/Contents/Resources/Japanese.l proj/DisplaysPref.nib”
ACL found but not expected on “private/var/root/Library”
Repaired “private/var/root/Library”
ACL found but not expected on “private/var/root/Library/Preferences”
Repaired “private/var/root/Library/Preferences”

Permissions repair complete
Click to expand...


Do you have any solutions? I think if I get this disk permissions repaired, I think I can run Carbon Copy app.
 
Sorry,

Can't help you on the actual issue, but as your HDD may fail soon, I'd make sure your backups are in order.

Also, I've had some success in cloning drives with SuperDuper, even when they are messed up.

RGDS,
 
seveej said:
Sorry,

Can't help you on the actual issue, but as your HDD may fail soon, I'd make sure your backups are in order.

Also, I've had some success in cloning drives with SuperDuper, even when they are messed up.

RGDS,
Click to expand...
I've tried Super Duper too. But it didn't work either.

OK, I think I'll need to move out all my data. Can anyone advise me how to move my data? Do I just move out the data from my UserName folder?

Lastly, can I install the downloaded Lion OS and install on an external drive? In that way, I can swap and boot from the new drive and transfer all my data back.
 
nkthen said:
I've tried Super Duper too. But it didn't work either.

OK, I think I'll need to move out all my data. Can anyone advise me how to move my data? Do I just move out the data from my UserName folder?

Lastly, can I install the downloaded Lion OS and install on an external drive? In that way, I can swap and boot from the new drive and transfer all my data back.
Click to expand...
Disk Utility > Restore can be used to clone as well but ...

For me personally the only reason to attempt a clone at this point would be that you're not likely to overlook any files that way but -as you said- you can also manually drag files over to an external drive. Either your entire user folder or individual files. (Depending on how bad the drive is you can do a sort of triage and transfer the most valuable files first)

I don't think you should trust the System files from that failing drive anyway since they may have been corrupted and you would simply be re-importing trouble by cloning the entire drive onto a new HD.

Depending on the vintage of your MacBook Pro you can also take the current drive out, put the blank drive in the computer and hold cmd+r to format and install a completely fresh system.
Place the old drive in an external enclosure and see how many of your personal files Set Up Assistant can transfer during the set up process.
 
bluespaceoddity said:
Disk Utility > Restore can be used to clone as well but ...

For me personally the only reason to attempt a clone at this point would be that you're not likely to overlook any files that way but -as you said- you can also manually drag files over to an external drive. Either your entire user folder or individual files. (Depending on how bad the drive is you can do a sort of triage and transfer the most valuable files first)

I don't think you should trust the System files from that failing drive anyway since they may have been corrupted and you would simply be re-importing trouble by cloning the entire drive onto a new HD.

Depending on the vintage of your MacBook Pro you can also take the current drive out, put the blank drive in the computer and hold cmd+r to format and install a completely fresh system.
Place the old drive in an external enclosure and see how many of your personal files Set Up Assistant can transfer during the set up process.
Click to expand...
I've tried Disk Utility Restore as well and it doesn't work. My Macbook pro is Nov 2011 model so it's relatively new.

So, what's Set up assistant? Can it help me port the stuff?
 
If your drive has failed the smart verification, and you're getting all these errors, I'd say the drive has failed or is failing to an extent you're unable to access your data.

Do you have a backup?

I'd save what you can and then replace the drive.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back