Repair Permissions... Which 2 do I click?

[diehldun]

I've owned my PB for more than a year, and I still haven't really found out how to repair permissions (I have, but I think I've been doing it wrong).

When I open up 'disk utility', there are 2 choices on the left hand side, either "74.5 GB Fujitsu MHT20..." or "Macintosh HD". Now, if I want to repair permissions on my Powerbook, which one do I "repair"? I've been doing the Fujitsu (because that also repairs Macintosh HD???)

Any help would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!

 

[yellow]

it doesn't matter. Both are the same on your set up.

 

[aricher]

You are correct in doing this. The "74.5 GB Fujitsu MHT20..." is the brand name of the hard drive. "Macintosh HD" is that very same drive - it's just the name you see on the hard drive icon on your desktop. So it's just a two step process - verify disk permissions and then repair disk permissions.

 

[Balin64]

I find this easier:

Open terminal,

type:

sudo diskutil repairPermissions /

enter password

restart when process complete

Just my opinion.

 

[Hoven]

Open terminal,
type:
sudo diskutil repairPermissions /
enter password
restart when process complete
Just my opinion.

So, isn't running diskutil from Terminal executing the same program as the one launched from the GUI?
Just curious. Does the Terminal run do more/less than the gui-launched repair?
(more and more to learn every day!)

 

[yellow]

It's the same thing.

/usr/sbin/diskutil being the command line version of /Applications/Utilities/Disk Utility.app.

EDIT: and there's no need to restart when permissions repair is completed.

 

[MisterMe]

So, isn't running diskutil from Terminal executing the same program as the one launched from the GUI?
Just curious. Does the Terminal run do more/less than the gui-launched repair?
(more and more to learn every day!)

Yes. It is just that some people would rather

launch Terminal. Type
"sudo repairPermissions"
enter password
and restart when task is done

rather than to launch Disk Utilities, select the desired hard drive, click Repair Permissions, and get on with their work once the task is done. The latter is so-o-o-o much more time consuming.

 

[gMac]

So it's just a two step process - verify disk permissions and then repair disk permissions.

Just to clear up a point. I thought selecting Repair Permissions was all that was necessary. Doing a Verify then Repair is like asking someone to see if we have any beer left and when they come back and say "yes," then asking them to please bring one. Repair, on the other hand is like asking to see if we have any and if we do, please bring me one.

Not trying to sound like a smartalick, just trying to learn .

 

[diehldun]

Just to clear up a point. I thought selecting Repair Permissions was all that was necessary. Doing a Verify then Repair is like asking someone to see if we have any beer left and when they come back and say "yes," then asking them to please bring one. Repair, on the other hand is like asking to see if we have any and if we do, please bring me one.

Not trying to sound like a smartalick, just trying to learn .

Yeah... what's the point of verifying if repair does that as well

 

[Hoven]

Yeah... what's the point of verifying if repair does that as well

Good question. I can't imagine that you have to do both and I believe Repair does the same check as Verify (otherwise, how does it know what to repair).

I think the only reason to do the verify is if you want to see what Repair would do before it does it. There may be some reason you'd decide to not repair (althought I admit I can't imagine what that would be).

 

[yellow]

As noted, it is not necessary to 'verify' before 'repairing'.

I suspect that a verify can be performed faster, as the BOM is only compared to the current privs, and there's no time spent correcting (or attempting to correct) issues.

Ultimately, I really don't see the need for a verify, since if there ARE permissions that are out of whack, I'm going to want to repair them anyway.