Disk Utility is a great maintenance and troubleshooting tool for those times when your Mac starts acting up. Repairing permissions can sometimes be handy (even though its true validity is in question as of late), but using the Verify and Repair Disk operations is often a more useful tactic. However, until Mac OS X 10.4.3, you had use Disk Utility to verify or repair your Mac's drive from some sort of an external source. You either had to plug into another Mac in Target Disk mode, or reboot and use the install disks that came with your Mac - not the most friendly process to your workflow. But now, With 10.4.3 and later, you can start up Disk Utility right from within Mac OS X and chose the verify option to make sure system level elements like your file catalog are all in order. One warning though: it is completely normal for your Mac to temporarily freeze or 'seize up' at the beginning of running this operation (you should get the infamous beachball), as this Apple support document explains. After a little while, depending on your Mac's speed and all that jazz, it will come out of its daze and you can continue working/chatting/surfing while it finishes the disk verification process.This is a really handy tool, perhaps even more valuable than checking permissions, and should be a welcome addition to any Mac maintenance arsenal.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
5-31-2006 @ 11:22AM
andazp said...
You guys didn't know?
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5-31-2006 @ 11:27AM
Fuzzi said...
Well... it's an old function ! I do that since 10.4.0... and I don't remember if it's possible with 10.3... I think yes (excuse my bad english, I'm french, I do my best to write correctly here).
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5-31-2006 @ 11:51AM
K said...
I tend to use AppleJack in single-user mode atleast once a week on start-up.
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5-31-2006 @ 11:55AM
kc said...
The question still remains, however... why can't we repair the disks while booted into the OS? I know... I know, "because it is not as safe... blah blah blah". Well then why can you run disk routines on a PC? What is Windows doing that is so special that allows them to edit the startup disk while booted?
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5-31-2006 @ 12:28PM
EK said...
So, we can "Verify Disk" and "Repair Disk" while using your startup disk? I don't see how this is possible. I just tried it and while I can take care of my permissions, repairing the disk is not an option, but I can verify it.
Am I missing something?
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5-31-2006 @ 1:00PM
Justin said...
Unless I just didn't get, at all, what you're saying with this article...
What PLANET are you people on? You've been able to do this for... forever. "Since 10.4.3"? I'll say it again: how long have TUAW's writers actually been using Apple products?
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5-31-2006 @ 1:42PM
Dan Lurie said...
David is right, it was only 10.4.3 that let you repair your disk on the fly. However, as someone who fixes Macs for a living, I cant stress how much this is a silly idea. Apple has shoe-horned this feature into the OS. The reason you were unable to in the past is because to really check a disk properly it needs to be free from having to access all sorts of information. Additionally, running this too much can cause issues, the same way repairing permissions too much can. If you feel the need to do this sort of thing, get TechTool, put it on an external drive, and run it once a month.
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5-31-2006 @ 1:48PM
David Chartier said...
Guys, try this concept on for size: just because YOU knew about something, doesn't mean that everyone else on the planet did too. I personally found out about this when John Gruber blogged it right around when 10.4.3 landed (the first version of 10.4 with this capability). However, I thought it might make for a good post for those who didn't know, forgot or possibly don't even understand what these tools are all about.
The planet's knowledge doesn't wake and sleep with what you know. Please stop berating us under this assumption.
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