Mac OS X 10.4.3 Special Report: The new Disk Utility -- Live verification issues, ignorable messages, other notes

CNET staff

Sept. 2, 2009 8:19 a.m. PT

5 min read

Mac OS X 10.4.3 includes a fairly significant update to Apple's Disk Utility (located in Applications/Utilities).

First, the new release can verify your computer's startup disk (volume) without requiring you to start up from another volume. This feature is called "Live Verification." However, if Disk Utility discovers any issues that require a repair, you will need to start up from your Mac OS X Tiger DVD or CD and use Disk Utility on that disc to make repairs.

Second, there are some new permissions alerts that will be generated by Disk Utility under normal circumstances, and can be safely ignored. These include any error messages that look like:

"Incorrect size for file temp(number) (It should be 000 instead of 999)"

and another alert concerning special permissions the Library/Widgets folder.

A number of readers reportedreceiving messages indicating that their disk needs to be repaired when performing a live verification, but find that there are no errors reported or repaired when they startup from an alternative volume (usually the Mac OS X retail disc) to attempt repairs.

MacFixIt reader Bruce Zuckerman writes:

"I upgraded my iMac G5 (2.0 Ghz) from OSX 10.4.2 to OS X 10.4.3 using the combo updater. After upgrading the system, I ran the Disk Utility Repair Disk Permissions two times and then ran the Verify Disk. The Verify Disk check resulted in a message in red indicating that the HFS volume had been checked and needed repairs.

"I restarted the computer with the DVD Install disk and then ran the Disk Repair program, again two times. In both instances, I received a message that the disk did not need repairs. I then removed the Install disk, restarted my computer, and again ran the Verify Disk program. Once again, I received a message that repairs were needed."

Another reader, Adam, writes:

"I have tested with 3 computers With Mac OS X.4.3 Disk utility click on 'Verify Your Hard Drive' and you get error: 'The underlying task reported failure on exit.' I checked the hard drive through the Mac OS X installer CD and there were no problems."

It appears that this issue is caused by the inability of older versions of Disk Utility to adequately repair startup disks updated to Mac OS X 10.4.3

As such, the solution is to either start from another volume that has the version of Disk Utility bundled with Mac OS X 10.4.3 installed, or simply startup in single-user mode by holding the "Command" and "S" keys during startup and using the fsck command as detailed in Knowledge Base article #106214.

Apple has also posted a Knowledge Base article indicating that the errors generated during live verification may be incorrect, and hence inconsequential.

Knowledge Base article #10627 states:

"If the computer is started up from the Mac OS X hard disk (or disk partition) and Disk Utility finds errors on it, there is not necessarily anything wrong. Only when started up from the CD should Disk Utility reports of errors on the Mac OS X hard disk (or disk partition) be considered accurate."

The article goes on to say "Mac OS X 10.4.2 and earlier do not allow you to verify or repair the startup disk with Disk Utility. With Mac OS X 10.4.3 or later, you can verify your startup disk using Disk Utility. To repair the startup disk in any version of Mac OS X, start up from your Mac OS X Install DVD or CD."

So apparently, although live verification is touted as a new feature in Mac OS X 10.4.3, the results may not be accurate. Users have also reported problems while performing live verification, including some applications not responding and more.

Again, we suggest that you only perform verifications and repairs while booted from another volume (such as your Mac OS X retail disc, another partition, or an external FireWire drive) or by using the fsck command while booted in single-user mode (hold Command and S at startup).

Also, note that the Verify Disk feature in the new version of Disk Utility only works on the boot volume if that volume is Mac OS Extended (Journaled) formatted.

A reminder about ignorable permissions messages There are some new permissions alerts that will be generated by Disk Utility under normal circumstances, and can be safely ignored. These include any messages that look like:

Determining correct file permissions. We are using special permissions for the file or directory ./Library/Widgets/Dictionary.wdgt/Dictionary.js. New permissions are 33188 [...]
We are using a special gid for the file or directory ./System/Library/CoreServices/Dock.app/Contents/MacOS/Dock. New gid is 0 [...]
We are using special permissions for the file or directory ./usr/lib/php/build/scan_makefile_in.awk. New permissions are 33060

These messages will show up no matter how many times you use Disk Utility to repair permissions. They are normal, and can be safely ignored.

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