Fix Hard Drive Problems with the Disk Utility

Task #67

Difficulty Level 3

Hard drive errors can be caused by any number of events: a power loss, a misbehaving application, or physical damage caused by extreme heat or vibration. Mac OS X Panther includes a hard drive diagnostic program called the Disk Utility that can repair many types of errors that may crop up in your hard drive’s folders and files. Of course, it cannot fix a hard drive with physical damage, but then again, no software utility can!

There are a number of third-party commercial disk utilities that perform much the same diagnostic and repair functions as Panther’s Disk Utility; however, two applications — Drive 10 from Micromat at www.micromat.com and Norton Utilities at www.symantec.com — can both defragment your hard drive. Defragmenting can significantly improve the performance of your hard drive, so these utility applications make a good addition to the Disk Utility, which does not defragment your drive.

Did You Know?

Mac OS X Panther automatically and invisibly runs the Disk Utility, verifying and repairing the boot hard drive when you turn on your Macintosh. This helps keep your drive running smoothly behind the scenes.

Did You Know?

You cannot verify or repair files on your boot drive, which makes sense because Panther is currently using it; your boot drive is automatically verified and repaired during the Mac OS X boot process. However, if you are having problems starting your Mac and Panther will not complete the boot process, you can force Panther to boot from the CD-ROM, enabling you to make repairs to your boot drive: Load your Mac OS X installation CD-ROM and turn off your Mac; then turn it back on while holding down the C key.