OnyX Question 101

Okay I have my back up HD project done, and Time Machine working well.

I am ready to start working with OnyX, and after getting my feet wet with the Cleaning function it is telling me

"The volume needs to be repaired

To repair your start-up disk, start up from your Mac OS X Install disk, then choose Utilities > Disk Utility..."

So I have both of my Mac Install disks 1 and 2, but I am afraid to put them in because I don't want to accidently reformat my HD erasing everything. Not that I can't use TM, but I'd rather just know what I getting into before I start. Any advice? I'm not terribly computer savvy, which is why I bought a Mac in the first place - I do know where the disk goes...

Thanks!

You cannot repair the boot volume, so you have to boot from the Install disks, follow the directions to choose Utilities>disk utility and you'll be fine. If it asks if you want to install/reinstall, simply say "no" and it should finish booting. It's a very slow boot, so you'll need to be patient.

Okay, I put the Disk one in and went to Utilities > Disk Utility and not sure what to do now. Do I hit the Restore Button, or Verify? Not sure if I need to put in disk one or two...

If you have opened Disk Utility, you've put in the correct disc.

Highlight your MacIntosh HD on the left sidebar, then click on the Repair button on the right side.

Do you mean where it says repair disk Permissions?

V-Rod, Click on the description of the HD above the 'Mac HD' which is highlighted in blue. Then click on Verify Disk (to the right of verify Disk Permissions). When It is finished verifying the disk (which is likely to be quick as it will probably tell you it is corrupt and needs to be repaired), then click on 'Repair Disk'. Job Done!

Okay, I ran it just like that and it says "The volume Mac Hard Drive appears to be OK" Which is good I guess.

I still don't get why it says "The volume needs to be repaired

To repair your start-up disk, start up from your Mac OS X Install disk, then choose Utilities > Disk Utility..."

Make sure you're using the latest version of OnyX which should be 2.2.1 if you're running Snow Leopard, or the correct version for whichever version of OS X you have. (You never mentioned which version of OS X you're running.) OnyX also checks the SMART status when it first starts up. Was that OK?

If the SMART status was OK and booting from your startup disk and running Disk Utility gave the HD an OK, there's not much else you can do. Just be sure to keep making backups with Time Machine and what other backup program you have.

Sounds like he wasn't actually booted from the disk when he ran Disk Utility. In order to repair the boot disk, one must BOOT from the install disks, not just insert them.

Just to make that clear if my guess is correct. That's probably why the "Repair Disk" function is grayed out.

Agree with chas.

Pop in disc one, restart the machine with that disc in holding down 'C" immediately after the chime. Select English and from the next page go to Utilities in the Menu Bar, Select Disk utility and from there run Repair Disk.

If you are booted from the internal hard drive, the Repair button is always greyed out.