Performing a disk repair in Mac OS

Products

• VMware Desktop Hypervisor

Issue/Introduction

This article provides information on identifying file system issues and performing a disk repair using Apple's built-in Disk Utility.

 

It may be required to identify file system issues and perform a disk repair if the system encounters operating system issues, such as data loss, virtual machine crashes, slow performance, virtual machine resume and suspend failures, and other unexpected behavior. Such examples are listed below, but are not limited to these scenarios:

• The Mac OS disk cannot be read
• A virtual machine file is corrupt
• Fusion unexpectedly quits

Environment

• VMware Fusion 1.x
• VMware Fusion 2.x
• VMware Fusion 3.x
• VMware Fusion 4.x
• VMware Fusion 5.x
• VMware Fusion 6.x
• VMware Fusion 7.x
• VMware Fusion 8.x
• VMware Fusion 10.x
• VMware Fusion Pro 8.x
• VMware Fusion Pro 10.x

Resolution

Identify file system issues by performing a disk check using Apple's Disk Utility.

Disk Utility cannot repair the directory structure of the active startup disk (the boot disk). To repair an OS X system disk with Disk Utility, start the computer using an Apple Software Restore disc (included with newer Macs) or a Mac OS X Install disc (must be a retail disc or the disc that shipped with the computer).

For Lion, Mountain Lion and Mavericks, see OS X Recovery.

 

To perform a disk repair:

1. Insert the Mac OS X Install disc and restart the computer holding the C key. Release the key when the gray Apple logo appears. For OS X 10.7 Lion and later, hold down the Option key when the Mac is starting up. This shows the bootable partitions. Select Recovery HD partition and press Return.
2. After the computer restarts from the disc, select the language and then go to Installer > Disk Utility.
   
   Note: Do not click Continue in the first screen of the Installer. If pressed, it is required to restart from the disc again to access Disk Utility.
   
   
3. Click the First Aid tab.
4. Click the disclosure triangle to the left of the hard drive icon to display the names of the hard disk volumes and partitions.
5. Click the Mac OS X volume.
6. Click Repair Disk. Disk Utility checks and repairs the disk.
   
   Note: Some errors cannot be repaired by Disk Utility. If the Disk Utility is unable to repair the partition, contact Apple for further troubleshooting.