How to repair disk and file system problems on your mac

Note: The disk1 part is the device identifier. Also, here mounting is for the entire disk, whereas normally you would mount a slice, such as disk0s2

Method 3: File System Format

The file that you are trying to mount on your OSX might not be compatible with your OSX. The file system format to APFS is not supported by the older OSX versions. Also, the system creates disk images in the new formats by default. You can find the disk format that is suitable for your current running OSX to make it work. And make sure to download the file that is compatible with your system file format.

To check your system is using APFS or HFS, you can try the following steps below:

1. Press Command + Space or click the magnifying glass on top right
2. Now search for Terminal and open it
3. Now type the following command in Terminal: Checking your file format on your OS
4. You can check the “Type (Bundle)”, it will show you whether you are running HFS or APFS.

By Dan Helyer 0 comments Last updated June 16, 2021

When in Target Disk mode, your Mac behaves like an external storage device that lets you transfer files to another computer. It’s easy to put your Mac in Target Disk mode by holding T while it boots up. But it’s not so easy to fix if Target Disk mode isn’t working properly.

Related:

• The startup disk is almost full on my Mac but I can’t delete anything!
• Got a new Mac? Here’s how to use Apple’s Migration Assistant
• How to transfer files between two user accounts on your Mac

Why is Target Disk mode not working?

It’s impossible for us to say exactly why Target Disk mode isn’t working on your Mac. You might experience problems for any of the following reasons:

• Your hard drive is in the wrong format
• You’re using the wrong cable or port for your Mac
• Finder is set to hide external drives
• A hardware fault is stopping Target Disk mode from working properly

Whatever the reason Target Disk mode isn’t working, you should be able to fix it with the simple troubleshooting steps below.

Step 1. Update macOS or reformat your Mac

If the Mac you want to boot in Target Disk mode is formatted as APFS, then you need to use a computer running macOS High Sierra or later to connect to it. Earlier software can’t read APFS so won’t recognize your Mac.

The easiest solution for this is to update the Mac you want to transfer files to. Open System Preferences and click on Software Update to check for new updates.

If you can’t update that Mac to High Sierra or later, you should check which format the Mac you put into Target Disk mode is using.

How to check the format of your Target Disk Mac

If your Mac is currently in Target Disk mode, press and hold the Power button until it turns off, then restart it. Open the Disk Utility app from your Utilities folder and select your Macintosh HD in the sidebar.

Disk Utility lists the hard drive format at the top of the window, beneath the hard drive name. If your Mac is in APFS format, Target Disk mode only works if you connect to another Mac running High Sierra or later.

If that isn’t possible, you need to reformat your Mac storage, which you can only do by erasing the drive.

Back up your Mac using Time Machine first or you will lose all the data on your Mac.

After backing up, go to View > Show All Devices in Disk Utility and select the parent folder for your Mac’s hard drive in the sidebar. Click Erase and choose a Name, Format, and Scheme to use. We suggest you select Mac OS Extended (Journaled) and GUID Partition Map.

Click Erase to erase and reformat your Mac. After you recover your data from your backup, Target Disk mode should work with older operating systems.

Step 2. Change your preferences in Finder

It’s possible that Target Disk mode is working on your Mac but you can’t see it due to a problem with Finder. The first thing to do is to adjust your Finder preferences. But if that doesn’t work, you still might be able to find your Target Disk using Disk Utility instead.

Put your Mac into Target Disk mode and connect it to another Mac, then open Finder on that other Mac. Go to Finder > Preferences from the menu bar, then open the Sidebar tab.

Check the box to show Hard disks and External disks in the sidebar. This should make your Target Disk appear in the sidebar of Finder, beneath the Location heading.

If that doesn’t work, open Disk Utility and look for your Target Disk in the sidebar. If it appears grayed-out, select it and click the Mount button. Then look for it in Finder again.

Step 3. Check the cables and ports are working

If Target Disk mode looks like it’s working, but you can’t connect it to another Mac, there might be a problem with the cable or port you’re using.

Test the connection using different ports on your Mac. If that doesn’t help, try using a different cable instead. Just make sure you use a cable that’s compatible with Target Disk mode.

What cables do I need for Target Disk mode?

Apple suggests you use one of the following ports and cables for Target Disk mode:

• Thunderbolt 3
• Thunderbolt 2
• FireWire

Take a look at Apple’s website to find out which ports are on your Mac. And make sure you use official, high-quality cables when connecting your devices. If possible, get the exact cable you need instead of using an adapter.

Can I use USB-C cables for Target Disk mode?

The Thunderbolt 3 port uses the same form-factor as USB-C. In fact, every Thunderbolt 3 port on a Mac also functions as a USB-C port. This means you can use a USB-C cable to connect your Mac in Target Disk mode.

Step 4. Disable FileVault encryption on your Target Disk

If the Mac you put in Target Disk mode uses FileVault encryption, you need to enter the admin password for that Mac before you can access its data. You should see a prompt for this password appear when you try to access the Target Disk in Finder.

If you never see a FileVault prompt, it could be worth turning off FileVault encryption on that Mac and trying again.

Hold the power button on your Target Disk Mac to restart it normally. Then go to System Preferences > Security & Privacy. Go to the FileVault tab, then click the Padlock and enter your password to unlock changes.

Click the option to Turn Off FileVault. This unencrypts your Mac’s hard drive, which might take several hours to complete.

Be warned, your data is more secure when it is encrypted. So you should turn FileVault on again after using your Mac in Target Disk mode.

Does Target Disk mode work with Windows?

No. Target Disk mode doesn’t work with Windows. This is because Windows can’t read your Mac hard drive. The only file format that works with macOS and Windows is FAT-32, but you can’t install macOS on a FAT-32 drive.

To transfer files from a Mac to a Windows computer, you should use an external drive in FAT-32 format. Alternatively, upload files to a cloud storage service from your Mac, then download them from the Windows PC.

Transfer files wirelessly with AirDrop

If Target Disk mode still isn’t working on your Mac, you might be able to transfer files wirelessly using AirDrop instead. AirDrop uses Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connections to transfer files at high speeds, without depending on an Internet connection.

In fact, you can even use AirDrop to send files to iOS devices as well as other Macs. Although it’s not quite as fast as Target Disk mode, it’s far more convenient because you can still use your Mac while transferring files.

Dan writes tutorials and troubleshooting guides to help people make the most of their technology. Before becoming a writer, he earned a BSc in Sound Technology, supervised repairs at an Apple Store, and even taught English in China.

Download and try Outbyte MacAries right now to see what it can do for your Mac.

Developed for macOS

Macintosh HD, or the MacBook internal hard drive, is basically the startup drive of most Apple computers. That means if your Mac or MacBook Pro can’t mount its startup disk, it is likely that you will experience problems, like your computer gets stuck on the login screen or it does not boot at all. Situations like this can be very annoying, especially if you have critical and important files stored on the “unmountable” hard drive.

Fret not, because we will teach you what to do if your MacBook Pro won’t mount its startup disk. But before we do that, you better have a backup of all your data.

Backup, Backup, Backup!

Before you proceed with fixing the problem, it is best that you back up all your data first. That way, you can easily retrieve or recover your important documents and files in case something goes wrong.

Now, you might be wondering if it is possible to create a backup of your data, especially that your Mac is not even booting. Here’s what you should know: your Mac has a built-in Disk Utility, which can be accessed before startup. To use this, follow the steps below:

Pro Tip: Scan your Mac for performance issues, junk files, harmful apps, and security threats
that can cause system issues or slow performance.

1. Get an external hard drive and connect it to your Mac.
2. Switch off your Mac. After five seconds, switch it back on.
3. After hearing the startup sound, press the CMD and R keys. Hold them until the Apple logo appears.
4. The macOS Utilities window will now appear.
5. Choose Disk Utility and hit Continue to proceed.
6. You can now start backing up your data using the external drive. Once you have backed up all your data, you can try a few fixes to your “unmountable” hard drive problems.

4 Fixes to a MacBook Pro That Can’t Mount Its Startup Disk

In most cases, mounting is an automatic process that happens as soon as the hard drive is connected to a Mac or MacBook Pro. Then again, drive mounting can be performed manually using the Disk Utility of your machine. It will be discussed further below.

Going forward, assuming you already have a backup of your important files and data, let’s proceed with resolving the problem. Below are a few ways to fix a MacBook Pro that can’t mount its startup disk:

1. Fix Your Hard Drive.

Sometimes, restarting your Mac is more than enough to fix the problem. However, if that does not work, then you might want to look into the angle that there might be something wrong with your hard drive. If that is the case, you have to boot your MacBook Pro in Recovery Mode via Disk Utility.

To hopefully fix your hard drive, follow these steps:

1. Switch off your MacBook Pro.
2. Turn it back on by pressing the Power button. But while doing that, press the CMD and R keys as well until the Apple logo appears.
3. The macOS Utilities window will open. From there, select Disk Utility.
4. From the left pane, choose your MacBook Pro hard drive.
5. Navigate to the First Aid tab.
6. Click the First Aid button to start fixing your drive.
7. Wait for the process to finish before restarting your machine.

2. Run Your MacBook Pro in Safe Mode.

When booted in Safe Mode, your MacBook Pro will start only with the minimum requirements and utilities needed. All other programs and apps that are unnecessary will never be loaded. Hence, if the reason why your startup disk cannot be mounted is a faulty app or program, booting your MacBook Pro in Safe Mode might just fix your problem.

To run your MacBook Pro in Safe Mode, do these:

1. Restart your MacBook Pro.
2. After you hear the startup sound, press the SHIFT key immediately. Continue holding it until the Apple logo appears.
3. If your MacBook Pro boots up properly, then uninstall any program or app you suspect is causing the problem.
4. Restart your machine.

3. Disconnect All External Peripherals.

It is possible that a faulty peripheral connected to your MacBook Pro could be causing your startup disk problems. To verify this, follow the steps below:

1. Switch off your machine.
2. Disconnect all external peripherals connected to your MacBook Pro, including printers, external hard drives, USBs, and scanner. You may leave the keyboard and mouse attached in the meantime.
3. Switch on your Mac. If it boots properly, then one of the peripherals is causing the problem.
4. Identify the exact cause of the problem by connecting each of the peripherals one by one. Make sure you reboot your MacBook Pro every time you connect a peripheral.

4. Reset the SMC and PRAM.

This may sound like a technical solution, but it isn’t. In fact, resetting the SMC and the PRAM takes only a few seconds.

To reset the PRAM and SMC, follow these instructions:

1. Reboot your MacBook Pro.
2. After you hear the startup sound, press the Option, CMD, P, and R keys. Hold them until you hear the second startup tone.
3. Release the keys. Your PRAM will then be reset.
4. Restart your MacBook Pro and check if the problem persists.
5. If resetting the PRAM does not fix the problem, try resetting the SMC. Start by shutting down your MacBook Pro.
6. Plug your machine into a wall outlet.
7. Next, press the CTRL, SHIFT, Option, and Power keys for 10 seconds and release them together.
8. Restart your MacBook Pro and see if it worked.

How to Mount a Startup Disk on MacBook Pro

At this point, you probably want to know how to properly mount a startup disk on your MacBook Pro to avoid problems in the future. Well, mounting a startup disk does not literally suggest physically setting it up with all the wires. It simply means making the startup disk available for your system to perform different read and write operations.

If the startup drive is in good shape, your system Disk Utility should see it. Under the Disk Utility window, select your preferred startup disk. Click on it to mount. By now, your new startup disk should be accessible by your operating system.

What’s Next?

Now that you know how to deal with your “unmountable” startup disk problem, it’s time that you get your MacBook Pro running fast and smooth by downloading and installing a reliable tool like Mac repair app. Not only will this tool allow you to conveniently find and fix speed and stability problems, it will also protect your privacy. What more can you ask for from such a powerful tool?

If you know other ways to fix a MacBook Pro that can’t mount its startup disk, please share them with us below. We’re looking forward to hearing from you.

Why is My Lacie Hard Drive Read-Only on Mac?

Lacie is one of the most popular hard drives in the market and is known for its reliability. People who use Microsoft Windows operating system and macOS simultaneously have faced Lacie read-only mac problems very often. Today we will be discussing the problem and how we can solve it.

Before tackling the problem, we first need to understand why all the Lacie hard drives end up becoming read-only in mac. The answer to this problem is quite simple. Since the Lacie drive is in NTFS format, it only allows macOS to read. If the drives are in FAT 32 format, it would be easy to write and read at the same time. Converting an NTFS file to FAT 32 drives is easy, but the only problem with that is you will have to format the drive to be able to change it.

How to Change Lacie from Read-Only on Mac Without Formatting

Since macOS does not support any drives running on NTFS, it makes the drive read-only. Users will only be able to bypass the problem by following a few steps given below. If you are facing the same issue with your Mac, read this article and follow the steps given below.

1.Run EaseUS NTFS on Mac

The best tool to use to access NTFS file drives in macOS is EaseUS. This is a tool that helps to unlock the read-only drives and lets users copy files from the drive. Run the tool to make sure you can freely edit, delete or write any files inside a drive which is in NTFS format. Users can enable the write mode in the tool with the help of one single click. Users can safely eject any NTFS drives without any loss of data or security breaches. The tool is also known to support all the latest Apple computers with M1 chips and macOS 12.0.

If you are looking to use the tool, make sure to log in to the tool and use the trial version. The trial version is available for free for the users for the first seven days. Users can try out the tool before deciding on subscribing to the tool. The tool also helps users to mount and unmount NTFS drives. Users will not have to go through the Terminal to manually mount partitions in the drive. The tool has its icon available in the Mac status bar, with the help of which users can quickly mount or unmount the Lacie NTFS drive.

If you are thinking of getting this tool on your macOS, you simply need to visit the EaseUS and download the application from there. Once users log in, creating an account with their details the 7 day trial period will start immediately. Users will have to input their credentials and credit card details when they will be creating an account on the website.

Step 1. Launch and activate EaseUS NTFS for Mac. Click “I already have a license” to unlock this software.

Step 2. Connect an NTFS drive to Mac, EaseUS NTFS for Mac will automatically detect the device. Select your drive and you’ll see it’s now marked as ‘Read-only”. Click “Enable Writable” to add read and write rights to the drive.

Step 3. When the state of NTFS drives turns into “Writable”.

Step 4. EaseUS NTFS for Mac will pops up a window to help Mac get access to the NTFS drive:

1. 1. Select “Full Disk Access”, click the Lock icon and enter admin password to unlock it.
2. 2. Select the two icons of NTFS for Mac.
3. 3. Drag them to the “Full Disk Access” list.
4. 4. Click ” Quit & Restore” to re-launch EaseUS NTFS for Mac.

Step 5. When EaseUS NTFS for Mac restarts, you can then open to check, read, write, and even modify saved data on the NTFS device.

2. Use Terminal Command Line

The Terminal is the easiest way that users can edit different settings from macOS. Since this process is entirely one-way, reversing things in the Terminal can be impossible. The process of accessing the Terminal is quite risky as it might end up corrupting all the data.

• Open Mac Terminal from the search option.

• Simply connect the NTFS drive and enter the command ‘sudo nano/etc/fstab’.

• Look at the end of the list and type the command LABEL+NAME none ntfs rw, auto, nobrowse.
• Click on Control+O
• Open the finder tab on the menu bar and then select ‘Go’ from the menu bar.
• From the menu select ‘Go to Folder’ and enter field: /Volumes/NAME and select go

How Do I Change Permission on Lacie Hard Drive?

The permission setting is done to determine who can view or change the files on it. The permission settings can be altered from the info window for any folder or file. Follow the steps given to change the permission settings.

• Select a disk, file, or folder on your macOS and then click on Get info.

• If you are not able to see any information in Sharing & Permission, then go ahead and click the arrow. Make sure to unlock the settings before moving forward. You can unlock it by clicking on the lock icon at the bottom of the window.
• Go to the name column and click on the user. You can then go ahead and choose the privilege settings which are available in the pop-up menu. Change the settings to Read & Write and you are good to go.

Conclusion

If you use Lacie hard drives quite a lot and switch from Microsoft operating system to macOS, you will face read-only issues at times. These problems can be fixed easily by using the EaseUS tool. All Lacie drives in NTFS format can be easily accessed with help of this tool. The tool is quite self-explanatory and users will not be facing any kind of issues while using this. There are other tools available in the market, but none of them are as safe as EaseUS.

Related Articles – ALSO ON EaseUS SOFTWARE

Find out a common file system for Mac and Windows. Then format your external hard drive or USB flash drive with the file system to make your drive compatible with Mac and Windows.

By Bryce / Last Updated March 10, 2022

How can I make my external hard drive compatible with Mac and Windows?

“I have two computers, one running Mac operating system, another running Windows. I want to copy and transfer files between the two computers using my portable external Western Digital hard drive that is originally formatted with NTFS. I have realized that NTFS drive is fully supported on Windows computer, but read only on Mac computer. That is to say, my external hard drive is unable to work well both in Mac and Windows. Is there anyone who can tell me how to make my hard drive compatible with Mac and Windows? Thanks a lot!”

Two file systems compatible with Mac and Windows

NTFS is the default file system for Windows operating system and HFS for Mac operating system. If you want to make your drive compatible with Mac and Windows, you need to format it with a common file system for Mac and Windows. FAT32 and exFAT can be compatible with Mac and Windows and you can choose one after realizing their respective merits and defects based on your demands:

гЂ“ FAT32 takes advantages in compatibility. It is compatible with various devices like DVD player, game console, etc. Apart from Mac and Windows, it can support Linux and Android. However, it is with significant defects: Single file size is up to 4GB and partition capacity is not beyond 2TB.

гЂ“ exFAT supports partition larger than 2TB and a single file over 4GB. But it is also with a defect: Compared with FAT32, the entire file system of exFAT is easier to be corrupted.

Two utilities to format a drive for Mac and Windows

From all above, you can have a general idea of FAT32 and exFAT file system. It is time to learn how to format your external hard drive or other external drives to a common file system for Mac and Windows.

вњ” Format drive to exFAT via Diskpart

In general, Windows built-in tools Disk Management and Diskpart can format drive to exFAT easily. However, in Disk Management, you’ll find that there is no exFAT option when you right-click the partition that you need to format and choose “Format Partition” if the partition is on an internal or external hard drive. Then, let’s see how to format a drive with exFAT using Diskpart utility.

PS.: Formatting will delete all data on the partition. It is advised to backup important data on the partition before formatting.

1. Connect your drive to working computer running Windows and make sure that it will be detected by operating system.

2. Open Run box by pressing “Windows” + “R” simultaneously and hitting “Enter”.

3. In the box, input “diskpart” and hit “Enter”.

4. In the Diskpart windows, type the command lines below and each command shall be followed by hitting “Enter” key:

(“n” is the disk number)

select partition m

(“m” is the partition number that’ll be formatting)

format fs: exfat

When you see Diskpart successfully formatted the volume, type “exit” and press “Enter

PS.: If you need to format the drive with FAT32, replace “format fs: exfat” with “format fs: fat32”.

вњ” Format drive via free partition formatting tool

AOMEI Partition Assistant Standard is great partition formatting freeware, which offers you more file systems to choose during formatting. It allows you to format partition to exFAT, FAT32, NTFS, Ext2 and Ext3 and Ext4 on an external hard drive, internal hard drive, USB flash drive and SD card. It can work with Windows 10/8/8.1/7, XP, and Vista. And it can format large drive beyond 32GB to FAT32.

To format an external drive to file system compatible with Mac and PC, connect the drive to your computer, free download the software and follow the detailed steps given below (Take formatting hard drive to exFAT in Windows 7 for example):

Step 1. Install and run it. In the main interface, right-click the partition on that need formatting and choose “Format Partition”.

Step 2. In this pop-up window, choose exFAT among listed file systems and click “OK”.

PS.: In this window, it is available to specify the Partition label to the partition and adjust cluster size.

Step 3. Here you’ll go back to the main interface. Confirm formatting operation and click “Apply” > “Proceed” to perform this operation.

Notice: If there is no partition on your disk, you can create exFAT or FAT32 file system partition using “Create Partition” function.

Conclusion

It’s not a tough task to format your drive with a common file system for Mac and Windows. You can format it using Windows built-in tools or third-party partition formatting tool. In fact, AOMEI Partition Assistant Standard can provide you with more functions. For instance, it allows you to delete partition, resize partition and wipe partition, etc. And you can experience more features, covering converting to basic disk without losing data, recovering partition, and so on if you upgrade it to Professional version.

Fix File System Errors with Check Disk Utility (CHKDSK): Check disk utility can help solve some computer problems and improve the performance of your computer by making sure that your hard disk has no errors. CHKDSK (pronounced check disk) is a command that displays a status report for a volume, such as a disk, and can correct any errors found in that volume.

CHKDSK basically makes sure that the disk is healthy by inspecting the physical structure of the disk. It repairs problems related to lost clusters, bad sectors, directory errors, and cross-linked files. Corruption in the file or folder structure can occur due to which system crashes or freezes, power glitches or incorrectly turning off the computer, etc. Once some sort of error occurs it can propagate to create more errors so a regularly scheduled disk checkup is part of good system maintenance.

Fix File System Errors with Check Disk Utility (CHKDSK)

CHKDSK can be run as a command-line application or it can be run with a graphical user interface. The latter is the best option for a typical home PC user so let’s see how to run check disk with the graphical user interface:

1. Open window explorer and Right-click on the drive you want to run check disk, then select properties.

2. In the properties, window click on tools, and under Error Checking click on the Check button.

Sometimes Check Disk cannot start because the disk you want to check is still being used by the system processes, so the disk check utility will ask you to schedule the disk check on the next reboot, click yes and reboot the system. Do not press any key after you restart so that Check Disk will continue to run and wait for the process to finish. The whole thing could take up to an hour depending on your hard disk capacity:

How to run CHKDSK with command prompt

1. Right-click on the Windows button and select “Command Prompt (Admin).”

2. In the cmd windows type CHKDSK /f /r and hit enter.

3. It will ask to schedule the scan in the next system reboot, type Y, and hit enter.

4. For more useful commands type CHKDSK /? in cmd and it will list all the command related with CHKDSK.

You may also check:

That’s it you have successfully Fix File System Errors, including error code 2147219196 with Check Disk Utility and know you know how to run CHKDSK utility via both methods. If you still have doubt or any further questions regarding anything feel free to comment and I shall get back to you in no time.

Aditya Farrad

Aditya is a self-motivated information technology professional and has been a technology writer for the last 7 years. He covers Internet services, mobile, Windows, software, and How-to guides.

Disk Utility is unable to repair your internal drive if your Mac is currently booted from that drive. MacOS has an alternate way to diagnose and repair your internal drive. Here’s how.

Start up or restart your Mac. As soon as you turn it on, begin holding Command – S on the keyboard. This tells the Mac not to boot the normal way, but to boot into “single user mode.” The screen should look like the picture below…a black screen with white lettering…like an old DOS computer. The last line of text should end in root#.

Single User Mode Window

Type the following on your keyboard:

/sbin/fsck -fy

Then press the Return key.

Your Mac will run a diagnostic on your internal drive, and attempt to repair any damage it finds. It may take some time, depending on the condition of your drive, how big it is, and how full it is.

At the end, the window will either say that your disk appears to be OK, or that your System was modified (which means it repairs were applied). And the root# prompt will be the last item on the bottom line. Type the following on your keyboard:

reboot

Then press the Return key. Your Mac will restart the way it normally does.

If your partition file system becomes RAW all of sudden, here you can learn why it happens and how to fix the RAW file system in Windows 10, 8, 7.

By Emily / Last Updated March 10, 2022

What is a RAW file system?

Different from FAT and NTFS file system, RAW file system is not a standard file system and cannot be recognized by Windows. It is a common issue that many devices might encounter, including USB flash drive, memory card, or other computer hard drives. When the type of file system becomes RAW, you will not be able to access the data inside. Besides, you will find some of the following error messages or symptoms:

в–єThe Windows prompts: “You need to format the disk in drive E: before you can use it. Do you want to format it?” when you trying to open this drive in Windows File Explorer.

в–єDrive properties show 0 bytes in both used space and free space, file system is RAW or no file system type.

в–єWhen you run chkdsk on RAW hard drive, Windows will prompt: “The type of the file system is RAW. chkdsk is not available for RAW drives”.

What causes the type of file system being RAW?

Before diving into the “file system is RAW, how to fix it”, we can find out the causes behind it. Generally speaking, the most direct reason for the RAW file system is that the file system is not compatible and recognized by the current operating system. Besides that, there are some other causes for this issue.

в–єDrive is infected with virus.

в–єSudden power outage or failure when the drive is in use.

в–єThere are some bad sectors existing on the drive.

в–єIncorrect or improper formatting operation.

в–єFile system structure is damaged.

How to fix RAW file system in Windows 11/10/8/7?

The file system is RAW, how to fix it? Here, we bring two methods you can try to fix this RAW problem in Windows 10/8/7. Before you proceed, you can first run some anti-virus software to check whether the problem can be fixed, if not, please read on.

Way 1. Fix RAW file system by checking bad sectors

Bad sectors are one of the most important reasons for RAW file system, so you had better scan the drive to check whether there are some bad sectors on it. Since chkdsk.exe tool cannot run on RAW drive, you need to turn to a third-party tool like AOMEI Partition Assistant Standard, with which you can check RAW partition for errors in easy steps.

Step 1. Download the freeware, install and run it in Windows computer. Right-click the RAW partition and go to “Advanced”>”Check Partition”.

Step 2. Select the last method to check bad sectors, then click ”OK”.

Step 3. Tick ”Quick Check” and click ”Start” to begin the checking process.

After this process, you will know whether there are bad sectors on the RAW drive. If bad sectors are found, use a professional tool to repair it.

Way 2. Fix RAW file system using CMD (formatting it)

If there are no bad sectors found in the first method, you can directly format the RAW partition to NFTS, FAT32 and other file systems compatible with Windows OS. Formatting is usually considered as guaranteed way to fix RAW drive. And searching online, we found many users asking “file system is raw how to format” or “type of file system is raw how to format it”, so here we would tell how to format RAW drive via Command Prompt.

Note: Formatting will lead to data loss, so first recover important data from the RAW drive using data recovery software, and move them to another location if necessary.

Step 1. Connect the RAW hard drive to your computer.

Step 2. Press “Win+R” button on your keyboard to open “Run” dialogue, and input “cmd” into it and hit on Enter.

Or you can click “Start” button and search “commond”, then right-click it and afterward press “Run As Administrator” to launch Command Prompt.

Step 3. Type in “diskpart” and then press “Enter” in the elevated Command Prompt window.

Step 4. Type the following commands in turn and press Enter after each one.

diskpart

list volume

select volume 6: replace 6 with your RAW partition number

format fs=ntfs quick

This is how to fix RAW file system using CMD. Also, you can type “format fs=fat32” instead to convert RAW drive to FAT32. But you should know that if the RAW drive is larger than 32GB, the formatting process cannot be finished since the FAT32 file system has size limitation on the drive.

In this case, you can switch to AOMEI Partition Assistant Standard as well. It is much more powerful than Diskpart and other Windows native tools. It is able to format a large RAW drive to FAT32 successfully.

Step 1. Run AOMEI Partition Assistant, right click the RAW partition (shown as Unformatted here) and choose “Format Partition”.

Step 2. In the mini window, choose FAT32 or other compatible file system and click OK.

Step 3. Back to the main interface, click “Apply” to format the RAW drive.

More importantly, you can also use this freeware to fix MBR, which some users report can help solve RAW file system problem sometimes.

Final Words

This is all about “file system is RAW, how to fix it”. Besides formatting RAW drive, AOMEI Partition Assistant does well in formatting read only drive, formatting 2TB hard drive to FAT32, formatting corrupted disk, etc. In addition, if you upgrade to Professional edition, you can enjoy more advanced features including recovering lost partitions, migrating OS between MBR and GPT disk, converting dynamic disk to basic without losing data, converting MBR and GPT without deleting partitions.

When you come across “Repairing disk errors. This might take over an hour to complete.” error message, it indicates that something was wrong on the boot disk which leads system unable to boot from the disk. It may be caused by unexpected system shutdown, bad sectors on hard drive, faulty hard drive and so on.

How long does it take to repair a drive?

If your computer is in the process of scanning and repairing a hard drive, that process will take in excess of 2 hours depending on the size of your drive and errors found.

Why does my PC says repairing disk errors?

You may get the “repairing disk errors” message if your boot disk is unable to boot the computer due to some possible errors. Typically, this error occurs when you forcibly shut down the computer or if the main hard drive is faulty; e.g., it has bad sectors.

Related Question Answers:

How long does repairing disk errors take Windows 10?

How long does Repairing disk errors take in Windows 10? It normally takes 10-15 minutes depending on the Disk size and state. But as you can see in the error message itself that it may take an hour to finish – but sometimes, you have to wait for a day before starting the troubleshooting process.

How long should Windows repair take?

Startup Repair in Windows 7 should take between 15 and 45 minutes. If it takes longer, something is wrong. Why does it take so long? It could be for two reasons: it is either stuck or your Windows simply can’t fix the problem.

How do I stop Windows 10 repair disk?

How to Stop CHKDSK on Startup Windows 10 – 3 Ways

1. Press Any Key to Cancel the Disk Check.
2. Stop CHKDSK on Startup via Command Prompt.
3. Disable CHKDSK on Startup with Registry Editor.

How do I skip preparing automatic repair?

You can do this from Command Prompt with the following steps:

1. Restart PC and click “Advanced options” on the Automatic Repair blue screen.
2. Click “Troubleshoot” > “Advanced Options” > “Startup Settings”.
3. Choose “Disable early launch anti-malware protection”.

Can you stop Scanning and repairing drive?

At the “Scanning and Repairing Drive” screen, press the power button on your computer for about 10 seconds. It will shutdown. Press the power button again to boot the computer. When you see a sign that Windows is about to boot, press the power button again to power it off.

How long does it take to check disk?

Chkdsk check can take a couple of hours depending on the size of your drive and the number of corrupted files. The chkdsk process usually takes 5 hours for 1TB drive. If there are bad sectors on the hard drive, it may need more time.

Why is chkdsk taking so long?

Chkdsk is taking forever because your drive is 2 TB. The bigger the capacity, the longer it takes. With your external’s capacity, it can take days even as trekzone said. If there are too many sectors that need to be fixed on the HDD as well, it can take even more.

How does disk repair work?

The Repair Disk function

Repair Disk verifies and, if problems are found, corrects issues with the directory on a disk or volume. The directory is analogous to a combined address book and road map to where data is stored on a disk or volume.

What does repairing disk errors mean on HP?

It’s not rare to encounter the “Repairing disk errors” issue in Windows 11/10/8/7. This error can be caused by an improper shutdown, sudden power outage, viruses infection, hard drive issues, like bad sectors, corrupted file system, etc.

Will CHKDSK repair corrupt files?

Will CHKDSK recover data? It is not a data recovery tool and will not recover lost or damaged files. CHKDSK will simply ensure the information currently on the disk is in a consistent and safe state.

How long does Startup Repair Take attempting repairs?

And then you’ll need to click Advanced options. 2. Click Startup Repair. Windows will take anywhere from a few seconds to a few minutes to attempt to fix the problem.

How long does quick repair take?

When you run a Quick Repair operation, Office will attempt simple repairs using local files already on your PC. This usually takes a minute or two to complete.

How many stages are there in chkdsk?

When chkdsk is run, there are 3 major stages along with 2 optional stages. Chkdsk will display status messages for each stage like the following: CHKDSK is verifying files (stage 1 of 3)… verification completed.

How do I stop chkdsk in progress?

To cancel a scheduled check disk, open an elevated CMD window, type the following and hit Enter: chkntfs /x c: Here c is the drive letter. This should cancel the scheduled chkdsk run.

How do I know if chkdsk is running?

Open the Task Manager, click the “Processes” tab, click “Show processes for all users”, and look for a CHKDSK.exe process. If you see one, then it’s still running. Generally yes it will end eventually.

How long should automatic repair take?

It might take about 15 or more minutes for this process to complete, so be patient. Do not interrupt it.

How long does it take Windows 10 system restore?

How long should System Restore take Windows 10? Usually, it takes 20-45 minutes not a few hours to run a system restore.

Will repairing drive delete files?

It has no effect except on the drive it is repairing. Repairing only affects the directory and filesystem. If a directory is corrupted and repaired then it’s possible a file or two may be lost on the drive in question. But Disk Utility does not delete files except when you erase a drive.

How do I stop C drive repair?

Fixing (C) Stage 1 error message during boot

1. Press Win+R to open the Run prompt.
2. Type regedit and hit the Enter button.
3. Click the Yes option.
4. Navigate to Session Manager in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE.
5. Double-click on BootExecute.
6. Set the Value data as autocheck autochk /k:C *
7. Click the OK button.

Why is Scanning and repairing C stuck?

Scanning and repairing often gets stuck when the computer is trying to boot. It could be caused by the computer being incorrectly shut down or bad sectors on the hard drive or many other reasons.

Summary: WD My Passport for Mac is not showing up Mac? Follow the tutorial in this article to fix WD My Passport not working issue and recover data from unrecognized WD My Passport for Mac.

Turn On Your Mac And Log In. Plug in your WD My Passport’s USB cable into its Micro USB B. Fixing with Stellar Partition Manager Software. If the OS X is denying you to format, erase. My passport was connected to Airport extreme and I got a ‘Disk needs repair’ message. No noise on the hard drive. Connected the external HD to my Mac but it won’t mount. I tried mounting with `diskutil mount /dev/pathToDisk` and `diskutil mount readOnly /dev/pathToDisk` but it won’t mount. The disk is formatted in the Mac OS Extended. I’d had my own problems over a year ago, when a not-very-old Mac mini seemed to go berserk. It wound up seemingly destroying external drives and its internal one, possible because of a failed. Hi Trancer, please if you find a solution, also let me know. MBP mid 2010, WD my passport partitioned into apple (mac os journaled) and windows (Windows NT). Was working perfectly fine since a few days, now only recognizing the apple partition. Can see the windows partition in Disc Utility but cannot set mount-point. Thanks in advance.

Everything has flaws, even the WD My Passport for Mac drive that you used for years.

It happens frequently that:

• WD My Passport won’t show up when connecting to your Mac computer
• WD My Passport is greyed out in Disk Utility
• WD hard drive’s light is on but not working after macOS Big Sur update
• My Passport WD external drive won’t open the password application on M1 Mac
• Mac didn’t unlock the My Passport WD drive but asking for WD Drive Unlock application
• My Passport WD becomes encrypted or unreadable on your Mac

Virus mac 10 13 5. Either way, your important data on this drive will become inaccessible and concerns you a lot.

If the WD My Passport is not showing up on Mac desktop, Finder or Disk Utility after connecting to your Mac, how to find it and make it work? If you can’t see files from WD external hard drive on Mac, how to access data? You’ll get answers here.

Troubleshoot WD My Passport not showing up on Mac issue

Usually, malfunctioned USB port or Mac computer, the broken USB cable and some hardware problems could make WD My Passport not showing up.

You can do the following basic checks before go further troubleshootings.

• Safely remove the WD My Passport and reconnect it to the USB port. Try quickly plug and slowly plug, which sometimes just works for no reason.
• Check whether the USB cable or USB port is bad by connecting other hard drives to this USB port or cable and see if that makes a difference.
• Reboot your Mac computer to see if your WD My Passport drive is not showing up in Disk Utility/Finder or not.
• Connect the WD My Passport to another Mac computer or Windows PC, which will find out if it is the incompatible file system of the drive that makes this WD My Passport undetectable.

How to fix WD My Passport not showing up on Mac issue?

If the WD My Passport for Mac still does not work or not show up on Mac after the basic checks, go ahead to try out the solutions as below to make it show up on Mac.

Solution 1: Check Finder Preferences

If your WD My Passport is not showing up in Finder and desktop, it’s possible that the configuration of the Finder Preferences is stopping your WD My Passport drive showing up.

In other words, you didn’t allow the connected hard drives showing up in the Finder or on the desktop.

Now, follow the guide below to set Finder Preferences and make the WD My Passport for Mac show up in Finder or on the desktop.

• 1. Go to Finder > Preferences > General tab.
• 2. Tick the ‘External disks’ option to show the WD My Passport for Mac on the desktop.
• 3. Go to Sidebar tab, tick ‘External disks’ under ‘Devices’ to show your WD My Passport for Mac in Finder.

Solution 2: Check My Passport for Mac in Disk Utility

If the WD My Passport for Mac drive is still not showing up in Finder or on the desktop, you can see whether it is showing up in Disk Utility or not.

When checking WD My Passport in Disk Utility, you could have two results:

1. Your WD My Passport drive is detected and showing up in Disk Utility, but it is greyed out or not mounting.

2. Your WD hard drive is not recognized, so it’s not showing up in Disk Utility at all.

My Humax Forum » FAQ » Freeview HD/HDR T2

How to fix hard drive and file system problems

This FAQ describes the usage of the Custom Firmware to attempt to correct file system problems and some minor hard disk faults on the HDR-FOX T2.

The Custom Firmware is an add on to the standard firmware developed by an independent group of software developers who are not employed by or connected to Humax. The Custom Firmware does not affect the user interface of the box in normal operation but can be used to expand the functionality in various ways. The software exists because the HDR-Fox T2 uses a Linux kernel and various other pieces of Open Source software which requires Humax to make available source code for certain parts of the software.

The types of problems that can occur and may be correctable with the custom firmware include:

Box stuck in a loop saying “Deleting” on screen
Unable to access list of recorded media
Recordings apparently being made but not appearing in media list
Programs OK when watched live but breaking up when recorded

Clearly there are no guarantees of success but many people have reported successfully fixing problems without undue effort and retaining their recordings. The only realistic alternative is to attempt to format the drive from the Humax on screen menus; this will fix some problems but will always result in the deletion of all recordings.

There are three steps to the process. Firstly you need to download and install the Custom Firmware. This can be downloaded from

There are a number of versions to choose from but at the time of writing I would suggest HDR_FOX_T2_1.03.12_mod_3.10.zip

There is a guide to installing the custom firmware at

Note that it is not necessary to install the full web interface to correct disk faults.

Next you need to Telnet into the box. Please don’t panic at this stage. There is a very helpful guide at

Note that the final black screen now has a difference appearance which is described in the next step.

Finally you need to run the program that actually attempts to analyse and fix any problems with the hard drive and the file system; the program is called fix-disk. Again there is a guide at

Note that the process can take many hours to run and depending on the nature of the problem may require some manual intervention; if in doubt to questions answer by pressing “y” and the Enter key.

Good luck. Corrections and suggestions for improvements to this FAQ welcome.

I ran into an interesting macOS error while working with a customer. I didn’t find a lot of good search results addressing the issue, so I decided to write up a post about it myself.

The error was as the screenshot above shows; trying to open a dmg (disk image), macOS showed the error “no mountable file systems”. If you see the “no mountable file systems error” while opening a dmg, here’s what you should try:

In most cases, the downloaded dmg file is actually corrupt or had an error downloading. If possible, try downloading the dmg again, turning off any download assistant plug-ins you may have. You can try downloading the file in a different browser as well. Or if you don’t need to be logged in to the site to download the file and you want to be fancy, you can try curl -O url in Terminal to download the file. (There’s an example of that in my screenshot below.)

Reboot your Mac if you haven’t already tried that. Apparently there is an issue sometimes after opening too many dmg files, that is fixed with a reboot.

Try mounting the DMG on the command line in Terminal. We will at least get some sort of useful error message to go on if it still fails:

Open Terminal: In Spotlight, the search magnifying glass at the upper right corner of your screen, search for Terminal, and press enter to open the Terminal app.

Type hdiutil attach -verbose into the terminal. Add a space at the end, but don’t press enter yet.

Drag the dmg file from your Finder window onto the Terminal window and let go. This will fill in the location of the dmg file into your Terminal window.

macOS Sierra (10.12) and earlier is not able to mount the new Apple File System (APFS). So if you’re on macOS Sierra (10.12) or earlier and you ran hdiutil and see references to Apple_APFS or error 112 , the issue is likely legitimate incompatibility, and this disk image won’t open on this Mac without an update to the operating system.

Here’s an example of the end of hdiutil attach -verbose output that shows an APFS error due to an older version of macOS:

Think about if you have any kind of security policies on this machine to prevent writing to external drives (thumb drives, optical drives, etc). I haven’t seen this one in action, but I read about this being a possibility while researching the issue.

Another suggestion added by a reader (thank you, Markus!) is that filesystem errors on your main Mac drive could be the cause of the disk image mounting errors. Here are instructions from Apple for scanning and repairing errors using Disk Utility. Note that in order to scan and repair errors on your main Macintosh HD drive, you’ll need to reboot your Mac into recovery mode. You’ll want to choose Disk Utility in the utilities listed in the recovery mode menu.

A new discovery from a reader (thank you, Colby!) is that APFS DMGs won’t mount if you’re booted in macOS booted in Safe Mode. (Who knew. ) If you’re not sure if you’re in safe mode, select the Apple menu пЈї > About This Mac > System Report button, then select the “Software” heading from the left column. To exit safe mode, restart your Mac, without holding Shift during startup. Or, if you previously set your Mac to always boot into safe mode using nvram , turn off safe mode and have your Mac boot normally on the terminal:

Open Terminal: In Spotlight, the search magnifying glass at the upper right corner of your screen, search for Terminal, and press enter to open the Terminal app.

Type/paste sudo nvram boot-args=”” and press enter.

Restart your Mac.

Another new discovery (thank you, Iris!) is that if you have APFS by Paragon software installed on a Mac that can read APFS itself, it can interfere with opening the DMG. So if you used APFS by Paragon and then updated your Mac, you may need to uninstall it.

One footnote for people having issues opening ISO files. Another new discovery is that “hybrid” ISO files (think Linux installers) don’t open correctly automatically and need to be manually attached and mounted (this is NOT advice for normal .dmg files.) Credit to the this superuser.com discussion and this Apple forum discussion for solutions.

Decipher Media makes Decipher Tools software to address common iPhone, iPad, and iPod needs like documenting text messages, photo recovery, and fixing broken iPhone backups.

The transition from an old version of Windows to a new one should be smooth and hassle-free, but sometimes unforeseen circumstances can arise. For example, when you try to mount an ISO file, you get an error message “Unable to mount file”, which indicates that there is a problem mounting the file. Obviously, the problem occurs only with the built-in ISO mount program. Let’s see how to solve this problem!

The Windows operating system has a built-in mount for ISO files. Obviously, the error occurs when users use this tool. Read on to learn more about this error and how to fix it.

Table of Contents:

What caused the “Sorry there was a problem with the file mount” error in Windows 10

There are several reasons related to this error in Windows 10, but here are some possible reasons:

• The ISO file is already mounted.
• Drive letters are interfering with the installation
• The MicroSD card is interfering with the mount.
• The ISO file is not set to read-only.
• ISO file is locked or the disk image driver is corrupted.
• The ISO file has a “rare” attribute.

To fix the “Sorry there was a problem mounting the file” error in Windows 10

Restore the disk image driver using the registry editor

1. Press the Windows + R key to open the “Run” dialog box. Then type “Regedit” and press Enter to open the registry editor. When prompted, click “Yes” to grant administrator rights.
2. Let’s start by backing up the registry, just in case things don’t go as planned. To do this, go to File -> Export in the Registry Editor.
3. Save the backup to a suitable location, give it a name, and make sure that the export scope is set to All.
4. After backing up, use the navigation pane (left pane) to access the following registry subkey:
5. HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSetControlClass
6. Then go to the right panel, right-click on the top filters and select Delete.
7. Right-click the lower filters and select Delete.
8. Close the Registry Editor and restart your computer.

Set the ISO file to read-only mode

1. Navigate to the location of your ISO file, right-click on it and select Properties. You can also select it and press Alt + Enter to get to the same screen.
2. In the ISO file properties screen, go to the General tab and make sure the Read-only option (next to Attributes) is checked. Then click Apply to save your changes.
3. Set the image again and see if you still get the same error message. If so, move on to the next method below.

Removing a rare attribute

If you reach this point without success, likely, the ISO file is not mounted correctly because the sparse attribute is set. This usually happens on Windows Server and Windows 10.

If the error message “Sorry, there is a problem mounting the file” appears in this scenario, it can be fixed by removing the sparse attribute. This can be done manually or with a free utility. Follow the instructions that you feel are most appropriate for your current situation.

Removing the microSD card

Another verified reason for the “Sorry, there was a problem mounting the file” error message is that you have an active microSD card when you try to mount the ISO file. On Windows 7 and Windows 8.1, this is reported to interfere with the mounting process and produce an error message.

If this scenario applies to your current situation, simply remove the microSD card from the computer and see if the error message clears.

Unlocking the ISO file

1. Open File Explorer and navigate to the location of the ISO file.
2. Select the ISO file and press Alt + Enter to open the “Properties” menu. You can also right-click on it and select Properties.
3. In the “ISO File Properties” window, go to the “General” tab, check the “Uncheck security” box, and press “Apply” to confirm your changes.
4. Try attaching the file again and check that the operation was successful.

Frequently Asked Questions

How to mount a corrupted ISO file?

1. Uninstall your ISO application and install the correct application.
2. Restore a third-party application.
3. Run a system file check.
4. Reboot the ISO file.
5. Use a different ISO mounting software.
6. Use DISM with RestoreHealth.

How to mount a file in Windows 10?

To mount ISO and IMG files in Windows 10, open File Explorer and navigate to the folder where your ISO file is stored. Double-click the file or right-click it and choose “Mount” from the context menu. This is the default command in the context menu. The disk image will be mounted to a virtual disk in the “This PC” folder.

How to mount the downloaded file?

1. Double click on your ISO file to mount it.
2. Right-click on the ISO file and select Mount.
3. Select the file in File Explorer and click Mount on the Disk Image Tools tab on the ribbon.

How do I know if my ISO is corrupt?

Download sites provide md5sum digests for ISO images to check the file after it is downloaded. You can use md5sum to generate an md5 digest on your computer and compare it to the digest available on the site. If they are different, the downloaded ISO image is corrupted.

Safe Mode was a useful tool when things started to go awry: there was something not quite right, possibly a software conflict, and starting up with the Shift key held gave you a chance to isolate the problem. It also conveniently flushed various unmentionable caches, and left your user space clean as a whistle again.

Recently, though, it seems to have changed. What used to be a quick check of your boot disk file system has, by some accounts, turned into a very long inspection of all the snapshots stored in APFS, something not even attempted by Recovery Mode, unless you make it so. According to Apple’s current support page, Safe Mode does three things:

1. it verifies the boot disk and, if there are any directory issues with it, it attempts its repair;
2. it blocks the loading of many kernel extensions, startup and login items, and user-installed fonts;
3. it deletes font caches, the kernel cache, and other system caches.

The second of those limits its usefulness, as some of the blocked items prevent some sub-systems from working normally. If you’re trying to isolate a problem which affects one of those sub-systems, Safe Mode won’t help.

But the question which was raised here was whether Safe Mode performs a full check and repair of your boot disk, in the way that would be performed by starting up in Recovery Mode and running First Aid in Disk Utility. Of course, that should be easy to answer by trying it then browsing the fsck_apfs log in /var/log.

According to Apple, “Your Mac automatically checks the directory of your startup disk when you start up in safe mode. This is similar to what happens when you use Disk Utility to verify or repair your disk. If the directory is repaired, your Mac automatically restarts.” I note the carefully chosen words “similar to”, which isn’t the same as “the same as”, and specific reference to directory checking and repair, which is more limited than a full fsck_apfs . It also doesn’t mention checks on other mounted volumes, or on APFS snapshots.

I’ve now put both my active Macs into Safe Mode. One’s an iMac Pro running fully updated Mojave with Time Machine active, and a couple of dozen snapshots accessible as well as the backup drive, and external RAID in HFS+. The other is my Catalina test system, a MacBook Pro 2017 without Touch Bar (no T1/T2 chip) running Catalina 10.15, with an external 750 GB SSD but no Time Machine or backups, so probably no snapshots either.

Both systems seemed to accomplish objectives 2 and 3 above just fine, but disk checking and repair remain a mystery.

Safe Mode in Mojave with Time Machine

The iMac Pro, running Mojave and Time Machine, took half an hour – yes, 30 minutes – to start up in Safe Mode, requiring two separate logins, the first to unlock its T2-encrypted internal SSD at the start, the second half an hour later to log on as the user. After all that, there isn’t any evidence that it checked any disks or snapshots, although given how long it took, I can only presume that it did run fsck_apfs on the boot disk, and that it trudged through each of the snapshots it could find. As it didn’t restart automatically, I must presume that no APFS directory repair was performed.

All attempts to find any record of what happened during that period of thirty minutes have failed. The fsck_apfs log in /var/log only records quick checks which occurred before starting up in Safe Mode, and those performed afterwards. The unified log is a complete blank for the period:
10:07:07.590516 MessagingAppIPC_Shutdown
10:07:07.590603 going to call exit()
…
10:07:10.076313 TIC TCP Conn Event [24:0x7fe617403030]: 7
10:07:11.036891 === system wallclock time adjusted
10:36:21.785491 Sandboxing init issue, couldn’t find profile in default paths, attempting default compiled profile
10:36:21.793885 Sandboxing init issue resolved: “Success”
10:36:22.285930 === system wallclock time adjusted
…
10:36:22.332703 logind started
10:36:22.332823 event logs in /.fseventsd out of sync with volume. destroying old logs. (15 1689 1755)
…
10:36:22.336443 Safe boot is enabled

Safe Mode in Catalina without Time Machine

The MacBook Pro, running Catalina without Time Machine, booted as quickly in Safe Mode as it does normally. Its fsck_apfs log and unified log were active throughout the period of the Safe boot, but show no evidence of performing any full fsck_apfs check and repair on any of the accessible volumes. For those which were available for checking, like the Recovery volume, it reported that it only performed a ‘QUICKCHECK’, and that the file system was ‘CLEAN’. Attempts to check the Data boot volume resulted in the error that the volume was mounted with write access, and “please re-run with -l”. No re-runs were performed, though.

Entries in the unified log were complete from the start of the boot process, highlights including:
13:08:23.000000 === system boot: A52B71E5-44BB-48C5-8A20-ADF48D5F71AB
13:08:23.000000 === log class: in-memory begins
…
13:08:23.002695 Darwin Kernel Version 19.0.0: Wed Sep 25 20:18:50 PDT 2019; root:xnu-6153.11.26

2/RELEASE_X86_64
…
13:08:23.054764 SAFE BOOT DETECTED – only valid OSBundleRequired kexts will be loaded.
…
13:08:24.080006 ROSV: apfs mounted RO and is the system volume of a volume group and mounted as the root fs: creating the shadow fs_root
13:08:24.080063 apfs_vfsop_mount:1463: mounted volume: Macintosh HD
13:08:24.081282 attempting kernel mount for data volume.
13:08:24.084126 attempting kernel mount for vm volume.

This appears to be a completely different Safe Boot process, which doesn’t attempt the same fsck_apfs checks that appear to take place in Mojave.

Should you use Safe Mode to check and repair your startup volume?

The alternative to trusting fsck_apfs in Safe Mode is to boot into Recovery and run First Aid in Disk Utility. Whether you’re running Mojave or Catalina, that is far preferable as:

• you can be sure that the correct volume has been checked properly, and view the results at the time;
• if you want to use different options with fsck_apfs , you can do so in Terminal;
• the process is no slower than booting in Safe Mode in Mojave;
• the process can check your boot Data volume, unlike Safe Mode in Catalina;
• if Disk Utility or fsck_apfs finds errors it cannot repair, you can erase the volume or perform other actions.

One major disadvantage of both the Safe and Recovery Mode approaches is that, in Mojave at least, there’s no way to avoid the time-consuming checks on snapshots. On Macs running Time Machine backups, or presumably with snapshots saved using Carbon Copy Cloner, those checks take an inordinate time, and the user should be able to opt out of them if possible.

Maybe Safe Mode is becoming more usable again in Catalina, although this appears largely to be the result of abandoning attempts to run full file system checks. That is probably no bad thing, so long as you don’t expect Safe Mode to verify and repair your boot disk.

Save to My DOJO

Table of contents

1. Using the Repair-Volume Cmdlet
2. Disk Repair on Multiple VMs

The other day I ran into one of the most common issues IT pros have to face, file corruption. Out of the blue, one of our clients called in reporting issues printing from their Windows Server 2008 terminal server. This was a VM, which was being hosted on a Server 2008 R2 Hyper-V Cluster. Users were not receiving their redirected printers at logon. It turned out multiple remote desktop services were repeatedly crashing. A read only Check Disk on the system volume reported evidence of corrupt system files. In order to repair the corrupt files, a Check Disk repair had to be run on the system volume which required the server to be offline. This process ended up taking over 6 hours to fully complete the repair resulting in unwanted downtime and lost productivity for the client.

Fortunately, Microsoft has made some improvements to the Check Disk utility in Windows Server 2012 reducing the downtime for offline volume repairs to seconds instead of hours. The Check Disk repair process can now also be ran through Windows PowerShell using the Repair-Volume Cmdlet.

Using the Repair-Volume Cmdlet

Windows PowerShell 4.0 introduced the Repair-Volume Cmdlet. This cmdlet is built upon the Check Disk repair feature and allows repairs to be done on volumes through PowerShell.

In order to scan the volume for corruption without attempting to repair it, open up PowerShell on the VM you’d like to scan and type the following commands. In this example we will use the C volume to scan:
Repair-Volume –driveletter c –scan

Once the scan has completed, PowerShell will report whether or not errors were found on the volume. If there were errors found on the volume, an offline scan and fix will need to be ran in order to fix the errors. This will take the volume offline, scan for errors, and fix any errors that it finds. This will also make the volume inaccessible during the scan, so this needs to be taken into account when planning an offline scan and fix. Also, performing a scan with the –scan parameter is not needed before running an offline scan and fix. You would use the –scan parameter on a volume that you’d want to check for corruption when you can’t take it offline at the moment. In order to perform an offline scan and fix, open up PowerShell and type the following commands:
Repair-Volume –driveletter E -offlinescanandfix

Once the scan and repair is complete, the volume will automatically come back online and will once again be accessible.

Running an Offline Scan and Fix on the System Volume of a Running VM

If you try to run an offline scan and fix on the system volume of a running Windows OS, you will be presented with the following message:

This is because the system volume is being used to run the Windows OS and cannot be taken offline unless the OS is shut down and that volume is no longer in use. This message can be deceiving because unlike the Check Disk repair utility which gives the option to run the offline repair at the next OS boot; the repair-volume cmdlet does not give the user a choice and will automatically flag the OS to run the Scan at next boot.

Using the Spotfix Parameter

Windows Server 2012 introduced an awesome feature called Check Disk spot fix. This feature allows you to do an online scan on a volume and logs any issues to a file called $corrupt. You can then issue a spot fix repair that will reference that file and repair the logged issues without needing to scan the entire volume again. This considerably speeds up the repair process taking only seconds to take a volume offline and repair, preventing the need to hassle with long outages.

To run a spot fix repair on a volume, first run an online scan on the volume to search for any errors with the following command, in this example we will use the system volume:
Repair-volume –driveletter c –scan
After the scan is run, any issues are automatically logged in the background. You can now initiate a scan using the –Spotfix parameter:
Repair-volume –driveletter c –spotfix

Since this is a system volume, just like the example above, the “failed” message will show. However, once a reboot of the OS is done, the spot fix repair will automatically initiate and repair any issues that were logged from the online scan.

Disk Repair on Multiple VMs

The repair-volume cmdlet also allows for multiple VM’s to be scanned for file system issues with just a single line. In the example below I will perform an online scan of the System volume of 3 servers using the –cimsession parameter:
Repair-Volume –driverletter c -scan –cimsession dc01,fs02,fw

The online scan will run on each server and the progress of each scan will be displayed.

At the end of the scans the results of each server will be displayed. You can also scan multiple drives of multiple servers by listing all the possible drives you would like to scan.
Repair-Volume –driverletter C,D,E -scan –cimsession dc01,fs02,fw
There are many scenarios where being able to scan multiple servers at once can be beneficial. One example would be if a SAN went down hard because of a power or hardware issue. Once it was back up and fully functional, a good procedure would be to run a repair-volume scan on all the VMs residing on that storage target to check for any instances of file corruption. The repair-volume cmdlet not only allows us to be efficient, but also proactive.