Hard drive failing. Are there programs to verify if HD is good?

[klaxamazoo]

Hi,

I've started getting random errors when I try to launch programs that I have been using for a long time.

I keep getting:
You cannot open hte application "Internet Connect" because it may be damaged or incomplete

This has started to happen to other programs too. I have run the disk utility and verified permissions and verified the disk. Are there any free programs that will analyze my disk's integrity?

Thanks

 

[swiftaw]

Use disk utility to check the SMART status. If SMART status is verified then your disk is probably ok, if not then it is a sign that your disk is dying.

 

[klaxamazoo]

I checked the SMART status and it is verified. Do you have any ideas about what else could be causing the problems? I would rather not do a full erase and restore.

 

[swiftaw]

Have you tried a different user account?

 

[klaxamazoo]

No. I'll try one right now.

 

[klaxamazoo]

quick question about logins. I just created a second account to login. Isn't there a way to be logged into multiple accounts at the same time?

 

[swiftaw]

quick question about logins. I just created a second account to login. Isn't there a way to be logged into multiple accounts at the same time?

Yeah, if you turn on Fast Users Switching you can switch between users without logging out

 

[mad jew]

Enable Fast User Switching in the Accounts pane to be able to login to multiple accounts. Are you saying Disk utility came back with no errors for the drive? Do you have plenty of free space available on your drive?

 

[klaxamazoo]

Thanks, I enabled fast switching and checked.

The programs fail under both user accounts. I ran the disk utility for both "verify permissions" and "verify disk" and it didn't come back with any problems.

 

[klaxamazoo]

Enable Fast User Switching in the Accounts pane to be able to login to multiple accounts. Are you saying Disk utility came back with no errors for the drive? Do you have plenty of free space available on your drive?

I have 60+ gigs left. It is a CD2 15" MBP that I got in February for my bad CD1.

 

[mad jew]

Okay, we may be approaching this from the wrong angle. Do you have any third party RAM installed? What other third party hardware do you have? What apps are you running?

 

[klaxamazoo]

I just ran the "Verify Disk" Utility again and got the following error:

 

[klaxamazoo]

Okay, we may be approaching this from the wrong angle. Do you have any third party RAM installed? What other third party hardware do you have? What apps are you running?

The RAM is 2gigs of factory installed ram.

The only 3rd party hardware I have is an external Seagate drive and an Apple ACD

I have a number of apps installed, but the errors occur regardless of whether or not anything is running. The errors first started occurring with the "Internet Connect" utility that comes with OSX and I have just noticed it spreading to other applications such as "Awaken"

 

[mad jew]

Excellent! Boot from the OSX discs and use that version of Disk Utility to repair the drive. Continue running the repair process until it makes no changes. In other words, run it on more time after it comes back fully repaired. if you don't have your OSX discs handy, then use fsck in Single User Mode.

 

[klaxamazoo]

Excellent! Boot from the OSX discs and use that version of Disk Utility to repair the drive. Continue running the repair process until it makes no changes. In other words, run it on more time after it comes back fully repaired. if you don't have your OSX discs handy, then use fsck in Single User Mode.

Okay, I will need to find my installation disks (I've just moved) and I will run it a number of times tomorrow.

Does this actually repair the drive or just block out bad or dying sectors? In other words, do you think I have a dying HD or just some corrupted data?

 

[mad jew]

It should repair the drive, not just block out the bad sectors. Check out the fsck link I gave. It's probably better to get this done as soon as possible to avoid any data corruption.

Also, this could be the sign of a failing drive so get everything backed up just in case.

 

[klaxamazoo]

It should repair the drive, not just block out the bad sectors. Check out the fsck link I gave. It's probably better to get this done as soon as possible to avoid any data corruption.

Also, this could be the sign of a failing drive so get everything backed up just in case.

Thanks a lot for your help. I've backed up all my important things, now I will back up the easy to forget things. I can't wait for Time Machine.

 

[mad jew]

No worries mate. Just get it repaired as soon as you can!

 

[pengu]

Also, this could be the sign of a failing drive so get everything backed up just in case.

absolutely. can't agree enough. I had several innocuous little errors in Disk Utility a few times, and then a week ago the drive just failed, taking 400+ GB of data with it.

Trust me, the cost of an extra drive to backup onto (i use Backup.app, but there are others) is nothing compared to the cost (both in lost time, and in data recovery fees) and inconvenience of a drive saying "ciao!" with your data on it still.