TITLE
    Mac OS: The Installer Cannot Repair Your Hard Disk
Article ID:
Created:
Modified:
60203
3/31/99
4/6/00

TOPIC

    When I try to install Mac OS, I get a message that says the installer was unable to repair a problem with the hard disk. What should I do?


DISCUSSION

    Solution 1: If you see a message that the disk can't be fixed because a file is open, quit all programs. If file sharing is on, turn it off. Then try installing again.

    Solution 2: Use Disk First Aid, provided on the Mac OS CD, to see if it can repair the disk.

    Solution 3: Use a third-party disk repair utility to see if it can repair the disk.

    Warning! If you use Norton Utilities, make sure you have version 3.5.2 or later. Earlier versions may damage data on Mac OS Extended format disks.

    If you don't have a third-party utility, or if that utility can't repair the disk either, you will need to reinitialize the hard disk.

    First, back up your hard disk because reintializing erases everything on the disk. Then use the Drive Setup utility program to reinitialize the disk. If your hard disk is not an Apple hard disk, use the disk utility software provided by the manufacturer instead of Drive Setup.

    You can find Drive Setup in the Utilities folder on the Mac OS CD. To reinitialize your startup disk (the disk with system software on it), you need to start up the computer from the Mac OS CD. For help with Drive Setup, open the program, then look in the Help menu.

    After you've reinitialized the disk, use the Mac OS Installer to reinstall system software, then reinstall your application programs.

Document Information
Product Area: Mac OS System Software
Category: General OS
Sub Category: General Topics

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