Disk problems

[Charles Martin]

> From: Chris Walker <chris at mymac.demon.co.uk>
> I recently tried to optimize my hard disk using Norton Utilities and 
> was
> informed, "Disk Cannot be Optimized Because of Damage, 23030."  Ran
> Norton Disk Doctor  which then said "Damage to Disk Structure, Error
> 23026, Cannot Be Repaired."   The tried Disk First Aid, which said
> "Invalid Sibling Link, 4, 32752, cannot repair."
>
> Does this mean a reinstall or are there any other options I could try?
>
Not necessarily. See below.

> Whilst writing which is the best Disk Utility for X?  I've used Norton
> for years on Classic with no probs, but I'm getting the impression that
> for X it's a bit of a dog.

That's the understatement of the decade!

If your machine can boot into OS 9, then I'd strongly recommend buying 
Disk Warrior (even though v3 is just around the corner). It's a 
tremendous tool that seems to do especially well at problems like 
yours. It currently boots only from the OS 9 included on the CD, but is 
perfectly safe and effective on OS X systems. Best of all, you'll get a 
free or nearly-free copy of DW3 when it ships, which should be just 
about any day now.

DiskWarrior includes "PlusOptimizer" which is actually the program you 
want for optimising hard drives.

You might also try the following no-cost suggestion before you go spend 
$70 on DW (and again, I highly recommend that you DO spend the money):

1. Start up the machine holding down the command and "s" keys.
2. At the prompt, type the following: /sbin/fsck -y <return> (note the 
space between the "fsck" and the "-y")
3. If you get the message that the hard drive appears to be okay, type: 
reboot
4. If you get a message that the file system was modified, repeat step 
2 until you can go to step 3.

_Chas_
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