iBook G4 10.4.9 behaving weird; DiskWarrior or Reinstall Tiger?

LABachlr · #1 May 27th, 2007, 10:43 AM

My sister's iBook G4 is behaving weird.

- It's slow sometimes
- In Disk Utility, when I was looking up partitioning a HD in the help section, when I clicked on a link to another help page, it would not go to it. Then, when I did another search in the help section for "partition", it said that it could not find it, even though it had just found it a few minutes earlier, and "partition" was spelled correctly.
- Sometimes it freezes where you can't do anything and you have to reboot
- When using Yahoo Widgets, when I was trying to resize the image of the Picture Frame widget, it would not take the change, and would not cancel out of the widget preferences dialog box.

Those are just some of the things that I noticed from using it for a little bit, and from what my sister has told me.

Would DiskWarrior fix these issues, or should I do a reinstall of the OS? Or is there something else I can do?

If a reinstall is suggested, which type of install, "archive and install"? I don't want to have to go through the process of manually backing up and restoring the email, settings, etc.

Natobasso · #2 May 27th, 2007, 12:02 PM

Dump Disk Warrior; you don't need it.

First, repair permissions: Applications/Utilities/Disk Utility/Repair Permissions then restart your computer.

Then if that doesn't do it, put your Install Disc 1 OS X System disk (came with your computer) into your dvd drive and restart while holding the 'c' key down till you see the desktop reappear. Don't let go till you do.

Don't reinstall OS X. What you want to do is go to File/Open Disk Utility so you can 'repair disk'. When you do it from the cd you allow the entire system to be updated/repaired rather than just the non-system files when you repair permissions when booted normally.

Regular repairing permissions is good maintenance and will help your computer run more smoothly if done on a regular basis.

Reinstalling OS X is definitely a last resort in this case and I'd only do it if your system just won't boot up or some other serious issue like that.

**Giaguara** · #3 May 27th, 2007, 03:56 PM

How much empty space do you have on that computer? If it's less than 15 % of total space, that can also be a cause for the problems you are experiencing.

LABachlr · #4 May 28th, 2007, 01:06 AM

She does repair the permissions quite often. But I will try repairing the disk next. Thanks.

And there is 16% of the HD free (4.5GB out of 28GB).

Btw, I just tried to backup the HD with SuperDuper! and it failed to copy all of the files. I have attached the log. If you have any suggestions, please...do tell.

LABachlr · #5 May 28th, 2007, 01:38 AM

Just performed "Repair Disk" and it said that no repairs were necessary.

jbarley · #6 May 28th, 2007, 02:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by LABachlr

If you have any suggestions, please...do tell.

From personal experience, I'd suggest you post your problem with Super Duper and the log file to the author, at
feedback@shirt-pocket.com

I'm sure you'll get good advice and fast.

James.

LABachlr · #7 May 28th, 2007, 03:49 AM

OK. Thanks. Will do.

I actually just ran DiskWarrior v4.0 via booting from the DW CD, and it came back with the following message:

--------
DiskWarrior has successfully built a new directory for the disk names "Macintosh HD." The new directory cannot replace the original directory because of a disk malfunction.

It is highly recommended that you backup all of your data from the preview disk. [How do I do that? I just backed up the home folder onto an external. Does that contain all of her data? And how do I put it back if I do a fresh install?]

All files and folder data was easily located.

Comparison of the original and replacement directories could not be performed because the original directory was too severely damaged. It is recommended that you preview the replacement directory.
-------------------

It tells me preview the directory, and then to go back to DiskWarrior and click "Replace" or "Cancel." Well, the "Replace" button is grayed out.

What do I do? Does the HD need replacing even though Mac OS X's Disk Utility said that nothing needed to be repaired on the HD?

ex2bot · #8 May 28th, 2007, 11:52 AM

Believe Diskwarior over Disk Utility. Diskwarrior is an excellent program. It looks like you need to get as much off your hard drive as you can. Maybe you already did that with SuperDuper. Then you need to take the machine to a repair facility and have the hard drive checked. Tell them what Diskwarrior reported.

Hard drives do fail sometimes. The older the drive, the more likely it will fail. (And BTW, repairing permissions is not the miracle cure some people make it out to be.)

Good luck with your data recovery.

t