fsck - what is it and is it safe?

Y

yarnartist

Registered
Recently after a "cannot start (no chime)" incident, I found this restart command containing the fsck-yf at the prompt method. Now, I am not a mac tech, only an artist who NEEDS my mac. And I hate to mess with things I don't understand.

I finally got my mac to run after changing the battery and resetting the ?CUDA? button near the battery. But I'm thinking I may have some other problems too. Is it safe to use this fsck? I am Power PC G4, dual 450 MHz, 640 MB ram, running OSX 10.2.8. The disk that came with the computer is, of course, OS9. When I bought OSX, it was version 10.1 (I think) so to reload the system would also involve getting the update to 10.2 as well, and if I remember correctly, that was a 2 or 3 stage thing.

I know, I know, you all want me to just drop another hundred dollars and get panther . . . but I can't manage it this month, since I just sank sever hundred into upgrading Illustrator and Acrobat pro. (and one of my customers is about to bankrupt!!) Added to the mix . . . I am in the middle of a rather large project, and can't really afford to be down for 1-2 days - which always happens when I mess with the system . . .

Which brings me back to the original question - Should I or Shouldn't I?

Thanks for any help
~Kathee
 
YES.

fsck stands for Filesystem Check... it is what is used to repair any filesystem issues you may have... run, don't walk, and run that command! ;)
 
Assuming a volume formatted HFS+, fsck uses the same shared libraries as Apple's Disk utility. Like Disk Utility, it is a bit wimpy in the repairs department, greatly overshadowed by either Disk Warrior or TechTool Pro, but it is decent at diagnosing drive problems.

If fsck or Disk Utility discover an error, they should be run again and again until either no errors are found or irreparable errors are reported. If irreparable errors are found then your options are:
  • Purchase and use TechTool Pro
  • Purchase and use DiskWarrior
  • Backup the data on the drive, erase it with the write zeros option and reinstall everything.
 
Thanks so much for all the info. I ran fsck -yf and it says no problems. Guess I lucked out this time. I do run Norton DD and Speed disk about 1x month - hopefully that keeps all in line.

Thanks again,
Kathee
 
perfessor101 said:
Assuming a volume formatted HFS+, fsck uses the same shared libraries as Apple's Disk utility. Like Disk Utility, it is a bit wimpy in the repairs department, greatly overshadowed by either Disk Warrior or TechTool Pro, but it is decent at diagnosing drive problems.

If fsck or Disk Utility discover an error, they should be run again and again until either no errors are found or irreparable errors are reported. If irreparable errors are found then your options are:
  • Purchase and use TechTool Pro
  • Purchase and use DiskWarrior
  • Backup the data on the drive, erase it with the write zeros option and reinstall everything.
Click to expand...
I have a somewhat different take on fsck. Of the various repair utilities available on MacOS X--both built-in and commercial third-party--fsck is the only one that I can say with absolute assurance fixed a flaw that adversely affected my computer's operation. I regularly repair permissions, prebind my apps, and run the periodic tasks. I have TechTools as part of my AppleCare subscription. I purchased and use DiskWarrior. None of these make things worse. I have no doubt that they provide a benefit. But with fsck, there is no doubt. It works. Period.
 
yarnartist said:
I do run Norton DD and Speed disk about 1x month - hopefully that keeps all in line.
Click to expand...
You should be aware that Norton Disk Doctor is not longer being developed by Symantec and is not compatible with OS X 10.4.x and will not be compatible with any future version of OS X. Further it has been implicated as a cause of OS X kernel panics by many users.
misterme said:
I have TechTools as part of my AppleCare subscription.
Click to expand...
That is TechTool Deluxe not TechTool Pro. TechTool Deluxe is a derated subset of TechTool Pro and is not nearly as powerful and lacks many of the functions of TechTool Pro. TechTool Pro is compatible with Tiger, and Apple has not indicated when there will be a Tiger compatible version of TechTool Deluxe available. I will also point out that no less an authority than Apple computer says that third party utilities may be needed to repair volume damage that Disk Utility and fsck cannot handle. I can truthfully say that TechTool Pro has on several occasions repaired disk volumes for me that fsck reported as unrepairable.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top