Using Disk Utility to repair permissions

G

gulliver

Registered
UPDATE...

Ignore my post below - I think I figured it out.

'repair disk' and 'repair disk permissions' are different and hence the Disk Utily message 'to repair the startup disk boot from cd' doesn't apply when repairing permissions.

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After a recent 'disaster' incident I'm wondering if I'm using Disk Utility incorrectly when repairing permissions. In the old days of OS9 things were simpler... Mac HD was top level and when trying to repair the startup disk we got a plain 'can't repair so boot from something else to run'-type message. Not so with X.

When running DU, my HD apparently appears twice in the heirarchy - first as the size/model number with the genric icon and then again as [whatever I renamed it and with the replacement icon I assigned].

They're both selectable and despite the 'to repair or verify the startup disk boot from the CD' message, DU appears to run through its routine and report 'The privileges have been verified or repaired on the selected volume. Permissions repair complete'. How so?

And what happens when using programs like Onyx and selecting 'repair permissions'?
 
Normal. You Repair Permissions from DU in the Utilities folder. Repair the disk using DU booted off the OS CD.

Onyx does the same thing.
 
The first appearance of the icon is the Drive and the second is the volume on the drive. If the drive is partitioned all of the partitions/volumes will appear under the drive. There are different options available depending on whether you have selected the drive or the volume. Verify/Repair Disk and Verify/Repair Permissions will appear and active under either. If you select the volume notice the tabs available are First Aid, Erase, and Restore. If you select the drive the tabs are First Aid, Erase, Partition, RAID, and Restore. Which options are available are also dependent on whether or not the drive is partitioned (has multiple volumes).

In your case with only a single volume selecting either the drive or the volume to Repair Permissions will work correctly.
 
Thanks - that makes it much clearer. Appreciated. ;-)

Having now corrected my stupidity and realising the difference between 'repair permissions' and 'repair disk' am I correct in assuming that when I decide to 'repair disk' I'll save time in running fsck from single user mode rather than rebooting from the install cd? Any disadvantages?

And finally... I usually just boot from the Disk Warrior cd and run that - assuming it'll do all First Aid does and more. Is this right?

I guess what I'm asking is 'when stuff starts misbehaving... is the best course to repair permissions then fsck - or should I skip fsck and go straight to Disk Warrior?'.
 
There is no disadvantage in running fsck in lieu of Disk Utility's Repair Disk they use the same executable libraries.

DiskWarrior does everything that First Aid/fsck does and more. TechTool Pro does everything that DiskWarrior does and more.

Normally you would run Repair Permissions after a major installation or update and in my experience that should be all that is necessary in Panther. OS X 10.2 seemed to need periodic permission repair for whatever reason, but I have found that to be a waste of time in 10.3 - there are never any permissions that need repair except after an install or update.

Fsck takes a lot less time to run than DiskWarrior and can make repairs, if the problems are relatively minor. It is a lot better at diagnosing problems than at repairing them. DiskWarrior, on the other hand, takes much longer to run, but is capable of repairing all kinds of problems fsck cannot even touch. So if you run fsck first, you may still have to run DiskWarrior to effect the repairs. On the other hand, there is absolutely no point in running fsck after running DiskWarrior. Personally I think it is a judgment call whether or not to run fsck first and there is no right or wrong answer to your question.
 
Thanks. That's a really clear and comprehensive answer.
Where were you last week in my hour of need when all files on the desktop vanished? I never did figure why? ;-)
 
I agree with BobW, if I had to choose only one, it would be TechTool Pro 4, not because it is necessarily better in some way, but because it does more.
 
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