Can Disk Utility Be Run Remotely?

My daughter has a late 2014 MacBook Air, but lives 900 miles away. I'd like to run a disk utility verify / repair, but I'm not sure I could talk her through it. And since that's a lower level operation, we can't do it via screen share. Is there any way for me to initiate / monitor a disk utility operation remotely?

Solution 1:

the short answer is, yes you can..

first, you need to be able to remote into her machine using SSH and terminal.

If you're unfamiliar with terminal, just stop right here and hire someone - doing remote login disk repairs is not for the uninitiated. You're more likely to erase the drive (or totally corrupt it) than to repair it. you'd need to either do a screen share or do a remote SSH login, but this would be the most powerful/fastest method..

If you're capable in terminal, this is your ticket..

• http://ss64.com/osx/diskutil.html
• http://www.theinstructional.com/guides/disk-management-from-the-command-line-part-1

Solution 2:

Yes, you can perform remote disk verification and repair remotely.

Use the command line tool diskutil. The command to issue will be:

diskutil verifyVolume /

Alternatively, you can just run the repair command immediately:

diskutil repairVolume /

Both commands will provide progress information. Try running them locally on your Mac to practice. These are the same commands that Disk Utility.app uses.

You may need to be an administrator of the MacBook Air for these commands to work.

You will need remote access to your daughter's MacBook Air. You will need either screen sharing or secure shell (ssh) access set up. If you need help with this part, please feel free to ask another question.