Unable to Repair Disk using Mac OS X Disk Utility

Solution 1:

If you ever run into this problem again I highly recommend DiskWarrior - it's worth the price tag over and over. It's saved several systems for me from directory corruption.

Solution 2:

Before buying DiskWarrier, you should know that the download version of the app cannot burn a bootable DVD. You have to wait for them to ship this out, and this can take weeks. DiskWarrier's website conveniently hides this information.

If you have AppleCare you can download a program called TechTool Deluxe, which I hear does create boot disks, and also has a bunch of other disk utilities on it and may help.

Solution 3:

I second the Disk Warrior answer... But it maybe simply that your hard drive is dying... Boot from the Installer disk -> Continue -> Tools -> Disk Utility. Highlight the hard drive (not the partition), and see if at the bottom of the disk utility window, does it say SMART FAILURE? Or is the disk highlighted in red?

If so, then the disk is dying, replace the hard drive, and hope your backups are recent... (You do have backups/)...

Solution 4:

This has happened to me, grab yourself a copy of SuperDuper.