Mac keeps freezing !! What to do ??

Mac freezes, when the system halts to respond to inputs. Why does this occur??

Causes of the freezing

• Too many programs open at the same time
• Operating system issues
• Heat related issue
• 'Software Updates' not updated
• Not have enough memory
• Duplicate and hidden files 

Steps to Unfrozen the Mac

1) First step is to open the 'Activity monitor' to analyse that what is eating up the system resources. So just drive your cursor on Applications folder, then on Utilities and lastly click on Activity Monitor. You could be able to see the list of certain files.

2) Next step is to sort the list by CPU percentage. After the sorting procedure, the applications with the higher percentage of CPU value causes slow down of the system.

3) Now sort the Activity monitor by RSIZE i.e. according to the memory, each program is using. This list will makes us to look for the file that uses higher memory which indicate the reason to slow down the speed of the system.

4) After this procedure, you will surely find the files which need to be quit from the system. Before proceeding further, either you need to take the bcak of the system or you will loose any data in that program. Now select the program from the list above which slow down the speed or uses more memory and click the Quit button in the window above.

5) Sometimes we came across the programs that are failed to run correctly or not responding at all. This is the very critical situation which affect the freeze up of the system and locks it up. In this situation, we need to force quit the particular program.

6)  Last step is to boot the Mac. If you can't be able to access the mouse, you need to reboot your Mac. And since you can't access the shutdown option, just press and hold down the power button till the computer shut down.

Measures to prevent it from freezing

1) Clean the space on the hard drive

This is an important step because the less space on the primary drive will encounter the higher chances  to slow down the task.

2) Upgrade software updates

Timely updating the software and version of Mac OS X will enhance the system with greater security and certain other features, which reflect a greater impact on performance and other factors too.

3) Repair hard disk
Due to some errors on to the disk, the computer can become unresponsive and slow. Regularly verifying and repairing the disk with the help of Disk Utility will minimize the freezing upto larger extent.

4) Booting in safe mode
This feature helps to determine the number of programs that will affect the computer to freeze. After booting the computer in safe mode, don't forget to reboot your computer normally.

5) Reinstall programs which do not run properly
The programs which constantly gives you difficulties should be reinstalled again to avoid such problems.

6) Avoid opening corrupt files
Corrupt files will lead to encounter freezing problem in Mac. If the Mac freezes after opening some file, then that file has to be deleted to avoid any discrepancies.

7) Check SMART status of the hard drive
The special SMART(Self Monitoring Analysis and Reporting Technology) status of the hard drive will indicate the health of the hard drive which is very helpful to monitor the freezing or slow down issues.

These points will surely rescue you from the problem of freezing or system hang kind of problems.

Issues that won't let Macbook pro start at all

Apple Macbook pro is one of the portable computers with high technology and powerful apps. These notebooks are thinner and lighter. The latest model of Macbook 17 inch pro is also experiencing start up problems which has become a major issue nowadays. These problems may arise due to:

Peripheral devices

Peripheral devices could be the problem. Just check its connectivity and then try starting Macbook pro. If not, then you need to disconnect the peripheral devices and then turn it on to check everything goes well or not. By doing so, you can address the issue.

RAM issues

If the computer beeps more than one time or the lights are blinking, then there must be some hardware failure. Bad RAM is very common issue on newer Mac's. So, to test this case, just remove one RAM at a time and reboot. Repeat this activity again till you find the problem. If any of the culprit arises, then have a look in Mac owner Manual and install RAM.

Bad battery

Just check the battery level of the Macbook. To perform this task, press the battery button or on the side of your computer. Single light blinking may lead you in the condition of dead Macbook. So, you need to charge accordingly whenever necessary.

Operating system

The operating system may stuck resulting in start up problems. All you need to do is to hold down the control key, command key and the power button together to restart the computer. In this scenario, try booting off an OS CD and run Disk Utility to repair the disk. If this also doesn't work, last option is to use the software like Stellar volume repair or Onyx software to repair.

Hard drive failure

A major issue is of the hard drive. If the hard drive has been corrupted or damaged or makes abnormal noises, first thing you need, is to back up your data safely and replace it immediately.

Mac's SMC

Resetting SMC is the important feature. The simple SMC reset can resolve number of failures such as battery not charging, USB ports and Bluetooth not working, fans running fast, erratic sleep mode performance, failure to response to power button, sluggish performance etc. So, to reset the SMC, first shut down the Mac, disconnect from MagSafe connecter, remove the battery and hold the power button for 10 seconds. After releasing the power button, reinstall the battery, reconnect the MagSafe connector and turn your Mac on.

Thermal sensors not working

This issue is noticed when the fans run at a higher speed but the computer does not boot. You have to ensure first, that the sensors are plugged in properly. If yes, then replace it. If this doen't fixes the problem, you need to change the logic board.

Faulty MagSafe adapter

To test that the adapter is faulty or not, one needs to check the electrical outlet and the plugs are inserted properly or not. If the outlets works smoothly, then unplug the power adapter for a while and then plug it again. By doing so, if the power adapter's LED does not light up, then definitely MagSafe is damaged.

Therefore, fixing these issue in the appropriate manner will resolve most of the start up problems of the Macbook pro.

Rescue Childhood: Learn how to block adult websites on Mac OS X

Kids, these days are smart, smarter than teachers, parents or any adult. Within minutes, they know how to operate a Mac, iPad, iPhone, iPod or any other fascinating devices. Talk of Internet, kids know how & where to download their favorite games from. Gadget manufacturer also produce devices keeping interest of kids in their mind. It’s the part of the worldwide business. With modern technology, laced with web, kids can surf along everything. They can watch cartoon, read books, play Temple-Run, watch PORN. Oops, did I say Porn? Yes a kid or pack of kids may somehow know how to watch porn videos, messages or photos through some websites. Or an innocent kid may accidentally reach a pornographic website which can immediately ruin the soft mind.

Talking of porn and adult content, website on web shows almost everything. Sex, violence, gory content is available like cookies. Forget kids, even adults are addicted to gory content over the web. These website producing such contents hardly bother about who or whom is accessing their websites. Adult sites can easily be penetrated by clicking their weak age proof feature which reads “I am over 18”.

As a matter of fact, there is no doubt parents are realizing this bitter truth and want to take actions. Actions, not necessarily means harsh one but they can be implemented using simple technical tricks that allow monitoring websites on a Mac computer.

Tricks to block Poisonous websites on OS X Mac

1.     Get to OS X Dock & launch System Preferences.

2.     Get to System<<Parental Control under System Preferences. Below Window greets you.

3.     To commence, Click on to the lock. Clicking unlocks it for modification. Enter the system password, if it asks for.

4.     Now you need to select the account to which you want to secure. In above, screenshot, I would select the only account which is ‘GUEST’. Below screen will appear.

5.     Several options to the account ‘GUEST’ are now visible to be operated upon. Switch to ‘WEB’ tab, since we are learning to block dirty sites. 

6.     If you have caught your child visiting an inappropriate website over again. Then simply, click the “Try to limit access to adult websites automatically”. A further window will open when ‘’’CUSTOMIZE’ option is clicked.

7.     Quickly click on “+” button to add that particular website to the section which reads “Never allow these websites:”

8.     Next time, when your child will try to open that website below message will show up.

Apart from this method, you can select another option supplied by Apple Inc. in that window only. Get to the third option, which reads ‘’Allow access to only these websites’’. The set of websites which you view in the list is educational & healthy website enrolled by Apple to nurture a child’s mind.

So, it is not always good to blame the technology for children sudden change of behavior. Instead get to know your computer, phone and gadgets in order to safely block all inappropriate content on it.

9 Tips to improve Mavericks Performance on Mac

Millions of Mac users have already upgraded their existing Mac to OS X Mavericks, and why not OS X 10.9 is absolutely free to upgrade. It’s not only free but an outstanding OS that deserves praises by all of us. Apple have spent good amount of time to bring in some good features that were missing from the OS X. The integration of some iOS features such as iBooks, Maps helps sync the iOS devices for ease.

Minor Glitches that rocked 10.9 upgrade: Since, the Mavericks was rapidly being upgraded, reports of bugs like data deletion from WD HDD were reported. However, the issue was resolved sooner than later and now OS X10.9 is free from such bugs.

So, OS X 10.9 is smooth, fast and convenient to use, that is how it is built to perform.  But, being responsible Mac users, it is our duty too, to help 10.9 run smooth forever.

Evergreen tips that work on 10.9 to fasten its speed: Some tips & tricks work on every OS X, even on the latest releases such as Mavericks. Not only these, tips are simple, but when put to action they produce results.  Today, we shall discuss some of those free & fair tricks that can help both gain & maintain high performance for the new OS X baby, which is “Mavericks”.

1.     Use Command + R – Like in predecessor OS X, CMD + R works on OS X 10.9 too. This command is used while the OS X is loading on to the machine. Restart Mac and press CMD+R to bring in the ‘Recovery Mode’ menu from OS X. A Recovery Mode is a hidden partition of the OS X and helps restore the system in case of any logical causality. Now, when you are in the Recovery Mode, go to Disk Utility and run Verify & Repair Disk permissions on the boot disk. (Please Note: Only the boot partition has the ability to verify & repair disk permissions). Any fault in the permission will be resolved with the help of Disk Utility feature.

2.     Check Spotlight–One of the reason you experience slow performance just after the upgrade is may be because of the spotlight being indexed again. While indexing, the performance of the OS X suffers, until the entire process finishes.  Being a user, you don’t need to take any action against the indexing. Since it is a general process of the system, it is better to let it happen. You can check the indexing via a small dot (.) symbol appearing on the magnifying glass, which is situated top-right location. Once the indexing finishes, the OS X performance restores to normal.

3.     Activity Monitor – Activity monitor is the only place that lets you know the reason behind a slow application or Mac. One can easily monitor which application is consuming what amount of spaces & deteriorating the OS X performance.

4.     Console of Mac–Hidden under Application>>Utilities, console is a fine way to check out the system logs which might give user a clear picture of slow Mac performance.

5.     Dosage of additional RAM – Just like popular energy drink Red Bull gives you fly to wing, similarly additional RAM provides Vitamins & Minerals to a slow & crawling Mac. Upon adding RAM to an existing Mac OS, the system can experience a sudden power-boost up. The old Intel machine may not have those sufficient RAMs, unlike the new ones. So, go ahead, enjoy the 10.9 update with increased dosage of RAM. The best size for smooth Mavericks operations varies from 4GB-8GB and so on, depending on the type of work.

6.     SSD for Solid Performance – Again, a SSD can make the Mac OS X to reach to the peak of fast performance. Imagine, a SSD made, as a start-disk of Mac will boot into desktop in few seconds. It is that fast but a costly affair too. Again, adding a SSD is directly proportional to amount of task that is to be done on Mac.

7.     Duplicate files – Coming back to the free tips, finding and deleting duplicate data from OS X can help grab some quick spaces of the HDD. The most duplicated data is commonly found in iPhoto, iTunes library that eats up good amount of space. Eliminating such redundant files will help the OS X to get good amount of free spaces.

8.     Empty Trash & Download Folder – These 2 is the most neglected and underrated folder on OS X Mac. Everything that is sent to trash is made to live there to an indefinite time period. Trash folder is actually to hold the unwanted data for a short period of time. Once, filled, it must be emptied so that it consumes fewer spaces on Mac HDD. It goes for the download folder too. Everything that is downloaded from the web is made to stay in Download folder to an indefinite period of time. When neglected, both these folders consume Gbs of spaces, thus making the performance suffer.

9.     Back up data in clouds – Its not only the HDD, to which data could be saved. With plenty of clouds, user can now migrate their images, music & videos to online storage sites such as iCloud, Dropbox, AmazonCloud Drive and more.

There are plenty of others minor and major tricks that one might opt to boost up Mavericks performance, including running a Mac clean up App.

5 things that irritate a Mac user. Solutions Included!!

1. Applications during Startup:

The moment we press the power button of the Mac CPU, it begins to load the OS X from the boot volume to takes us to the desktop of the system. A desktop holds our icons, hard drives, dock and other menu’s, which are helpful to operate the computer & perform our task. In general, the journey to the desktop from the boot goes smoothly until few applications turn to show up on the desktop. Now, these apps shouldn’t show up until & unless a user double-clicks them to launch. However, these apps on there own starts to get launched until they are closed individually. At times, this becomes so irritating that user first have to closed multiple applications in order to perform his/her tasks. Take my example: Reaching office just on time and marking the attendance on the employee portal gets halted as the Mac is busy launching & terminating the apps that show on start-up. This process also halts the launch of the browser, which is needed as a primary application to get my attendance marked. 

Solution: - If there is a problem with the Mac applications then solution lies within the OS X itself.  Follow below steps to resolve:

• From Dock, click System Preferences
• Click Users & Group
• Select Admin account.  Switch to Login-Items tab
• Evaluate the apps that are listed on the Login-Item window.

Make selection of wanted & unwanted apps to keep during login of the Mac machine. It will be good if the Login-Item tray is kept empty with no such application added to be launched on start-up. Click (+) button to include one or multiple apps or click (-) button to exclude one or more programs. Exit the tab.

Another round of taking measures to halt the applications during start-up would be the apps built-in options to stop them from opening. For example, the Office for Mac 2011 has an option available for Excel, Office and PowerPoint, which read – Don’t ask next time.  Once it is checked, the tray of this program won’t bother.

2. Keyboard Shortcuts:

Shortcuts are meant to perform the task in a quick manner. Some application residing in inner folder can be launched with the help of keyboard combination. The keyboard shortcuts do exactly what a human hand and the mouse would do, minimising the navigation of mouse. It is also good to know basic keyboard shortcuts of a system to expertise on the machine you operate.  

Keyboard shortcuts are much of a topic of search for new users. Even an avid PC user becomes a novice once a Mac OS X is handled over to him.  

Solution: The best way to expertise in shortcuts is to read as much possible from the relevant websites. Eg: http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1343 holds all the answer to the shortcut queries.

Sip a cup of coffee and check out equivalent keyboard shortcut for both PC and Mac 

3. Helpless in swapping between similar applications:

Consider how helpless you would be if you were working on two Excel files, copying data from one Excel sheets and pasting it to another. It is obvious you would go for Apple + Tab key to swap between two excel sheets. This is how you to on a Windows machine. But to disappoint you, it won’t work that way on an OS X Mac. CMD + Tab will swap between separate applications but not amongst similar.

The above image is a screenshot of CMD + Tab which is navigating through different applications and not similar ones.

Solution: The keyboard command to swap amongst similar applications is as simple as anything. Just use Apple + ~ key to operate between 2 excel or any other similar program. I found it much difficult to do the task of copy & paste until found the useful command.

Also note that CMD + ~ won’t do anything if no multiple applications are opened. (CMD & Apple Key are the same)

4. Magnifying Dock:

Though it looks good when you hover the mouse on the dock and view the icons get beautifully magnified, sometimes they annoy.  It may happen at times, the mouse cursor gets unintentionally hover towards the dock and clicks an application to get launch, causing a slight interruption.  Also to bring this to notice, some DMGs when extracted or installed occupies the lower part of the desktop window & when mouse is bring towards them, the dock icons begins to magnify.

Solution: Go to Apple Logo, which is situated to the top most left position of every Mac OS X. Bring down it’s inner option by the drop down click & then go to 

DOCK<click TURN MAGNIFICATION OFF, this also help saving some of the OS X spaces.

5. No page source view in Safari browser!!!

Is Safari a perfect browser? Undoubtedly, a good browser that comes built-in with Apple’s OS & iOS devices. Still Safari is not the best browser to depend for professional work. Consider for a web designer who constantly looks for the page source view of the websites has to do some search in order to look into the matter. On Chrome & Firefox, the page source can be bring to front by right-click<View Page Source.

By default, on Safari it is not available and requires a minor setting to be upgraded to do so. 

Solution: Go to Safari<Preferences<Advanced and tick the option that is “Show Develop menu in menu bar”. Now, Safari is loaded with the View page Source menu with a right-click of a mouse.

Software to recover files & fix data corruption on OS X Mac

Data loss and data corruption are two separate instances of data disaster that results in financial loss and loss of time. An equal amount of resources & energy may put into work to recreate data from the scratch.

How Data Loss might arrive on OS X–Though data is pretty much secure on Mac, still their exist plenty of reasons which may result in loss of files & folders. Other than accidental deletion of the file, a data may be lost due to overwriting with a new file. Other drastic situations may arise from formatting of volume, Trojan attacks, and abrupt shutdown of system making the files go lost.  With advent of advanced hard drive technologies, data transfer & storage have become hassle free tasks. But on the other hand, quick corruption in the hard drive technologies have resulted in unmounted volumes. These unmounted volumes go undetected by the OS X and thus data persisting inside the drive is never shown to the user.

An unmounted volume is a result of corruption in directory structure of the drive. Though it is a logical error, disk utility or an advanced volume manager could fix it. Other than logical, a physically damaged hard drive may also fail to mount. Both the situations are drastic, resulting in immediate loss of data.

Tools to get data from an unmounted hard drive:

1.    Stellar Phoenix Mac data recovery ($99)

Claims to recover data from a logical corrupted hard drive (unmounted disk) within 3-4 steps. The software runs on Intel & PPC machines and could perform deleted, formatted & lost volume recovery. In the time, Stellar Phoenix Mac solution has gained quick popularity amongst many OS X users who brought their data back from the ashes.

2.    Disk Drill($89)

Another tool that promises to recover data with simple steps. Disk Drill supports latest Macs and could perform all sorts of recovery including Deep scan of media devices. Supports unmounted recovery of volumes.

3.    Prosoft ($99)

As it sounds, Prosoft Data Rescue does good job rescuing files from a logically defective hard drive.  Apart from this, it follows other conventional recovery options like deleted, formatted and lost volume/data recovery.

Note – All of the above software restrains them projecting recovery of files from a physically damaged hard drive. So, if your hard drive produces strange noise or is sure to be physically damaged then don’t use any of the above software, as it would be of no real benefit.

How File Corruption might occur on OS X Mac–An OS update, even an application update might sometimes results into corruption of certain files. While the files are still present (not lost), they may not launch, as they should. Some important part of the file may have been permanently damaged halting the smooth opening of that file.  Other causes of corruption may be partial removal of an application, malfunction of the header files, overwriting of some components of a file etc. What a damaged file requires is a ‘rebuilt’ of lost & broken components.  

A perfect example of a damaged file is an Image file (JPEG) format. Once corrupted, it fails to launch or part of the image file is badly disfigured.

Of course, a Mac is smart but none application possess the power to reconstruct the broken images. This results in arrival of 3^rd party utilities –  

Fixing corrupt JPEG files on Mac –

·      Stellar Phoenix JPEG Repair for Mac ($39)

While there are plenty of JPEG repair software but most of them exist for Windows OS. Seems like only Stellar Phoenix has the JPEG repair tool for OS X Mac.

Fixing corrupt MOV files on Mac –

·      Yodot MOV Repair ($69.95) – Scan & fixes MP4, MOV files on Mac OS X.

·      Stellar Phoenix MOV Repair ($69) – Find all corrupt .MOV files from Mac hard drive & repairs them.

·      Remo Repair MOV ($69) – Locates MOV files and fixes them in no time.

All above 3 MOV repair tools are powerful enough to find corruption & fix them. However, each one them show a repaired preview of file for unregistered version of the software.

Fixing damaged PDF files on Mac -

Unlike JPEG repair, we have plenty of option to choose from utilities that fixes bad PDF files on OS X.

·      VeryPDF PDF repair for Mac ($29.95)–Good choice for repairing multiple damaged pdf files on Mac. Removes PDF permission passwords.

·      Stellar Phoenix PDF Repair for Mac ($49) – Stellar Phoenix uses it’s well-established brand name & technological expertise, which brings in this repair utility for Mac OS X. It perform repair on bunch of pdf files, though doesn’t support password protected PDF repairs.

 Let us also evaluate back up software for Macs

Way before Cloud came into existence, Mac users widely depend upon 3^rd party cloning apps to safeguard there hard drives. This method of data backup is traditional, reliable and user-friendly. Though it does require some cost including cost of data back-up software, an external hard drive or usb to save the data using a backup application. Still, backup software for Macs are huge hit amongst OS X users.  

Some trusted Mac backup software

·      Carbon Copy Cloner ($39.95)

·      SuperDuper ($27.95)

·      Stellar Drive Clone ($39)

·      Disk Utility (in-built)

·      Time Machine (can be in-built)

I would like readers to further contribute their experiences and suggestion related to above mentioned file recovery & repair utilities for Mac OS X. Any feedback in spite of good or bad is whole heartedly welcome. Cheers!!

Disk Repair exercise on Mac OS X

A Mac when all in good state of health runs like a charm. It follows your command request and delivers the desired output. However, if a Mac is behaving in an abrupt manner from past many days & you are really concern for its health then don’t waste a time to run Disk Utility. The disk utility is a clinic for Macs where you can run few test to determine the cause of its illness. The First-Aid feature is capable of verifying the individual as well as the entire hard drive of the OS X. It can also adopt corrective measures to put your troubled disk back to work. A below test ran on one of the Mac disk ends up suggesting the hard drive (volume) is absolutely fine. It requires no further repair or attention from the
user. This is always a sign of big relief.  

Unfortunately, this sign of relief will not appear on the user’s face if the below report is delivered by the disk utility. As the image suggests the First-Aid tool has found numerous concerns on Mac disk. These concerns are denoted by red lines, which are an indication of danger. These reports marked by red lines clearly indicate the problem persisting in that particular area.

 

The Disk utility will clearly mention to run a repair immediately and dump the problem at this point. In no time, user can click to Repair Button to fix the faults.

“”Note: The Mac OS boot volume can be tested for disk permissions. However, this option is not available for rest of the Mac volumes.””

How effective is Disk Utility? Disk Utility is something that can resolve the disk problems on your Mac either instantly or may not fix any corruption. Yes, the reason I said ”May Not” is mostly cited when disk corruption is severe. The hard drive may have gone through series of corruption in catalog files, volume bitmaps, even a corruption of directory structure. Disk utility on Macs boot volume verifies and repair permissions for applications that may have turned bad. The applications may be of OS X and of 3^rd party software vendors. You will find people recommending running repair permissions feature at times when Mac is slow or an application is not opening. The same is suggested even when a Mac disk goes through corruption. Although effective but repair permissions fails to resolve any of the major corruption that might have crippled a Mac disk. This major corruption can again in the form of directory corruption. The same error is identified by “Invalid Node” error, which in turn is quite unpopular amongst Mac users. The family of Invalid Node error extends to Invalid Entry – Count, Length, Key, header & so on.

Need arises for a proficient disk repair software? Soon you realize the Mac is not going to be treated by the Disk utility, you have to opt for a disk repair utility. Volume repair software will scan the hard drive of the computer and will create a new directory structure for it. The moment it finishes fixing minor bugs in the directory or recreates a new one, you can have your Mac back & running. Not only this, disk repair software for Mac also heals variety of Invalid Node errors. Why you may require a bootable DVD?  As we learn above, that errors minor in nature will sorted out by the Disk utility. But a boot disk of Mac facing larger damage may not be treated efficiently by the disk utility. In that case you may require a bootable DVD of your Mac to fix it.  The bootable DVD can be created with the help of a repair utility. Once you select your Macintosh OS drive you are prompted to create an image (or DVD) to boot the Mac.

 

The above is a screenshot of Stellar Volume Repair that is suggesting the user to create a boot DVD in order to proceed with the boot repair. Once the DVD is created, it will boot the Mac and hard drive will become a secondary device. The user can now perform the directory rebuilding on the said volume.

How to salvage data from a Volume Corruption in Mac?

• Mac OS X General Volume and Partition information

To know about your Macintosh HD and volumes go to Finder<Application<Utilities and Disk Utilities window. The left hand side of the disk utility windows shows all the partitions along with your Macintosh HD.

• How to find if a volume is logically corrupted?

Even before the disk utility reports you about the possible logical corruption on the OS X volumes, you can judge by the absurd behaviour of that particular Mac volume. This absurd behaviour may include:

• Inaccessibility of the Mac volume,

• The volume may not be formatted or any other operations may not be performed on damaged volume,

• The volume in disk utility may appear in light shade. This light shaded partition is indication of an unmounted Mac volume. The unmounted drive causes inaccessibility of data that is stored on it.

These are not all but some of the common incidents that begin to show up when one of the Mac volumes goes corrupt. The situation is calculated to be worse when the corruption case is of the boot volume of the OS X Mac. To assure the presence of errors on the OS X volumes go to Disk Utility and select a partition from the left menu. Now, in First-Aid tab click the verify disk to scan volume for errors.

Consider the above snapshot of a Mac volume diagnosed with logical corruption. In a normal scenario the disk utility scans the media and reports the final summary as - . But in an opposite case the disk utility will return each diagnosed corruption with a red line indicating 'danger'. Follow the summary of the 'Verify Disk' process and execute the below places button which is 'Repair Disk'. Many a times the disk utility volume report also indicates faulty disk permissions. So, you have another pair of Verify and Repair Permissions button in the same First-Aid tab. Both of the options can be used to check damaged permissions and ultimately repair them.

Types of logical corruption occurring on Mac partition(s)

It wouldn't be wrong to categorize the types of logical corruption of volume into these phases, namely:

• Mac boot volume corruption,
• damaged permissions on OS X,
• Affliction to caches files and folders.

Most known reasons responsible for logically damaged Mac volumes:

• The first and the foremost reason for logical damages would be abrupt system shut offs, including hard Mac shut downs,

• Fallacious applications causing damages to OS X resources,

• Directory corruption of the volume leads to complete inaccessibility of the data,

• Although Mac is much secure against malware and viruses but possibility of logical failure of the volume can't be ruled out.

• Other instances of volume corruption could be summed as – damage to catalog files, overflow extent, faulty journaled, errors in multi-linked files etc.

Types of Failed Volume error messages displayed by Mac OS X:

This error in particular is displayed when the header is corrupted in one of the Mac volumes.

'Volume Header needs minor repair
The volume Macintosh HD needs to be repaired.
Error: The underlying task reported failure on exit
1 HFS volume checked
Volume needs repair'

Initially start with the Disk Utility to repair the corruption, else follow below tutorial.

How to salvage data from a logically failed volume?

If salvaging data is on the priority then here are few tips you can implement to get maximum data out from a corrupted hard drive.

• Get a demo version of the Macintosh file recovery program. Please careful not to go for a free recovery program as they are inefficient to salvage data from a corrupted hard drive. Yes, they sometimes may recover data which is deleted normally but don't trust such tools for advance operations like recovery from a damaged hard drive.

• Scan your corrupted hard drive with the data recovery Mac tool & preview the recoverable files from the inaccessible volume. Once you registered for the tool to save the recovered data back to Mac, be careful you choose another destination.

• In case your boot volume is corrupted then choose a data recovery Mac tool with boot DVD. This boot DVD can be of immense help as it will help you to start the Mac and then scan the boot volume with the file recovery tool. Once all recovered files are previewed you can save them on an external hard drive.  

How to resolve a failed volume?

Above is the case when salvaging data is on your priority. If any how you don't care about the data or you don't have any important data on that volume then you can go for repair first.

Free tips to resolve a corrupt partition on Mac OS X:

• Jump to disk utility and hit repair disk for the damaged volume. The disk utility will surely resolve errors that are not gigantic in nature. In case the problem is too big for disk utility then follow the next step.

• Get clone software and an external hard drive.

• Once you develop a bootable clone media for your Mac you can then perform repair task on the volume with the help of a disk repair utility. This process can also be applied to Mac start-up disk in case of corruption.

How to timely find out a Mac volume corruption?

To timely find out a volume corruption or to prevent a possible corruption, monitor the SMART status of the hard drive. Also, put a habit of verifying and repairing Mac disk on periodic basis.

Let us not ignore some physical damages too?

Yes, a Mac disk is also prone to physical damages. Among most unpopular events of hard drive crashes are the bad sectors. Again, there is no utility present in Mac to figure out no. of bad blocks on the hard drive. You have to turn up to a non Apple utility to check out the presence of bad sectors on the Macintosh HD and partitions.

Once the 3rd party tool reports bad sectors on the hard drive, immediately use a clone utility to copy the media to another media. Don't worry the cloning utility as well as imaging doesn't replicate the bad sectors of the hard drive. It only copies the good and healthy sectors. While doing so you may loose some pieces of data that is located on to the bad sectors of the hard drive. But again you will be able to succeed in salvaging data from the entire hard drive in question.