Thursday, May 16, 2013

DiskWarrior Error (-36 2747) "hardware failure" unless you wait for hours: solution

I have a DROBO which I am trying to recover with DiskWarrior.

When I connect the DROBO and try to run DiskWarrior, I get an error -36 "hardware failure".  
I can hear the DROBO doing "stuff".
If I wait several hours until the DROBO is quiet, then DiskWarrior doesn't get the error, and I can try to recover it.

Scratched my head over this for a while, so figured I would post the solution in case anyone has the same problem.

All the forum posts are about dead disks.  

My disk isn't dead, it just has a sick filesystem, as proven by the fact that if I wait long enough, DiskWarrior can try to do something with it.

The disk activity was a clue.  

I suspected that TimeMachine or something else on the mac is trying to fsck the file system in preparation for mounting.  Unfortunately that takes HOURS on this large volume full of time machine backups.

So opened Terminal and typed: ps -ef | grep fsck_hfs and there was the culprit:

    0 67332    18   0  6:26am ??         1:02.06 /System/Library/Filesystems/hfs.fs/Contents/Resources/../../../../../../sbin/fsck_hfs -y /dev/disk5s2

To kill it, type kill followed by the second number from the left, in this case: kill 67332

The disk activity stops, and you can then run DiskWarrior.

(If you find this post helpful, please consider making a donation to servalproject.org so that we can help people communicate during disasters). 

132 comments:

  1. the same problem but still doesn't work...

    ReplyDelete
  2. I want to thank you profusely for sharing this. I have a Drobo that had similar problems. I was just about to write off 6 TB of data along with who knows what unknown data losses running over many years' work (although I had the most critical info backed up elsewhere...).

    Darn me if it wasn't just Time Machine, a problem which I diagnosed and fixed within a minute, thanks to your help.

    Thanks again!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Glad that it helped -- this is why I try to post these odd problems to save others the hair pulling.

      Delete
    2. Paul, this was a brilliant conclusion and you where right. Thank you not for just saving my day but tons of data!

      Delete
  3. saved my day! thank you very much!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You're welcome. Have a great day, and don't forget to make an extra backup of your data.

      Paul.

      Delete
  4. I tried this but Terminal responded Operation not permitted. This is a LaCie drive I am trying to rescue from TIme Machine!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. use 'sudo' + the command and put in your password

      Delete
  5. Hi,

    thanks for sharing this!

    @Eric Carstens

    try su append 'sudo' (without the quotes) to the command

    it will ask for your admin password and should then proceed

    ReplyDelete
  6. Original Poster - YOU ARE THE MAN!!!!! Thanks so much for posting this. @Eric Carstens, to clarify what the above poster said, if you get the 'operation not permitted' message, Do this:

    1. Run the original command in Terminal (ps -ef | grep fsck_hfs) and get the number (in the original example, it was 67332).
    2. Enter the command: sudo kill 67332 (or whatever number your system generates).

    I hit the same roadblock as you, and this cured it.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. THANKS!!!! Forgot about the sudo command! Life Saver!

      Delete
  7. so glad i found this, thanks man

    ReplyDelete
  8. You're the man!!!

    I have done it, but with the plan B: "sumo kill".

    my 3 years time machine drive is now in business again, although Disk Warrior found an error (2175).

    Thanks!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Awesome ! Thanks ! It saved my drive !

    ReplyDelete
  10. Hi Paul, I just wanted to say thanks for posting this. It saved the day for me. We'd lost a 5TB RAID array and Disk Warrior was refusing to allow a directory rebuild. Your fsck tip enabled me to successfully recover the data for our business. The internet is a great resource, but only because people like you take the time to share their knowledge.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You're welcome and glad it helped. If you wish to show your gratitude tangibly a donation to servalproject.org would be most welcome so that we can keep helping people in other ways.

      Delete
  11. Hi Paul,

    many thanks for posting this. I had a similar problem - a MacBook disk had died, and I was connecting it through FireWire to another iMac with DiskWarrior running on it. DiskWarrior refused to rebuild with the hardware failure message, and I was already about to give up when I found your post. It absolutely did the trick, and there is no way I would have ever come to that that solution myself. While DiskWarrior is now doing its job, I'll do the donation to the serval project.

    Best rregards, and again many thanks,

    Peter

    ReplyDelete
  12. Genius! Thanks for saving me tons of time and hair from being pulled out! Worked just as described!

    ReplyDelete
  13. Replies
    1. You're welcome. This is why it is so important for us to share information freely. Indeed, all of modern humanity is based on building the pool of shared knowledge.

      Paul.

      Delete
  14. This just completely saved my life!! It got my Western Digital My Passport hard drive to mount when I thought all hope was lost.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Super! Now its probably time for you to make a 2nd backup of your data :)

      Delete
    2. that's what I'm doing now. thanks so much!

      Delete
  15. Thank you for posting this fix. You are a lifesaver. Many good karma points :)

    ReplyDelete
  16. UNREAL. The internet, the great SEO on blogspot (SHOUT OUT TO WHOEVER THAT IS!), and this amazing post combined forces and saved me and my loved ones an ungodly amount of time and pain. Thank you Dr. Paul! Posting my donation while Diskwarrior rebuilds my disk. :)

    ReplyDelete
  17. hi there,
    i have the same problems with my "wd my passport essential 1tb".
    - mount point is deactivated
    - disc warrior will not rebuild

    after is use your terminal-tip, disc warrior will not rebuild again..!!! what is wrong in my situation???


    thank you!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. ps.: after terminal-process a window says: "osx cannot repair this volume"...

      Delete
    2. Hello,
      What error do you get from DiskWarrior now? Does it say "insufficient memory", "hardware error" or something else?
      Paul.

      Delete
    3. I had an insufficient memory issue. What does that mean?

      Delete
    4. This means that your volume is too big or has too much stuff for Disk Wizard to deal with. If you call Disk Wizard technical support and report this, they may be able to assist you with one-on-one help. Basically they will ask you for remote access to your machine and will hand-modify the file-system so that only part of it is visible, and then use some secret tools in Disk Wizard to attempt to retrieve the files in that section, then repeat this until you have retrieved all possible data. Note that their support for this is only during normal US business hours, which makes it difficult if you are somewhere like Australia (like me), however, given that they do this for free, it is still a very generous service.

      Paul.

      Delete
  18. Hello Paul,
    I have quite the same problem with my LaCie drive. DiskWarrior says 'directory cannot be rebuilt due to hardware failure (-36,2747)'. So I was very much hoping to succeed with your solution. But Terminal says after having entered it '501 196 190 0 0:00.00 ttys000 0:00.00 grep fsck_hfs'. I don't know what this means, but it would be great to receive your feedback.

    Thanks + best,
    Andreas

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hello,
      What you are seeing is the grep command finding itself. If there is not also a line like the one I describe in the article, then there isn't an fsck command running to try to kill. You can also just leave the drive plugged in for a couple of days without unmounting/unplugging it, and any fsck process should eventually give up and die, after which DW should stop giving the error -- provided that the drives aren't really dead. I can't give more specific guidance without interacting with your system directly.

      Paul.

      Delete
  19. THANK YOU! YOU SAVED ALL MY FILES!!!!!

    ReplyDelete
  20. Thanks, I made a donation. You saved me much more than $10 worth of time. :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hello,
      Thank you, and I am glad that I have been able to help.

      Paul.

      Delete
  21. Dear Dr. Paul,

    Thank you very much for taking the time to write this short article, I appreciate your effort and commitment you put to help others on your Blog. You are truly a Virtu-Hero (virtual hero). You helped me and many other "frustrated, lost, last-resort seeking users.

    Thank you.
    Mike

    ReplyDelete
  22. you saved my life! and my disk ;)

    ReplyDelete
  23. Thanks for this info, my drive its working again!

    ReplyDelete
  24. Add me to the list of people you've helped! Accidentally unplugged my external when doing a time machine backup, and Disk Utility refused to erase it saying it couldn't unmount the disk. DiskWarrior also cited hardware failure, which was total garbage because the drive isn't even 6 months old yet and never moved from its spot. After killing the process like you said, the drive popped up in finder and I was able to erase it in disk utility. (Don't forget to use sudo!) Thanks man!

    ReplyDelete
  25. Having the same issue, my external HD just stopped working. I tried the processes above and here's what I'm getting
    -------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Macintosh:~ Johnny$ ps -ef | grep fsck_hfs
    501 645 639 0 6:47PM ttys000 0:00.00 grep fsck_hfs
    Macintosh:~ Johnny$ sudo kill 01

    WARNING: Improper use of the sudo command could lead to data loss
    or the deletion of important system files. Please double-check your
    typing when using sudo. Type "man sudo" for more information.

    To proceed, enter your password, or type Ctrl-C to abort.
    -------------------------------------------------------------------------
    I exited because I didn't know if i was doing it correctly, can anyone help? Thx!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hello,
      The output of the ps command shows that you don't have a fsck command running, so the fix on this page is unfortunately not relevant to your situation. Also, I am not sure how you got "01", the correct number in your situation would be 645, i.e., the second number (as compared to digit) in the output. Running "sudo kill 01" instead would probably make your computer reboot immediately!

      Paul.

      Delete
  26. Thank you for responding, do you have any suggestions for my situation?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Disconnect your drive.
      Then type: diskutil list
      and tell me what the output is.
      Then reconnect your drive, wait about 10 seconds, and then type: diskutil list
      again, and tell me the output of that. This will tell us at least if the disk is visible.

      Paul.

      Delete
  27. Here's the Results:

    Macintosh:~ Johnny$ diskutil list
    /dev/disk0
    #: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER
    0: GUID_partition_scheme *500.1 GB disk0
    1: EFI EFI 209.7 MB disk0s1
    2: Apple_HFS Macintosh HD 499.2 GB disk0s2
    3: Apple_Boot Recovery HD 650.0 MB disk0s3


    Macintosh:~ Johnny$ diskutil list
    /dev/disk0
    #: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER
    0: GUID_partition_scheme *500.1 GB disk0
    1: EFI EFI 209.7 MB disk0s1
    2: Apple_HFS Macintosh HD 499.2 GB disk0s2
    3: Apple_Boot Recovery HD 650.0 MB disk0s3
    /dev/disk1
    #: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER
    0: Apple_partition_scheme *500.1 GB disk1
    1: Apple_partition_map 32.3 KB disk1s1
    2: Apple_Driver43 28.7 KB disk1s2
    3: Apple_Driver43 28.7 KB disk1s3
    4: Apple_Driver_ATA 28.7 KB disk1s4
    5: Apple_Driver_ATA 28.7 KB disk1s5
    6: Apple_FWDriver 262.1 KB disk1s6
    7: Apple_Driver_IOKit 262.1 KB disk1s7
    8: Apple_Patches 262.1 KB disk1s8
    9: Apple_HFS 500.0 GB disk1s10

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Okay, so the extra disk can be seen, complete with all of those fun partitions!
      So I presume it is the 500GB partition that you care about, and which isn't mounting?
      Try the following and tell me what it outputs:

      sudo dd if=/dev/disk1s10 of=/dev/null bs=65536 count=16

      This will try reading 1MB from the drive, and give us a good idea as to whether the disk itself is working.

      Paul.

      Delete
  28. Ok, just wanted to make sure I'm doing this right before I proceed? Thx

    Macintosh:~ Johnny$ sudo dd if=/dev/disk1s10 of=/dev/null bs=65536 count=16

    WARNING: Improper use of the sudo command could lead to data loss
    or the deletion of important system files. Please double-check your
    typing when using sudo. Type "man sudo" for more information.

    To proceed, enter your password, or type Ctrl-C to abort.

    Password:

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hello,

      Yes that looks right. Just make sure that of=/dev/null, and that of= appears nowhere else on the line, and you can't break anything (of= sets the output file).

      Paul.

      Delete
    2. Ok here it is -
      dd: /dev/disk1s10: Resource busy
      0+0 records in
      0+0 records out
      0 bytes transferred in 0.015595 secs (0 bytes/sec)

      Delete
    3. Okay, so there is some process using it. Try the following:

      ps -ax | grep fsck

      and tell me the output, and then also:

      sudo lsof | grep disk1

      Paul.

      Delete
  29. Ok

    Mac-001b63a71c39:~ Johnny$ ps -ax | grep fsck
    694 ttys000 0:00.01 grep fsck
    Mac-001b63a71c39:~ Johnny$ sudo lsof | grep disk1
    Password:
    Mac-001b63a71c39:~ Johnny$


    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Most odd. So something has the disk open as far as I can tell (as indicated by the "Resource busy" message), but if that were the case, then it should ordinarily show up under lsof.

      Delete
    2. Hello! I have a question. I have problems with my hard drive, DiskWarrior reports an error (-36, 2738). But the thing is, the hard drive seems to be working properly, no clicking, no odd sounds. I tried the terminal commands from the top of this page and DiskWarrior still refused to work with my hard drive. Then I went to the comments and saw your suggestion to use the command [sudo dd if=/dev/disk1s10 of=/dev/null bs=65536 count=16], which I did and got the following output:

      dd: /dev/disk2: Input/output error
      6+0 records in
      6+0 records out
      393216 bytes transferred in 150.461399 secs (2613 bytes/sec)


      What should I do next? Thank you very much!!

      Delete
    3. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

      Delete
    4. Hello,
      Show me the output from the following command:

      diskutil list

      And also confirm if you did if=/dev/disk2 or if=/dev/disk1s10

      In any case, the message from dd indicates that there are real disk errors on your device. Thus you will want to backup what data you can from that disk (disk2 according to your output) to another disk as soon as you can in case the drive fails entirely.

      Paul

      Delete
  30. I tried to Repair, it started and then this message came up

    Verify and Repair volume “disk1s10”Repairing file system.File system check exit code is 8.Updating boot support partitions for the volume as required.Error: Disk Utility can’t repair this disk. Back up as many of your files as possible, reformat the disk, and restore your backed-up files.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hello,
      I haven't been able to find out what the exit code 8 means, unfortunately. Try leaving your computer on, with the disk attached for a day or two, and then try the dd command again. That way, if there is some other disk checking program running, it will hopefully have finished.

      Paul.

      Delete
  31. Hello,

    Thank you so much for your help. It was « un jeu d’enfant » (very, very easy) to recover the files that I thought lost forever. Merci beaucoup !

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You're welcome, and I am glad that this information could be of assistance.

      Paul.

      Delete
  32. When I type in Kill (n), the terminal responds with 'no such process'. And disk warrior displays the error; directory cannot be rebuilt due to disk hardware failure (-36, 2747). Can anyone please tell me what else there can be done?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Show me the output of the ps command as described in the post, and I will see what I can see.

      Paul.

      Delete
  33. This was exactly the right guidance to enable me to recover a HD on an older MacBook Pro that wouldn't boot. Once I killed the process, DiskWarrior was able to rebuild the drive and it is back up and running. Thanks so much for posting. I certainly never would have come up with that on my own. I will make a donation to the Serval Project in your honor.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hello,
      Yes, it really is a very misleading error message in this situation -- which is why I wanted to post this solution. Glad it has helped you, and thank you for the donation to servalproject.org.

      Paul.

      Delete
  34. You are a lifesaver and I cannot thank you enough. Amazed that this is the only article on this topic as it literally saved me $100's if not more.

    ReplyDelete
  35. I'm hoping that one of my comments goes through, but you literally saved 15 years of photos, countless hours of headaches and hundreds of dollars. Thank you. Thank you.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hello,
      I am so glad that this information has helped you out. I too, was surprised that no one else had posted any useful information about this extremely misleading error message -- which is indeed why I made sure that I did. If you wish to further express your appreciation, please consider donating to the Serval Project.
      Paul.

      Delete
  36. Glad I found this. Have a 3TB external drive where this occurred. Has both a Time Machine backup and a bunch of other files, most of which aren't backed up elsewhere. (Recall that I read elsewhere that it's not recommended to mix Time Machine backups and regular files on the same drive?)

    Was able to find and kill fsck, and then launch DiskWarrior, but DW crashes on "Step 5: Locating Directory Data, Rebuilding Directory". Looks like this might be a DW 4.4 problem with Time Machine backups. Kind of annoying with Alsoft that the upgrade from 4.4 to 5 cannot be downloaded and is sent via USPS and says allow 2 - 4 weeks for delivery.

    Guess I'll go get a new external drive and at least copy off the other files for safety while waiting for the DW 5 upgrade to arrive by snail mail. I'm speculating that if there was a way to delete the Time Machine backup, then DW 4.4 would run successfully. But that doesn't seem possible since after killing fsck the drive mounts as read only.

    Guess I also need to make sure to have a double backup of everything from now on.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Howdy,

      Glad the post was helpful for you.

      Google for creating a "sparse bundle for time machine backups", then you can keep time machine backups on a drive with other stuff much more safely. The trade-off is you have to manually mount the time machine sparse bundle volume when you want to back up, unless you are handy with apple script or similar.

      Paul.

      Delete
  37. I want to join the chorus of sincere thank-yous for your tip on this. My situation was a bit different in that every time I would kill the fsck process in the Terminal, it would immediately respawn with a different PID. My work-around was to use the Activity Monitor (located in Applications > Utilities) to kill the process. I'm not sure why this would be different than using the Terminal but it worked and Disk Warrior was able to resurrect my Drobo!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hello,

      Glad that it helped you out also. I wonder if the re-appearance of fsck is not to do with a newer version of OSX. What version are you running?

      Paul.

      Delete
  38. Hi Paul,

    Yeah, that's what I was thinking, too. I'm running Yosemite (10.10.4).

    Dennis

    ReplyDelete
  39. As everyone else here, I want to give a BIG THANK YOU.

    I also did not think the disk was broken (this was just a regular built in HD), but could not repair it with DiskUtility either. Tryid DisWarrior but got this error. I did not find any fsck running, but I just waited for a while and all the sudden OS X gave me a "could not repair disk" popup. I restarted DW when that had come up, and all the sudden DW could rebuild the disk.

    Awesome!!

    ReplyDelete
  40. Sept 2015 and you are still saving people! I am in tears with joy after getting back 100 hours of seemingly lost audio editing. It would have held up a team of people ready to launch in a couple days, no way i could have redone all that in time... if ever. Thank you, mahalo!! (backing up right now!)

    ReplyDelete
  41. Here another grateful guy who was worried about loosing big amounts of data. Thanx!

    ReplyDelete
  42. Thank you, thank you, thank you! This saved my life. I thought I had lost two years worth of data. Now I've got my drive back. Wow. Thanks again!

    ReplyDelete
  43. Hi Paul, DW is giving me a hardware failure (5,1926) After I type in your command, i dont see any fsck running;

    ps -ef | grep fsck_hfs
    501 2542 2515 0 10:34PM ttys000 0:00.00 grep fsck_hfs

    Below are my disk utility list;

    *** external drive OFF

    /dev/disk0
    #: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER
    0: GUID_partition_scheme *500.1 GB disk0
    1: EFI EFI 209.7 MB disk0s1
    2: Apple_HFS Macintosh HD 499.2 GB disk0s2
    3: Apple_Boot Recovery HD 650.0 MB disk0s3
    /dev/disk2
    #: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER
    0: DW *67.6 MB disk2

    *** External drive ON
    /dev/disk0
    #: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER
    0: GUID_partition_scheme *500.1 GB disk0
    1: EFI EFI 209.7 MB disk0s1
    2: Apple_HFS Macintosh HD 499.2 GB disk0s2
    3: Apple_Boot Recovery HD 650.0 MB disk0s3
    /dev/disk1
    #: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER
    0: GUID_partition_scheme *1.0 TB disk1
    1: EFI EFI 209.7 MB disk1s1
    2: Apple_HFS Macintosh HD 999.3 GB disk1s2
    3: Apple_Boot Recovery HD 650.0 MB disk1s3
    /dev/disk2
    #: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER
    0: DW *67.6 MB disk2

    Any help will be appreciated.

    - Edward

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hello,

      What version of OSX are you running? Try changing fsck_hfs to fsck or disk in the command line, and see if there are any likely suspects.

      Meanwhile, which of the disks is the problem one? You could see if the disk is physically readable with something like:

      sudo dd if=/dev/disk1s1 of=/dev/null bs=65536 count=256

      (change disk1s1 to disk1s2 or disk1s3 if that is the partition you are concerned about).

      If a command like that completes without error, then the disk is alive. You could try leaving the computer on for 48 hours to give any background disk check plenty of time to finish, and then try running Disk Wizard again to see if it can see the disk then.

      Paul.

      Delete
  44. Thanks man!!! you're a life saver!!!

    ReplyDelete
  45. Thank you! This was driving me nuts. I'm pretty sure it happened in the past, and thankfully it was just a backup drive, but I still had to reformat and run a full backup. Saved me tons of time!

    ReplyDelete
  46. Thank you thank you thank you :)

    ReplyDelete
  47. Hello! Hopefully you are still in the business of saving lives:)
    I've tried to read, and follow these posts ~ to spare you the time. Which thank you in advance for even reading and replying to this.
    Just wanted to double check that I did all I can do, and did not miss something...
    Looks like I'll might be sitting around and waiting a few days...

    Details:
    MacBookPro mid 2014
    OS X Yosemite 10.10.5
    WD My Book for Mac 3T
    Disk Warrior 5.0

    *Computer crashed while archiving photographs--
    After that it no longer mounted; ironically I had just ordered a new external to backup my backup... And now of course I can not.

    DW: Directory cannot be rebuilt due to disk hardware failure (5, 1926).

    Terminal replies while "playing":

    Last login: Wed Jan 6 17:07:30 on ttys000
    Karissas-MacBook-Pro:~ karissacasey$ ps -ef | grep fsck_hts
    501 731 727 0 5:09PM ttys000 0:00.00 grep fsck_hts
    Karissas-MacBook-Pro:~ karissacasey$ fsck
    ** /dev/rdisk0s2 (NO WRITE)
    Can't open /dev/rdisk0s2: Permission denied
    Karissas-MacBook-Pro:~ karissacasey$ disk
    -bash: disk: command not found
    Karissas-MacBook-Pro:~ karissacasey$ sudo dd if/dev/disk/disk1s1 of=/dev/null bs=66536 count 256
    Password:
    Sorry, try again.
    Password:
    dd: unknown operand if/dev/disk/disk1s1
    Karissas-MacBook-Pro:~ karissacasey$

    Anyway... Thank you again for your time and suggestions you may have.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. change "if/" to "if="
      Also, type: diskutil list
      so that we can see the list of devices connected to your mac, and try to work out the next step.

      Delete
    2. Last login: Wed Jan 6 17:08:50 on ttys000
      Karissas-MacBook-Pro:~ karissacasey$ diskutil list
      /dev/disk0
      #: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER
      0: GUID_partition_scheme *1.0 TB disk0
      1: EFI EFI 209.7 MB disk0s1
      2: Apple_HFS Macintosh HD 999.7 GB disk0s2
      3: Apple_Boot Recovery HD 650.0 MB disk0s3
      /dev/disk1
      #: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER
      0: GUID_partition_scheme *3.0 TB disk1
      1: EFI EFI 209.7 MB disk1s1
      2: Apple_HFS My Book for Mac 3.0 TB disk1s2
      Karissas-MacBook-Pro:~ karissacasey$
      Karissas-MacBook-Pro:~ karissacasey$ sudo dd if=/dev/disk1s1 of=/dev/null bs=65536 count 256
      Password:
      dd: unknown operand count

      Delete
    3. Okay, now replace the space between count and 256 with an = sign, and that should fix the unknown operand count error. These command line tools are very particular about how their arguments must be written (which comes from their power, so it isn't a bad thing, it is just something that requires some careful attention).

      Delete
  48. Hello! Hopefully you are still in the business of saving lives:)
    I've tried to read, and follow these posts ~ to spare you the time. Which thank you in advance for even reading and replying to this.
    Just wanted to double check that I did all I can do, and did not miss something...
    Looks like I'll might be sitting around and waiting a few days...

    Details:
    MacBookPro mid 2014
    OS X Yosemite 10.10.5
    WD My Book for Mac 3T
    Disk Warrior 5.0

    *Computer crashed while archiving photographs--
    After that it no longer mounted; ironically I had just ordered a new external to backup my backup... And now of course I can not.

    DW: Directory cannot be rebuilt due to disk hardware failure (5, 1926).

    Terminal replies while "playing":

    Last login: Wed Jan 6 17:07:30 on ttys000
    Karissas-MacBook-Pro:~ karissacasey$ ps -ef | grep fsck_hts
    501 731 727 0 5:09PM ttys000 0:00.00 grep fsck_hts
    Karissas-MacBook-Pro:~ karissacasey$ fsck
    ** /dev/rdisk0s2 (NO WRITE)
    Can't open /dev/rdisk0s2: Permission denied
    Karissas-MacBook-Pro:~ karissacasey$ disk
    -bash: disk: command not found
    Karissas-MacBook-Pro:~ karissacasey$ sudo dd if/dev/disk/disk1s1 of=/dev/null bs=66536 count 256
    Password:
    Sorry, try again.
    Password:
    dd: unknown operand if/dev/disk/disk1s1
    Karissas-MacBook-Pro:~ karissacasey$

    Anyway... Thank you again for your time and suggestions you may have.

    ReplyDelete
  49. Apologies for slacking on that; there were kids running amuck--

    Now we have:

    Last login: Wed Jan 6 21:16:20 on ttys000
    Karissas-MacBook-Pro:~ karissacasey$ sudo dd if=/dev/disk1s1 of=/dev/null bs=65536 count=256
    Password:
    dd: /dev/disk1s1: Input/output error
    0+0 records in
    0+0 records out
    0 bytes transferred in 0.003426 secs (0 bytes/sec)
    Karissas-MacBook-Pro:~ karissacasey$

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hello,

      No worries. Unfortunately the bad news is that the drive does appear to really have a hardware problem as indicated by the Input/output error. Depending on the value of the data on there, you may want to find a local professional to extract the data for you.

      Paul.

      Delete
  50. Yes. I sort of figured. Technology does tend to hate me-- the one time I was actually brave enough to hit delete; after checking the external files on two computers first--POOF! Another entire year of work disappears (I learned my lesson about backing up the year before when someone smashed in my car window and stole my portfolios and laptop-- which was not backed up).

    I guess it will make a nice paper weight until I have an extra $428-$2200 laying around (the quotes given to me).

    I just might go back to shooting film.
    Thank you again for your time, kindness and patience.
    Good luck to everyone

    ReplyDelete
  51. I had this problem (this DiskWarrior "hardware failure" Error (-36 2747) ) with an external 2TB Seagate drive.

    I followed your instructions:

    Trevors-MacBook-Pro:~ Trevor$ ps -ef | grep fsck_hfs
    0 41780 77 0 2:43pm ?? 44:16.81 /System/Library/Filesystems/hfs

    but had to use $ sudo kill 41780 in order to stop the process.

    Then DiskWarrior 4 could see the drive OK... THANKS !!
    regards, Trevor

    ReplyDelete
  52. @Matilda Dark: Are there any flashing red lights on your Drobo? I was able to replace two of my four drives by replacing each one individually and letting it rebuild. The whole process took three weeks but it brought my data back. Feel free to email me at dbishop@uoregon.edu and I can explain the process in depth.

    ReplyDelete
  53. hi - i am having similar problems to everyone on here (and those you were having). when i go through the steps the issue is i dont think the "kill" command is working. if i re-run the query, the same thing shows up again.
    i know the disk isn't failed -- i can hear it working. any ideas?

    ReplyDelete
  54. How about error 2162 and a Drobo that will not mount. Disk Warrior can't rebuild because "A Directory Optimization Index cannot be calculated for this disk because it is not mounted. This may indicate a damaged directory or hardware malfunction." I'm thinking this is not going to be repaired. :(

    ReplyDelete
  55. thanks a lot!!! it's really helpful!!

    ReplyDelete
  56. You are awesome. Thank you! Donation made.

    ReplyDelete
  57. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  58. I had this problem (this DiskWarrior "hardware failure" Error (-36 2747) ) with an external drive

    MacPros-Mac-Pro:~ MacPro$ ps -ef | grep fsck_hts
    501 1007 1003 0 1:47AM ttys000 0:00.00 grep fsck_hts
    MacPros-Mac-Pro:~ MacPro$

    ReplyDelete
  59. I get a bad and hard error with my 16 TB drobo
    Becoming crazy loosing All my data.
    I try disk warrior and it can't repaire either scanning the disk
    I find your page and you SAVE MY DROBO WITH MORE THAN 10 YEARS OF WORK !!!!!!
    Thank you !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hello,

      Glad that we could help. If you would like to express your gratitude by donating to the Serval Project, you would be more than welcome to do so, but only if you wish -- I am happy to just be able to help people.

      Paul.

      Delete
  60. Hi there hoping you can help! My SDD with a big video project is not mounting and diskwarrior says "directory cannot be rebuilt due to disk hardware failure (5, 1921) -

    I tried the above but it says "-bash: kill: (78117) - No such process"

    Should I leave it in for a few days and see, or is that pointless? I would take it locally to retrieve data but I'm overseas and don't speak the language, so hoping there is a way to fix this from home..happy to see others have been successful though! Thx for any help!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hello,

      Show me the output of the ps command, so that I can confirm you are trying to kill the correct process.

      Meanwhile, which country are you in? No guarantees, but it might be possible to provide you with the help you need based on where you are.

      Paul.

      Delete
  61. Last login: Thu Oct 20 12:51:18 on ttys000
    Kevins-MacBook-Pro:~ KRF$ ps -ef | grep fsck_hfs
    501 91090 91075 0 8:07pm ttys000 0:00.00 grep fsck_hfs
    Kevins-MacBook-Pro:~ KRF$ kill 91090
    -bash: kill: (91090) - No such process
    Kevins-MacBook-Pro:~ KRF$

    I'm in South Korea right now!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hello,

      Okay, unfortunately I can't help with any South Korean contacts for data recovery.

      As for the attempted process, the output from ps shows me that there is no fsck_hfs running. The only process you found was the grep command itself. try:

      ps -ef | grep fsck

      (i.e., without the _hfs). See if that shows anything more. What version of OSX are you running? From El Capitan onwards, I am not sure that the fsck process shows up in the process list. You could indeed try waiting a few days for it to complete.

      Paul.

      Delete
  62. Kevins-MacBook-Pro:~ KRF$ ps -ef | grep fsck
    501 91811 91075 0 8:25pm ttys000 0:00.00 grep fsck
    Kevins-MacBook-Pro:~ KRF$ kill 91811
    -bash: kill: (91811) - No such process
    Kevins-MacBook-Pro:~ KRF$

    Looks like the same? Yes I am using El Capitan. I'll wait a few days and see what happens, thanks! If not I guess I will try my best somewhere

    ReplyDelete
  63. GREAT ADVICE! I couldn't figure out why my disk wouldn't mount. Luckily, I had Disk Warrior installed and generated that hardware error message. Google brought me to this site and your fix worked! I didn't even need to use Disk Warrior. I just copied my files to another hard drive. THANK YOU!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You're welcome and glad I could be of assistance in some small way.

      Paul.

      Delete
  64. Several years later and this tip just saved me a bunch of time. Thanks!

    ReplyDelete
  65. Hello: Sorry for my bad English because I'm Spanish and I don'tt speak English very well... I've got a WD Elements with the failure (-36, 2747) (OXSierra) and when I type (ps-ef | grep fsck_hfs) tell me command not found. Can you tell me what can I do? Thanks

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hola,

      Your English is better than my Spanish, so no need to apologise :)

      You need to put a space after ps, and before the -ef, i.e. ps -ef, not ps-ef.

      Try that, and see how it goes.

      Paul.

      Delete
    2. Hello again:
      Thanks for your understanding.
      Yesterday, after leaving for several hours, suddenly it started to work and today it works correctly. Diskwarrior can graph and rebuild. I must do something? I already backed up to another disk.
      Thank you again

      Delete
    3. Hello,
      Sounds like you have access to your data again, and have made a backup, so that's the important stuff. Simply waiting has allowed the fsck program to complete in the background, which has then allowed Diskwarrier to do its job, so I don't think that there are any further steps required.

      Delete
  66. Hi Pau,

    My DW is giving error not enough memory. External drive not writable. I tried following, can you pls. help further?

    /dev/disk0 (internal, physical):
    #: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER
    0: GUID_partition_scheme *251.0 GB disk0
    1: EFI EFI 209.7 MB disk0s1
    2: Apple_CoreStorage Macintosh HD 250.1 GB disk0s2
    3: Apple_Boot Recovery HD 650.0 MB disk0s3

    /dev/disk1 (internal, virtual):
    #: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER
    0: Mac +249.8 GB disk1
    Logical Volume on disk0s2
    F34CABE8-F194-4D8B-BA87-EECEE963A98A
    Unencrypted

    /dev/disk2 (external, physical):
    #: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER
    0: GUID_partition_scheme *500.1 GB disk2
    1: EFI EFI 209.7 MB disk2s1
    2: Apple_HFS Time Machine Backups 499.8 GB disk2s2

    my disk2s2 is not writable

    ps -ef|grep fsck
    501 66432 66343 0 2:04PM ttys000 0:00.00 grep fsck

    sudo dd if=/dev/disk2s2 of=/dev/null bs=65536 count=256
    dd: /dev/disk2s2: Resource busy

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The resource busy error means that something else has the disk open. You you try running:
      lsof | grep disk2s2

      That should show what has it open.

      The not enough memory error suggests that the drive is physically working, but the disk is too big for Disk Warrior to handle in the normal way. Call Disk Warroior's support folks, and they can run you through a process to try to recover your data.

      Paul.

      Delete
  67. I'm hoping you'll be able to help, and I'm so glad there are people like you out there.

    disk warrior error "hardware failure (5, 1926)"
    El Capitan 10.11.6

    diskutil list
    /dev/disk0 (internal, physical):
    #: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER
    0: GUID_partition_scheme *250.1 GB disk0
    1: EFI EFI 209.7 MB disk0s1
    2: Apple_HFS Macintosh HD 249.2 GB disk0s2
    3: Apple_Boot Recovery HD 650.0 MB disk0s3
    /dev/disk1 (disk image):
    #: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER
    0: DW +67.6 MB disk1
    /dev/disk2 (external, physical):
    #: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER
    0: GUID_partition_scheme *500.1 GB disk2
    1: EFI EFI 209.7 MB disk2s1
    2: Apple_HFS 499.7 GB disk2s2

    The kill (number) said no such process, same with sudo kill (number)

    Is there something else I can do or more info you need?

    Thanks in advance,
    Brian

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hello,
      On later versions of OSX the process doesn't appear to be visible. Some folks have found that by just waiting a couple of days, that they can then run disk warrior.

      Paul.

      Delete
    2. Do this to mount a problem hard disk in a later version of Mac OS (I'm running High Sierra):
      1. Run Activity Monitor.
      2. Click the CPU tab to see all of the running processes.
      3. Click the Process Name tab to sort and stabilize the list.
      4. Scroll to locate the fsck_hfs process.
      5. Click on fsck_hfs to select it.
      6. Click the X in the upper left corner of the Activity Monitor window to quit the process.
      7. The disk should immediately mount on the Desktop giving you access to your files. (Note: If you are running Disk Utility, you may first see an alert telling you Disk Utility cannot repair the drive. Dismiss the alert, and the volume will mount.)

      Delete
  68. Thank you so much! Still works. I have MacOS Sierra on my Macbook Pro. Was repairing a drive from 10.5.8 for a client.

    ReplyDelete
  69. Thank you so much for posting this. Saved my bacon!

    ReplyDelete