Disk Utility Can't Repair File System

My 2017 Macbook Air has slowed down considerably in recent months, so I found the Disk Utility app and ran First Aid. It found problems, says it can't repair it and ends with: "Operation Successful". What does this mean? Is anyone able to decipher the codes below and tell me what to do with it?


Running First Aid on “Macintosh HD - Data” (disk1s1)


Verifying the startup volume will cause this computer to stop responding.


Verifying file system.

Volume could not be unmounted.

Using live mode.

Performing fsck_apfs -n -l -x /dev/rdisk1s1

Checking the container superblock.

Checking the checkpoint with transaction ID 3585606.

Checking the EFI jumpstart record.

Checking the space manager.

Checking the space manager free queue trees.

Checking the object map.

Checking the encryption key structures.

Checking volume /dev/rdisk1s1.

Checking the APFS volume superblock.

The volume Macintosh HD - Data was formatted by hfs_convert (945.230.6) and last modified by apfs_kext (1934.141.2.701.1).

Checking the object map.

Checking the snapshot metadata tree.

Checking the snapshot metadata.

Checking the document ID tree.

Checking the fsroot tree.

error: directory valence check: directory (oid 0x7004c): nchildren (13) does not match drec count (0)

Checking the extent ref tree.

Verifying volume object map space.

The volume /dev/rdisk1s1 was found to be corrupt and needs to be repaired.

Verifying allocated space.

Performing deferred repairs.

error: Unable to perform deferred repairs without full space verification

error: Try running fsck against the entire APFS container instead of a volume

The volume /dev/rdisk1s1 could not be verified completely.

File system check exit code is 8.

Restoring the original state found as mounted.

File system verify or repair failed. : (-69845)


Operation successful.


MacBook Air 13″, macOS 12.7

Posted on Feb 19, 2025 08:25 PM

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2 replies

Feb 19, 2025 08:30 PM in response to Metrolady

It means that Disk Utility has verified the startup disk and found errors on that disk and the process is complete without fixing them.

DU cannot repair the startup drive that it is booted from.

In order to repair the startup drive you will have to boot the Mac in recovery mode and run Disk Utility and the First Aid routines while booted in that mode.


How to repair a Mac storage device with Disk Utility - Apple Support


❝Open Disk Utility

If you’re repairing your Mac startup disk or your Mac doesn’t start up all the way, start up from macOS Recovery. When you see the list of utilities in Recovery, select Disk Utility, then click Continue.❞

Feb 20, 2025 01:08 PM in response to Metrolady

Apple told you exactly what you need to do within that report.


error: Unable to perform deferred repairs without full space verification

error: Try running fsck against the entire APFS container instead of a volume


I highlighted the relevant line. Unfortunately Apple makes this difficult because Disk Utility hides the APFS Container by default. Within Disk Utility you need to click "View" and select "Show All Devices" so that the hidden Container and physical drive appears on the left pane of Disk Utility. People should always run First Aid on the hidden Container since it will also automatically scan all other APFS volumes within that Container.


If it still fails, then @D.I. Johnson is correct, that you will need to run First Aid from Recovery Mode. Sometimes you may need to run First Aid a couple of times before the errors are fixed. If after several scans the errors still remain, then you will need to perform a clean install of macOS by first erasing the disk followed by reinstalling macOS & restoring from a backup.


FYI, you should never trust the First Aid summary since it can lie about the state of the file system as you have discovered.

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Disk Utility Can't Repair File System

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