FAQ

DiskWarrior is a directory repair tool which can rebuild a drive with a supported file system that is not mounting or physically failing.

Diskwarrior CANNOT recover deleted files, reformatted drives, or overwritten data.

You will need a deleted file program for such a recovery.

DiskWarrior can repair a macOS formatted drive. Supported Files Systems Include:

Mac OS Extended (HFS Plus) with variations of Journaled, Case-Sensitive and Encrypted.

APFS formatted drives are not currently supported. Please visit How To Identify an APFS disk to identify an APFS formatted disk.

Windows formatted drives are not supported including: NTFS / EXFAT / FAT32 / FAT16

Please visit the DiskWarrior Requirements page for more information.

DiskWarrior 5.3 is compatible with Apple Macs equipped with Apple Silicon processors.

DiskWarrior 5 will attempt to rebuild the directory of a hard drive as long as it is formatted using the format of Mac OS Standard, Mac OS Extended, Mac OS Extended (Journaled) or Mac OS Extended (case-sensitive).

Macs can read from and write to a variety of disk formats and many external disks come PC formatted from the factory. Did you reformat this drive when you first used it or did you use the drive as is?

To double-check that the directory of the hard drive is readable by DiskWarrior in its current state, please open the Apple Disk Utility (located in any computer's Utilities folder or on the Apple Install CD/DVD under the Utilities menu or via the Recovery HD in Mac OS X 10.7.x Lion and later). Your drive should appear with two lines of data:

-- The first line should state the manufacturer of the drive (LaCie/G-Drive/etc) and the size in gigabytes (GB) or terabytes (TB).

-- The second line should be indented and have a volume name. This may be grayed out. This may not be the recognizable name of your drive. Instead you may see "untitled" or "disk1s2" (your specific numbers will vary).

Select the second line. At the bottom of the screen you should see the line "Format". If the drive meets the formatting requirements listed above, DiskWarrior will work to rebuild the directory of the drive. However, if the drive reads as PC Exchange, ExFAT, FAT16 or FAT32, NTFS (and more) then the disk is PC formatted and you will need to recover your data using a Windows-based utility while the drive is connected under a Windows operating system. If the format is blank, click on the Info button at the top of Disk Utility. In the window that opens there will be a line "File System". This may also give you the format of the drive.

DiskWarrior 5.x does not repair an APFS formatted drive.

For all publicly available information regarding DiskWarrior 5 and macOS 10.13 (High Sierra), 10.14 (Mojave), 10.15 (Catalina) as well as the new Apple File System (APFS), please visit DiskWarrior and High Sierra/Mojave/Catalina

If Disk Utility does not see the drive then there likely is a hardware failure. In this instance a data recovery company is likely your only option.

If only one line appears (no indented volume info), then the drive's partition map is damaged. In many instances DiskWarrior 5 can automatically repair the partition map of a drive. Even if DiskWarrior 5 cannot repair the partition map, additional assistance through Technical Support can result in manual repair of the partition map as a step toward recovering the data on the disk.

For further information; please visit the DiskWarrior Requirements page.

Most likely, no. SD cards tend to be used in cameras and other media devices which are formatted exFAT or some other non-HFS+ format. For this you would likely need a deleted file tool.

DiskWarrior 5 will attempt to rebuild the directory of a hard drive as long as it is formatted using the format of Mac OS Standard, Mac OS Extended, Mac OS Extended (Journaled) or Mac OS Extended (case-sensitive).

To double-check that the directory of the hard drive is readable by DiskWarrior in its current state, please start up the computer from the computer's built-in Recovery HD (restart and hold the Command + R keys on the keyboard). Once started, launch Disk Utility from under the Utilities menu. The drive should appear with two lines of data:

-- The first line should state the manufacturer of the drive (LaCie/Maxtor/etc) and the size in gigabytes (GB) or terabytes (TB).

-- The second line should be indented and have a volume name. This may be grayed out. This may not be the recognizable name of your drive. Instead you may see "untitled" or "disk1s2" (your specific numbers will vary).

Select the second line. At the bottom of the screen you should see the line "Format". If the drive meets the formatting requirements listed above, DiskWarrior will work to rebuild the directory of the drive. However, if the drive reads as PC Exchange, FAT16 or FAT32, NTFS (and more) then the disk is PC formatted and you will need to recover your data using a Windows-based utility while the drive is connected under a Windows operating system. If the format is blank, click on the Info button at the top of Disk Utility. In the window that opens there will be a line "File System". This may also give you the format of the drive.

If Disk Utility does not see the drive then there likely is a hardware failure. In this instance a data recovery company is likely your only option.

If only one line appears (no indented volume info), then the drive's partition map is damaged. In many instances DiskWarrior 5 can automatically repair the partition map of a drive. Even if DiskWarrior 5 cannot repair the partition map, additional assistance through Technical Support can result in manual repair of the partition map as a step toward recovering the data on the disk.

DiskWarrior 5.x does not repair an APFS formatted drive.

For all publicly available information regarding DiskWarrior 5 and macOS 10.13 (High Sierra), 10.14 (Mojave), 10.15 (Catalina) as well as the new Apple File System (APFS), please visit: DiskWarrior and High Sierra/Mojave/Catalina

For further information; please visit the DiskWarrior Requirements page.

DiskWarrior is the most capable recovery and repair tool on the market. Judging just from what the issue is, Mac-formatted failing hard drive, the odds are favorable that the data can be recovered by DiskWarrior.

Even if you can see your files in "Finder"; using "Finder" to move files from a failing drive is cumbersome and will frequently stop copying data, when it encounters bad blocks.

The more attempts made to retrieve the data, the more potential there is for the hard drive to fail permanently. Run DiskWarrior once, and be done!

One of DiskWarrior's main functions is to resolve this issue you are experiencing with transferring data from a failing hard drive.

DiskWarrior is much faster at transferring files and will ignore these bad blocks to get your data transferred to another source.

In the meantime, please do not run any other disk utility on this drive since it might erase critical information that DiskWarrior could have used as part of its repair.

Finally, as DiskWarrior is both an emergency recovery software as well as a preventative maintenance tool, there are many other types of problem that can be prevented by utilizing the DiskWarrior software on a regular basis.

Please visit the DiskWarrior Requirements page for more information.

An error (-36) is an input/output error. A portion of a file resides on a damaged sector on a drive.

There are essentially two parts to accessing a file - the directory entry and the file data itself.

If the inability to copy comes from the directory entry, then running DiskWarrior may help recover the file.

If the problem is in copying the file data itself, then there is no software that can force the physically failing portions to provide the data and make the file accessible. However, DiskWarrior can be used to copy the remaining valid files from a failing disk.

There is no method to determine which is the cause of the problem for these specific files.

The directory structure of a Solid State Drive, is the same as a more “traditional” hard drive - they both use HFS+ (Mac OS Extended).

As such, DiskWarrior can be safely used with an SSD device running a supported File System such as HFS+.

TRIM should be used and will have not have a negative reaction.

Please visit the DiskWarrior Requirements page for more information.

Drobo does not have a proprietary file system. They simply have a system which constantly moves data around a disk, in a special fashion.

DiskWarrior can rebuild the directory of a Drobo that is formatted HFS+.

Please visit the DiskWarrior Requirements page for more information.

Please refer to the Drobo Support page regarding DiskWarrior: Drobo Support

When running OS X 10.10 Yosemite and earlier, DiskWarrior can repair permissions from our "Files" tab in the application.

Apple has removed the Repair Permissions function in OS X 10.11 El Capitan and newer.

There is no free trial for DiskWarrior.

All sales are final, a standard practice in the software industry.

Please ensure you read the Requirements page and our Red Banner page for help in determining if DiskWarrior is the right tool for your situation.

If you still have questions or concerns, please check our FAQ page or contact our Technical Support Department.

Thank you for your interest in upgrading to DiskWarrior 5. The upgrade price from earlier versions of DiskWarrior is $59.95 USD plus s&h. Visit the DiskWarrior Upgrade page for more information.

When a new order is placed, the customer receives a brand new license with a brand new serial number. We do not have to verify any previous order details. However, when an upgrade order is placed, we must verify that the serial number is valid and that the registered owner is purchasing the software. It is these extra steps that cause a slight delay in processing the upgrade orders. Typically the software is sent via email by the next business day.

Please understand that we appreciate your continued support and are working as quickly as we can to process and ship all pending orders. If you have any further questions about ordering, please contact our sales department directly.

Sales Voice Toll-Free: 800-ALSOFT1, 800-257-6381 Sales Voice International: 281-358-4090 Sales Email: Sales.Info@Alsoft.com

Please visit the Guides page in the Support section of our website for step-by-step video instructions.

Please visit the Guides page in the Support section of our website for step-by-step video instructions.

Please visit the Guides page in the Support section of our website for step-by-step video instructions.

Please visit the Guides page in the Support section of our website for step-by-step video instructions.

The DiskWarrior 5.0 or later Serial Number can be found on a white sticker inside the plastic case your USB shipped in. For earlier versions of DiskWarrior, the Serial Number would have been printed directly on the CD/DVD.

The Serial Number can also be located in the "About DiskWarrior" section of the application if you installed a serialized version.

Otherwise, please contact our Sales Department at 1-800-257-6381 (US Toll Free), at 1-281-353-4090 (International), or you can email them at sales.info@alsoft.com. If you purchased DiskWarrior directly from Alsoft or registered the software, the Sales Department can retrieve your DiskWarrior serial number.

There is a ninety day warranty on the DiskWarrior USB Flash Drive which we shipped to you. Otherwise, there is a small replacement fee. Please contact the Sales Department for current pricing. This is available through our Sales Department at sales.info@alsoft.com or 1-800-257-6381

Note: If you reside in Texas, Sales Tax will apply to this purchase.

Alternately, using DiskWarrior Recovery Maker, you can create your own DiskWarrior USB Flash Drive, by supplying your own 2GB (or larger capacity) USB Flash Drive.

You can then launch DiskWarrior Recovery Maker and click the Create button to create the device.

If you need a copy of DiskWarrior Recovery Maker, it can be downloaded at the DiskWarrior Recovery Maker Update page.

Try these steps in order:

1) Re-download the DiskWarrior 5.2 Software:

In the confirmation email you received, upon purchasing DiskWarrior, there are instructions on how to resend the DiskWarrior application (which will be the updated DiskWarrior 5.2 application) to your supplied email address. Utilize the following link to resend the DiskWarrior application to your email:

http://secure.alsoft.com/cgi-bin/MakePage.acgi?SendMe.html

If you no longer have the confirmation email, you can contact the Sales Department to assist you with resending the DiskWarrior application to yourself

They can be contacted at 1-800-257-6381 (US Toll Free) or at 1-281-353-4090 (International). You can also email them at "sales.info@alsoft.com", if you prefer.

2) Restore the DiskWarrior.dmg to the DW partition of the DiskWarrior USB Flash Drive:

Open the DiskWarrior.dmg image. Then Open Disk Utility.

Select the External DW on the left side of Disk Utility. Select the "Restore" button at the top of Disk Utility. Select the Red "DW" from the list of restore choices. Click Restore. Wait for the restore to complete; if it fails repeat the restore again.

3) Run DiskWarrior Recovery Maker:

Please run DiskWarrior Recovery Maker to update the operating system on the USB Flash Drive.

You will find the DiskWarrior Recovery Maker folder on the red "DW" partition of the USB Flash Drive. In the folder you will find the DiskWarrior Recovery Maker application. Launch the application, and click the Create button.

Once you have updated the USB Flash Drive, use it to start up the computer and run DiskWarrior.

Move the ".plist" files to the Trash and empty the Trash.

If the host/parent application requires, it will recreate the file when needed.

If you want to manually delete a file, here is the process. This process is not reversible so please be careful!

1) Launch DiskWarrior.

2) At the main window, press the F6 key. The DiskWarrior Preview will open.

3) At the top of the window, will be a drop down menu for Disk. Select the drive that contains the file you want to delete.

4) Under DiskWarrior in the upper left menu bar, select Preferences

5) Check "Show Hidden Files"

6) You should then see numerous invisible files and folders listed in the DiskWarrior Preview windows.

7) Navigate to the location of the file (as outlined above)

8) Hold down the Control key and click on one of the files. A contextual menu will appear with the option to "Delete Selected Items" - use this to remove the file in question.

Many times the disk you are attempting to repair/recover is the culprit.

Try Disconnecting your external drives, then launch DiskWarrior.

Once launched, connect the drive in question and wait for the Drive list to refresh.

Note: This can take time if the drive is physically damaged/failing, in this situation please allow up to 1 hour for DiskWarrior to repsond.

Many times another application on the Mac is preventing DiskWarrior from launching.

Try launching DiskWarrior from Safe Boot:

Shutdown the Mac.

Startup the Mac holding the "Shift" key until you get a progress bar.

Once booted, log into the Mac.

Then, run DiskWarrior again.

Please restart the computer.

Launch DiskWarrior. Do not open any other applications or windows.

Once the dialog appears about Security, only now open the System Preferences.

Go to the Security & Privacy Panel.

Click on the General tab.

You will need to click the lock (in the lower left corner) to unlock the panel, and then you can click Allow.

Now quit System Preferences and re-launch DiskWarrior.

Note: The System Extension is only required in macOS versions 10.13 (High Sierra) through 10.15 (Catalina).

If the “Allow” button still does not appear, the Mac may have a corrupted security architecture, and may require a reinstall.

Please ensure you are interacting with the Mac locally and not through a Remote connection or screen share.

The "Allow" button of the System Extension must be allowed though a locally connected Keyboard & Mouse.

Note: you may need to click the padlock in the lower left and enter the administrator password.

To rebuild the computer's main drive, you must start up the computer from another source. There are many options to do so.

The downloaded software will not start up your computer since it does not include any System files.

You will need to utilize one of the following configurations to use the current DiskWarrior 5 application (please read carefully as not all of these may be relevant for your configuration):

(1) Alternate Startup Disk

If you have an external drive such as...

FireWire (PowerPC or Intel) USB2 or newer (Intel only) Thunderbolt (Intel only)

(2) Or a secondary internal drive or partition...

You can download and install the current macOS version from the Mac App Store on that drive and start up the computer from the operating system on the external/secondary device. Once you have started up the computer from the newly-installed operating system, install DiskWarrior into the “Applications” folder. Then, you can launch DiskWarrior from the Utilities folder of the external/secondary device to rebuild the directory of the computer's main hard drive.

Please review the following link to see how to utilize the downloaded macOS Mojave to install the operating system onto an alternate drive:

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201372

(3) Target Disk Mode: Connect two Macs with a FireWire or Thunderbolt cable (not all options will be applicable depending on the model of your computer) where one is the “host” and the other is a “target”. The host Mac should be running OS X (10.5.8 "Leopard" or higher). In this scenario, the target Mac is the computer whose internal hard drive you want to repair. Start by shutting down the target Mac. Then turn it on while holding down the “T” key. The target Mac’s drive will appear as an option via the DiskWarrior interface. Run DiskWarrior from the Applications folder of the host Mac and rebuild the target Mac’s disk.

Please review the following link to see how to use Target Disk Mode to Rebuild a Mac's interal hard drive from another Host Mac:

https://support.apple.com/guide/mac-help/transfer-files-mac-computers-target-disk-mode-mchlp1443/mac

(4) Internet Recovery Mode using Terminal Command.

Hold Option-Command-R after you turn on the computer. Wait for a spinning globe to show up and the progress bar to load. This can take a while. Go to Utilities listed in the top Menu bar. Open Terminal. Enter /Volumes/DW/Go

Please review the following link for startup into macOS Internet Recovery:

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201314

DiskWarrior 5 is not capable of rebuilding Volumes in the APFS (Apple File System) format. See our page on DiskWarrior & APFS for more.

To rebuild Time Machine or bootable volumes in macOS 10.14 Mojave and newer, DiskWarrior must be given “Full Disk Access” from within System Preferences. Otherwise, they can be be rebuilt from macOS Recovery or the DiskWarrior Recovery flash drive.

The drive has been converted to the new APFS file system. DiskWarrior 5.x does NOT repair an APFS formatted drive.

Just like every other file system, operating system, and processor change, DiskWarrior will be updated for the new technology.

Only recently, has Apple provided their developers with the "Read" portion of the documentation regarding APFS. Now that this is available, the development team is working to complete the upgrade, but will need the "write" documentation to be released before upgrade can be come available.

For all publicly available information regarding DiskWarrior 5 and macOS 10.13 (High Sierra) and newer, as well as the new Apple File System (APFS), please visit DiskWarrior 5.2 and APFS

As long as the mouse cursor still moves during step 5, then the computer did not hang or freeze. DiskWarrior is still working on reading the directory of the disk.

The "speed reduced by disk malfunction" message indicates that there is a communication problem with this hard drive. Such slowdowns are usually the result of having bad blocks on the media. DiskWarrior is having trouble reading data from the locations on disk where the directory structures are stored.

While the application is running, you should see the number of errors increase in the counter, just to the right of the message. The number may not increase at a steady rate as not all of the blocks will be bad.

To recover the data from this drive, please let DiskWarrior continue to run and ensure the Mac will not go to sleep. This can take quite a few hours but should eventually complete. We suggest giving the software up to one week to recover the files from a hard drive in this condition, until a Report or Error message is provided. Over one week you would want to contact Technical Support or send the drive to a data recovery company such as Drive Savers .

Since the "speed reduced by disk malfunction" message indicates hardware-related issues, you will not be given the option to click on the Replace button when DiskWarrior reaches the Report window. Instead, you will need to backup your files from the DiskWarrior Preview window (accessed from the DiskWarrior Report window) to another hard drive. Once you have a backup of your files, you will need to install a new hard drive to replace the damaged hard drive.

Likely, DiskWarrior is stalling at Step 5 because there is not enough RAM in the computer. Beneath the DiskWarrior progress bars, you may see a message that reads "speed inhibited by lack of memory". Try adding more RAM. Adding additional memory should allow DiskWarrior to rebuild the directory in only a few minutes. Additional memory will also speed up the computer in everyday usage.

If it is not possible to add RAM to your computer, there are two other possible workarounds:

(1) Alternate Startup Disk: If you have another drive (such as an external Thunderbolt, FireWire, or USB Drive ) you could install macOS (the version which came with your computer or higher, at least Mac OS X 10.5.8) on that drive and then start from it. Install DiskWarrior on that drive’s “Utilities” folder, (which is inside the “Applications” folder) and run DiskWarrior from there.

(2) Target Disk Mode: Connect two Macs with a FireWire or Thunderbolt cable where the one is the “host” and the other is a “target”. The host Mac should be running a version of macOS in which DiskWarrior 5 runs. In this scenario, the target Mac is the Mac whose disk you are trying to rebuild. Start by shutting down the target Mac. Then turn it on while holding down the “T” key. The target Mac’s drive will appear as a usable drive on the host Mac. Run DiskWarrior from the host Mac and rebuild the target Mac’s disk.

Please refer to the following Apple Support guides for installing addtional RAM:

iMac / MacBook Pro / Mac Mini / Mac Pro / iMac Pro / Mac Studio

In the lower left corner of the DiskWarrior Report, you will see a Preview button. Click Preview.

This will launch the DiskWarrior Preview application. This will show two windows side by side.

In one window, select the Preview version of the damaged hard drive.

In the second window, select a secondary hard drive (connected via USB, FireWire, another internal hard drive, etc.). If this is an external hard drive, make certain the hard drive is formatted for the Macintosh (HFS+ also known as "Mac OS Extended").

Since the hard drive is physically failing, you will need to be gentle while copying files from the damaged hard drive. Copy small batches of files. Copy the important files first.

When trying to recover files from a physically failing drive, the larger the amount of data trying to be transferred in one pass, the more likely the drive will slow down or fail.

Once you have a backup of your files, you will need to install a new hard drive to replace the damaged hard drive.

When you're in the main DiskWarrior window, click the Unlock button located toward the upper right corner of the DiskWarrior interface.

You will be asked for the computer password. Once the password is entered, the drive will be available for repair.

The computer's date is set incorrectly.

Restart the computer and hold Command + R. This will start the computer from the built-in Recovery HD.

Once the computer has started, select Terminal from under the Utilities menu bar option.

When Terminal opens, type the following:

date 0813044423

The current date must be in this format: (MM/DD/HH/MM/YY)

Replace the date with current time.

Then press Return.

Now run DiskWarrior again.

If running from the DiskWarrior USB Flash Drive:

type /Volumes/DW/Go

Again press Return.

DiskWarrior should now run successfully.

DiskWarrior has a fail-safe method of replacing the directory. Once the directory has been rebuilt and you decide to replace the directory DiskWarrior writes the original directory to another area of the disk. When the original directory has been written to another area of the disk DiskWarrior assigns a pointer to this copy of the directory and makes it the active (current) directory, then precedes to replace the original. Once the original directory has been replaced with the new rebuilt directory DiskWarrior takes the pointer from the old directory and points it to the new directory.

Fail-safe replacement is a safety mechanism just in case you have a power outage or someone pulls the plug on the machine, your original directory is still the active directory.

You may have sufficient free space but it is not contiguous. Since you do not have enough contiguous free space to write the original directory to another location DiskWarrior cannot perform the fail-safe replacement.

IMPORTANT: This might mean that your hard drive is very full, or was very full at one point in the past.

With little free space remaining on a drive certain problems occur:

-- The operating system cannot allocate virtual memory easily. If this is a hard drive that contains an operating system, the speed of functionality will diminish.

-- Data corruption can occur.

A generally accepted rule is to never have less than ten percent (10%) free space on a hard drive. If the drive contains an operating system, you should keep at least fifteen percent (15%) free space. In both instances, the free space should be no less than 10GB even if this is more that ten or fifteen percent.

You have two options:

(1) You can get a utility to defragment your disk. However, the act of regularly scheduled defragmentation, while useful in older operating systems, is generally an obsolete practice when running Mac OS X 10.3.x and newer.

Thus a better option is...

(2) Continue replacing the directory without the fail-safe feature and hope the power does not go out. In this case, now (prior to replacing the directory) would be a perfect time to make an updated backup of your drive, or a first backup if you have no copy of your important files. Then, continue with the replacement of the directory.

DiskWarrior cannot rebuild a disk that is not Mac OS Extended or Mac OS Standard. The disk to be rebuilt must be locally connected, must not be write protected, and must have a valid partition map.

The disk you have selected either is locked or is a media type such as a CD or DVD to which data cannot be written. For a disk reported as locked, first check if there is a mechanical lock switch on the disk and make sure it is set to the unlocked position. If the disk is still reported as locked, open the software driver package that was used to initially set up the disk (for Apple disks, the software is Disk Utility) and follow the instructions that came with the software to unlock the disk.

This indicates that your computer cannot find the system software it needs to start up.

Your Macintosh may be having a problem recognizing peripherals such as hard disks, scanners, or removable media drives. Turn off your Macintosh and all external devices and disconnect them from your computer. Restart your computer. If your computer then starts up properly, refer to the documentation that came with these devices to determine what is causing the problem.

There may be a problem with the system software installed on the disk you are attempting to use. If, after rebuilding your disk directory with DiskWarrior, this problem continues to occur, you may need to reinstall your system software. Refer to the documentation supplied with the version of the Mac OS you are using for directions on how to reinstall system software.

If your Macintosh hangs during the operation of DiskWarrior, this could be caused by hardware or software problems with a hard disk or a problem with the USB, FireWire, or Thunderbolt chain.

If the problem is due to bad blocks on the disk or DiskWarrior has problems reading or writing to the disk, you will need to replace the drive.

DiskWarrior was designed to permit interruptions. Simply run DiskWarrior again to complete the repair of the disk that was being rebuilt.

DiskWarrior’s hardware monitoring supports internal ATA, SATA, and Thunderbolt drives with built-in S.M.A.R.T. testing capabilities. If your computer does not have such a hard drive, all options will be disabled.

Click Rebuild to rebuild the selected disk.

DiskWarrior cannot rebuild the directory of the disk on which it resides. To rebuild the directory of this disk, copy DiskWarrior to another disk, such as a FireWire disk, and run that copy of DiskWarrior.

This disk is not writable. You need to unlock the disk.

This status message indicates that DiskWarrior was unable to access this disk. This could be evidence of a bad block on the disk, a hardware defect, or problems with termination or cabling.

This disk is locked. The directory cannot be replaced, but the disk can be previewed. Click Rebuild to proceed.

Click Rebuild to rebuild the selected FileVault.

Click Unlock in the upper right corner of the DiskWarrior interface, and enter the Password for the encrypted disk.

This status message indicates that DiskWarrior wasn’t able to operate on the FileVault because it was already in use. This would normally be caused by the user who owns the FileVault being logged in.

DiskWarrior 5 does not rebuild the directory of an APFS-formatted disk.

To Rebuild the directory of a disk that returns this message, either start up the computer from a DiskWarrior USB Flash Drive, the computer’s OS X Recovery Disk, or enable Full Disk Access in the computer’s Security & Privacy System Preference Pane.

Open the downloaded image file.

Open the "Installer Items" folder.

Take the DiskWarrior application in this folder, and move it to the Applications folder of the computer's main hard drive.

Double click on the DiskWarrior application you just moved into the Applications folder.

Open the downloaded image file.

Open the "Installer Items" folder.

Take the DiskWarrior application in this folder, and move it to the Applications folder of the computer's main hard drive.

Double click on the DiskWarrior application you just moved into the Applications folder.

Likely, you have a third-party haxie enabled on your computer, such as WindowMizer, MenuEverywhere, Default Folder X, MenuPop, KeyCue, Dragon Dictate, CleanMyMac, Monolingual, Malwarebytes, Sophos, Drive Genius or others.

Third-party applications that attempt to inject/modify code into another company's software, can always cause potential problems. If you have applications installed that have exclusion lists so as to prevent the software from modifying other applications, please add DiskWarrior to the Exclusion List.

Or you can startup in "Safe Boot":

Shutdown the Mac.

Startup the Mac holding the "Shift" key until you get a progress bar.

Once booted, log into the Mac.

Then, run DiskWarrior again.

However, the best solution here is to run DiskWarrior Recovery Maker, and create a USB startup disk from which you can run DiskWarrior. This will ensure no applications are interfering.

This message indicates you are not running the newest version of DiskWarrior.

Please visit our update page and read about our DiskWarrior 5.2 update and download the updater:

https://www.alsoft.com/diskwarrior5apfs

When run, the DiskWarrior 5 Updater will:

1). Update installed versions of DiskWarrior 5.x to DiskWarrior 5.2

2). Updated versions of DiskWarrior on a DiskWarrior USB Flash Drive from DiskWarrior 5.x to DiskWarrior 5.2

3). Update DiskWarrior Recovery Maker, on the USB Flash Drive, to DiskWarrior Recovery Maker 1.4

Once the DiskWarrior 5 Updater completes, you have one additional step.

Please run DiskWarrior Recovery Maker to update the operating system on the USB Flash Drive.

You will find the DiskWarrior Recovery Maker folder on the DW partition of the USB Flash Drive. In the folder you will find the DiskWarrior Recovery Maker application. Launch the application, and click the Create button.

This will solve the error (2033:611) when launching the installed application.

Delete the current installation of DiskWarrior and attempt to install DiskWarrior from Safe Boot:

1) Drag DiskWarrior to Trash.

2) Empty the Trash.

3) Shutdown the Mac.

4) Hold the “Shift” key and turn on Mac to startup in "Safe Boot".

5) Let go of “Shift" key when you get the Progress bar.

6) Login and reinstall DiskWarrior.

Note: This may indicate a damaged security framework and may require a reinstall of macOS.

Delete the current installation of DiskWarrior and attempt to install DiskWarrior from Safe Boot:

1) Drag DiskWarrior to Trash.

2) Empty the Trash.

3) Shutdown the Mac.

4) Hold the “Shift” key and turn on Mac to startup in "Safe Boot".

5) Let go of “Shift" key when you get the Progress bar.

6) Login and reinstall DiskWarrior.

Note: This may indicate a damaged security framework and may require a reinstall of macOS.

If you receive this error when attemtping to update the DiskWarrior USB Flash Drive:

"A DiskWarrior USB Flash Drive was found, however the application on it has not yet been serialized. To make the USB Flash Drive eligible please launch DiskWarrior (located in the Installer Items Folder on the DW Drive) and enter the registration informaiton."

and you have already serialzied this copy of the DiskWarrior application, please do the folllowing:

Using Disk Utility, erase the DiskWarrior Recovery partition of the DiskWarrior USB Flash Drive.

Then, download the DiskWarrior Recovery Maker 1.4 Updater, here:

https://www.alsoft.com/update-diskwarrior-recovery-maker

Please launch DiskWarrior Recovery Maker from the downloaded image file to recreate the USB Flash Drive. To do so, launch DiskWarrior Recovery Maker and click the Create button.

Once you have updated the DiskWarrior USB Flash Drive, use it to start up the computer and run DiskWarrior.

If DiskWarrior is unable to Unlock the Volume; this could be an indication of corruption in the encryption.

You can attempt to unlock the Volume through Terminal and then attempt the rebuild in DiskWarrior.

Terminal can be found in the Utilities folder, inside of Applications.

The diskutil command is for working with volumes via the terminal in macOS.

First, find the UUID for your drive:

Type:

diskutil list

You should see a section like this:

Logical Volume MyAwesomeDrive on disk2s2 96EC217A-54F2-49A3-8471-9BFE535D159A Locked Encrypted

Where “MyAwesomeDrive” is the volume name, and “96EC217A-54F2-49A3-8471-9BFE535D159A” is the UUID we’re looking for.

Run:

diskutil coreStorage unlockVolume

Replacing with the UUID found above.

It will prompt for your password (which can be pasted in) and unlock the encrypted volume.

The (2154) message indicates that the size of the directory of this disk is too large for the available memory space in DiskWarrior 4.x.

DiskWarrior 5.2, a fully 64bit version of the software, is now available. A 64bit application can utilize more memory, and in turn rebuild and repair the directory of disks with larger directories.

In addition to 64bit architecture, DiskWarrior 5 can be launched from an OS X Recovery Disk (Recovery HD), can repair GUID partition tables, rebuilds Time Machine disks, has even more improvements to help recover data from physically failing disks, and is the only repair utility that still supports PowerPC computers.

DiskWarrior 5 supports both PowerPC and Intel Macs started in OS X 10.5.8 Leopard through macOS 10.15 Catalina. Apple File System (APFS) disks are not currently supported.

DiskWarrior 5.2 ships on a USB Flash Drive. Utilizing our new DiskWarrior Recovery Maker application, this USB Flash Drive can easily be turned into a startup device from which you can run DiskWarrior to repair the computer's main drive.

For more information please visit the DiskWarrior Requirements page:

For owners of DiskWarrior 4.x, the Upgrade to DiskWarrior 5 is available for $59.95 - half of the price of a new copy of the software.

The Upgrade can be purchased by visiting the DiskWarrior Upgrade page. Alternately, please call our Sales Department at 1-800-257-6381 (US) or 1-281-358-1510 (International). They can also be reached at sales.info@alsoft.com.

This Mac will require the new DiskWarrior 5 which ships on a USB Flash Drive.

DiskWarrior 5.2, a fully 64bit version of the software, is now available. A 64bit application can utilize more memory, and in turn rebuild and repair the directory of disks with larger directories.

DiskWarrior UpgradeIn addition to 64bit architecture, DiskWarrior 5 can be launched from an OS X Recovery Disk (Recovery HD), can repair GUID partition tables, rebuilds Time Machine disks, has even more improvements to help recover data from physically failing disks, and is the only repair utility that still supports PowerPC computers.

DiskWarrior 5 supports both PowerPC and Intel Macs started in OS X 10.5.8 Leopard through macOS 10.15 Catalina. Apple File System (APFS) disks are not currently supported.

DiskWarrior 5.2 ships on a USB Flash Drive. Utilizing our new DiskWarrior Recovery Maker application, this USB Flash Drive can easily be turned into a startup device from which you can run DiskWarrior to repair the computer's main drive.

For more information please visit the DiskWarrior Requirements page

For owners of DiskWarrior 4.x, the Upgrade to DiskWarrior 5 is available for $59.95 - half of the price of a new copy of the software.

The Upgrade can be purchased by visiting the DiskWarrior Upgrade page. Alternately, please call our Sales Department at 1-800-257-6381 (US) or 1-281-358-1510 (International). They can also be reached at sales.info@alsoft.com.

The (2175) error indicates that some problem with your drive occurs when DiskWarrior attempts to fix the file overlaps. You’ll have to re-run DiskWarrior. When you get the report, save the report to another drive. Then manually delete each overlapped file using the Finder (if possible) or another file management utility. After this, rebuild the drive once more with DiskWarrior and see if you can complete the directory replacement.

There is no definitive explanation for why files get overlapped. To avoid this kind of problem in the future, we recommend running DiskWarrior more often. We suggest running it at least once every two to three weeks. Also, never run any other disk utility before running DiskWarrior.

Error 2164 is an I/O error. DiskWarrior is either having problems writing the directory to the disk or it is having problems reading the data that it had already written to the disk. This could be caused by a bad spot on the disk, a driver that chokes on large reads or writes, a bad cable, bad RAM, etc...

If you get this error, then you will need to backup your files using our Preview applicaiton.

Click on the Preview button (lower left corner of the DiskWarrior interface).

The DiskWarrior Preview window consists of two windows, side by side.

At the top of each side, you can select a disk. On one side, select the rebuilt directory. In the other window, select an external/secondary hard drive.

You can now drag and drop files from the rebuilt directory to the alternate drive.

Please copy in small batches of around 10-20GB at a time.

Some other service or application is using the volume when we attmept to unmount for the directory rebuild.

You can click "Unmount" to unmount a volume before rebuilding. If this fails; hold the "Option" key and "Unmount" will become "Force Unmount". This will force unmount the volume.

If this fails, proceed to use the "Disallow Mounting of Disks" feature in DiskWarrior:

Disconnect the drive you are trying to rebuild.

Go to the DiskWarrior Menu bar at the top of the screen.

Select "Disallow mounting of disks" in the Special Options Menu.

Then reconnect the drive.

Press the "Command" + "R" Keys together to refresh the drive list in DiskWarrior.

Now select the drive in question and click "Rebuild".

This issue is due to Network Packet Loss / Latency when writing replacement Directory.

The network is the issues because the disk image is located on a hard drive connected via a network. A network connection is not stable enough for the rebuilding process. This is why DiskWarrior does not support rebuilding via a network connection.

Please move the Volume / Disk Image to a locally connected device (USB/FireWire/Thunderbolt) or local disk, then rebuild.

Once repaired, move back to network location.

The (2175, 22) error indicates that some problem with your drive occurs when DiskWarrior attempts to fix the file overlaps. You’ll have to re-run DiskWarrior. When you get the report, save the report to another drive. Then manually delete each overlapped file using the Finder (if possible) or another file management utility. After this, rebuild the drive once more with DiskWarrior and see if you can complete the directory replacement.

There is no definitive explanation for why files get overlapped. To avoid this kind of problem in the future, we recommend running DiskWarrior more often. We suggest running it at least once every two to three weeks. Also, never run any other disk utility before running DiskWarrior.

The error (824) indicates another application or utility is accessing the USB Flash Drive while DiskWarrior Recovery Maker is working with it.

Please run this again from Safe Boot

Shutdown the Mac.

Startup the Mac holding the "Shift" key until you get a progress bar.

Once booted, log into the Mac.

Then, run DiskWarrior Recovery Maker again.

The security settings of the computer are interfering with DiskWarrior Recovery Maker.

Please visit this link: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT208330

Using that link, follow the instructions to start up the computer, and then change the settings to allow external media and no security.

Once you have modified the settings, restart the computer and run DiskWarrior Recovery Maker again. The process will complete as expected.

The error (5015) or (5016) indicates another application or utility is accessing the USB Flash Drive while DiskWarrior 5 Updater is working with it.

Please run this again from Safe Boot:

Shutdown the Mac.

Startup the Mac holding the "Shift" key until you get a progress bar.

Once booted, log into the Mac.

Then, run DiskWarrior 5 Updater again.

If you are still experinceing issues using the updater to update the DiskWarrior USB Flash Drive, please run DiskWarrior Recovery Maker instead to recreate, rather than update the DiskWarrior USB Flash Drive.

The error 5011 indicates another application or utility is accessing the USB Flash Drive while DiskWarrior 5 Updater is working with it.

Please run this again from Safe Boot:

Shutdown the Mac.

Startup the Mac holding the "Shift" key until you get a progress bar.

Once booted, log into the Mac.

Then, run DiskWarrior 5 Updater again.

If you are still experinceing issues using the updater to update the DiskWarrior USB Flash Drive, please run DiskWarrior Recovery Maker instead to recreate, rather than update the DiskWarrior USB Flash Drive.