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How To Get The macOS Can't Repair The Disk Troube Fixed?

I have an older 2011 iMac running Sierra. I have been receiving this error message on start up: macOS can’t repair the disk “Untitled 1”. You can still open or copy files on the disk, but you can’t save changes to files on the disk. Back up the disk and reformat it as soon as you can. You can still open or copy files on the disk, but you can’t save changes to files on the disk. Back up the disk and reformat it as soon as you can. This disk was used for an older laptop no longer in use. It is not, to my knowledge, used for current backups. The finder window for the disk shows backups from 2012 and this: (sorry, having trouble w/ screenshot) Damaged files...Nov 10, 2016, 4:xx pm...no size...Folder numbers...Nov 10, 2016, 4:xx pm...57 bytes...Alias I should say, I received this message sometime back and ignored it. It went away (yay) but now it is back. Please help. Thanks.

Best Answered by

iBoysoft author Vain Rowe

Vain Rowe

Answered on Tuesday, August 5, 2025

Hi there, as you mentioned that your Mac was released in 2011, I guess that the macOS can't repair the disk occurs because it endures such a long time use. There is less possibility to repair the hard drive for further use. Since the old Mac was no longer in use and not the current backup, you can totally ignore that error message or you can replace the hard drive if you want to utilize it still. 

All drives are meant to fail, some have failed already while others are going to fail. In order to avoid data loss caused by drive failure, a regular backup is necessary. You can make use of the Time Machine to complete that work. If you fail to back up important data on your device, iBoysoft Data Recovery Software is recommended for you to scan for lost data from inaccessible, corrupted, unreadable, and even failing hard drives.

Good luck~

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