How to Run Disk Utility First Aid on macOS

Step by step

1. 30 sec

   Open Disk Utility

   Press Command + Space to open Spotlight Search. Type 'Disk Utility' and press Enter to launch the application.

   Note: Command + Space
2. 30 sec

   Show all devices

   Click the View button in the top-left toolbar. Select 'Show All Devices' from the dropdown menu to ensure all volumes and containers are visible in the sidebar.

   Note: Hidden volumes often contain the errors affecting your system.
3. 30 sec

   Select the target disk

   Select your disk or volume from the sidebar list. Begin with the bottom-most item in the hierarchy, such as 'Macintosh HD', then work your way up to the parent container.

4. 1 min

   Run First Aid

   Click the 'First Aid' button in the toolbar. A confirmation dialog will appear; click 'Run' to initiate the diagnostic scan.

   Note: Your screen may flicker or the system may become unresponsive during this process.
5. 3 min

   Review the repair results

   Wait for the process to complete. Disk Utility will display a report indicating whether errors were found and successfully repaired, or if manual intervention is required.

   Note: If First Aid reports 'overlapped extent allocation' errors, you must back up your data and reformat the drive immediately.
6. 30 sec

   Quit the application

   Click 'Done' once the summary is displayed. Close Disk Utility by pressing Command + Q.

   Note: Command + Q