Fix Unable to Repair Mac SSD using Recovery’s First Aid Utility

Well! This has been a quite common issue now, Mac users trying to run First aid from recovery mode to fix corrupt SSD, USB drive, or external drive not showing up on Mac. So, here is an article to help you fix unable to run First Aid Disk Utility in recovery mode.

First Aid is functionality available under Mac Disk Utility. This Disk First Aid utility validates and repairs errors and logical problems associated with external drives like SSD not working properly, Mac system having startup issues, issues on the file system like APFS, HFS, and HFS+, etc.

Run First Aid in Recovery Mode using Command Line-

If you have failed to run First Aid in Recovery Mode, then use the Command Terminal to fix unable to repair Mac SSD from First Aid recovery :

• To verify your SSD drive, enter the command- diskutil verifyDisk /dev/disk0
• Then, enter diskutil repairDisk /dev/disk0 command to repair your SSD drive.
• After executing these commands, go back to Disk Utility and proceed to repair your SSD drive.
• Now, you can run First Aid from recovery without getting any error.

Note: It is always suggested to backup data from SSD before running First Aid Disk Utility. As one wrong command might cost you a huge amount of data loss from your external disk.

Repair Mac SSD Using FSCK Command

Try the file system consistency check(fsck) to repair the APFS formatted Mac SSD, here is how you do it:

• Press and hold the Command + S keys, and release them when the text “Mac boots into Single User mode” appears.
• In the command prompt type: diskutil list and hit Return. ( Note disk# of the SSD)
• Type /sbin/fsck_apfs –fy /dev/disk# and hit Return.
• If the “File system was modified” message appears, return the command and hit Return.
• If the “The volume (Your SSD name) appears to be OK.” appears then type reboot and wait till the Mac boots normally.

How to Run First Aid from Recovery to Repair Disk Errors?

1. Select Restart in the Apple menu.
2. Soon after your Mac restarts, hold the Command and R keys until the Apple logo shows up.
3. Select the Disk Utility option and click Continue.
4. Now, choose the disk or volume you want to repair on the left menu.
5. Click on First Aid
6. Click Run

This way, you can run First Aid from recovery to repair your disk successfully. In case it reports error messages like Disk Utility can’t repair your disk or The underlying task reported failure, try to run First Aid Disk Utility Repair again.

Remember if you have run First Aid from recovery to fix SSD drive or any external hard drive, Disk Utility function verifies partition table to perform additional authentication and then examines each volume individually to fix issues. If you run First Aid from recovery directly on a volume, then the utility program only verifies the content on that volume without performing any additional checks.

How to Mac SSD When First Aid Utility Fails?

Disk Utility is restricted to fix only minor issues related to a drive. In case you failed to fix SSD using the First Aid recovery even after implementing the above method, this is due to severe corruption, which can be resolved by formatting the external drive.

Before this, it is recommended to back up the important files from your SSD. In case your drive is inaccessible or you cannot backup data from it, use Remo Mac Data Recovery software.

Remo Recover Mac is a prominent software to recover lost/ deleted data from inaccessible, corrupted, formatted, or reformatted external disks on macOS. It also allows users to recover selected files of their choice. This option helps prioritize selected file recovery from corrupted and formatted external drives based on its importance, as it avoids recovering files that are unnecessary, corrupt, or harmful to the device. Download now!!!

Remo Mac Data Recovery software helps you recover data from MacBook Air SSD, MacBook Pro SSD, and other Mac-based devices.

Format Mac SSD

After recovering data from the corrupt Mac SSD, Now you can format the SSD using the disk utility, here's how to do it:
For the internal SSD(startup disk):

• Start the computer in Mac OS Recovery, and choose Disk utility in the Recovery app.
  Reinstall the macOS from the utilities window and follow the steps.
• Once the process is completed, restore the data to the SSD. Now, your Mac's SSD will have no corruption issues and will be ready to use.

For External SSD:

• Open Disk Utility, select the SSD from the sidebar, and click on the Erase option.
• Now Enter the name and format and click on Erase, Once formatting is completed close the Disk utility.

Conclusion:

SSD corruption in Mac isn’t a rare event, but you have to protect your data by backing them up in a Time Machine or other external devices.

In the case of a corrupt Mac SSD without any data backup, minor corruptions can be fixed using the built-in utilities on Mac. The repair utility is unable to do the job if the damage is severe. We suggest you recover the data from the corrupt SSD using efficient data recovery software like Remo Recover.

About the Author: John Harris

With a decade of experience in data recovery, John Harris, Senior Editor at Remo Software, is your go-to specialist. His focus includes partition management, Windows solutions, and data troubleshooting, delivering insightful content that serves both users and search engines. John's expertise shines through in illuminating blog posts, untangling data loss intricacies across diverse storage platforms.…