Apple offers file system fix for new MacBooks

Apple said Monday that some MacBook and MacBook Pro computers shipped without the company's recommended file system settings enabled and has released a small update to help owners remedy the issue.

"Some MacBook (13-inch Mid 2007) and MacBook Pro (2.2/2.4GHz Mid 2007) computers were shipped with file system journaling turned off," the company explained. "Journaling is recommended for all Macintosh computers as a preventative measure against file corruption."

In order to update affected systems with the proper settings, Apple recommends that owners install a just-relased MacBook, MacBook Pro Software Update 1.0 to enable journaling, and then closely follow the steps below to check their hard disk drive volume:

Insert the Mac OS X Install disc that came with your computer then restart the computer while holding the "C" key.
When your computer finishes starting up from the disc, choose Disk Utility from the Installer menu. (You must select your language first.)
Important: Do not click Continue in the first screen of the Installer. If you do, you must restart from the disc again to access Disk Utility.
Click the First Aid tab.
Click the disclosure triangle to the left of the hard drive icon to display the names of your hard disk volumes and partitions.
Select your internal hard disk drive volume. This is usually Macintosh HD but your internal hard disk drive may have a different name.
Click Repair.

Tip: It's important to start up your computer from a Mac OS X Install or Restore disc to allow Disk Utility to verify or repair your startup volume.

23 Comments

jimpryde 6 comments · 17 Years

About 17 years ago

I can confirm this. I purchased a 2.16Ghz White Macbook for a friend and while I was setting it up, i tried to run Cocktail, it informed me that journaling was turned off. I enabled it in Disk Utility and everything was good to go.

I did find it odd that it wasn't enabled by default on the system. Odd enough that I double-checked my own Macbook Pro to be sure it was on there (it was.)

ajay 108 comments · 20 Years

so....
if this update is important, why does it not show up on "software update"?

well, as an after-thought, i ran disk-utility... it shows the HDD format as Mac OS Extended (Journaled)... I guess it means that I do not need to install the update. funny, though, that it makes no mention of asking mac-users to check first!

(I have a MacBook that's mid 2007 - purchased in end of June)

hohlecow 49 comments · 20 Years

its in SU now. if journaling is already enabled, what's the point of this update?

edit, replying to myself:

I guess I wouldn't want to walk my mom through the process of enabling journaling, so its nice that its automated for people who don't have journaling turned on.

musltngblue 297 comments · 17 Years

What's interesting is for me, the Disk Repair option didn't have to fix anything, but the option up top to enable Journaling was grayed out... does this somehow mean that it's enabled now? I would expect the icon to go red and say something like disable authoring. How do I know if the disk has journaling enabled now?

mactel 1275 comments · 18 Years

Seems like Apple needs some new quality control engineers at the manufacturing plants. Some iPod touch devices shipped with just the factory defaults, iPod Nano screens were off a bit, iPod touch screens were a bit dim, etc. Oh it is probably just growing pains for Apple.