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How to Run a Disk Scan on Your Mac

How to Run a Disk Scan on Your Mac

Did you know that 64% of Americans own some type of Apple product? If you’re in that group, it’s likely that you may own a Macbook computer due to its sleek design and ease of use.

However, when things start to go wrong with your Macbook, it can be stressful trying to figure out what to do next. Should you repair the issue yourself or not take the risk?

Before you make any decisions, you may want to run a disk scan. This is a great tool to use if you need Macbook help due to strange behaviors or sounds coming from your computer. When you don’t know what to do next, you can try to diagnose the issue yourself instead of taking it to an expensive repair shop.

Keep reading below to learn more about how this works.

What Is a Disk Scan?

Disk scan is something that you can run on your Mac to see if your hard drive is about to fail. Disk Utility, which is on your Mac for free, will allow you to check your disk to see if it is running optimally. If not, it will help you figure out what needs to be done next.

A disk scan is the same thing as scanning your hard drive. If you have a failing Mac disk or errors on your Mac drive, it may mean that your hard drive needs to be replaced. By running a disk scan whenever you notice issues with your hard drive, you could be prolonging the life of your Mac overall.

While some programs will help you free up space on your hard drive, like The Duplicate Finder, others will allow you to spot other concerns. There are additional software programs you can purchase if you choose to not use Disk Utility to help you find other issues with your hard drive as well as similar scanning features.

How to Run a Disk Scan on Mac Computers

To run this scan using the Disk Utility, you’ll first want to check what the S.M.A.R.T. status says. This is an internal monitoring system that is included on Mac hard drives (both HDDs and SSDs) most of the time. If it says “verified,” this means that your hard drive is not failing!

If it says anything other than “verified,” the next thing to look at is First Aid. As long as your Mac is updated, you’ll be able to find First Aid by going to Macintosh HD on the left while in Disk Utility, and then you click on First Aid to see the panel.

In First Aid, you’ll get a pop-up asking if you’d like to run a scan. You will click “yes” to start the scan.

Are You Experiencing Errors on Your Mac Drive?

Typically, if you’re having errors with your hard drive, your Mac will send you error messages to alert you to the problem. Some of the issues that you may come across that don’t always come with a message, however, include:

  • Slow hard drive
  • Missing hard drive space
  • Bad sectors
  • Clicking noise you can hear
  • Permanent data loss

If you notice anything strange going on with your Mac that seems unexplainable, it’s worth running a free scan to see if your hard drive is functioning correctly.

Take Care of Your Mac With a Disk Scan

Whenever you’re concerned about the state of your Mac hard drive, a simple disk scan can help you identify potential problems. Once you run the scan, you can see if the hard drive is causing the issues or if there are other parts of your computer that you need to investigate further.

Did you find this content helpful? If so, be sure to take a look at some of the other tech-related articles we have next.

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