Can I still recover my data?

Try Target Disk Mode to access the drive from another Mac. Professional data recovery is an option for critical data.

Does this mean my SSD is failing?

Possibly. Check SMART status in System Information > Hardware > Storage. If SMART reports errors, replace the drive.

Mac Error 4302 — Disk Utility First Aid Process Has Failed

Criticaldisk errors

Overview

Mac error 4302 in Disk Utility indicates First Aid could not repair the disk, typically due to severe filesystem corruption requiring more aggressive repair.

Key Details

Disk Utility First Aid runs fsck (file system check) underneath
Error 4302 means the repair process itself encountered a fatal error
More common with APFS volumes than HFS+
May indicate hardware-level disk failure
Data recovery should be prioritized before further repair attempts

Common Causes

Severe APFS or HFS+ filesystem corruption
Failing SSD or HDD with bad sectors
Unexpected power loss during write operations
Corrupted APFS container metadata
Multiple filesystem errors compounding during repair

Steps

1Boot into macOS Recovery (Command+R on Intel, hold power on Apple Silicon)
2Run First Aid from Recovery Disk Utility on the specific volume
3If First Aid fails again, try from Terminal in Recovery: diskutil repairVolume /dev/diskXsY
4For APFS: fsck_apfs -y /dev/diskXsY from Recovery Terminal
5If all repairs fail, back up data with Target Disk Mode and erase/reinstall

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