'fsck -fy' yields "invalid extent entry, invalid node structure"

Hello all,
System seems unstable. Many different apps, including System Preferences, crash on launch.
In Single-User mode (Command-S at boot), ran 'fsck -fy' (multiple times) and the receive the following errors that cannot be repaired:
Invalid extent entry
Invalid node structure
Volume check failed
What options do I have to fix this? No claims by Alsoft (or other disk-fixing utilities I know of) that DiskWarrior works on Intel-based Macs to resolve an issue such as this. Are there really no disk-fixing tools for Intel Macs?
Is the only option to format and reinstall and if so do I have to "zero all data"? And if I have to zero all data, how long will it take?
Thanks for any insight.
Cheers,
Derek
MacBook Pro Mac OS X (10.4.7)

Thanks again, iVmichael.
Thanks for your suggestion... So I did boot off of Install DVD and ran Disk Utility from there and here is what it reported:
Checking HFS Plus volume
Checking Extents Overflow file
Checking Catalog file
Invalid extent entry
Volume check failed
Error: The underlying task reported failure on exit
1 HFS volume checked
1 volume could not be repaired because of an error
I tried another suggestion I got from the EIMS-L list which was to use another Mac to repair the MBP in FireWire target disk mode. I did that and was able to run Disk Utility from my other Mac (1.33GHz PowerBook G4) but it reported same errors. On the other Mac I tried to run DiskWarrior 3.0.3 (latest) but it failed to "see" the MBP's disk even though it was mounted and Disk Utility saw it.
So I will probably reformat and reinstall everything!
Thanks for your suggestions...

Similar Messages

Invalid node structure, files are visible in single mode

I did something stupid today. First i ran my mac until there was no disk space, resulted in failing booting up. Went into single mode and did a mount command and deleted some big files. And now the disk check is failing and still not able to boot ios. All the files showes up in single mode, but not sure how to proceed. When running fsck it gives invalid node structure error. Marry x-mas :) any ideas?

You might try using Disk Warrior to fix the error, but Disk Utility cannot. Short of DW you will need to repartition and reformat your hard drive unless the Recovery HD partition is still usable. If it is then you can do the following:
Install or Reinstall Lion/Mountain Lion from Scratch
Be sure you backup your files to an external drive or second internal drive because the following procedure will remove everything from the hard drive.
Boot to the Recovery HD:
Restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the COMMAND and R keys until the menu screen appears. Alternatively, restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the OPTION key until the boot manager screen appears. Select the Recovery HD and click on the downward pointing arrow button.
Erase the hard drive:
1. Select Disk Utility from the main menu and click on the Continue button.
2. After DU loads select your startup volume (usually Macintosh HD) from the
      left side list. Click on the Erase tab in the DU main window.
3. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Optionally, click on
        the Security button and set the Zero Data option to one-pass. Click on
      the Erase button and wait until the process has completed.
4. Quit DU and return to the main menu.
Reinstall Lion: Select Reinstall Lion/Mountain Lion and click on the Install button.
Note: You will need an active Internet connection. I suggest using Ethernet if possible
            because it is three times faster than wireless.

/sbin/fsck -fy ....Invalid Node Structure?

Hi,
I am new to the forum and find it very helpfull. Thank you for that!
I have been trying to recover my MacBook Pro running OS X 10.6.8.
I cannot boot. Power on, Grey apple screen....progress bar appears...then 1/10th of the way in it would hang then reboot and hang again then turn off.
I have tried different things posted on the forum, everything from clearng the memory to booting from CD. No luck.
I created a boot disk on an SD Card using another MacBook Pro. I them ran the boot option from SD and I was successfull in getting past the progress bar but then it hangs on grey screen spinning gears. I let that run for 4 hours and no luck.
I then ran "/sbin/fsck -fy". It came back with "...Invalid node structure (4, 25707) ** the volume Macintosh HD could not be varified completely. /dev/rdisk0s2 (hfs) EXITED WITH SIGNAL 8.
Any ideas?

3. User also do not recall where she left her recovery CDs.
Any attempt to repair the corrupted disk using Disk Utility is likely to be temporary, and replacing the HD will require reinstalling the operating system from the MBP's original discs. If the user cannot find them, obtain a replacement set from Apple. They will need the MBP's serial number. The cost is reasonable ($25 or so).

Invalid node structure and Boot Camp 1.1.2

I downloaded Boot Camp 1.1.2 and during the installation of Mac Drivers I kept getting dialog boxes that the software i'm installing did not pass Windows Logo testing- I just ignored it.
After that Windows XP didn't recognise my keyboard, airport, ...
I prepared a new instalation with Boot Camp Assistant and i had an error message when the disk partition was processing.
I run Disk Utility from my Mac OS X install disk DVD and I got the following:
Verifying volume “Macintosh HD”
Checking HFS Plus volume.
Checking Extents Overflow file.
Checking Catalog file.
Invalid node structure
The volume Macintosh HD needs to be repaired.
Error: The underlying task reported failure on exit
1 HFS volume checked
Volume needs repair
Please give me some help to repair my disk and to understand what happened.
MacBook Pro 2 GHz Mac OS X (10.4.8)

If you are unable to repair the drive you will need to repartition and reformat the drive.
I recommend a cloned backup to an external FW drive. You can use this procedure:
How to Clone Using Restore Option of Disk Utility
1. Select the destination drive on the Desktop and press COMMAND-I to open the Get Info window. At the bottom in the Ownership and Permissions section be sure the box labeled "Ignore Permissions on this Volume" is unchecked. Set Ownership and Permissions as follows: Owner=system with read/write; Group=admin with read/write; Other with read-only.
2. Open Disk Utility from the Utilities folder.
3. Select the backup or destination volume from the left side list.
4. Click on the Erase tab in the DU main window. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (journaled, if available) and click on the Erase button.
5. Click on the Restore tab in the DU main window.
6. Select the backup or destination volume from the left side list and drag it to the Destination entry field.
7. Select the startup or source volume from the left side list and drag it to the Source entry field.
8. Double-check you got it right, then click on the Restore button.
For added precaution you can boot into safe mode before doing the clone.
You will only have to reinstall your third-party applications. All standard OS X applications will be reinstalled except for bundled applications such as iMovie, iDVD, Garageband, etc. These can be reinstalled using the Bundled Applications installer on the OS X Installer Disc.
If you make a cloned backup all your data will be on the backup. You can restore it afterwards by copying the folders to their respective locations on the startup volume.

Invalid Node Structure error

Hi All,
I need some information on how I might solve a problem. I ran my Disk Utility earlier today to verify the HD on my MacBook Pro because my computer just seemed a bit off. It froze the other night when I shut it down.
Here is the message I received:
Verifying volume "Macintosh HD"
Checking HFS Plus volume
Checking Extents Overflow file
Checking Catalog file
Invalid node structure
The volume Macintosh HD needs to be repaired
ERROR: The underlying task reported failure on exit
1HFS volume checked
Volume needs repair
I booted the computer from the original OS X Install Disc and tried to repair the hard drive, which didn't work. That's when I started reading the Tiger Forum. I have since discovered that this error cannot be repaired from the Install Disc and probably will require an erase and re-install. However, I did read about a 'fsck' command.
I would like to give this a try, but am not at all comfortable with running commands. Would someone be willing to walk me through this and/or offer any other suggestion for fixing this?
Thanks

Michelle,
Sounds like you are really learning a lot in a hurry. That's good. I can't tell you how long it will be before your system "acts up." I would take this opportunity to backup any really important data to DVD/CDs while you are in the process of getting an external drive and Disk Warrior.
Good question about whether your file system error will be copied to you external drive when you clone with SuperDuper or Carbon Copy Cloner. I don't know exactly but it will certainly be better to have a backup that may be slightly imperfect than to have no backup at all. Of course, after you fix the error on your internal drive with Disk Warrior, then you will reclone your repaired system to your external.
Regards,
Steve M.

MBP 15" - Hard drive crash - invalid node structure

Hello,
I migrated from a life of pc to mac a month ago and was very pleased with how things worked out. Until two hours ago when the computer freezed (it was showing the rotating ball but no response to any commands). I thought I could force quit some app but it was not responding at all so I waited for 15 minutes before I shut it down via the power button. When I powered it back on there was a catalogue with a question mark blinking on the screen. It seems it cannot find any startup disk.
On the apple support forums it says I might be able to repair the disk via the install CD (Disk utility). I tried it but it says
Verifying volume "Macintosh HD"
Checking Journaled HFS Plus volume.
Checking Extents Overflow file.
Checking Catalog file.
*Invalid node structure*
The volume Macintosh HD needs to be repaired.
Error: Filesystem verify or repair failed.
(something like that. It all takes about 10 sec)
and stops.
On some other forum I found out that fsck -fs could work but nothing really happened there either.
Is there any solution to this?

it seems it's running the fsck command on the DVD drive, which is free of errors. yey for that at least!
"df" gives me
Filesystem 512-blocks Used Available Capacity Mounted on
root_device 15173432 15169920 0 100% /
devfs 208 208 0 100% /dev
fdesc 2 2 0 100% /dev
mount -uw tells me
root_device on / (hfs, local, read-only )
devfs on /dev (devfs, local)
fdesc on /dev (fdesc, union)
that read only cannot be good!
alright so back in disk utility I find that my disk is called disk0s2
running fsck -yf /dev/disk0s2 gives me
BAD SUPER BLOCK: MAGIC NUMBER WRONG
LOOK FOR ALTERNATE SUPERBLOCKS? yes
SEARCH FOR ALTERNATE SUPERBLOCK FAILE: YOU MUST USE THE -b OPTION TO FSCK TO SPECIFY THE LOCATION OF AN ALTERNATE SUPER-BLOCK TO SUPPLY NEEDED INFORMATION; SEE fsck(8).
so I run
fsck -yf -b 32 /dev/disk0s2 since it's in the manual but get
BAD SUPER BLOCK: MAGIC NUMBER WRONG
Am I on the right track here?

Kernel panic/invalid node structure; please help retrieving my files!!

Hi everyone, thank you for your time in advance... if anyone has ideas about how to solve it, I appreciate this very much!
OK, here is how it began: while I was working on the airplane using PowerPoint, the gray spinning wheel appeared after which PowerPoint stopped working. I pressed the power button to exit (all applications froze). (So much for trying to get more work done...)
Next, I powered up the computer but it would not boot up, with only gray spinning wheel showing.
Next, tried to boot up while pressing power button and holding shift key. After some time (10 minutes), an error message appears. Researching it on discussion forums, I found that it is called “kernel panic”. Here is beginning of the message:
panic(cpu 1 caller 0x47f5ad): "Process 1 exec of /sbin/launchd failed, errno 8\n"@SourceCache/xnu/xnu-1504.15.3/bsd/kern/kern_exec.c:3145
Debugger called: <panic>
[additional information here]
Also, message “You need to restart your computer. Hold down the Power button until it turns off, then press the Power button again” is shown transparently in the middle of the screen over the “panic” message output.
I turned on and off the Power button many times, but I get the same error message.
I also tried Apple Hardware Test but it did not work (it did not generate any messages).
Next, I tried to use the Disk Utility using the Installation Disk that came with the computer. After I clicked “Disk Repair”, here is the log:
Verify and Repair volume “Macintosh HD”
Checking Journaled HFS Plus volume.
Checking extents overflow file.
Checking catalog file.
Invalid node structure
Rebuilding catalog B-tree.
Invalid node structure
[many repeats of “Invalid node structure” ~ about 400 repeats]
Rechecking volume.
Checking Journaled JFS Plus volume.
Checking extents overflow file.
Checking catalog file.
Missing thread record (id=18)
Missing thread record (id=110)
[many instances of “Missing thread record” ~about 200 repeats]
Checking multi-linked files.
Checking catalog hierarchy.
Checking extended attributes file.
The volume Macintosh HD could not be verified completely.
Error: Disk Utility can’t repair this disk…disk, and restore your back-up files.
At the end, a window presented over the error log stated :
“Disk Utility stopped repairing “Macintosh HD”
Disk Utility can’t repair this disk. Back up as many of your files as possible, reformat the disk, and restore your back-up files.
I need to retrieve my recent files!! Please Help!! Argh!! I promise that I will promptly back up my files now! I did not use Time Machine, and only some of my files are backed up.
From what I read on the discussion forum, I will probably need to erase the disk and then do a fresh installation, but could someone please guide me with regard to how to back up the data / retrieve the files? I may have access to another mac so I’m thinking that the FireWire Target Disk Mode may work. I also have spare external harddrive (formatted for mac) (not partitioned). Also, how do I retrieve the files from the other computer if the FireWire transfer works?
Also, the second step is to do a new installation, but is there any reason why “Archive and Install” using Disk Utility won’t help? I have some additional programs installed (Illustrator, Photoshop) so this means if I do a new installation, I will need to re-install those as well?
I did some investigation, and it looks like this problem is similar to this:
https://discussions.apple.com/message/18098343#18098343
But my main issue now is to retrieve the files!
Also, how do I investigate whether this problem is due to a failing hard drive or a natural file system corruption ? (so should I get a new harddrive or do a new install).
http://forums.macnn.com/t/459376/heart-attack-invalid-node-structure
I don’t know what is the OS version; it is Snow Leopard OS X ……. I bought it in September 2009.
I appreciate any help, thank you so much for your time…

Create a data recovery/undelete external boot drive
Step by Step to fix your Mac
Most commonly used backup methods

Failed Time Machine backup... Invalid node structure

My Time Machine gave me a Backup Failed notice this morning. I noticed that my dedicated 1TB disk for backups is not mounting in the finder. I went into Disk Utility and it shows as greyed out. When I click on it and verify, it says I need to repair. So I click repair. I get the message below...
Verifying volume “MacPro Backup”
Checking Journaled HFS Plus volume.
Checking extents overflow file.
Checking catalog file.
Invalid node structure
The volume MacPro Backup was found corrupt and needs to be repaired.
Error: This disk needs to be repaired. Click Repair Disk.
Verify and Repair volume “MacPro Backup”
Checking Journaled HFS Plus volume.
Checking extents overflow file.
Checking catalog file.
Invalid node structure
Rebuilding catalog B-tree.
Invalid key length
The volume MacPro Backup could not be repaired.
Volume repair complete.Updating boot support partitions for the volume as required.Error: Disk Utility can’t repair this disk. Back up as many of your files as possible, reformat the disk, and restore your backed-up files.
What should I do? Any way to salvage some of the backups? Or do I just reformat the drive and go from there?

See Pondini's TM FAQs, for starters.

Power Mac G4 - invalid node structure

I am hoping someone can help me. I have a Power Mac G4 - 933....we had a power outage and the Mac would not turn on...the power light lit up when pressed but the computer wouldn't boot...I reset the PRAM and all was good...except a file I had was corrupted and couldn't be opened....after that, a month later, another power outage. This time I had more trouble as resetting the PRAM didn';t work...I reset the logic board (taking out the battery for 30 minutes then replacing) and that didn't work either...I tried several combinations of the above to no avail...I finally took out the battery for over and hour, powered up the computer without the battery and it started...so the battery was corrupted. I replaced the battery (correct one of 3.6 volts) and the computer fired right up. I ran disk utilities to see if all was okay. Checking preferences was fine but when I tried to verify, Disk Utilities came up with the message that it could not complete verifying and that it found "Invalid node structure" and that it could not repair the disk. I then tried fsck to repair and to no avail...fsck gave me several messages depending on the repair options I tried including one that included that the problem was in "memory 4, 23412"....it said it could also not repair due to "os/10 i/o error" and the second run I took at it with a different method told me there was a problem with "DIMM 2/J23 memory"...Apple's website says that if I get an uprepairable message from disk utility that I should back-up, erase and do a clean install...but with these messages indicating the problem is in the memory, since the battery runs the memory, could it be in there instead? ...of important note, I do not have the original install disk...the operating system running it is Tiger 10.4.11...I don't have the orignal disk and I have an empty 10.5 Leopard disk box with no idea where the disk is...I have snow leopard, but that cannot be installed on the G4....after running the last fsck attempt, the computer shut down and is back to only having the power light lit when pressed but no computer booting...where should I start/what do I do? I am hoping you all have good suggestions for me because some of my files were bnot backed up (I know...don't judge) and I got them onto a flashdrive right before the computer went down again, but I have no idea if they took,...further, I love this old dinosaur...

Hi, only thing I've seen repair that is DiskWarrior, you'd need an older version...
http://supportdb.alsoft.com:591/FMPro?-db=alsoftsupport&-lay=main&-max=15&-forma t=AlsoftSupport-qa.html&-script=counter&-token=177&-Skip=96&-find
But it does sound like you have some bad RAM, but have you blown the dust out yet & tried reseating the RAM?

I got the dreaded "Invalid Node Structure" Error

Hi All,
I entered the Mac world recently with a spanking new Macbook Pro 15". Updated it online to the latest OS 10.6.4 Snow Leopard.
Today I was trying to install some more free application from the Official Mac Software Site. After installing a couple of softwares, I popped in the included recovery Disk and tryed installing xcode from the 'additional software' folder on the disk. But this failed
After this I thought of restarting the mac and try again. However, the **** thing now wouldn't boot anymore. Just stays on the Gray apple screen with the small ring rotating below it for ever.
Then I tried repairing it using the Disk Utility booting form the DVD. On verify Disk, it shows 'Invalid Node Structure'. So I clicked 'Repair Disk', And it just stayed there for ever without any progress. So I stopped it. And after trying the above 3-4 times, I Hard rebooted the system, and this time entered the console mode (Command + s).
Entered the command fsck_hfs -rf /dev/disk0s2 (disk0s2 is what Disk Utility showed me).
The output of this command shows:
** /dev/rdisk0s2
Executing fsck_hfs (version diskdev_cmds-491.0.2~7).
** Checking Journaled HFS Plus Volume
** Checking extents overflow file
** Checking catalog file
** Rebuilding catalog B-tree
disk0s2: I/O error.
disk0s2: I/O error.
disk0s2: I/O error.
disk0s2: I/O error.
disk0s2: I/O error.
disk0s2: I/O error.
disk0s2: I/O error.
disk0s2: I/O error.
disk0s2: I/O error.
disk0s2: I/O error.
And this goes on and on and on.... :((
Now what to do???

Hmmm, yeah that could be the last option, but I can't format the disk right now, 'cause I've some extremely important (not-yet-backed-up) files in it
So I'd like to try out all possible ways to recover the system before even thinking of a format!
BTW, the above fsck_hfs command I ran was by booting from the DVD itself.

IMac (March 2009) - Invalid Node Structure problem

Hi All
I was using my iMac as normal yesterday, when suddenly the system ground to a halt (something I never seen since using OS X). As I had work to do, after about an hour, I restarted, expecting it to be an app misbehaving or something straight forward, but on restart the same thing happened almost straight away.
So, I restarted again, only for the iMac to get stuck on the blue screen which follows the grey 'cog' screen. After looking through these discussions, and some other Mac forums, I booted from the installer disk, tried to run Disk Utility, which found issues and couldn't repair the disk.
I then tried Safe-User mode and fsck, which reported the aforementioned Invalid Node Structure problem. After checking a few more forums, I thought I would try to Erase the disk and reinstall Mac OS. I restored from my Time Machine backup, and finally got it to start, but the system moved at a snail's pace, and wouldn't open any apps or files.
I've tried again with fsck, and also fsck_hfs -r /dev/disk0s2 but all I get is the same error message:
disk0s2: I/O error.
Invalid Node Structure
(4, 38403)
** Volume check failed.
/dev/rdisk0s2 (hfs) EXITED WITH SIGNAL 8
So, does anyone know if there is anything I can do to save the iMac? Or does it need a new HD? It is my primary work computer, so I really need to get it back, and after buying it in the UK, am now in France for 6 weeks, so it's difficult for me to take it to an Apple specialist.
Any help would be greatly appreciated, thanks in advance,
Daniel

As the last user stated, Disk Warrior maybe able to correct it, however if you search the net, you will see there are more than one user with this problem. I had the same problem, however, my machine is out of warranty, It started like you are saying, I RAN disk warrior which corrected the problem long enough to boot the system. In a matter of 10 minutes or so, the system started pausing (apps hung, but in a matter of seconds recovered). I was checking the disk with fsck_hfs and fsck while booted from a USB drive with a maintenance install of 10.5.6. After running fsck the 5th time with different options suggested from the internet, I rebooted with my disk warrior DVD only to find the drive NOT mounted, Drive utility see's it (even can attempt to run disk repair, but it locks up the system when trying this). Disk Warrior doesn't even see the disk to run a directory repair, although in the "check s.m.a.r.t status it sees it as a sata device, and SAYS ITS NORMAL).
Since my iMac was out of warranty, I followed the online instructions to replace the hard drive (not too difficult) and everything is fine now.
The old drive still wont mount, but another utility I bought (data rescue II) has been able to quick scan it and access all the data, even though it wont clear a fsck fsck_hfs or disk warrior, anyways, get it back while you can, IT IS THE hard drive itself, and lots of other iMac users online with the same issue (can you say WHY is my iMac SOOO HOT on the apple in the back (right where the drive is and not sufficient cooling in my opinion, but hey, some people might want to lay their computers face down and fry eggs on the it or something... ))
-SD

Invalid node structure (4, 3980)

I just tried to install 10.4.6 on my imac 17inch falt panel. ( os from mac store , black disk )
First I ran "remember" to check the memory -all ok .
Then I ran the hardware check that came with the computer- all ok .
Then started an erase and install, choosing to install only the basic os ( no languages etc )
Every thing went smoothly, finnished installing and waited for 30 seconds for it to auto restart.
And it didn't restart .
So I started up in single user mode and ran /sbin/fsck -fy
then I get the message
disk0s3: I/O error.
Invalid node structure
(4, 3980)
**volume check failed.
so there you have it . Any ideas of what happened ?
Any Ideas of what I should do now .
Did I just fry it ?
thanks o-s-s-i

Thankyou for the reply.
and Thankyou for the link, I had never seen that before .
I'm sure it will come in use again some day .
Well, after doing what you said to do, things have improved a lot .
I ran "aht" and every thing was fine.
I don't have DW so I zero-ed out the data and reinstalled tiger.
So now for the first time I can see the beginning of tiger.
I can see the welcome words dance over the screen in 10 languages
and then it asks me to register , then as soon as I type the first letter of my name
it goes "boing" and welcomes me in 10 languages again.
So a vast improvment on - invalid node structure (4, 3980).
But still not in yet .
Maybe I'll zero again and install one more time .
Thanks again.

The term "invalid node structure"

can anyone out there explain (in real simple terms please) what "invalid node structure" means. this appeared when i ran disk utility and attempted to verify my start up disk. one day the disk was perfect, the next day it had invalid node structure and "needs to be repaired". so i started up from the install dvd and then ran disk utilities on the offending disk. the start up disk then indicated all was perfect. i restarted from the normal drive and again ran the utilities test. all is fine. so what is a node and how does it become invalid structurally and why did it get well by itself????

Google "invalid node structure" and you'll find many mentions of this problem. It basically means a directory entry on your disk has become corrupted. Running Disk Utility's Repair Disk option can sometimes repair the problem. If not, Disk Warrior from http://alsoft.com/ is my disk repair tool of choice.

Dreaded "invalid node structure" dealie

The MB had been running slowly and a lot of applications (particularly web browser) were having a hard time shutting down. I was occasionally required to do a hard restart. That being the case, I ran DU and got the "Invalid node structure" alert, saying the drive could not be repaired. I took it to a "genius" at the local Apple store and he said that such an error is due to a software issue and, as such, not repairable under warranty. "You have to get Disk Warrior or Tech Tool. That should fix it."
Well, I shelled out $100 for DW4 (which I know I should have, anyway) and it didn't fix anything. It said the directory couldn't be replaced due to disk malfunction (or somesuch). So, I figured it must be a bad HD, potentially. I even arranged for a take-in repair.
Well, today I decided to run an fsck in single-user mode, just to see what I could see. It, too showd the invalid node structure, as well as B-tree. It also stalled at the end. I thought, "OK, now I really did it." After a hard reboot, I ran DU again to verify disk. This time, it came up with no errors found, disk does not rquire repair, disk verified, etc.
I guess the question after all that - think I'm in the clear? What could the problem have been?
macbook 1.8GHz - PB G3 (Lombard) 333mHz Mac OS X (10.4.9)
macbook 1.8G - PB G3 (Lombard) 333mHz Mac OS X (10.4.9)

Thanks for the response.
When I got home from work, I ran DW. Unlike prevous attempts, it was able to rebuild and replace the directory. Re-ran Disk Utility once again, to be sure, and it came up as all good. Also, both DW and DU gave an A-OK to S.M.A.R.T. status.
After rebuilding the directory, everything's running much faster and I no longer have to force quit all the time. Seems to be doing its thing.
Fingers crossed ...
macbook 1.8G - PB G3 (Lombard) 333mHz Mac OS X (10.4.9)

Invalid Node Structure, Mac Not Starting

*THE PROBLEM*
My MacBook does not start. All I see when I press the power button is a gray screen with an apple logo and a spinning wheel.
*WHAT CAUSED THE PROBLEM*
I changed the input languages settings in international in system preferences to “Devnagari-QWERTY”. Then I typed my name in 'Devnagari' in Textedit and copied it. I created a new folder on desktop and pasted my name copied earlier. It worked. So I went ahead and tried renaming my startup disk (Macintosh Disk) in the same manner. I clicked on its icon, hit enter and command+v. Immediately my mac froze. Noting happened. Even commandoptionesc did not work. After a long time I pressed the power button for 5 sec and tried a restart. Now it won't start.
*SOLUTIONS I TRIED*
1. *Safe Boot (shift while startup):* No result, all I get is a gray screen, an apple logo and a spinning wheel appears after a minute and its stuck there.
2. *Tried Single User mode (command+s):* Computer does not start and is stuck with the following text.
Probe booting in single user .. do not match
disk0s2: 0xe003005 (UNDEFINED)
Load of /sbin/launchd, errno 85, trying /sbin/mach_init
disk0s2: 0xe003005 (UNDEFINED)
Load of /sbin/launchd failed, errno 85
3. *Tried Verbose mode (command+v):* Computer does not start and is stuck with the following text.
disk0s2: 0xe003005 (UNDEFINED)
Load of /sbin/launchd, errno 85, trying /sbin/mach_init
disk0s2: 0xe003005 (UNDEFINED)
Load of /sbin/launchd failed, errno 85
4. *Disk Utility from OS X Install disk:* Tried using repair disk. But it does not work either. All it says is
Verify and Repair disk “Macintosh Disk”
Checking HFS Plus Volume
Checking Extents Overflow file
Checking Catalog file
“Invalid Node structure”
Volume Check failed
Error: The underlying task reported failure on exit.
1 HFS Volume Checked
1 Volume could not be repaired because of an error.
*5. Reinstalling OS X from install disk:* I tried this as a final resort.
a) The normal install did not work because my startup disk had OS X 10.4.11 and my install disk had 10.4.6, so it gave an error that I have a “newer version installed”.
b) I can not do an archive and install because I have only 4 GB free space and it requires at least 15GB.
c) I do not want to do erase and install because I do not want to loose my data.
*MY MACBOOK*
1. I have a first generation MacBook, Intel Core Duo 1.83 with 512 MB Ram and 60 GB HDD with Mac OS X 10.4.11.
2. S.M.A.R.T status of the disk is verified
3. I can browse my files on the disk if I click on new disk image in Disk Utility from Install Disk.
4. There is no problem in mounting the disk.
LIMITATIONS
1. I am not at my university so I do not have any other external HDD or any other Mac for a “Target Disk Mode” for data backup.
2. All I have is my Mac and 10.4.6 install disk.
3. No broadband so can not download large files.
4. I can not loose my data.
Is there any way of fixing the Mac, given the limitations given above. Something using command line, or anything that will make it work again. How do I fix the invalid node structure. I really do not want to loose my data and I am in transit so I really need my Mac to work.
Any help would be appreciated.

Ambarish:
The article Disk Utility reports "Underlying task reported failure" when repairing a volume gives more information about the issue you are experiencing. The reference in the article to a third party utility is the utility referenced by BGreg, Disk Warrior.
Please do post back with further questions or comments.
Good luck.
cornelius

'fsck -fy' yields "invalid extent entry, invalid node structure"

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