Invalid index key - hard drive/ OS problems

After a power surge, I was unable to boot up (using 10.5.1). However, running repairing disk permissions solved this. I still have lots of issues with the hard drive itself though - mainly with files being reported as lost, incorrect reports of the hard drive being full, lag, crashes, etc. Tried Disk Utility and Fsck, neither have been able to repair the hard drive - both report an invalid index key or problems with the catalog file.
Is Disk Warrior the only solution, or would a format and clean install possibly solve the problem? At the moment I can still access my hard drive, and a back-up then clean install is a much easier (and less costly) solution for me.
Thank you!

"Invalid index key" is a much more serious error than you're likely to actually have, since you can mount the hard disk and access files on it. If the Catalog's index key is invalid, the whole filesystem is basically trashed. It's far more likely that other components were damaged by the power surge.
In my experience, the most common components to fail this way are the logic board and/or the RAM, which means a potentially expensive trip to your local Mac repair shop.
Sometimes a computer that was damaged by a power surge behaves better if it's placed behind a line conditioner, but your mileage may vary. Most good surge protectors are also line conditioners.
-:sigma.SB

Similar Messages

  • "Invalid Index Key" Error - External HFS+ Drive

    So I've got this external drive (Seagate Freeagent Go) that I formated with the Journaled filesystem. All of a sudden yesterday I could not access the drive after restarting my computer and when I could no longer see it on my desktop I opened Disk Utility. DU was able to see the drive and the partition but couldn't mount it, and when I ran a Verify/Repair I got the following:
    Verify and Repair volume “Artimis”
    Checking Journaled HFS Plus volume.
    Checking Extents Overflow file.
    Checking Catalog file.
    Invalid index key
    Rebuilding Catalog B-tree.
    The volume Artimis could not be repaired.
    Error: Filesystem verify or repair failed.
    Can anyone help me with a potential fix? I've had no power surges and had just been using the drive with no issues the night before

    It's possible that Disk Warrior may be able to repair the drive's directory. If not you will have to reformat it.

  • Hard Drive Node Problem, can't reinstall OS X.

    Hey all,
    I've been at this for a week or so now.
    My Mac has developed an error with it's B-Tree, 'invalid index key(4, 25152)'.
    Tried using Disk Utility in OS X, fsck in Single User, and attempted to use the Mac Install DVD as well as Disk Warrior. The latter two, I have copied and create dupes on other fresh DVD media.
    Both the disks just will not boot, Install DVD in Verbose Mode gets up to 'efiNVRAMPublished():' and hangs. In GUI Mode, a 'restart your computer' error happens.
    Also can't seem to get into Hardware Diagnostics, tried holding down D Key, probably missing a trick when it comes to that. I'm just getting the grey startup screen.
    Any advice on how I can now reinstall would be brilliant. The FS is obviously corrupt, I can just copy anything I needed from a Time Machine I've got.
    If you need anything else, just ask. I know my way around OS X, and should be able to report any info you'll need.
    Really missing some XCode projects at the minute.
    PS: This is written from my Windows 7 Bootcamp partition, so I don't think it's a hardware problem. This Mac was new, since Sept 12th 2010 (old one had mass faults so got a replacement model).
    Message was edited by: Matt Ryder

    That's just it, Apple Store in Manchester Trafford Centre.
    The guy basically said, it's not worth repairing so they'd just replace my 2.26GHz Macbook with that 2.4GHz refresh. He gave me the Macbook in that white sheet they come wrapped in, and I signed some forms.
    Didn't give me the disks, so I've just coped with the two Macbook disks from the 2.26GHz Macbook.
    Should I call up Apple and get disks for the 2.4GHz one?
    Slight improvement on the DW front. Now says 'Error: Missing driver \every\driver\on\disk' then KP's.
    It's a little bit difficult to get back to the Apple Store I went to, I've moved away for Uni a fortnight ago, don't wanna have to leave it until 18th Dec to get this (probably simple in the end) solution.

  • Spotlight is CONSTANTLY indexing my hard drive

    Mavericks Server 10.9.5.
    Whenever I use Spotlight, I virtually always get "Indexing <my hard drive name>", and "Estimating indexing time".
    If I put in a search term, it often works, but still with the "Estimating indexing time" barber pole at the bottom of the results window.
    I have tried all the known solutions with no effect. The problem has persisted through multiple OS updates.
    Possible clue: I notice a LOT (like about 5 every second) of lines like this in the System Log:
    7:49:533 AM mdworker: (Warning) Import: Bad path:
    (other than the timestamp, they are all exactly like this).

    Safari Web Content can build up over time.  You could try doing Safari>Reset Safari. I check every item in the list except "Saved names and Passwords" which would otherwise be a pain to re-enter for everything.
    Note also that unlike SL, Lion does not quit the app when you click on the x, so maybe you have very many lingering in memory. This should not make a difference as normally the memory manager copes with it, but just maybe a third party app is not letting go as it should.

  • Why can't spotlight index my hard drive?

    Since Spotlight can't index my hard drive, time machine won't make any backups. The old time machine backups still work and I can see and restore old files, but I cannot create any new backups.
    The problems seem to have started when I upgraded to iPhoto 11 (which would not load until the latest iPhoto update).
    The drive is attempting to index for literally weeks at a time and the system becomes unresponsive.
    How do I fix this? I have already brought it into the store where they fromated the drive but the problem came back.

    Since Spotlight can't index my hard drive, time machine won't make any backups. The old time machine backups still work and I can see and restore old files, but I cannot create any new backups.
    The problems seem to have started when I upgraded to iPhoto 11 (which would not load until the latest iPhoto update).
    The drive is attempting to index for literally weeks at a time and the system becomes unresponsive.
    How do I fix this? I have already brought it into the store where they fromated the drive but the problem came back.

  • Spotlight is not indexing my hard drive? Mail won't search for anything.

    Ok, So I tried the command prompt: "sudo mdutil -E /" and it just tells me that indexing is disabled. I've tried everything I can think of. Any ideas? I can't find a way for spotlight to re-index my hard drive. Also, when I search for anything in mail, nothing will come up. And I have it set to search for everything. Any ideas with that? Help with either problem would be appreciated! thanks.

    Might give a try with Spotless...
    http://www.fixamac.net/software/spot/

  • Spotlight on my iMac running snow leopard will not stop indexing the hard drive. How can I stop this?

    Spotlight on my iMac (OSX 10.6.8) has suddenly begun indexing the hard drive non-stop, causing very sluggish operation and spinning beach balls. Reinstalling the operating system has not helped, nor has repairing permissions or the disk.

    One of the first things that happens when installing a new version of OS X is that the Spotlight search app is setup to index all available hard drives.
    The indexing makes it faster and easier for the Spotlight Search app to find things on and off your Mac.
    You can either let it take the time it needs to do this (Spotlight will only do this one time, initially) OR if you just can't or want to wait for this to complete, you need to go into OS X System Prefences panel in the OS X Dock, locate the Spotlight icon.
    Click the Spitlight icon and another set of menus appear.
    Find the menu item dealing the Spotlight indexing and uncheck its checkbox to disable Spotlight indexing.

  • Unable to boot: Mac HD verify error - invalid index key

    Thank you in advance for your assistance. Please provide a detailed response. There is a lot I have to learn about computers.
    I allowed my macbook air mid-2013 os x 10.10.2 to update yesterday. I didn't look at what the update was (just saw the notification and clicked restart). It shut down, but did not restart. When I try to boot, the loading bar slows and tops at approx 35%, and the computer shuts off. I can boot in recovery mode. In disk utility, on the left side the first line is Macintosh HD. I can verify this without errors. The second line is also Macintosh HD written in lighter grey. I cannot interact with this until I click unlock and type in my password. After doing so, it is written in dark black, and I then have the option to verify disk. Doing so, I am given the follow error in the log:
    (in red) Invalid index key.
    (in red) Invalid record count.
    (in red) The volume Macintosh HD could not be verified completely.
    (in black) File system check exit code is 8.
    (in red) Error: This disk needs to be repaired. Click Repair Disk.
    A pop-up message says:
    Disk Utility stopped verifying "Macintosh HD"
    This disk needs to be repaired.
    I click an "ok" box, but the Repair Disk button is not available.
    At this point, I noticed the "mount" button is available. If I click this, it says:
    Mount Failed
    The disk "Macintosh HD" could not be mounted.
    Try running First Aid on the disk and then retry mounting.
    Of course, the only option in First Aid is Verify Disk, which I have already done.
    I also tried reinstalling OS X from safe mode, but the installation failed. I would ideally like to fix this without losing any data, but my computer is backed up so it won't be terrible if I have to start fresh. My SSD failed on my macbook air 2012, so I hope this isn't happening again.
    Thank you.

    Startup Issues - Resolve
    Startup Issues - Resolve (2)
    Startup Issues - Resolve (3)

  • 10.6.6 update killed Hard Drive - endless problems

    Like most people posting here the 10.6.6 update went fine at first, the App Store worked perfectly (of course...), then I tried to move a file to my External HDD and I got Error -36.
    I rebooted. Grey Screen with the spinning wheel never ending. Ran all sorts of Disk Utility things and various error messages came up (Signal 8, I/O ballsed-up - stuff I don't normally deal with so don't know about), then reading forums and this site in particular led to no avail. So, re-installed, losing a ton of stuff (yes, I know...). So far, so fairly pi$$ed off.
    So I'm back with 10.6 trying to update using 10.6.6 at first, then 10.6.5 (both normal and combo update) - nothing works. The Software Update fails when it tries to update before restarting, then each DMG file from Apple has an invalid checksum.
    So, for the chance to buy another version of Angry Birds I lose tons of work and my MBP is knackered.
    Can anyone suggest a next step? Merci in advance,

    That's why I'm thinking the drive really is going bad. If it can't write/read from those areas, then you're not going to get a good download unless it finds and area that has no problems.
    First, open Disk Utility and repair permissions. You'll probably see lots of things that aren't repaired. That's normal.
    Second, boot from the Install disk and repair the disk using DU.
    Then, try the update again.
    Also, on the original gray install disk that came with your computer is the Apple Hardware Test. If you boot to that disk while holding down the D key, it should start the hardware test. You can then run all the diagnostics to see if it finds anything. I haven't run them, so I'm not sure what options are available, but if it has an extensive test for the hard drive, that's probably what you want to do. But, don't exclude any other hardware tests, it could be something else interfering.
    Even if it says the Disk is OK and the SMART status in DU is Verified, the drive still could be failing.
    I had a drive that was acting up only when accessing certain files. I repaired, erased, installed, repaired, … Finally, the SMART status indicated the drive was failing. That was over several days of pulling my hair out trying to repair/restore etc. My point being it is hard to tell when/if a drive is going bad. Yours may be fine. You may suffer like I did for several days trying to get it working, eventually finding out you've been wasting your time.
    Since it sounds like you don't have a backup, you might consider purchasing an external drive, installing Snow Leopard on that, and then boot from it. If everything works fine on that, you can blame the internal drive. If it is still wonky, then there's something else going on. You've still got a good backup drive to use in the future, either way.

  • Install failed invalid index key

    I tried to install Leopard and the install failed and then my MacBook Pro would not restart. It would give the start up tone, then would just sit. I tried the disk utility and it would not repair permissions or the disk but it would show some problems including an "invaild index key". I went to the Apple Store and bought DiskWarrior. I asked one of the genius's about the problem and he thought I would have to reformat my hard drive. I went home and ran DiskWarrior and it fixed everything. I then installed Leopard with no more problems.
    I hope this helps somebody else.

    Perseverance pays off. Great work. Sometimes even a "genius" is not correct, and once again, DiskWarrior comes through.
    You might mark this question as answered by yourself to put it to bed.
    Message was edited by: nerowolfe

  • Spotlight not indexing after hard drive replaced

    Hi all
    Just wondering if anyone knows how to encourage Spotlight to re-index? Just had my hard drive replaced as part of the recall, and now Spotlight wont index anything.
    I've tried previous suggestions (adding and removing hard drive to privacy list, commands through terminal etc), but it's still not working.  All the software is up to date (10.7.5).
    Any ideas?  It's incredibly annoying, and making working on this computer virtually impossible at the moment.
    Cheers

    If you have more than one user account, these instructions must be carried out as an administrator.
    Launch the Console application in any of the following ways:
    ☞ Enter the first few letters of its name into a Spotlight search. Select it in the results (it should be at the top.)
    ☞ In the Finder, select Go ▹ Utilities from the menu bar, or press the key combination shift-command-U. The application is in the folder that opens.
    ☞ Open LaunchPad. Click Utilities, then Console in the icon grid.
    Step 1
    Make sure the title of the Console window is All Messages. If it isn't, select All Messages from the SYSTEM LOG QUERIES menu on the left.
    Enter "mdworker" (without the quotes) in the Filter text field. Post the most recent 50 or so messages that appear in the Console window — the text, please, not a screenshot.
    If there are runs of repeated messages, post only one example of each. Don't post many repetitions of the same message.
    When posting a log extract, be selective. Don't post more than is requested.
    Please do not indiscriminately dump thousands of lines from the log into a message.
    Some personal information, such as the names of your files, may be included — edit that out, too, but don’t remove the context.
    Step 2
    Do the same with the search string "mds".

  • Macbook Pro (Late 2011) 15" - Hard Drive Replacement Problem

    Hi there guys,
    My standard 750GB Hitachi Hard Drive failed on me last week and after speaking to AppleCare who told me that my laptop was out of warranty, I decided to try and fix the problem myself as I have a few friends that have had the same issue in the past and have switched the hard drives themselves.
    I bought a 1TB Western Digital WD10JPVX which comes with SATA-III, which I was led to believe my computer could handle after reading the numerous threads on here confirming so.
    I've fitted the new hard drive and sure enough the SATA connector attached fine, now the problem arises when I turn on my computer. On startup (with the OS X install disc inside the drive), the normal boot up chime sounds along with the Apple logo on screen, however, nothing else happens.
    I've tried the following:
    1. Holding down the Option Key to go into Startup Manager - After selecting the OS disc (with no hard drive listed alongside) nothing happens.
    2. Pressed the C button to boot from DVD - Again, no response.
    3. Tried to boot without the disc - Folder logo with a question mark in the middle flashes on screen, which I would imagine means no hard drive installed.
    If anyone else has had similar problems then I would love to hear from you.
    Thanks
    Matt Bayley

    I own both the early and late 2011 15" MacBook Pro.
    BOTH these Macs can RUN 10.6.8. Neither can Boot from the "Full Retail" 10.6 DVD, because it contains at best 10.6.3
    MacBook Pro
    Date introduced
    Original Mac OS X included
    (see Tips 1 and 3)
    Later Mac OS X included
    (see Tip 1)
    Mac OS X Build(s)
    (see Tip 2)
    MacBook Pro (15-inch, Late 2011)
    Oct 2011
    10.7.2
    10.7.3
    11C74, 11C2002, 11D2001
    MacBook Pro (17-inch, Late 2011)
    Oct 2011
    10.7.2
    10.7.3
    11C74, 11C2002, 11D2001
    MacBook Pro (13-inch, Early 2011)
    Feb 2011
    10.6.6
    10.6.7,10.7, 10.7.2
    10J3210, 10J3331a, 10J4139, 11A511a, 11C74
    MacBook Pro (15-inch, Early 2011)
    Feb 2011
    10.6.6
    10.6.7,10.7, 10.7.2
    10J3210, 10J3331a, 10J4139, 11A511a, 11C74
    The table show that your Mac shipped with 10.7.2  but i have affirmed (from other sources) that it is mainly a "speed bump" of the early 2011 version, and could run 10.6.7 if there were such an Installer DVD.
    Release Discs for a different model Mac will NOT work, because they only have the Drivers for that model. So forgetabout your iMac discs.
    I had to start with a "full retail" 10.6.3, Install on another appropriate Mac, update to 10.6.8, then clone to the MacBook Pro. Works fine, but what a torturous path.
    Were you running 10.6.8 or 10.7 or other when it stopped working?

  • HELP!~  new mac user with MAJOR external hard drive/iTunes problems

    Hi everyone,
    I hope you can help me out. I just got my new Powerbook Pro 2.0. It is really nice, but I am having a **** of a time with iTunes. I had an old Sony Viao and my friend turned me on to mac. So here I am, new computer and new 80G iPod. I have 120G of music on my external hard drive that played music right from the HD on my Vaio with no problems (until I upgraded to iT7.0, then the music ran choppy, but thats another issue). No, thinking that the Mac and iTunes will work perfectly together, I plugged in my External HD, turned on all the equipment, the mac finds the HD and I can see the music. Good. So, I change the location on the preferences to find the music on the ExHD and nothing. Then, I read all the forums and all and try EVERYTHING, moving the .xml file to the dektop, restarting iTunes, changing the location again, NOTHING works. I am about as frustrated as I can be. With over 26,000 songs that I cannot listen to.... I am about to regret this discision to get the mac. Any ideas? I also tried copy the files in the iTunes folder on the mac to the folder on the ExHD, but i don't know how on mac (there is no copy and paste command when you right click the mouse). I know my frustration is because I am new and dont know all the tricks yet.
    I wish I could just call my buddy, but I am in Afghansitan fighting the taliban and he is in Hawaii. Any help is GREATLY appreciated.
    Thanks
    MBP 2.0   Mac OS X (10.4.8)   Brand New Mac user.......

    Select your ext HD and do a key board command - CMD+I (Get Info - File Menu). Under the Ownership & Permissions tab - do you have read and write access? If not give yourself that access. You may be prompted for your admin password.
    If your ext HD is the same one you used with the Vaio then I am thinking your ext HD is formated as a FAT32 and not a NTFS. Mac can read NTFS but not write to a NTFS format disk. If it is FAT32 then Mac can read and write. If it is a HFS+ format (Mac format) then there is no issue of read and write unless the disk is locked.
    To copy files from one HD to anorther on a Mac - all you need to do is select and drag to the new location.
    Check the Help Menu's of iTunes and the Finder. There is wealth of info built into your Mac OSX.
    MJ

  • Install snow leopard from external hard drive-terminal problems!

    hi everybody ,
    i have a big problem :s
    wanted to restore and getting "Restore Failure Could not find any scan information... then i've followed some terminal commands..finished restoring and couldn't boot cause i only find Macintosh HD when i use "alt option" when i restart my macbook pro and even if i go to "startup Disk" i can find my partition of the external hard drive but when i click on it nd do retart it's can't boot ...another thing is tht m having a slow start and it's ask for my Password (i've no problem with password it just doesn't ask me to enter it before and i have internet and server failure)
    Due to terminal commands?? :((
    Plz help :s

    "How to install Snow Leopard from an External Hard Drive"
    * Launch Disk Utility
    * Select the External Firewire/USB device that you want to use as the boot drive for the upgrade
    * Click “Partition” from the menu options
    * Select 1 Partition, then click “Options” below the partition scheme
    * Select the top option for “GUID Partition Table” – it MUST be GUID to be bootable!
    * Click OK to create the GUID partition (this will reformat the drive, ie: all data is lost)
    * Next, click the “Restore” tab within Disk Utility
    * Select your newly made Snow Leopard 10.6 Install DVD image and restore this image to the GUID partition you just created OR…
    * Alternatively, you can select the Snow Leopard Install DVD and restore directly from the DVD to the GUID partition
    * After the restoration is complete, your GUID partition will now be bootable by Mac OS X!
    * Reboot the Mac holding down the “Option” key to pull up the boot loader, select the Snow Leopard install drive you just created rather than your default Mac OS hard drive
    * Install Snow Leopard as usual!
    Hope this helps!

  • Iomega Hard Drive Disconnecting Problems / iMac Freezing on shutdown/restart!

    I had noticed in the past week that when my iMac is in sleep mode that sometimes it is unresponsive when I try to wake it up to use it again, and then after a few minutes of trying, I have to manually power the computer on, like it randomly will shut itself down if it's in sleep mode for a longer time, but like I said, this is random.
    The BIGGER problem I've encountered in the past two days is that when I go to eject my Iomega eGo Blue 1tb hard drive, the drive will not disconnect, the name on the sidebar of my finder just changes from black to grey underneath the devices row and on the desktop the Iomega icon turns lighter to indicate that it is not in use, but I cannot eject the drive, so it's still somewhat connected to the computer. I've had this drive for over a year with no complaints as I use it on both my MacBook (2009) and iMac (which I purchased new in October '11).
    Instead of just turning off my hard drive or unplugging it, I try to restart my computer; however when I do that, the restart get stuck and nothing ends up working. I also have tried to shut it down with no luck, I then go to holding down the power button until it manually shuts down.
    I also plugged in the hard drive to my MacBook and am not experiencing any mounting or disconnecting problems with it. I am very afraid that this may cause my Iomega to crash before I can get another hard drive to back everything up with!
    I'm concerned that this could be a problem with both the hard drive and my Mac; does anyone have any input on this? I will probably end up taking it into the store or calling AppleCare, but I wanted to see if anyone else has had a similar problem.
    Thank you!

    First reset the SMC, you may need to do this 2-3x. Also reset the PRAM, again 2-3x. Finally restart the computer in Safe Mode to reset some of the caches, it's possible one is corrupt. When resetting the SMC & PRAM please carefully follow the instructions below:
    SMC RESET
    Shut down the computer.
    Unplug the computer's power cord and all peripherals.
    Press and hold the power button for 5 seconds.
    Release the power button.
    Attach the computers power cable.
    Press the power button to turn on the computer.
    PRAM RESET
    Shut down the computer.
    Locate the following keys on the keyboard: Command, Option, P, and R. You will need to hold these keys down simultaneously in step 4.
    Turn on the computer.
    Press and hold the Command-Option-P-R keys. You must press this key combination before the gray screen appears.
    Hold the keys down until the computer restarts and you hear the startup sound for the second time.
    Release the keys.

Maybe you are looking for