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.

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Recurring "Invalid Node Structure error"

Hello all,
Starting a new thread with this one....
Have done 5 complete re-partitions, clean SL installs and back ups from TM in the last four days. DU disk checks out fine after re-install, DU comes up clean.
After a few hours, the hanging beach ball returns, I run DU and get the "Invalid Node Structure" error message.
This in on the iMac that is 42 days out of Apple care......
Ran techTool after the last install, and it comes up clean....
What's the soultion? Nuke the drive and get a new on on my dime?
I've repartitioned, zeroed out the data and sit here with a naked drive, I really don't want to spend another day loading it up if it's shot....
The TM files and drive I'm backing up from check out fine.
Thanks,
Mark

Took 3+ hours. Came up clean. I have not restored from TM yet. Did the SL updates ect.
Repaired permissions, ran DU it comes up clean.
I will do some net surfing tonight (that's all I did this morning) still without loading the back up data, and we'll see if I get the beachball of death.
I will run another surface scan when I hit the hay, and see what it says in the morning.
If that is clean, I will restore the back up data, and run the surface scan again.
One step at a time until I can recreate (or not) the failure mode.
Tedious, but I have to get to the bottom of this. I don't want to load any of the TM back up on to the Mac Air until I'm sure it's not a software issue.
Mark

Invalid node structure error when verifying hard disk, please help

My 27" Mid 2011 iMac is having hard disk issues. I attempted to repair the disk but received an error that said the disk cannot be repaired and needs to be re-formatted. I have all my files backed up to an external hard drive so I erased and formatted the disk. After reformatting, I ran the verify disk function and got the message saying the HD appears to working properly. I reload OSX Lion and within a day, my computer freezes up and acts as if something is wrong. When I run the verify disk, I get the Invalid Node Structure error multiple times and then the message saying the disk cannot be repaired and I need to reformat the drive. I have completed this process several times and have had no luck. I have looked at a few forums with people who have had somewhat similar problems but am still unsure. I have seen people recommend programs like Disk Warrior to repair issues the hard disk utility cannot but I don't want to spend $100 dollars on this program if my hard disk is damaged and needs to be replaced. Any suggestions? Thank you

Make a "Genius" appointment at an Apple Store, or go to another authorized service provider.
Back up all data on the internal drive(s) before you hand over your computer to anyone. There are ways to back up a computer that isn't fully functional — ask if you need guidance.

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.

Invalid Node Structure errors keep coming back,

Hi people!
about 2 weeks I upgraded my internal HDD on my Mac Book 13" Unibody to a Western Digital Scorpion Blue 640gb... no big deal doing so. I booted up with the OX S 10.6 DVD and partitioned the drive into two and formatted each. I then installed OS X 10.6, then ran the software update. After every thing was complete I plugged in my USB 1TB drive and used Time Machine to create a backup.
After about a week of normal use I woke up one day to have my Mac Book take nearly 10min to boot, and when it did it was barely moving. I booted with the OS X DVD and ran Disk Utility and in reported Invalid Node Structure and I could not repair it. But the errors were only on the partition with OS X on it.
As I didn't have any files on that partition that I needed I did a Restore from Time Machine Backup that was on my USB drive. And all was good again. However this has happen about 3 times in the last 4-5 days. Each time I restore from the Time Machine backup and all is fine.
I thought I had it pinned down to a particular open source app that I was using but I restored the drive again last night and did not use that app this time... and this morning I am getting signs that something is going astray again (slow boot up times and slow shut down times etc). I am going to boot to the DVD and run Disk Utility again... but I am wondering is this software or can this new HDD be a dude? I never had this problem with the factory 160Gb Fujitsu drive that the Mac Book came with - although I never did partition that drive.
Any thoughts?
Cheers,
Chris

Hi streamworksaudio;
After you do that if this happens again, I would be really suspicious that drive is on the way out. I would be religious about backups and start checking around for a replacement.
Allan

Invalid node structure

I have a Hitachi 500GB Go usb disk and its throwing Invalid node structure errors. I tried ripping an image from this disk, after about an hour or so of data copied (approx 100GB in the dmg) it will just close out and delete the .dmg, no errors, no nothing!
Disk warrior and Disk Utility fail to repair the disk/directory.
What's next for low-level access to this disk without having to buy expensive recovery software?
Also, it happens on both mine and my client's MacBook Pros'

Self-resolved:
Fixed by booting into bootcamp Windows 7 (ironic right?) It seems to ignore this HFS error...
Just so you know, the Windows app Recuva + Bootcamp will in fact give you a last-ditch chance to recover your data from a corrupted HFS disk like this one.

Invalid node structure macbook 10.6.8

Im new to Macs and have absolutely no clue what to do im not worried about losing anything on it i just don't know how to fix and i don't have the disks i bought it used

You are going to need to get the disks, as the 'invalid node structure' error means you need to erase your hard drive and reinstall everything. Try talking to the person you purchased it from (they should have given the disk to you with the computer) but if you can't get it from them, contact Apple, they should be able to get you a copy of the original disks. There may be a small charge. If you can't get copies of the original disks, you will want to get a Snow Leopard install DVD which Apple sells through the online store - http://store.apple.com/us/product/MC573/mac-os-x-106-snow-leopard
Best of luck.

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.

I have an error of invalid node structure

I have an error of invalid node structure. Can I save my data from my hard drive? Is it even fixable?

Invalid Node Structure is not a hardware failure, it never was (you may still have a hardware failure, but the Invalid Node error is not indicative of this problem.
Still, Disk utility will certainly fail to fix it, and DiskWarrior will probably fail too.
But don't despair. Try this, and don't give up till you've tried it at least three times.
First, get the name of the partition of the failing volume.   You can get it most easily by finding your disk in Disk Utility, selecting your partition (not the drive) and type cmd-i.    Look for "Disk Identifier" right at the top.
Then, open up Terminal, and type this:
sudo /sbin/fsck_hfs -yprd /dev/disk5s2
substituting your disk identifier for the one already here.   Keep the "/dev/" part.   Enter your password, and wait. It may take a while. I have had this fail several times before finally working so its important to keep trying.   It's faster than a reformat!!!
If the afflicted disk is your startup disk, you will need to do this in recovery mode: restart the computer, hold down option, and wait for the disk options to appear.   Select that, then proceed to Disk Utility and then Terminal as described above.
Good luck, and always keep a backup!
chris watts

Macbook Leopard 10.5 is not booting up and not even getting Verified Error : Invalid Node Structure

Hey, I am using Macbook Leopard 10.5, Yesterday while i was working it was on low battery i thought to connect it later, but all of a suddent its stopped fucntioning and everything goes blank. I thought it might be a Battery problem, but even after connecting charger for 2-3 hours, its not booting up. Only the Apple screen comes and then it goes shut down automatically.
I even tried to fix it using Apple CD, Disk utility, When i tried to Verify the disk It shows following error :
Disk cannot be repaired or verify.
And details : Invalid Node structure
Volume needs to be repaired error : Filesystem verify or repair failed.
I have very important Data on this disk, so i cannot even erase it.
Suggest me somehting. It have enough space to install new OS but System shows you need erase it.
I have tried to use Apple Hardware test by Holding D key, But its not working.

Helloi
http://supportdb.alsoft.com:591/FMPro?-db=alsoftsupport&-lay=main&-sortfield=Dat e&-sortorder=descend&Keywords=node&Product=%22%22&-op=lte&Date=%2F%2F&-max=15&-f ormat=AlsoftSupport-qa.html&-script=counter&-token=177&-Skip=0&-find

MacBook pro stuck on start up, invalid node structure, diskos 1/0 error....

Hello.
After downloading steam and a few games my laptop froze, I tried starting it up but it goes no further than the blue start up screen.
I looked at some forms and used '/sbin/fsck -fy' to resolve the problem, but it says invalid node structure, diskos2 1/0 error... I don't hear and unusuial sounds coming from the harddrive. Other people simply replace their hard drives but I need to retrieve some recent important files that I had not backed up,        Is there any possible way of getting back my files or even fixing this problem ? Help please !

You have two options:
Buy Alsoft's Disk Warrior that will repair the problem.
Reformat the hard drive.
Option 1 costs $100.00. Option 2 requires having a current backup you can restore, erasing the hard drive, then reinstalling OS X, and restoring your data from your backup. If you choose Option 2:
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.

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?

Invalid Node Structure on Time Capsule.

Hi,
I was using my time capsule (7 months old) as a temporary network drive (Until I get a new network drive) for my iTunes library. And, no, currently this is my only computer without a time machine backup. One day last week, I was listening to some music and I tried to add a video to my library. It locked up and my time capsule stopped responding. Upon restart of the device, the drive wouldn't show up int he finder.
After a call to apple support (who were most gracious even though it was out of warranty), I still couldn't mount that partition. I had about 500gb of stuff on the drive (including my 300gb iTunes library) and was eager to retrieve it. I resorted to removing the drive from the time capsule and put it in a USB case. I plugged it into my mac and low and behold the drive showed up in the finder and disk utility.... except the partition with my data.
From what I understand disk1s3 is the standard partition for the data on a time capsule. It shows up in disk utility, but fails to mount and is grayed out. When I try and repair it, I get an error stating "invalid node structure".
After searching the internet for days, I found a site that had some terminal commands that should fix it, but it didn't.
I even tried diskwarrior and after DVD boot, even it wouldn't see that partition. The other two on the disk are fine and dandy.
Now, I'm stuck with a $300 brick and no data.
I don't have the money to do a professional data recovery.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
Brian

You have exhausted all the options you can at user level.. basically if the tools like disk warrior cannot recover it, then it has to go to professional disk recovery people.. who use different methods. And may still not get back data in the form you want it.
This is precisely why we tell everyone do not use TC for network storage. It is not suitable.

Invalid Node Structure error

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