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?

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Any advice on external hard drives and invaild node structure?

(Since I wrote a lot) The Basic summary:
What external hard drive would you recommend? How do I run/use safe mode to fix the "invalid node structure" error? Or the worst case scenario, how do I reinstall the OS?
The long version
I have an iMac PowerPC G5, OS X 10.4.11... When I last turned it on, it took 15 minutes to go through the startup process. I opened to Safari to try to find some answers but it was half working and slow. Firefox was fine.
I ran disk verify and found the invalid node structure error. I backed up some files onto DVDRs but I didn't get everything.
Going through forum threads it seems I have two options.
-One is to go into safe mode and type in commands to run disk repair repeatedly until no errors show.
-Second option is to start over and reinstall everything.
Obviously, I would like to avoid reinstalling. Can someone help me with what commands I need to type in when I start safe mode, make repairs and to get out of safe mode?
Also, before I begin to fix the error I need to finish backing up my files. Instead of dealing with CDs, I would like an external hard drive. Any recommendations?
I've read that USB is kind of slow and because I own a powerpc I can't boot from the external hard drive (via USB). I don't know if booting from the external hard drive is something I should worry about...? I found this Mercury quad that seems to cover all options but not sure if the brand is worth the price? Or is there something similar for less?
http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/firewire/1394/USB/EliteAL/400+USB2/
Thank you in advance! I hope that wasn't too long of a post...

Hi baran1, and a warm welcome to the forums!
Going through forum threads it seems I have two options.
More actually...
DiskWarrior...
http://www.alsoft.com/diskwarrior/details3.html
Drive Genius…
http://www.prosofteng.com/products/drive_genius.php
TechTool Pro…
http://www.micromat.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=83
One is to go into safe mode and type in commands to run disk repair repeatedly until no errors show.
To clear up some confusion, those are two different modes, Safe Boot, (Safe Mode), from the HD, (holding Shift key down at bootup), tries to repair the HD while the Radian is going.
PS. Safe boot may stay on the gray radian for a long time, let it go, it's trying to repair the Hard Drive.
Single User Mode is where you would type those commands in.
To use fsck, you must run it from the command line. Unlike using your mouse to open an application to do something, you'll need to type a text command at the prompt (#) to tell fsck what to do. The Terminal application (/Applications/Utilities) and single-user mode are two examples of command-line interfaces in which you can type such commands. To use fsck:
1. Start up your computer in single-user mode to reach the command line. Hold CMD+s keys down at bootup. Note: If necessary, perform a forced restart as described in the Emergency Troubleshooting Handbook that came with your computer. On desktop computers, you can do this by pressing the reset/interrupt button (if there is one) or holding down the power button for several seconds. On portable computers, simultaneously press the Command-Control-power keys. If your portable computer doesn't restart with this method, you may need to reset the Power Manager.
2. At the command-line prompt, type /sbin/fsck -fy
(SPACE between fsck AND -fy important)
3. Press Return. fsck will go through five "phases" and then return information about your disk's use and fragmentation. Once it finishes, it'll display this message if no issue is found: 
The volume (nameofvolume) appears to be OK  If fsck found issues and has altered, repaired, or fixed anything, it will display this message: *** FILE SYSTEM WAS MODIFIED ***   Important: If this message appears, repeat the fsck command you typed in step 2 until fsck tells you that your volume appears to be OK (first-pass repairs may uncover additional issues, so this is a normal thing to do).
4. When fsck reports that your volume is OK, type reboot at the prompt and then press Return.
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=106214
Then Safe Boot, (holding Shift key down at bootup), & use Disk Utility from there to Repair Permissions, reboot once more.
Or is there something similar for less?
The FireWire 400 + USB 2.0 model is cheaper than the FireWire 800/400 + USB2, + eSATA 'Quad Interface' on that page.

Ext. Drive issues/ invalid node structure

I am running a few Lacie 500GB drives and one of them has gone kapoo.
it will not mount and says it has no volume OSX can read,
in Disk utility it shows up but after first aid verify it says the underlining task reported failure on exit (-9972)
and above that in Red text
checking catalogue file
invalid node structure
volume needs to be repaired
What can i do?

can you then repair it using disk utility? how bout initialize?

Hard disk w/ invalid node structure - Disk Util Repair fails

I have a 15" MacBook Pro that started having problems when software installs were run on it. It came back with out of disk space on volume ("null"). I ran Disk Util after booting off my OS X install disk. I get the following:
Verify and Repair disk "Macintosh HD"
Checking HFS Plus volume.
Checking Extents Overflow file.
Checking Catalog file.
Invalid node structure
Volume check failed.
Error: The underlying task reported a failure on exit
1 HFS volume checked
1 volume could not be repaired because of an error
I did a repair disk permissions before executing the Repair Disk so that is all set.
Any guidance here would be helpful. I would rather not reformat the disk and start over if I can help it.

Hi, William.
See the "Disk Utility cannot repair the disk" section of my "Resolving Disk, Permission, and Cache Corruption" FAQ.
Good luck!
Dr. Smoke
Author: Troubleshooting Mac® OS X
Note: The information provided in the link(s) above is freely available. However, because I own The X Lab™, a commercial Web site to which some of these links point, the Apple Discussions Terms of Use require I include the following disclosure statement with this post:
I may receive some form of compensation, financial or otherwise, from my recommendation or link.

Recurring Invalid Node Structure

Hello All,
My Macbook Pro is just 9 months old. It started getting extremely slow and gets hung periodically. Checked the logs. It is showing Disk I/O error. Ran disk utility with the Mac OS installation disk. It shows "Invalid Node Structure".
I then erased all data from hard drive by Zeroing out and reinstalled OS. It starts running fine but only for few days. It gives the same problem again. I tried fcsk utility also from single user mode. it resolves the problem but only for a few days. The problem appears again!!
I thought erasing and reinstalling would resolve the problem unless the hard drive needs to be replaced.Any suggestion would be very helpful.
Thanks,
Sopan

Recurring Invalid Node Structure problems can sometimes be well nigh unrepairable, Sops. They sometimes indicate progressive failure of the drive itself.
I'd be inclined to download the trial copy of "SMART Utility" from http://www.volitans-software.com/smart_utility.php and test the drive with it to make sure this isn't essentially a hardware problem with the drive before accepting the 'SMART" status from Disk Utility . SMART Utility provides much more information in a situation like this, and, though it can sometimes be almost too "critical" , in a situation where you have already tried zeroing without success I'd be inclined to believe it.
With the price of drives down where they are today it probably makes sense to simply get the drive replaced if you run into recurring issues of this kind. In your case you are still under hardware warranty anyway. It is very frustrating to spend hours or days sorting out a drive with "Invalid Node Structure" only to find it recurs a couple of weeks later anyway because it has a hardware defect.
Cheers
Rod

Hard Drive Invalid node structure - Disk Utility Repair Failed -

Disk Utility returns
Invalid node structure
(4, 27237)
Repair Failed Unable to unmount Drive
I can still boot from the drive. So should I start looking for a new hard drive? or is the problem not that serious.
Thanks

SuperDuper is safe and reliable backup program to clone a drive.
For 500GB I would go with a pair of WD RE2.
Makes an excellent boot RAID.
Seagate in a RAID but not for boot drive.
10.4.6 DVD? that is the latest version. 10.4.0, not so good.
Always have two backups. AND have one partition on another drive just for emergency.
Once you have a good solid system, back it up. Put it somewhere safe.
A lot of problems tend to get created and grow from cache files and folders. Fonts, system, extension cache, web browsers, even temp files left over from printing.
Put all your updaters somewhere safe on another disk.
Burn them to DVD.
Don't use Software Update.
Use standalone updates and keep them handy, then apply when you need to. Many or most can be run in succession without restarting.
Can you install OS X to the other 250GB drive? well, maybe not until you are sure it is safe, backed up etc.
From the DVD, Disk Utility, the Restore tab lets you select the source drive and destination drive and will copy everything over.
Finder: Get Info on target destination, look to be sure "Ignore Ownership" if NOT selected (won't be bootable and permissions will be wrong).
Would be nice to have a 32GB emergency boot partition (large enough for burning DVDs as well as system).
If you had a FW drive you could download and buy Disk Warrior.

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.

My hard drive crashed and I lost everything on my Mac desk top, including my Adobe Lightroom. I had my hard drive replaced but how do I download to my new hard drive? I have my previous serial number but when I entered that, it said it was invalid.

My hard drive crashed and I lost everything on my Mac desk top, including my Adobe Lightroom. I had my hard drive replaced but how do I download to my new hard drive? I have my previous serial number but when I entered that, it said it was invalid.

Lightroom - all versions
Windows
http://www.adobe.com/support/downloads/product.jsp?product=113&platform=Windows
Mac
http://www.adobe.com/support/downloads/product.jsp?product=113&platform=Macintosh
Contact Adobe Support by chat for serial number issues:
http://helpx.adobe.com/x-productkb/global/service1.html ( http://adobe.ly/1aYjbSC )

Cloned Time Machine Drive Invalid Node Structure

My Hitachi 2TB HD I use for Time Machine started sending out S.M.A.R.T. errors earlier this month, so I sent it in to Hitachi under warranty. Before I sent it out, I was able to clone the drive to another 2TB drive using the Restore feature in Disk Utility. This worked great, I have since been using the clone as a Time Machine drive and doing regular automatic backups - smooth so far!
When I got the new drive back from Hitachi, I tried to send the data back to the new drive using the same Restore function, and it looked like it was a complete success. After the restore process finished, both drives suddenly reporting "Invalid Node Structure" in Disk Utility.
I've since tried Disk Warrior, and it tells me I'm out of RAM (I have 8GB of RAM on a 2 x 2.26 Quad-Core MacPro) and the Disk Utility Repair Disk function is failing. I've since done a complete wipe of the new drive again (I used the Certify function in SoftRAID 4.0), and voila, no errors on the new drive. I then tried simply dragging over the Backups folder from the clone, and Finder tells me "Operation Not Supported." Strangely enough, Time Machine backups still work!?
Any idea how this happened and how I can fix it? I really can't buy Drive Genius only to find out it's not going to work too...do you think it would work? I would really hate to completely lose all this valuable backup data, it's been quite valuable to have around in the past.
Thanks everyone for your help, I'm at a total loss as to what happened.

John Nightingale1 wrote:
I then tried simply dragging over the Backups folder from the clone, and Finder tells me "Operation Not Supported."
Yes, prior to Lion, you can't copy Time Machine backups with the Finder.
Are both drives formatted exactly the same, and with the GUID Partition Map scheme?
I'd be inclined to just let Time Machine start fresh on the new drive. You can always view and restore from the old one via the Browse ... option, per #17 in Time Machine - Frequently Asked Questions.

HD crash. Disk utility says invalid node structure, invalid record count. Disk utility cannot repair. Now what?

My hard drive crashed. The disk utility says it can not repair. I tried to boot in safe mode but I stopped after 10 minutes. Is that impatient or how long can it take?
I have the installation disk but doesn't that erase everything?

I have never bought a new computer from Apple so I don't know the details of what is covered by the warranty. You can try taking it to the Apple Store and they may have a copy of DW they can run. Or maybe not and they will just wipe the drive and reinstall the OS for you and if you haven't made a backup before they do that then tough luck. I'd check first!
If you buy Diskwarrior on DVD it will boot the computer. I think Apple Stores carry it, but you can also buy it directly from the vendor. I also don't use Lion OS so I don't know the details. You may be able to get their download version and boot from your recovery partition, then run it without a DVD.

Invalid Node Structure on SSD

so i got a vertex 2, 120gb ssd drive a couple of weeks ago, but suddenly my computer crashes hard, my cpu turns out 89c (about 180F) in temp and "quickload D" uses up most of the cpu power. i force quit everything and DMG files just get some error i cant remember now. so i try restart right. but i just get the apple logo and some gray bar at the bottom that goes maybe 10% of the way and then it just shuts off. tried to boot a couple of times but nothing.
so then i boot from the snow leopard disc and run diskutl. and find "Invalid Node Structure" thats not reparable when verifying the disk. so now i have to reinstall. because i haven't come around to getting a system backup yet.
this goes without a hitch and the macbook is just fine now. no invalid node when running verification.
after scouring through OCZs forums i find this to be a reoccurring theme, but mostly on the vertex(1), and that not letting the computer go into hibernation will/might solve this.
so my long winded question is this. anybody else have this happen to them? have you fixed it? and what kind of SSD do you have?

Is your computer still under warranty? If so you might want to bring it to a genius bar. http://www.apple.com/retail/geniusbar/

How can you repair "invalid node structure and invalid b-tree node size"

I have a MacBook Pro 17" and the original install disk is Mac OS 10.4. I have an update 10.6 install CD, but I cannot use it to boot up my computer. My computer had been running on 10.6 when the problem occurred.
It seems my harddrive has crashed. It only boots to apple logo and spins. I have reset the pram. Started up in safe mode with shift pressed down and started up on the start up disk, where I did repair disk and got this "invalid node structure invalid b-tree node size". Then it said repair failed to complete. I tried booting again but it still failed. I thought doing a restore might solve the problem. I have a month old backup with time machine which is on a lacie external drive, but when I try to restore using my original 10.4 install disk, I can only choose the lacie hardrive icon (by dragging) and cannot choose the folder in the backups with the latest backup. When I tried to restore, it says my source is not a valid option. Is this because it is a 10.4 startup disk.
Basically I have two questions: Is there a way to fix my problem without doing a restore and if I have to restore, how do I restore my time machine backup? Will I need to do a reinstall with 10.4 and then update to 10.6?
I really hope to find a way to have my computer back to how it was when it started spinning and if not, at least as it was when I did the latest backup 3 weeks ago.
Please help me!!!
Rebecca

You should be able to boot to the Snow Leopard upgrade disc — you had to do so to install the upgrade in the first place. If you can't boot to it now, either the disc is scratched or dirty or your drive's lens is dirty; for the latter problem, a drive cleaning disc is an inexpensive, frequently-used and often successful remedy, available at any store that sells DVDs.
Because you're running Snow Leopard now, you should repair your hard drive directory using the Snow Leopard version of Disk Utility, not the one on your Tiger installer disc. If you aren't able to do so even after trying to clean your drive, you could buy and use DiskWarrior to rebuiild the damaged HD directory. But DW costs nearly $100, and though it would probably do the trick, that's a bunch of money. You'll have to weigh its cost against the value of the new or changed data on your drive that hasn't been backed up in the last three weeks. If you can get along without that data, then erasing your hard drive and restoring from your last backup is the no-cost, immediate (as opposed to waiting for a DW startup disk to arrive in the mail) solution.

Startup partition dies in the middle of booting, Invalid node structure?

Hi! In the last few weeks, possibly since I last upgraded Lion and Safari, my iMac has been performing very badly. It's been sluggish, Safari and Finder repeatedly freezing and crashing/rebooting. Last night it escalated, and I launched Disk Utility to repair permissions. Ten hours later and no problems found. Not ten minutes later, the FInder crashes badly and I have to force a shutdown. When restarting, I get the grey progress bar, but it only reaches about 10%, then the hard drive whirrs and clicks a few times, and the computer shuts off. This happens every time I try to restart.
So instead, I boot into the recovery partition, and launch Disk Utility from there. Repair disk says the boot partition has an invalid node structure and I have to backup and reinstall. Now, I do have a Time Machine backup (a few days old since I don't have my Drobo on all the time due to the noise it makes), but since it's 800 GB of data I'm a bit reluctant to commit to that, hoping there is a simpler/faster solution. I'll see if I can try Disk Warrior. Or do you think I'd be better off to just nuke the entire drive and start from scratch?
The strange thing is that I have a Bootcamp partition with Windows 7, which works fine and actually can browse the files on the Lion partition. What does that mean? Can I use that to my advantage? If I do restore from Time Machine, will that affect my Bootcamp partition?

Disk Warrior confirmed that there were problems, but couldn't repair the node structure, possibly because of bad blocks. Support at the local Mac store (we don't have Apple stores here) said I should just try reinstalling the system, so that's what I did. It didn't work the first time, but then I reformatted the partition and since then everything has worked allright. I have now restored everything from the TM backup (which took about a day). I'm now guessing that the whirring was not actually some mechanical problem with the drive, but on the other hand DW wasn't too happy about the drive, so maybe I still have to replace it? I'm using it now and it seems better than before, but I won't do any serious work on this computer until I have a new TM backup in place.
(On that note, is it possible to "link" the restored system to the old TM backup that it was restored from? Or do I have to start over with a completely new TM backup, losing all the versioning of the old backup?)
UPDATE: Just ran Disk Utility, which now reported an erroneous block count in a file. Crossing my fingers hoping it's nothing critical adn that DU can repair it ...

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

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.

MBP 15" - Hard drive crash - invalid node structure

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