Powerbook won't start - Disk Utility error "Invalid Key Length" - help plz!

Hello
I am having problem with my Titanium powerbook. Since it was refurbished I have only been using it for internet browsing and email and I don't know why it suddenly started freezing. After a couple of freezes it stopped starting up. I don't know why, as I wasn't doing anything unusual. I have run a few checks and don't know how to proceed. Please help.
This is what I have done so far:
1. Tried to start up in Safemode. Made the startup sound but then went dead.
2. I tried Single User Mode and did fsck -fy and the results were:
** /dev/rdisk0s10
** Root file system
** Checking HFS Plus volume
** Checking Extents Overflow file.
** Checking catalogue file
Invalid key length
(4, 135)
** volume check failed
localhost:/ root# Firewire (OHCI) Apple ID 18 built-in: no valid self IDs for more than 2 minutes after bus reset.
3. No problems were detected by the Hardware Test disk.
But the powerbook still won't start up properly. I can't get past the blue screen with the 'thinking' (rotating) circle icon (pinwheel?).
4. When I try to access the computer using a firewire cable the hard disk doesn't appear on the host computer.
5. I tried Disk repair Utility from startup using a disk but got the same result as with fsck -fy.
Any ideas?

Hi, Can't. Your hard drive's directory is damaged in a way that exceeds the limited repair capabilities of Disk Utility or fsck. DiskWarrior can fix "invalid key length" errors, as this short FAQ explains. If you have DiskWarrior, use it to make the repair. If you don't, you can either buy DW, or reformat the hard drive with Disk Utility and start over. Note that reformatting the drive will erase everything on it, so if there's any important, un-backed-up data on it that you can't afford to lose, buying DW will be the better option for you.
Message was edited by: eww

Similar Messages

Error-Invalid key length?

My G5 osx 10.4.3 keeps crashing, Cd's don't showup.
I've run various utilities on it, nothing fixes it.
When running disk utility it gives message-
Invalid key length and says volume can't be repaired.
Also tried Techtool deluxe and disk warrior.
Any ideas?
Ty

I don't see much hope knowing you tried the usual utilities. I trust you tried all the repair procedure while booted from a CD...
If you haven't done so already, backup as much as you can on an external HD (I would even try a clone)
Erase and zero your HD. Reinstall Tiger and retrieve as much as you can from the external HD.
By the way, if you don't yet have an external HD, now is the time to get one that is at least as large as your internal HD. Compared to the time lost and the anguish experienced they are cheap...
Backup regularly...

Intel iMac won't boot & Disk Utility error-can't verify disk

I posted earlier today that my 24" intel iMac (2.4Ghz Core 2 Duo) froze yesterday after a Safari crash. I had to shut it down with the power button. Since then it won't start up. Sometimes it starts, then shuts off. Other times it starts, then the little gear just spins. I've done the keyboard commands for RAM, the complete disconnect of power, then reconnect, and the Disk Uitility with the install disk. When I do Disk Utility to verify, it gives me a red-letter error that it cannot verify on both verification checks. I have also tried, via the install disk, to repair by using a Time Machine backup, but that utility has been spinning and spinning on my Time Machine for hours, and I cannot even click the "Continue" button because it is busy (checking the time machine?)
I am out of ideas as to how to move on from here. My AppleCare expired 2 months ago, so that's a problem. I've had no major issues before now, except for earlier this year when Mail wouldn't open for some reason. Anyway, I'm at my wits' end here. I NEED my Mac. I'm disabled and have no better source of entertainment or socializing. My hobbies are editing audio, video, & photos. Without my Mac, I'm just in the middle of the sea in a raft with no oars. Any helpful suggestions will obviously be much appreciated. Thanks.

Reinstall OS X without erasing the drive
Do the following:
1. Repair the Hard Drive and Permissions
Boot from your Snow Leopard Installer disc. After the installer loads select your language and click on the Continue button. When the menu bar appears select Disk Utility from the Utilities menu. After DU loads select your hard drive entry (mfgr.'s ID and drive size) from the the left side list. In the DU status area you will see an entry for the S.M.A.R.T. status of the hard drive. If it does not say "Verified" then the hard drive is failing or failed. (SMART status is not reported on external Firewire or USB drives.) If the drive is "Verified" then select your OS X volume from the list on the left (sub-entry below the drive entry,) click on the First Aid tab, then click on the Repair Disk button. If DU reports any errors that have been fixed, then re-run Repair Disk until no errors are reported. If no errors are reported click on the Repair Permissions button. Wait until the operation completes, then quit DU and return to the installer.
If DU reports errors it cannot fix, then you will need Disk Warrior and/or Tech Tool Pro to repair the drive. If you don't have either of them or if neither of them can fix the drive, then you will need to reformat the drive and reinstall OS X.
2. Reinstall Snow Leopard
If the drive is OK then quit DU and return to the installer. Proceed with reinstalling OS X. Note that the Snow Leopard installer will not erase your drive or disturb your files. After installing a fresh copy of OS X the installer will move your Home folder, third-party applications, support items, and network preferences into the newly installed system.

Iphoto won't start - disk utility can't fix file volume

I've posted my iphoto problems on the iphoto forum and they suggested I post here on the Tiger forum.
It all started when I completed the automatic software upgrade for iphoto and other applications (can't remember which) and when I started iphoto, all my pictures disapeared in front of my eyes. Tried a number of tricks suggested on the iphoto forum and one worked for a while but now iphoto won't even start up.
One suggestion was to fix disk permissions. This did not work and got a message that there was on error in one of the file volumes. When trying to fix that using disk utility, the application can't exit properly and the problem persists. Another suggestion was to use DU from the start up disk and I did that with no results, same problem as before.
HELP! I can't use iphoto and it appears I have something wrong with my hard drive. All other applications appear to work fine and I have all my photos and music backed up on a backup drive.
Do I need to re-install Tiger? Help Please
Intrepid 007

If you have run Disk Utility and it cannot repair the drive then you have a couple of choices. First, you could purchase a more robust utility such as Disk Warrior or Tech Tool Pro or Drive Genius. Disk Warrior is an excellent program for repairing the disk directory.
You could do a reinstall, just make sure to backup all of your files first. If it were me I would do a reformat and reinstall rather than an archive and install just to insure that whatever corruption is on your system is gone, but that is me.

Disk Utility Error: The underlying task reported failure on exit 1

    #!/bin/bash
      # Author : Bill Hernandez
    # Location : Plano, Texas
    # Updated : Saturday, June 6, 2009 (1:48 PM)
    # script name : setdisk_ownerenabled
    # make sure to set permissions to execute
    <hr>
    # Description :
    <hr>
    # I've noticed that sometimes when using disk utility I cannot repair permissions, or I might get :
    # ERROR: The underlying task reported failure on exit 1
    # This shell script seems to have solved the problem.
    # It worked very well for me,
    # IF YOU USE THIS SCRIPT, IT IS AT YOUR OWN RISK...
    # DO NOT USE IT UNLESS YOU UNDERSTAND WHAT IT DOES
    # After running it, it is best to restart before using Disk Utility again
    <hr>
    # Details :
    <hr>
    # After partitioning a disk using "Disk Utility", and then begin using it, at some point I would get
    # an arror message when trying to save to one of the partitions, yet when I looked at the permissions
    # everything looked fine. I would then try to use Disk Utility to repair permissions and end up with a
    # cryptic error that pretty much told me nothing.
    # I noticed that while in Disk Utility, if I selected a partition the lower LH corner of the dialog
    # showed : Owners Enabled : No
    # I tried selecting the partitions at the Desktop and doing a (CMD-I) and at the very bottom of each
    # info dialog there was a checkbox :
    # [ ] ignore ownership of this volume
    # which I would check, even after logging in as root, and I couldn't seem to get a consistent way
    # to get rid of the permissions dialog failure, so I found the vsdbutil command which can be used
    # as follows to get partition, or disk info :
    # $ vsdbutil -c /Volumes/driveor_partitionname
    # ----> Permissions on '/Volumes/driveor_partitionname' are enabled.
    # if it is not enabled you can enable the disk or partition using :
    # $ vsdbutil -a /Volumes/driveor_partitionname
    # It will set "Owners Enabled : Yes"
    # This below script loops through the mounted disks, partitions, etc. and gives you information.
    # You can leave the three flags below all set to TRUE, or selectively use what you want and change
    # the rest to false...
    <hr>
    # CHOOSE {"TRUE", "FALSE"}
    <hr>
    getvolumestatus="TRUE"         # get "Owners Enabled : (Yes|No)" status
    setvolumestatus="TRUE"         # set "Owners Enabled : Yes"
    list_volumes="TRUE"                   # show volume names
    <hr>
    # DO NOT CHANGE ANYTHING BELOW HERE
    <hr>
    if [ $getvolumestatus == "TRUE" ]; then
     echo '============================='
     echo '$getvolumestatus'
     echo '============================='
     # get "Owners Enabled : (Yes|No)" status
     for i in $( df -l | sort -u | awk '{print $6}' | grep '/' ); do
     vsdbutil -c $i
     done
    fi
    <hr>
    if [ $setvolumestatus == "TRUE" ]; then
     echo '============================='
     echo '$setvolumestatus'
     echo '============================='
     sudo echo -n
     # set "Owners Enabled : Yes"
     for i in $( df -l | sort -u | awk '{print $6}' | grep '/' ); do
     sudo vsdbutil -a "$i"
     echo "setting Owners Enabled : Yes for ---> $i"
     done
    fi
    <hr>
    if [ $list_volumes == "TRUE" ]; then
     echo '============================='
     echo '$list_volumes'
     echo '============================='
     for i in $( df -l | sort -u | awk '{print $6}' | grep '/' ); do
     echo $i
     done
    fi
    <hr>


As it turns out, this didn't completely solve the problem, it solved part of the problem.
Here is a summary to the root cause of the problem.
SUCCESS...
Problem Summary : The system crashed and would hangup during boot, tried many things, until I eventually erased the disk and started over again.
iMacG5 24 GHZ Intel with One internal disk partitioned into 3 logical drives
Cub_1 OS X 10.5.7
Cub_2 OS X 10.5.7 (Carbon Copy Cloner backup of Cub_1)
Cub_3 OS X Server 10.5.7 (standard os x server setup)
At some point after setting up standard preferences, OS X Server crashed.
When I tried to restart, the machine would hang up during boot.
Finally after several attempts, ran Disk Utility from install dvd and repaired Cub_3
When I tried to run "Repair Permissions" on Cub_3 from install dvd, I got an error
Disk Utility Error: The underlying task reported failure on exit 1.
Rebooted, and started in single user mode (CMD-S) during boot until I saw the unix commands on the screen
RAN : root # fsck -fy
Then I began seeing the same command filling the screen :
posix_spawnp("/usr/sbin/mDNSResponder") could not find file or directory
Called Enterprise Support and spoke to Frank Alcorn, he said this was most likely a permissions problem and asked me to try repairing permissions from the install dvd. I told him about the error, but nevertheless I tried it again and got the same Disk Utility Error: The underlying task reported failure on exit 1..
He asked me to try booting into single user mode again, and to try
root # chmod 775 /
root # reboot
During the reboot process the machine got hung up again, and could not get the single user mode to work at all.
Frank said the command needed to be :
root # chmod 1775 /
Frank asked me if I had changed anything in file sharing, and I told him I had. He asked me what I had shared, and I said the entire drive Cub_3. He asked me what I had done for permissions, if I had denied permissions to anyone. I told him that I had set myself up as the only user that could have access to it, and when he said that's where the problem was the lightbulb went off, and it made sense.
Shortly after I set the sharing preferences is when the server crashed. It all makes sense now...
Frank said not to share the entire disk, only portions (share points) of it. I had done this in Panther Server, and Tiger Server and it worked fine, but apparently Leopard Server works a little differently, maybe more secure.
It seems to me that if sharing the entire disk, which is what I needed would cause such a problem there should have been some sort of warning from the operating system, but there wasn't. I had run into this problem several times over the past three weeks since I had started working with Leopard Server, but in each case I ended up re-installing OS X Server and starting over again.
I told him I would try to reboot from the OS X partition (Cub_1) and try it from there.
He asked me to let him know if it worked, and I said I would...
Problem FIX :
I booted back into the partition containing OS X (Cub_1) and did the following via the Terminal.
$ su - root
$ chmod 1775 /
$ reboot
During the reboot process I held down the (OPTION) key, and selected Cub_3 (the os x server partition) and sure enough after a few minutes of holding my breath the login window magically appeared. So I logged in, and did not have to re-install the server. Hallellujah....
This solved the boot hang problem. It is great to finally have an answer. In retrospect it makes sense, but that's why its hindsight...
The reason for sharing the entire disk in my mind was that since I was the only user on the system, it was easier to have one disk mounted on my workstation rather than several folders. It made sense to me, it still does. I don't need a bunch of folders, just one disk is easier...

My powerbook won't start up

my powerbook won't start up propperly. instead i can heer 5 beeps and the power indicator flashes. screen stays black. nothing! i tried to connect to an other mac with firewire but my powerbook doesn't respond. i also tried to use the startup disc but again...nothing. what next?
does anyone have an answer to this disaster?
powerbook g4 15' Mac OS X (10.3.9)

Welcome to the Apple discussions.
Sorry to hear about your startup problems. 5 beeps is bad...per this Apple note, it says the processor is unavailable: http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=58442

Sparseimage Fails Verification with Invalid Key Length error.

I recently have been having some trouble with my computer. Every time I log out of my account, all of my preferences reset. This just now started happening. It was working fine, then all of a sudden it started to do this. This only happens on my account and doesnt with the root account. On looking up solutions, I discovered that I should verify my home directory image. I logged in as a different user (root) and used disk utility to verify it. However it failed saying "invalid key length" and "Error: The underlying task reported failure on exit". When I try to repair it, it gives me the same error. I backed up my system using superduper to an external drive a while back and verified the sparseimage file that I backed up. It failed with the same error.
When I verify my harddrive it passes with no problem. Only my sparseimage file is corrupted. I would try diskwarrior but I cant afford it right now.
Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.
Macbook Mac OS X (10.4.9) 100gb hd; 1gb ram; Triple-Boot(OSX-Linux-Vista)

Would that mean that I can't turn off filevault? Way I see it is that since the image file is corrupted, I would try to have filevault unencrypt it and see if it somehow fixes it. (Since there will be no longer a filevaut image to be corrupted). All of my data in the image file seems to be fine. Everything is still there and I can access everything.
I was also thinking that I might be able to just copy everything in the image to my external, then deleting the account and create a new one, coping everything back over when im done.
I know I probably sound like a noob, but im really not. Ive had a lot of experience with my computer, just not this sorta thing. Thanks for your help.

Invalid Key Length error after 10.4.3 install/10.4.4 update

After installing Mac OS X, version 10.4.3 from CD, and upgrading to version 10.4.4 via Software Update, ran Disk Utility, verify disk, from DU on startup disk and got following message: "...Invalid key length...The volume Macintosh HD needs to be repaired. Error: The underlying task reported failure on exit...1 HFS volume checked...Volume needs repair." Tried rebooting from 10.4.3 install CD and running Disk Utility, First Aid, from CD to repair startup disk. After trying 3 times, First Aid halted and could not repair problem. Purchased Disk Warrior 3.0.3 CD, booted from DW CD, and DW also could not "rebuild" startup disk. Have purchased Drive Genius 1.2 CD from Prosoft to try to repair startup disk. If that fails, is only recourse to backup software on startup disk to external hard drive, and do erase and re-install of 10.4.3/10.4.4 software to cure problem? Please provide help!
iMac G-4,800Mhz,512M Ram,60G HD Mac OS X (10.4.4)

Dear Andrew Penner, Thanks for reply. I will try re-install of 10.4.4 using the long version in Apple downloads rather than the abbreviated, tailored 10.4.4 version obtained thru Software Update. The suggestion to check Library/Receipts is useful. Since Mac OS 10.4 has been out nearly a year, I know someone must have experienced a similar error message by now (i.e. "Invalid key length") when running Disk Utility with new versions of 10.4. If only recourse is to "reinstall" the software, one wonders what is causing the "corruption" in the data in the first place. Puzzling. Will post result after reinstall and retest. I noticed the version of Disk Utility on my 10.4.3 Install CD is 10.5 whereas the version of DU on my hard drive after the 10.4.4 update is 10.5.3. Is that a problem? JaxJT
iMac G-4,800Mhz,512M Ram,60G HD Mac OS X (10.4.4)

Error: invalid key kength

Getting some strange occurrences:
-unexpected quits more unexpected than usual
-my keychain disappearing and not being able to make a new one
-my drop box (shared folder) disappearing
-hard crashes with FireFox and my flight sim
The computer still works (typing from that boot partition now) but I need the drop box back so we can move some files for CD archiving from the wife's old iMac to her new eMac that arrives tomorrow.
I booted from the OSX Jag install CD yesterday and ran Disk Utility on the OSX boot partition. Its repair function reported an "invalid key length error." Running Repair Disk several times would report it fixed and then not fixed.
Searching the forums here, I know what I need to do to correct it. Nearly all information says that even DW cannot correct this. About half the responses to reports of this error say that it's a sign the the drive is dying, the other half say that wiping the partition and reinstalling should take care of it.
Out of an abundance of caution, I ordered a new 120GB drive today (on sale at Staples.com for only US$60!). However, I want to try the reformatting first. Any thoughts on whether the drive is going belly-up??
The boot partition is on a 60GB drive that is somewhere between 3 and 4 years old. The larger slave drive is less than two,
Here's my plan:
1) remove the CD-RW and ZIP, and make the 80GB slave drive "master" on the ATA1 bus.
2) Use Carbon Copy Cloner to move the boot partition (on ATA0) to a reserved 7.99GB partition on the 80GB drive (boy! Am I glad I set that up when I installed the drive!)
3) Wipe the orig OSX boot partition and zero it out with DU.
4) boot from the cloned partition
5) Again use CCC to move OSX back to the orig partition.
DU reported no problems with the other three partitions. I also have the option to simply make a new install of OSX on the 80GB's first partition.
Anyone see any potential problems with my plan? Hand-holding and sympathy cards are appreciated!
Allan
[4079]

Thanks Grant,
I thought that the error is due to a directory problem. But you're right--CCC probably can't read a damaged directory properly.
When I searched the forums, most posts were of the line of "DW can't fix this." Just about every report said that the problem did not go away for good until the partition was zeroed out and the system reinstalled.
Anyway, the current version of DW is not for Jag, apparently, None of the downloads show anything but the latest version.
I bought TTP3 before they came out with the OSX v4 and was sent a free upgrade CD. It boots into Panther--no go. They then sent a "Beige" version that had 10.2.6, but I managed to unbless the boot partition with it, requiring an A&I last November. The nice TTP tech I contacted basically said the TTP4 should not be used on a Beige G3 without an ATA accelerator card. By then, a Jag version of DW was not available. So I'm stuck without a heavy duty OSX utility at the moment.
I think it may be best to wait until Thursday when the new drive gets here and set it up as the new boot drive, leaving the 2-year old 80GB as the slave.
At least I'm running OK right now. I know not to try FireFox or my flight sim until lI get things patched up. The new eMac arrives tomorrow and I was going to move a bunch of Susan's files to my computer while setting up the new toy. My wife may have to wait.
A

Invalid key length? Continue lengthy disk repair or wipe drive and back up?

Does Disk Repair address an invalid key length? Or should I wipe the hard drive and restore from Time Machine? Are third party disk repair apps worth considering — and the time and money?

Use Disk Warrior if you cannot repair the drive with Disk Utility.
Repair the Hard Drive and Permissions - Lion
Boot from your Lion Recovery HD. When the recovery menu appears select Disk Utility. After DU loads select your hard drive entry (mfgr.'s ID and drive size) from the the left side list. In the DU status area you will see an entry for the S.M.A.R.T. status of the hard drive. If it does not say "Verified" then the hard drive is failing or failed. (SMART status is not reported on external Firewire or USB drives.) If the drive is "Verified" then select your OS X volume from the list on the left (sub-entry below the drive entry,) click on the First Aid tab, then click on the Repair Disk button. If DU reports any errors that have been fixed, then re-run Repair Disk until no errors are reported. If no errors are reported click on the Repair Permissions button. Wait until the operation completes, then quit DU and return to the main menu.
To boot from the Recovery HD restart the computer. After the chime hold down the OPTION key until the boot manager screen appears. Select the Recovery HD and click on the downward pointing arrow button.

Invalid key length, disk repair fails

i am getting this disk error after macbookpro locks up, repeatable.
invalid key length
volume check failed
error: filesystem verify or repair failed.
this is the boot volume of the macbookpro running os 10.5.6. been running well for months, used everyday all day, then this am the finder and all other apps lock up, no application crash, just all hanging one after another. hard reset gets system back but it recurs in short order.
i ran diskutil from the software restore dvdrom, three times. same results (error text above) each time. only option barring other solutions is to reinstall the system and restore data from a time machine bu.
never seen this before. any ideas?
thanks.

thanks for hint on diskwarrior. i am running it but it is encountering quite a pile, i've never seen a problem like this. the sys log on the system that's running dw is full of:
App: disk14s2: Read I/O error for block range 324751 to 324751
Jan 27 00:49:29 server [0x0-0xba4ba4].com.alsoft.diskwarrior[9656]: DiskWarrior App: Disk sector 324751 is bad. (JSC)
Jan 27 00:49:29 server [0x0-0xba4ba4].com.alsoft.diskwarrior[9656]: DiskWarrior App: disk14s2: Read I/O error for block range 324752 to 324752
Jan 27 00:49:29 server [0x0-0xba4ba4].com.alsoft.diskwarrior[9656]: DiskWarrior App: Disk sector 324752 is bad. (JSC)
Jan 27 00:49:29 server [0x0-0xba4ba4].com.alsoft.diskwarrior[9656]: DiskWarrior App: disk14s2: Read I/O error for block range 324753 to 324753
Jan 27 00:49:29 server [0x0-0xba4ba4].com.alsoft.diskwarrior[9656]: DiskWarrior App: Disk sector 324753 is bad. (JSC)
Jan 27 00:49:29 server [0x0-0xba4ba4].com.alsoft.diskwarrior[9656]: DiskWarrior App: disk14s2: Read I/O error for block range 324754 to 324754
Jan 27 00:49:29 server [0x0-0xba4ba4].com.alsoft.diskwarrior[9656]: DiskWarrior App: Disk sector 324754 is bad. (JSC)
Jan 27 00:49:29 server [0x0-0xba4ba4].com.alsoft.diskwarrior[9656]: DiskWarrior App: disk14s2: Read I/O error for block range 324755 to 324755
Jan 27 00:49:29 server [0x0-0xba4ba4].com.alsoft.diskwarrior[9656]: DiskWarrior App: Disk sector 324755 is bad. (JSC)
Jan 27 00:49:29 server [0x0-0xba4ba4].com.alsoft.diskwarrior[9656]: DiskWarrior App: disk14s2: Read I/O error for block range 324756 to 324756
Jan 27 00:49:29 server [0x0-0xba4ba4].com.alsoft.diskwarrior[9656]: DiskWarrior App: Disk sector
this does not bode well. i have no idea what has caused this disk to totally dump on me. almost feels like a virus -- it was such a sudden and complete meltdown with no precursor whatsoever. i am running dw on it in target mode but seems like i might have to frag it. crazy.
thanks for further thoughts if anyone has any.
Message was edited by: dtich

License Key Error: Invalid Key

Hi,
I have an installation of BOE XI R2 which includes:
1-BusinessObjects Web Intelligence Starter Kit (8 user licenses)
2-BusinessObjects Enterprise Professional (for Query, Reporting, and Analysis) 12 users
So in total I have 20 users.
When I add BusinessObjects Web Intelligence BOE Professional Bundle 1 user ,
I get the following error:
There was an error while writing data back to the server: License Key Error: Invalid Key XXXXX-XXXXXXX-XXXXXXX-XXXX.
Regards
Sokol

Hi Veera,
Following is the temporary license key for SAP Dashboards 4.1
<key code>
During the installation of SAP Dashboards, it will ask for product key. You need to insert the above product key in it.
Let me know if this works.
Regards,
Noopur
Message was edited by: Ludek Uher
Actual Key code removed. Please see the SCN Rules of Engagement.

I am trying to trash an old version of mackeeper and the trash won't throw it away-error code -8003. Help!

I am trying to trash an old version of mackeeper and the trash won't throw it away-error code -8003. Help!

This may possibly help.
TrashIt:
http://www.nonamescriptware.com/

Invalid key length on hard drive. Can this be fixed?

Hello,
I have a question about an error I am receiving with a hard drive I have been using for a few months on an imac G3 (the slot loading version). I bought this used 80 GIG hard drive on ebay for a friend of mine and I helped him transfer all his data from his older 9 GIG drive to this newer 80 GIG drive that I bought for him on ebay. I simply cloned the 9 GIG drive onto the new drive using Carbon Copy Cloner. There is not a lot of data on the drive - only about 3 GIGs of data.
The drive is the only drive in the computer (an imac G3) and therefore it is the startup drive. The operating system on the drive is OS9. All was working fine for a few months until just last week. Now I am receiving this following error:
error message:
The disk "Macintosh HD" appears to be damaged. Use a disk repair utility to repair the disk.
And so I used the disk utility built into OS9 to see if I could repair the problem. (I think OS9's disk utility is called "Disk First Aid")
When using OS9s disk utility (I think it is called "Disk First Aid") the following report is issued:
Problem: Invalid key length, 4,943
Test done. Problems were found but Disk First Aid cannot repair them.
My questions are:
What is an "Invalid key length"?
How serious is this?
What would cause this?
Could this have been caused by the physical condition of the disk or possibly by the software on the disk?
Would re-formatting the drive fix it? (Of course I would try to save any data first onto another disk)
Or is it risky to continue to use this disk even after reformatting it?
I guess I have a lot of questions here and if anyone could make any suggestions or comment on why "Invalid key length" errors happen I would really appreciate it. Thanks:)
Here are some details:
When I bought the 80 GIG hard drive from ebay the first steps I took were to format the drive using OS9's "drive setup", load the OS9 drivers and then I verifed the disk. The disk seemed to be fine. Then I cloned his old drive onto this 80 GIG drive using Corbon Copy Cloner. I was sure the 80 GIG drive was in a healthy state at that time and I trusted it enough to give it to my friend for his startup drive. Now that the drive has failed with his data and programs, I feel pretty bad. How could this "Invalid key length" error occur?
Should I go back to the person who sold me the drive on ebay and ask for a refund? Or are "Invalid key length" errors a common occurance with hard drives that should just be accepted? Or might it possibly be the contents (data) on my friend's disk that caused this error.
It has been suggested to me to use "Tech Tools Pro" or "Disk Warrior" to repair the disk. Hopefully that might repair the disk. Unfortunately these programs are too expensive for this purpose because they would cost more than the computer actually costs (its an old imac G3 computer). I found a service that would run Disk Warrior on the disk to repair it for a $50 fee. Still, that is also not worth it as the computer may not even be worth $50.
Here are some specifications:
80 GIG drive specs: SEAGATE BARRACUDA 7200.7 80GB hard drive
computer: imac G3 (slot loading version)
OS: Mac OS9
Thank you for any suggestions especially as to whether I should attempt to return the hard drive or look for a refund for this hard drive or attempt to reformat the drive and try again (backing up the data first).
I also question the source of all the data on my friends computer. If he had the original operating system disks (which he said didn't come with his computer when he purchased it second-hand), I could have easily re-installed the OS and the applications. But he doesn't have any disks. That serves me right for having to deal with trying to help out someone who has software from a questionable source. I'm never doing that again. I guess that makes me guilty too as an accomplice. I don't feel very good about this
I didn't know for sure - but I guess I should have assumed his software was illegal if he didn't have the disks - I was afraid to ask. I'm never putting myself in this possibly illegal situation again. Never again will I try to help someone out who doesn't clearly have the legal disks. Please forgive me and everyone else who reads this post. I feel shameful about this but somehow I must get myself out of this problem. I've learned a good lesson. Should I attempt to fix his computer? Or should I tell him to first buy a legal OS and software before I can help him out? You see I feel further guilt because I was the one who gave him the 80 GIG problematic hard drive that failed and I feel I should have to fix it. Can anyone offer me a bit of advice? What do I do?
What's the right thing to do?

Thank you Jim and Apple2Freak,
I appreciate your comments. I am now suggesting to my friend to buy a legal OS and if that is the case I am suggesting to him to move to OSX instead of OS9. Luckily he let me know there wasn't much data on that drive that he needed to save. I am still trying to determine if I could still use this hard drive with the keylength errors if I erase it or if the hard drive has permanent damage. I am hoping that I could install OSX on it and erase the hard drive to start again.
This imac (slot loading version) can support up to OS 10.3.9 however I might consider Xpostfacto to try to run 10.4. But then I would need to buy 10.3.9 as well as 10.4 and that would double my OS cost. I think I might just look for OS 10.3.9 only. Its not worth it for me to buy two OSes for it.
Jim, your post was very interesting because it also pointed out that it could be an issue of bad RAM. A few months ago we installed some new second-hand RAM and I wonder if that is the cause of all these problems. I will have to check that first.
Thanks again!

Invalid key length - options

A couple months ago I had issues installing Lion on my MBP. Upon installing, I was not able to mount the hard drive because of multiple errors. Disk repair eventually worked, I used my Time Machine backup to restore, and got Lion installed. After the installation, I went to make another TM backup and my external hard drive was corrupted to the point where I had to wipe everything on it - not sure what happened with it. Because I had so much trouble getting Lion installed, I didn't mess with creating a new TM backup and wanted to wait until I wasn't so busy at work to attempt it. I did however create a bootable Lion USB drive for emergencies.
Long story short, the MBP froze the other day and would not boot properly. Clearing the PRAM/VRAM did not help, and when I try disk utility with the bootable USB drive, it is able to verify the drive itself, but unable to mount the startup volume. When I try to verify that volume, it stops and says to repair it. When I try to repair it, it stops and tells me the volume cannot be repaired and I need to back up my files.
However, when I go into single user mode (running fsck gives me an invalid key length error), I can see the file structure of the drive, and all of my files in read only mode. My questions is, are those files recoverable? If so, how?
Many thanks for an thoughts

You have a failing internal hard drive, or some other hardware fault in the mass-storage subsystem. You must replace the drive, or otherwise determine the cause of the fault, immediately. But first you need to back up your data, if it's still possible.
There are several ways to back up a Mac that is unable to fully boot. You need an external hard drive to hold the backup data.
1. Boot from your recovery partition (10.7 or later), a local Time Machine backup volume (10.7.2 or later), or your installation disc (10.6.8 or earlier.) Launch Disk Utility and follow the instructions in the support article linked below, under “Instructions for backing up to an external hard disk via Disk Utility.”
How to back up and restore your files
2. If you have a working Mac, and both it and the non-working Mac have FireWire ports, boot the non-working Mac in target disk mode by holding down the key combination command-T at the startup chime. Connect the two Macs with a FireWire cable. The internal drive of the machine running in target mode will mount as an external drive on the other machine. Copy the data to another drive.
How to use and troubleshoot FireWire target disk mode
3. If the internal drive of the non-working Mac is user-replaceable, remove it and mount it in an external enclosure or drive dock. Use another Mac to copy the data.

Powerbook won't start - Disk Utility error "Invalid Key Length" - help plz!

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for