Invalid content in Journal - how to mount? how to backup?

Question

Level 1

1 points

Invalid content in Journal - how to mount? how to backup?

Hello all,

Can mount my second HD anymore (no Icon on the dsktop).

Disk Tool reports the follows:
Started verify/repair volume (filesystem) on disk disk0s3 HD2
*Invalid content in Journal*
Checking Journaled HFS Plus volume
Checking Extents Overflow file
Checking Catalog file
... and so on ...

Repairing shows success, but it's not really successfull because if I run the verify a second
time, the error apears again and the disk is still unmountable.

Did a lot of reading in the www.
Found this:
http://dmunsie.wordpress.com/code/hacks/
but did not help for me.

Some hints goes to DiskWarrior. But just for a try, 100$ is quite a lot.

Tryed to create a dmg with command:
dd bs=65k if=/dev/disk0s3 of=/Volumes/Macintosh\ HD/Backup/HD2.dmg conv=noerror,sync
it works (need 14 hours!) bit I can not open the dmg (error: file damaged).

Does anyone have a hint for me.
Thanks very much
Michael

From the SysProfiler: (sorry in german!)

ST3500630AS:

Kapazität: 465.76 GB
Modell: ST3500630AS
Version: 3.AAK
Seriennummer: 9QG1RTER
Wechselmedien: Nein
Absteckbares Laufwerk: Nein
BSD-Name: disk0
Protokoll: ata
Einheiten-Nummer: 0
Socket-Typ: Serial-ATA
Name des Schachts: "A (upper)"
Treiber für Mac OS 9: Nein
Partitionstabellentyp: APM (Apple Partition Map)
S.M.A.R.T.-Status: Überprüft
Volumes:
HD2:
Kapazität: 465.64 GB
Beschreibbar: Ja
Dateisystem: Journaled HFS+
BSD-Name: disk0s3
Mount-Point: <<<<< Mount-Point lost!! <<<<<<<

G5, Mac OS X (10.5.2)

Posted on Feb 19, 2008 2:00 PM

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Answer 1

Best reply

waj3

Level 1

4 points

Feb 29, 2008 12:59 PM in response to mtu

I just had this problem on my daughter's Macbook. I eventually resolved it by running:

/System/Library/Filesystems/hfs.fs/hfs.util -N /dev/disk0s2

Though I see in your case it would be disk0s3 instead. 🙂 Hope this helps!

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Answer 2

The hatter

Level 9

60,980 points

Feb 19, 2008 2:24 PM in response to mtu

TechTool Pro 4.6.1 might better handle a corrupt journal, but it is harder to deal with I think and this article suggests it won't succeed. They also had a copy of Drive Genius (which was updated for Leopard).
http://www.edn.com/blog/400000040/post/1670013967.html

A sector copy would be worth trying.

Backups. at least two in case one goes south or you end up copying bad data over good.

Rather than wait and then face $89 for Disk Warrior, it has been worth the cost and the upgrade with each new OS. I keep TTP handy 'just in case.' A car mechanic (or dentist) wouldn't have only one tool for every case.

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Answer 3

waj3

Level 1

4 points

Feb 29, 2008 1:16 PM in response to waj3

By the way... the -N flag disables the journal on a raw device (as opposed to the -U flag for mounted filesystems). I had basically tried it as a last resort, since I was not about to spend any money on one of the commercial recovery tools.

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Answer 4

mtu Author

Level 1

1 points

Feb 29, 2008 1:42 PM in response to mtu

Thanks for the tips.
But unfortunately nothing did help for me.
I also tried the ddrescue ( http://ddrescue.darwinports.com/). .dmg is created but i can not open it (errorMsg something like "file in error").
In the end, I gave up and formated the disk! Luckily I had a second backup so I lost just some pictures.

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Answer 5

DrewGD

Level 1

0 points

Mar 16, 2008 9:22 PM in response to mtu

Had the same problem with an external USB 250GB: "Invalid content in Journal"

Diskwarrior (for leopard) fixed it in 1 click. I'd recommend trying. Hope it works for you!

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Answer 6

paulcone

Level 1

0 points

Mar 31, 2008 9:13 PM in response to waj3

if the drive won't mount, then how can hfs.util see it?

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Answer 7

paulcone

Level 1

0 points

Mar 31, 2008 9:17 PM in response to paulcone

never mind, duh, i found the answer in Disk Utility by hitting the i button...

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Answer 8

Apr 4, 2008 10:37 AM in response to waj3

Had the same exact problem on a WD 500GB Firewire800/400/USB drive. Wouldn't mount, and Disk Utility 'repaired' it without fixing the problem. I tried waj3's trick, figuring that if it didn't work I'd go buy Diskwarrior. I copied the line into the Terminal application (my drive was 'disk1s2') and hit return.

Ta-da! It worked perfectly. I'm in the process of copying the files, all of which I can now see, to another backup.

Thank you!

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Answer 9

Jhary

Level 1

0 points

Apr 9, 2008 7:46 AM in response to waj3

Thank you, this worked perfectly for me, as well. I found out the disk designation by getting info in Disk Utility. I also had to be root (or, I assume that sudo would work as well) in order for the command to run.

This saved 300 gigs of content. Thanks.

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Answer 10

ddev2000

Level 1

0 points

Apr 18, 2008 1:48 AM in response to waj3

Your trick:

/System/Library/Filesystems/hfs.fs/hfs.util -N /dev/disk0s2

Also worked for me (Leopard 10.5.2 on a MacBook Pro.

This seems to be the same hack that the one mentionned here:

http://dmunsie.wordpress.com/code/hacks/

But the last one is surely more instructive (source code included!).

Many thanks,

Daniel

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Answer 11

May 16, 2008 9:48 PM in response to mtu

THANK YOU. I have a question though - does the drive last after doing this? I'm no longer getting an error when trying to repair the drive, but disk utility gave me this big red warning about how it was letting me use the disk but with limited functionality, and I should get my data off there quickly. Should I be reformatting the drive?

Unfortunately, I've now had both my 500GB WD hard drives with serious problems - one overheats, and the other (brand new) is having this journalling problem. No more WD for me...

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Answer 12

Jun 21, 2008 8:47 PM in response to waj3

You ROCK! This was the second time this happened to me because I had unplugged the external drive's power source unexpectedly before ejecting it from the Mac. The first time I had to use DataRescue (which is great) at some expense to get the info. This time around, your insight saved me a lot of time. Wish I had found this the first time!

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Answer 13

Jun 25, 2008 9:34 PM in response to mtu

I can't believe this- you helped me fix my problem too. Lighting had knocked our power out briefly and I had been using my external Iomega 250 Gig hard drive to do video editing. Well, Apparently it goofed it up to where it wouldn't mount either. I thought I was a dead duck. Thank you to all who posted I entered the Terminal Program, copied the line mentioned in the post threads on this topic and bang- it worked and I am able to back up the video files and will reformat my external drive and do this all over again. Apple should really make it so that Disk Utility truly does FIX the problem. It said it fixed the issues but it never did and the images would NOT mount. Now they are so I can fix the problems. WOW! BLESS YOU ALL! Hope APPLE wakes up and fixes things better so their clients don't lose everything. So much for backup's! This was truly a close scenario!

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Answer 14

sstoll

Level 1

1 points

Jun 30, 2008 9:52 AM in response to waj3

Thank you, this worked also perfectly for me.
Other Tools could't rapair this damage!

Thanks again!

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Answer 15

Fumes

Level 1

45 points

Jul 1, 2008 1:57 PM in response to mtu

I'm trying the command line trick on this and I get "can't open: /dev/rdisk2s3 (Permission denied)
"

Anyone know what that is?

I took the drive out of my WD MyBook for a last ditch effort.

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