invalid b-tree node size

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Level 1

11 points

invalid b-tree node size

First :Late 2012, Mac Mini, running Mac OS Mojave 10.14.4 with 2.3 GHZ i7,

hard drive is a Samsung SSD 860 QVO 2TB, I installed the new hard drive after the original hard drive started making noise, I mean you could hear it, like the bearings were going out it was no longer quiet. Back to the problem, I ran a first aid and “First aid found corruption and needs to be repaired”. I went to recovery mode as directed and ran first aid again, and first aid was unable to repair saying“ invalid b-tree node size”. I was able to verify the volume both in disk utility and in terminal mode using command prompts. I also tried using command /sbin/fsck -fy in the terminal, but it could not repair it either, any suggestions. I also tried to do an OS reinstall, but it is trying to install Catalina and it is unable to do that because my system has not been formatted to APFS. I read some older posts for the same problem, and the software disk warrior kept comming up, but I think it’s not available because I could not locate it and when I went to the website it said it could not be found. On the good side I do have a full backup on an external ssd and on the cloud, and I have a bootable disk on a usb stick. I made the bootable disk because I was thinking about upgrading to Catalina, but I have to convert to APFS first, system is currently Mac OS Extended (journaled)

All replies and help is greatly appreciated

Thanks

Mac mini, macOS 10.14

Posted on Jun 14, 2020 10:30 AM

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Answer 1

den.thed

Level 10

81,808 points

Jun 14, 2020 11:20 AM in response to mikeymd11

Mac OS Extended (journaled) was converted to APFS early in Mojave and so I think that you may have un-intensionally set-up the SSD Mac OS Extended (journaled) and then cloned Mojave to it.

At this point it is good to have a backup or two, but you still need to be very careful how you proceed.

I'm also thinking that you need to get the SSD converted into APFS and running Mojave 10.14.6, before you even consider moving to Catalina.

To do that, you will need to have either a Time Machine backup or a CarbonCopyCloner clone to Migrate from.

First you need to Erase and Reformat the SSD to APFS while in macOS Recovery.

Then Reinstall Mojave > How to upgrade to macOS Mojave - Apple Support

Then migrate from the TM backup or the CCC Clone during the initial setup.

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Answer 2

mikeymd11 Author

Level 1

11 points

Jun 14, 2020 11:34 AM in response to den.thed

You are correct, I did un-intensionally set-up the SSD Mac OS Extended (journaled) and then cloned Mojave to it using CCC. I was unaware of Mojave 10.14.6, I don’t recall it being offered, but I’m human I could have missed it. Can you tell me where to find it, because I was offered Catalina and that is when I found out about APFS.

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Answer 3

mikeymd11 Author

Level 1

11 points

Jun 14, 2020 4:09 PM in response to den.thed

Ok you were correct again. It took a bit of doing, but my SSD is now APFS and all files and programs are updating nicely. The problem was caused by Time Machine. Before I started this process I made one last backup and somehow the backup contained the corrupted files too. So the 3rd time I reformated the Hard Drive I used a backup from 2 months prior to everything going crazy and it worked. All my files that were saved on the cloud downloaded new and all the software updated. So far the only things I can see missing are 3 songs in iTunes, even files I had deleted months ago are back. All in all my system is running smooth and trying to download Catalina, the OS I will update after I make one more backup. Thanks for the help, you were correct and it solved my problems.

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