Please help! Invalid node structure and invalid record count

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

Hi Chris,

Ok so here is the run down on what is happening/ what I've tried.

So our iMac froze and my husband did a hard shut down. Tried to reboot and was stuck on the grey apple boot screen. So I tried all of the tricks. Holding down option, holding down shift. Nothing worked. Didn't respond to any of those things. Left it for a day (off). My stubbornness kicked in so I powered up and tried those again. I was able to get it to get to the login screen but after trying to login it would freeze on the blank galaxy screen.

So then I did more searching - put in install disc and powered up from OS X disc. Tried to verify/ repair drive in which I got invalid node structure. Found this discussion. Followed the steps as outlined and got that NO WRITE error message. Read further and realized I had to drop the sudo part of the command. Still not working. Found another one of your discussions where you mentioned unmounting the drive and then trying sudo/sbin command. Got it to work. Tried restarting again from Install CD and ran disk repair. Instead of Invalid node structure it just stated that it couldn't fix the drive and to back up files.

So then I tried your other commands listed about and this is what the terminal screen said

So I am thinking things are looking up?

So I exit Terminal and try to go back into disk Utility and now whenever I try to go into disk utilities (while booting in OS X install disc), it freezes. I need to remount the HD and try and repair do I not? Why is it freezing at the Disk Utility?!?!??! And what Can I do now??? (If anything)

Hey Chris I followed your directions in terminal. This is what happened:

Can you please help me? When I try to boot the computer it gets half way and just shuts off. I tried disk repair and that did nothing. This is an external toshiba hard drive that I use for my 2007 iMac. I boot from that drive.

thank you

When you contact Alsoft, make sure you let them know that you are using Snow Leopard (10.6.8).

Try the following in the meantime -

Disconnect all peripherals from your computer.

Boot from your install disc & run Repair Disk from the utility menu. To use the Install Mac OS X disc, insert the disc, and restart your computer while holding down the C key as it starts up.

Select your language.

Once on the desktop, select Utility in the menu bar.

Select Disk Utility.

Select the disk or volume in the list of disks and volumes, and then click First Aid.

Click Repair Disk.

Restart your computer when done.

Repair permissions after you reach the desktop-http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2963 and restart your computer.

Try DiskWarrarior again if it's combatible with the os system.

YOu cannot reformat until you get your issue corrected.

"I went out and bought Disk Warrior. Got home expecting to fix everything and Disc Warrior won't boot."

You inserted the disk and rebooted while holding down the c key? Have you the latest version of DiskWarrior? If yoy still have issues with the disk then contact Alsoft. You other option is to reformat the hard drive which erases everything.

Disk Warrior may be able to repair the invalid node structure, so that it might be possible to mount the disk and retrieve your data. However, it is very likely some has already been lost for good.

It is also possible that the hard disk cannot be repaired at all, and even if you can repair it I would no longer rely upon it.

You don't have to spend $1000 on a new MacBook. You can simply replace the hard disk. They are not expensive or difficult to replace.

I realize it's too late for you, but an external backup device can be purchased for not much more than the cost of Disk Warrior.

Chris, I work IT for a digital agency and your reply to this proplem single handedly saved a Technical Director's main parittion! I cannot express how helpful your reply was and I thank you for your contribution to the community!

Hi Chris.

If I run "Disk Repair", all I get are red error messages saying "Invalid Node Structure" and "Invalid Record Count". I can't run the sudo command within Terminal. The command cannot be found or permissions don't exist to run.

Also, as the "Repair Disk Permissions" runs, it's showing "Open error 5" messages. I just want to be able to salvage and transfer all my data files to another computer, and reinstall the OS on my notebook.

How can I solve this problem?

Cheers

I tried that approach before, but I got the same results.

DiskWarrior recover the directory structure. However, I can replace on the same internal HDD because it's damaged and failing. I just bought a Toshiba Canvio Slim 2 external HDD so that I can transfer my files. This HDD supports both Mac OS X and Windows.

But, DiskWarrior sees it, but doesn't allow to transfer the files (i.e. the "Replace" button is still grayed out.).

What is the workaround?

Thanks.

I have been having the same codes coming up in disk utility when I've started up my computer with installation cd. I also saw a message that was

( node =81) unused node is not erased.

I have tried going into terminal and typing the sudo command but it says no command found or file type not recognized I am sure I found the proper disk code but it doesn't work. Can anyone help me with this?

I simply want to recover my personal stuff off my computer then redo the entire hard drive. I do not want to lose important photos and documents

Hello, I have the same problem!

I've typed in exactly this (after -bash-3.2# appeared):

sudo /sbin/fsck_hfs -yprd /dev/disk0s2

and it quickly says 'command not found'...! Did I do something wrong?

PS: I also have the 'invalid node structure' problem

For those getting "command not found" when running it from the install CD or boot disk:

Instead of typing

sudo /sbin/fsck_hfs -yprd /dev/disk5s2

into the terminal window, you can just type

/sbin/fsck_hfs -yprd /dev/disk5s2

(still replacing disk5s2 with the name of your disk.)

Hello there!

I just got a WD My Passport portable external, transferred and organized all of my files, and a month later it's not mounting do to 'invalid node structure.' Unfortunately that's as far as I've gotten. I took it in and they told me to reformat, but if there's a chance I can save my data...

I've gotten to the disk utility stage but I'm unsure as to where I should type in 'cmd-i'. So I just used information to tell me what the volume disk identifier is, plugged your formula into terminal (first time using that, very exciting!) and no luck. It's still telling me invalid offset, invalid node structure, invalid forward link, offsets are out of order, catalog file entry not found for extent, the volume could not be verified completely, volume check failed with error 7, etc, etc.

I sooo appreciate this! I was ready to just throw in the towel, but your post and the glowing responses gave me hope!

Thanks!