FOUND A SOLUTION (sort of): Invalid Volume Header on an iMac G5

[Myles]

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This afternoon, one of the iMacs (on screensaver mode) froze. After several failed attempts to start up (stops on gray screen), I tried starting up using the Tiger Installer (CD) and fired up disk utility. I was thinking of repairing disk permissions but my system disk was grayed out. I tried verify disk instead and it gave me the following errors: "Invalid Volume Header, Invalid Sibling Link, Volume Check failed and Error: the underlying task reported failure on exit". I was brave enough and went ahead and repaired the disk (I just want this thing to work) but I got almost the same error messages plus "1 HFS volume checked: 1 volume could not be repaired because of an error".

Maybe some of you encountered these errors already and I just wanna know:

1.) Did the hard drive just died? What do these errors mean?
2.) Can I still make the iMac work without clean install?
3.) Is this still repairable without damaging my data?
4.) If re-format and clean install is the only solution, is there a way to salvage my important data? I tried connecting it to another iMac via firewire and did a target disk start-up but HD doesn't mount.

Thanks in advance.

[Edited on 11-11-2005 by Myles]

[Edited on 11-11-2005 by Myles]

[mgd]

Sounds kinda grave. Disk util returned some errors when I tried fixing my old drive (booted from an external and the install cds). I was able to mount it though and salvage some folders before it became excruciatingly slow. The drive was replaced by Apple Care.

I'd bring this in to Topee Tan for recovery if I were you. He's done a lot of succesful recoveries for Philmuggers and, recently, my officemate. Might be a good idea NOT to try to mount the drive anymore as it may cause more damage.

Christopher Tan, Xyon Systems, 4118914

[Myles]

Uh-oh. Yeah, I think Christopher is the ultimate solution, might try bringing it to the dealer first before I call him.

What coud have caused this?

[Kelvin]

how old is the HD myles?

[Myles]

I got the iMac just last September. Since it was a corrupt directory, I connected it as target disk via firewire to the other iMac and tried to repair it with DiskWarrior. No luck. So I gave up "repair mode" and switched to "rescue mode". I tried Data Rescue and voila! It was able to mount and scan the hard drive, and choose which files to save. It's taking a long time to retrieve 37.5GB of data (started around 8am, progress bar now is just a little over 50%) but I don't mind. I can wait.

Apparently, the damage is not physical (crossing my fingers), so after I retrieve all of the files, I'll just erase (zero all data) and re-install Tiger.

[PatrickGaerlan]

When you say "Data Rescue", is that a function DiskWarrior or another application altogether? Please keep us posted if you were indeed able to retrieve all your files (or at least the important ones).

[Myles]

Hi Patrick! Data Rescue is another application. You can check it out here.

The recovery is now writing the last file (a big movie file). I've checked the destination folder for the recovered files and they are all there, intact and working perfectly.

[PatrickGaerlan]

Nice, thanks for the heads up. Seems like a good utility to have, just in case. I'm glad that you were able to recover all your data

[Myles]

Thanks Patrick!!

Success!!! I got all the files I want! Now, time to reformat and re-install...