Invalid Content in Journal

[mtngoatjoe]

Ok, so I get an "Invalid Content in Journal" when I try to repair a partition on an external drive. We has some power failures lately, so I think my external drive developed an issue.

Running First Aid, Disk Utility says "Invalid Content in Journal". It says the volume is repaired, but it doesn't work.

A google search leads to a couple of suggestions to disable the journal via Terminal.

Edit: With the help of Leman, I updated these instructions for OS X El Capitan. This process worked for me. Good luck!

The process below is based off instructions from this site: https://jkinsa.wordpress.com/2014/11/09/osx-disk-issue-invalid-content-in-journal/

With the help of Leman, I’ve updated the steps for OS X El Capitan.

1. Open a Terminal (Applications > Utilities)
2. Locate the Identifier for the disk (i.e. /dev/disk2s3)
   1. Prompt (Type this at the prompt in the terminal): DiskUtil list
   2. Note: If you are not sure which disk is yours, you can run diskutil with the disk unconnected and connected.
3. Disable the journal for the current Disk
   1. Prompt: sudo /System/Library/Filesystems/hfs.fs/Contents/Resources/hfs.util -N /dev/disk5s2
      • Remember to use the correct Identifier for your disk
   2. Type in your password when prompted
      • Result: Turned off the journaling bit for /dev/disk2s3
4. Test the disk in Disk Utility (Applications > Utilities)
   1. Highlight your volume in Disk Utility and select First Aid.
   2. After First Aid is done, click Mount.
   3. The volume shows up on your desktop!
5. Locate the Mounted on point for the volume (i.e. /Volumes/My Book)
   • Prompt: df
6. Enable the journal for the volume
   1. Prompt:
      sudo /System/Library/Filesystems/hfs.fs/Contents/Resources/hfs.util -J /Volumes/MountedOn
      • Remember to use your volume mount point
   2. Type in your password when prompted
      • Result: Allocated 155648K for journal file.
7. Test the disk in Disk Utility (Applications > Utilities)
   • Highlight your volume in Disk Utility and select First Aid.
8. Spend the money and buy a backup drive. You wouldn’t have needed to go through this if you could have wiped the drive and restored it from a backup!

 

[leman]

Try

cd /System/Library/Filesystems/hfs.fs/Contents/Resources/

in step 3. I have no idea if this will work. But that is where hfs.util is located.

 

[mtngoatjoe]

Try

cd /System/Library/Filesystems/hfs.fs/Contents/Resources/

in step 3. I have no idea if this will work. But that is where hfs.util is located.

Thank you!!!!!! That did the trick. I got my drive back and updated the instructions in my original post.

 

[chrfr]

Thank you!!!!!! That did the trick. I got my drive back and updated the instructions in my original post.

You could remove step 3 and change step 4 to be

sudo /System/Library/Filesystems/hfs.fs/Contents/Resources/hfs.util -N /dev/disk5s2

and then change step 7 to

sudo /System/Library/Filesystems/hfs.fs/Contents/Resources/hfs.util -J /Volumes/MountedOn

It's not necessary to be in a particular directory to run a command in that directory so the "cd" command is superfluous.

 

[mtngoatjoe]

You could remove step 3 and change step 4 to be

sudo /System/Library/Filesystems/hfs.fs/Contents/Resources/hfs.util -N /dev/disk5s2

and then change step 7 to

sudo /System/Library/Filesystems/hfs.fs/Contents/Resources/hfs.util -J /Volumes/MountedOn

It's not necessary to be in a particular directory to run a command in that directory so the "cd" command is superfluous.

That's a really good point. Thanks!

 

[myanameisnot]

Ok, so I get an "Invalid Content in Journal" when I try to repair a partition on an external drive. We has some power failures lately, so I think my external drive developed an issue.

Running First Aid, Disk Utility says "Invalid Content in Journal". It says the volume is repaired, but it doesn't work.

A google search leads to a couple of suggestions to disable the journal via Terminal.

Edit: With the help of Leman, I updated these instructions for OS X El Capitan. This process worked for me. Good luck!

The process below is based off instructions from this site: https://jkinsa.wordpress.com/2014/11/09/osx-disk-issue-invalid-content-in-journal/

With the help of Leman, I’ve updated the steps for OS X El Capitan.

1. Open a Terminal (Applications > Utilities)
2. Locate the Identifier for the disk (i.e. /dev/disk2s3)
   1. Prompt (Type this at the prompt in the terminal): DiskUtil list
   2. Note: If you are not sure which disk is yours, you can run diskutil with the disk unconnected and connected.
3. Disable the journal for the current Disk
   1. Prompt: sudo /System/Library/Filesystems/hfs.fs/Contents/Resources/hfs.util -N /dev/disk5s2
      • Remember to use the correct Identifier for your disk
   2. Type in your password when prompted
      • Result: Turned off the journaling bit for /dev/disk2s3
4. Test the disk in Disk Utility (Applications > Utilities)
   1. Highlight your volume in Disk Utility and select First Aid.
   2. After First Aid is done, click Mount.
   3. The volume shows up on your desktop!
5. Locate the Mounted on point for the volume (i.e. /Volumes/My Book)
   • Prompt: df
6. Enable the journal for the volume
   1. Prompt:
      sudo /System/Library/Filesystems/hfs.fs/Contents/Resources/hfs.util -J /Volumes/MountedOn
      • Remember to use your volume mount point
   2. Type in your password when prompted
      • Result: Allocated 155648K for journal file.
7. Test the disk in Disk Utility (Applications > Utilities)
   • Highlight your volume in Disk Utility and select First Aid.
8. Spend the money and buy a backup drive. You wouldn’t have needed to go through this if you could have wiped the drive and restored it from a backup!

WOW! This worked on my 3tb Seagate drive! Thank you so very much! March, 2018

 

[makayk]

It worked for me! What is your Paypal address or where/how can I pay a beer for you?

 

[Alexjfinn]

Hey I’m not too techie but I’ve got this exact problem on my Mac. In struggling to follow the steps and would really appreciate some help, could I pass someone my contact details to walk me through this? I’m struggling with terminal.

Ok, so I get an "Invalid Content in Journal" when I try to repair a partition on an external drive. We has some power failures lately, so I think my external drive developed an issue.

Running First Aid, Disk Utility says "Invalid Content in Journal". It says the volume is repaired, but it doesn't work.

A google search leads to a couple of suggestions to disable the journal via Terminal.

Edit: With the help of Leman, I updated these instructions for OS X El Capitan. This process worked for me. Good luck!

The process below is based off instructions from this site: https://jkinsa.wordpress.com/2014/11/09/osx-disk-issue-invalid-content-in-journal/

With the help of Leman, I’ve updated the steps for OS X El Capitan.

1. Open a Terminal (Applications > Utilities)
2. Locate the Identifier for the disk (i.e. /dev/disk2s3)
   1. Prompt (Type this at the prompt in the terminal): DiskUtil list
   2. Note: If you are not sure which disk is yours, you can run diskutil with the disk unconnected and connected.
3. Disable the journal for the current Disk
   1. Prompt: sudo /System/Library/Filesystems/hfs.fs/Contents/Resources/hfs.util -N /dev/disk5s2
      • Remember to use the correct Identifier for your disk
   2. Type in your password when prompted
      • Result: Turned off the journaling bit for /dev/disk2s3
4. Test the disk in Disk Utility (Applications > Utilities)
   1. Highlight your volume in Disk Utility and select First Aid.
   2. After First Aid is done, click Mount.
   3. The volume shows up on your desktop!
5. Locate the Mounted on point for the volume (i.e. /Volumes/My Book)
   • Prompt: df
6. Enable the journal for the volume
   1. Prompt:
      sudo /System/Library/Filesystems/hfs.fs/Contents/Resources/hfs.util -J /Volumes/MountedOn
      • Remember to use your volume mount point
   2. Type in your password when prompted
      • Result: Allocated 155648K for journal file.
7. Test the disk in Disk Utility (Applications > Utilities)
   • Highlight your volume in Disk Utility and select First Aid.
8. Spend the money and buy a backup drive. You wouldn’t have needed to go through this if you could have wiped the drive and restored it from a backup!

 

[RTPictures]

This worked for me today on a Glyph 4TB StudioRaid. Thank you for sharing on this forum and including the original link.

I had a problem at step 6...

Enable the journal for the volume

because my volume (external hard drive) had spaces in the name, so the command was not recognizing the drive. I went back to the original article where is says to include quotes if you have a space in your path, which I did and it worked!