Verify Disk: Invalid Volume File Count. Help?

[Sheiakurei]

So... I'm not really sure what to do or what exactly is wrong. I'm hoping not to reboot or reinstall all together, but if I have to... I suppose there's no choice.

I tried 'Verify Disk' from the utilities, but is fails and says

Invalid volume file count
(It should be 712836 instead of 712840)
Invalid volume directory count
(It should be 171417 instead of 171413)
The volume Macintosh HD needs to be repaired.

Error: Filesystem verify or repair failed.

I tried doing a 'Repair Disk' from the installation CD, but it says it fails because it could not unmount the HD.



what am I doing wrong and how can I fix it and is it really bad?

I've heard some suggest to go buy Disk Warrior. Will this fix it... or.. probably not?

 

[stuckigs]

Invalid File Volume count

I am having the same prob. haven't found any fixes yet..

 

[davidlv]

Disk Warrior to the rescue

So... I'm not really sure what to do or what exactly is wrong. I'm hoping not to reboot or reinstall all together, but if I have to... I suppose there's no choice.

I tried 'Verify Disk' from the utilities, but is fails and says

Invalid volume file count
(It should be 712836 instead of 712840)
Invalid volume directory count
(It should be 171417 instead of 171413)
The volume Macintosh HD needs to be repaired.
Error: Filesystem verify or repair failed.
I tried doing a 'Repair Disk' from the installation CD, but it says it fails because it could not unmount the HD.
what am I doing wrong and how can I fix it and is it really bad?
I've heard some suggest to go buy Disk Warrior. Will this fix it... or.. probably not?

As always when working with computers at the present state of the art, there are no warrenties. However, DW has saved the bacon for many people on many occassions (insert the usual disclaimer here, no association other than a satisfied customer, etc.). If you have another computer handy, you can purchase the application online, install it and hook up the affected machine via firewire as a target disk. Target mode: Shut down the machine you want to fix, connect it by firewire to another Mac and after hitting the power button immediately hold down the "t" key, the hard drive on that machine should appear as a firewire external drive on the other Mac. To disconnect, throw the HD icon in the trash, to unmount it, and then disconnect the firewire cable.
WHile it is connected, run Disk Warrior to replace the directory of the HD. It could take a long time if the drive is seriously messed up. Remember, no software can fix hardware problems, so if the drive is malfunctioning, you are probably SOL.
Good luck

 

[Slimdude20]

As always when working with computers at the present state of the art, there are no warrenties. However, DW has saved the bacon for many people on many occassions (insert the usual disclaimer here, no association other than a satisfied customer, etc.). If you have another computer handy, you can purchase the application online, install it and hook up the affect machine via firewire as a target disk. Target mode: Shut down the machine you want to fix, connect it by firewire to another Mac and after hitting the power button immediately hold down the "t" key, the hard drive on that machine should appear as a firewire external drive on the other Mac. To disconnect, throw the HD icon in the trash, to unmount it, and then disconnect the firewire cable.
WHile it is connected, run Disk Warrior to replace the directory of the HD. It could take a long time if the drive is seriously messed up. Remember, no software can fix hardware problems, so if the drive is malfunctioning, you are probably SOL.
Good luck

That sounds like a lot of work that might not actually fix anything. Is that the only way to try and fix this problem? And what would cause it in the first place?

Thanks

 

[davidlv]

That sounds like a lot of work....

I have had to initialize several HDs over the years, followed by a complete installation of all the software I use, and the cutomization to get the computer back to a usable state for my work. After a lot of (Unwanted) practice, I am fairly fast at the task, yet it takes at least 3 hours, sometime 4 or 5. How's that for sounding like a lot of work? Running Disk Warrior will take about 4-10 minutes, and it is considered the best by many in its class, especially when confronted with problems like yours, issues with the directory. If it works, and it probably will, it will save you hours of work and you will have all of your files. If you take the only remaining option, backup and repartition of the HD, you stand a good chance of losing something (ah, I thought I had all my mail backed up!) - or some such classic Oh no! scene. Everyone has their own way of doing things, but I feel I have to have DW and maybe one other HD utility on hand at all times, I just cannot afford to have downtime at the wrong time.
If you have the DW DVD, just pop it in, reboot and press the Option key, choose the DW DVD as the startup disk, and repair the directory of the internal HD. The long post above was about how to do something quickly about the problem. Of course, you are welcome to look for easier or cheaper methods, but I seriously doubt you will find another solution to that particular problem. If Apple's disk utility can't handle it, you are faced with a repartition solution, a poor choice indeed.

 

[-aggie-]

I have had to initialize several HDs over the years, followed by a complete installation of all the software I use, and the cutomization to get the computer back to a usable state for my work. After a lot of (Unwanted) practice, I am fairly fast at the task, yet it takes at least 3 hours, sometime 4 or 5. How's that for sounding like a lot of work? Running Disk Warrior will take about 4-10 minutes, and it is considered the best by many in its class, especially when confronted with problems like yours, issues with the directory. If it works, and it probably will, it will save you hours of work and you will have all of your files. If you take the only remaining option, backup and repartition of the HD, you stand a good chance of losing something (ah, I thought I had all my mail backed up!) - or some such classic Oh no! scene. Everyone has their own way of doing things, but I feel I have to have DW and maybe one other HD utility on hand at all times, I just cannot afford to have downtime at the wrong time.
If you have the DW DVD, just pop it in, reboot and press the Option key, choose the DW DVD as the startup disk, and repair the directory of the internal HD. The long post above was about how to do something quickly about the problem. Of course, you are welcome to look for easier or cheaper methods, but I seriously doubt you will find another solution to that particular problem. If Apple's disk utility can't handle it, you are faced with a repartition solution, a poor choice indeed.

I've got DW, but fortunately haven't had to use it. Why does it say in the manual (IIRC) that for best results you should have DW on the HD (or something to that affect)? Doesn't the software work from the DVD? Am I confused?

 

[davidlv]

I've got DW, but fortunately haven't had to use it. Why does it say in the manual (IIRC) that for best results you should have DW on the HD (or something to that affect)? Doesn't the software work from the DVD? Am I confused?

Well you may be "getting" confused, but most people do use the DVD to run the application on the internal HD, and that is normal. I am not sure about the logic of having DW on the HD, if you have only one internal HD and no external HDs. You cannot run the primary function of DW, replacing the file directory with an optimized (and repaired) directory, on the startup disk. So if you have DW on one or both of two internal HDs, then you can repair the disk other than the startup disk, or run DW acting on the internal drive when starting up from the DVD.
DW has another function, icon up on the top right, to check files. I have run this on the start up disk and it seemed to work, but if a problem is found in an open system file, I doubt DW can do anything with that open file.
When you say you have had no occasion to use DW, that indicates you are waiting for a problem to occur, but just like a health issue, preventive medicine also has a valid role in the maintenance of your computer. Try running DW on the internal drive, even if you think there are no problems. It will at least optimize the directory, speeding up the system a little and catch any minor problems with the directory before they get serious.
DW

 

[Slimdude20]

Try running DW on the internal drive, even if you think there are no problems. It will at least optimize the directory, speeding up the system a little and catch any minor problems with the directory before they get serious.
DW

So does DW work better than disc utility in that sense? Bc my comp is a year old and I am starting to notice things slowing down like dock icons opening up and just other small things. But my activity monitor says i have plenty of processor power and ram but I still notice the slow down. Would it help that?


Thanks

 

[davidlv]

So does DW work better than disc utility in that sense? Bc my comp is a year old and I am starting to notice things slowing down like dock icons opening up and just other small things. But my activity monitor says i have plenty of processor power and ram but I still notice the slow down. Would it help that? Thanks

Disk Utility is a very basic repair/diagnosis program. It will normally not cause any problems, but it is limited in what it can fix too. There have been many cases where people have posted on this forum saying DU can't fix their problems. DW is an advanced program that specializes in repairing the file directory, the most common HD issue, optimizing it as it searches for errors, and so it will speed things up a bit, for a while. The problems you are having "may" be due to directory issues, and in that case DW will help or completely resolve the issue. If something else is wrong, a file with a bad resource fork, a damaged file, then DW will report it but it cannot "fix" bad data. You may have to reinstall the related software. Using the Files icon on the top of the DW window gives you the option to check for damaged files and compatibility problems.
So, really, DW is not better than DU, it is totally in a different league. DU is great for a quick check of the file system, and if you need more, use DW. There are other HD/file utilities available too, but I can't imagine working without DW now, given the hard drives we use today, and the present OS, which is great but still growing up.
Instaed of talking about it, try it and see if it solves the problems you have, you did say you already had a copy, didn't you? In some cases, if a Sytem file is/gets damaged, reinstalling the OS is required, followed by the required updates, so that can take some time and effort. Also, make sure you have about 15-20% of the total HD space empty, the system needs a lot of space to work with, writing temporary files etc. Some people fill their HDs up completely and then find strange problems or slow downs. Just give it some room to work with. Large HDs are cheap today.

 

[Slimdude20]

Okay. I got a copy of DW onto a disc and booted it from that and the graphing said 35% not optimized or something so I did like you said cleared some room on my hard drive gave it some room and now its much much faster. Thank you for your advice I really appreciate it and everything seems to be working great

Thanks again.

 

[davidlv]

Okay. I got a copy of DW onto a disc and booted it from that and the graphing said 35% not optimized or something so I did like you said cleared some room on my hard drive gave it some room and now its much much faster. Thank you for your advice I really appreciate it and everything seems to be working great
Thanks again.

Great! OS X always likes to have a lot of space to work in.
However, the way you phrased that reply makes me wonder if you really ran DW on the HD. DW has a graphical utility to show how much of the directory is optimized, but that does nothing to repair/optimize the directory. To run DW on the HD in question, choose the HD in the menu bar in the middle of the screen, only one HD will show up if you are booting from the DW DVD or CD, and click the "Rebuild" button on the lower right. After DW checks the drive it will pop up a display and you should click the "Replace" button. If any repairs were made DW will also pop up a dialog for saving a report, but I have never found that report to be useful, so I do not think it is necessary. Your option there. Running DW at times will keep your data safer, except for hardware failure, which demands a backup strategy!
DW

 

[harishsangwan]

Hey guys..I just verified my disk via Disk Utility and I get a similar msg as shown in the first post here...I am planning to repair disk as well, but before I do that I need to know about what exactly does repair disk do? Will it restore my HDD to what it was when I bought it, I mean will it delete any of my files?

 

[Signal-11]

Hey guys..I just verified my disk via Disk Utility and I get a similar msg as shown in the first post here...I am planning to repair disk as well, but before I do that I need to know about what exactly does repair disk do? Will it restore my HDD to what it was when I bought it, I mean will it delete any of my files?

No. Don't worry, just use your install disk to repair.

 

[harishsangwan]

No. Don't worry, just use your install disk to repair.

Thanks for the reply..done repairing..

 

[ednsb]

Kind of skirting around the issue

I too get those messages when I run DU to verify my internal drive. I have gotten them both on my original drive as well as a new 2tb internal drive I installed last month to upgrade the original drive.

I can run DU from my systems DVD and it seems to fix the problem UNTIL the next time it does it again.

So my question is - why is this happening and how do I fix it.

 

[davidlv]

I too get those messages when I run DU to verify my internal drive. I have gotten them both on my original drive as well as a new 2tb internal drive I installed last month to upgrade the original drive.
I can run DU from my systems DVD and it seems to fix the problem UNTIL the next time it does it again.
So my question is - why is this happening and how do I fix it.

Good question. Several possibilities come to mind, in order of probability:
Marginal RAM; have you upgraded your RAM with third party chips? Marigally bad RAM can cause this type of error.
Bad HD or a HD that is not working 100% right in your Mac; does the same issue arise using another HD?
Tried clearing all the caches? System, User, Fonts, etc. Onyx can do this, will require a reboot.
Disk Utility is a good repair package but it is limited by design and may not be actually getting to the root of your issue. Try running Disk Warrior on the drive and replace the Directory.
I had one odd case where the cable to the HD from the disk controller on the motherboard was causing all kinds of issues, randomly and intermittently too, drove me nuts! Then I noticed a small crack in the cable, swapped it out and everything worked fine. arg....
Hard to say in your case what is the root of the issue without a lot more information, computer model, user upgrades, internal HD brand, model, etc. etc, and no warranty as to producing results. I personally have had bad luck with WD in my 2009 15" MBP, good results with a Seagate and a Hitachi. What drive have you had the problems with?

 

[heyplink]

invalid file count

I am having the same issues and depending on how busy I am, I have to perform the Disk Utility once or twice a week.
In my case, Disk Utility will repair the problem but ONLY if you restart the computer from the install disk or another drive with the OS on it.
I have two drives Hard drives. One is a duplicate of the other and have had the issue with both drives. I even got a replacement drive from apple because of another non related issue and that one still gets corrupted too.
I am running some pirated music apps but can't imagine that's the problem since everyone seems to be having these same issues.
I'm glad that Disk Utility can repair it but I am totally bugged out as to WHY it keeps happening. Anyone know?

MacPro 8 core/Snow Leopard 10.6.8

 

[Signal-11]

I am having the same issues and depending on how busy I am, I have to perform the Disk Utility once or twice a week.
In my case, Disk Utility will repair the problem but ONLY if you restart the computer from the install disk or another drive with the OS on it.
I have two drives Hard drives. One is a duplicate of the other and have had the issue with both drives. I even got a replacement drive from apple because of another non related issue and that one still gets corrupted too.
I am running some pirated music apps but can't imagine that's the problem since everyone seems to be having these same issues.
I'm glad that Disk Utility can repair it but I am totally bugged out as to WHY it keeps happening. Anyone know?

MacPro 8 core/Snow Leopard 10.6.8

What is your RAID configuration?

 

[daneoni]

Have you tried fsck?

 

[BonzoBonham]

Invalid volume directory count

I will chime in here and say that I am getting this warning via Disk Utility also and have to use the DVD to restart and do the repair which works, but it returns, so obviously something is causing it.

Anyone know what this is about, yet?

iMac 3.2 GHz Intel Core i3
(2010)

OS 10.6.68

 

[lexworth]

Invalid Volume count

I have a backup disk and use it for disk repairs. I get the Invalid volume file /Invalid volume directory count error alot and just found that it is related to indexing via Spotlight.

1) Start up from an external disk or a DVD disk.
2) Repair your hard drive start up volume via disk utility.
3) Restart and boot from your computer's start up HDD start up volume and login to your user account.
4) Re-index via spotlight:
Go to System Preferences > Spotlight
On the Privacy tab, click (+) to add a volume, then immediately select and remove (-) this same volume. The volume should usually be your Macintosh HD.


See these blogs for more detail:

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3099570?start=15&tstart=0

http://support.crashplan.com/doku.php/client/troubleshooting/real-time#spotlight