[voicebox]

Hi there,
First of all, I hope this is the correct forum for my problem - apolgies if not!

I have a an external LaCie d2 Extreme 300Gb hard drive patitioned into three equal-ish volumes.
This morning I tried to erase an earlier system from one of the volumes so that I could copy my present 10.4.8 system across to it before I upgraded to 10.4.9 on my main HD.
All went well until I was presented with the following error warning: "Invalid B-Tree node size. The volume needs to be repaired".
The name of the volume had been changed to 'disk1 s10' from the name 'SystemBackup' and it will not mount, I can see it in Disk Utility but not on the desk top. The other two volumes are OK and are mounted on the desktop.
I tried to repair the volume using Verify Disk and Repair Disk in Disk Utility, but am unable to do so ...
Would anyone have any ideas on how to fix this problem?
There are 120Gb of free space on the volume that at the moment I cannot use!
As usual, all help is gratefully received,
Thanks.
voicebox

[Kenneth]

Time to get DiskWarrior?

[voicebox]

Originally Posted by Kenneth 

Time to get DiskWarrior?

I should have Drive Genius by tomorrow morning -providing our Postman can get out of bed!!

[Sherman Homan]

Originally Posted by voicebox 

I should have Drive Genius by tomorrow morning -providing our Postman can get out of bed!!

Indeed, it sounds like you need serious medicine. I am curious, what happened when you tried to run Disk Utility --> Repair Disk? Was the option available?

[voicebox]

Originally Posted by Sherman Homan 

Indeed, it sounds like you need serious medicine. I am curious, what happened when you tried to run Disk Utility --> Repair Disk? Was the option available?

Hi Sherman,
All three volumes were visible in Disk Utility but when I ran Disk Utility/Verify Disk on the particular volume I got the following error warning message:
"Invalid B-Tree node size. The volume needs to be repaired".
I then ran Disk Utility/Repair Disk and I got the same message but with a subtle difference:
"Invalid B-Tree node size. The volume cannot be repaired". (my highlight)
At the risk of repeating myself, I must stress that the other two volumes are OK and I am still able to boot from one of them, the other being used just for data.
'Invalid B-Tree node size' is something I have never come across before, so I am treating this problem as a 'rapid learning curve!!'

Until now I have never had cause to use the likes of DiskWarrior or TechTool nor any other disk repair software for that matter, so I'll let you know if Drive Genius does the trick!
voicebox

[Sherman Homan]

Disk Utility is a pretty good repair program, especially when you consider what you paid for it...(!) Disk Warrior, Tech Tools, Drive Genius and the repair program formerly known as Norton can handle tougher jobs, like yours. Good luck!

[voicebox]

Originally Posted by Sherman Homan 

Disk Utility is a pretty good repair program, especially when you consider what you paid for it...(!) Disk Warrior, Tech Tools, Drive Genius and the repair program formerly known as Norton can handle tougher jobs, like yours. Good luck!

Hi Sherman,
Got Drive Genius yesterday, ran it and it did the trick!
I then wiped the LaCie external drive and using Disk Utility re-partitioned it (3 partitions) and then cloned my main drive accross using CCC. I uploaded a separate 10.4.8 system and reloaded my data onto the another two partitions. I repaired Disk Permissions and used D/Genius to scan and check everything.
I did notice the dreaded small folder with question mark (can't find system) for about 2 secs during start up on the main HD, so I restarted holding down Command-alt-P-R and waited for the usual 4 chimes. I then restarted and everything is now fine!
Thanks again for your input Sherman and for taking time out to read my ramblings!!
Best
voicebox