Ipod Will Not Mount, Keys Out of Order

[raindogs]

My iPod will not mount, but still plays fine when not attached to my machine. I have tried over both USB and Firewire. When I try to repair through disk utility, I get this message:

Verifying volume “Alex Walker’s iPod”
Checking HFS Plus volume.
Checking Extents Overflow file.
Checking Catalog file.
Keys out of order
The volume needs to be repaired.

Volume check failed.

Error: The underlying task reported failure on exit (-9972)

1 volume checked
0 HFS volumes verified
1 volume failed verification


I have tried the common "force mount" of rebooting the iPod and then holding down the forward/backward keys, but this got me nowhere. I should note that I have tried mounting on two different machines with different cables, so that isn't the problem either. Is there anything else I might try to force this to mount? I'd like to at least be able to save the data on it.

Thanks,
Alex

[toppledwagon]

Ok, here's what to do:
Go into Disk Utility, select your iPod then Get Info. You are looking for a line similar to the following:
Disk Identifier : disk3s3

Now, open Terminal (don't be afraid, Terminal is your friend.)
type this:
/sbin/fsck_hfs -fy /dev/disk3s3

(This was updated from /sbin/fsck to /sbin/fsck_hfs.)

Make sure to match "disk3s3" with what was shown under "Disk Identifier" shown in the Get Info window of Disk Utility.

It's been suggested to me that you might need to run that 'fsck' command more than once to fix all of the errors.


If you have enough disk space on your hard drive, you can make a backup of your iPod like this (in Terminal again):
dd if=/dev/disk3s3 of=myiPod.dmg

(Notice the "disk3s3" use again.)

This will create a disk image of your iPod that (under normal circumstances) you can mount like any other disk image. If you have a 60GB iPod with 3 songs on it, the .dmg file will be 60GB, so prepare accordingly. The disk image will have all of the flaws of the iPod. This is a byte by byte copy of your iPod.

I might make a backup of the iPod before you 'fsck' it, depending on how important the data is.

Note: This is the long way of backing up an iPod (or any disk for that matter.) I'd only use this way if the disk was unmountable. If the disk is mountable, you can use any number of file backup utilities (Retrospect, tar, etc.)

Good Luck!

-Dave

[polynaut]

hi there,

this is markus from germany...

i have the exact same -9972 problem - i tried all of your hints - but the fsck failed over and over again and the disk image i made with your cool little piece of text is "not mountable" -

do you have any more ideas?

greetz
markus

[jamsed]

I have the same problem, right down to the same error messages. It's because I pulled it out mistakenly without disconnecting it.

I can do your terminal commands ... but it still gives me the same error that disk utility gives. Is there any way to repair it apart from a full restore? As I don't want to lose all the music I have (I have no back up of it...)

TERMINAL TRANSCRIPT:
203-96-101-130:~ jamsed$ /sbin/fsck_hfs -fy /dev/disk1s3
** /dev/rdisk1s3
** Checking HFS Plus volume.
** Checking Extents Overflow file.
** Checking Catalog file.
Invalid sibling link
(4, 122)
** Rebuilding Catalog B-tree.
** The volume Ed Muzik could not be repaired.

[hayne]

Is there any way to repair it apart from a full restore? As I don't want to lose all the music I have (I have no back up of it...)

It is possible that a more powerful disk utility, e.g. Disk Warrior, could repair the corrupted filesystem in your iPod.
Otherwise you need to just do the iPod restore (and lose your music).
This is why you should always have your music both in iTunes (on your Mac's hard drive) and on your iPod - the music on your Mac is a backup for your iPod, and vice versa.

[chutem]

I had a similar problem and had to restore (disk utility and DiskWarrior couldn't fix it). My problem also came in that if i tried the june ipod updater for the restore it wouldn't work. I had to use the one from feb and now it works fine.

[jamsed]

I know I should have a backup of my music on my computer, but it's just a wee iBook (30gig), so my iPod holds twice as much as it does!

Using File Salvage, I can see all of the files. I will back them up onto a larger disc, as soon as one big enough becomes available. Then a restore, I guess...