What is an Invalid Volume Header Error?
Each hard drive Volume contains a separate Volume header or a group. But an Invalid volume header is a fairly common and relatively serious problem relating to file systems, volume structure, space, and other information.
Consider a situation where you connect an external hard drive to your system. When you click on the drive, you are unable to access the contents and you encounter the message ‘Invalid volume header error’.
What would you do? If you are in such a situation, do not worry. This article will guide you through a hassle-free solution on how to fix the ‘Invalid volume header error’ and recover data from your hard drive.
How to Address and Fix Invalid Volume Header Error on External Hard Drive
- Step 1: Recover data from external hard-drive
- Step 2: Fix the Invalid Volume Header Error on the External Hard Drive using Disk Utility
The reason behind prioritizing Data recovery is that during the process of implementing the repair procedure or reformatting if anything goes wrong, the logical data residing on the external storage device will be completely lost.
Recover Data from External Hard Drive With Invalid Volume Header Using Remo Recover
Hence, we recommend you recover your data with a reliable data recovery tool like Remo Recover. The tool is programmed with a robust scan engine that can effortlessly recover any lost or deleted data within a matter of a few clicks. The tool can recover more than 500+ file formats. The software is compatible with all versions of both Windows Operating System and macOS. Download now.
How to Recover Data from Invalid Volume Header Error External Hard Drive
Download, install, and launch the Remo Recover Mac application on your MacBook.
- From the main screen, select the Recover Volumes / Drives option followed by the Volumes Recovery option Main screen of the software to recover the Mac partition.
- Select the Mac drive from where your partition was deleted or lost and click Next.
- Click on the Advance Scan option if you have formatted or stored any new data by mistake select the scan type which is required to recover deleted or Mac partition.
- Select the file types that you want to recover from your deleted or lost Mac partition and click on Next Select the file types that you want to recover from your Mac partition.
- Note: If you want to recover all the files from the Mac partition, click on Skip.
- Once the scanning process is completed, click on a specific file and click on the Preview button to verify the file before proceeding to save Preview the recovered data from the Mac partition.
Once you are recovery procedure is done follow the methods mentioned in the section below to effortlessly Fix the ‘Invalid Volume Header Error’ on External Hard Drive
Fix the ‘Invalid Volume Header Error’ by Reformatting
Once you have recovered data from your drive, you are safe to continue with the troubleshooting steps to reformat your drive.
- In the Finder, choose Go > Utilities. The /Applications/ Utility folder will open.
- Then launch Disk Utility.
- From the left menu, select your external hard drive.
- Click the Erase tab from the four options available in the main window.
- Disk Utility will automatically choose a format option for you. You can also pick a format of your choice using the drop-down menu if you wish to.
- Assign a name to the drive.
- Then click on Security options to choose how you’d like the drive to be formatted. It ranges from Fastest to Most Secure. Fastest will erase the drive by removing header information only. If you want higher security, consider moving the slider to the right and choose an appropriate option.
- Click on Erase and wait till the drive is ready.
Reformatting using the above steps should fix the ‘Invalid volume header’ error. If it doesn’t, it probably indicates your hard disk has failed and it’s time to replace it.
Causes for ‘Invalid Volume Header Error’
- Abrupt Power Loss: The volume header of the external hard drive gets corrupted when there is an unexpected system shutdown or an abrupt removal during read or write operations.
- Virus attack: Virus attack can infect the file system which can corrupt the volume header on the external hard drive.
- Disk Errors or Bad Sectors: Bad sectors and damages can corrupt the metadata of the external hard drive.
- Software Errors: Glitches in software or outdated drivers, or system crash can damage the volume header of the external hard drive.
Conclusion
Facing an Invalid Volume Header Error can be unpredictable, and you might think reformatting is the only fix. But this approach risks losing your precious data on the external hard drive. To avoid such headaches, make sure to back up your data regularly and lessen the chances of data loss.
If data safety is your priority then Give Remo Recover a try – it's a powerful tool to help you recover data from your external hard drive with ease.
