Major disk repair issue

I had an interrupted update install yesterday, and my computer wouldn't boot up. When I tried to do a disk verify and repair it said the verify failed, and gave the error "invalid node structure." I then tried to do an archive and install and the directory was missing from the drive selection.

Is there no way to retrieve my personal information without having to erase and re-install? All I want to save are my photos. I've heard about Disk Warrior, are there any other alternatives?

First things first, start here at step 7 and let us know how it goes:

http://www.mac-forums.com/forums/os-x-operating-system/93819-basic-os-x-mac-troubleshooting.html

If you're still having problems after going through the trouble shooting steps that cwa107 referred you to, see the following discussion in the Apple forum:

Link

Regards.

DiskWarrior 4.1.1 is a great tool and the best HDD utility about.