The technologies described herein are generally directed toward identifying a current journal state by determining the most recent valid journal record using valid and null journal records. According to an embodiment, a system can comprise a processor and a memory that can enable performance of operations including identifying a hint journal record of a group of journal records of a journal of a journaled data storage system. The operations can further include, based on an identified null record and the hint journal record, determining a highest sequence journal record comprising a sequence indicator. The operations can further include, based on the sequence indicator, analyzing, by the journaling equipment, other journal records of the group of journal records to confirm that the highest sequence journal record corresponds to a valid journal state.