[olug] corrupt master file table (NTFS)

Dan Linder dan at linder.org
Fri May 28 21:06:56 UTC 2010


If it's an older system that's been on quite a bit, it's possible the disks
are starting to fail at the substrate level.

You might be able to run SpinRite on it:
  http://www.grc.com/spinrite.htm
They offer a money-back gurantee if it doesn't work for you, but I've had a
couple of drives it resurrected just long enough to pull the data off of
before replacing them.

Dan

On Fri, May 28, 2010 at 13:06, DYNATRON tech <dynatron at gmail.com> wrote:

> let me say first, that i'm impressed with testdisk as well as the many
> features and file systems it supports, and i'd like to thank bill for
> suggesting it. unfortunately, i'm not sure that it will save this
> particular
> disk.
>
> according to testdisk the MFT mirror was corrupt as well...bummer.
> i suppose this explains why chkdsk could not fix it, but i'm still confused
> how this can happen in the first place, unless i had a loss of power while
> writing to both MFT's. it seems to me logic would dictate that a drive
> should edit only one MFT at a time to avoid this situation. this computer
> hasn't talked to the internet in a couple years, so i find malware to be an
> unlikely possibility. the only thing i can come up with is that i had a bad
> sector in the mirror MFT which only became an issue when i lost the primary
> MFT.
>
> for the last 3 days testdisk has been doing this:
> *
> Disk /dev/sdb - 750 GB / 698 GiB - CHS 91202 255 63
>       Partition                             Start              End     Size
> in sectors
> 1 P HPFS - NTFS                   0   1   1   91200 254 63 1465144002
>
>
> Search mft    749338624/1465144002*
>
> the last thing i remember doing with it is telling it to attempt recover of
> the boot sector, but i'm not sure what that has to do with the mft.
>
> any ideas?
>
>
> On Tue, May 25, 2010 at 11:15 AM, DYNATRON tech <dynatron at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
> > right on. i appreciate the correspondence. i should be ready to give it a
> > go later tonight. i'm gonna study up on NTFS and testdisk before i dive
> in.
> > i'm not the type to walk into an unfamiliar room blindfolded, so i have a
> > little studying to do first.
> >
> > thanks for your interest,
> > -j
> >
> >
> > On Tue, May 25, 2010 at 10:56 AM, Jordan Fox <vmifox at gmail.com> wrote:
> >
> >> Sent to you, not OLUG:
> >>
> >> I would be very interested in hearing your experiences.  I have some
> >> experience doing low level HDD stuff and might be able to help some.
> >> It's been a while though - I've never used TestDisk or recovered an
> >> MFT.  Though there were at least 2 times that recovering an MFT would
> >> have been great - I didn't know it was possible at the time (maybe it
> >> wasn't... testdisk didn't exist yet).
> >>
> >> Jordan
> >>
> >>
> >> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> >> From: DYNATRON tech <dynatron at gmail.com>
> >> Date: Tue, May 25, 2010 at 9:50 AM
> >> Subject: Re: [olug] corrupt master file table (NTFS)
> >> To: Omaha Linux User Group <olug at olug.org>
> >>
> >>
> >> thanks bill. testdisk looks awesome<
> >> http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/TestDisk>.
> >> gonna take it for a spin. i appreciate the tip. i'll post back with a
> >> review.
> >>
> >> On Mon, May 24, 2010 at 3:15 PM, Bill Eberly <imjustabill at gmail.com>
> >> wrote:
> >>
> >> > I did something similar once. If the backup MFT is still there (I
> >> believe
> >> > it's stored at the end of the drive), try TestDisk.
> >> >
> >> > If that doesn't work, I recommend GetDataBack. It's for Windows, and
> not
> >> > free, but the trial will show you what it can recover. Saved my butt
> >> once
> >> > when I accidentally deleted everything on my girlfriend's computer,
> and
> >> > then proceeded to destroy the partition table and MFT,
> >> > _______________________________________________
> >> > OLUG mailing list
> >> > OLUG at olug.org
> >> > https://lists.olug.org/mailman/listinfo/olug
> >> >
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> --
> >> dynatron digital services
> >> box 191 - 68037
> >> www.dynatron.org
> >> dynatron at gmail.com
> >> _______________________________________________
> >> OLUG mailing list
> >> OLUG at olug.org
> >> https://lists.olug.org/mailman/listinfo/olug
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> --
> >> "Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and
> >> petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.  And the
> >> peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your
> >> hearts and minds in Christ Jesus."  Phil 4:6-7
> >>
> >> "The shortest distance between a problem and a solution is the
> >> distance between your knees and the floor."  Anonymous
> >>
> >
> >
> >
> > --
> > dynatron digital services
> > box 191 - 68037
> > www.dynatron.org
> > dynatron at gmail.com
> >
>
>
>
> --
> dynatron digital services
> box 191 - 68037
> www.dynatron.org
> dynatron at gmail.com
> _______________________________________________
> OLUG mailing list
> OLUG at olug.org
> https://lists.olug.org/mailman/listinfo/olug
>



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