Corrupt Master File Table

  • Thread starter Thread starter Synapse Syndrome
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Synapse Syndrome

I have a 50GB NTFS partition (no OS) on a 250GB Maxtor DiamondMax 10 around
the middle of the disk that is inaccessable. Acronis Disk Director reports
it as having a corrupt master file table. CHKDSK appears to run on bootup
but it fails to fix this partition.

I can't run the Maxtor PowerMax diagnostic program as it is on a SATA
controller. The partition was very full (might have only been a 100MB or so
space left on it, and what I think might have corrupted it was an
automatically scheduled defrag on it from Winternals Defrag Manager, but
then I can't be sure of course.

Does anybody know what I can do about this?

Cheers

ss.
 
Synapse Syndrome said:
I have a 50GB NTFS partition (no OS) on a 250GB Maxtor DiamondMax 10
around the middle of the disk that is inaccessable. Acronis Disk Director
reports it as having a corrupt master file table. CHKDSK appears to run
on bootup but it fails to fix this partition.

I can't run the Maxtor PowerMax diagnostic program as it is on a SATA
controller. The partition was very full (might have only been a 100MB or
so space left on it, and what I think might have corrupted it was an
automatically scheduled defrag on it from Winternals Defrag Manager, but
then I can't be sure of course.

Does anybody know what I can do about this?
Click to expand...


Oh, another thing I noticed is that this machine has been making a
intermittent and seemingly regularly spaced (around every 5 seconds) ticking
noise at times in the last coupld of days. There are three HDDs in this
machine, but it is possible that this ticking noise was coming from this
Maxtor with the dodgy partition.

ss.
 
Synapse said:
I have a 50GB NTFS partition (no OS) on a 250GB Maxtor DiamondMax 10
around
the middle of the disk that is inaccessable. Acronis Disk Director
reports
it as having a corrupt master file table. CHKDSK appears to run on bootup
but it fails to fix this partition.

I can't run the Maxtor PowerMax diagnostic program as it is on a SATA
controller. The partition was very full (might have only been a 100MB or
so
space left on it, and what I think might have corrupted it was an
automatically scheduled defrag on it from Winternals Defrag Manager, but
then I can't be sure of course.

Does anybody know what I can do about this?

Cheers

ss.
Click to expand...

Maxtors seem to be somewhat unreliable. High failure rates, as well as
running exceptionally hot. My new maxtor 300gb sata drive is to hot to touch
for more then ten seconds.... That kind of heat surely means the thing will
fail within a couple of years.

Gaz
 
:
.. My new maxtor 300gb sata drive is to hot to touch
for more then ten seconds.... That kind of heat surely means the thing will
fail within a couple of years.
Click to expand...

I would think that kind of heat would make it obvious that you would be
smart to install a fan blowing across the HDD case.

Jon
 
Synapse Syndrome said:
Oh, another thing I noticed is that this machine has been making a
intermittent and seemingly regularly spaced (around every 5 seconds)
ticking noise at times in the last coupld of days. There are three
HDDs in this machine, but it is possible that this ticking noise was
coming from this Maxtor with the dodgy partition.
Click to expand...

Thats usually an indication that the drive is dying.

Post the Everest SMART data for the drive.
http://www.majorgeeks.com/download.php?det=4181
 
Oh, another thing I noticed is that this machine has been making a
intermittent and seemingly regularly spaced (around every 5 seconds) ticking
noise at times in the last coupld of days. There are three HDDs in this
machine, but it is possible that this ticking noise was coming from this
Maxtor with the dodgy partition.
Click to expand...
It's knackered. Back up what you can. THe ticking noise is usually the
sound of the heads smashing against the spindle.



--
Conor
Sig under construction. Please check back when Duke Nukem Forever ships
and/or Windows Vista is released.

Cashback on online purchases:
http://www.TopCashBack.co.uk/Conor/ref/index.htm
 
Conor said:
Synapse Syndrome wrote
Click to expand...
It's knackered. Back up what you can. THe ticking noise is
usually the sound of the heads smashing against the spindle.
Click to expand...

Nope, just the drive recalibrating when it cant read the data properly.
 
Maxtors seem to be somewhat unreliable. High failure rates, as well as
running exceptionally hot. My new maxtor 300gb sata drive is to hot to touch
for more then ten seconds.... That kind of heat surely means the thing will
fail within a couple of years.
Click to expand...


Actually it means your case has poor cooling. There is no
PATA or SATA drive that produces enough heat that it will
get too hot to touch for 10 seconds, even indefinitely if
your cooling is set up properly.

So you're running them WAY too hot and they're failing.
Imagine that.
 
I have a 50GB NTFS partition (no OS) on a 250GB Maxtor DiamondMax 10 around
the middle of the disk that is inaccessable. Acronis Disk Director reports
it as having a corrupt master file table. CHKDSK appears to run on bootup
but it fails to fix this partition.

I can't run the Maxtor PowerMax diagnostic program as it is on a SATA
controller. The partition was very full (might have only been a 100MB or so
space left on it, and what I think might have corrupted it was an
automatically scheduled defrag on it from Winternals Defrag Manager, but
then I can't be sure of course.

Does anybody know what I can do about this?
Click to expand...


First determine the value of the data to decide between a
data recovery center or attempting it yourself.

If attempting yourself, don't keep running the drive, leave
it off till you're ready to try the recovery. Get some data
recovery software or try what you have. Cost is possibly an
issue, again weighed against value of data. I could be
judgemental and declare the data has to be of little value
since it wasn't backed up but.... sometimes you get stuck
with other people's mistakes to.

It might have corrupted during the defrag but because of the
existing problem. Did it really need scheduled defrags?
Beyond a certain point they're just unnecessary addt'l wear.

Running the Maxtor Powermax (if you could), won't get the
data back. Limit drive on-time to data recovery software
efforts. You could try the old "put it in a freezer" trick
but that would be the last resort.
 
kony said:
Actually it means your case has poor cooling. There is no
PATA or SATA drive that produces enough heat that it will
get too hot to touch for 10 seconds, even indefinitely if
your cooling is set up properly.
Click to expand...

Actually the heat is when the drive is inside and outside. Maybe I am old
fashioned but my western digital raptor 10,000 hd doesnt run anywhere near
hot.
So you're running them WAY too hot and they're failing.
Imagine that.
Click to expand...

Hard drives as standard, in an ambient room temperature should not be
getting so hot to touch, never have i come across a drive that comes so
close. My server sized case does allow for a fan to be put directly behind
the hd, but not many cases do, actually hardly any do.

Are you suggesting that all modern hard drives need to have fans blowing
cold air over them when the temp in the case is no more then 20 to 30
degrees C?

Asus probe says my cpu is running at 36degrees C and the mb 27 degrees. The
maxtor drive is in a cd drive slot suspended by a 5 1/4 to 3 1/2 inch metal
case, the metal case is quite mininmal, and suspends the drive in a well
ventilated position,with nothing but air above and nothing but air below, it
still gets to hot to touch.

Imagine that.

Gaz
 
Gaz said:
kony wrote
Click to expand...

Very likely.
Actually the heat is when the drive is inside and outside.
Click to expand...

What do you mean by 'outside' ? Loose
on the desktop or in an external case ?

If its loose on the desktop, quite a few drives do get stinking
hot used that way, because they rely on conduction to the
drive bay stack to get rid of quite a bit of the heat.
Maybe I am old fashioned
Nope.

but my western digital raptor 10,000 hd doesnt run anywhere near hot.
Click to expand...

Yeah, Maxtors do tend to run quite hot compared with other drives.
Hard drives as standard, in an ambient room temperature should not be getting so hot to
touch,
Click to expand...

They can do if they rely on conduction to
the drive bay stack and that isnt present.
never have i come across a drive that comes so close.
Click to expand...

Some of the Barracudas do that too.
My server sized case does allow for a fan to be put directly behind the hd, but not many
cases do, actually hardly any do.
Click to expand...
Are you suggesting that all modern hard drives need to have fans blowing cold air over
them when the temp in the case is no more then 20 to 30 degrees C?
Click to expand...

If he is, he's just plain wrong. Nothing unusual there tho.
Asus probe says my cpu is running at 36degrees C and the mb 27
degrees. The maxtor drive is in a cd drive slot suspended by a 5 1/4
to 3 1/2 inch metal case, the metal case is quite mininmal, and
suspends the drive in a well ventilated position,with nothing but air
above and nothing but air below, it still gets to hot to touch.
Click to expand...

Thats part of the problem, quite a few drives use conduction
to the metal drive bay stack to get rid of quite a bit of the heat
and when you have it in one of those bay kits, it cant do that.
 
Are you suggesting that all modern hard drives need to have fans blowing
cold air over them when the temp in the case is no more then 20 to 30
degrees C?
Click to expand...

Not all, but most, yes, and the air doesn't need to be cold - the drive
just needs some air flowing over it. Doesn't need to be a lot.
The
maxtor drive is in a cd drive slot suspended by a 5 1/4 to 3 1/2 inch metal
case, the metal case is quite mininmal, and suspends the drive in a well
ventilated position,with nothing but air above and nothing but air below, it
still gets to hot to touch.
Click to expand...

Not good. Download a SMART utility and see what the drive itself thinks
its temperature is.
 
kony said:
First determine the value of the data to decide between a
data recovery center or attempting it yourself.
Click to expand...

These are only TV shows recorded using Showshifter. They are of no monetary
value, but I would like to recover them all the same. Do you think that the
high use of this section of the disk (recording and playback) would have
anything to do with the failure? I don't think heat would have been
particulary high as I have fans and the ventilations seems to be pretty
good. Even so, the whole disk has seen relatively low use and is less than
a year old.
If attempting yourself, don't keep running the drive, leave
it off till you're ready to try the recovery. Get some data
recovery software or try what you have. Cost is possibly an
issue, again weighed against value of data. I could be
judgemental and declare the data has to be of little value
since it wasn't backed up but.... sometimes you get stuck
with other people's mistakes to.

It might have corrupted during the defrag but because of the
existing problem. Did it really need scheduled defrags?
Beyond a certain point they're just unnecessary addt'l wear.

Running the Maxtor Powermax (if you could), won't get the
data back. Limit drive on-time to data recovery software
efforts. You could try the old "put it in a freezer" trick
but that would be the last resort.
Click to expand...

What software is there to deal with this problem? And what causes a Corrupt
Master File Table normally?

ss.
 
Synapse Syndrome said:
I don't think that SMART data can go through the SCSI type interface of a
SATA controller card, and I don't have a desktop machine with onboard SATA
here anymore.
Click to expand...

SMART will work with SATA.
 
Yes, but as far as I know, not through pseudo SCSI interfaces on SATA (or ATA)
controller cards.
Click to expand...

Yes it can. Everest may not see it tho. smartctl on the
knoppix bootable CD should be able to see it if Everest cant.
 
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