How to repair MFT

  • Thread starter Thread starter Billkalbo
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Billkalbo

I have XP on one of my NTFS drives and the Master File Table has been
deleted or corrupted.
I've tried fixmbr but it reports that it can not repair
I can boot into vista and I see the drive but it shows 0 megs used, the
drive name has reverted to Local Disk
Is there a tool I can use to fix or rebuild the MFT?
 
The Master File Table is actually part of the NTFS file system, not
Windows XP. However, XP's Disk Error Checking (CHKDSK) might be able to
help you.

NTFS stores a copy of the MFT called the 'MFT mirror'. NTFS can
sometimes repair a damaged MFT from the copy.

Start by running Disk Error Checking from the Windows GUI. Or, if
Windows can't boot and you have a working Recovery Console, use the
Recovery Console to run CHKDSK.

If you can't use the Recovery Console, or if the damage to your MFT is
serious, you may have to reformat the partition. Before you do that,
however, search the web for third-party tools that might be able to
repair your disk. (I wish I knew of one I could recommend to you.) Good
luck. Just remember to copy your files to another place before you start
working on the drive.

And please report back when you succeed.
 
Leonard,

Thanks for the reply.

When I boot into my Vista drive, it see problem on the XP drive and tries to
repair it with chkdsk but it reports that it can not repair it.

I tried booting with the XP CD but when I go to recovery console, it tells
me that there are no drives even though there are 4 (3 working fine) in the
system that Vista sees when I boot Vista.

So I guess I need a 3rd party tool. You would think that with the multitude
of MBR and MFT problems that people face every day, MS would provide a
proper repair tool.

I ran chkdsk from Vista but it tells me the same thing: windows can not
repair it

Any ideas?

Bill
 
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