PCMech Forums - View Single Post - How do I repair a corrupted MFT on an NTFS partition?

henderson1977 · 04-08-2005, 07:14 PM

Well guys, after all is said 'n' done...

I had already run WD's drive fitness test a while back (wish I'd mentioned earlier now to save the 'domestic' between Maverick & TheFulton - oops!)... which confirmed the drive is fine, no errors/warning reported at all.

Also Maverick, I have to agree with TheFulton on the corrupted $MFT... because I've done some extensive research on this issue now which dismisses a physical hard drive problem. I read somewhere that it can be fatal if the $MFT becomes heavily fragmented, which could be my situation... I did have Diskeeper configured to "smart schedule" which basically means it defrags on the fly...although, the $MFT cannot be defragged while Windows is running & I can't remember if I ever did a boot-time defrag. However, I do remember configuring Diskeeper's FragShield to optimise the $MFT... could this have something to do with it perhaps?

Ultimately, the information I am looking for is: Can the $MFT be backed up, so that if this happens again, I can easily restore it? If so, what software do I need please?

Thanks
Henderson1977

04-08-2005, 07:14 PM	#18
henderson1977 Member (3 bit) Join Date: Mar 2005 Posts: 5	Well guys, after all is said 'n' done... I had already run WD's drive fitness test a while back (wish I'd mentioned earlier now to save the 'domestic' between Maverick & TheFulton - oops!)... which confirmed the drive is fine, no errors/warning reported at all. Also Maverick, I have to agree with TheFulton on the corrupted $MFT... because I've done some extensive research on this issue now which dismisses a physical hard drive problem. I read somewhere that it can be fatal if the $MFT becomes heavily fragmented, which could be my situation... I did have Diskeeper configured to "smart schedule" which basically means it defrags on the fly...although, the $MFT cannot be defragged while Windows is running & I can't remember if I ever did a boot-time defrag. However, I do remember configuring Diskeeper's FragShield to optimise the $MFT... could this have something to do with it perhaps? Ultimately, the information I am looking for is: Can the $MFT be backed up, so that if this happens again, I can easily restore it? If so, what software do I need please? Thanks Henderson1977