Scribd Logo
Upload

Welcome to Scribd!

  • 151 views

    Advanced NTFS Boot and MFT Repair

    Uploaded by

    sebastien
    This document discusses how to repair damaged NTFS boot sectors and master file tables (MFT) using TestDisk software. It explains that TestDisk can recover a corrupted boot sector from its backup, rebuild the boot sector by analyzing the MFT if both are corrupted, and repair the MFT using its mirrored backup if damaged. If both the MFT and its backup are unusable, commercial recovery software may be needed.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as RTF, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd

    Advanced NTFS Boot and MFT Repair

    Uploaded by

    sebastien
    151 views2 pages
    This document discusses how to repair damaged NTFS boot sectors and master file tables (MFT) using TestDisk software. It explains that TestDisk can recover a corrupted boot sector from its backup, rebuild the boot sector by analyzing the MFT if both are corrupted, and repair the MFT using its mirrored backup if damaged. If both the MFT and its backup are unusable, commercial recovery software may be needed.

    Original Description:

    ponty

    Original Title

    _Advanced NTFS Boot and MFT Repair

    Copyright

    © © All Rights Reserved

    Available Formats

    RTF, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd

    Did you find this document useful?

    Is this content inappropriate?

    This document discusses how to repair damaged NTFS boot sectors and master file tables (MFT) using TestDisk software. It explains that TestDisk can recover a corrupted boot sector from its backup, rebuild the boot sector by analyzing the MFT if both are corrupted, and repair the MFT using its mirrored backup if damaged. If both the MFT and its backup are unusable, commercial recovery software may be needed.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as RTF, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as rtf, pdf, or txt
    151 views2 pages

    Advanced NTFS Boot and MFT Repair

    Uploaded by

    sebastien
    This document discusses how to repair damaged NTFS boot sectors and master file tables (MFT) using TestDisk software. It explains that TestDisk can recover a corrupted boot sector from its backup, rebuild the boot sector by analyzing the MFT if both are corrupted, and repair the MFT using its mirrored backup if damaged. If both the MFT and its backup are unusable, commercial recovery software may be needed.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as RTF, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as rtf, pdf, or txt
    of 2

    Advanced NTFS Boot and MFT Repair

    Contents

    1 Repair An NTFS Boot Sector


    1.1 Recovering An NTFS Boot Sector On An NTFS Partition Using Its Backup
    1.2 Rebuilding An NTFS Boot Sector On An NTFS Partition
    2 Repair An NTFS MFT

    Repair An NTFS Boot Sector

    If the NTFS boot sector is damaged, data cannot be accessed. Windows will prompt The drive is
    not formatted, do you want to format it now? Linux mount will display wrong fs type, bad
    option, bad superblock

    TestDisk let you manipulate and fix the boot sector of NTFS partitions. Select the partition you
    want to modify and choose Boot.
    Recovering An NTFS Boot Sector On An NTFS Partition Using Its Backup

    TestDisk can use the backup boot sector to fix a corrupted NTFS boot sector. The primary boot
    sector is sector zero of the filesystem and the backup NTFS boot sector is located near the end of
    the filesystem. Even if the boot sector is accidentally overwritten, the backup should be intact.
    TestDisk checks the boot sector and the backup boot sector. If the boot sector and backup boot
    sector mismatch, you can

    restore the NTFS boot sector from its backup (Backup BS) or;
    update the backup NTFS boot sector with the current boot sector (Org. BS).

    Dump can used to display the boot sector content in both hexadecimal and ASCII. If there is no
    valid boot sector available, TestDisk can still rebuild an NTFS boot sector.
    Rebuilding An NTFS Boot Sector On An NTFS Partition

    If both NTFS boot sectors are corrupted and you need to rebuild the NTFS boot sector, TestDisk
    searches the MFT (Master File Table: $MFT) and its backup ($MFTMirr). It reads the MFT record
    size, it computes the cluster size, and it reads the size of the Index Allocation Entry in the root
    directory index. Using all these values, TestDisk can provide a new boot sector. Finally it lets the
    user list the files before writing.
    Repair An NTFS MFT

    The MFT (Master File Table) is sometimes corrupted. If Microsoft's Checkdisk (chkdsk) failed to
    repair the MFT, run TestDisk. In the Advanced menu, select your NTFS partition, choose Boot,
    then Repair MFT. TestDisk will compare the MFT and MFT mirror (its backup). If the MFT is
    damaged, it will try to repair the MFT using the backup. If the MFT backup is damaged, it will use
    the main MFT.

    If both MFT and MFTMirr are damaged and thus cannot be repaired using TestDisk, you might
    want to try commercial software like Zero Assumption Recovery, GetDataBack for NTFS or
    Restorer 2000.

    Back to Running the TestDisk Program


    Category:

    Data Recovery

    You might also like