Questions tagged [mft]

The Master File Table (MFT) is the list maintained by Windows on any NTFS volume that describes the location of files at the block level.

Filter by
Sorted by
Tagged with
28 votes
6 answers
109k views

How do you defragment the MFT on an NTFS disk?

A while ago, I nearly filled my hard drive, much more than the recommended maximum of 85% of capacity. I believe that NTFS started storing files in the space reserved for the Master File Table (MFT) ...
WBT's user avatar
  • 1,852
2 votes
1 answer
775 views

Rebuild massively fragmented files with a partial image and a list of their sectors

In an attempt to recover as much data as possible off of a failing 3TB HDD, I proceeded like this : I made a surface scan with HD Sentinel, which identified two small damaged areas and about 100 bad ...
GabrielB's user avatar
  • 855
8 votes
2 answers
8k views

Maximum size of file that can be stored entirely in NTFS Master File Table (MFT)

I'm using Windows 7 and NTFS. I've noticed the MFT is a huge security risk because it can store sensitive document files without user knowledge for a long time before they get overwritten. All tests ...
Jeff's user avatar
  • 81
6 votes
3 answers
30k views

Is is possible to restore the MFT of a NTFS partition after a format?

I've searched through several questions but didn't quite find anyone treating mine. So, I have a 1TB external hard drive I use for backup purposes with only 1 NTFS partition. Today using DiskPart I ...
Ariadne Sousa's user avatar
5 votes
1 answer
5k views

NTFS partition no longer accessible, 3 MFT records corrupted, way to fix them?

I have a 2TB Seagate ST2000DM001 HDD with one NTFS partition. I hadn't used it in months, when I plugged it again this partition had inexplicably become inaccessible : the volume's letter appears in ...
GabrielB's user avatar
  • 855
12 votes
2 answers
4k views

Mark Deleted Files as Undeleted

The capacity of my hard drive is 500 GiB. 150 GB of data got deleted accidently. I didn't write any byte to the drive after that incident, so my data is guaranteed to be there. I have tried apps like ...
Elmo's user avatar
  • 14.7k
9 votes
7 answers
24k views

How can I move the MFT to end of contiguous used space?

I want to move the MFT to end of contiguous used space. Right now it is placed at the middle: I want to move it to the beginning. How can I do that?
Rocky Singh's user avatar
3 votes
1 answer
667 views

How do you interpret the Cluster Chain Run in an NTFS MFT record?

For mostly academic reasons, I've been learning how to interpret the Cluster Chain Run from the Data Attribute Block from an MFT Record from a NTFS volume. I watched a video that walks through an ...
user3629081's user avatar
2 votes
2 answers
683 views

How to recover file system access after losing non-mirrored MFT records?

After I unplugged my external drive after a phony safe removal on Ubuntu, two sectors are destroyed. The important sector contained records 4 to 7 (which is $AttrDef, $ (root), $Bitmap and $Boot) of ...
ChrisoLosoph's user avatar
2 votes
2 answers
10k views

Insufficient disk space to repair master file table (MFT) mirror

I borrowed an empty 500GB Toshiba HDD from a friend of mine. I have a 1 TB HDD installed in my laptop which I needed to clone to the new 500GB HDD. I quick formatted the drive 500GB HDD just to be ...
Jaspreet Singh's user avatar
1 vote
0 answers
39 views

Leading zeros in the Cluster Chain Run of an NTFS MFT record?

I have an example pulled from a hard disk at my house where the NTFS $MFT file contains zeros in the least-significant places of the Cluster Chain Run. Interpreted little-endian, this doesn't make any ...
user3629081's user avatar
1 vote
1 answer
2k views

How to delete a file with a bad file name? [duplicate]

I had a file downloaded from torrent by a media center device on an external hard disk. The file has an invalid filename such as "Movie ** 480p ** NEW.wmv" (without the quotes). I cannot delete or ...
hekimgil's user avatar