[olug] corrupt master file table (NTFS)

[DYNATRON tech]

let me say first, that i'm impressed with testdisk as well as the many
features and file systems it supports, and i'd like to thank bill for
suggesting it. unfortunately, i'm not sure that it will save this particular
disk.

according to testdisk the MFT mirror was corrupt as well...bummer.
i suppose this explains why chkdsk could not fix it, but i'm still confused
how this can happen in the first place, unless i had a loss of power while
writing to both MFT's. it seems to me logic would dictate that a drive
should edit only one MFT at a time to avoid this situation. this computer
hasn't talked to the internet in a couple years, so i find malware to be an
unlikely possibility. the only thing i can come up with is that i had a bad
sector in the mirror MFT which only became an issue when i lost the primary
MFT.

for the last 3 days testdisk has been doing this:
*
Disk /dev/sdb - 750 GB / 698 GiB - CHS 91202 255 63
       Partition                             Start              End     Size
in sectors
1 P HPFS - NTFS                   0   1   1   91200 254 63 1465144002


Search mft    749338624/1465144002*

the last thing i remember doing with it is telling it to attempt recover of
the boot sector, but i'm not sure what that has to do with the mft.

any ideas?


On Tue, May 25, 2010 at 11:15 AM, DYNATRON tech <dynatron at gmail.com> wrote:

> right on. i appreciate the correspondence. i should be ready to give it a
> go later tonight. i'm gonna study up on NTFS and testdisk before i dive in.
> i'm not the type to walk into an unfamiliar room blindfolded, so i have a
> little studying to do first.
>
> thanks for your interest,
> -j
>
>
> On Tue, May 25, 2010 at 10:56 AM, Jordan Fox <vmifox at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> Sent to you, not OLUG:
>>
>> I would be very interested in hearing your experiences.  I have some
>> experience doing low level HDD stuff and might be able to help some.
>> It's been a while though - I've never used TestDisk or recovered an
>> MFT.  Though there were at least 2 times that recovering an MFT would
>> have been great - I didn't know it was possible at the time (maybe it
>> wasn't... testdisk didn't exist yet).
>>
>> Jordan
>>
>>
>> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
>> From: DYNATRON tech <dynatron at gmail.com>
>> Date: Tue, May 25, 2010 at 9:50 AM
>> Subject: Re: [olug] corrupt master file table (NTFS)
>> To: Omaha Linux User Group <olug at olug.org>
>>
>>
>> thanks bill. testdisk looks awesome<
>> http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/TestDisk>.
>> gonna take it for a spin. i appreciate the tip. i'll post back with a
>> review.
>>
>> On Mon, May 24, 2010 at 3:15 PM, Bill Eberly <imjustabill at gmail.com>
>> wrote:
>>
>> > I did something similar once. If the backup MFT is still there (I
>> believe
>> > it's stored at the end of the drive), try TestDisk.
>> >
>> > If that doesn't work, I recommend GetDataBack. It's for Windows, and not
>> > free, but the trial will show you what it can recover. Saved my butt
>> once
>> > when I accidentally deleted everything on my girlfriend's computer, and
>> > then proceeded to destroy the partition table and MFT,
>> > _______________________________________________
>> > OLUG mailing list
>> > OLUG at olug.org
>> > https://lists.olug.org/mailman/listinfo/olug
>> >
>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> dynatron digital services
>> box 191 - 68037
>> www.dynatron.org
>> dynatron at gmail.com
>> _______________________________________________
>> OLUG mailing list
>> OLUG at olug.org
>> https://lists.olug.org/mailman/listinfo/olug
>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> "Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and
>> petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.  And the
>> peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your
>> hearts and minds in Christ Jesus."  Phil 4:6-7
>>
>> "The shortest distance between a problem and a solution is the
>> distance between your knees and the floor."  Anonymous
>>
>
>
>
> --
> dynatron digital services
> box 191 - 68037
> www.dynatron.org
> dynatron at gmail.com
>



-- 
dynatron digital services
box 191 - 68037
www.dynatron.org
dynatron at gmail.com