[SOLVED] Please help fixing a corrupt Master File Table...

system100m

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Apr 16, 2014
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So, my 3TB Seagate MFT has collapsed. No software I tried is able to fix it, neither chkdsk, neither FixMBR. Any suggestion how it can repaired? I already pulled out all recoverable files, but it came out as a huge 2 million files nameless list.

Thanks !
 
Solution
Your SMART report shows no evidence of bad sectors, so I don't know why your MFT is corrupt or missing. The Indicators column is also missing an "f", which means that DMDE was unable to find a copy of the $MFT, ie $MFTMirr.

Your NTFS volume begins at sector 262178. If you highlight $Volume 01, you should see an NTFS boot sector at the left of the screen. There will be an MFT Start Cluster.

The actual location of the MFT will be ...

262178 + (8 x MFT_Start_Cluster)​
Now select Editor -> Goto Offset -> Sector -> OK

Select Mode -> Hexadecimal/Text

This should now be the first sector of the MFT.

You should try this on a working volume so that you know what to expect.
Volume 01 has no "F" in the Indicators column. This confirms that DMDE was unable to detect intact file system metadata, ie the $MFT. I don't know if DMDE's full scan will produce any better results, but you might consider cloning the drive before running more data recovery tools against it.

In DMDE you could limit the scan to NTFS file system components rather than raw files. This will locate any filenames or folder names.

If you are stuck with nameless files, here are some tips for renaming the files according to their internal metadata:

https://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/After_Using_PhotoRec
 
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Your SMART report shows no evidence of bad sectors, so I don't know why your MFT is corrupt or missing. The Indicators column is also missing an "f", which means that DMDE was unable to find a copy of the $MFT, ie $MFTMirr.

Your NTFS volume begins at sector 262178. If you highlight $Volume 01, you should see an NTFS boot sector at the left of the screen. There will be an MFT Start Cluster.

The actual location of the MFT will be ...

262178 + (8 x MFT_Start_Cluster)​
Now select Editor -> Goto Offset -> Sector -> OK

Select Mode -> Hexadecimal/Text

This should now be the first sector of the MFT.

You should try this on a working volume so that you know what to expect.
 
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Solution