Corrupt Master File Table / Bad Sectors.

[GillaGal]

Seagate HDD with one partition (NTFS), no O/S only data is returning the error "Corrupt Master File Table". I've CHKDSK /F on the drive, but no progress indicator is displayed even after 13+ hours.

Running Seatools there were 73 Bad Sectors identified and "repaired". I've tried a Linux Live CD but the drive cannot be mounted due to missing MFT. Ghost and Redo backup did not work either.

I tried GetDataBack, but the application scans for less than a second and only displays 7.5GB of approximate 150GB of files the 400GB drive. One odd thing I noticed with this app is if I scan FAT32 it takes 1.5 hours and discovers 80k files, but displays nothing to be recovered.

Right now I'm running HDD Regenerator in hopes to fix bad sectors.

Can anyone suggest a method for recovering the data or MFT so I can at least get a copy?

 

[GillaGal]

I too can see named folders and files with size. Here is a screenshot. But searching for MFT only revealed entries with no file size.

PhotoRec recovered 61,000+ files, but of course no file or directory names. I'd really like to try TestDisk (will get names) again on a ddrescue. Would I simply run the following?

sudo ddrescue -r 3 /dev/sda /media/sdb/image /media/sdb/logfile

sudo ddrescue -r 3 -C /dev/sda /media/sdb/image /media/sdb/logfile

 

[fzabkar]

I think your ddrescue command lines look OK, but only you can see the actual devices on your system, so only you know if "/media/sdb" is correctly specified.

As for the file names, it does appear that the MFT structure is still there, but the section at the beginning is damaged in some way. Perhaps you could try more data recovery software on the image, eg R-Studio or DMDE (although I haven't personally used either for automatic file recovery).

BTW, sorry for my late response.

 

[GillaGal]

I went ahead and tried the ddrescue option but had no luck recovering the filenames and folder structure. Using DMDE you and I have proven MFT structure is present, we can see all the naming, it's just the $MFT and $MFT_mirror are empty. I need a way to rebuild a MFT from that, or recover the files and retain naming/folders.

I'll try both R-Studio and DMDE on the image.

No worries about late reply, I'm very appreciative of your assistance.

 

[GillaGal]

Update: DMDE can see the filenames and folder structure!!!! There is a recover option, so I'll play around a bit more and let you know my findings.

 

[fzabkar]

The free version of DMDE will only recover one file at a time.

 

[GillaGal]

Actually, the free version is limited to recovering only 4000 files. I ended up purchasing the software, it is invaluable! I was able to recover ALL my data, with file names and folder structure.

Thank you for taking the time to assist me. If it wasn't for you introducing me to the application, I may never have recovered.

 

[Saint Frenz]

Actually, the free version is limited to recovering only 4000 files. I ended up purchasing the software, it is invaluable! I was able to recover ALL my data, with file names and folder structure.

Thank you for taking the time to assist me. If it wasn't for you introducing me to the application, I may never have recovered.

I have the exact same problem. Could you please explain exactly what you did in DMDE to get all the files and folder structure please?

 

[axtol]

mistake sorry

 

[TC Fulton]

Darn DMDE won't work on Mac formatted disks