windows XP NTFS MFT repair for external USB drive

maxwelltfmaxwelltf
edited May 2010 in Hardware
Hi - I was just looking for a link or post here that might have the comprehensive steps to attempt to rebuild(?) or recover(?) the $MFT file from my brand new external USB 1GB drive. At the moment, the drive is seen by XP and reports the proper size and used/free figures, however when opening it, it only shows less than 1Gb of actual files even though it has nearly 300Gb of files. The rest of those files are there (have not overwritten anything) however when running this drive along with other external drives there seems to be a recurring problem where the MFT file gets corrupted (I've read this somewhere) so I believe the nature of this problem is a corrupted MFT file and not a physical problem with the 1 month old drive. Any help on this would be greatly appreciated - I simply want to avoid making any wrong steps and jeopardizing my data files. Thank you.

Comments

  • ThraxThrax 🐌 Austin, TX Icrontian
    edited February 2010
    Really the only way is to enter chkdsk X: /f at the command prompt, where X: is the drive letter for the disk.
  • maxwelltfmaxwelltf
    edited February 2010
    Thrax wrote:
    Really the only way is to enter chkdsk X: /f at the command prompt, where X: is the drive letter for the disk.

    Ok thanks. Can you remind what the /f switch (and the other switches) does?
  • SnarkasmSnarkasm Madison, WI Icrontian
    edited February 2010
    Fix.

    You can find other switch definitions here.
  • marcnzmarcnz
    edited May 2010
    This was exactly what I needed and worked like a charm, in just a few minutes.
    I have a Seagate 500GB with loads of backups and training material that I couldn't afford to lose.
    My drive was not ejected properly on my Windows 7 machine and since then, every time I plugged it in any computer, it came as empty and need to be formatted!
    I tried several trial applications, costing in the hundred dollars (but didn't go ahead as I hoped to find a free, simple solution).
    Then came this thread in my Google search.
    Just brilliant.
    CHKDSK /F E:
    was all what was needed to suddenly see my whole drive showing up on Windows Explorer!
    I will remember this forever!
    Thanks a lot.
  • ThraxThrax 🐌 Austin, TX Icrontian
    edited May 2010
    You're welcome, and thanks for visiting Icrontic! Hope you stick around. :)
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