How to repair MFT

This is Windows XP dual booted with Windows Vista . This is running on one of the NTFS Drives whose Master File Table has been deleted or corrupted due to some unknown reason. In order to fix the same I tried running fixmbr but it ended saying something like “cannot repair.”

When I booted into Vista and check this HTFS drive’s properties, it says 0megs is used. Which is the drive is empty, right? Also the drive name automatically changed to Local Disk. Now I have no idea what to do. Can anyone please tell me if there is any tool which I can use to fix or rebuild the MFT?

Thanks for the helps.

Did you tried running chkdsk? If not try running CHKDSK and see what happens. If that too fails to repair it then better you can try TestDisk.You can download the same from here: http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/Advan...and_MFT_Repair. Before running this i will suggest you try backing up if any important data is present on your drive.

First of all let me tell you that Master File Table is not the part of Windows XP but actually it belongs to NTFS file system. Hence running CHKDSK is not going to help in anyway in this case. There used to be a file called “MFT Mirror”. This is the copy of MFT stored by NTFS automatically. NTFS can sometimes repair a damaged MFT from the copy. So what you need to do is start running Disk Error Checking from the Windows GUI. Or better than that, if you are able to boot windows using CD, then better go into Recovery console and run CHKDSK from there.

In case you are not able to use Recovery Console then there is no way left to reformat your partition and re-install Windows XP again. But before going for the same, I will suggest you to better do some research on web and see if you can find any program which can help you to repair your disk.

Thank you very much for the help guys. Yes, i am able to reach the Recovery Console by booting from XP installation CD but it tells me that there are no drives but it is there, Infact there are total 4 out of which three are working fine except the one i am facing problem. So I guess I need a 3rd party tool. i will try searching, hope i get one to fix this issue or else, will format the partition.

I had the same issue with $mft corruption and caught in endless loop of booting, scanning etc. I was about to use a low level file table repair application then decided to run System Mechanic. And it worked! All clear now. Another concurrent issue was a half black screen. This was fixed when I went into display. I didnt change anything but when I exited the issue cleared!

Sorry...after a number of hours it came back again. Will open new thread.