Author Topic: Is there a file recovery app that'll....... (Read 747 times)

Swoop · « **on:** September 06, 2004, 06:18:00 PM »

Lost a HDD the other day. 120Gb running NTFS absolutely full of stuff......

The problem is that the Master File Table is corrupt, nuthin else. This means that windows reports the drive as unformatted. I can scan the disk and 'see' all my old files cos NTFS has mini FAT tables in every folder which store file info, the MFT just holds the directory structure. At least I think.

Now I can recover my files but all the software I've tried will only recover them to another drive. The issue here is that I don't have 120Gb of storage anywhere else......

Is there such an app that'll scan the drive and rewrite the MFT without me having to copy all the data off and reformat?

Swoop · « **Reply #1 on:** September 07, 2004, 03:41:22 PM »

Guess not then......

Heater · « **Reply #2 on:** September 07, 2004, 04:48:46 PM »

Swoop,

you may be able to use disk probe... to rebuild it by hand, it's a pain in the bellybutton but can be done...do you know how bad the corruption is?

what OS are you using, as you may be able to use the recovery console option in 2000 or XP

Swoop · « **Reply #3 on:** September 08, 2004, 05:59:56 AM »

XP pro. Where's the recovery console, I never tried it.....?

And the only corruption is the MFT, everything else is fine. This isnt the windows disk either so the OS is working ok. 2 HDDs, C (a Maxtor 40gb) is fine, nuthin wrong with it at all. D (a sony 120Gb) lost MFT.

Heater · « **Reply #4 on:** September 08, 2004, 10:06:28 AM »

Swoop,

it's on the XP CD

Either insert the Windows startup disk into the floppy disk drive or insert the Windows CD-ROM into the CD-ROM drive, and then restart the computer.

Click to select any options that are required to start the computer from the CD-ROM drive if you are prompted to do so.

At the Setup screen, press R to repair the installation, and then press C to start Recovery Console.

If you have a dual-boot or multiple-boot computer, choose the installation that you want to access from the Recovery Console.

Type the administrator password.

run chkdsk /f :,

This should help to recover the MFT

bustr · « **Reply #5 on:** September 08, 2004, 12:56:40 PM »

If you need more info at http://www.microsoft.com technet article: Q314503

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;314503

Swoop · « **Reply #6 on:** September 08, 2004, 04:51:54 PM »

Quote

Originally posted by Heater
it's on the XP CD

Oh dear.

XP was installed from the drive that's currently missing it's MFT.

Gonna have to find someone with a CD now......

Heater · « **Reply #7 on:** September 08, 2004, 05:01:30 PM »

Swoop,

you still here in the Netherlands?

Swoop · « **Reply #8 on:** September 08, 2004, 05:02:18 PM »

Question:

Will chkdsk /f write the MFT back the way it should be with all the directory info as it was or will it write me a new, blank, MFT.....thereby losing all the data on the disc?

Swoop · « **Reply #9 on:** September 08, 2004, 05:05:04 PM »

Quote

Originally posted by Heater
Swoop,

you still here in the Netherlands?

nah, moved home last may. hence my disappearance for a while.

beet1e · « **Reply #10 on:** September 08, 2004, 06:20:56 PM »

swoop,

I had a similar thing happen to me some time ago - a boot sector virus had buggered one of my drives completely, and damaged another on which I had backed up the first. All my files were there, but the directory structure was cream crackered.

If I were you right now, I'd invest in an external USB HDD. I have a Maxtor one touch. Even in Ripoff Britain, you could get something decent for about £100. It needs USB2 to work at full speed, otherwise it will be slow as all hell. Does your mobo support USB2?

llama · « **Reply #11 on:** September 09, 2004, 12:54:05 AM »

You say you can see your old files with some sort of tool.

Count your blessings.

Just buy another hard drive and pull off your data and be done with it. I have many clients who would kill to be in your position after a hard drive failure and they failed to utilize the backup software I set up for them.

If this really irks you, unplug the drive and connect it to another XP or 2000 system with a big drive and copy the files over to it. Reformat your drive, install XP, and copy the files back.

If you don't have a tool for restoring files to another hard drive, let me know.

-Llama

Heater · « **Reply #12 on:** September 09, 2004, 03:03:12 AM »

Quote

Originally posted by Swoop
Question:

Will chkdsk /f write the MFT back the way it should be with all the directory info as it was or will it write me a new, blank, MFT.....thereby losing all the data on the disc?

/f will auto fix the File system, i.e. it should repair the MFT, keep in mind it will lock the drive while running, if it can't lock the drive it will ask you to reboot which in this case should not be a problem as you are booting off the CD.

Swoop · « **Reply #13 on:** September 09, 2004, 05:19:40 AM »

Well.....after lots of phone calls it appears not one of my mates actually owns a copy of Windoze XP, every single one of em downloaded it.

On the plus side one of em will loan me a 250Gb external USB drive.....

And on the other plus side, somewhere with the rest of my junk in storage is a Windoze XP CD that came with the PC......never installed XP from it cos it's all in Dutch and having a Dutch OS would drive me completely nuts. However, I'm assuming the recovery console will still work from it.

Cheers for the help fellas, now I just gotta see which one I can get my mitts on first.........

JB66 · « **Reply #14 on:** September 09, 2004, 08:53:01 AM »

Here is a link to a company that offers a free utility. I've used it on several occasions, with about a 50% sucess rate.
The directions are not the best, but once you get the program running, click on find lost hard drives, assuming that you have installed the hard drive in another computer and configured the slave, master relationship etc... It will list physical drives present, then click on the drive you want to access, the click the button find logical drives on the right of the menu. Then click ok, at this point, it could take awhile, depending on the size of the drive and the condition of the data, it will eventually give you a logical drive menu. Click the logical drive, you might get error messeges, but just click ok until it finishes running. It will now give you a directory of the files on the drive, and you should have access to most of the files that are not corrupt.

http://www.pcinspector.de/file_recovery/UK/welcome.htm

I hope this helps, nothing like losing important files.