What is the MFT?

[RScotti]

Hi,
My system is all screwed up and when I ran CHKDSK /f it didn't fix these errors.
When I ran just CHKDSK (read only) I got this:

CHKDSK discovered free space marked as allocated in the
master file table (MFT) bitmap.
Correcting errors in the Volume Bitmap.
Windows found problems with the file system.
Run CHKDSK with the /F (fix) option to correct these.

235456640 KB total disk space.
13970484 KB in 60033 files.
20868 KB in 5640 indexes.
4 KB in bad sectors.
139864 KB in use by the system.
65536 KB occupied by the log file.
221325420 KB available on disk.

4096 bytes in each allocation unit.
58864160 total allocation units on disk.
55331355 allocation units available on disk.

What is this telling me? Is this part of the MBR?
Chkdsk didn't even fix the 4 KB bad sectors.

Have a good day,
RScotti

remove "nospam" in order to email me.

My Specifications:
HP Windows XP MCE 2005
PentiumD 820 (S) DC 2.8 GHz
Socket 775 Chipset Intel 945P
Asus Motherboard Name: P5LP-LE
Memory Installed 2 GB (2 x 1 GB)
Hard drive 250 GB SATA 7200 rpm
Western Digital External HD 500 GB
16X DVD(+/-)R/RW (+/-)R DL LightScribe drive
Nvidia Video Graphics GeForce 7300LE 256 MB
Sound/Audio Integrated High Definition audio
Realtek ALC 882 chipset Supports up to 8 audio channels Dolby Pro Logic II compatible

 

[Bob I]

Hi,
My system is all screwed up and when I ran CHKDSK /f it didn't fix these errors.
When I ran just CHKDSK (read only) I got this:


What is this telling me? Is this part of the MBR?
Chkdsk didn't even fix the 4 KB bad sectors.

Have a good day,
RScotti

remove "nospam" in order to email me.

My Specifications:
HP Windows XP MCE 2005
PentiumD 820 (S) DC 2.8 GHz
Socket 775 Chipset Intel 945P
Asus Motherboard Name: P5LP-LE
Memory Installed 2 GB (2 x 1 GB)
Hard drive 250 GB SATA 7200 rpm
Western Digital External HD 500 GB
16X DVD(+/-)R/RW (+/-)R DL LightScribe drive
Nvidia Video Graphics GeForce 7300LE 256 MB
Sound/Audio Integrated High Definition audio
Realtek ALC 882 chipset Supports up to 8 audio channels Dolby Pro Logic II compatible

That is 1 cluster worth of bad sectors, on the drive. The amount of
space that 1 shortcut would occupy. If in fact the drive surface is
going away, that drive is not long for this world.

 

[Tim Slattery]

Hi,
My system is all screwed up and when I ran CHKDSK /f it didn't fix these errors.
When I ran just CHKDSK (read only) I got this:
What is this telling me? Is this part of the MBR?

MFT = Master File Table. This is the primary, absolutely indispensable
structure in the NTFS file system. The first part of all files is
stored there, and smaller files are entirely stored there. It is *not*
part of the Master Boot Record(MBR), which is at the very beginning
of the physical drive, and is not part of any partition.

 

[cyberfreak665]

Hi,
My system is all screwed up and when I ran CHKDSK /f it didn't fix these errors.
When I ran just CHKDSK (read only) I got this:
What is this telling me? Is this part of the MBR?
Chkdsk didn't even fix the 4 KB bad sectors.

Have a good day,
RScotti

remove "nospam" in order to email me.

My Specifications:
HP Windows XP MCE 2005
PentiumD 820 (S) DC 2.8 GHz
Socket 775 Chipset Intel 945P
Asus Motherboard Name: P5LP-LE
Memory Installed 2 GB (2 x 1 GB)
Hard drive 250 GB SATA 7200 rpm
Western Digital External HD 500 GB
16X DVD(+/-)R/RW (+/-)R DL LightScribe drive
Nvidia Video Graphics GeForce 7300LE 256 MB
Sound/Audio Integrated High Definition audio
Realtek ALC 882 chipset Supports up to 8 audio channels Dolby Pro Logic II compatible

You are just showing off your computer

 

[RScotti]

Thanks to both of you. At least HP is going to send me a new HD so it must be going south.

MFT = Master File Table. This is the primary, absolutely indispensable
structure in the NTFS file system. The first part of all files is
stored there, and smaller files are entirely stored there. It is *not*
part of the Master Boot Record(MBR), which is at the very beginning
of the physical drive, and is not part of any partition.

Have a good day,
RScotti

remove "nospam" in order to email me.

My Specifications:
HP Windows XP MCE 2005
PentiumD 820 (S) DC 2.8 GHz
Socket 775 Chipset Intel 945P
Asus Motherboard Name: P5LP-LE
Memory Installed 2 GB (2 x 1 GB)
Hard drive 250 GB SATA 7200 rpm
Western Digital External HD 500 GB
16X DVD(+/-)R/RW (+/-)R DL LightScribe drive
Nvidia Video Graphics GeForce 7300LE 256 MB
Sound/Audio Integrated High Definition audio
Realtek ALC 882 chipset Supports up to 8 audio channels Dolby Pro Logic II compatible

 

[Jon]

I may be mistaken, but I think "RScotti" <[email protected]> said
something like the following in message

Thanks to both of you. At least HP is going to send me a new HD so it must
be going south.

What a waste - a 250 GB drive thrown away for 4kb of bad sectors. Hopefully
it will end up 'going south' where someone will get it fully functional in a
few minutes.

 

[Kerry Brown]

I may be mistaken, but I think "RScotti"



What a waste - a 250 GB drive thrown away for 4kb of bad sectors.
Hopefully it will end up 'going south' where someone will get it
fully functional in a few minutes.

If Windows sees bad sectors this means the drive has used up the spare
sectors. All modern drives automatically substitute spare sectors when a bad
one is encountered. This is done by the drive's firmware. Windows doesn't
see any bad sectors until the drive has no more spares. If Windows sees bad
sectors it's time for a new drive.

 

[Jon]

If Windows sees bad sectors this means the drive has used up the spare
sectors. All modern drives automatically substitute spare sectors when a
bad one is encountered. This is done by the drive's firmware. Windows
doesn't see any bad sectors until the drive has no more spares. If Windows
sees bad sectors it's time for a new drive.

Ok, good post.

So what you are effectively saying is that chkdsk will never report any 'bad
sectors' unless they are already irreparable?

 

[RScotti]

Hi,
I thought they were replacing this HD because of that master file table (MFT) bitmap and not the bad sectors?
I couldn't understand why CHKDSK couldn't fix the bad sectors?
Guess I know even less that I thought I knew.

If Windows sees bad sectors this means the drive has used up the spare
sectors. All modern drives automatically substitute spare sectors when a bad
one is encountered. This is done by the drive's firmware. Windows doesn't
see any bad sectors until the drive has no more spares. If Windows sees bad
sectors it's time for a new drive.

Have a good day,
RScotti

remove "nospam" in order to email me.

My Specifications:
HP Windows XP MCE 2005
PentiumD 820 (S) DC 2.8 GHz
Socket 775 Chipset Intel 945P
Asus Motherboard Name: P5LP-LE
Memory Installed 2 GB (2 x 1 GB)
Hard drive 250 GB SATA 7200 rpm
Western Digital External HD 500 GB
16X DVD(+/-)R/RW (+/-)R DL LightScribe drive
Nvidia Video Graphics GeForce 7300LE 256 MB
Sound/Audio Integrated High Definition audio
Realtek ALC 882 chipset Supports up to 8 audio channels Dolby Pro Logic II compatible

 

[Richard Urban]

Bad sectors are never repairable. A new drive has X amount of sectors in
reserve. When a bad sector is encountered, it is automatically switched out
for a good sector. When all the spares are used up (due to a drive going
bad) you will start seeing them reported during chkdsk. At that time,
replace the drive.

--

Regards,

Richard Urban
Microsoft MVP Windows Shell/User
(For email, remove the obvious from my address)

Quote from George Ankner:
If you knew as much as you think you know,
You would realize that you don't know what you thought you knew!

 

[RScotti]

NO! I just want to get people to know my configuration so they can fix my problems.
My computer is just a third rate one If I wanted to show off I would get the Intel E6600 2.4 Ghz with the 4 GB ram, two
500 GB HD's The 512 MG Video card etc.
It really helps to diagnose a problem when you know what you are dealing with.
Frankly I was going to buy that but since I don't play games or use high end video's I thought it would be a waist of
money. I do seem to use all my resources except my 2 GB ram but seeing I will eventually go to Vista it is worth having.
Sorry to disappoint you.

You are just showing off your computer

Have a good day,
RScotti

remove "nospam" in order to email me.

My Specifications:
HP Windows XP MCE 2005
PentiumD 820 (S) DC 2.8 GHz
Socket 775 Chipset Intel 945P
Asus Motherboard Name: P5LP-LE
Memory Installed 2 GB (2 x 1 GB)
Hard drive 250 GB SATA 7200 rpm
Western Digital External HD 500 GB
16X DVD(+/-)R/RW (+/-)R DL LightScribe drive
Nvidia Video Graphics GeForce 7300LE 256 MB
Sound/Audio Integrated High Definition audio
Realtek ALC 882 chipset Supports up to 8 audio channels Dolby Pro Logic II compatible

 

[Jon]

Hi,
I thought they were replacing this HD because of that master file table
(MFT) bitmap and not the bad sectors?
I couldn't understand why CHKDSK couldn't fix the bad sectors?
Guess I know even less that I thought I knew.

What I would be curious to know is whether using the /r option with chkdsk
changes anything.
Specifically whether it resets that 'bad sector' count (using the 'spares'
mentioned by Kerry & Richard)

You've mentioned using the /f option and also running in read only mode, but
not using the /r option.


chkdsk /?

 

[RScotti]

Hi "Jon",
Thanks for your input. All the CHKDSK /R does is check the HD for free space does all 5 of the tests the /F only does 4
of the tests.
I did the /R but did it in Windows by selecting it in C:\Properties/Tools/Check disk for errors/Checked scan for an
attempt to recovery bad sectors. This was the first thing I did.

What I would be curious to know is whether using the /r option with chkdsk
changes anything.
Specifically whether it resets that 'bad sector' count (using the 'spares'
mentioned by Kerry & Richard)

You've mentioned using the /f option and also running in read only mode, but
not using the /r option.


chkdsk /?

Have a good day,
RScotti

remove "nospam" in order to email me.

My Specifications:
HP Windows XP MCE 2005
PentiumD 820 (S) DC 2.8 GHz
Socket 775 Chipset Intel 945P
Asus Motherboard Name: P5LP-LE
Memory Installed 2 GB (2 x 1 GB)
Hard drive 250 GB SATA 7200 rpm
Western Digital External HD 500 GB
16X DVD(+/-)R/RW (+/-)R DL LightScribe drive
Nvidia Video Graphics GeForce 7300LE 256 MB
Sound/Audio Integrated High Definition audio
Realtek ALC 882 chipset Supports up to 8 audio channels Dolby Pro Logic II compatible

 

[Jon]

Ok, thanks RScotti. I'll go and eat humble pie for breakfast.

--
Jon



Wasn't it "RScotti" <[email protected]> in message
, who said something
like......???

 

[Raymond Martineau]

Bad sectors are never repairable. A new drive has X amount of sectors in
reserve. When a bad sector is encountered, it is automatically switched out
for a good sector.

Depends on the bad sector. For example, my hard drive had a few bad
sectors cropping up but only has a 1 reallocated sector (which is
obviously low - manufacturers would give much more room for
reallocation.) If a bad sector is visible to the operating system,
then you can overwrite the bad sector for a chance to reclaim it. You
should also keep watch for sectors that take a while to read from.

Sometimes it works, but other times it doesn't. When it does work, the
OS and hard drive won't be able to tell the difference - most likely
the data was written down incorrectly. In my case, it did work - and
it didn't increase the reallocated sector count. You should still keep
watch for symptoms of a failing drive, as always.

The OS may have still marked the sector as bad even when it is usable.
There are ways to unmark the sector (which is easy under FAT/FAT32),
but you can at least store something there when necessary.

 

[RScotti]

Hi Raymond,

You should still keep watch for symptoms of a failing drive, as always.

Can you tell me what to look for?
I believe this happened when I shut down my computer cause it was going to an automatic recovery instead of giving me
the menu to get the options.
My recovery partition was only 3.27 GB and the recovery data was all wrong should have been ~13 GB. I think it was just
a bad install.

I also tried several time to fix this with CHKDSK /F but it never worked.

Depends on the bad sector. For example, my hard drive had a few bad
sectors cropping up but only has a 1 reallocated sector (which is
obviously low - manufacturers would give much more room for
reallocation.) If a bad sector is visible to the operating system,
then you can overwrite the bad sector for a chance to reclaim it. You
should also keep watch for sectors that take a while to read from.

Sometimes it works, but other times it doesn't. When it does work, the
OS and hard drive won't be able to tell the difference - most likely
the data was written down incorrectly. In my case, it did work - and
it didn't increase the reallocated sector count. You should still keep
watch for symptoms of a failing drive, as always.

The OS may have still marked the sector as bad even when it is usable.
There are ways to unmark the sector (which is easy under FAT/FAT32),
but you can at least store something there when necessary.

Have a good day!

RScotti

 

[RScotti]

Hi Cyberfreak665,

I thought about what you said and can understand so I took off my specs.
I don't want anyone to feel I have more than them.
I am a retired person and can just about buy anything I want or need and as I said could have bought a show stopper.
I really just wanted to give the experts all the information to know how to fix my problems.

You are just showing off your computer

Have a good day!

RScotti

 

[Kerry Brown]

When asking a question about something happening on your system it is
helpful if you list your components as you did. If it's not needed then no
harm done. It may help with troubleshooting. Some people add their computer
configuration to their signature so it's in every post they make whether
relevant or not. That is considered bragging

 

[Kerry Brown]

If Windows sees one bad sector the drive has many bad sectors and the
firmware in the drive has basically given up on trying to fix them. Replace
the drive. I replace several drives a month on manufacturer's warranty. With
most manufacturers one bad sector in Windows is enough to warranty a drive.

 

[RScotti]

Kerry,
Thanks for the info.

If Windows sees one bad sector the drive has many bad sectors and the
firmware in the drive has basically given up on trying to fix them. Replace
the drive. I replace several drives a month on manufacturer's warranty. With
most manufacturers one bad sector in Windows is enough to warranty a drive.

Have a good day!

RScotti