$Mft is missing error

[Craig]

Hi, I have two drives on my PC and every once in a while my secondary drive
announces that the $Mft is lost and is no longer in use.

Fortunately what I've been doing is shutting down, transferring the drive
cable to another slot and then simply starting up again to what appears to be
full restoration.

I know this is a major error and am very concerned. As you can imagine I'm
worried that one of these days my little "trick" is not going to work and all
my data
will be lost.

I'm days or maybe a couple weeks away from transferring all the data on this
drive and just doing a fresh install, but am not quite ready.

My question is, how do I backup my $Mft so if this does happen with no luck
in my usual recovery method I can just boot with my install CD and hopefully
restore that way?

Thanks,
Craig

 

[John John (MVP)]

You can't backup the MFT only and then restore it, back up your files
instead! The MFT has a mirror and if the MFT becomes damaged chkdsk can
use the mirror to attempt to rebuild the MFT, that is about the extent
of what can be done with MFT failures, your best defense is a good
backup strategy.

John

 

[philo]

Hi, I have two drives on my PC and every once in a while my secondary drive
announces that the $Mft is lost and is no longer in use.

Fortunately what I've been doing is shutting down, transferring the drive
cable to another slot and then simply starting up again to what appears to be
full restoration.

I know this is a major error and am very concerned. As you can imagine I'm
worried that one of these days my little "trick" is not going to work and all
my data
will be lost.

I'm days or maybe a couple weeks away from transferring all the data on this
drive and just doing a fresh install, but am not quite ready.

My question is, how do I backup my $Mft so if this does happen with no luck
in my usual recovery method I can just boot with my install CD and hopefully
restore that way?

Thanks,
Craig

First: Backup all your data...now:


Run the manufacturer's harddrive diagnostic at once!

If it fails, replace the drive...that simple

 

[smlunatick]

First: Backup all your data...now:

Run the manufacturer's harddrive diagnostic at once!

If it fails, replace the drive...that simple

I second 'philo's" recommendation!! I suffered two MFT failures. Not
easy to recover. Backup! Backup! Backup now.