# Advanced NTFS Boot and MFT Repair

### From CGSecurity

## NTFS Boot Sector

If the NTFS boot sector is damaged, data can not be accessed. Windows will prompt `The drive is not formatted, do you want to format it now?` Linux mount will display `wrong fs type, bad option, bad superblock`

TestDisk let you manipulate the boot sector of NTFS partitions. Select the partition you want to modify and choose Boot. If the NTFS boot sector and backup boot sector mismatches, you can copy overwrite the backup boot sector with the boot sector or vice versa. You can also rebuild NTFS boot sector or dump the boot sector content. To rebuild NTFS boot sector, TestDisk try to locate the MFT (Master File Table: $MFT) and its backup ($MFTMirr). It reads the mft record size and it computes the cluster size, It reads the Size of Index Allocation Entry in the root directory index. Using all these values, it can provide a new boot sector. TestDisk lets the user list the files before writting.

## NTFS MFT repair

The MFT (Master File Table) is stometimes corrupted. If Microsoft Check Disk (chkdsk) failed to repair the MFT, run TestDisk and in the Advanced menu, select your NTFS partition and choose "Repair MFT". TestDisk will try to repair the MFT using MFT mirror, its backup.

Back to Running the TestDisk Program

Categories: Data Recovery

##### Data Recovery

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