MFT Bitmap Corrupted?

In another thread, I learned that my laptop's hard drive was too full and needed to be replaced. So I bought a new drive along with a cloning kit (hard drive enclosure and software to make things easy.)

I installed the cloning software, but when it runs it says "MFT Bitmap Corrupted" and aborts the install.

I ran a chkdsk /f, and all it found was an orphan which it claims to have fixed, but I'm still getting the same error.

What else should I try?

 

I think it would be helpful if you could provide a link to both the enclosure and the software (if separate purchase) so we could take a look.

For simplicity's sake you might try XXClone software http://majorgeeks.com/XXCLONE_d5534.html to see if you have success. If it works the MFT issue could just be ignored.

 

OK, I will try your cloning software. But I don't quite understand what I am supposed to do with it. Do I clone the restore section to the new drive?

The kit I bought is from a company called Apricorn, and it is EZ Gig II. It is supposed to simply copy the old hard drive to the new hard drive.

The manual is here but I don't understand all of it. I don't quite understand partitions, the difference between and image and a clone, etc etc.

 

XXClone has been recommended here several times. I was just looking at the FAQs and the free version takes a "long time". Not sure what that means might be an hour or so. But it is free.

In the mean time I will read through your manual and see if addresses the MFT error.

 

I was just looking at the XXClone manual and I think you may have to hit the Make Bootable option under Cool Tools tab (You might as well copy Volume ID as well if you are on Vista but not necessary on XP).

I'm still looking for clues about the MFT error but I don't see anything beyond the chkdsk \f you already did.

 

Scratch this. I may have figured it out.

 

OK I was having trouble getting the system to recognize the disk. I got past that.

So I went into XXClone, Cool Tools, Make Bootable. Clicked all 3 boxes under "Boot COntrol" (Write MBR, Write Boot Sector, Write Boot.ini) and clicked start.

I got 2 error messages: "NTLDR file not found in service volume", and
The NTDETECT.COM file not found in the service volume."

A little Googling indicates that VIsta doesn't use NTLDR so that might be a XXCLone issue?

 

Sorry, I gave you bad advice. XXclone does not support Vista or Win7. It won't work.

Back to looking at the MFT error.

 

Try running chkdsk again. Computer>right click C: drive select Properties then Tools then Check Disk for Errors>Select both boxes and OK. It will restart and run chkdsk.

 

There are many free cloning/backup tools available here at MajorGeeks (and you'll probably find some others listed here). I've used a few of 'em (the Easeus cloning program, the HDclone program) and they actually work fairly well. Of course, there will be some limitations (they may require the new drive to be larger than the source original drive regardless of the amount of data on the source drive), they may not support USB drives (you can check this via their web sites), they may take some time (like 4+ hours depending on the amount of data, whether or not there are file system problems, level of fragmentation, etc). I usually use a bootable Norton Ghost disc for my cloning needs, if that fails for whatever reason, I use Farstone DriveClone Pro, and if that fails, then I use the slowest method known: I boot to a preinstall environment (like BartsPECD or the UBCD4Win) and either manually copy everything from the source drive to the formatted destination drive, or (more likely) use a plug-in (like "Unstoppable Copier") to copy everything. But this method can take H O U R S . . . seriously, the last time I was forced to 'clone' a drive this way, it took about 14 hours.....

(Norton Ghost and Farstone DriveClone Pro are NOT free programs - they cost at least $50 or $60 - I'm not sure of the cost 'cuz I don't buy 'em - I'm a tech at a PC shop and the owner pays for any needed software)

 

Nothing. No errors, no unindexed files, no bad sectors...nothing.

I'll check out the cloning programs in the freeware section tomorrow, but I'm calling it a night right now. Thanks for all you've done!

 

Updating my own thread. Still no progress. I called the company that makes the enclosure/software combo that I bought, and they've been helpful so far, but it still isn't working.

 

I have not found any true fixes for a corrupted MFT. Every solution involves backing up your data and starting over with a fresh install of the Operating System.

There is the possibility of using a defragmenter program that will attempt to copy the MFT to a new location but from my experience they cause even more problems like unbootable systems. Right now, you can access all your files despite corruption (a good thing and not an opportunity to be wasted). I'm thinking you may want to back up your personal files and prepare for the worst.

My thought is to take your new HD and partition it into 2 partitions. The first large enough to clone your current Windows installation and the second the remaining space. Use your enclosure to copy all your personal files to the 2nd partition (pictures, music, documents anything that you need safe).

Then you can figure out what to try next about attempting to fix the MFT on your original HD. But be aware the MFT is the Master File Table it is the index of all your files and any attempt to fix it could render it useless and all your files disappear. There is no good solution from what I have seen.

It would be useful if you could tell us the size of your current HD and the new one. What operating system you have and whether or not you have OS install discs.

 

I actually stumbled on to the solution myself. I have a parental control software program installed on my system (Safe Eyes). I just happened to notice that it wasn't working, so I uninstalled it. That fixed it.

Thanks for all your help. I hope that maybe this will help somebody in the future.

 

Interesting. Good work!

I don't understand the connection but am glad you found a solution.