Windows Cannot Recover Master File Table – How Do I Do?
Try to fix inaccessible drive with chkdsk.exe but only get “Windows cannot recover master file table. CHKDSK aborted.” error, what should you do? Refer to this paper for answer.
By Bryce / Last Updated May 27, 2020
Unable to recover master file table via chkdsk:/f
“There are two hard drives connected to my Dell computer: one hard drive with Windows 10 installed and one Seagate external hard drive for data storage (G Drive). I can access other partitions from Explorer, but when opening G drive, I get a message saying that “G:\ is not accessible. The file or directory is corrupted and unreadable.” After searching on Google, I decided to run “chkdsk g: / f” from CMD to fix it, but only to receive error given below:
The Type of the file system is NTFS. Volume Label is New Volume. Corrupt master file table. Windows will attempt to recover master file table from disk. Windows cannot recover master file table. CHKDSK aborted.
Then, what should I do to repair corrupted MFT for my external hard drive, so that I can access and use it again?”
What causes MTF corruption?
Master file table (MFT) is very important for NTFS file system; when MTF of the NTFS partition on external hard drive is corrupted, you’ll be unable to access it. The events that account for MTF corruption can be various and some are listed below:
There are lots of fragmentations on your external hard disk drive.
There are bad sectors on the external hard drive.
The external hard drive used to be removed improperly.
Windows system is shut down inappropriately.
The external hard drive is attacked by virus.
Windows cannot recover master file table: what else can you do?
Before taking more measures to perform master file table recovery, it is recommended to retrieve your data saved on the inaccessible external hard drive and save them to another place via professional and powerful data recovery software. If you don’t care about the data on it, go to the methods listed as follows.
1. Defrag the partition
When there are too many fragmentations on the external hard disk drive partition, corrupt master file table error might occur. If so, you can defrag the partition through to settle out the issue. Here are the detailed steps:
1. Press Windows + R at the same time to open the Run box.
2. Type “dfrgui” to open Optimize Drives window.
3. In the pop-up window, choose the drive that needs being defragged; click Analyze button.
4. After analysis, click Optimize to defrag the partition, if there are lots of fragmentations.
PS.: Don’t defrag it if your external hard drive is a solid-state drive.
2. Run chkdsk: /r to check and fix bad sectors
If the error isn’t related to fragmentations, it is time to take bad sector into consideration. To remove bad sectors, you can do as the following steps:
1. Open Run dialogue, type “cmd” in it and press Enter key.
2. In the pop-up window, type chkdsk g:/r to locate the bad sectors on the drive and recover readable information.
PS.: “g” refers to the drive letter assigned to the partition that you want to check.
3. Rebuild MBR of the external hard drive
If the ways aforementioned can’t solve the problem, you can try to fix MBR of the inaccessible external hard drive to see whether the issue is fixed. To perform this task, AOMEI Partition Assistant Standard is a nice choice. This GUI free partition manager enables you to fix MBR partition table for external HDD/SSD just within few clicks and it can work well under Windows 10/8.1/8/7, XP and Vista. Download it and have a try!
Secure Download
1. Install and run it; right-click the external hard drive whose MBR needs repairing and choose Rebuild MBR.
2. On this dialogue, you need to choose the type of MBR based on the current operating system. Then, hit OK.
3. You’ll return to the main console; click Apply and Proceed to commit operation.
вњЌ Note: To use its advanced function like partition recovery, converting system disk from MBR to GPT without data loss, etc., you can upgrade it to Professional version.
4. Format the external hard drive
A simple but effective way to fix corrupt master file table on external hard drive is formatting. You can try to format it in File Explorer or Disk Management. If you encounter an error message like Windows was unable to complete the format, you can turn to the partition manager given above – AOMEI Partition Assistant Standard. Do as follows:
Warning: Formatting a partition will erase all data on it.
1. Open AOMEI Partition Assistant Standard, right-click the partition on the external hard drive and choose Format Partition.
2. Here you can choose a wanted file system for the partition among NTFS, FAT32, exFAT, Ext2, Ext3 and Ext4. After that, click OK.
3. Click Apply and Proceed to operate.
Conclusion
It’s unpleasant to receive “Windows cannot recover master file table. CHKDSK aborted” error when you try to run chkdsk /f to fix external hard drive. But if you happen to be in such a condition, calm down and check out the solutions offered in this article. What I want to emphasize is that don’t forget to recover data to another place before you fix your external hard drive.
chkdsk aborted corrupt master file list. What do i do?
Replies (4)
Did you stop the chkdsk process while it was running?
Let’s follow these methods and check if it helps.
a) You may try to boot into ‘safe mode with networking’ and check if the issue persists. It will start Windows 7 with a limited set of files and drivers. Startup programs do not run in safe mode, and only the basic drivers needed to start Windows are installed, follow the steps to boot the computer in safe mode:
i. Restart the computer.
ii. Start tapping F8 key.
iii. You will get advanced boot option window.
iv. Select the option “Safe mode”.
b) You may run ‘chkdsk /r’ from command prompt and do not abort the chkdsk process till it gets completed.
i. Click on Start, type ‘cmd’ in start search box.
ii. Right click on ‘cmd.exe’ in the Program list and then select the option Run as administrator.
iii. If you are prompted for an administrator password or for confirmation, type your password, or click Continue.
iv. In the command prompt window, type ‘chkdsk /r’ in the command prompt.
For more information, refer: Check a drive for errors
If ‘Method 1’ doesn’t help, you may perform startup repair and check if you are able to boot to desktop. You will have to boot from the Windows 7 DVD and get to the Win RE (Windows Repair Environment) and choose Startup Repair from the menu.
a. Insert the installation disc.
b. Restart your computer.
c. If prompted, press any key to start Windows from the installation disc.
Note: If your computer is not configured to start from a CD or DVD, check the information that came with your computer. You may need to change your computer’s BIOS settings.
d. Choose your language settings, and then click Next.
e. Click Repair your computer.
f. Select the operating system you want to repair, and then click Next.
g. On the System Recovery Options menu, click Startup Repair. Startup Repair might prompt you to make choices as it tries to fix the problem, and if necessary, it might restart your computer as it makes repairs.
Hope the information helps. Please post back and let us know.
Regards
Debleena S
Microsoft Answers Support Engineer
Fix Corrupt Master File Table. CHKDSK Aborted Error in Windows 10/8/7
Summary
If you encounter «Corrupt master file table Windows cannot recover master file table CHKDSK aborted» error that is caused by Windows system crash, virus attack, or improper operation, there are a few possible ways to fix it. Besides, you can use EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard to recover files from the corrupted storage device to prevent data loss.
«Corrupt master file table. Windows cannot recover master file table. CHKDSK aborted»
«I have been using a Seagate HDD with one NTFS partition in my Windows 10 ACER laptop to save data for two years. But this morning when I turned on the computer, I got the error «Corrupt master file table. Windows will attempt to recover the master file table from disk. Windows cannot recover the master file table. CHKDSK aborted.» Now when I try opening the drive, it says: «E:\ is not accessible. The file or directory is corrupted and unreadable.» Can anyone suggest a method for recovering the data and MFT so I can get a copy at least?»
Master File Table is the most critical file in an NTFS file system. It keeps track of all files on the volume, as well as their logical location in folders, physical location on the hard, and metadata about the file. If the master file table gets corrupted, files in the NTFS file system volume will be inaccessible.
Common reasons for corruption of Master File Table are:
- Windows system crash
- Malware and virus attack for MFT
- A lot of bad sectors on the hard drive
- Application crash or malfunction
- Pull out external disk improperly
When you encountered such a situation, you can run CHKDSK in repair mode to check and repair bad sectors to fix this problem. When you encountered such a situation and try to run CHKDSK to fix the problem, but at most times, it will not help and prompt «Corrupt master files table. Windows will attempt to recover master file table from disk. Windows cannot recover master file table. CHKDSK aborted». Then how can you repair the master file table when Windows cannot recover it. Read on and check the following practical approaches.
Fix «Corrupt Master File Table» Error in Windows 10/8/7 and Recover Data
Solution 1: Repair Corrupt Master File Table with CHKDSK Utility
1. Right-click the hard drive with a corrupt master file table and choose «Properties».
2. Click «Tools» > «Check». And choose «Scan drive».
If CHDKS is aborted, move to Solution 2.
Solution 2: Use FixMbr Command to Repair MFT
1. Enter System Recovery Options screen. Connect a bootable USB drive to your computer, restart PC and continuously press F2 or F8 to enter the BIOS setup. Go to Startup or Boot column and set the computer to boot from your new drive. Save the changes and restart your PC.
2. Follow the onscreen message, and select «Repair your Computer» when you get to the System Recovery Options window.
3. Select «Command Prompt» to open a command prompt window. Type bootrec.exe and press Enter.
The parameter /FixMbr allows the repair of a corrupted Master Boot Record.
Solution 3: Recover Data and Format the Drive
If the above fixes can’t address «Corrupt master file table. Windows cannot recover master file table. CHKDSK aborted» issue; the final try is formatting the hard drive to make it accessible and usable. But to avoid data loss, you need to recover data from the corrupted partition with a professional hard drive recovery software in advance.
How to Recover Data from Corrupted Hard Drive
Here, we highly recommend you try EaseUS data recovery program, which works exceptionally well to recover files from a corrupted hard drive or raw disk in Windows 10/8/7 or any other previous versions. It is also capable of recover lost data from various storage media like USB flash drive, SSD, HDD, CF/SD card, and so on because of formatting, deletion, partition loss, application/system crash, virus attack, etc.
Click the following button to get this easy-to-use data recovery tool. Then follow the steps below to recover data from hard drive with corrupted master file table.
Step 1. Select a location and start scanning.
Launch EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard, and hover on the partition where you lost data, be it a hard disk drive, external disk, USB, or SD card, then click «Scan».
Step 2. Preview and select the files you want to recover.
When the scanning has finished, select the data you want to recover. Double-click the file to check its content if you need to.
Step 3. Recover lost data.
After choosing the data, click «Recover» and choose a location on another drive to save the files.
When the data recovery completes, you can format the hard drive to NTFS or FAT to use again.
1. Go to This PC or Disk Management, and right-click on the partition or drive, select «Format».
2. Set Volume Label, File System, and Allocation unit size as you need. Then, click «OK» to start the process.