Will Windows 7 System Image restore fix a dirty bit problem?

petaylor · 29 May 2012

There is a file (CPU1104.pdf) on my D: drive that, when I try to open it, gives me a "file is corrupt" and indicates that the $Mft has an issue. I've run CHKDSK d: /r many times, which does clear the "dirty bit", but it doesn't find any issue with the drive. This leads me to believe that this is a directory/file issue with the MFT. Both the main and mirror are bad, too. So, I'm trying to find a way to, in essence, recreate the MFT without the file that's in error. I don't need the file, so, it can go "bye bye".

Shame on me, I never did a system image. Having said that, I've done one now? On my system, the C: drive, D: drive, and system reserved 100MB area are all included in the system image. The question is, will a restore just copy the problem back, or will the file be ignored?

I've also thought about using Paragon HD12 to copy the drive and exclude the file with a filter, then copy the drive back. My concern here is whether this will work or not.

Thanks in advance!

windude99 · 29 May 2012

petaylor said:

There is a file (CPU1104.pdf) on my D: drive that, when I try to open it, gives me a "file is corrupt" and indicates that the $Mft has an issue. I've run CHKDSK d: /r many times, which does clear the "dirty bit", but it doesn't find any issue with the drive. This leads me to believe that this is a directory/file issue with the MFT. Both the main and mirror are bad, too. So, I'm trying to find a way to, in essence, recreate the MFT without the file that's in error. I don't need the file, so, it can go "bye bye".

Shame on me, I never did a system image. Having said that, I've done one now? On my system, the C: drive, D: drive, and system reserved 100MB area are all included in the system image. The question is, will a restore just copy the problem back, or will the file be ignored?

I've also thought about using Paragon HD12 to copy the drive and exclude the file with a filter, then copy the drive back. My concern here is whether this will work or not.

Thanks in advance!

If you made a system image after the problem started, it will most likely restore the problem back. I would go ahead and try, though, sunce it may have not copied the file if it is corrupt.

Kaktussoft · 29 May 2012

chkdsk/f/r didn't find any errors? very sure?

Kaktussoft · 29 May 2012

Message is "file is corrupt" or "The directory or file is corrupt or unreadable. Please run Chkdsk utility"

Kaktussoft · 29 May 2012

Cannot Delete or Repair Corrupted File on NTFS Volume
Not a real solution

Kaktussoft · 29 May 2012

Repair An NTFS MFT
The MFT (Master File Table) is sometimes corrupted. If Microsoft's Checkdisk (chkdsk) failed to repair the MFT, run TestDisk TestDisk Download - CGSecurity . In the Advanced menu, select your NTFS partition, choose Boot, then Repair MFT. TestDisk will compare the MFT and MFT mirror (its backup). If the MFT is damaged, it will try to repair the MFT using the backup. If the MFT backup is damaged, it will use the main MFT.
If both MFT and MFTMirr are damaged and thus cannot be repaired using TestDisk, you might want to try commercial software like Zero Assumption Recovery, GetDataBack for NTFS or Restorer 2000.

karlsnooks · 29 May 2012

Well Petaylor,
does problem still exist?

Have you tried booting from a System Repair Disc and deleting the file?

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CREATE A SYSTEM REPAIR DISC

START | type System Repair | Enter key | Create Disc button

petaylor · 01 Jun 2012

After trying various ways to delete this file, such as deleting from an elevated command prompt, using the system repair disc and the command prompt there, and more, and running chkdsk /f /r d: again and again... none of which worked... I finally got this issue resolved.

The short version is that I used the Paragon HDM12 Disk Copy functnion to copy the bad d: drive to a smaller e: drive filtering out the problem file. I had to reboot and recable a few times to make the bad d: drive another letter, so that I could have both drives mounted at the same time. Then, I used Paragon HDM12 Disk Copy to copy the "now good" d: drive to the old d: drive mounted as e:. Again, I had to reboot and recable a few times to make the smaller d: drive the e: drive, so that I could have both drives mounted at the same time, as they were originally. I chedked the system out and am able to get to everything.... without running into a "corrupt file" issue or the dreaded "dirty bit".

Can anyone confirm whether or not there are other software products that allow a disk copy from one drive to a smaller drive, as long as the data can fit on it, like Paragon's HDM12. I tired O&O and Acronis demo products, but it didn't look like they do.