DonationCoder.com forum
 
Read-only archive. This is a static copy of the DonationCoder.com forum. Reading and searching work as before; logging in, posting and private messages do not.
Archive of 2026-10-21 · About this archive · Main site

Author Topic: IDEA: A simple program to reset the bad sector list in NTFS MFT.  (Read 6,392 times)

t430cdt001

  • Participant
  • Joined in 2007
  • *
  • Posts: 1
After someone copies there NTFS partition to a new drive (one without errors) the MFT still has the old bad sector map in its list. I have seen VERY complex ways to edit this directly, but It seems a program could be made to do this.....

I bring this up because of running into this problem myself, I found many others looking for the same thing.....

The only thing I found was a Trialware program that was overkill for someone that just needs this one item......

I hear VISTA has a extra chkdsk option, but us NT and 2000 pro users who are replacing old drives with new ones might like a easy way to resolve this.    (please think about it, it would have kept me from pulling whats left of my hair out and might help others  :(  )....

Ralf Maximus

  • Supporting Member
  • Joined in 2007
  • **
  • Posts: 927
    • Coding Snacks
Re: IDEA: A simple program to reset the bad sector list in NTFS MFT.
« Reply #1 on: October 25, 2007, 03:46 PM »
You'll need a free program called NTFSPROGS:
http://gnuwin32.sourceforge.net/packages/ntfsprogs.htm

And then follow the instructions here:
http://www.linux-ntfs.org/doku.php?id=ntfsclone#reseting_the_bad_sectors_list_after_cloning

Should do exactly what you need.

f0dder

  • [Well, THAT escalated quickly!]
  • Charter Honorary Member
  • Joined in 2005
  • ***
  • Posts: 9,153
    • Participated in NANY Challenge Once
Re: IDEA: A simple program to reset the bad sector list in NTFS MFT.
« Reply #2 on: October 25, 2007, 11:22 PM »
Humm, shouldn't any decent imaging program refrain from copying the bad-sector list?
- carpe noctem

Ralf Maximus

  • Supporting Member
  • Joined in 2007
  • **
  • Posts: 927
    • Coding Snacks
Re: IDEA: A simple program to reset the bad sector list in NTFS MFT.
« Reply #3 on: October 26, 2007, 01:58 AM »
Most of the time you WANT the bad sector list as-is, since backups are usually restored to the same volume that generated them.  You are right -- it would be nice if, during the "restore" process, it asked about including the table or rebuilding it from scratch.

I use  Acronis 9.1 and one option I've never examined is "Clone Disk" which is intended to copy the contents of one drive to another verbatim.  I wonder if Acronis treats that differently than a backup/restore operation, and skips the bad sector list?

Original address: https://www.donationcoder.com/forum/index.php?topic=10552.0