NTFS Partition Recovery

About NTFS Partitions

Similar to FAT partitions, NTFS partitions reserve the first sector of your hard drive for the critical boot information your computer needs. If in some way your master boot record or partition table has been damaged, your OS will not be able to read the partition and thus access files contained within.

One of the many advantages of the NTFS file system is that it keeps a backup copy of the master boot record and partition table on the final sector of the partition. The bonus here is that data recovery software programs of quality are designed specifically to recover this information in cases of hard disk failure or disaster.

The difference between NTFS and FAT is that although all boot information is kept on the first sector on FAT drives, no backup copy of the partition information is. So when you experience the need for FAT recovery, things can be much more difficult.

On most Windows XP or Windows NT partitions, the first single file stored is known as the Master File Table or MFT. This particular file basically act as a table of contents for your hard drive listing specific filenames, properties, and specific sector locations of files saved on your hard disk partition. Every time your operating system accesses a file, it has to look to this master file table to determine where your data is stored.

The additional benefit of NTFS is that it always stores a backup of the master file table. This makes it rather easy to recover when a disaster has occurred. What's more, it often means that file loss does not require the services of professionals like a Hard Drive Recovery Group, as hard drive repairs can be simply accomplished using data recovery software.

FAT partitions, meanwhile, use a very similar type of file, except it is called the file allocation table. Although this file allocation table is also backed up on your hard drive, its major downfall is the fact that it must be located in any specific sector on your hard disk drive in order for it to function properly. If your hard drive failure is because that particular sector has been damaged, recovering your file allocation table can be a tough job.

Deleted or not?

The beauty of both the NTFS and FAT file systems is that when you delete a file, the operating system does not actually remove it from your hard drive. Instead, it merely marks this file as deleted. This means if your operating system and needs to store new data in that space, it can. But the file has not been removed. Therefore, if you have accidentally deleted a file, you may still have the ability to retrieve the file if you have not written too much data to your hard disk.

In our case study situation, is mean NTFS partition master file table had been damaged using the disk system. This meant that although all of the data was still contained on the hard drive, his other Windows XP disk did not see any of the data. Situations like this are prime cases for data recovery software such as that offered by Hard Drive Recovery Group.

Important Note About Do It Yourself Hard Drive Recovery

An incredibly key point of mentioned all of our customers is that attempting data recovery on your own is actually never a really good idea. If you're an experienced professional and are quite aware that your case completely matches the case we are writing about, by all means, go to work on your hard drive.

But if you're unsure in any way of your data loss, we would encourage you to contact us at Hard Drive Recovery Group. Calling one of our experienced data recovery technicians is always free, and can save you lots of time and money in the long run.

What's more, if it turns out that your file or partition loss is due to actual hard drive damage, which often includes symptoms as clicking hard drive, buzzing or other odd sounds, attempting to use data recovery software many actually damage your chances of returning your data. This is why we always recommend you contact a professional hard drive repair company before you make any rash moves.

(Continued with Retrieving Files)

Tutorial Contents
Recovery Tutorial - The introduction
XP Partition Recovery - A case study
File Systems - How important they are to your OS
NTFS Partition Recovery - Some key advantages
Retrieving Files - Moving forward with your recovery.
Copying Your Hard Drive - Safety first, always.
Partition Recovered - A case study concluded.