Is formatting the only way to erase MFT?

Is there any way to view the MFT in some kind of understandable form? Any program to do this with? Something that you don't have to be a rocket scientist to decipher - or mortgage your children to purchase? Pete

 

Hi Spy1/Pete, I use Directory Snoop which lets you view everything in raw data or a text view. It's a great tool that was free for a long time. It's now a shareware app but you can still get the earlier versions, which work just fine, at legacy software sites. There are others and I've tried them, but Directory Snoop is the best. You can also 'purge' stubborn MFT entries individually. As for erasing, Tolvanen's ERASER which is now at Heidi Software, still free and open source, allows you to wipe the free space and eliminate all MFT entries by checking the box for MFT and stray directory entries before you start. No file or folder names left after a good free space wipe with ERASER. Between Directory Snoop and Eraser you can see what's there and clean it up as well. I'm sure there are many other good freespace cleaners as well, but very few wipe your MFT entries. Good luck.
Gerard

 

Hi, Gerard!

I'm looking at the MFT stuff using DiskInvestigator - unfortunately ( <g> ) , even when using "Text" view of either the MFT or the MFT Zone, I'm not getting anything understandable (and darn me for not taking that course on rocket science in h.s.!).

What I would like to be able to do would be able to click on any of those entries and be able to read the file name that's being presented in plain English.

Do you (or anyone else) know how to do that? Or a program that does?

IOW, I want to be able to simply look at a file name (in plain English) in the MFT and be able to decide whether I want it there. If not, I want to have the ability to click on it and delete it and have it vanish from both the MFT and the Mirror Record). Pete

 

Hi try this link: http://arstechnica.com/paedia/n/ntfs/ntfs4-2.html