MFT fragmentation resolver - background information
The Master File Table (MFT) of the NTFS volume is not contiguous, but
is
stored in the several fragments. By design of the NTFS, the MFT Mirror (copy of
the several critical MFT entries) is stored separately from the rest of the MFT.
Thus, at least two fragments of MFT are stored on the volume. More complex
layouts are possible due to additional fragmentation (this typically arises the
volume gets filled near its capacity). Additionally, several MFT entries may be
damaged, thus splitting a contiguous MFT fragment in two.
This fragmentation must be resolved and the contiguous representation of the MFT rebuilt. This is required to
recover large and/or heavily fragmented files
properly parse and rebuild the directory and file tree
Ignore gaps in MFT up to X entries
In case there is a small gap between MFT entries, it is ignored and data
processed as two adjacent parts of the same block. This reduces parser workload
at a cost of possible misidentification of the fragments. If the physical damage
exists (which contributes to these "gaps"), might be reasonable to
increase the value up to the half of the "skip factor"
as set in bad sector handling settings. Default value is
2.
Ignore MFT fragments smaller than X entries
If nonzero value is set, small MFT runs will be excluded from the analysis.
This reduces parser workload similar to the above. High values can degrade
directory tree quality. Recommended value is 16 (default).
Enable NTFS version 1.2 (Windows NT 4.0) compatibility
You may consider disabling this option only if the NTFS volume you're
recovering was created (initially formatted) with Windows 2000 or later version.
NTFS 1.2 (NT 4.0) and NTFS 3+ (Windows 2000+) use different versions of MFT
structures. If the volume was initially formatted with NT 4.0, the later version
entries may be missing, thus requiring a different fragmentation resolver
algorithm. Disabling this option provides somewhat better performance at a cost
of compatibility loss. This option is enabled by default.
Limit NTFS 1.2 resolver table to X K entries
Default setting is 64 K (65536) entries, which should be enough for common
cases. Consider increasing this value if you suspect very large number of files
and/or directories on the volume. At a total of 500,000 files and directories
(combined) it may be worthwhile to increase limit up to 128 K entries.
