I have an XP Pro SP3 system with a single 160 GB HDD (Sata). During a wind storm and a few lightnings, the power to the house got interrupted while the system was on. And from then on, he has lots of problem when starting Windows. It becomes impossible to restart Windows with that system.
Nearly all the Windows start-up problem indicate that the Master File Table is corrupted or damaged. And CHKDSK /f cannot repair the hard disk.
Question: If I take that HDD out and reformat it, can the Master File Table be repaired. Worst comes to worst, I would be looking to re-install Windows. Would that work ?
By definition reformatting the drive would require a new installation from scratch. The format will delete all the data currently on the drive.
You could try to repair or rebuild the MFT first. There are some methods and/or programs that can try to do that.. eg- http://www.ntfs.com/quest14.htm
Perhaps others here will have used other utilities to do that as well.
Another option you could consider is a repair install of XP. That "might" fix the MFT problem and if nothing else works it would certainly be worth a try.
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