"DavidJ726" <DavidJ726@hasnoaddress.com> wrote in message
news:O77kQtuaHHA.1388@TK2MSFTNGP05.phx.gbl...
> My slave drive (D has become unaccesable and the error message I receive
> is Corrupt Master File Table.
>
> I have a Dual boot System with XP on the C: drive and Vista Beta on the D:
> drive. I know I can boot from the XP CD and from the recovery console,
> run the fxmbr and chkdsk/f commands, but what I don't know is if the
> Master File Table was modified when I installed Vista on the D: drive, so
> I don't know if I should use XP's tools or Vista's (MRE?) tools. If I use
> XP tools and the file was modified by Vista, shoudn't I use Vista's tools?
>
> Also, during my searches it seems that the Master Boot Record and Master
> File Table have been discussed as if they're one in the same, are they?
> Can fxmbr repair a Master File Table?
>
> Thanks,
> David
>
>
The MBR and the MFT are entirely different. fixmbr is irrelevent to your
problem. If the mirror MFT is uncorrupted chkdsk should be able to fix
things. If the mirror is also corrupt and chkdsk aborts, then things are
very messed up and you should reformat the partition and restore any data
from back-up. If the partition contains data that is not backed up you may
need to use a third-party tool or service to try and recover it - however
given that you are running a beta operating system on the partition I guess
it doesn't contain much of value. It shouldn't matter which version of
chkdsk you use.

Dave