MFTrecover is a file recovery tool for the Windows NTFS 3.1 file system, used since Windows XP through the latest Windows 11.
The tool works by parsing Master File Table (MFT) entries and directly accessing the raw volume to retrieve the data of deleted files.
- Hard Disk Drives (HDDs)
- Solid State Drives (SSDs) with TRIM disabled
Attribute List Handling: Recovery support for Attribute List files is not fully implemented yet. I was unable to test with Large files containing an Attribute List on my system because they were not present.
Current Issue: The Attribute List logic currently uses recursive searching without a defined depth limit, which may cause crashes.
Workaround: The tool functions correctly without Attribute List support. For stability, the incomplete code has been commented out.
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Open Terminal (Command Prompt / PowerShell) as Administrator
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Compile the program
g++ accessMFT.cpp -o MFTrecover.exe -g
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Run the program with the desired option
Checks which files are recoverable without actually restoring them.
MFTrecover.exe --debug <drive_letter>Example :
MFTrecover.exe --debug D:debug<drive_letter> (here debugD) name file will be created which will contain the list of recoverable files in that specific drive
Recovers all deleted files from the drive into a folder named Recovered.
MFTrecover.exe --recoverall <drive_letter>Example :
MFTrecover.exe --recoverall D:Lets you enter the number of files and their names manually, then attempts to recover only those and stores them into a folder named Recovered.
MFTrecover.exe --recover <drive_letter>Example :
MFTrecover.exe --recover D:(After running this, the program will ask how many files you want to recover and their names.)