What is the "$MFT only" option?

[JesusDa3rd]

After the "Intelligent Searching" when you are selecting partitions there's a check box next to the partition for "$MFT only." I know what the MFT is on NTFS drives and all, but how does checking that box (which is unchecked by default) affect your recovery? I just got this software and am trying to restore a drive in Windows 7 that I accidentally quick formatted in Disk Management when I meant to format another. Simple stuff. To anyone that actually reads this, thank you for your time. It's highly appreciated.

[Nvidia]

Dear JesusDa3rd,

Thanks for your interest in our product.
First, MFT is short for Master File Table. It records the file information on NTFS partition.
If you tick the box, our product will only detect files which have records in MFT, in most case, it gives better accuracy of data recovery, but if MFT is corrupted, tick it will lead to incorrect results.

In your case, the data lost due to an accidental quick format, so we suggest you uncheck the box to get a more accurate result. Please have a try.

Besides, please notice that if you didn’t tick “perform quick format” when formatted the partition, Windows 7 will perform a full format on your target partition, which means the whole partition will be zero filled and the data on it will be very difficult to recover.

Sincerely,
EASEUS Support Team F
EASEUS Customer Support Center:
http://www.easeus.com/support.htm

[JesusDa3rd]

fyi i tried that (checking it) and none of my files showed up. when i left it unchecked all my files showed up. weird. i wrote absolutely nothing to the drive after the format (i guess windows puts some folders on there). thanks anyways, the program worked great otherwise.

[yikemi]

Dear JesusDa3rd,

As you format the partition, the previous $MFT may get corrupt, if you check the box”$MFT only”, you may find nothing from the partition, so it is correct that you keep the box unchecked.
Have you recovered all the lost files successfully? Whether the files you recovered could be read normally.

Sincerely,
EASEUS Support Team S
EASEUS Customer Support Center:
http://www.easeus.com/support.htm