Any idea what "$MFT" is? (PC question)

Factual Questions
1

I got a pop up on my computer saying that the file $MFT was corrupt and I should run ckdisk. It said it was on my E drive so I checked using Explore and didn’t see it. I do have show hidden files enabled. I ran a Search and that came up empty. I searched on the web and came up empty too.

What the heck? How can a file that I never put on my E drive be corrupt if it doesn’t even exist? I know there are a lot of strange files with $ signs and odd letters on my C drive, but I don’t know why this file, whatever it is, where ever it is, would be on my E drive. Sounds freaky to me.

I haven’t run ckdisk because that would entail re-starting and I’m in the middle of a project and don’t want to at the moment.

Thanks in advance if anyone has any ideas as to what that might be.

2

I should mention that it wasn’t a popup like you would get from a web page. It was down on the right side of the taskbar, and looked like an info balloon, the same kind I (often) get when I’m running low on virtual memory, or updates are available.

3

It’s the Master File Table, the index, if you like, of all the files on E:. Lose that and you will have to spend some time messing around to retrieve the files.

I’d run Chkdsk e: /f, but yes, you will have to reboot if the E: volume can’t be locked.

4

This may be a one-time glitch that can be fixed with the chkdsk /f, but it may be the first sign of Big Trouble with your hard drive.

Hope you’ve backed up your important data, if not, do it while you can. Copy your My Documents folder to a writable CD as a start.