Hello,

I am trying to diagnose and, if possible, repair an NTFS metadata problem on an external Seagate 16 TB HDD.

Main symptom:
Windows 11 shows the volume as RAW and Explorer reports that the file or directory is corrupted and unreadable. However, TestDisk, DMDE, R-Studio, macOS with Paragon NTFS, and an older Windows computer can read the files and directory structure.

The problem began after the Windows 11 computer resumed from sleep while the disk was still connected.

What has already been checked:

- CrystalDiskInfo reports SMART status “Good”
- Reallocated Sectors Count: 0
- Current Pending Sector Count: 0
- Uncorrectable Sector Count: 0
- Reported Uncorrectable Errors: 0
- UltraDMA CRC Error Count: 0
- GPT structure is readable in TestDisk
- Primary NTFS boot sector: OK
- Backup boot sector: OK
- Both boot sectors are identical
- MFT and MFT mirror match perfectly
- TestDisk can list the files
- DMDE and R-Studio can open the existing NTFS volume and display the files directly

CHKDSK behaviour:

- chkdsk /scan reports that problems were found
- chkdsk /f /x reports no problems
- chkdsk /offlinescanandfix reports no problems
- chkdsk /f /x /sdcleanup reports no problems
- chkdsk /spotfix processes 0 corruption records and says it could not fix all issues
- DiskPart still reports the volume as RAW

Windows Event Viewer reports:

Event ID 55:
Corruption in:
$R:$INDEX_ROOT

The file reference points to MFT record 26, which DMDE identifies as:
$Extend\$Reparse

Event ID 50:
Delayed Write Failed for:
$I30:$INDEX_ALLOCATION

In DMDE, MFT record 26 contains:

- $INDEX_ROOT:$R
- $INDEX_ALLOCATION:$R, size 16384 bytes
- $BITMAP:$R, value 0F 00 00 00 00 00 00 00

The bitmap therefore appears to mark four 4096-byte INDX blocks as allocated, matching the 16384-byte INDEX_ALLOCATION size.

DMDE does not show obvious red logical errors, and the directory repair function is unavailable for this special system index.

I also bought an Intenso 8 TB HDD and copied the same files. Windows now shows that disk as RAW as well, while DMDE and R-Studio can read it. So I'm thinking maybe a file on the Seagate disk is causing the problem?

My questions are:

1. Is there a known way to validate or rebuild the NTFS $Extend\$Reparse $R index?
2. Could one invalid reparse entry cause Windows to reject the entire volume as RAW?
3. Is it possible to identify the invalid entry by comparing $INDEX_ROOT, the four INDX records, and $BITMAP?
4. Is there any tool that can rebuild this particular system index without recreating the entire NTFS volume?
5. What additional diagnostic information should I provide?

I can attach screenshots, CHKDSK output, Event Viewer XML, SMART data, TestDisk results, and the relevant DMDE views.

Thank you.

I have no experience with the intricacies of the NTFS file system and its service structures, but judging by the fact that chkdsk and the previous version of Windows don't detect errors and allow access to files on the drive, the system can handle the corruption of this log file. Considering NTFS is a key component of Windows, it can't be changed on a whim, including breaking backward compatibility.

Try booting the computer from a Windows 11 installation flash drive, and using the command line or the system image recovery option, open the problematic drive. You can also run chkdsk there, and I don't think it will find any problems either.