filesystems - Simplest way to view master file table (MFT) size in Windows 7?

I have yet to find a definitive answer that doesn't require third-party tools. Most of the search results were unrelated enough that they weren't useful, or dodgy-looking sites pushing even dodgier third-party tools.

I found this link https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/aa365230%28v=vs.85%29.aspx?f=255&MSPPError=-2147217396

and the Analyze button doesn't generate a report.

Is there a built-in command line or other tool that reports the MFT size in Windows 7?

Answer

You can use the fsutil utility that comes with Windows.

fsutil fsinfo ntfsinfo c:

In the output, look for the Mft Valid Data Length line. The value is hexadecimal; you can convert it to decimal using the Windows calculator or by simply running it (starting with 0x) in PowerShell as a command. That gives you the number of bytes, which when divided by 1024² = 1048576 gives you the MFT size in MiB.

It's even a tiny bit more precise than the value reported by Sysinternals' ntfsinfo. fsutil gives me 0x000000006c280000 = 1730.5 MiB, while the ntfsinfo tool reports 1730.

If you're on Windows 10, you can get the same info for any file with a different mode of the fsutil tool:

fsutil volume filelayout c:\$mft

Check the Size row under the ::$DATA stream.