The NTFS file system contains at its core, a file called the
master file table or the MFT. There is at least one entry in the
MFT for every file on an NTFS volume, including the MFT itself. All
information about a file, including its size, time and date stamps,
permissions, and data content, is stored either in MFT entries, or
in space outside the MFT that is described by MFT entries.