Windows systems not booting is a common and old problem that never goes away. While the reasons for such problem might differ from situation to situation, the most persistent cause is file system corruption. Damage of file system (either FAT or NTFS) installed on a Windows based hard drive primarily occurs due to improper system shutdown, virus infection, operating system malfunction, and more similar reasons. Since, the system becomes unbootable after file system damage, all the files and folders saved on your hard drive become inaccessible. In such cases, if the user needs to repair the corrupted file system, then s/he can run CHKDSK command with suitable repair clause. However, if the command fails, and you have not maintained any backup, then the user can only access its hard drive data by using a commercial Hard Drive Recovery Software.

Consider a practical case, where you encounter the below error message while trying to startup your Windows XP based system:

“STOP 0x000000ED (0xaaaaaaaa,0xbbbbbbbb,0xcccccccc,0xdddddddd) UNMOUNTABLE_BOOT_VOLUME” The four parameter fields in the above error message change as per system's configuration.

After the above STOP error message pops up, the system becomes unbootable, rendering to inaccessibility of hard drive data. In addition, the same error message appears every time you try to start your system.

Cause: The root cause for the occurrence of the above error message is corruption in file system. The message can also be caused due to damage in UDMA cable. Resolution:

To resolve the above STOP error message and access the data, you will need to take below actions:

1.Replace the UDMA cable with an 80-wire cable. 2.In case of file system corruption, run CHKDSK/ R command. The command checks and repairs the file system to maximum possible level.

While the command to repair file system is successful in most cases, it can also fails in certain situations. For such cases, the user needs to reinstall Windows XP operating system and restore data from an updated backup. But, this solution might fail to resolve your problem under below situations:

1.You have not created any hard drive data backup. 2.Your hard drive data backup is damaged, insufficient, or incomplete.

To recover your data in such cases, you will need to search for a third-party Hard Drive Recovery Software. Such tools provide absolute Hard Drive Recovery post any logical damage.

Stellar Data Recovery Software is a powerful Hard Drive Data Recovery tool that recovers data from almost all hard drive types and brands, based upon NTFS, NTFS5, FAT12, FAT16, FAT32, and VFAT file systems. It supports Windows 7, Vista, 2003, XP, and 2000.