When a Windows Vista system is started, first of all, it loads the BIOS (Basic Input/Output System) of the system. In this, the MBR (Master Boot Record) in the storage media is loaded that is followed by other procedures. However, all these procedures are entirely different from the ones followed in the earlier versions of Windows Vista. Due to this, when you make your system a dual boot system certain complications are bound to occur, which make your system inaccessible. Such situations demand for the use of a third-party Windows partition recovery software to recover Windows partition.

Taking a real-life example consideration in which you have installed Windows XP in a system that already has Windows Vista to make it a dual-boot system. However, when you start the system you are unable to boot the Windows Vista system, which contains all the valuable data.

Cause:

The most probable cause of this problem is that the Windows operating systems prior to Windows Vista are not familiar with the startup method of Windows Vista and later versions.

Resolution:

To resolve this problem, you should use the following steps to recover partition:

Start the system from the earlier version of Windows. Open Command Prompt with administrative rights. Run the Bootsect.exe tool to rewrite the MBR code that is used to transfer the control to the Windows Boot Manager program. For this, use the following command: prompt: Drive:\boot\Bootsect.exe /NT60 All Use the Bcdedit.exe tool to create an entry in the Boot.ini file for the earlier versions of Windows operating systems. For this, you should use the following commands followed by the 'Enter' key after every command:

Drive:\Windows\system32\Bcdedit /create {ntldr} /d "Description for earlier Windows version" Drive:\Windows\system32\Bcdedit /set {ntldr} device partition=x: Drive:\Windows\system32\Bcdedit /set {ntldr} path \ntldr Drive:\Windows\system32\Bcdedit /displayorder {ntldr} /addlast

Restart the system after creating the entries.

In case the aforementioned method does not recover the situation, then this situation calls for using a third-party partition recovery tool to recover partition. Few advantages of using these tools are having highly interactive and rich user interface along with safe and powerful scanning algorithms.

One such partition recovery software is Stellar Phoenix Windows Data Recovery that recovers partition from FAT, NTFS, and exFAT file systems. Supporting data recovery in Windows 7, Vista, Server 2003, XP, and 2000, this Windows partition recovery software restores more than 185 different file types in various types of storage media including iPods, pen drives, etc. The USP of this partition recovery tool is that it provides a Boot CD to boot the system, which is very helpful in these circumstances.