'Data Recovery' Blog RSS Feed

'could not find a target system drive' Error Running BitLocker Drive Preparation Tool

buryshane — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 03:55:44 -0700

The Ultimate and Enterprise editions of Windows Vista and Windows 7 include a full disk encryption feature, called BitLocker Drive Encryption. For BitLocker to operate, it requires the boot volume isolated from encryption. To accomplish it, Microsoft provides 'Bitlocker Drive Preparation Tool'. To fulfill the requirements of two NTFS volumes, for operating system and a minimum of 1.5GB volume, it shrinks the existing volume in order to create required room for a new boot volume and to transfer the essential bootstrapping files to it. At times, when you find the tool failing to operate, one of the top reasons might be files that it finds unmovable from the partition. Such cases create unavoidable situations of reinstalling the operating system, which causes data loss. Thus, to restore it, you should have a valid data backup or a powerful windows data recovery utility that could recover the data.

For instance, when trying to use BitLocker Drive Preparation Tool for your Windows Vista based computer, you might receive an error as below:

“[E_BDECFG_NO_CANDIDATES]
The BitLocker Drive Preparation Tool could not find a target system drive. You may need to manually prepare your drive for BitLocker.”

Cause

You encounter this error due to following possible reasons:

After the active partition size has been reduced to 1.5 GB, it should contain a minimum of 10 percent of free space. So, insufficient free disk space might prevent the tool to operate.
The BitLocker Drive Preparation Tool procedures involve steps like defragmenting and resizing the partitions. But some unmovable files, such as Windows resgistry, NTFS metadata files, page files and hibernation files, can halt the task.

Solution

The corresponding solutions to the given problem are as below:

To create sufficient free space on disk, you should delete the non-required files or move them to a different partition.
For solving unmovable files issue, you should try disabling disk paging and hibernation and deleting the related files. If you still cannot use the BitLocker Drive Preparation Tool, reinstall Windows Vista and restore data from a suitable backup.

The unavailability of valid backup can create problems. To deal with such situations, there are variety of products available that can perform efficient windows partition recovery. These are third-party tools, which are designed with exclusive technology of windows data recovery.

Stellar Phoenix Windows Data Recovery is one of the known products that provides comprehensive windows partition recovery results. The tool incorporates high-end scanning algorithms and an interactive user interface. It supports Windows 7 RC1, Vista, XP, 2003 and 2000. It provides advanced disk recovery features, which include RAW File Recovery, Drive Status, Disk Cloning and others.

Windows Unbootable after Killing Disk Check

buryshane — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 03:33:04 -0700

If a Windows system undergoes unexpected shutdown, an automatic disk check runs that examines the disk for file system errors. Once the process starts, it should not be interrupted in anyway or otherwise can cause unrecoverable errors. Apart from rendering the data inaccessible, it can introduce several corruption errors to critical data structures of the disk. The data thus lost should be restored from available backup. However, you can use more effective products of partition recovery in case no access to valid data backup is feasible.

To illustrate it, consider a scenario of unexpected shutdown with your Windows based system. The next time when it restarts, the disk check runs to scrutinize the disk for consistency. You kill the operation, but when you restart the computer, the system is unable to boot. Consequently, you receive errors, such as it cannot locate Windows. The installation disk repair function fails too.

Additionally, when you attach the corrupted hard drive to gain data access, the Disk Management shows it with unknown status and displays the disk space as unallocated. You run a third-party tool to examine the disk and it gives errors that suggest that boot sector is bad and shows messages, similar to:

“A valid NTFS (or FAT) Boot sector must be present in order to access any data; even if the partition is not bootable”

You cannot access the data stored on disk partitions.

Cause

The prime reasons for such behavior is that boot sector or partition table is badly damaged.

Solution

Since no Windows utility works to bring the hard disk back, you should use a third-party utility to write a new boot sector or partition table. Such tools can recreate Windows partitions, but won't allow you to access the data. The lost data should be restored from the backup. However, if no suitable backup is available at present, you need to opt for a powerful partition recovery software.

Partition Recovery utilities are feature-rich products with advanced technology to restore lost, missing or deleted partitions. It is advised to use the product before formatting or repartitioning the disk to avoid any consequences due to data overwriting.

Stellar Phoenix Windows Data Recovery Services are an advanced solution known for complete retrieval of lost and missing Windows partitions. It uses effective scanning algorithms while adhering to data safety. This Windows partition recovery software is compatible with Windows 7 RC1, Vista, XP, 2003 and 2000.

Hard Drive Data Recovery Methods- Know How

buryshane — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 03:21:42 -0700

When it comes to the loss of your valuable data and information, the situations become drastic. In the majority of data loss situations price is not a big factor. The most important that you should aim towards is- what is the best possible method to retrieve your lost data? If you are not aware of the recovery solutions, then you might try anything that could result into severe data loss. The frantic efforts could make situations worse and minimize the chances of successful data recovery.

Following are some common techniques that would help you take right decision to ensure secure and complete recovery of your mission-critical data:

Traditional methods

There was time when the loss of data was considered the greatest headache. The data loss victims used to send their failed hard drives to the recovery professionals to retrieve their lost data. The recovery help was composed of several factors such as time, several human errors, enough money and the recovery service labs. The data recovery using old techniques was very slow and the success rate was also quite less.

Modern recovery techniques

The modern recovery methods have become extremely fast and give high success rate. In most of the cases of logical damage, you can easily retrieve your data using data recovery software on your own. The recovery service has also become pretty fast, safe and effective.

Hard drive failure causes and preventions

There are so many factors that are responsible to cause critical data loss situations from hard drive such as virus infection, file system corruption, hard drive formatting, accidental deletion and many alike. In order to prevent the data loss situations, you are highly recommended to create regular backup of your mission-critical data.

The Data Recovery Software are particularly designed to methodically scan the affected storage media and retrieve all of the lost, missing and inaccessible data from it. They are completely safe, fast and easy to use. The applications do not demand sound technical skills and do not alter original data on the drive.

On the other hand, recovery service is the personalized help, which is offered through Clean Rooms using cutting-edge technologies. The recovery professionals know all ins and outs of the storage media and perform absolute recovery.

Stellar Information Systems Limited is the leading provider of high-quality recovery solutions for all data loss circumstances. The software are provided for Windows, Mac OS X, UNIX, Linux and Novell operating systems. Data Recovery Services are carried out clean environment of Class 100 Clean Rooms for all IDE, EIDE, SATA and SCSI hard drives.

Data Recovery From Different Kind of Data Storage Solutions

buryshane — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 03:17:46 -0700

Data storage is the most integral part of every organization's regular operations. Either you work on the computer on daily basis or use it only for some special operations,you stored data in the form of emails, documents, audio files, video files, images, graphic files and so forth. Although computers are considered as the most secure way to store data, but it also may fail at some point of time due to software or hardware malfunction and cause critical data loss situations. In these cases, you need to opt for the data recovery software through effective and advanced tools and techniques.

Some of the computer users think that the data storage deal with all types of damaged in case of system failure or virus infection. This is right up to an extent but not always help you to protect your data. In order to safeguard your data, backup is the best option. Several business are required to maintain accurate information in accordance with government regulations and tax law.

Data Storage Options

There are several different storage options available for you. While this is quite important to select a data storage option according to the type and size of your business. If you are planning to install a hardware or any other semi-permanent storage system, make sure that you have a method of expanding the storage easily and quite cost-effectively.

Today, the on site portable storage systems are generally used either in the form of an external drive or a flash drive. External hard drives are plug and play devices that storage huge amount of data and make it easily accessible. On the other hand, flash drives are quite safe and reliable storage media as the do not have any moving mechanical component.

The possibility of system failure and data loss completely depends upon the type of storage media. In some cases, even the most reliable storage media might fail and lead ti critical data loss situations. In these cases, data recovery is required to retrieve lost data.

Recovery is potential through powerful and effective third party data recovery software. They use advanced scanning techniques to methodically scan the storage media and retrieve all of the lost data from it. With read only and non destructive design, the data recovery software do not alter the original data.

Stellar Information Systems Limited is the foremost provider of high-quality recovery applications to handle every type of data loss. The software are available for Windows, Mac OS X, UNIX, Linux and Novell operating systems. These applications are completely easy to use as they have rich graphical user interface.

Disk Appears as Dynamic Unreadable in Disk Management

buryshane — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 22:22:43 -0700

Dynamic disks support limited partition types, which constitute extended partitions, OEM partitions and type 0x42 for dynamic volumes. If the disk MBR or EBR contains another partition type value, it might render the disk to exhibit improper behavior. These errors are also observed when MBR or EBR is corrupted, compelling you to recreate the disk partitions. If the backup proves inefficient in such cases to restore data, you need to apply partition recovery utilities to scan and restore them.

For example, when you view the disk in Disk Management snap-in, it might appear as

“Dynamic Unreadable”

When you right-click the disk to change it to basic disk, you receive the below message:

“Data on the this disk will be lost if you convert the disk to Basic, do you wish to continue?”

Clicking 'Yes' to this error doesn't help as you come across an hour glass for some time and the operation fails. If you choose to use Diskpart.exe utility for converting the disk, it gives the success message, but the disk still appears with 'Dynamic Unreadable” status.

These errors are specifically observed with Windows Server 2003, XP and 2000 based systems.

Cause

Such errors primarily occur because of following reasons:

MBR contains few partition table types
MBR is incorrectly altered
MBR or EBR is damaged. In such cases, MBR or EBR contains the hexadecimal 0x42 as one of the partition's system ID, which refers to dynamic disk

Solution

To troubleshoot such issues, you should follow these measures:

Use Dmdiag.exe or Diskmap.exe utility in verbose mode to check for invalid system IDs. Doing so will output the MBR information in hexadecimal format. You can change the invalid partition type value to '0x42'.
If the problem continues, you need to to use Diskpart.exe tool or clean command with Dskprobe.exe to delete all the existing partitions. This allows the disk becoming a basic disk. Restore the data from backup

At times, situations arise when restoring from backup is not feasible. Backup might be absent or invalid. In these conditions, you are recommended to use partition recovery software. Built with advanced scanning technology, these tools perform safe and comprehensive partition recovery.

Stellar Phoenix Windows Data Recovery Services are reliable and fully-competent utility designed to recover lost and deleted partitions for Windows 7 RC1, Vista, XP, 2003 and 2000 based systems. It is a non-destructive partition recovery software providing advanced and impressive set of features. The tool supports complete recovery of data for FAT32, VFAT, NTFS and NTFS5 file system drives.

Issues Specifying Installation Folder when Installing Windows 2000 or Windows 2003

buryshane — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 23:31:12 -0700

%SystemRoot% is a system-wide environment variable used in Windows NT family of operating systems with value as the location of the system folder plus drive and its path. Typically, in Windows XP and later versions, it is \WINDOWS and Windows 2000 uses \WINNT. The further reading discusses about issues installing Windows 2000 or Server 2003 with non-default %SystemRoot% folder. While Setup, you might fail to specify the installation folder because of system/boot drive failure, however, there can be other reasons as well. As a result, you may need to reformat the original boot partition and restore from backup. For any reason if backup proves incompetent to restore, you are suggested to use a comprehensive data recovery product to locate and recover data.

To illustrate, consider you try to install Windows 2000 or Windows Server 2003 by booting from installation media. You observe that while the Setup is running, you cannot specify or edit the installation folder name .

Cause

General causes for such behavior to occur are:

You have specified 'TargetPath=' parameter in answer file while an unattended installation
You are trying to install when WINNT or WINDOWS folder already exists
You are using Winnt32.exe tool from already working Windows copy and change the location
System/boot drive is failed

Solution

To aid installing Windows 2000 or Server 2003, use any of the below described methods:

You can try performing unattended Windows installation by defining installation folder as 'TargetPath=WINDIR' in an answer file.
Use Windows installation media to start Recovery Console and create a new system/boot partition with a WINNT or WINDOWS folder. Alternatively, you can choose to use an earlier version Windows disk or move the drive to another Windows running computer to create the new system/boot drive. Install Windows 2000 or Server 2003 and restore data from last backup after this is done.

At times, you cannot restore from backup as it is invalid or not updated. In such cases, use an effective data recovery software to scan and recover lost data. These are fully-competent partition recovery applications with graphically-rich user interface and safe data recovery scanning algorithms.

Stellar Phoenix Windows Data Recovery Services are powerful utility to provide systematic recovery of lost and missing data. It is compatible with Windows 7 RC1, Vista, XP, 2003 and 2000 based systems. Providing advanced features, self-descriptive interface and comprehensive results, this data recovery software serves as complete solution while all logical data loss instances.

Troubleshooting PROCESS_INITIALIZATION_FAILED Error in Windows 7 and Vista

buryshane — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 22:33:43 -0700

Microsoft Windows Vista and Windows 7 are prone to boot errors due to applications or services problems, hardware issues, recently installed updates or disk errors. While rendering your data inaccessible, such errors are prime cause that can compel you to reinstall Windows. However, to restore missing data, you should check for last backup status and apply it to get back all information lost. If it is unfeasible due to any cause, use a safe data recovery software.

Consider you use a Windows Vista or Windows 7 based computer system. When attempting to boot your computer, you might encounter an error message, similar to below:

“STOP: 0x0000006B (Code_1, Code_2, Code_3, Code_4)
PROCESS_INITIALIZATION_FAILED.”

After you receive this error message, you cannot boot into the system and hence, your data remains inaccessible.

Cause

A Windows computer prompts error 0x0000006B if one of the below conditions exists:

A new hardware or software has been improperly installed

You have recently installed a Windows update, generally a driver update, which is incompatible with operating system

The hard disk is infected from disk errors

RAM is faulty

One or more critical system files are missing or damaged

Solution

Try troubleshooting the above behavior by these steps:

Press F8 while startup to boot the computer in safe mode. Uninstall the latest installed updates, drivers, software or hardware, if any

Make sure your RAM is not problematic. If it is, replace it

Insert the boot DVD or CD into the drive and boot the computer. To do so, change BIOS settings to boot from DVD or CD and press any key when prompted. Launch Windows Recovery Environment and use these options to fix the issue:

Startup Repair from System Recovery options that automatically fixes concerns that prevent Windows from starting
System Restore from System Recovery options to restore Windows to an earlier working state
Chkdsk /r command through Command Prompt to scan and repair disk for errors

If you still cannot boot the computer, reinstall Windows and use the latest backup to restore data. While any issues with backup, use a powerful data recovery utility to recover it

Data Recovery Software are advanced applications designed with safe technology to scan a logically crashed disk for missing and lost data. Providing comprehensive recovery algorithms and graphically rich algorithms, these tools prove as perfect partition recovery utilities.

Stellar Phoenix Windows Data Recovery Services is a reliable and quick recovery solution to recover lost data from Windows 7 RC1, Vista, XP, 2003 and 2000 based systems. Incorporated with high-end procedures, this data recovery application is a fully-featured product to safely restore data. It is compatible with FAT32, VFAT, NTFS and NTFS5 file systems.

How to resolve Windows XP Error ' The procedure entry point FlSSEtvalue...'?

buryshane — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 02:13:34 -0700

Kernel32.dll is a Windows kernel file that manages memory functions, interrupts and I/O operations. To protect its memory space from being occupied by other programs, this file is loaded in a protected memory space whenever you start the computer. At times, the file might get damaged resulting into unexpected system behavior or an unbootable system. Such issues are generally indicated through BSOD at startup. These screens show the description of the error occurred. However, to isolate such problems, you might need to completely reinstall your operating system. It causes data loss if you store important files on primary partition or haven't partitioned the drive. You will need to use a professional data recovery program if you find your data backup incompetent to restore the lost files and folders.

For an instance, consider that you use a Windows XP based computer. You boot the computer and the process fails displaying the below BSOD:

“STOP: C00000139 (Entry Point Not Found)
The procedure entry point FlSSEtvalue could not be located in the dynamic link library KERNEL32.dll.”

You cannot access the stored data after you receive this error message.

Cause

Such error might root from corruption of kernel32.dll damage.

Solution

You are recommended to follow these steps in order to solve the existing behavior:

Boot the computer by using Windows XP installation disc to start Windows Recovery Console. To do so, you will need to change the boot sequence to start the system from boot disc and not from hard drive

At 'Welcome to Setup' screen, press Enter to start the Windows Setup
Accept the license agreement

Choose the Windows installation that you need to repair and press 'R' to start repair process

The above step will copy the necessary system files to the existing Windows installation

If the above steps succeed, you will be able to boot your system or otherwise, you will need to reinstall Windows XP. You should use your last backup after the re installation process is done. But in case, backup doesn't work successfully, use a proficient data recovery software to extract the data thus lost. Data Recovery utilities are powerful tools designed to perform complete retrieval of data while maintaining its integrity. You can use these tools as comprehensive partition recovery tools.

Stellar Phoenix Windows Data Recovery Services are fully-competent to recover and restore lost data for Windows 7 RC1, Vista, XP, 2003 and 2000 based systems. It is a non-destructive data recovery software that provides you advanced options, such as RAW File Recovery, Drive Status, Disk Imaging and more. It supports FAT32, VFAT, NTFS and NTFS5 file systems.

'Could not read from the selected boot disk...' Windows Error and Recovery

buryshane — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 01:33:11 -0700

A Windows based system might fail to start for variety of reasons, which include system misconfiguration, corrupt or missing system or boot files, bad drivers and many others. The underlying issue can be interpreted if the system is giving an error message. However, the common outcome of all such problems is data inaccessibility. You might require to restore this data from backup if none of the troubleshooting tips works. But if no valid backup is available, you need to use a powerful data recovery utility that could scan the media to locate the missing information.

To illustrate , consider that you use a Windows based computer system. You start the system, but it fails to boot and gives the similar error message, as below:

“Could not read from the selected boot disk. Check boot path and disk hardware.”

The error further asks you to check Windows documentation and hardware reference manuals for more information.

Cause

The prime cause of this error to occur is that Boot.ini file is damaged, missing or needs updating. Boot.ini is the file used by Windows to determine boot options required to be displayed at boot up.

Solution

To isolate the above system behavior, you need to apply these measures:

Edit the boot.ini file and make appropriate corrections in its Default entry. Make sure that all other Operating Systems' section entries point to correct directories.

Use Windows Recovery Console to execute bootcfg /rebuild to rebuild the missing or corrupted Boot.ini file. To do so, start the computer using Windows installation disk and press 'R' to start Recovery Console. After this, you need to select the target Windows installation and execute the command.

If you still cannot resolve the existing issue, reformat the disk and reinstall Windows. Use your last taken good backup to restore lost data. If it is currently absent, use an efficient data recovery software to extract data.

Data Recovery Tools are special-purposed tools designed to employ high-end data searching algorithms. These are perfect partition recovery applications that provide you graphically rich user interface, advanced recovery options and several features to aid systematic recovery.

Stellar Phoenix Windows Data Recovery Services are powerful and completely reliable application to salvage lost data from Windows based systems. It supports FAT32, VFAT, NTFS and NTFS5 file systems. It is a graphically rich data recovery tool that provides advanced options, like Disk Imaging, RAW File Recovery, Drive Status, Disk Cloning and more. It is compatible with Windows 7 Rc1, Vista, XP, 2003 and 2000.

Boot Error 0xc0000098 After Installing Windows Vista SP 1

buryshane — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 22:40:15 -0700

Windows Vista Service Pack 1 (SP1) became available on Windows Update and Download Center for Windows Vista users on March 18, 2008. The update includes various substantial improvements in terms of performance, reliability, user's experience and support to various new hardware and standards. But at times, the deployment of the service pack via Windows Update can cause a machine to become unbootable. This forces you to attempt Windows repair using Windows Recovery Environment. But if you fail in your attempts, you might need to perform clean reinstallation of Windows Vista, which causes data loss. In such cases if your backup fails or is currently absent, you are suggested to use a powerful data recovery utility that could restore the data thus lost.

For an instance, consider that you use Windows Update to install Windows Vista SP 1 on your computer. The process appears to be completed as you see progress status showing 100% completion. But when you start the computer, it gives the below error message:

ntoskrnl.exe
Status: 0xc0000098
Info: Windows failed to load because a required file is missing or corrupt.

After you receive this error message, you cannot boot the system and the process halts. It also prompts you to boot the system from Windows Vista installation disk to repair. Attempting to do so results failure as it says that it cannot repair and suggests you to send the report thus generated to Microsoft. This makes your data inaccessible.

Solution

Try these steps to solve the existing issue:

Boot your computer using Windows Vista installation disk. You might need to configure BIOS to boot from CD or DVD

Specify Language, Time, Currency and other options. Click Next

Click 'Repair your Computer' and select the target Windows installation

Choose 'Command Prompt' in 'System Recovery Options'

Restore hal.dll, ntkrnlpa.exe and ntoskrnl.exe files in your \Windows\System32\ folder

Restore acpi.sys , volmgr.sys, disk.sys, volsnap.sys, msisadrv.sys and pci.sys files in your \Windows\System32\Drivers folder

Exit the command prompt and restart the computer and check if the problem persists

If you still cannot boot the system, reinstall Windows and restore data from backup.

Use an efficient data recovery software in case of any backup concerns. Data Recovery applications are safe recovery products embedded with high-end algorithms to locate missing data. It is recommended to use these partition recovery products before trying to format or install anything on your computer.

Stellar Phoenix Windows Data Recovery is a powerful utility to provide systematic recovery of lost data. It is compatible with Windows 7 RC1, Vista, XP, 2003 and 2000 based systems. Providing advanced features, self-descriptive interface and comprehensive results, this data recovery software serves as complete solution while all logical data loss instances.

What is so Difficult About The Hard Disk Data Recovery?

buryshane — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 02:13:47 -0700

Almost all of the computer users have had to handle the hard drive failure and most of them have experience with the recovery of lost, missing or inaccessible data. A damage or failed computer drive is one of the most frustrating situation that you might come across. The data loss could occur due to a number of reasons, which are broadly divided into two major categories. You should always remember that data loss in not permanent. You can recover the lost data in most of the data loss situations, with the help of computer data recovery solutions.

The recovery solutions might cost you vary, depending upon the extent and type of damage. The cost could range anything from hundred to thousands of dollars. The reason behind high cost of recovery solutions is the cost of equipments, such as Clean Rooms, which are used for recovery process. If recover does not need service from experts, it could become less costly and easy.

The first factor behind the cost and success rate of recovery is the type of damage to drive. If the data or file has simply lost due to virus infection, hard drive formatting, accidental deletion, operating system malfunction and several other reasons, then recovery is possible on your own. All these data loss situations are included into logical failure category.

On other other hand, if you are experiencing the failure due to physical damage to the hard drive components. These components might include read/write head, spindle motor, disk controller, PCB (Printed Circuit Board), disk platters, actuator arm and many others. In such situations, the system might not start. If you hear any unusual sound from the system, you should immediately shut it down.

When you come across system failure and data loss due to logical damage to storage media, you could easily get your lost data back with the help of data recovery software. These applications are particularly designed to thoroughly scan the affected storage media and retrieve all of the lost data from them. The partition recovery applications do not alter original content of the file as they have read only conduct.

In case of physical damage to the hard drive, recovery is possible with the help of hard drive recovery professionals. They provides recovery service to handle all sorts of physical damages to the hard drive. The repair or replace the damaged components of your hard drive and them retrieve lost data from it.

Stellar Information Systems Limited is the foremost provider of high quality recovery solutions. The software are provided for Windows, Mac OS, UNIX, Linux and Novell operating systems. Service is delivered through Class 100 Clean Rooms for all sorts of storage devices.

'How to Resolve Windows 'The boot selection failed....' Error?

buryshane — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 02:36:03 -0700

A Windows system might fail to boot if one or more required boot files are found to be missing or corrupt. You can try troubleshooting such problems by using Windows installation disc. But if it fails to perform the required task, you might need to install the operating system, which causes data loss. In such cases, if no valid data backup is available, you need to use data recovery utilities.

For an instance, consider that you try to boot a Windows Vista or Windows 7 based system and it fails to boot displaying the below error message on screen:

“The boot selection failed because a required device is inaccessible”

This error displays with 0xc000000f error code. You cannot boot into the system even at subsequent attempts of restarting the system.

Cause

The above error might occur due to any of the below reasons:

Incorrect BIOS settings for the boot device, usually hard drive. This might occur if you have recently performed some changes in system BIOS settings.
One of more Windows boot items, like MBR, BCD store etc., are missing or corrupt

Solution

If Windows is unable to boot due to changed BIOS settings, you should configure BIOS to default fail-proof settings and set hard drive as the primary boot device. If this is not the case, you should repair Windows startup files using Windows Recovery Environment as follows:

Insert Windows Vista or Windows 7 installation disc into the computer and boot the system
Press any key for starting the repair process when prompted for
You need to then select the time, language and currency and the desired input method
Click 'Next' and select 'Repair your computer' option
The 'System Recovery Options' dialog box appears, at which you need to select the Windows installation you need to repair. Click 'Next'.
You can then select the 'Startup Repair' option. Instead, you can also run 'Bootrec.exe' through 'Command Prompt'

If the above measures don't boot Windows successfully, you should reinstall the operating system. You should then use your recent data backup to restore the lost data. If no clean data backup is available, use data recovery software for efficiently extracting it. data recovery utilities are powerful third-party tools embedded with high-end scanning algorithms. The software also enable you to perform comprehensive partition recovery in all cases of logical crashes.

Stellar Phoenix Windows Data Recovery is an advanced and fully-featured recovery utility designed for Windows 7 RC1, Vista, XP, 2003 and 2000. It is a non-destructive data recovery software providing advanced options including Drive Status, Disk Cloning, Disk Imaging and RAW File Recovery. The software supports FAT32, VFAT, NTFS and NTFS5 file systems.

Windows XP Fails to Boot in Dual Configuration

buryshane — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 22:55:44 -0700

You can install Windows XP in dual-boot configuration with an existing Windows NT based operating system. Such installation allows you to choose either of the operating systems while starting the computer system. At times, when Windows XP is configured for dual-boot, it might fail to start displaying an error on screen. This might occur if the existing Windows operating system has replaced the boot files of Windows XP, thereby has resulted into an unbootable system. You might need to use your backup to restore the data thus lost. But if no valid backup is available that could give the desired results, you will need to use powerful data recovery software.

For an instance, you are using Windows XP that is configured in dual-boot configuration. You might receive the below error message when trying to boot your Windows XP installation:

“Windows XP could not start because the following files were missing or corrupted:
WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\CONFIG\SYSTEM NTLDR MISSING
You can try to repair this file by starting the Windows Setup program from original floppies or boot from CD-ROM.
Select 'r' at first screen to repair”

You cannot access the data that is stored in Windows XP installation.

Cause

As the error suggests, it occurs when system fails to access Windows XP boot files: Ntldr and Ntdetect.com. This usually occurs when you are using Windows NT 4.0 with Windows XP and Windows NT 4.0 has replaced the shared boot files since it doesn't recognize Windows XP startup features. Such behavior might result if any of the below conditions is true:

You have installed Windows XP before installing Windows NT 4.0

You have recently reinstalled Windows NT 4.0

Solution

To solve the problem, described above, you need to replace the corrupt Ntldr and Ntdetect.com files by following these steps:

Boot the system from Windows XP installation disk and start Recovery Console

Use fixboot command at the prompt and then press ENTER

If the above measures fail to work, reformat the drive and reinstall Windows XP. Restore lost data from backup thereafter.

There might be situations when you find that data backup as invalid or absent. To cope up with such scenarios, use data recovery software. Such tools serve as advanced data recovery utilities with rich interface and safe recovery techniques.

You need to use data recovery tools to successfully recover lost data if backup is absent or is not valid. Data Recovery Software are advanced applications designed to recover lost data while any condition of logical data loss.

Stellar Phoenix Windows Data Recovery is a fully-featured recovery application designed for Windows 7 RC1, Vista, XP, 2003 and 2000 based system. It is a non-destructive Data Recovery Software to support recovery from all hard drives, CDs, USB drives and more. It supports FAT32, VFAT, NTFS and NTFS5 file system drives.

What is Online Backup Storage?

buryshane — Sun, 23 Aug 2009 22:36:34 -0700

Online data backup, as the name suggests, is the process of backing up file, folders and other hard drive contents regularly with the use of an online system. Also termed as remote data backup, the service thus provided is aimed at storing your data on a network connected system or a remote server. There are number of companies providing online backup services. As compared to traditional backup methods deployed, this system doesn't require any user intervention, gives offsite data storage, works continuously to backup data and uses a secure encryption technique. But at times, despite of using this technique, you might fail to rule out data loss and hence perform data recovery. There might occur some events that prevent you from restoring data.

Description and Features

An online backup storage system is usually implemented to prevent, if not completely eliminate, data loss risks due to file, theft, corruption, natural disaster and other similar events. Use of such system typically gives you access to a client software program designed to run a scheduled data backup process, generally once in a day. Such applications are primarily built to first collect the data, encrypt it and finally transfer it to a remotely placed server. If you are availing a high-speed Internet connection together with a Web browser interface, the data stored in this way might appear as if has been placed and stored on an external storage media connected to your system. Some of the typical features that such services provide are:

Data encryption (Transfer and end-to-end) and password protection
Online data access
Multi-platform support, like Windows, Linux, Macintosh and others
Data compression
Reliable data retention

Data Loss

Users don't face any data loss concern if data has been backed through managed services and remote server is running. But there might be some typical situations that preclude recovering data:

Loss of encryption key
Incomplete data backup due to network issues, failure backing up due to data updates or configuration changes
Remote server crash

To recover from such situations, you need to look for reliable data recovery tools. Data loss is identified as either logical or physical. While logical data loss i.e. when the media is physically intact, you need to use recovery software. Also known as partition recovery software, these tools are competent to recover data by scanning the media using powerful scanning algorithms. However, in case of physical data loss, you should consult data recovery experts who can aid data loss by scrutinizing and repairing the media manually.

Stellar Information Systems Limited offers world's best Data Recovery Tools, which are reliable, safe and offer complete results. It provides advanced disk recovery utilities for Windows, Linux, UNIX, Macintosh and Novell operating systems. Stellar is an experienced company that provides Class 100 Clean Rooms facilitated data recovery services for all types of storage media.

RAID Recovery Explained

buryshane — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 02:11:40 -0700

RAID (Redundant Array of Independent/Inexpensive Disks) systems are prone to several kinds of problems such as loss of registry configurations, parity damage, controller failure, unintentional reconfigurations of RAID array and more. Because of their built-in factor of redundancy, many of the RAID systems can continue to function even after one or more hard drive failure. Though the performance gets affected, but the lost information can be regenerated. The two prime factors that govern data loss and RAID Data Recovery while hard drive failure are RAID level in use and number of hard drives failed.

While a single hard drive failure, nothing gets affected except the performance of the system that goes in degraded mode. Until the failed hard drive is replaced and data is rebuilt by the controller, the odds of next hard drive failure that can disable the RAID system are very high. Typical type of RAID failure instances that are observed and can cause complete data loss are mentioned below:

Power surges can affect the RAID controller and various other disk elements and consequently can cause complete data loss. In some cases, power surges can also corrupt RAID configuration settings of NVRAM that is done on controller card
While you replace the failed hard drive in order to rebuild the failed RAID volume, procedures carried out are required to be careful. Any incorrect step can bring unexpected consequences of total system failure.
Logical instances like operating system crash, virus infection, system corruption and others can also fail a RAID volume. The fault tolerance of RAID arrays only provide protection against physical failures and not logical.

Data Recovery Services for RAID arrays is quite indifferent from normal recovery procedures carried out in other data loss cases. When recovery is on the line, the experts follow up several standard and uncommon techniques based on RAID array. For an instance, to recover data from RAID 0 array, experts need to ensure that all the drives are completely functional. If any of the drive is found to be non-functional, it is repaired in Clean Rooms.

Different data recovery companies provide this service using specialized facilities, software and hardware equipments. Many of them have high success rate in recovering lost data from RAID arrays.
Stellar Information Systems Limited offers a wide a range of service solutions for failed RAID arrays. With the fastest turnaround time, the company has been catering in this field since more than 16 years. It offers Class 100 Clean Rooms facilitated RAID Data Recovery for all the possible RAID array levels.

Windows Error after Running Uninstal.exe

buryshane — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 00:12:10 -0700

Uninstal.exe is a Windows uninstall program. But in some specific set of conditions, the process might replace FAT32 MBR, thereby resulting into inaccessible primary partition (usually C:) of system. Such situations require performing steps like recreating the primary partition and reinstalling Windows. So, to restore the lost information, you should use your recent data backup available or scan your affected hard drive by using powerful computer data recovery applications.

Consider an instance, you try to run Uninstal.exe in real mode, but instead of expected behavior, you encounter an error message describing that Winundo.dat is missing or damaged. The error further gives you an option to continue. Clicking either of the options (Yes or No) gives you the below error message:

“Invalid system disk”

This error appears after the system restarts.

Cause

The above behavior is exhibited when the following set of conditions is true:

You have converted your primary drive to FAT32 file system using Drive Converter utility
You have run Uninstal.exe from Windows startup disk or restored it manually
You have run Uninstal.exe in real mode

Or

You have installed Windows
You have used a third-party disk partitioning utility
You have run Uninstal.exe

In the former case, running Uninstal.exe replaces FAT32 MBR with backup of FAT16 MBR and you observe the above error messages. However, in the latter scenario, the issue is observed if partitioning utility affects the partitioning structure of the disk.

Solution

To resolve such issues, you need to perform these steps in order:

Recreate you primary drive using utilities like Fdisk.exe
Reformat the primary drive
Reinstall Windows and other applications
Restore data from backup

At times, you cannot restore from the present data backup. It might occur if backup is damaged or not updated completely. Thus, to cope up with such situations, you should use data recovery software. These are advanced data recovery tools built with indigenous technology to safely recover the lost information from logically crashed drives. Such tools provide you interactive user interface, powerful recovery features and several other added characteristics.

Stellar Phoenix Windows Data Recovery Services are premier application to recover and restore lost data that supports Windows 7 (currently in RC 1), Vista, XP, 2003, and 2000. This read-only data recovery Software provides powerful features like Disk Cloning, Disk Imaging, Drive Status, RAW File recovery etc. It is compatible with FAT32, VFAT, NTFS and NTFS5 file systems.

Which Hard Drive Recovery Solution You Should Use

buryshane — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 01:48:58 -0700

Data loss and need of recovery solutions is very common. You have simply deleted and file, which you did not mean to, or have an unexpected power outage, the recovery becomes essential to retrieve the lost data and save your business. Even with the most excellent backup strategy in place, there are some situations when failure takes place and you have to go for hard drive recovery to sort out the issue.

The recovery is possible in two ways: as a preventive measure before hard drive failure or as a remedial solution after the data has actually lost. You must be wondering how to start retrieving lost data on your own. To begin, you could explore some cases that help you to achieve high success rate.

Recovery software

If you are experiencing data loss due to logical hard drive failure such as file system corruption, virus infection, operating system malfunction, application errors, system meta data structure corruption, partition loss, hard drive formatting and other similar reasons, the lost data can be recovered using data recovery software. This is a type of post crash solution that can be carried out by user itself.

The recovery software are powerful and advanced third party tools, which are capable of scanning damaged hard drive and extract all of the missing, lost and inaccessible data from it. These applications are varying from operating system to operating system and their corresponding file system to file system. With read only conduct and rich graphical design, these programs are quite easy and safe to use.

Recovery Service

If you are experiencing serious physical failure issues with your storage media, then you have to go for data recovery services to get your data recovered. The recovery services is helpful in cases of read/write head crash, spindle motor damage, disk controller failure, logic board damage and other such cases. You should not attempt any recovery method on physically damaged hard drive as it could lead to further damage and permanent data loss.

Hard Drive Recovery service is a personalized and sophisticated help, delivered by experienced and qualified recovery professionals in clean and controlled surroundings of Clean Rooms using advanced tools and techniques. Recovery specialists evaluate the hard drive, repair or replace damaged components, create image of drive and then attempt recovery on disk image.

Stellar Information Systems Limited is the foremost provider of quality recovery solutions, with more than 16 years of rich experience. The software are offered for Windows, Mac OS, UNIX, Linux and Novell operating systems. Service is delivered through Class 100 Clean Rooms by trained professionals.

How to Retrieve Data In Case of Errors and Crashes

buryshane — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 23:04:31 -0700

No matter how aware you are about backing up your business critical and valuable data, the data loss still remains an issue. The type, cause and extent of data loss might be different, but the need of recovery always remains unfluctuated. However, the most usual causes of the data loss are human errors, system errors, disk malfunction and system meta data structure errors. In all such cases, you require file data recovery to overcome the problems and retrieve inaccessible, missing or lost data.

The data might get lost from an individual computer or from an organization's computer. But the common thing is how to safeguard against the weird circumstances of data loss. Well, there are some approaches for same: preventing data loss beforehand the data loss occurs and retrieving data after the data loss takes place.

Data Loss Prevention

only you are responsible for the prevention of data loss situations. You should save your important data on external storage media such as hard drive, FTP server and so forth. This process is known as data backup.

You can also apply the anti-virus software to prevent your system from being infected by the the malicious programs. Taking service from on line backup services is also helpful in safeguarding your data.

Hard Drive Recovery

The second approach is further divided into two parts, depending upon the cause of data loss:

Logical Recovery

Physical Recovery

In case if you are experiencing the data loss issues due to accidental deletion, file system corruption, operating system malfunction, hard drive formatting, virus infection and so forth. In these situations, the data simply becomes inaccessible. Recovery in these cases is possible with the help of powerful and advanced third party data recovery software. These software use efficient scanning mechanisms to throughly scan entire damaged hard drive and extract as much data as possible from it.

On the other hand, physical data loss situations occur due to damage to the hard drive components such as read/write head, spindle motor, disk controller, PCB (Printed Circuit Board) and so forth. In these circumstances, recovery is potential through personalized help of hard drive recovery professionals. This help is known as recovery service. Service is carried out in safe and sterile surroundings of Clean Rooms using cutting-edge technologies.

Stellar Information Systems Limited is the leading provider of high-quality recovery solutions. The software are provided for all computer operating systems including Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, Novell and UNIX. Service is performed in Class 100 Clean Rooms under supervision of experienced recovery professionals using advanced tools and techniques.

Using Stripe Set While Initializing RAID Array Cause Data Loss

buryshane — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 04:32:14 -0700

In Microsoft Windows operating system, you can create software RAID 5 (Redundant Array of Inexpensive Disks) stripe sets with the parity partitions. RAID 5 stripe sets have striping data with the parity information across several disks in 64 KB (Kilobyte) stripes. In the initialization stage of making stripe set with the parity, Windows calculates parity information for every 64 KB stripe. But in some situations, if you use stripe set during initialization, you might encounter RAID failure and critical data loss situations. At this point, you are required to go for computer data recovery to get your valuable data back.

You are not repressed by the Microsoft Windows Disk Administrator from reformatting the stripe set and then instantly using volume while the initialization process is still going on. Windows Server also doesn’t repress you from using the volume, which is being salvaged during the regeneration after the disk failure. This is due to the fact that FTDISK drive ensures that all the changes made to disk are mirrored in parity block. The driver examines all synchronization issues including writing of data catching up with initialization of parity.

However, while initializing or regenerating the volume, this is “exposed”, in other words, when the drive failure takes place while initializing the stripe set with the parity, you would lose your whole set. This occurs only after initialization of the stripe set, which you’ve any fault tolerance. The same procedure takes place with the bad sectors. The sector sparing isn’t allowed until after the initialization is complete.

When you select to use volume during the regeneration or initialization, you run into the hazard of losing all of your valuable data from hard drive volume if the initialization process fails halfway. In such situations, you are required to opt for hard drive recovery solutions to get your valuable data back. It is the process of retrieving lost, missing and inaccessible data from affected storage media, which can not be accessed in normal way.

Recovery is best possible with the help of raid data recovery software in such situations. These applications are capable of handling most of the logical data loss situations and allow you to carry out recover on your own. Advanced and effective scanning mechanisms are used by these tools to retrieve all of your valuable and mission critical data.

Stellar Phoenix Windows Data Recovery is the most comprehensive and robust tool to ensure absolute recovery in most of the data loss cases. It recovers data from FAT32, VFAT, NTFS and NTFS5 file system partitions. This hard drive recovery software is designed for Microsoft Windows 7 RC1, Vista, 2003, XP and 2000.