Most of the computer users create two or more logical partitions to distinguish and store their data in their hard drive. Corruption of data stored in these logical partitions can occur when you attempt to merge the partitions. In most cases of corruption of these logical partitions, the hard drive becomes unmountable making the data stored in the partitions inaccessible. An ideal way to overcome such corruption scenarios is by restoring data from a valid backup. But, in absence of valid backup or backup falling short of restoring required data, an advanced Partition Software comes to rescue.

As a practical example, you encounter the below error message when you attempt to start your computer system after merging two logical partitions by using Partition Magic 8.0:

“Error #1520: External attribute header mismatch.”

Data stored in the hard drive becomes inaccessible after the above error message appears. In addition, you encounter the same error message each time you attempt to start your computer system.

Cause:

The root cause for the occurrence of the above error message is the inconsistent information stored in a particular file on the drive or partition that does not match with the product’s expectations. As per the data collected from one FRS (File Record Segment), the product presumes that the second FRS is an extension of the first FRS. The error primarily occurs when this second FRS announces itself as a free file, not an extension of the first FRS.

Resolution:

To troubleshoot and resolve the above issue, you will need to run CHKDSK /F on the affected drive.

But, if running the CHKDSK /F command fails to resolve the above error message and the data still remains inaccessible, then you will need to format your hard drive. A clean reinstall of Windows operating system erases all the previously saved data from the hard drive partition or volume. To recover your lost data after formatting, you will need to opt for advanced partition recovery software. These File Recovery applications are built with highly graphical user-interface and use advanced scanning algorithms to scan and recover the lost data.

Stellar Phoenix Windows Data Recovery is a power packed file recovery utility that recovers lost data from corrupted, deleted, formatted or lost hard drive partitions. The read only recovery tool supports 185 varied file types. It is compatible with FAT32, VFAT, NTFS and NTFS5 file systems. The utility is designed for Windows 7 (Currently in RC1), Vista, XP, 2003 and 2000.