Partition Recovery Post STOP: 0xC0000221 error

Microsoft Windows XP is a highly reliant operating system that is widely used in homes and small and large  businesses. When Windows XP starts, it checks a large number of files for integrity. These files include, DLL files (dynamic-link libraries) and driver files. The various DLL files include Ntdll, Kernel, Shell, User, Graphics Device Interface (GDI), Crtdll, and many more. And if you install an inappropriate device driver, or one of your DLL files is missing or corrupt, then Windows XP halts, while giving an error message. This leaves you with no option but to opt for Partition Recovery methods to get your files and data back.

These atrocious messages may be one of the following, and generally accompany a blue screen (BSOD),

STOP: 0xC0000221 STATUS_IMAGE_CHECKSUM_MISMATCH
Path\File_name

Or,

STOP: C0000221 unknown hard error
Path\File_name

Or,

STOP: 0xC0000221 unknown hard error
C:\Winnt\System32\Ntdll.dll (or another specific file or driver)

Irrespective of which of the above stated error message flashes on your screen,  you either have a problem with the hardware (in which case all connections will have to be checked), or network (which calls for checking of the cabling of the hard drive), or maybe the specified file is corrupt (and will have to be replaced by a good copy of it). If all else fails, then the only thing that can save the day is a clean reinstall of Windows XP. But reinstallation of the operating system, would mean that you will lose all the data saved on your partition. But, with the help of backups, it is possible to recover Windows partition.

However, if a user doesn’t have a backup, then it is a difficult situation, as it makes partition recovery an impossible task. To aid users in such situations, a number of reliable partition recovery tools are available on the internet. These software apply complex recovery algorithms to recover data from every sector of the hard drive. Designed to have simple graphical user interface, and with detailed documentation, these tools can help a user to recoup all the data that has been lost, irrespective of the reason of its loss.

Stellar Phoenix Windows Data Recovery is a comprehensive software that can recover Windows partition data irrespective of whether they have been formatted with FAT16, FAT32, VFAT, exFAT, NTFS or NTFS5 file system. Compatible with Windows 7, Vista, XP, 2003 and 2000, this software supports recovery of more than 185 different file types. With read-only conduct, and various recovery options, including, file recovery, disk cloning, RAW file recovery, disk imaging, apart from partition recovery, this tool is highly efficient.

Extensive Stress Testing of Windows Server 2003 leads to Corruption

With the increase in storage space, it has become very important for every computer user to partition his/her hard drive. And that is why, most of the computers that are being used today, have at least two partitions. Partitioning helps to manage data, by storing system and data files on different partitions. It also allows the user to install more than one operating system. It organizes data, thereby dividing the disk into agglomerates of memory. However, just like any other data saved on the hard drive of a computer is prone to loss and deletion, partitioning information too can get lost or deleted. And these situations call for partition recovery.

oday, the hard drive storage space is running into many TBs. And that is why, apart from the reasons mentioned above, people find it easy to keep their hard drives partitioned. But there are situations when people find that the entire partition becomes inaccessible. For example, running extensive stress testing on a system having following configuration:

  • the system has a small volumes, all of them formatted with NTFS file system
  • one of the volume is either full or about to be full
  • the computer has a number of processors
  • a large number (approx. 1,000) of file operations (including extending, creating or deleting) are running at the same time

In case, any of the above situations is not true, then running extensive stress test on NTFS file system volumes will not lead to file corruption. Otherwise, a user will find inaccessibility of the NTFS file system partitions. This calls for Windows Partition Recovery steps as follows:

To begin with format your computer.

This is followed by installation of Windows operating system. This rewrites the damaged file system.

Then you’ll have to use the updated backup to perform recovery of your vital data.

But, if you do not have an updated backup, don’t worry! You can opt for reliable partition recovery tools that are available on the Internet.

These are third-party Windows compatible partition recovery tools that can run on any NTFS formatted system. But, be wary of the innumerable software that are freely available on the Internet. Good recovery software generally have a free demo version available that gives a preview of the recoverable data, thus allowing the user to be sure of what all data he/she is able to recover.

Stellar Phoenix Windows Data Recovery is a reliable Windows Partition Recovery tool. With read-only nature, and simple graphical user interface, this software is a sure winner for all your data recovery needs.

Missing partition files resulting in blank screen during startup in Windows XP

In numerous occasions, you may have found that your Windows XP system is unable to boot and hangs showing a black screen. Such instances may cause if some critical system file, responsible for booting, is missing or damaged. These problems generally occur due to different reasons like virus infections, corrupt partition tables, unplanned system shutdown, etc. If all of your corrective methods fail, then I would suggest advise you to employ a professional partition recovery software to recover Windows partition.

Consider a scenario in which you start your Windows XP system, which duly completes the POST (Power On Self Test), but hangs after that displaying an empty and black screen. No error message is displayed in this case.

Cause:
For the discussed case, the following causes could be responsible:
Some of the system files are missing or damaged. Because of this, these files do not load when the boot sequence of the system is selected during startup. These files are:
MBR (Master Boot Record)
NTLDR files
Boot sector
Partition tables
It could be possible that you are having a removable storage device in your computer when you start the computer. Because it may be possible that you have set the preferences in the BIOS (Basic Input/Output System) section to boot from the media.

Resolution:
You should perform the following options to restore normalcy in the booting process of your Windows XP system:
Resolve the boot components that do not load: You should restore the booting files to recover Windows partition using the following steps:
Restart the system in Safe Mode.
Check ‘Disk Management’ option to see if the partitions are alright.
Run an updated antivirus program.
Repair MBR in the Recovery Console using the ‘fixmbr’ command. If it is a FAT-based partition, then first use the ‘fixboot’ command.
Repair Windows installation: If you have the Windows XP Setup CD, then you should try to perform an parallel installation to repair the current Windows installation. However, you should ensure that you backup all the data properly.
Remove the removable media, if any: You should check if any removable media is not present in the respective disk drives.

If the system does not start even after using these techniques, then there is a need to look for other options. One such options is to use a third-party Windows partition recovery software. These tools are easy to use and perform partition recovery safely.

Stellar Phoenix Windows Data Recovery is the best partition recovery software that rescues trapped data from FAT, exFAT, and NTFS file systems. Compatible with Windows 7, Vista, Server 2003, XP, and 2000, this software recovers partition from various storage media.

MFT damage & Recovery options

MFT, the acronym stands for Master File Table. MFT stores information about every file and directory in an NTFS file system or volume. Windows file system reserves first 16 records of MFT, which is explicitly known as ‘meta data’, the area to store special information about files. The design of MFT increases the efficiency of the file system in terms of faster accessing of files but it is more important with respect to the functioning of the whole process. Hence, any damage to MFT results in the inaccessibility of the hard drive and thereby you may require any partition recovery mechanism to recover the inaccessible files.

Now, let us discuss MFT in a bit detail. In general, MFT is more like a relational database table, which stores various attributes of all the files in the drive. In fact, it is more than just a list that stores the used and free clusters, moreover it is the starting point of the storage area and the central management feature of an NTFS volume.

The first record of the MFT stores information about the the MFT itself, followed by the mirror record of MFT. Once, the first MFT record gets corrupt, file system reads second record that is of the MFT mirror to get the information. These first 2 records are exactly the same. There is a third entry of MFT, that is the log file, which is used for file recovery purposes. The records, 16th onwards, stores the information about every file and folder on the drive partition.

From the number of entries of the MFT and the way data is accessed taking information from MFT tells us about the importance of it. Therefore, any type of damage to the MFT due to any reason has a sharp impact on the accessibility of the data in the drive. MFT damage may result in the inaccessibility of the hard drive and though it is equally important to rectify the damaged MFT it is more important to recover the data first. For the recovery, you need any partition recovery software.

Partition recovery is the process of retrieving your lost data after extracting the logical partitions from the physical hard drive. These partition recovery software can recover your valuable data from any instances of data loss such as: MFT corruption, file system damage, virus infection, operating system malfunction, deletion or formatting of hard drive/partition. Apart from their efficient recovery techniques, their interactive interface is an added plus for non-technical users.

Stellar Phoenix Windows Data Recovery is one of the powerful partition recovery softwares in the recent market which is capable of recovering all your FAT32, NTFS, NTFS5 and VFAT file system partitions. This partition recovery utility has an added feature is that it comes with a boot CD, that can boot Windows OS on an non-booting Windows system. It’s compatibility to 185 mostly used file formats and support to Microsoft Windows Vista, 2003, XP and 2000 makes it a really worthy choice.

Using bootrec.exe to recover Windows partition in Windows Vista

In Windows Vista and later versions of Windows operating systems, the booting process is controlled by the bootmgr file. This file targets the BCD (Boot Configuration Data) store to get the list of operating systems and load the most suitable one. Also, this BCD store stores the information of the boot time configuration data and its well being is very significant for the boot precess. Therefore, when this file gets corrupt the system is unable to start as the active partition cannot be located. You can utilize in-house Windows tools like bootrec.exe to recover Windows partition. If that does not help, then I would suggest to use a third-party partition recovery software to do the needful.

Talking of similar instances, consider you are trying to start your Windows Vista system but fail to do so at the booting phase.

Cause:
These situations can appear when either of the following boot components of Windows Vista system are corrupt:
Master boot record (MBR)
A boot sector
A Boot Configuration Data (BCD) store

Resolution:
To rectify this problem, you should try out the following steps:
Insert the Windows Vista installation DVD in the DVD-ROM drive and restart the computer.
Press any key when the ‘Press any key to start’ prompt is displayed.
Select the following entries:
Language
Date and time
Currency
Keyboard or input method
Click Next, when done.
Click the ‘Repair your computer’ button.
Select the operating system that is to be repaired.
Click Next.
Click ‘Command Prompt’ in the System Recovery Option dialog box. The Command Prompt is displayed.
In the Command Prompt, enter ‘Bootrec.exe’ and press the Enter key.
Here, you can use the following options:
/FixMbr
/FixBoot
/ScanOs
/RebuildBcd

Using the aforementioned options of the Bootrec.exe tool, you will be able to repair the booting components of Windows Vista. Having said that, there may be few instances when the problem does not get solved using these options. In such cases, partition recovery becomes very important otherwise all your data could be  lost forever. For such uses, a good partition recovery software comes to your rescue as it can easily recover partitions corrupted because of any reason.

Of all the partition recovery tools, Stellar Phoenix Windows Data Recovery is one of the best partition recovery software around. Compatible with Windows 7, Vista, Server 2003, XP, and 2000, this Windows partition recovery software supports recovery from FAT, NTFS, or exFAT file systems. Also, this email recovery software is able to restore more than 185 file types from various kinds of storage media.

WDR-Partition recovery-Article-Incautious use of DiskPart resulting data loss & Recovery options

DiskPart is a command line utility by Microsoft Windows that enables you to manage disks, partitions or volume by using scripts or direct input of commands. Functionalities of DiskPart includes creation of partition of a disk, setting the partition active and formatting of the partitions. As DiskPart enables explicit control over the partitions and volumes, many times, incautious usage of it results in data loss demanding any partition recovery software.

Below are some of the cases, where incautious use of DiskPart causes data loss or inaccessibility:

DiskPart converts a basic disk to a dynamic disk. Before using DiskPart, you must ensure that the disk must be empty or contains either primary partition or logical volume to avoid loss of data. Furthermore, the basic disks containing fault-tolerant disk driver (FtDisk), must be converted using Disk manager rather than DiskPart before upgrading, or else, these situations will lead to data loss.

If the hard disk has already been upgraded to dynamic disk, then usage of DiskPart command can damage the partition table leading to data loss and the need of partition recovery becomes inevitable.

DiskPart verifies the particular partition that is is capable of containing an operating system’s startup files. If you mistakenly mark a partition as active and it does not contain the operating system’s startup files, your computer won’t start leaving the data inaccessible.

On basic disks, the partitions are deleted  through focus. Thus incorrect choosing of partition focus and thereby deletion causes data loss. Partitions lost in this way can only be recovered using any good partition recovery software.

Be extremely careful while using the ‘Create Partition msr’ command by DiskPart as it creates  Microsoft reserved partitions as the first partition. However, GUID Partition Table (GPT) disks require a particular partition layout and creating Microsoft reserved partitions as the first partition could cause the disk to become unreadable resulting in data loss.

All these cases of data inaccessibility or loss necessitate partition recovery as those partitions contain your valuable data. Furthermore, in the above cases, when backup is not available or failed to restore the data due to any erroneous reason, use of partition recovery software to get back your data is the only option left.

These Partition Recovery tools are safe and are easy to use without the need of any prior technical knowledge. The application use a certain set of scanning algorithms which help extracting lost information.

Stellar Phoenix Windows Data Recovery is one of the reliable and effective Partition Recovery software to recover lost, corrupted or inaccessible partition. This software offers risk free recovery through effective scanning and supports all FAT16, FAT32, VFAT, NTFS, NTFS5 file systems.

Stellar Launches Stellar Phoenix Windows Data Recovery v4.2 : For both Home and Professional users

Stellar Data Recovery- Gurgaon (India)- the industry leader in data recovery software development has launched the upgraded version of its award winning data recovery software Stellar Phoenix Windows Data Recovery v4.2. Stellar has introduced a simple easy to use version for Home users – called as Home Edition and Advanced feature version of the software for professional/advanced users. Using Stellar Phoenix Windows Data Recovery v4.2 can easily recover their lost, deleted, and formatted data from their Windows OS based systems.

The updated Stellar Phoenix Windows Data Recovery v4.2 is that along with FAT and NTFS file systems, the software is now supporting data recovery from exFAT file system. The software comes in two separate editions for Home and Professional users. The interface of the software is so simple, systematic, and interactive that recovering data with the software is just few clicks away. The updates are now available for download from the company’s official website.

“For long, a need of separate Windows recovery software for home and professional users is realized in the market and the myriad advanced features in the earlier version of Stellar Phoenix Windows Data Recovery opened up the scope to develop two separate, customized editions of the software both for the home as well as professional users. This also unleashed the value of the software and makes it very affordable to home users especially as the home edition is priced at $49”, said Sunil Chandna, CEO of Stellar Information Systems Limited. “Recovering data from your Windows – based system is now much simple, easy, and affordable for all”

Stellar Phoenix Windows Data Recovery Software Features:

* Recovers lost, deleted, formatted Windows partitions, such as FAT, NTFS, and exFAT.
* Option to search a particular file or folder in the drive.
* Raw & Signature based file recovery.
* Formatted Files/Folders recovery from the hard drive.
* Allows deleted file recovery, such as Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Access files, Zip, and BKF files.
* Allows deleted email recovery from email clients, such as Microsoft Outlook and Outlook Express.
* Recovers various multimedia files, such as photos, pictures, audio, and video files.
* The recoverable files can be previewed after scanning.
* Advanced features like Hard Drive Cloning, Imaging, Monitoring Status of the Hardrive – SMART.

Pricing and Availability
Stellar Phoenix Windows Data Recovery v4.2 is available in two separate editions for Home and Professional users. Very cost-effectively priced, the software is available at $49 for the home users and $99 for the Professional users,

About Stellar Information:

Stellar Information Systems Limited is the leading creator and provider of industry’s finest data recovery software and services since 1993 and offers largest suite of data recovery, email, database, and file repair software products worldwide. With more than 1,100,000 satisfied customers worldwide, the company holds direct presence in USA, Europe, and Asia.

Contact Information :

For more information about the product features and purchase options:

Call : +1-866-554-2512 (TOLL FREE)
Mailto: orders[at]stellarinfo.com
Web Address- http://www.stellarinfo.com

http://www.partitionrecovery-software.com/

Recovering lost partitions was never so easy before

Disk partitioning is a common practice of computer users to divide the storage space of the hard disk and accordingly store data of different categories into them. The purpose behind making different partitions in the system also includes installation of different operating systems into it. Sometimes, a partition gets corrupted because of file system corruption, operating system malfunctioning, virus intrusion or even due to re-sizing of the partition area. All these situations lead to the inaccessibility of the data stored in that particular partition of the hard drive. In order to get your data back, you need to restore the data from the latest backup after rectifying the issues related to partition corruption. However, if you have not taken the backup or the backup process failed to restore the data, then only through one way, you can retrieve your data back, that is by using any good partition recovery software.

Let’s take a real life scenario:
These days, tools are available for making partitions to your existing hard drive partition without even losing the stored data. Take a similar scenario that you tried some application to re-size your old hard drive partition and during the process, there is a sharp power outage. Your system gets shutdown and you get the unusual blue screen with a error message.
The Error message reads like:

“A problem has been detected and windows has been shut down to prevent damage to our computer”

Explanation:
The system becomes stops booting with the Blue Screen Of Death and the error message on the screen. Hence, all your data in the hard drive becomes inaccessible.

Cause:
This is an internal problem with Windows operating system that the partition gets corrupted if the partitioning process is being carried out by a third party tool and is interrupted in the middle.

Resolution:
Start your computer and press the F8 key to go to the Windows advanced menu.
When Windows advanced options menu appears, select Last Known Good Configuration (your most recent settings that worked), and then press ENTER.
Try to disable your anti-virus or backup utilities and then, boot from the install CD.
Use CHKDSK command to check and repair the hard drive corruption.

If the above measures fail to resolve the issue, you need recreate all the hard drive partitions by reformatting the system. Reformatting will erase all the data in the hard drive partitions and in such circumstances, you have to use any effective Partition Recovery application to recover and restore your lost data. Such Partition Recovery applications incorporate advanced and effective scanning algorithms with an interactive graphical user interface.

Stellar Phoenix Windows Data Recovery is one of the trust worthy Partition Recovery Software available in the market. This application supports Windows Vista, XP, 2003, 2000 and recovers your lost or inaccessible data form any hard drive make/model.

Inaccessible partition due to Invalid Boot configuration! Solution available

It is like a regular custom for computer users to make different partitions to their hard disks and keep their data categorically into them. Apart from this, users also install different operating systems into different partitions. However, while booting an operating system from a particular partition, you may encounter some stop errors. These error messages pops up making the booting process cease and the partition in which the particular operating system is being installed, becomes inaccessible. In that situation, to access the saved data from the inaccessible partition, you need to follow certain steps of windows recovery and finally a clean installation of the operating system, if Windows recovery fails. With a clean installation of the operating system, all your data will be erased, hence, you need to restore them from the latest backup. Real problem arises when you don’t have available backup or for any reason, the backup fails to restore your data. Then, every finger desperately point to any efficient Windows partition recovery software.

Let us discuss the scenario in a bit more detail. You have two partitions with two different OS installed into them. An error popped up and the booting process is halted. The error reads like:

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

Causes:

Foremost causes behind the above error message are:
boot.ini file is corrupt or missing or invalid.
Invalid partition path of Windows XP in boot.ini file
The Ntoskrnl.exe file is missing or damaged.

Resolution:

In order to resolve the above error and to access the data, following steps are to be followed:
Try running Windows Setup from the product CD shipped with your computer manufacturer.
Run “Recovery Console” by pressing ‘R’.
Choose the option to restore your system to previously saved configuration.

However, even after following the above measures you may not be able to recover Windows partition. Further you may encounter these following issues:

While running “Recovery Console”, a command prompt may come up without any login option.
While running the product CD, the installation can not be completed.
You may encounter an “Access Denied” error message while trying to access the Windows folder.

In the above scenario, to get rid of the error, you need to reinstall the operating system. As, a fresh installation of the operating system will delete all the data from the particular partition of the hard drive, you need to perform Partition Recovery. With a easy-to-use graphical use interface, Partition Recovery utilities have advanced and effective methods to completely recover and restore your data.

Stellar Phoenix Windows Data Recovery is one of the best buy Partition Recovery Softwares which provides a smooth recovery of all your lost data from the inaccessible partition. This Partition Recovery Software is a powerful recovery tool with complete compatibility to Windows XP, Vista, 2003 and 2000, supporting more than 300 file types.

Windows Partition Recovery to Fix NTFS File System Structure Corruption

NTFS (New Technology File System) is a journaled file system, developed by Microsoft Corporation for Windows operating system. It is the successor of FAT file system and provides enhanced reliability, functionality, and performance. Some advanced features of Windows NT-based operating system are supported only by the NTFS file system. The file system uses a new structure for easy storage, access, and manipulation of data. However, in some situations, the structure of NTFS file system may corrupt and the NTFS file system partitions may become inaccessible. It causes Windows partition loss and requires partition recovery to be resolved.

The NTFS file system structure uses a number of system files, which are responsible for performing specific operations. Some of the major attributes of NTFS file system are as given below:

Multiple Data Streams- It supports various data streams, where stream name recognizes new data attributes on file. You can open a handle to every data stream.

Reparse Points- These are new objects of NTFS file system, which have definable attributes having user-controlled information and are employed for extending functionality in I/O (Input/Output) subsystem.

Change Journal- It is used by the NTFS file system to offer a pertinacious log of all the modifications made to Windows files on NTFS partition.

Sparse File- It enables Windows applications to create large files, however to use hard drive space only as required.

Data Encryption- It improves data security and prevents unauthorized access of your valuable data.

In some cases, the structure of NTFS file system corrupts and you come across error messages similar to the following ones while accessing the partition:

Event ID: 41
Source: Diskperf
Description: The file system structure on disk is corrupt and unreadable. Please run the chkdsk utility on the device with label “Volume_name”

Event ID: 55
Source: NTFS
Description: The file system structure on disk is corrupt and unusable. Please run the chkdsk utility on the volume “Drive_letter:”

In such cases, you need to format your hard drive and reinstall operating system to fix the file system problem. However, it removes all the disk partitions and causes further partition loss situations, raising the need of Windows partition recovery.

You can easily recover partition using commercial partition recovery software. They are capable of systematically scan the Windows hard drive using advanced scanning algorithms. The applications are pretty safe and easy to use.

Stellar Phoenix Windows Data Recovery software recovers lost, missing, deleted, and inaccessible Windows hard drive partitions. The software retrieves all exFAT, NTFS5, NTFS, FAT32, VFAT, FAT16, and FAT12 file system partitions. It is usable with Microsoft Windows 7, Vista, 2003, XP, and 2000.