As a practical example, you may see any of the below behaviors of Windows computer after restoring to an earlier time:

•    All the user accounts, excepting Administrator account, are reset.

•    The music, photos, documents, and media files that you saved after the time to which you are restoring your system, are deleted.

•    Size of folders, from which files are missing, is unchanged. It means the files are still there, but they are either missing or hidden.

•    You cannot find the missing files even if your try to find them through “Search” option of Windows operating system.

•    Files are not displayed even in the “Wild Card” searches.

The lost files are still there on the hard drive as the files are never deleted when you just remove them or restore the system. Only the file system entries of the files are deleted and thus operating system can not locate and access them. In such situations, you can Recover Partition and stored data through Partition Recovery.

Restore from updated backup

If you have the most recent copy of your data, which is not accessible now, you can restore it from backup. Backup is an exact replica of your data and hard drive partitions, which is stored on internal or external storage media and let you restore the data in case of system failure or data loss.

However, if the backup is not updated or its unavailable, Windows Partition Recovery is the only way to go. Recovery is best possible with the help of powerful and advanced third-party applications, known as Partition Recovery Software.

The applications are powerful enough to carry out in-depth scan of entire hard drive and extract all lost, missing, and inaccessible data from it. They have simple graphical user interface and read-only conduct to offer easy and safe recovery.

Stellar Phoenix Windows Data Recovery is the most efficient and powerful application to successfully recovery lost Windows data. The software is designed for Microsoft Windows 7, Vista, 2003, XP, and 2000. It recovers lost NTFS5, NTFS, VFAT, FAT32, and FAT16 partitions, along with stored data.

However, in some situations, while upgrading to Microsoft Windows Vista, you may encounter some problems and, file system and operating system upgrade process fails halfway. It causes incomplete upgrade process and unbootable system, which cause partition loss eventually. In such cases, you are required to use the Partition Recovery methods to retrieve lost partitions.

As a practical example of failed file system conversion and upgrade process, you cannot select the upgrade options while installing MS Windows Vista. Additionally, Windows gives you the below error in the Install Windows dialog box:

“Upgrade has been disabled.

To upgrade Windows, your hard disk partition must be formatted as NTFS. To reformat the partition, cancel the installation, open the Command Prompt window, and then type: convert c: /fs:ntfs”

The above error message terminates Windows Vista upgrade process.

Cause

The problem generally occurs if you upgrade a version of Windows operating system that’s installed on the FAT32 file system partition. Windows Vista needs NTFS file system on a the partition or volume on which you’re attempting to install it.

Solution

To sort out this issue, you need to convert your existing FAT32 file system partition to NTFS. You can do it through the below steps:

•    Click Start button and select Run.

•    Type CMD in the text box and click OK button.

•    It opens a command prompt window.

•    Write convert :/FS:NTFS on command prompt and press Enter key.

•    After completion of the conversion process, reboot Windows system.

If the conversion process gets halted due to power failure or system crash, partition loss occurs. At this point, Partition Recovery Software come for your rescue. They Recover Partition in most of the partition loss situations, in a quick, safe, and easy way.

Stellar Phoenix Windows Data Recovery is the most efficient utility that successfully recovers lost Windows partitions from all types of hard drive. The software recovers NTFS5, NTFS, VFAT, FAT32, and FAT16 file system partitions. It is usable with Microsoft Windows 7, Vista, 2003, XP, and 2000.

To explain the above case, consider a scenario where the user installs Windows Vista Service Pack1 (SP1) to improve the reliability, performance, security, and compatibility with various software. However, after the service pack is installed and you attempt to reboot your system, you receive the below error message:

“0xc0190036 !! 4068/72408 (cdosys.dll.mui)”

The above error message pops up on the black screen and makes your system unbootable. Furthermore, the data saved in the hard drive becomes inaccessible after the above error message appears.

Cause:

The above error message pops up when the target file to be installed during the Windows Vista Service Pack1 (SP1) gets damaged. Another cause of the above error message is firewall.cpl corruption.

Resolution:

To resolve the above error message and to access the hard drive data, the user needs to follow the below steps:

Run CHKDSK/F command on your boot partition.

However, if the problem persists, then you need to re-install the Windows Vista operating system.

While re-installing allows you to surmount the error message, it also deletes all the hard drive data. To recover the formatted data, the user needs to opt for a third-party Partition Recovery Software. A Data Recovery tool is built with user-friendly and interactive user interface, which makes the software self-explanatory, without any technical understanding.

Stellar Phoenix Windows Data Recovery is a reliable tool to recover lost data after every logical corruption situation, including formatting. The features of this Windows Partition Recovery Software can be easily previewed by downloading the demo version. Supported by FAT12, FAT16, FAT32, VFAT , NTFS and NTFS5, the non-destructive tool is designed for Windows 7, Vista, XP, 2003, and 2000.

In a practical scenario, you may encounter the below error message while trying to upgrade to Microsoft Windows Vista from an earlier version of Windows operating system:

“Upgrade has been disabled.
To upgrade Windows, your hard disk partition must be formatted as NTFS. To reformat the partition, cancel the installation, open the Command Prompt window, and then type: convert c: /fs:ntfs”

This error message occurs in “Install Windows” dialog box. After the above error, upgrade process is halted.

Root of the issue

This behavior of Microsoft Windows may occur when you try to upgrade a version of Microsoft Windows, which is installed on FAT32 file system partition. Windows Vista needs that the hard drive partition, on which you’re installing it, must be formatted using NTFS file system.

Resolution

In order to sort out this behavior of Windows Vista, you need to convert your file system from FAT32 to NTFS. Go through the underwritten steps to convert file system:

Click Start button, Click Run, type CMD (to start command prompt) and then click OK button.

At command prompt, type convert <drive letter>:/FS:NTFS. Here <drive letter> is the name of drive, whose file system you want to convert.

Upon successful completion of the conversion process, reboot Windows Vista Setup.

You must play safely while converting the file system. Any interruption in the conversion process, due to power failure, system crash, or user mistake, may make your system unusable. You should create a complete backup before proceeding for it, to prevent need of Windows Partition Recovery.

You can Recover Partition in a quick and perfect way through Partition Recovery Software. The applications are particularly designed to perform thorough scan of entire hard drive and extract all lost, missing, deleted, corrupted, or inaccessible partitions. They have simple user interface and read-only conduct to ensure simple and safe recovery.

Windows Partition Recovery is the most advanced software to recover lost Windows partitions in all partition loss scenarios. It supports recovery of FAT16, FAT32, VFAT, NTFS, and NTFS5 file system partitions. The software is compatible with MS Windows 7, Vista, 2003, XP, and 2000.

Partition Table is a critical Windows data structure, which contains significant information about the primary and the extended partition. It is a 64-byte metadata structure, located in same sector as of MBR (Cylinder 0, Head 0, Sector 1). The Windows partition table adapts to a standard layout that is autonomous of Windows operating system. The signature word of the sector is stored on last two bytes of sector.

The partition table can have maximum 4 entries, each one is 16 bytes long. Every partition entry includes fields for the Boot Indicator, Starting Head, Starting Sector, Starting Cylinder, System ID, Ending Head, Ending Sector, Ending Cylinder, Relative Sector, and Total Sectors. Therefore, boot loader can easily assume size and location of partitions. Boot loader searches for “Active” partitions and passes control to partition boot sector to load the operating system.

If the partition table entries are invalid or incorrect, you may experience the below behaviors:

•    If there is not active partition, you encounter “Operating System not found” error message and system cannot boot up.

•    If active partition does not contain system files, you may see “Non-System Disk or Disk Error” error and system remains unbootable.

•    If the partition entry is deleted, it becomes invisible and inaccessible.

•    If partition entry is damaged, you may come across “Missing Operating System” error message.

In all such situations, you come across serious partition loss situations and need Partition Recovery to recover your lost partition.

You can Recover Partition in a quick and effective way using Partition Recovery Software, after partition table corruption. They are incorporated with a set of advanced scanning techniques to ensure absolute recovery in all cases of partition loss. The applications are totally safe and easy to use.

Stellar Phoenix Windows Data Recovery is the most excellent solution for all cases of partition loss. The software recovers lost FAT16, FAT32, VFAT, NTFS, and NTFS file system partitions after partition table corruption, virus infection, accidental deletion, and similar situations. It is designed for MS Windows 7, Vista, 2003, XP, and 2000.

For a Windows computer to boot up properly, the below conditions must be true:

MBR (Master Boot Record) exists and it is safe.

Partition table is intact and it contains leastwise one active partition.

If the above conditions are fulfilled, executable code in master boot record selects the active partitions and then passes the control there, so that it can load appropriate files (NTLDR or COMMAND.COM) depending upon the file system.

However, if any of the boot file or MBR itself is either missing or corrupt, the system becomes unbootable. At this point of time, Partition Recovery becomes need of hour to work around the problem.

Sometimes, when you initiate the emergency repair process of Windows computer, the below error message occurs before the repair disk recovers any data:

“Setup has determined that your file system is corrupt”

If you boot up your system using the boot disk of the operating system and use fdisk /MBR command through Windows Recovery Console, recovery process fails.

Furthermore, if any of the NTFS file system partitions is indicating as UNKNOWN in the Disk Administrator and partition is not the part of any Fault Tolerant (FT) sets. This also can be resulted by the damaged boot sector of NTFS file system partition.

Resolution

As stated in the above error message, if the problem is caused by a damaged file system, you can try fixing it through ChkDsk command-line utility. However, if the problem is caused by damaged boot sector, hard drive formatting and operating system reinstallation is required.

Hard drive formating is able to sort out most of the hard drive related problems, but it also removes all the hard drive partitions and stored data. In such cases, Partition Recovery Software are required to handle the situation.

The Windows Partition Recovery utilities are capable of performing absolute recovery in all cases of partition loss. They are quite easy and safe to use.

Stellar Phoenix Windows Data Recovery is the best ever made solution to recover lost Windows partitions. The software recovers FAT16, FAT32, VFAT, NTFS, and NTFS5 file system partitions. It is usable with Microsoft Windows 7, Vista, 2003, XP, and 2000.

In rare cases when both of the copies get corrupted, the situation can be quite critical and may compel you to recreate the partition from scratch or reinstall Windows in case of system partition. It is equally important that you should have a valid copy of the data or otherwise, you will need to use a Partition Recovery Software.

Consider a situation when you observe a corrupted and inaccessible partition in Windows XP. Considering this as a file system issue, you run chkdsk /r command to try checking and repairing the inconsistencies of the partition. But the repair fails and you receive an error message that reads as mentioned below:

“The second NTFS boot sector is unwriteable.”

As the result of this error message, the partition is still inaccessible.

Cause

The partition is corrupted in such a way that it is preventing from writing the NTFS boot sector reliably. Both the primary and backup copies of boot sector are corrupted.

The situation can be complicated if FAT12 boot sector is present at the place of NTFS boot sector (a feature of ‘FIXBOOT’).

Solution

To rewrite th correct boot sectors in this case, you need to reformat the corrupted partition. Since the process causes the entire data store of partition to delete, you require a backup to restore it.

There are times when the backup is not available or is invalid. In such situations, it is recommended to use a Windows Data Recovery utility to scan and recover the lost data, preferably from the corrupted partition itself. A Partition Recovery Software is a specialized tool that is easy to install and safe to use.

Stellar Phoenix Windows Data Recovery is an advanced, yet safe, tool that can recover lost, missing or corrupted partitions from Windows 7, Vista, XP, 2003, and 2000 systems. The  Partition Recovery software has advanced options like RAW data recovery, Drive Status, Disk Cloning, Disk Imaging, and more. The tool supports FAT32, VFAT, NTFS, and NTFS5 file systems.

These problematic situations can be easily surmounted by restoring the data from an updated backup. However, not all computer users have the time to create and maintain a backup. For those users, the only hope of recovering the data is by using an advanced third-party Partition Recovery Software.

To illustrate the above case, consider a practical situation where you attempt to start Windows XP based system, but it does not boot. The booting process halts before the Windows logo appears on the screen. However, when you attempt to boot the system using a Windows XP CD, it displays:

“Inf file txtsetup.sif is corrupt or missing, status 32768.

Setup cannot continue.

Press any key to exit.”

After the above error, the data saved in the Windows XP based hard drive becomes inaccessible.

Cause:

The reasons for occurrence of the error message are:

MBR corruption

Hardware failure

Resolution:

To resolve the above error message and to access the data, you need to follow the below measures:

Run “fdisk/mbr” command to resolve the first cause of error.

In case of hardware malfunction, change the damaged system component.

However, if the problem still persists, then you need to format your hard drive. The process of formatting deletes the data saved in the hard drive, which can only be recovered by using an effective Partition Recovery Software.

A Partition Recovery tool is a powerful utility that recovers formatted data in very quickly. The recovery applications comprehensively scan the hard drive by using advanced methods and allows you to restore the data from an updated backup.

Stellar Phoenix Windows Data Recovery is a powerful tool that salvages deleted data from a formatted hard drive. With no prior technical knowledge required, the software ensures recovery by even a novice user. Compatible with FAT12, FAT16, FAT32, VFAT, NTFS, and NTFS5 file systems, the Partition Recovery utility supports Windows 7, Vista, XP, 2003, and 2000 operating systems.

As an example of above mentioned problem, you may come across any of the below error messages, while upgrading your system to Windows XP:

STOP: 0×0000007B (parameter1, parameter2, parameter3, parameter4)
INACCESSIBLE_BOOT_DEVICE

Or

Setup has encountered a fatal error that prevents it from continuing.

Contact your product support representative for assistance. The following status will assist them in diagnosing the problem.

(0×4, 0×1, 0, 0)

Setup cannot continue. Power down or reboot your computer now.

The error message may also occur during setup process, when your system reboots during installation process. You can try out following things to fix this problem and perform Windows Partition Recovery:

Boot Sector Virus- The above STOP error occurs when your system gets infected by boot-sector virus. If you can boot your system, use an updated anti-virus software to scan the hard drive and remove the viruses, if it finds any.

Device Drive Problems- You may encounter this behavior due to damaged device driver of boot controller, damaged information in Windows registry, and boot controller is not configured. MS Windows XP needs a mini-port driver for communicating with hard drive controller. You need to replace the damaged driver from Windows XP boot CD.

Resource Conflict- The problem may also occur because of resource conflict between another controller/SCSI devices and the boot controller. To resolve this issue, contact hardware vendor.

If an anti-virus application can not remove the boot-sector virus, you need to repartition and format the hard drive and then reinstall Windows XP. This method removes all the existing Windows hard drive partitions and cause critical partition loss situations. At this point, Partition Recovery Software are required to retrieve lost partitions and stored data.

The Partition Recovery tools are incorporated with advanced scanning techniques and thus perform absolute recovery in all cases of partition loss. With read-only behavior and simple graphical user-interface, the applications are completely safe and easy to use.

Stellar Phoenix Windows Data Recovery is the most effective and powerful software to handle all types of partition loss conditions. It recovers FAT16, FAT32, VFAT, NTFS, and NTFS5 file system partitions. The software is compatible with Microsoft Windows 7, Vista, 2003, XP, and 2000.

The Fdisk utility enables a general user to do basic operations on a Windows hard drive, but it is not useful to perform advanced functions on the drive. If you are an advanced users or deal with various system, you can quickly identify that this utility is inadequate for performing several operations that you want and need to do.

In order to meet these requirements, various software vendors offer third-party tools to manage your hard drive partitions. They enable you to perform advanced operations on the hard drive, which can not be done using the Fdisk tool. In addition to the general hard drive partitions such as formatting and partitioning Windows hard drives, and assigning labels, partitions management tools generally include the below features:

Safe Partition Manipulation- Using these tools, you can shrink, move, or expand Windows partitions without losing your data stored on them.

Partition Copying- These applications enable you to copy the partition from one drive to another. This feature is quite useful to upgrade your system.

Partition Conversion- If you are using FAT32, you can change the file system of your partitions to other versions of FAT or NTFS.

Cluster Resizing- Using these partition management tools, you can modify cluster size of Windows hard drive partitions.

Although, these utilities claim to be completely safe while resizing hard drive partitions or repartitioning the hard drive, interruption of such processes may cause partition loss. In such situations, you need to go for Partition Recovery Software to extract lost hard drive partitions.

These Windows Partition Recovery applications use advanced scanning techniques to systematically scan Windows hard drive to successfully recover lost partitions. With simple and self-descriptive user interface, the applications enable you to have easy Partition Recovery on your own.

Stellar Phoenix Windows Data Recovery is the best ever made application for the absolute recovery of Windows hard drive partitions. It is designed for Windows 7, Vista, 2003, XP, and 2000. The software recovers FAT16, FAT32, VFAT, NTFS, and NTFS5 file system partitions.