Windows 7 uses a relatively different disk partitioning mechanism and scheme. One of the typical examples is creation of hidden 200 MB partition to store Recovery Environment files. Hence it becomes crucial that you give specific considerations to compatibility for Windows 7 when using a partition utility. An incompatible partition manager can otherwise cause partition table corruption, rendering your partitions inaccessible. Such situations call for a complete backup or a Partition Recovery Software that can be used to extract the lost data.

The further scenario will help you comprehend such problems in more detail.

Consider you use a Windows 7 Home Edition based computer. Without realizing the potential compatibility issues, you use a third-party partition manager that is not updated enough to be used with Windows 7. After this, you observe few unexpected symptoms such as below:

The drive letter of primary hard disk partition changes Windows 7 starts in recovery mode but is unable to recover automatically When you use a Windows 7 boot DVD, you observe that one or more of hard disk partitions show lesser partition size value than actual You reinstall Windows 7 and observe an undefined hard disk partition. When you activate it, all your hard disk partitions are lost

This is one of the distinctive examples of Windows 7 partition table corruption due to use of incompatible partition manager.

You are recommended to choose Custom installation instead of Clean Windows 7 re-installation. Also, you can use a Windows 7 boot DVD itself to access and then modify the hard disk partitions. The older partition managers might not recognize and properly deal with Windows 7 partition table and corrupt it ultimately. Thus, to prevent such issues, check for the support for Windows 7.

To restore the lost data, use your last backup. However, there can be situations when the backup may either be absent or seem invalid. In such cases, you need a Partition Recovery Software to scan and then recover the lost data. A Partition Recovery application can use a powerful, yet safe, set of scanning algorithms to analyze the lost or corrupted hard disk partitions and avail data recovery.

Author:-K MADHAV

Master Boot Record (MBR) is primarily used to hold disk's primary partition table, identify particular disk media, and bootstrapping operating systems. The first sector of the hard drive is located at the Main Boot Record area and consists of entries for primary partition in the partition table. Corruption in MBR can be caused due to numerous logical reasons, like improper system shutdown, operating system malfunction, malicious software like virus, and human errors. MBR once corrupted, halts the booting process of Windows, resulting in inaccessibility of data stored on the hard drive. An appropriate way to access the lost hard drive data is by restoration of data from an updated backup. However, in worst case scenarios, where you have not created any backup, a powerful third-party Data Recovery application acts as a boon.

To illustrate the above case, consider a scenario where you encounter any of the underneath error messages when you attempt to boot
your system:

“Input/Output Error” Or “Operating System not found”

Occurrence of any of the above error messages results in inaccessibility of hard drive data.

Cause:

MBR corruption/damage.

Resolution:

To resolve MBR corruption and to access the hard drive data, you will need to follow the below steps:

1.Insert Windows 7 installation CD and select your default 'time','date', and 'language'. Click Next. 2.Click 'Repair Your Computer' option for opening System Recovery window. 3.Go to command prompt and run 'bootsect.exe' utility. 4.Run 'bootsect /nt60 C:\' (in case Windows 7 is installed in C partition). 5.Eject the CD and restart your system.

While the aforementioned steps resolve MBR corruption in most cases, there are some cases where the above steps fail to do so. In such cases, the hard drive data remains inaccessible as any of the error messages pop up while booting your system. To resolve the error messages, it is advisable to format the hard drive partition. Although formatting resolves both the error messages and MBR corruption, it also deletes the data saved on the hard drive partition. In such cases, the formatted data can be recovered by using advanced Data Recovery Software. A Data Recovery
utility salvages the hard drive and recoups the formatted data by using advanced scanning methods.

Stellar Phoenix Windows Data Recovery is a partition recovery software that ensures complete recovery of data from a formatted hard drive. The Data Recovery product supports almost all file systems like FAT12, FAT16, FAT32, VFAT, NTFS, and NTFS5 file systems. It is compatible with Windows 7, Vista, XP, 2003, and 2000 operating systems.

Author:-K MADHAV

A Windows 7 based computer can become unbootable for several number of factors. One of the typical results of such problems is Blue Screen Of Deaths (BSODs) at startup, which generally render your data inaccessible. In such cases, the data backup availability is essential or otherwise, it can leave you in unavoidable situations of using a Windows Data Recovery utility.

For instance, consider you try to start a Windows 7 based computer system
. At this point, the system might fail to respond and prompt an error message as below:

“STATUS_SYSTEM_PROCESS_TERMINATED”

Or

“STOP: 0xC000021A”

The error might prevent you to let access the data stored on the hard drive.

Cause

The mentioned stop error occurs when a subsystem (such as Winlogon etc.) of user-mode in Windows 7 has been compromised. Windows 7 cannot guarantee the security. The error typically occurs when Windows 7 switches into kernel mode. The system cannot run without the aid of these services. This can occur because of some third-party tool.

One another possibility of this error to occur is that the system administrator has modified the permissions to access system files and folders and these files are no longer accessible.

Solution

You cannot use kernel debugger in this case because these issues occur in a user-mode process. To solve it, you should try these suggestions:

If you have updated any device driver, perform a driver rollback. Start the computer in safe mode and perform a 'System Restore' through command prompt If you are unable to boot the computer, boot it using Windows installation disc and restore it to the last working state using 'Last Known Good Configuration' option. If none of the above solutions work, reinstall Windows 7 provided a good backup is present.

In case you cannot access the data and data backup is not present, you are suggested to opt for a Windows Partition Recovery utility. These are suitable Windows Data Recovery applications built for scanning the logically crashed drive and recover the lost data safely. The software are easy to install and use.

Author:-K MADHAV

Many of Windows 7 users might be unaware of the fact that when they install Windows 7, it forcefully creates a separate 200 MB partition to store WinRE (Windows Recovery Environment) files. The partition is hidden, automatically activated, is not labeled by any drive letter, and has only 32 MB of space occupied. Though the partition is required to hold system and bootable files to aid in recovery after crash, but cannot be deleted using normal tools like Windows Disk Management. Also, this has been observed that when the user tries to delete it using a third-party partition manager or partition editor, the partition table might get corrupted or invalid. This causes other data partitions to become inaccessible and create critical data loss situations. To restore data in such scenarios, you need to either use the last available backup or apply a commercial Partition Recovery Software.

Consider a practical example illustrating such problems. You use Windows 7 DVD installation disc to an unpartitioned hard disk, a hard disk with unallocated space or a hard disk of which you have deleted all the existing partitions. You install Windows 7 and later, delete the 200 MB partition that is apparently taking unnecessary space to store WinRE files, using a third-party partition utility. After this, you observe symptoms like below:

Other hard disk partitions start behaving unexpectedly that suggests the corruption of partition table located in MBR (Master Boot Record). When you try to create a partition using the freed space, the partition utility shows a disk error.

Hard disk randomly shows unallocated disk space of 1 MB to 2 MB You cannot format the hard disk partition(s) Few or all hard disk partitions are lost

Cause

The 200 MB partition created by Windows 7 at the time of installation uses a non-standard partition type. So, when you use a partition editor or utility that does not recognize this partition type, it may result in partition table corruption.

Solution

To prevent such data loss from occurring, you should avoid installing Windows 7 on a non-partitioned hard disk or to unallocated disk space. Partition and format the hard disk before installing Windows 7.

However, to achieve lost Partition Recovery, you need a full backup. If not available or dirty, you are suggested to use a Data Recovery Software.

Stellar Phoenix Windows Data Recovery is a reliable and advanced application that recovers data
from corrupted, lost or inaccessible Windows partitions. The Partition Recovery utility is compatible with Windows 7, Vista, XP, 2003, and 2000. The tool features various qualities like 'Disk Cloning', 'Disk Imaging', 'Drive Status' that help getting suitable results.

Author:-K MADHAV

Windows 7 Boot Configuration Data (BCD) store is a database that contains boot-time configuration data. This is a firmware-independent file and is a replacement of boot.ini file used in Windows operating systems earlier to Windows Vista. Once the file get corrupted, a Windows 7 computer loses the ability to boot. Since the file is editable through command-line tool called bcdedit.exe, you can use it to overcome the Windows boot issues. But if the corruption is high or the tool doesn't work, the last alternative is to restore from a backup and/or reinstall Windows. However, while backup is unavailable, you need a Windows Data Recovery solution to recover the lost data.

Consider a practical instance of such problems. You use a Windows 7 based computer and it fails to boot prompting an error that is similar to below:

Boot manager generic failure 0x000000e Repair Action: Boot configuration data store repair Result: Failed. Error code = 0x490

After this error message, you cannot access the data that is stored on the hard drive.

Cause

The boot information in Windows 7 BCD store is corrupt.

Solution

To solve the above discussed issue, you need to start Windows RE (Recovery Environment) in order to run Bootrec.exe tool as follows:

Insert Windows 7 installation disc in the drive to start your computer from it Press any key when prompted for Specify the language, currency, input method and other options Click 'Repair your Computer' and select the target operating system, click 'Next' Choose 'Command Prompt' under 'System Recovery Options' Type 'Bootrec.exe' and type ENTER

Once the tool is started, you can rebuild the BCD store using '/RebuildBcd' option. If this doesn't help, you can export the BCD using the following set of commands:

bcdedit /export C:\BCD_Backup c: cd boot attrib bcd -s -h -r ren c:\boot\bcd bcd.old bootrec /RebuildBcd

If the problem persists and your data remains inaccessible, restore it from backup or use a Windows Partition Recovery utility. Reinstall Windows if backup is available. A Windows Data Recovery can scan and recover the lost data safely without requiring any prior technical skills.

Author:-K MADHAV