Hard Drive Recovery

Cases of Hard Drive Inaccessibility and Tips to Perform Windows HDD Recovery

2011-04-25T21:30:00.000-07:00

Microsoft Windows provides the most reliable operating environment to its users. It enables easy switching between applications, encapsulates the best interface metaphors, has universal hardware support, and much more. One of its most powerful features is 'Registry'. Windows Registry is a central database that stores settings for all the computer hardware and software. Nearly everything in your system depends on this registry for running processes, saving data, and communication with other parts etc. If the registry or any of its components get corrupt, your hard drive becomes inaccessible. In such circumstances, you need to go for hard drive recovery to recover back all your lost or inaccessible data.

For instance, when you start your Windows 2000-based computer, you may come across anyone of the following error messages:
“Windows could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt:
\WINNT\SYSTEM32\CONFIG\SYSTEM”
OR
“System hive error”

Cause:
The causes responsible for the above error messages are as follows-

The problem usually occurs while you are performing a Windows 2000 setup. It probably happens due to a Promise Technology, Inc. ATA66 PCI controller that is installed in your system.
The System sub-key that contains boot information is damaged or possibly missing.

This would prevent you from successfully booting your computer and accessing the valuable information stored therein. You can still restore your lost data using an updated backup. However, if the backup is missing, you should follow the below mentioned resolution steps to perform hard drive data recovery.

Resolution:

Try these steps to resolve the issue and perform Windows hdd recovery-

If the problem is encountered while installing Windows 2000, try removing the Promise Technology, Inc. ATA66 PCI controller card from the system.
Run Recovery Console from a Windows 2000 bootable disc. Run the following commands at the console:

‘cd system32\config’

‘ren system system.old’

‘ren system.alt systemalt.old’

Try copying the System hive from ‘%SystemRoot%\Repair’ using the following command:

‘copy c:\winnt\repair\system c:\winnt\system32\config’

Exit the Recovery Console by typing ‘exit’ and reboot the system.

Try to shrink the size of the System hive.

If the above resolution steps are unable to solve the problem, you need to format your system and reinstall Windows. This would completely erase all the drive data. Any attempt to overwrite the drive now may only add to the problem and make the data completely irrecoverable.

At this stage, you should free download data recovery software of a reputed company and use this software to recover all the formatted drive data. These software safely and efficiently recover any lost, deleted, or formatted files, documents, emails, songs, videos etc. from all Windows-based systems.

Childhood Memories Recovered by Data Recovery Software

2011-03-14T02:59:00.000-07:00

I have a great and pleasant experience of data loss which was very important for me and I can do everything for its recovery. The childhood memories has very important in everybody life and no one wants to lost or forget those memories. What will be happen when you have lost your all childhood memories which you have collected in pictures and videos? The same thing was happened with me when I was 10, my grandfather gave a computer to my father. My father was working in a shop. I remember when my father came to home and we all play game and listen songs on computer. My grandfather was very fond of collecting memories in photos and videos while we would play eat or have fun etc. He once bought a memory card reader and transferred all the pictures and videos in the computer system. He passed away 3 years ago.

I was still using this computer however it become old and outdated. I am working in an IT company and I need to prepare projects and presentation as a part of my job. I use my grandfather computer for my work and I keep all my data in computer system. My computer system is very important for me as it has all my childhood memories with my grandpa and my all essential documents. The system was running smoothly and there is no problem in it.

Last year, when i was working on my computer system two day before of my meeting and i was not able to found my all data on hard drive. I was very afraid because now I have lost all childhood memories and important documents. I called my friend and told him about the problem and he said “You no need to worry because i have a copy of the project”. But I told him that “I have no problem with official document and projects because i can compromise with it but i can't compromise with my childhood memory lost”. Then he suggested me hard drive recovery software because he has already experienced such situation.

Then I searched the same on the internet and found lots of hard drive recovery software. After reading the features and using the demo version, I was selected one of them. I download and installed it when I scanned my hard drive with the help of it showing all my childhood memories and official document and i was so happy. But it required license-key and password after go-through the manual I found that it is a trial version and I need to buy it.

The cost has no matter in front of my childhood memories so; I purchased the full version of hard drive recovery software and recovered all my childhood and grandfather memories. With the help of Windows data recovery I was able to recover all my childhood memories and essential documents. Now I have no problem with the data loss because this software always helps me for recovering of lost data.

Most Possible Reasons of Hard Drive Crash and Their Solutions

2011-03-10T21:44:00.000-08:00

Hard drive is a very important part of computer system, it is where all application programmes and data are stored. However there is lots of data storage medium in market like USB drive, CD, DVD, Zip Disk etc. But still hard disk is used as a primary storage medium for data. Many users find the hard drive as permanent data storage and a plan for a long time. However the use of hard drive failure can never be compromise and this may be cause loss of your valuable data. Here comes the technique of hard drive recovery for the backup of your all valuable data.

The hard disk contain a various mechanical components or sectors and the little problem in one of these component can interrupt the functioning of the hard disk like if the regular 'head' crashed this can damage the surface of the disk, leading the loss of data in that sector. The reason may anything, physical damaged, virus attack, firmware corruption, corrupted registry files etc but result comes only one that is data loss.

The hard drive can crashed due to the mechanical failure or software related problem and this is very simple to find out. Check whether the light in front of your computer is flashing or not if the light is flashing it means the problem is software related otherwise it’s a mechanical problem.

Some of the possible situation for loss of data on a hard drive:

The system continuously restarts each time of the start-up.
The system shows the blue screen of the death as you start the computer.
The container of the hard disk is damage by the system power failure.
The BIOS not recognised by the system.

The hard drive data recovery program plays an important role for recovering the lost data from a damaged hard drive and a good hard drive recovery tool recovers all lost data from all instances of deletion by supporting recovery of NTFS, FAT, and exFAT file systems. A good data recovery software can retrieved all the lost files and folders without losing your precious data.

There are lots of data recovery companies which offers the data recovery software and services but choose a best one of them is a very difficult task. So, if you are selected a data recovery software after using the trail version of it then it may be a good test drive before making it for a purpose.

Rectify hard drive errors by Hard Drive Recovery

2011-02-18T03:57:00.000-08:00

Sometimes, upgrading of the system to Windows XP results in data loss situations. Like, numerous attempts to start the system remains unsuccessful. Have you ever tried to find out the reason for such behavior. This happens because of corrupt or damaged setup file on hard drive. While upgrade that set up file cannot get overwritten. But with the aid of some appropriate measures, such kind of situations can be easily tackled. For good results, you can choose a third party hard drive data recovery tools.
Using a third party tool for hard drive recovery is a best option when all else methods fail.

Consider a realistic situation. When you make an attempt to upgrade your system to Windows XP. It fails and any of the below listed error message appears on the screen that looks exactly same as given below:

“C0000221 (Bad Image Checksum)”
OR
“STOP: C0000221 - Bad Image Checksum in ModuleName”
OR
“STOP: C0000221 - Bad Image Checksum. User32.dll is possibly corrupt. The header check sum does not match the computed check sum.”

Cause:
There could be the following reasons for above problem:

Existence of damaged file in the Windows folder, and the file cannot get overwritten while performing the Setup program.
Faulty one or all of the RAM memory modules installed in computer system. It might be possible configuration of RAM is not compatible.

Solution:
By following measures above problematic situation can be tackled:

Restore a new copy of the User32.dll file from Windows XP CD: Restore a new copy to the drive:\Windows\System32 folder on your hard drive.
Replace the faulty RAM from your system.
Install Windows in a different location.

If none of the following measures help you to sort out the issue, then there is no need to get worry. Hard Drive Data Recovery tools are ready to help you. A lots of software have been so far developed for carrying out the process of Windows hdd recovery with much ease. These tools have read-only nature and are non-destructive conduct. You do not need to take any external help for using these software.

Stellar Phoenix Windows Data Recovery is a result-oriented tool that is specifically designed for hard drive recovery. It recovers data from almost all the storage devices. Data from lost. Formatted FAT, NTFS, and exFAT file systems get recovered. Deleted e-mails of Outlook and Outlook Express application can also be recovered. It shows compatibility with Windows 7, Vista, Server 2003, XP, 2000, and NT4(SP6).

Hard drive failed - What is the actual cause?

2011-02-08T21:53:00.000-08:00

Though there are many other available storage media, including CD, DVD, pen drive, USB drive etc., hard drive of a computer is still the prime storage location of your valuable data. Moreover, many users usually use the external/internal hard drives for the long term storage of important data. Where hard drives facilitate storage of large volumes of important data, at the same time, data loss or inaccessibility from the hard drive due to virus attack, accidental deletion, operating system crash or file system corruption etc., results panic among the users. Under such situations, you can take the help of any hard drive recovery software to bring back your valuable data.

Though, there can be a number instances, in which your hard drive data can be lost or become inaccessible, underneath are the most common ones:

Accidental formatting of the hard drive.
Corruption/damage to the file system of the hard drive.
Operating system crash.
Any software/hardware contradiction/malfunction.
accidental/intentional data deletion.
Corruption or deletion of data because of Virus/Malware intrusion.

All the above instances will result in the loss or inaccessibility of your valuable data from the hard drive. However, the soothing point is that however harsh the data loss situation may be, data from the drive never gets permanently lost until the lost piece of data is being overwritten by some other data. Hence, if care should be taken to prevent the overwriting of the data in the hard drive, all your seemingly lost data can be easily recovered with the help of any hard drive recovery utility.

Moreover, at the end of every instance of data loss, it is your valuable data in the troubled drive that holds the utmost importance. If you have taken backup of your data, you can restore the same from a valid backup, or else, you are left with a single reliable choice, that is to take the help of an efficient hard drive recovery software to retrieve the data back.

Among many applications to recover hard drive, Stellar Phoenix Windows Data Recovery is the most trusted and highly appreciated hard drive recovery utility of the recent time. The software is capable of recovering all your lost, deleted, formatted or inaccessible data from any make/model of hard drive irrespective of the data loss situations. Above all, the user interface of the software incorporates detailed instructions for each step of operation and is absolutely simple to use.

Recovering hard disk when Windows XP becomes inaccessible after unsuccessful FAT32 to NTFS conversion

2010-12-20T03:11:00.000-08:00

Lot of us are able to install Windows operating system ourselves because of the excellent help documentation made available by Microsoft. However, at times this step can sometimes backfire as the critical files can go missing making the system become inaccessible. A similar problem may occur when you change the file system of primary partition from FAT32 to NTFS. In such cases, you should restore the missing files using Windows XP CD to recover hard disk. If the method does not work, then you should use a third-party hard disk recovery utility to recover the inaccessible data.

Let us suppose you have a Windows XP system that has FAT file system. You have just converted your FAT file system to NTFS using the “convert drive: /fs:ntfs” command. However, when you start the system after the conversion the system does not start. The following error message is displayed in this case:

“Windows could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt: System32\Drivers\Ntfs.sys”

Cause:

The most possible cause of this problem could be either of the following reasons:

The Ntfs.sys file is missing after the FAT-NTFS conversion
The Ntfs.sys file has corrupted after the FAT-NTFS conversion.

Resolution:

Restoring the missing Ntfs.sys file will enable you to overcome this problem. This could be done using the following steps:

Restart the system after inserting the Windows XP CD-ROM.
Press R when the 'Welcome to Setup' screen appears to select the 'To repair a Windows XP installation using Recovery Console, press R' option.
At the command prompt, enter the following commands to rename the existing Ntfs.sys file. Press Enter after each command:
cd \windows\system32\drivers

ren ntfs.sys ntfs.old
Type the following command and press Enter to copy the Ntfs.sys file in the system hard disk:
copy cd:\i386\ntfs.sys drive:\windows\system32\drivers
Type 'quit', after removing the Windows XP CD, and press Enter to exit Recovery Console.
Restart the system.

If you still are getting the same error message even after performing the method, then you should look to recover hard disk data with the help of an efficient third-party data recovery software. These disk recovery utilities have rich user interface that help in recovering all the data without any difficulty.

The most reliable hard disk recovery software is Stellar Phoenix Windows Data Recovery, which recovers data from hard drives, external HDDs, pen drives, iPods, etc. With the ability to recover deleted emails from Outlook Express and MS Outlook, this utility recovers disks in FAT, NTFS, and exFAT file systems. In addition, this hard disk recovery utility is compatible with Windows 7, Vista, Server 2003, XP, and 2000.

Data Can be Recovered From a Burnt Hard Drive

2010-12-14T23:15:00.000-08:00

Imagine what will happen if you lose all your vital data from your hard disk drive, when your computer system was charred due to the office building catching fire? Yes, the insurance can cover the financial losses. But what happens to the data that is stored in the computer? Can the insurance company get the data back? The vital information that might be stored in the computers can mean loss of business for you! Good news for those who have faced such a situation! Your data is very much recoverable! And that too from that hard drive. This can be done by availing hard drive recovery services provided by data recovery experts!

Consider the case of Mike. His computer was one of the computers that got burnt. All the plastic components and the electrical parts were either burnt, charred or just melted. And whatever was left faced the wrath of fire fighting tools, i.e. water and sand. Needless to say, they caused more harm to the system. And to make matters even more worse, the debris and smoke damaged the leftover parts as well. Though all parts can be replaced, if only the platter inside the hard disk has not been damaged. The entire system can then be built around that platter. Or the data saved on the platter, can be transferred to another storage device.

But the good part is, despite all the problems, hard disk recovery experts can recover all that data for you. Though a repair shop might be able to fix the thing for you, but the work and the system is not stable. This makes the data availability difficult. In worse cases, the platter may be damaged even while it is being read. That is why, one should rely on recovery of data, instead of depending on making the system functional again.

Data Recovery services are provided by many companies today. But choose your company wisely and carefully. Delay is better than losing data completely. A company with good experience in the field with good number of techniques, and tools, coupled with sterilized clean rooms is the best bet.

Stellar Information Systems Ltd. is an old hand in extending data recovery with more than 17 years in this field. With an ability to recover data from any kind of storage media, the company has Class 100 clean rooms, proprietary tools and techniques, and boasts of more than 1.1-million customers worldwide.

Recovering Hard Disk in Windows 2000 if 'Fastfat.sys' file is Missing or Damaged

2010-11-29T03:43:00.000-08:00

There are several system files in Windows operating system that are critical for the proper functioning of the system. One such file is 'fastfat.sys' file that is the driver file to read or write drives formatted with FAT file system. Such drives could include hard disks, USB sticks, external hard disks, etc.

If something wrong happens with this file, then you would not be able to start the system. Such problems can occur due to lots of reasons such as virus infections, hard disk damage, power surges, etc. You should recover hard disk by restoring the file using appropriate methods. If you are unable to do this, then you should use a third-party hard drive recovery software to recover the lost files.

Consider a scenario wherein you have a Windows 2000 system that is not starting and stopping after the boot process. The following error message is displayed in this regard:

“Windows could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt: System32\Drivers\FastFAT.sys”

Cause:

This problem can occur if either of the following cases are true:

The fastfat.sys file is either damaged or missing.
The RAM is damaged or is not installed properly.

Resolution:

The resolution to this problem involves checking the RAM and restoring the Fastfat.sys file. This could be done using the following steps:

Turn off the system and check the RAM to ensure that it is not damaged and installed properly.
Start the computer using Windows 2000 setup CD.
Type the following command in the Command Prompt, and press Enter:

cd c:\winnt\system32\drivers

Type 'dir fastfat.sys' and press Enter. If the 'File not found' message does not appear, then perform the next step.
Type 'ren fastfat.sys fastfat.old' and press Enter.
Type 'CD-ROM drive letter:' and press Enter.
Type 'cd i386' and press Enter.
Type 'expand.exe fastfat.sy_ c:\winnt\system32\drivers\fastfat.sys' and press Enter to expand the 'fastfat.sys' file.
Type 'c:' and press Enter.
Restart the system.

However, if the system remains inaccessible even after performing these steps, then you should urgently take the services of a third-party hard disk recovery software to recover all the trapped data. With the help of non-destructive scanning mechanisms to recover hard disk, these data recovery utilities do not hamper the files in the storage media.

The most reliable disk recovery utility that recovers lost, deleted, or formatted files from different file systems such as NTFS, FAT, and exFAT, is Stellar Phoenix Windows Data Recovery. Available in two editions, Home and Professional, this hard disk recovery software supports recovery in memory cards, iPods, pen drives, hard disks, etc. Compatible with Windows 7, Vista, Server 2003, XP, 2000, and NT4(SP6), this disk recovery software recovers deleted emails from Outlook Express and MS Outlook.

New Jersey – Hard Drive Recovery Services

2010-11-25T23:23:00.000-08:00

In the last few years, withb the growth of technology the probability of data loss also raised manifolds. Whether it is a simple external hard drive, internal hard drive of a laptop or desktop computer, file servers, web servers, application servers, Domain controllers, RAID arrays, NAS, SAN, storage box or small scale storage device, like, USB pen drives, ZIP diskettes, CD, DVD, floppies, memory sticks or flash drives, data can be lost from any of these storage media.

Nonetheless, it is essential for a user to have a backup of vital data, as it helps in effectively performing data recovery. But, in the absence of backup too, one can recover data, especially if they are located in New Jersey, thanks to data recovery services in NJ.

Data loss can occur due to various reasons, like head crash, logic board (also known as printed circuit board, or PCB) crash, hardware issues, virus attack, accidental re-partitioning, missing file or directory, invalid drive & disk specification, sabotage, natural disasters (flood, fire, earthquake), sabotage, or logical reasons as well. At times simple issues like corrupt file, encrypted data and even password protected files are lost, and need to be recovered. Though software are available to handle such situations, but at times, even they fail. Data recovery in NJ is the only way to salvage crucial data.

Though availing these services is fairly simple, support for your make of hard drive, and the interface is also required. For example, you may get support for Seagate, but not for Western Digital. Or, you may get support for these, but not for manufacturers who have gone out of business. In such situations, experts in the field can only help. Similarly, not all interfaces are supported by recovery experts. Again, some may provide recovery from Windows, but not from Mac, and so on. That is why, it is very important to search for data recovery in New Jersey, from an old hand.

Stellar Data Recovery Inc., is a data recovery branch in New Jersey of Stellar Information Systems Ltd. - an ISO 9001:2008 certified company. It boasts of class 100 clean rooms with the ability to perform various operations like, head transplant, printed circuit board repair, platter transplant, and more. With over 17 years of rich data recovery experience, and more than 1.1-million customers worldwide, the company has an impeccable record in the field.

Recovering hard drive when the NTFS.sys file gets damaged during the FAT-NTFS conversion

2010-11-16T02:30:00.000-08:00

Windows systems are using the NTFS (New Technology File System) file system for quite some time now as it is fast, secure, and reliable from its predecessors. That is the reason some of the users use FAT (File Allocation Table) file system apparently convert from FAT to NTFS.

However, at times the conversion can go haywire as some critical files go missing during the conversion. In such cases, you should replace the files to recover hard drive using the setup CD of the operating system. If the method does not work, then you should use a third-party Windows hard drive recovery to do the needful.

Let us assume a practical situation in which you have used the 'convert drive: /fs:ntfs' command to convert the file system of your Windows XP system from FAT32 to NTFS. However, when you try to start the system you fail to do so. An error message is displayed in this case, which is:

“Windows could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt: System32\Drivers\Ntfs.sys”

Cause:

The possible cause of this problem is that the NTFS.sys file may have become corrupt or is missing when you converted the hard disk to NTFS file system.

Resolution:

To resolve this situation, you should replace the missing files using the following steps:

Insert the Windows XP CD-ROM in the CD-ROM CD drive and restart the system.
Press R to select the 'To repair a Windows XP installation using Recovery Console, press R' option, when the 'Welcome to Setup' screen appears.
In the command prompt, enter the following commands and press Enter after each command to rename the corrupt ntfs.sys file. If the file is missing, then nothing will happen:

cd \windows\system32\drivers

ren ntfs.sys ntfs.old

Type the following command and press Enter:

copy cd:\i386\ntfs.sys drive:\windows\system32\drivers

Remove the Windows XP CD-ROM and type 'quit' and press Enter to exit Recovery Console.
Restart the system.

If the problem is still appearing even after performing these steps, then you should recover hard drive before reinstalling the operating system. For this purpose, you should use a third-party Windows data recovery software to do the needful. These data recovery tools use fast and advanced scanning algorithms that do not damage the existing hard drive while recovering the data.

The most effective hard drive recovery software that works for NTFS, FAT, and exFAT file systems is Stellar Phoenix Windows Data Recovery. With the ability to recover more than 185 different file types from various storage media such as hard drives, external hard drives, iPods, etc, this hard drive recovery software is capable of recovering deleted emails from Outlook Express and MS Outlook. In addition, this software is compatible with Windows 7, Vista, Server 2003, XP, 2000, and NT4(SP6).

Hard Disk may fail due to Poor Ventilation

2010-11-08T23:28:00.000-08:00

In this edition I would like to discuss some more issues regarding causes and effects of hard drive failures.

If a user wants to backup his data or want to move it to another place, in both the cases external hard drives serve as best medium for it. Gone are the times of CD-RWs and tape drives. Though a pen drive to serves all such purposes, external hard drives solve the space problem too, which the pen drives are still not capable of performing.

External drives serve and work as a full fledged hard disks with storage space running into terabytes. But just like any other technology, even these disks are prone to data loss and call for extreme data recovery. Irrespective of which part of the state you reside in, hard drive recovery software can be easily opted.

Let us first understand the inside and working of an external hard disk drive.
The external hard disk drives contain chassis which allows the drive to be mounted in a vertical or stacked manner. Not only that, the chassis protects the drive from shock and vibration. Hard drives feature the USB connectors, as well as the FireWire interface. This makes compatibility with other devices and data transfer an easy task. These drives have been designed very smartly and have a ventilated casing. They also have a light that indicates whether data is being stored-on or accessed-from the drive.

With perpendicular magnetic recording having replaced longitudinal recording technology, storage space has been increasing in leaps and bounds. And it is becoming surprisingly easy for people to store more and more data on their disks. With the flexibility to connect to various devices including cameras and even iPods, apart from desktops, servers and laptops, it is no wonder that these drives are the new age storage media.

Despite all these benefits, one should be wary of the manufacturer and assembler they trust. In case the assembler has not ensured proper ventilation of the drive, the drives are going to lose all the data stored therein. But New Jersey boasts of highly reliable assemblers who provide quality assembly. Even then, if you do find your external drive non responsive, do not worry. There are reliable data recovery, New Jersey options available for you.

How I Recovered Data From An Inaccessible External Hard Disk

2010-11-07T23:30:00.000-08:00

With the flexibility to attach more than one hard drive, it is becoming increasingly simple for people to save their data and to back it up as well. But even that has its share of troubles. You generally find that despite all attempts made by you to make things simple, at times certain things make the matter go worse. For example, while changing the permission settings on my hard disk that is attached to my computer, I accidentally erased its file permission. And then wondered how to perform hard drive recovery for all my vital data.

After the blunder, I realized that the security tab was lost in properties, and I got the access to the HDD is denied

Not knowing what to do, I sought help from my friend, who searched the net for some help and advised me to the follow some steps. Here is what I did:

Rebooted in Safe Mode and logged in as the Administrator.
Clicked Start, and chose Search.
In the search box that opened typed: cmd
After this, I pressed Ctrl+Shift+Enter
After this, I clicked "Run as Administrator".
I followed this by typing the following two commands, each followed by pressing the Enter key:

takeown /f drive:\ /a /r /d Y

cacls drive:\ /e /t /c /g everyone:F

where drive:\ refers to the drive letter of the external hard disk drive.

This works in performing drive recovery in most of the cases, but not in my case. Needless to say, I had little option but to opt for formatting my hard disk drive. Considering that the data stored in external hard disk was non-retrievable, I decided that I might just follow it. I almost lost all of my staff in the external hard drive, but my cousin told me that formatting need not mean loss of all my data. It just means the hard disk is reset, and though some of the data may be overwritten, chances are high that most of it is still recoverable using a reliable third-party hard drive data recovery tool.

What is Disk Imaging?

2010-10-28T20:47:00.000-07:00

A disk image is a single file or storage device containing the complete contents and structure representing a data storage medium or device, such as a hard drive, tape drives, floppy disk, CD/DVD/BD and key drive, although an image of an optical disc may be referred to as an optical disc image. A disk image is usually created by creating a complete sector-by-sector copy of the source medium and thereby perfectly replicating the structure and contents of a storage device.
Some disk imaging utilities omit unused file space from source media, or compress the disk they represent to reduce storage requirements, though these are typically referred to as archive files, as they are not literally disk images.

Some backup programs only back up user files; boot information and files locked by the operating system, such as those in use at the time of the backup, may not be saved on some operating systems. A disk image contains all files, faithfully replicating all data. For this reason, it is also used for backing up CDs and DVDs.

Non-software type files can usually be backed up with file-based backup software, and this is preferred because file-based backup usually saves more time or space because they never copy unused space (as a bit-identical image does), they usually are capable of incremental backups, and generally have more flexibility. But for software files, file-based backup solutions may fail to reproduce all necessary characteristics, particularly with Windows systems. For example, in

Windows certain registry keys use short filenames, which are sometimes not reproduced by file-based backup, some commercial software uses copy protection that will cause problems if a file is moved to a different disk sector, and file-based backups do not always reproduce metadata such as security attributes. Creating a bit-identical disk image is one way to ensure the system backup will be exactly as the original. Bit-identical images can be made in Linux with dd, available on nearly all live CDs.

Disk imaging ensures hard drive recovery

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disk_image

HDD recovery is possible- from my experience

2010-10-27T22:42:00.000-07:00

Among many others, I've always agreed to the popular saying “seeing is believing”. In a way, this is what I have tried to reflect in my professional work. I am a professional photographer and has been doing it for the past 2 decades. Though I enjoy doing raw photography, with growing demand and technology changes, I have also opted for a digital touch to my takes.

Neither I'm a tech geek, nor I've a single pie interest in studying the internals of a computer, hence, hard drive data recovery was just another promotional statement for me. However, the day I badly needed certain technology like this, I realized the truth and now suggests hard drive recovery software as the safest way to recover your lost data back from any troubled drive.

Two things, fishing and photography are my life. In both the things, I feel myself closer to the nature, the real world, where beauty is as it is, without any makeup. Both for my passion and my job, my uncle's lake side country house has always been my favorite destination. The wide forest, birds and the still lake water, I simply can't resist the though without my face glowing with some new innovative ideas of photo-shoot. Hence, as the summer started, we planned a family outing and a longer stay at the lake house.

My morning started with a day out with my professional camera, laptop and fishing net. I took a boat and started fishing and taking snaps in the middle. All of a sudden, it started raining and as I remember, in haste, I forcibly off my lappy and rushed to the bank. Though I’d believed that I’d rescued the stuff from rain, my laapy started-up only with a blue screen. Tried my entire mind out, but failed and my head started drilling, what to do now?

Talked to some close colleagues and friends. They suggested some regular tips to put the system disk and try repairing the operating system as due to the forced shut-down, the file system may have been corrupted. I’d already invested enough minds and did as and what they had told me, as I had wanted my valuable data back soon, at any cost. Sometime later, it asked for me to confirm something and I pressed yes and found the system to be running OK on restart.

Now, checked for my data on the drive and nothing was there. I got shell shocked and realized that I’d formatted the drive, now it had all gone forever. Then one of my friends suggested hard drive recovery software.

I quickly purchased and thank God, managed to recover all my data from the drive. What a shy of relief! It is Stellar Phoenix Windows Data Recovery, that rescued my data. This is a wonderful hard drive data recovery utility to recover your lost, deleted, formatted or inaccessible data from the Windows based hard drive. The software supports 185 file types and is compatible with Windows Vista, 7, XP, 2003 and 2000.

Hdd Recovery Software to Recover Lost Data

2010-10-27T02:22:00.000-07:00

We can customize our usage at storage media in terms of their physical size and storage capacity. Among all these storage devices, we use hard drive of the computer as our primary storage media.

Moreover, be it an internal hard disk or even external, we usually store huge amount of data and that to for the purpose of storing for a longer period. As these hard drives are dealt with quite often, chances of data loss or deletion is a genuine possibility. Though we give importance on the storage devices, it is the data that is the most important thing for us and hence, for any data loss situation with the hard drive should be dealt with any hard drive recovery software.

Prominent instances of logical data loss from your hard drive:
Accidental deletion.
Knowingly deleted with shift+delete and realized the need of the data at the very next moment.
Sabotage.
Virus attack or malware intrusion leading to data loss or becoming inaccessible.
Hard drive formatting or repartitioning etc.

It will be a long list of simple to really complex reasons that can be behind the loss of data in a hard drive and to compel you to look for hard drive recovery.

Dos & Don't s after any instance of data loss from the hard drive:

As hard drive contains your valuable data, the data loss instances should be handled with utmost care in order to recover the data from the troubled drive safely. The first and fore most thing, which we should always remember is that the data from the hard drive is never permanently lost until some other data has not been overwritten on it. Hence, never run any defragmenting utility or install unnecessary software to the troubled drive. Never ever try to open the drive and it is always better to opt for a trusted hard drive recovery software.

Hard drive recovery software are developed with powerful search algorithms, that can dig out the lost data and recover them thereafter. Even, you need not have to study the utility as there are detailed instruction set for each step.

HDD recovery if SATA hard drive uses PATA mode

2010-10-24T22:21:00.000-07:00

Sometimes Windows Vista show problems using PATA mode while attached with a SATA hard disk. It results in a system failure and thereby data loss or inaccessibility. In this case , the best way to recover your data from the hard drive is to run any hard drive recovery software. Sometimes, the system crashes causing some file system corruption leading to data loss and inaccessibility.

How to resolve ?
The very first step to resolve the issue is - you must run ScanDisk to try repairing the corruption and check the health of the hard disk.

If the hard disk is accessible, then, below steps will guide you through the process of running ScanDisk from within the Windows:

Go to START, then PROGRAMS, then ACCESSORIES. After that point to SYSTEM TOOLS and within that click on ScanDisk.
Choose the disk or drive on which you want to perform the test.
Select the option THROUGH and then run the ScanDisk.

Following are the steps to guide you to run the ScanDisk from the command prompt, in case the system is not accessible:
Start the system in DOS mode.
Press ENTER after typing the following command:

scandisk

Note: meants the letter of the hard disk you are checking.
Once, the ScanDisk finishes the initial check, it prompts for a surface scan on the drive. Allow it by clicking on YES or press ENTER.

If the above processes fail to fix the errors, then your data remains inaccessible and you have to restore the same from your backup server. But unfortunately if your backup also get fail then hard drive recovery software can recover your data back.

HDD Recovery When the File System doesn't Mount

2010-10-21T22:11:00.000-07:00

The partitioning feature makes it easy to use different operating systems on same system which can facilitate hard disk drive to act like a separate disk. High storage capacity has been an icing on the cake. Most of the people today, who find the world of technology fascinating, love to have this arrangement on their computer system. This is called a multi boot configuration.

Although its an advantage but at the same time some negative points are also associated with it. It raises the chances of data loss or data inaccessibility. And then, the user will have little option but to opt for hard drive recovery.

For example , suppose you have a dual boot system with MS Windows XP and RedHat Linux as the two operating systems and one day you fail to access Linux volume and find that the same cannot be mounted. Instead you encounter following error message,

“Can't find ext2 File System on dev ide1 (22, 65)”
Or
“Mount: wrong file system type, bad option, bad super block, or too many mounted file systems”

Possible Reason:
A corrupted volume or file system of the RedHat Linux could be the possible reason for it. The same can happen due to improper shutdown of the system, improper mounting of the hard drive, a virus attack, or any similar reason.

Resolution:
In this situation the user can get access to his hard drive using a hard drive recovery software. In such situations, a user can access his through hard drive recovery. You should boot your system using Windows XP to access your hard drive data. But sometimes, the damage is so high that even the Windows Installation doesn't load. In such dire situations, the user has to check the integrity of the data stored in the hard drive.

To perform a hard drive recovery, the user needs to attach the hard disk drive to another working computer and access this hard drive, save the data on some other media and format the hard drive. But if the drive along with the data is inaccessible, then the user has to first format the hard drive and then use use a data recovery software to first recover the partitions, and then perform hard drive data recovery.

HDD Recovery when HAL.dll file is missing or corrupted after upgrading to Windows XP

2010-10-20T21:51:00.000-07:00

HAL (Hardware Abstraction Layer) file in Windows , acts as the the link between the hardware components and the operating system. Apart from this, it also provides support for the hardware drivers that are required to run certain hardware devices.

It is installed in the hdd in the beginning when there is a need to make it compatible to work in a Windows environment. So, when this file is not found on the hard disk it doesn't start the system if the hard disk is the boot device. In such scenarios, you should use a professional hard drive data recovery software to perform hard drive recovery.

Let us take an example of up-gradation of Windows 98 to Windows XP. But when you start it displays an error message like:

“Windows could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt.
Windows root\system32\hal.dll.
Please re-install a copy of the above file.”

Cause:
There could be the following reasons for this situation:
You have restarted your computer after upgrading from Windows 98.
The hard disk on which you are trying to install Windows XP does not have any operating system.

Resolution:
To resolve this situation, you should perform either of the following methods:
Modify the BIOS settings so that you can start the system from a Boot CD.
Restart the system using the Windows 98 Setup CD.
Type 'sys c:' at the command prompt to copy the system files from the CD to your system.
Start Windows XP Setup again.
Select to format the hard disk before installing Windows XP.
Restart the system after installing Windows XP.

If the above methods are not working that means the hard drive is corrupted and you need to replace it. However, before replacing the hard disk you would need to recover and backup the data.

For this, a third-party hard drive data recovery software is very useful in recovering the inaccessible files. These HDD recovery tools have immaculate user interface that enable an end user with limited technical skills to recover the data easily.

Problem of Firmware corruption in Maxtor hard drives

2010-10-15T02:29:00.000-07:00

The firmware is an important area on a hard disk and acts like its operating system. This information is required by the drive to run smoothly. Firmware on a hard drive is always found on a flash memory chip or the PCB. The firmware has to access various parameters of a hard drive from its platter surface in order to ensure the proper functioning of the hard drive. In case of firmware corruption, you could lose all the data stored in a hard drive. Usually, in firmware damage cases, a user can rely on data recovery services to rescue your vital data.

Data recovery services are available for Maxtor hard drives in new jersey also. There are a number of data recovery companies which offer specialized recovery services to both individuals and organizations, regardless of the make or interface of the hard drive. All data loss situations can be efficiently addressed if you approach hard drive recovery experts from a trusted data recovery company on time.

Lets take an example of Maxtor DiamondMax Plus 8 6E020L0 model installed in your computer. When you power on the computer, the BIOS is unable to identify the drive or wrongly identifies it as Maxtor N40P or you hear knocking or grinding noises.

Reasons behind the abrupt behavior

The reason behind DiamondMax Plus 8 Drive being recognized as "MAXTORN40P" is firmware corruption. It is due to the firmware corruption only that you witness the above-mentioned symptoms with a Maxtor DiamondMax Plus hard drive.

Steps to be considered for data recovery

In an event of firmware corruption, you cannot overcome the problem by assigning the job to just any computer repair company. If you want to successfully recover hard drive data, you must get in touch with hard drive recovery services specialists immediately. These engineers are proficient in recovering data from a hard drive which has suffered a logical, physical, electrical or firmware failure. Moreover, professional data recovery services also guarantee the security and safety of your vital data.

Physical problem in Hard drive : Data loss and recovery

2010-10-14T03:39:00.000-07:00

Is your hard drive facing some problem while spinning and unusual noise ? The very first stem I would suggest here is to backup your vital data right away. This is because the spinning problems in a hard drive could lead to disastrous data loss problems. If you are among the ones who are not in a condition to take a backup, do not worry. Though, you have to replace the damaged or corrupted hard drive with a new one, you can recover the data by approaching hard drive recovery services providers.

Hard drive spinning issues and data loss haunt many computer users, but please don't worry . It can be easily dealt with. In New Jersey, you won't find it difficult to find a data recovery company for availing hard drive recovery services. You can acquire data recovery services in NJ from a reputed company which has all the necessary equipment and resources to handle your data loss case. Most importantly, before selecting a data recovery company, make sure they have the facility of opening hard drives in sterilized environments.

Spinning problems in hard drives are often caused by power fluctuations, hardware failures etc. In all such cases, a hard drive can exhibit various symptoms listed below:

When the computer is powered on, you do not hear the usual hard drive wind sounds. This can also be encountered if the hard drive in question spins down after working for a amount of time.
When the computer is switched on, the hard drive would start spinning, but the spinning would come to a halt after few cycles.
When you switch on the computer, the hard drive doesn't spin at all.

First AID for the issue:

Check power supply cable connections
Check jumper settings
Try installing the hard drive in another system and verify if it is still exhibiting the same problem.

If none of the above workarounds resolves your problem, then you should opt for professional data recovery services.

For obtaining specialized and cost-effective data recovery services NJ, you must contact Stellar Data Recovery Inc. which has a team of experienced hard drive recovery engineers and CLASS 100 Clean Rooms.

HDD recovery after Error- Press (Ctrl-Alt-Del) to restart

2010-10-12T00:14:00.000-07:00

A hard disk cluster is the group of sectors and the smallest unit to hold a file. The size of a cluster depends upon the size of the volume or drive and is meant to enhance the storage efficiency. FAT, exFAT, NTFS, NTFS5 etc. use a definite cluster size to manage the data in the hard drive and the partitions are defined in terms of clusters at the time of formatting of the disk.

The cluster size can be maintained or modified using a third party tool. But, the process may cause serious corruption to the file system so, it is always advisable to have a proper backup of all your files. Even if you face any problem and unable to recover your data , you can use hard drive recovery software to recover data.

Suppose, after modifying the cluster size , the booting process halted in the middle and you tend to receive an error message , making all your data inaccessible. The following error message could be displayed.

“A Disk read error occurred. Press Ctrl-Alt-Del to restart”

Cause:

The above error message appears because of a possible corruption to the Master Boot Record or MBR.
Note: MBR is the boot sector or the first sector of a partitioned storage media. Moreover, MBR is responsible for recognizing the partitions and loading of the operating system.

Resolution:

In order to resolve the above error, you need to boot your system with the Windows installation CD or DVD. Thereafter, at the command prompt, run the command 'fixmbr to repair the MBR.

However, if 'fixmbr' command fails to repair the MBR, you have to reformat the hard disk and make a fresh installation of the operating system. Formatting erases the whole data from the hard drive and you have to restore the data from the backup. In case, backup is not available or failed to restore back the data, only any Windows hard drive recovery software can help you recover your data.

A damaged SATA hard drive - recovery services for rescue

2010-10-10T21:56:00.000-07:00

SATA hard drives are the most accepted and renowned ones in the hard drive technology market. The efficient data transfer rates and hot swapping methods make the hard drive so happening and adoptable. Although the SATA technology is so advanced but it cannot be overlooked that a SATA hard drive can also suffer damage, just like all other hard drives fail.

If a SATA hard drive fails, then it won't be detected by a system and, in addition, you might also receive different error messages. Since hard drive failure leads to data inaccessibility, you must recover lost data from a healthy backup. In case, there is no backup available, no problem at all. Just switch off the system immediately. You can recover data if you get in touch with experts proficient in delivering data recovery services. Data loss resulting from this failure can be easily compensated by availing hard drive recovery services.

To acquire such professional services in New Jersey is not a big deal. The place is renowned for hosting various industries, and data recovery industry has a great scope here due to the presence of various corporate houses. Data recovery services in NJ can be obtained in case of a hard drive failure, irrespective of the interface (IDE, EIDE, SATA, SCSI, SAS) and brand (Western Digital, Maxtor, Seagate, IBM).

If the SATA hard drive fails , then there may be the following error message displayed on your system.

"SATA Primary Hard Disk Drive 0 Failure - Strike F1 to continue F2 to run the setup utility."

Cause

The above error can be witnessed if any of the following conditions:

Due to faulty SATA cables
If the motherboard is faulty
If the BIOS settings are not set correctly
Or if the SATA hard drive is physically damaged

Resolution

You can follow the below-mentioned steps to eliminate the problem:

Check all the hard drive cables are in a good state and properly connected
If the motherboard is damaged, it is essential to replace it
Verify BIOS settings and restore them to original yet correct settings
In case of physical failure, there is no option but to replace the damaged hard drive and avail data recovery services.

Hard drive recovery engineers have rich experience in handling a variety of hard drive failures, and seeking their assistance is a must if you want to recover the vital data.
If you are looking for reliable, efficient and cost-effective data recovery services in New Jersey, then your only preference should be Stellar Data Recovery Inc With CLASS 100 Clean Rooms and state-of-the-art facilities for reliable and secure data recovery services.

Mac hdd recovery after dd command fails to copy your data

2010-09-30T00:04:00.000-07:00

Though the advance computer systems, such as Mac, UNIX etc are robust in their design and storage structure, still situations leading to data loss are almost inevitable. This is the reason that various operating systems have inbuilt commands that facilitate certain amount of data security or preventive measures to save your data prior to a possible damage to the storage media.

The 'dd' command is such an example. The command can be used to make an exact image of the data from the dying hard drive and can be restored later on. However, under unfortunate incidents, the disk image refused to be mounted and it seems as if all your data is lost. These are the extreme conditions, where you have to think over technologies like Mac hard drive recovery or Mac recovery software.

Facts about 'dd' command:

This is a common piece of UNIX command with the purpose of copying and converting raw data. 'dd' is usually used to copy a specified number of bytes or blocks of data and similarly byte level conversion, such as EBCDIC to ASCII conversion. Though this command is used to backup the boot sector of a hard disk, still you can also use it to copy the entire partition or disk. 'dd' command copies the information about deleted and formatted data as it copies byte by byte, whereas the usual 'cp' command misses it. Moreover, this command can make a copy of the specified data irrespective of the data type or the file system.

The Problem: your data in the Mac OS X based volume is inaccessible and you have sensed some problem with your hard drive. You accessed your drive through your UNIX OS and made an image of your data by using the 'dd' command. Later, when you try to mount the image and restore the data on your Mac OS X, it showed an error message and stuck. The error message read as:

“No mountable file systems”

As the data image is refused to be mounted, you cannot restore the your data, through the image, you had made by the 'dd' command.

Cause of the problem: The most likely reason is that the data image made by the command is corrupted.

Now, if you have taken backup of your data, then you can restore the same from the updated backup. In the absence of a valid backup, try using Mac recovery software.

The Mac recovery software are developed with advanced techniques to recover all your deleted, corrupted or inaccessible data from a troubled hard drive. You can easily use these software without any prior knowledge as they come with detailed instructions for each step.

What to do if Ntfs.sys System File gets corrupted

2010-09-27T23:16:00.000-07:00

Now a days , with modern technology , the NTFS file system formatted Windows XP operating system does not take too much time to boot. But what if, after waiting too long , your XP computer displays an error message that indicates absence or corruption of a vital system file, and your system refuses to boot after that, then what should be done? Well, don't panic. First of all, check if your backups are updated. And after that search for ways to perform windows hard drive recovery.

Here is the threatening message that may disappoint a user :

"Windows could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt: System32\Drivers\Ntfs.sys"

More often than not, this problem generally occurs when the user has converted his FAT formatted hard drive to an NTFS formatted hard drive. But, you need not panic.

A few suggestions to overcome the issue are:
• Use the startup disk or the Windows XP CD to restart the computer.
• On reaching the 'Welcome to Setup' screen, press key 'R' to repair using recovery console.
• Now you need to type the Windows installation number that needs to be accessed using the recovery console, before hitting 'enter'.
• When prompted to enter password, type it, before hitting 'enter'. Otherwise, in the absence of password, just hit 'enter'.
• Type the following in the command prompt before hitting 'enter' again (X refers to CD-ROM drive, and D refers to the boot partition where the problem is coming):
copy X:\i386\ntfs.sys D:\windows\system32\drivers

This done, your Windows XP system should work fine, unless some other problem has been causing this kind of problem.

Well, if the above methods are not working , then In such a situation, you will have to format the drive, and reinstall the OS. However, the data that is lost will have to be retrieved with the help of updated backup. But , in case you don’t have the backup, then you have a problem. Still there is no need to worry , unless you have hard drive recovery software. These are third party windows hard drive recovery tools that comprehensively recovery data from your hard drive.

HDD recovery tool to overcome the System hive corruption in Windows 2000

2010-09-27T00:06:00.000-07:00

In the Windows systems, the System hive is the place where the backup of the registries containing the keys, subkeys, and their values is stored. For each user profile, a separate system hive is created to keep the record of each and every activity. However, sometimes the System hive gets damaged due to several issues that can even make the system inaccessible. In such situations, you can use various system recovery methods. If these methods do not work, then this situation calls for a professional Windows hard drive recovery software to recover hard drive.

Consider a scenario in which you restart your Windows 2000 system and it fails to start. The following error message is displayed in this case:

“Windows could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt:\WINNT\SYSTEM32\CONFIG\SYSTEMced”

Note: The 'ced' letters displayed at the end of the error message is actually not part of the error. It is probably part of the previous screen, which was not overwritten when this error appeared.

In addition, you may get the following error message as well:

“System hive error”

Cause:
There could be the following causes for this problem:
•A PCI (Peripheral Computer Interconnect) controller card of Promise Technology, Inc. make is installed in your computer.
•The System hive in your system is either missing or damaged.

Resolution:
There could be the following resolutions for this startup problem:
•Removing the PCI controller: You should remove the PCI controller, then check the BIOS settings to see if the PCI controller is enabled on the motherboard. Restart the system.
•Restoring a backup of the System hive: You should use the Repair Console tool to restore the backup copy of the System hive. If your system does not have Repair Console, then you should run it from the Emergency Repair process.
•Reducing the System hive's size: At times, when too many resources are shared on the system the hive becomes too large and difficult to manage. In such cases, you should reduce the size of the System hive.

If the system is still not resolved, then you would need to use a third-party hard drive recovery utility to recover hard drive. Superb user interface along with the capability to recover data any damage are few of the benefits of these hard drive recovery tools.

The best hard drive recovery software that I would suggest you is Stellar Phoenix Windows Data Recovery that recovers hard drive from different types of storage media. Supporting hard drive recovery from NTFS, FAT, and exFAT file systems, this Windows hard drive recovery tool is compatible with Windows 7, Vista, Server 2003, XP, and 2000.

Data recovery services to overcome hard disk failure

2010-09-18T04:19:00.000-07:00

If your computer's hard disk suffers a physical damage, you might have to face serious data loss problems. In an event of physical damage, your computer may not boot or you may encounter an error message while starting or using your computer.

Hard drive failures are not rare and therefore, each and every computer user should prepare himself to combat such terrible situations. Since hard drive failures are not always predictable and lead to grave data inaccessibility problems, you must take regular backups of your vital data. Backups help a great deal when you come face-to-face with hard drive crash-like situations. However, if you encounter a hard drive failure and have no means to restore the lost data, you must acquire specialized data recovery services.

Hard drive recovery services in New Jersey are provided by many companies. Though, the place boasts of several reputed data recovery companies, you must do your own groundwork to find one which suits your requirements. Data recovery services in NJ can be attained in both the logical and physical damage cases, regardless of the make/model/interface of hard drives.

Acquiring professional services is considered the best way to deal a hard drive failure situation. Let's consider a scenario which not only presents a practical case of hard drive failure but reinforces the benefits associated with availing data recovery services. Imagine a situation, wherein, you start your Windows XP-based system and receive the following error message:

"Hard disk drive failure"

When you start your computer from a Windows 98 startup disk, and then try to execute Fdisk.exe program, you may receive the following error message:

"No fixed disk present"

Cause

•If the hard disk in question is not installed correctly
•If the hard disk is not configured properly in the BIOS
•Or if the hard disk is damaged

Resolution

For installation and configuration related issues of the hard drive, you have to contact your computer manufacturer. However, if you suspect damage and the error message persists even after observing the corrective steps, then contact hard drive recovery experts immediately. Recovery experts would ensure that you get back the lost or deleted data.

Stellar Data Recovery Inc has established an excellent reputation by delivering efficient and safe data recovery services New Jersey. Besides CLASS 100 Clean Rooms, the company boasts of a vast array of top-notch data recovery tools and a team of highly experienced technicians. Stellar's experts are proficient in carrying successful recoveries and adhere to strict data confidentiality norms.

Data Recovery from old hard drives

2010-09-12T22:33:00.000-07:00

I have already crashed my three hard drives since I started working on computers. Imagine each time I have lost all my precious pictures, songs, videos, all were lost. Not only that my important project files were all lost.

I didn't even know if I should mourn the loss of my songs, videos, pictures, mails, or try to get back all the contacts, or re-create the projects that I had to submit in my school (that was when I had lost my first drive), or college (in case of the second drive). And I must say, that have graduated in losing my data to hard drive failure. Though, I have learnt to backup my data, the hard way! But here I must add that even if you haven't taken a backup of your data, it is today possible to recover hard drive data.

When I had first lost my hard drive, I had started hating the manufacturer of that drive. It was a tough time for me! Trying to collect all the things that I could! But there had been some things which I couldn't save! Then I had kept the hard drive as a reminder of the bad times. Same happened with the second drive. But this third time, I knew something had to be done! I searched on the Internet, and there was a lot of information that I gathered.

Hard drives are nothing but a collection of some electromechanical parts, that work hand-in-hand with each other. One of these parts is called platter. As long as this part is intact, then data is safe. So my old friends contact numbers, and my first date's mails should be safe, not to forget the innumerable pictures, audios and videos of the good times spent with friends, and loved ones. So if adequate measures are taken, it is possible to perform hard drive recovery.

I have bought a software to recover hard drive data from all the three hard drives. I installed a software on a new hard drive, connected one of the non-functional hard drive to it, and recovered all the data stored in them one after the other.

Stellar Information Systems Ltd. has a good number of recovery tools that have been specifically designed to to solve all your hard drive recovery needs.

Lets Analyze the causes and prevention of Hard Drive Failure

2010-09-08T23:23:00.000-07:00

Although there have been several advancements in the field of hard drive, like very high storage capacity, reduced pricing, reduction in problems occurring due to failure of hard drives, it has still not been possible to completely get rid of hard drive failure and data loss occurring due to such failure. Not all problems can be resolved using the inbuilt tools of the operating systems. That is why; the need for hard drive data recovery has been felt greatly. To make that possible, a good number of reliable hard drive recovery software has been felt since long.

Hard drives fail due to various reasons, and can be recognized by following symptoms:

• System performs slowly
• You might encounter the BSOD (Blue Screen of Death) or some Stop error message.
• Files once saved at a location may not be available
• The system may freeze often
• System stops responding at the time of boot up
• System refuses to boot

One should always test to find out if these errors have been caused by hard drive failure. To analyze this, one should:

• check the hard drive controllers and the power cable
• ensure that the Basic Input/Output System (BIOS) detects the hard drive
• check the consistency and integrity of the drive using disk repair utilities
• scan the hard drive for boot viruses

In case of corruption of system files, or the data structure, you will have to recover data using backup. In these data loss situations, backups are the most vital tools in the hand of the user.

However, if you do not have any backup, then hard drive recovery software is the only option to overcome the disaster. These are third-party software that perform recovery after any data loss instance. With powerful recovery algorithms, these software recover data by scanning every single sector of the hard drive.

Hard Drive Data Loss - Is not a panic any more

2010-09-06T00:05:00.000-07:00

Hard drives are the heart of any computer, whether it’s a personal computer or a supercomputer. The basic interior of all the hard drives (independent of the manufacturer) is similar. The Western Digital, Seagate, Maxtor, Hitachi, Samsung, Fujitsu are the main players of this game. All the programs and applications are stored here.

Sometimes, issues arise which lead to data loss scenarios in our hard drives. These issues include:

•Corruption of file system
•Cross linking of files
•Improper shut down of the system
•Corruption of the master boot sector
•Corruption of boot sector

In such situations the only thing that can save the work of a user is a valid and updated backup. A backup can be taken on any device, including, tapes, USB drives, external devices, or even in the same hard drive. It is also possible to keep a backup online. A backup can be used to recover hard drive data, irrespective of the reason of data loss. But for all those who have either not maintained a backup, or have a backup, which is not valid or updated, there is still some help available.

With the advancement of technology, it has become possible to perform hard drive recovery after data loss owing to the above mentioned reasons. It is also possible to recover data that has been lost due to different reasons, including, files lost due to emptying of recycle bin or due to pressing of the 'Delete' button while 'Shift' key was pressed, data lost due to formatting or resizing of a particular drive, or due to formatting of the whole disk. There are reliable third party hard drive recovery software that are available in the market today.

Did you find your Windows XP inaccessible after upgradation?

2010-09-02T23:39:00.000-07:00

When we upgrade Windows XP on your system then it may not pay off well. It may show some problems because of damage of some setup files on the hard disk, which does not get overwritten during the upgrade process. Here some corrective measures need to be taken to resolve the issue and if it is not get solved , then a hard drive recovery software is the ultimate solution.

These are the possible error messages :

•C0000221 (Bad Image Checksum)”
•“STOP: C0000221 - Bad Image Checksum in ModuleName”
•“STOP: C0000221 - Bad Image Checksum. User32.dll is possibly corrupt. The header check sum does not match the computed check sum.”

The possible causes behind these errors are :
•There is a damaged file in the Windows folder, and when you performed the upgrade this file was not overwritten by the Setup program.
•One or all of the RAM (Random Access Memory) memory modules, which are fixed in the motherboard, are defective. It may be possible that the RAM configuration is not compatible.

The issue can be fixed through any of these methods
•Copy the User32.dll file from Setup CD: You should run the Windows XP Setup CD to overwrite the damaged User32.dll file. Restart the system after copying the file.
•Remove or replace the problem RAM: You should replace the existing RAM from a new RAM. Or else, try to use different combinations of RAM to check and remove the faulty RAM.
•Install Windows to a different folder: You should perform a parallel installation to another folder.

Although the above methods are very effective to resolve the issue but in case they fail, then the user must switch to some third party hdd recovery software. Stellar Phoenix Windows Data Recovery, is one of the most prestigious name in the field of hard drive recovery software. I have tried it and done a lot of research to test it in different circumstances. It is applicable to deal with exFAT, FAT, and NTFS file systems.

Laptop overheating: a cause of data loss

2010-08-30T21:11:00.000-07:00

Laptop users have an edge over desktop users in terms of ease of use, portability and convenience. But, it has been observed that individuals using laptops are constantly plagued by various issues. One of the major ones is overheating. Laptop owners have to accept this vulnerability of their portable devices with a pinch of salt. The problem is prominent in laptops because they host CPU chips, video chips and transistors in close proximity which can give rise to enormous amount of heat. Moreover, laptops can succumb to overheating due to faulty design which doesn't allow proper ventilation or cooling. Whatever the cause behind overheating, the fact is your vital data is at stake.

There can be instances when your laptop may shut down abruptly and you may lose all of your important information. If you come face-to-face with a data disaster due to overheating, you can lessen its impact provided you have maintained a sound backup. And, the unfortunate souls who haven't got a backup should get in touch with laptop recovery experts to avail data recovery services.

Laptop owners in New Jersey need not be worried about data recovery options. The state is a house to flourishing data recovery industry, which has empowered individuals to seek professional help in any event of data disaster. If you are a New Jersey resident and have lost your vital data from laptop due to overheating, it is recommended you avail immediate data recovery services New Jersey.

What are the warning signals?

If your laptop gets switched off abruptly, and that too frequently
If the area where the cooling system of your laptop is placed remains hot
If the cooling fan in your laptop fails
If the cooling fan of your laptop run ceaselessly

What causes overheating in laptops?

Overheating can result from blockage in air vents and fan
When the software built to maintain or regulate the cooling fans fail to work properly (in cases when you upgrade from one version of Windows to another)
Poor design can also lead to laptop overheating.

You can experience fatal consequences due to overheating which includes washing your hands off mission critical, personal or confidential data. However, you can acquire data recovery services to retrieve information from a laptop which died due to overheating.

For affordable and reliable data recovery services in New Jersey, you can contact Stellar Data Recovery Inc, an Edison-based data recovery company. The company has a team of highly-skilled laptop recovery experts and necessary tools. Moreover, you can trust the experts with the security of your data as Stellar follows strict norms of confidentiality.

Data recovery in case of 'Data error reading drive'

2010-08-25T00:18:00.000-07:00

A hard disk failure is more than enough to send shivers down a computer user's spine. A hard disk damage means a lot than just losing vital data. In absence of mission critical data or personal information, an individual cannot work properly. And, the consequences of data loss can vary depending on the nature and extent of data loss. Such situations can knock at your door anytime, and sometimes you do not even get a prior warning signal or any error message.

You can sail through such situations and replace the damaged hard drive with a new one only if you have a clean and updated backup copy of the data. And, in case you do not have a backup, then the only hope lies in availing immediate data recovery services.

For individuals and organizations in New Jersey availing hard drive recovery services is never a daunting task. The place, which is an epicenter of business in the US, has given many remunerative options to various industries in order to assist them in getting established here. And, this has served as the impetus for the ever-blooming data recovery industry as well. Data recovery services in NJ can be availed from a reputed company which has a rich experience in tackling variety of data recovery cases from different storage media including hard drives.

In order to make you understand why and when you would require hard drive recovery services, let's consider a real-world situation. Consider a scenario, wherein, you have a Windows-based system, and when you start your computer, you may notice the following error message:

"Data error reading drive "

What could be the reason behind error?

As soon as you encounter the above error message, you would like to get to the root of it. The above error message hints towards presence of damaged data or physical damage on the hard drive of your system.

What should be done?

The ideal way to deal the error message is running ScanDisk utility. This option lets you scan the hard disk for damaged data and any physical damage. If it detects damaged data, it might repair it or give you an option to save it to a separate file or completely discard it.

And, if it detects a physical damage, then you have to replace the faulty hard disk with a new one. Meanwhile, you have to acquire professional data recovery services to retrieve data from the damaged hard drive.

Data recovery from physically damaged hard drive is always performed in the sterilized environment of CLASS 100 Clean Room. Edison-based Stellar Data Recovery Inc possess all the necessary resources (highly-skilled technicians, recovery tools, clean rooms, etc) to facilitate hard drive recovery services, irrespective of the interface and make/model. The company has a proven record in delivering reliable and fast data recovery services in New Jersey.

How to resolve '-39 error (Logical End-of-file reached during read operation)' Mac error

2010-08-18T21:35:00.000-07:00

Every single thing you do with a computer, it interprets a systematic process inside. As an end user, we may never know the series of operations inside a Mac computer while we are just reading a file or writing into it. This is the theme of the article, that is, if any of the internal processes fails, the data we are accessing is lost or becomes inaccessible.

In that situation, the root cause of the error must be resolved, along side, we have to take the help of any Mac recovery software to recover & restore the lost or inaccessible data.

Scenario:

While in the process of reading a particular file, the system got halted and an error message popped up. Then, the booting process ceases each time you try to start your Mac PC and propels you to look for any mac recovery option. The error message may read as bellow:

Error:

"-39 error (Logical End-of-file reached during read operation) "

Probable cause:

The Macintosh system was expecting a marker, that can show the end of the file in the disk. Hence, from the initial investigation, the reason behind the above error is that either the marker is missing or it is in the wrong place. This must be due to a system crash or an improper shut down. However, a corrupted file or a serious hard disk error can also be the reason behind.

Resolution:

If the drive is accessible, try to use the command IMPORT or INSERT from inside a new document. In many occasions, this process works.

If the hard drive is accessible, then try to copy/move the particular file, which is giving that -39 error, to another disk. Sometimes, this also resolves the error.

If both the measures fail, and backup is available, make a clone of the backup. Then, try to import that troubled file form the clone of the backup.

If all the measures fail, the only hope lies with any mac hard drive recovery, in order to recover and restore your lost file.
software

The mac recovery software come with advanced recovery mechanisms to search the lost files and then recover it from the Mac hard drive. These Mac hard drive recovery applications are efficient as yet easy to use. In fact, these tools don't even require any technical expertise or knowledge.

Stellar Phoenix Macintosh Data Recovery is one of industry's best known Mac recovery utilities. It employs powerful scanning algorithms to retrieve all types of files, including MXF, MUS, PMD, EPS, PTF, AAC, NSF, SHW, PS, VMX, ENC, fh3, fh5, fh7, fh8, fh9, fh10, fh11 etc. Moreover, this software comes with a boot DVD to recover data from non-booting Mac systems and is compatible with Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard, 10.5 Leopard, 10.3.9 Panther, 10.4 Tiger.

Know your hard drive in a better way

2010-08-18T00:04:00.000-07:00

A hard drive, also known as a hard disk drive or HDD, is a fundamental part of modern computers. The hard drive is where all of your programs and files are stored, so if the drive is damaged for some reason, you will lose everything on your computer.

A hard drive uses similar memory storage technology to cassette tapes and video tapes. You may already know that tapes store information on long, thin strips of tape with a delicate magnetic material on its surface. Likewise, hard drives contain round, mirror-like platters that are covered with that same magnetic recording medium

The platters inside a hard disk drive are usually made of glass or aluminum. It is the polished magnetic material on the surface that makes the platter appear shiny, like a mirror. A clean, polished surface is critical to the proper functioning of the hard drive — even the smallest spec of dust can cause irreparable damage.

Just as a head inside of your cassette player or VHS player reads the data on the tape, a head inside your hard disk drive reads and writes data to the platters. This head is on an arm that is attached next to the platters, so that it can pivot back and forth over the them.

The average modern hard disk drive has several platters inside of it, stacked one on top of the other, like an Oreo cookie. There is a small gap between each platter, which allows each platter’s head to pass over it. The heads are all on the same arm, which has a separate branch for each head, rather like the tines of a fork turned on its side.

When you turn your computer on, the platters immediately begin to spin. The platters in a desktop computer hard disk drive typically get up to about 7,200 rotations per minute (rpm), while the hard drives in laptop computers usually run at 5,400 rpm. You may be able to hear the steady hum of your hard drive when the fan is not running.

When your computer is on but you are not retrieving or writing anything to the memory, the platters in the hard disk drive are always spinning. The arm with the heads on it, however, only begins to move when you run a program or open, save, or delete a file. This arm can move back and forth across the surface of the platter as many as 50 times in a single second, causing it to appear as a blur if you ever have the opportunity to watch. Because everything in the hard disk drive moves so quickly, the head never actually touches the platters, instead skimming just barely above them, supported by a cushion of moving air that is generated by the platters’ spinning.

The rapid motion of the platters and heads inside your hard disk drive make it susceptible to “head crash,” which is where the heads crash into the platters. Several different things can cause head crash. If dust gets into your hard drive and settles on the platters, it can actually cause the arm to bounce as the disk operates. The magnetic recording medium is extremely fragile, and is often ruined when the heads crash into the platters.

In these situations a user needs to go for hard drive recovery services in order to get all his data back, in their original form.

Visit: http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-a-hard-drive.htm

Hard Drives Fail Much Frequently Than Makers Estimate

2010-08-16T03:26:00.000-07:00

The users replace disk drives at rates far higher than those suggested by the estimated mean time between failure (MTBF) supplied by drive vendors, according to a study of about 100,000 drives conducted by Carnegie Mellon University.The study, presented last month at the 5th USENIX Conference on File and Storage Technologies in San Jose, also shows no evidence that Fibre Channel (FC) drives are any more reliable than less expensive but slower performing Serial ATA (SATA) drives.

That surprising comparison of FC and SATA reliability could speed the trend away from FC to SATA drives for applications such as near-line storage and backup, where storage capacity and cost are more important than sheer performance, analysts said.

At the same conference, another study of more than 100,000 drives in data centers run by Google indicated that temperature seems to have little effect on drive reliability, even as vendors and customers struggle to keep temperature down in their tightly packed data centers. Together, the results show how little information customers have to predict the reliability of disk drives in actual operating conditions and how to choose among various drive types.

Learn more

Hard drive recovery

Hard drive review- Crucial RealSSD C300

2010-08-06T23:47:00.000-07:00

Crucial recently launched the RealSSD C300; their highest performing SSD. Available in capacities up to 256GB, this SSD is highlighted by the latest SATA 6.0Gbps interface yielding advertised read speeds of up to 355MB/s and writes of 215MB/s, which Crucial calls the, "fastest SSD read and write speeds available to end consumers." With so many high performing drives on the market, including the newest SandForce-equipped models and the tried-and-true Intel X25-M, should buyers pay attention to this new model?

If the excitement around the announcement of the C300 at CES in January of this year is any indication, then the answer is a resounding yes. The C300 falls soundly in the high-end performance category of SSDs, and executes with the first SATA III (6Gbps) interface in a consumer-level SSD. But spec sheets often don't tell the real story, only a battery of successful tests in our labs will get us excited.

After a few weeks with the C300, consider us very impressed, with just one caveat - the drive really wants a fast connection. Even though it's backward compatible with the SATA II interface, performance falls off dramatically. But in the right scenario, Crucial's C300 hums along like no other SSD we've had through our labs.

Hard drive recovery

For more visit: http://www.storagereview.com/crucial_realssd_c300_review_256gb

Physical Hard Drive Failure - Hard drive recovery services

2010-07-29T00:06:00.000-07:00

what is hard drive crash?

Operating system crash and a hard drive crash are two different things. If either of these fails your data becomes inaccessible. Although it retains on hard drive but but it is still there. Of course, you should have a backup and an image of your computer data in order to get them back.;

Physical Hard Drive Failure - Hard drive recovery services

If it is a physical failure you can hear the grinding and clicking noise. But there is no need to worry about it since there is still a very good possibility to recover that data. You will know if it is a physical failure by the noise the drive will make.

Try to clone your hard drive to a new hard drive. But please be careful because it is risky. In case the process fails or the hard ware gets failed , the entire data becomes in accessible . The best suggestion is to remove the hard drive , Place it at some other system and try to retrieve data using a third party data recovery solution.

In case the software are not able to serve the purpose , then there increases the chances of physical damage. In such cases the user should consult a hard drive recovery services provider.

Although the modern hard drives are much more reliable than they were 25 years ago but the factor like water , mud, dust etc. can cause the damage when the personal computers hit the market, hard drives are still one of the weakest components in your system.

If hard drive is damaged to a very large extent and the system cannot see the hard drive, then you may need to send the drive out to a data recovery solution. Stellar Data Recovery Services is the renowned name in this field .

Promotion of new hybrid technology hard drive

2010-07-26T21:17:00.000-07:00

TOKYO -- The five largest hard drive manufacturers will work together to promote a new technology that promises to improve system performance, the companies announced today.

Hitachi, Seagate, Fujitsu, Samsung, and Toshiba have formed the Hybrid Storage Alliance group to promote the technology, which is expected to come to market later in the first quarter.

How It Works

Hybrid disks include flash memory that works like a buffer between the computer system and the hard disk. The memory is used for short-term storage heading both to and from the disk and reduces the amount of time the disk spins. That will reduce power consumption; a performance boost is also expected because reading and writing data from flash memory is significantly faster than from a disk.

"It takes advantage of the capacity of the hard-disk drive and the snappiness of solid-state technology," said Marc Noblitt, senior interface market development manager with Seagate. "When the PC comes out of hibernate it has the correct data in the flash to come out much quicker."

The technology has been developed by Microsoft and support is built into the new Vista operating system that goes on general sale on January 30. It's designed to eliminate the delay familiar to many computer users while the machine locates and loads a file from the hard disk. By anticipating the next required file and having it in flash memory the system can get it immediately.

The group will evangelize the technology to users and seeks to expand beyond its five members to companies such as chip set vendors and benchmark system makers, said Joni Clark, product marketing manager for notebooks at Seagate.

Several of the companies have already demonstrated prototype drives with built-in flash memory.

Last year Samsung demonstrated drives with 128MB and 256MB of embedded flash at the Windows Hardware Engineering Conference (WinHEC) in Seattle in May and followed up in July by announcing the development of a drive with 4GB of flash memory. Both Seagate and Hitachi are planning drives.

Intel's Rival Technology

Hybrid drives face competition from an Intel-backed technology called Robson, which seeks to achieve the same benefits by placing a flash memory cache in the computer. The Intel system is due in new laptops starting in the second quarter of this year. It has the advantage of working with any current hard disk but requires a new interface card, said Noblitt.

"On-boot performance and overall performance both should be comparable," said Noblitt. When it comes to battery performance, he thought hybrid will have the edge: "We're storage companies and we know when best to get data, so we think we'll have the advantage."

Hard drive recovery

Courtesy: http://www.pcworld.com/article/128395/hard_drive_rivals_promote_new_hybrid_technology.html

Desktop recovery services in New Jersey

2010-07-19T02:44:00.000-07:00

Computers have become ubiquitous in today's modern life. Despite being the lifeline of small to large size businesses, they have gained immense importance for an individual. The information stored in computers is, thus, very important. In events of crash, work totally comes to a halt, leaving both an individual and organization in a helpless situation. Whatever the cause behind a crash or failure, the priority is to rescue the crucial data.

Both individuals and organizations cannot afford to party away with their valuable data. For an individual a data disaster means loss of important personal, confidential or sensitive documents. While for an organization, data loss can lead to heavy loss of productivity, revenues, credibility and goodwill. Dealing with such unfortunate situations at lightening speed is the key to minimize their impact and ensure business continuity. And, the best way to get the effective results is acquiring professional data recovery services.

A number of companies have established themselves in New Jersey with the sole aim of delivering genuine and cost effective desktop recovery services to both individuals and organizations. Data recovery services NJ can be be availed for almost all makes and models of desktops, irrespective of the causes behind data loss.

Data loss causes

A desktop can render data inaccessible in many cases including hard drive failure, spindle motor failure, overwritten MFT, MBR corruption, PCB crash, operating system malfunction, virus attacks, power surges, media surface contamination etc. Besides logical and physical failures, data can be lost in events like accidental deletion of files and folders or accidental formatting and others. Be it any cause, data recovery experts are always there to give you timely assistance and personalized solutions.

Steps to avoid further damage

When you come face-to-face with a data loss situation, do not try to perform data recovery on your own by using freeware or other tools available on the Internet. Desktop data recovery is a tricky job and should be handled by only experts. However, you can observe the following steps in order to

ensure that data does not suffer any further damage:

Switch off your computer system immediately
Do not attempt to reboot your system
Do not try to open the hard drive
Do not employ any data recovery software

After observing the above mentioned precautionary measures, you can get in touch with the experts immediately. By seeking timely data recovery services, you give a boost to the possibilities of successful recovery of data.

Stellar Data Recovery Inc specializes in providing reliable data recovery servicesNew Jersey. The company's desktop data recovery experts use advanced tools and techniques to achieve best data recovery results, regardless of operating systems and hard drive makes. Invasive recoveries, in case of physically damaged hard drives, are performed in Class 100 clean rooms. in

Data recovery services after failed RAID array

2010-07-16T03:23:00.000-07:00

If your organization has ever suffered a RAID array failure, you probably know it better what it means. A RAID failure can bring a heap of miseries for an organization, which loses access to its mission critical data. In such situations, it becomes essential to recover the lost data and know the possible causes behind such a catastrophe.

Luckily, you can approach RAID recovery experts and seek professional services. By acquiring immediate data recovery services, you can mitigate the impact of various RAID failure consequences.

Organizations settled in New Jersey do not need to bother about existence of good data recovery companies. Since the place holds a remarkable significance in terms of business, many good ventures have come up in the past few years to help organizations fight data disasters like RAID failure. You can seek specialized data recovery services in NJ, irrespective of the reasons behind RAID failure.

Although you might be familiar with the concept of RAID technology, it is a good idea to take a quick recap and understand the various possible causes behind failure. RAID, Redundant Array of Inexpensive/Independent disks, is a technology which helps organizations achieve enhanced storage dependability by way of redundancy, merging several low-costs disks into a logical unit, where all drives in an array are independent.

Though, RAID arrays enable organizations to get fault-tolerance, data protection, increased input/output performance and larger capacity, they have a downside too. These highly reliable and complex RAID systems can crash and render data inaccessible in many instances. Some of the issues which can adversely affect RAID arrays include RAID controller failure, multiple drive failure, power spikes/outages, volume reconstruction problem, or natural disasters etc.

In the above-mentioned and all other data loss situations from a RAID array, it is advisable to take assistance from a reputed data recovery company. Such companies have a rich experience in providing data recovery services in almost all RAID failure scenarios. Moreover, these companies have all the necessary resources in terms of workforce and proprietary tools to carry out RAID recovery jobs efficiently. But, always make it sure that you do a proper research on the company before assigning it with a recovery job.

Stellar Data Recovery Inc is a leader in providing reliable and cost-effective data recovery services New Jersey. RAID recovery, in case of physically damaged hard drives, is performed in Class 100 Clean Rooms by highly-trained RAID engineers. The company offers personalized data recovery solutions for different RAID levels (RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 2, RAID 6) and hard drive makes (SATA, IDE, EIDE, SCSI etc).

Laptop hard drive crash: Warning signals and data recovery

2010-07-12T00:15:00.000-07:00

Most laptop owners never seem to be bothered about the health of their hard drives. In case of unfortunate hard drive failures, they end up parting away with valuable data which resides on their laptops. And, the worst part is they were not even prepared for it. The same thing can happen to you as well if you do not periodically check the hard drive's status and chalk out some disaster combating strategies.

If you remain forewarned and cautious, you can save yourself from the trauma of losing valuable data. However, if your laptop still experiences a hard drive failure and renders your data inaccessible, do not need to worry. You can recover lost data, even if you do not possess a valid backup, by acquiring professional data recovery services.

Laptop recovery services are now being offered by many data recovery companies in New Jersey. These companies have settled themselves in NJ, which is considered as a business hub, in order to assure number of professional and home users of their personal, sensitive and confidential data. And, the best part is you can avail specialized data recovery services in NJ at reasonable rates.

Laptop hard drive crash - Some warning signals

You can predict an imminent hard drive failure, in case of a laptop, by acquiring knowledge on the various warning signals which a soon-to-die hard drive exhibits. Here is a list of some common symptoms:

BSOD refers to as Blue Screen of Death. This appears when your laptop suffers from serious hardware related issues. In most cases, it is linked to a damaged hard drive.
Faulty hardware or hard disk can cause your laptop to freeze too often.
If your laptop refuses to boot, the odds are that the hard drive has already suffered a crash.
Error messages like "Hard drive not formatted" or Operating System not found" clearly signal towards damaged hard drive. Try re-seating the hard drive, if it doesn't help then it has already failed.

In some situations, you might get time to take backup of the data on some other storage media. If your hard drive has already crashed or you are unable to rescue your vital data, get in touch with hard drive experts immediately.

And, do make sure you contact a reputed and reliable data recovery company which has a rich experience in delivering data recovery services. This way you ensure the safety and security of your data.

Stellar Data Recovery Inc is a leader in offering efficient and personalized data recovery services in New Jersey. The data recovery company has a team of highly-skilled technicians and a vast array of advanced tools to carry out recovery from different hard disks in almost all data loss scenarios. For invasive recoveries, in case of physically damaged hard drives, Stellar has Class 100 Clean Rooms

New Jersey Hard drive Recovery services

2010-07-06T04:48:00.000-07:00

Hard drive is the most important component of a computer. And, hard drive failure is a worst nightmare for any computer user. A hard drive crash can spell doom on an organization or individual since it leads to significant data loss. As symptoms, you may come across various error messages, or BSOD (Blue Screen of Death) or strange whirring and grinding noises.

In such situations, you can restrict the backlashes to a certain minimum level if you have an updated backup of the inaccessible or lost data. This way you would be able to resume work at least. But, if you do not have resources to extract data from, do not need to get panicky. You can recover the lost data efficiently provided you get in touch with experts timely and avail data recovery services.

Hard drive recovery services are now extensively offered by numerous data recovery companies across the world. And, if you are settled in New Jersey, you won't have a problem locating a good data recovery company. Many companies are providing specialized data recovery services in NJ in their bid to assure businesses and individuals of their mission critical data. In fact, you can approach hard drive recovery experts from a reliable company online and send the storage media to them. Moreover, you can get a suitable price quote via e-mail, and then you can give a nod to experts for recovery after coming to terms with the diagnosis and recovery cost almost instantly.

Hard drive failures can be broadly categorized as: physical and logical failures. If a hard drive is not being detected by your system's BIOS, the chances are that it has suffered a major physical crash. Physical failures can surface in many instances such as head crash, spindle motor damage, power fluctuations or outages among others. On the other hand, logical failure can erupt in scenarios like file system corruption, virus attacks, accidental deletion of data, MBR (Master Boot Record) corruption, overwritten MFT (Master File Table) and others.

Fortunately, hard drive recovery is possible in all cases, irrespective of the hard drive make, model or interface. All you have to do is find a data recovery company which has a rich experience in providing quality data recovery services to its clients.

Stellar Data Recovery Inc is a leader in offering reasonable and personalized data recovery services in New Jersey. The data recovery company has a team of highly-skilled technicians and a vast array of advanced tools to carry out recovery from various hard disks in almost all data loss scenarios. For invasive recoveries, in case of physically damaged hard drives, Stellar has Class 100 Clean Rooms.

Recover Linux hard drive in a dual boot system

2010-07-01T21:34:00.000-07:00

A lot of us use the dual boot systems in which multiple operating systems, such as Windows and Linux, can be accommodated in an effort to get the best of all worlds. Using such systems can be very helpful when you have to test certain software on various platforms. In these systems, you have the option to switch to the particular system at the startup.

However, sometimes due to various reasons the system is unable to start. In such situations, you should resort to performing in-place methods to fix the problem. If you are not able to address the situation, then you should use a third-party Linux recovery software to resolve the issue.

Consider a scenario wherein you have converted your system in a dual-boot system with Windows XP and RedHat Linux distribution. While in the Windows system, you accidentally clicked the 'Hibernate' option instead of the 'Shut Down' option. Now, when you start your system you are unable to do so.

Cause:

The root cause of this problematic situation is that when you chose to hibernate rather than shut down, then the MBR may have got overwritten by the GRUB. Therefore, you are unable to start the Linux system.

Resolution:

To resolve this issue, you need to restore the GRUB. To do this, you need to perform the following steps:

Boot the system with the Fedora (RedHat) distribution CD.
At the boot prompt, enter the following command and press Enter.

boot: linux rescue

You will prompted for few questions. Answer them and the Fedora installer will mount the system in the /mnt/sysimage directory.
Make the directory as your root directory by using the following command:

# chroot /mnt/sysimage

# _

From here, use the following command to install GRUB loader on the MBR:

# grub-install /dev/hda

Restart the system. It should be able to boot properly now.

And Even if you are not able to resolve the issue then you must go for a third party hard drive recovery software to tackle the problem.

Solve ‘ The volume appears to contain...’Error

2010-06-28T01:49:00.000-07:00

In Windows computer, running chkdsk fixes file system hard drive issues. Lots of instance in which chkdsk has failed because of its limited capabilities. If the hard drive problems do not allow you to boot the computer, the stored data become inaccessible. There are the situations when you need the help of third party tool Hard Drive Data Recovery software, when no invalid data backup available.

Let assume a real time scenario when your hard drive data inaccessible by all means. Consider a scenario when you use a Windows computer that fails to boot with an unmountable boot volume or similar error. Such problems requires to enter Recovery Console and run chkdsk from its command prompt. The following error message will displayed on your screen.

“The volume appears to contain one or more unrecoverable problems”

Methods to Solve
The above error occurs, when there is a missing or corrupt system file. If this is the case, you should first try Windows repair install and if repair doesn’t seem to work. To restore deleted data, you need to use your latest data backup.
A corrupt MBR partition table, or boot sector is known to cause same kind of issues. For repair, you need to enter Recovery console and run command like fixmbr or fixboot. In worst cases, a clean reinstall.

Any of the cases, if you fall short of restoring deleted data from backup, it is recommended to use a Hard Drive Recovery software. In some case. It proves to be more convenient to first try the demo version of such hard drive recovery tool.

Handle “STOP: 0×0000007B” Error in Windows

2010-06-25T05:11:00.000-07:00

Sometimes we get “Inaccessible Boot Device” error while booting a Windows computer. This situation can result in an inaccessible hard drive data and a serious data loss situation. This may be overcome by using hard drive recovery software.

The following error message is displayed.

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

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.”

To rectify the problem, it is necessary to identify the reason behind this.

Reason of the issue:

This problem may occur due to any of the following reasons:

Virus infected boot sector- The viruses have damaged the boot sector of your Windows computer. There are various boot sector viruses that make your system totally unbootable. If it is an intermittent problem, check your system for viruses.

Problems with device drivers- A corrupt boot controller or Windows registry information about the device driver can lead to this issue.

Corrupt boot volume- The Windows XP boot volume is damaged and it can not be initiated. In case file system is damaged and Windows is unable to initiate boot volume while booting, you can either try creating a parallel installation or running chkdsk on the drive by attaching to another Windows computer.

If you are unable to fix the problem using above fixes, hard drive data recovery becomes need of hour.

Recovery is best possible using powerful and advanced hard drive recovery
software. The applications use advanced scanning techniques to ensure absolute recovery of all your lost data.

High Speed Hard Drive Performance

2010-06-24T03:27:00.000-07:00

The most important and the delicate part of a system is its hard drive. Your total data is stored on that little electronic media. Here we are going to discuss few tips to increase your hard drive performance and avoid some of the common pitfalls of hard drive.

Defragmentation : This could conceivably increase the hard drive life. The longer a hard drive runs the more the files get fragmented. This slows down the system's performance causing due to more search tasks. Defragmenting the drive arranges the files on hard drive in more orderly structure, decreasing the time taken to seek out bits of a file and in the process helping you get the best possible performance from your drive.

Defrag hard drive atleast once a month. The user should make it a scheduled task to get maximum out of it.

Windows "Disk Cleanup" avail some free space on hard drive space, which is always helpful for your hard drive.

Always try to avoid heat and vibration in the hard drive. Many users don't consider heat to be more hazardous. Although there is fan available with the system but it is able to cool it upto normal task only. Also, keeping a computer near any source of vibration (such as a large copy machine) is a bad idea; the vibrations can throw off the delicate internal mechanisms of a drive. Humidity is also bad news; ideally, your computer should be kept in a clean, open, dry area at a good room temperature.

Once a hard drive fails it needs to go for hard drive recovery services.

The best HDD Recovery Software - Read to get it now

2010-06-18T22:38:00.000-07:00

There exist an ample of data recovery software which can recover the inaccessible, corrupted, or damaged data that you really need. These software are applicable for all the storage devices including hard drive ,external drive, CD , pen drive etc.

In a Windows system, the command for recovery is chkdsk. This command also ensures whether the hard drive is in healthy condition or not. This can find, repair, or recover lost information. For those who have Mac systems, then Disk First Aid is the software to use. In UNIX, there is fsck.

In case , if these commands are not able to fix these issues then the user should go for some third party partition recovery software. These hard drive recovery software are able to fix the issue of missing partition and missing operating system also.

The HDD Recovery software can get back data even after a hard drive crash. Even if you don't know programming language, you can use it with its advanced user friendly features. Finally, the Undelete program can get you back those files that were deleted unintentionally.

Perhaps one of the most excellent data recovery software out there is Stellar Phoenix Windows Data Recovery Software V4.2 (The latest and advanced version). It is so powerful, in whatever way the file was deleted, it can still be recovered. Even a windows re-installation cannot prevent this program from recovering the files deleted this way. It is also fine tuned enough to recover about 185 file types.

Linux Hard Drive Recovery Software for recovery of lost data

2010-06-18T02:07:00.000-07:00

In a Linux system, all the data are stored in hard drive. It stores all your significant data, applications, and Linux operating system. It can be divided into various volumes for better management of data . The data is stored on moving magnetic platters, which provides extremely fast data accessing.

Although the function of hard drive is reliable but still a user is always suggested to create regular backup of your significant data to ensure absolute data safety. Backup is the identical copy of your precious data that helps you to prevent data loss and need of Linux hard drive recovery solutions.

Sometimes it may happen that, you may not access your valuable data from Linux hard drive, due to boot failure. The logical failure of Linux hard drive, could be the reason. The general reasons of linux hard drive failure are:

File system corruption- File system is a significant component of your Linux hard drive. It is used by Linux operating system to organize files/directories on hard drive. It file system is damaged, Linux can not locate the files/directories stored on disk and thus you come across data loss situations.
Virus Infection- Viruses are malicious programs, which may damage data and data structures on your Linux hard drive. They make your system unbootable, inaccessible, and unusable.
Running fsck on a mounted volume- Linux operating systems includes an inbuilt utility, fsck, to check the integrity of file system and fix minor corruption. In case you run this command-line tool on a mounted Linux volume, severe corruption and data loss may occur.
Improper system shutdown- If your system shuts down unexpectedly because of power outage or system crash, current system processes are not stopped properly.
Hard drive formatting- If you accidentally format your Linux hard drive, all the data is removed from it. Formatting also deletes critical system metadata structures.

If you encounter any of the above problems, you need to restore data from most recent backup and perform hard drive recovery.

You can easily retrieve your mission-critical data using advanced and powerful Linux hard drive recovery software. The applications offer easy and safe Linux hard drive recovery with simple user interface and non-destructive behavior.

How to Repair corrupted registry hive in Windows 2000?

2010-06-17T03:08:00.000-07:00

The Microsoft Windows systems have a registry which is the hierarchical database that possesses information of the configuration settings and miscellaneous options. The settings for the low-level system components as well as for the third-party applications are stored here. The corruption of these critical registry entries stops the system from booting .

It could be because of virus infections, abrupt system shutdown, hardware malfunctions, power outages, etc. In such cases, you should try using appropriate steps to address this situation. However, if you are not able to do so then you should use a third-party hard drive recovery software.

Consider a scenario wherein you are working on your Windows 2000 system. Suddenly, there is a power surge and the system shuts down abruptly. You switch on the system when the power is restored but fail to do so. An error message is displayed, that is:

“Windows could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt:
\WINNT\SYSTEM32\CONFIG\SYSTEMced”

Kindly note that the “ced” letters are not part of the message and were actually part of the error message in the previous screen.

Reasons

There could be various reasons for this error message.

A Promise Technology, Inc. ATA66 PCI controller card is installed in the computer.

The System hive in the registry is damaged or missing.

How to solve ?

To resolve this error message, you should perform either of the following methods:

Remove the Promise Technology ATA66 PCI Controller: Remove the Promise Technology ATA66 PCI controller card, check the BIOS settings to make sure that the IDE controller on your motherboard is enabled, and then run Windows 2000 Setup again.

Restore a Backup of the System Hive: Use the Repair Console tool to replace the backup copy of the System hive from the repair folder.

Reduce the Size of the System Hive: If a large number of resources are shared on the computer, the registry may become too large. So, you should reduce the size of the System Hive.

However, if the problem is still not solved, then a third-party hdd recovery software to recover hard drive. Such read-only tools are able to perform hard drive recovery and do not overwrite the hard drive while scanning it.

Disk Errors in Mac OS X Vs Mac Hard Drive Recovery Software

2010-06-16T00:31:00.000-07:00

Mac OS X hard drive computer possesses the operating system and applications installed in it. This media of data storage also stores your the critical and precious data on moving platters. Mac OS X hard drive is also prone to failure due to many reasons and it may lead to severe data loss or inaccessible data on hard drive.

This issue can be resolved by using Mac hard drive recovery to get data back, if there is no valid and updated backup in place.

If the critical data structures of is damaged then it may become totally inaccessible. The disk corruption is generally indicated by the errors, when you try to access data from the hard drive or while checking the consistency of the hard drive using Disk Utility. The errors may be similar to the following ones:

Verify and Repair volume “disk1s3” Checking Journaled HFS Plus volume. Invalid node structure Invalid B-tree node size Invalid node structure Invalid B-tree node size Volume check failed. Error: File system verify or repair failed.

The disk is unreadable: Do you want to initialize it now?

The hard drive may encounter errors due to numerous reasons, which include the following ones:

File system corruption- File system is a significant component of your Mac OS X computer, which organizes all the data stored on your hard drive. In case it gets damaged, operating system can not locate and access files from hard drive.

Virus infection- Viruses are malicious programs that may affect your hard drive data structures or stored data. You can not access data from virus infected computer and come across data loss situations.

Hard drive formatting- If you have formatted your Mac OS X hard drive, either intentionally or unintentionally, all the data is removed from the disk.

The list of reasons of hard drive failure and data loss can be so long. You can sort out such situations and perform hard drive recovery by restoring your significant data from the most recent backup.

In case backup is not available, Mac hard drive recovery software come for your rescue. The applications are particularly designed to thoroughly scan entire hard drive and extract all inaccessible data from it. Such Mac hard drive recovery tools are totally safe and easy to use with read-only design and interactive graphical user interface.

How to resolve Blue Screen of Death in Windows XP ?

2010-06-14T22:28:00.000-07:00

The most prominent error in Windows is Blue Screen of Death error. It is as a result of critical error which causes a system to shut down with minimal harm to the system's integrity.

In such cases, the system dumps all its memory to a file on the disk. In such situations the appropriate in-house data recovery methods can be applied to recover data but it fails then a user should use a third-party windows hard drive recovery software to recover hard drive data.

Consider a scenario where a user replaces the motherboard of Windows XP system and unfortunately it refuses to boot with this frustrating error message:

“STOP 0x0000007B INACCESSABLE_BOOT_DEVICE”

Cause:
The main reason behind this error message is that the new motherboard has an embedded IDE controller having a different chipset than the previous motherboard.

Resolution:
The following methods can be tried to resolve the issue:

Upgrade Windows XP: You should check if the previous and the new IDE controller are of the same size. If yes, then perform an in-place Windows XP upgrade. If the issue is still not resolved, then perform the next method.
Format hard disk and reinstall operating system: If the new IDE controller is different than the previous IDE controller, then you should repartition the hard disk and reinstall the operating system.

In case the above methods fail to serve the purpose, your data may be at risk. Here you need to go for a third-party windows hard drive recovery software to recover data. These tools with read-only inature and sophisticated scanning algorithms are highly efficient.

Stellar Phoenix Windows Data Recovery software is a fast ,efficient and easy to use hard drive recovery software which supports Windows 7, Vista, Server 2003, XP, and Server 2000. It supports more than 185 different file types . It is also able to recover deleted emails from MS Outlook and Outlook Express.

Factors Related with Hard Drive Data Recovery Process

2010-06-14T01:46:00.000-07:00

When we buy brand new computer, the manufactures of hard drives do not tell, that they are subject to failure, regardless the amount of time they are used. With some systems it takes 5 years before a failure occurs, while others can fail with the short span of time. Because of this failure, hard drive data recovery is an important factor that needs some thought.

Two types of hard drive failure:-

Due to software failure.
Physical malfunction.

Referring to the first category, the hard disk suffer the most common is "Head Crash". Head of the drive is important component, to read and write the information from the hard disk. The movement of head over the platter is at the distance of micrometer. If any collision occurs the data will be lost. Experts think that hard disk failure can recover with the use of hard drive recovery software.

It is more difficult when we need to recover data from a failed hard drive that has physically destroyed. Because, when the drive has physically damaged in some way, then any additional access may cause further corruption to the data stored on the drive. It is harder to recovery data from the failed hard drive and stored information back from the drive. One of the best ways to avoid further damage is to create the image of hard drive using an imaging tool.

An example, your hard drive happens to be the drive which contains the operating system, the best failed hard drive data recovery step is not to boot the drive .According to experts it is simple for desktop system- all you need is to disconnect the boot drive and replace it with a new drive. For this you need to ensure that you have a drive with a large enough capacity to hold the image of the current drive.

You will then be able to install an operating system on the new drive. The basic data recovery step is a accomplished by reconnecting the old drive as a slave unit or by placing it an external case and den connecting it through USB drive.

Recover Windows XP data after boot failure when converted from FAT to NTFS

2010-06-10T23:56:00.000-07:00

A file system stores and organizes computer files and their data in a computer system. The basic types of file systems in Windows are FAT file system and NTFS file system. NTFS file system is considered more secure, performs file compression and encrypts the files, etc. So, the users are also shifting from FAT to NTFS.

But sometimes , this conversion may lead to a situation where windows system stops booting. In such situations, a third-party windows hard drive recovery software can serve the purpose.

Consider a scenario where a user runs 'convert drive: /fs:ntfs command' to convert FAT to NTFS and on restart , the system refuses to boot with an error message....

“Windows could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt: System32\Drivers\Ntfs.sys”

Reason :

The root cause of this error message is that the Ntfs.sys file has either corrupted or gone missing while you converted the file system from FAT 32 to NTFS.

How to solve?

To resolve this issue, you should perform the following steps:

Boot the system using the Windows XP CD ROM.
Enter the Recovery Console and press R to start the repair process.
Type the following commands and press Enter after each command:

cd \windows\system32\drivers

ren ntfs.sys ntfs.old

The ntfs.sys file will be renamed if it is corrupt. However, if it is not there it means that it is missing.

Type the following command and press Enter.

copy X:\i386\ntfs.sys drive:\windows\system32\drivers [Where X=CD-ROM Drive]

Enter quit, and press Enter to exit the Recovery Console.
Restart the system. The system should boot properly now.

However, if you are still not able to access the data then you should use a third-party hard drive recovery software to do the needful. Such read-only tools are able to recover hard drive using fast yet sophisticated scanning algorithms.

Stellar Phoenix Windows Data Recovery is a hard drive recovery software that enables you to recover lost, deleted, or formatted data from both FAT and NTFS file systems. It is capable of recovering more than 185 different file types from various storage media such as hard disks, external hard drives, USB flash drives, memory cards, etc.

This Windows hard drive recovery software is capable of recovering deleted emails from Outlook Express and MS Outlook. It is compatible with Windows 7, Vista, Server 2003, XP, and Server 2000.

How to Recover Hard Drive Read Errors and Data Loss Problems ?

2010-05-28T21:09:00.000-07:00

If your Windows operating system is installed on primary hard drive partition, which is formatted using NTFS file system and you reformat the same partition during setup for clean installation, the partition is automatically formatted as FAT. It copies files from boot disk and then tries to restart your system in GUI mode to proceed with the installation.

However, the installation process fails and your system becomes completely inaccessible. You can not log into your system and gain access of your hdd data. This behavior leads to significant data loss, if there is no backup in place. At this point, you need to go for hard drive recovery to get your valuable data recovered.

In a practical scenario of this problem, the installation process fails and your system stops responding. Furthermore, you come across the below error message:

"DISK READ ERROR OCCURRED."

To fix this behavior, if you boot your system using MS-DOS disk and then run disk repair utility, you come across further error message stating:

"The media descriptor byte is invalid.
FAT copies are not the same.
Many crosslinked files.
All directory entries were invalid."

The partition repair and hdd data recovery process fails. Corruption remains intact and it does not even allow you to resume the installation process.

Cause

Microsoft Windows always formats the primary partition using FAT file system, and then it converts to NTFS. When you select to format system or boot partition using NTFS file system, Setup inadvertently writes 16 sector NTFS boot area on newly formatted FAT file system partition after file copy process completes. The problem may also occur if the partition is either damaged or corrupted.

Resolution

To sort out this behavior and recover hard drive data, go through any of the below steps:

During Setup process, remove primary NTFS partition and then re-create partition to format it as NTFS.

Install Windows operating system on FAT file system and then convert the FAT file system to NTFS.

If the above methods doesn't work, format the drive and reinstall operating system. However, this process removes all your valuable data from the HDD and requires hard drive recovery software to retrieve data. The applications are capable of easily, quickly, and safely recovering your valuable data in all data loss situations.

Stellar Phoenix Windows Data Recovery software recovers lost data from all types of hd drives, including IDE, EIDE, SATA, SCSI, and eSATA. The software is designed for Microsoft Windows 7, Vista, 2003, XP, and 2000. It salvages lost Windows data from NTFS5, NTFS, FAT32, VFAT, FAT16, and FAT12 file system partitions.

Author: Robin Watson a student of Mass Communication doing research on windows data recovery software.

Resource: http://ezinearticles.com/?How-to-Fix-Hard-Drive-Read-Errors-and-Data-Loss-Problems&id=4357497

Surmounting System File Corruption in Windows

2010-05-25T23:23:00.000-07:00

System files act as a backbone of any Windows operating system. These files consist of all I/O (Input/Output) information about Windows, which is used to access the system's software and hardware. Corruption in any of the system files can result in serious damages, even resulting in complete unbootability of the system.

Few most common reasons for system file corruption can be improper system shutdown, downloading an incompatible patch, registry damage, virus attack, and operating system damage.

To overcome a system file corruption scenario, a Windows user can run SFC (System File Checker) utility. This utility scans for damaged system files and repairs them to maximum possible level. However, there is no surety that the tool can perform repair in all cases. In such cases, the user needs to perform a fresh reinstall of Windows operating system and then restore the data from a valid backup. But, in the absence of a complete and valid backup, the user needs to opt for a commercial Hard Drive Recovery application.

For deep analysis of the above case, consider a real-time scenario where you encounter the below error message while starting your Windows XP system. The same error message appears every time you try to boot your system:

“Windows XP could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt:

\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\CONFIG\SYSTEM”

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

Cause:

The above error message appears due to corruption in Windows XP system file.

Resolution:

To resolve the above error message and to access the data saved in Windows XP based hard drive partition, you will need to follow the below measures:

1.Run 'SFC/ scannow' command to resolve corruption.

2.In case the command fails, reinstall Windows XP and restore data from an adequate backup.

However, in case no data backup is available, you can recover formatted hard drive data by using a powerful third-party Hard Drive Recovery application. Such Hard Drive Data Recovery tools employ advanced recovery procedures that can recover all files and folders from a formatted hard drive. Such tools are compatible with all kinds of hard drives, regardless of their size and brand.

Read More

Seagate Hard Drive : 3TB Drive En Route, but some Issues

2010-05-18T20:51:00.000-07:00

Not that it should come as a huge surprise that a major hard drive manufacturer is working on ever-larger storage capacities, but a Seagate senior product manager has confirmed to Thinq that the company is planning to unveil a 3TB hard disk later this year.

Barbara Craig, the product manager, said that the move to 3TB involves a heck of a lot more work than just upping the areal density this time around. "The root of the problem is the original LBA (logical block addressing) standard, which can't assign addresses to capacities in excess of 2.1TB," the report said-a problem that's been lying in wait since Microsoft and IBM developed the original DOS standard in 1980.

The potential ramifications of this so far appear to be what OSes will be compatible with 3TB drives.

Craig said that Seagate plans to extend the standard to Long LBA addressing, which would work in 64-bit Windows 7 and Vista as well as Linux, but wouldn't work in 32-bit Vista or any version of Windows XP, the report said. In fact, it's possible that XP may not even see the first 2.1TB portion of a larger drive, either. This brings back memories, doesn't it?

Another issue surrounds the GUID partition table (GPT) for the master boot record. Because current MBR partitions are limited in size to 2.1TB, a system would need the new table to see beyond that amount of storage. An updated GPT is part of Intel's proposed Extensible Firmware Interface specification, which would replace the traditional BIOS and is supported by the United EFI Forum (UEFI), but most motherboards don't currently feature the Interface.

Craig estimates, however, that 80 percent of the infrastructure is ready to support the UEFI standard.

A version of this article originally appeared on Gearlog.

Hard Drive Recovery

“Hard disk drive failure” Error in Windows XP?

2010-05-15T04:35:00.000-07:00

Hard disk drive is most critical component of your computer system, which works as main data storage for your system. It contains all your significant data, operating system and applications. Hard drive is considered as the most reliable storage media, but it may also fail at some point.

When your drive fails in Microsoft Windows computer, you may come across disk failure errors and all your data become inaccessible. In such cases, hard drive recovery is required to extract your lost data from failed Windows hard drive.

In a practical scenario, you might encounter following error message when you attempt to start your Microsoft Windows XP-based computer:

“Hard disk drive failure”

When you try to boot the same system from Microsoft Windows 98 boot disk, and then attempt to use Fdisk.exe utility for accessing the disk partition information, you may get another error message that is similar to the following one:

“No fixed disk present”

This behavior of Microsoft Windows XP renders all of your valuable data inaccessible and cause data loss circumstances. In order to get your data back in these situations, find out the cause of this problem and perform Hard Drive Data Recovery by sorting it out.

Root of the problem

You may experience this problem with your Windows XP computer if any of the below given conditions are true:

Your Windows hard disk drive isn't installed properly.
The hard disk drive isn't configured properly in the BIOS (Basic Input/Output System) of your Windows computer.
The hard drive is either missing or damaged.
File system corruption or raw hard drive.

These issues make your hard drive inaccessible for the operating system and thus system does not boot up.

Resolution

In order to fix this problem, contact your computer vendor for assistance. If the hard drive is having logical problem, format the drive and reinstall operating system. This behavior fixes most of the hard drive related errors, but also remove all the data from hard drive and cause serious data loss problems.

Resource: http://hubpages.com/hub/Hard-disk-drive-failure-Error-in-Windows-XP

In such situations, hard drive recovery software come for your rescue. They use high-end scanning techniques to perform extensive scan of the hard drive and extract all of the lost data from it. The Hard Drive Data Recovery applications are quite easy and safe to use.

ets discuss the Methods of Disk Striping in Microsoft Windows

2010-05-15T04:19:00.000-07:00

Microsoft Windows NT-based operating systems create a hard drive file system, known as stripe set. It is created by dividing the data into blocks and then spreading them in fixed order through all hard drive in RAID array. By adding information and data to all the partitions in set at same rate, disk striping provides best performance of all the Windows disk management strategies. Disk striping helps you to recover your data if any of the disk fails in array. But if more than one drives fail, data become unrecoverable and you need to opt for hard drive recovery solutions to get your mission-critical and valuable data back.

Server versions of Microsoft Windows operating system (including Windows Server 2000 and Windows Server 2003) enable you to set fault tolerance hard drive striping with parity that stores both stripped data and parity information on different disks of RAID array for redundancy. The disk striping can be done either with parity of without parity:

Striping with parity

You can create the stripe set with parity on minimum 3 and maximum 32 drives. A single stripe on stripe set with the parity could be located on every physical disk. Total amount of hard drive space used for storing the parity information is equal to size of a partition in set. Nevertheless of the number disks used in stripe set with the parity, data is retrievable only if a single disk is lost. Such cases need Hard Drive Recovery to be handled.

The FTDISK.SYS (Fault Tolerance Driver) makes loss of a disk partition in stripe set with the parity invisible, you could write and read data from a set with lost information as when it was healthy. But stripe set does not remain fault tolerant. Loss of any of the remaining hard drive partitions would cause data to be unrecoverable in stripe set.

Striping without parity

This process does not provide fault tolerance; if any of disk in stripe is damaged or bad, whole disk stripe would be lost. The stripe set could be created on minimum 2 and maximum 32 disks. A single stripe on stripe set could be located on every physical disk. It provides excellent performance of all the Microsoft Windows disk management strategies.

In such situations, data loss require Hard Drive Data Recovery to be sorted out. The recovery is best possible using advanced and powerful third-party applications, known as hard drive recovery software. They work in most of the data loss situations and retrieve all types of lost files, documents and other data.

Lets Resolve “Unmountable Boot Volume” Error in Microsoft Windows

2010-05-05T21:15:00.000-07:00

Microsoft Windows hard drive contains two types of partitions- system/boot partition and data partition. The boot partition contains operating system, master boot code, and MBR (Master Boot Record), which are used to boot your system. When your system boots up, MBR is the first program that is loaded into main memory, followed by boot loader and operating system.

However, in some situations, the boot volume of your Microsoft Windows system can not mount and the system becomes totally unusable. This behavior renders all your valuable data on the Windows hard drive inaccessible and cause severe data loss. In order to retrieve lost data from hard drive, Hard Drive Recovery applications are required.

In a practical scenario, you may come across the below error message when you try to boot your Microsoft Windows XP computer:

“STOP 0x000000ED (0xaaaaaaaa,0xbbbbbbbb,0xcccccccc,0xdddddddd) UNMOUNTABLE_BOOT_VOLUME”

In the above error message, aaaaaaaa, bbbbbbbb, cccccccc, and dddddddd are the hexadecimal numbers, which may vary as per your system configuration.

Grounds of the problem

You may come across this problem when your file system gets damaged and the boot volume can not be mounted. Most commonly, this problem is due to corruption to the Boot.ini file. Boot.ini is the main boot file of Windows XP operating system, which contains all critical boot configuration settings.

Solution

In order to work around this problem and perform Hard Drive Data Recovery, check the integrity and consistency of your Windows hard drive. You can check your hard drive for errors using inbuilt utility of Microsoft Windows operating system, known as ChkDsk. You can repair a damaged hard drive using the below steps:

Enter Microsoft Windows Recovery Console using Windows boot disk.

Type chkdsk /r at command prompt and press enter key.

When repair process completes successfully, type exit.

Reboot your system.

If the above method does not work, you need to format your Windows hard drive and reinstall Windows operating system. It replaces all the damaged files and gets your system back to working state. However, it also removes data from hard drive and creates need of Hard Drive Recovery Software. They are totally safe and easy to use. Such tools use high-end scanning techniques to methodically scan the hard drive and extract inaccessible data from it. The applications Recover Hard Drive in all cases of data loss.

Stellar Phoenix Windows Data Recovery software recovers lost data from hard drives, USB drives, memory cards, and other storage media. The software works well with Microsoft Windows 7, Vista, 2003, XP, and 2000. It salvages data from NTFS5, NTFS, FAT32, VFAT, FAT16, and FAT12 file system partitions.

Recovering hard drive when NTLDR is missing or corrupt

2010-05-01T02:02:00.000-07:00

A boot loader is a special program in a computer system that is used to load the operating system when the computer is switched on. In the Windows system, the NTLDR (NT Loader) is the boot loader that is usually executed from the primary hard disk drive. A Windows system requires minimum 2 files to boot a system, NTLDR and boot.ini.

But strictly speaking, only NTLDR is needed to boot the system as the absence of boot.ini can be sometimes covered by alternate methods. However, sometimes the NTLDR file gets corrupt or missing because of several reasons such as virus infections, human errors, power outages, corrupt boot sector, etc. In such cases, you should look to use appropriate corrective measures to resolve the issue. However, if you are unable to do so then you should consider using a third-party Windows hard drive recovery software to recover hard drive.

Consider a scenario wherein you switch on your NTFS-based Windows XP system but it fails to boot. An error message is displayed, that is:

“NTLDR is missing

Press CTRL+ALT+DEL to restart.”

Boot: Couldn't find NTLDR

Please insert another disk

NTLDR is missing

Press Ctrl Alt Del to Restart

Cause:

The root cause for the aforementioned error messages is that the NTLDR file is either corrupt or missing.

Resolution:

To address the issue, you need to perform the following steps:

1.Insert the Windows XP boot CD into the computer system.

2.Press any key, when prompted.

3.On the Windows XP setup menu, press the "R" key to repair Windows.

4.Press the “1” key and “Enter” to start the Windows installation.

5.Enter the administrator password, when prompted.

6.Copy the following files to the root directory of the primary hard disk as shown in the following command:

copy e:\i386\ntldr c:\

copy e:\i386\ntdetect.com c:\

7.Remove the CD from the computer and reboot. This should resolve the issue.

However, if you still are not able to perform hard drive recovery then you should use a third-party hard drive recovery software to address the issue. Such read-only tools are able to recover the lost data from corrupted hard drives using fast yet sophisticated scanning algorithms.

Software and Hardware Malfunctions Cause System Errors in Microsoft Windows

2010-04-29T21:03:00.000-07:00

Like other operating systems, System Errors are very common in Microsoft Windows operating system. The errors occur due to software or hardware malfunction. After such errors, the operating system becomes totally unusable and your system does not boot up. This behavior of Microsoft Windows operating system renders all your mission-critical data on the hard drive inaccessible, causing severe data loss.

At this point of time, you must have an absolute backup of your valuable data to restore data from. However, if the backup is not available, Hard Drive Recovery is the only way to extract lost data.

In a practical scenario of this issue, you may encounter one or more of the below error messages, while booting your Microsoft Windows operating system-based computer:

*** Hardware Malfunction
Call your hardware vendor for support
*** The system has halted ***
NMI: Parity Check / Memory Parity Error
NMI: Channel Check / IOCHK
NMI: Fail-safe timer
NMI: Bus Timeout

When the error occurs, your system may hang (stop responding) and you may have to reboot it. The problem occurs on every reboot and the system remains inaccessible. To access your hard drive and stored data, you need to find out the factors that are causing this problem and perform Hard Drive Data Recovery by resolving them.

What causes startup system errors in Microsoft Windows?

The problem may occur if any of the below conditions are true:

There is software or hardware malfunction.
Some significant data structure of your Windows hard drive are damaged.
You have incompatible or corrupted device drivers installed on your system.

Resolution

Try out any of the below methods to sort out this problem:

Change the malfunctioned hardware and reinstall the software.
Repair damaged hard drive using Chkdsk utility. It is an inbuilt utility of Microsoft Windows operating system that checks integrity of hard drive and file system.
Uninstall and reinstall device drivers.

If none of the above methods work, format hard drive and reinstall Windows. However, formatting removes all the data from your hard drive and causes further data loss. In such cases, Hard Drive Recovery Software come to your help to retrieve lost data.

They Recover Hard Drive data in a quick, absolute, simple, and safe way with their interactive user interface and read-only behavior. The applications ensure perfect recovery in all data loss situations, as they methodically scan the hard drive using advanced scanning techniques.

Recovering Data From Formatted SATA Hard Drive

2010-04-28T20:46:00.000-07:00

Windows XP operating system installed on a SATA hard drive becomes unbootable when the Ntdetect.com files saved on the drive get corrupted or damaged. Few main causes for Ntdetect.com file corruption can be improper system shutdown, MBR corruption, faulty hardware, and malicious software like virus. In most of these situations, a Windows XP user encounters an error message that makes the data saved in the SATA hard drive inaccessible.

To surpass such data loss situations, an ideal way is to format the SATA hard drive and restore data from an adequate backup. However, in case, the backup file is unavailable or damaged due to logical or physical crash, then the user needs to use a commercial Hard Drive Recovery utility that can recover data from a formatted SATA hard drive.

The above scenario can be explained with the help of below three error messages:

“NTLDR is Missing
Press any key to restart”

Or

“Boot: Couldn't find NTLDR
Please insert another disk”

“NTLDR is missing
Press Ctrl Alt Del to Restart”

These three error messages appear when your try to boot your Windows XP system. After any of the above error messages appear, the data saved in your Windows XP-based SATA hard drive becomes inaccessible.

Cause:

The above error messages appear when the Ntdetect.com files are missing or corrupted.

Resolution:

To resolve these boot error messages and to access the data, you will need to follow the below steps:

1.Put in Windows XP installation CD into your system.

2.Press any key when prompted to boot from CD.

3.Press 'R' in windows XP setup menu and start the repair process.

4.Now press '1' to log on to Windows XP installation. Press Enter.

5.Enter the administrator password, if prompted.

6.Copy the below two files and remove the CD from your system:

copy e:\i386\ntldr c:\

copy e:\i386\ntdetect.com c:\

In most cases, the above error messages do not appear after following the above steps. But, if they do, then you are not left with any option, but to format your SATA hard drive. To recover data after formatting, you need to opt for a third-party Hard Drive Recovery application. Such Hard Drive Recovery Software use effective recovery mechanism to recover almost all formatted hard drive data.

Resolving Windows Error 'CONFIG_LIST_FAILED'

2010-04-25T23:37:00.000-07:00

Windows blue screen error messages can occur on account of various factors, counting from Windows hive corruption to an improperly installed hardware. Irrespective of the reason, these events won't allow your Windows to boot. Thus, it is imperative to know about various Windows Hard Drive Recovery solutions that can help you to get rid of these problems.

Occurrence of blue screens is common in Windows. One of the commonly observed blue screen error message is given below:

STOP: 0x00000073 (parameter1, parameter2, parameter3, parameter4)

CONFIG_LIST_FAILED

This error can occur at the time of Windows startup and renders your data inaccessible by all means.

Cause

Stop Error '0x00000073' occurs when the system configuration link list fails. It suggests that one or more critical system hives have become unreadable or got corrupted. Some missing Registry keys and values are also known to cause the same issue.

Another reason can be that Windows is out of space on the system drive.

User Action

A user encountering Stop Error '0x00000073' must perform one or more of the below listed actions in order to resolve this problem:

If you are running out of space, reboot your computer, delete the unwanted files, or if possible, move the system to a larger drive. In case, system memory is low, you can try resolving it by rebooting the computer, upgrading your RAM, and running less number of programs at a time.
Remove recently installed hardware and boot again. Check the Hardware Compatibility List and make sure that no incompatible hardware is installed.
If the issue persists, reboot your computer and select the 'Last Known Good Configuration' option.
Repair the Windows installation or perform a clean install if repair doesn't succeed.

If you reinstall Windows, the next immediate requirement is to restore lost data from backup, which if not present or is invalid can bring serious consequences. To deal with such specific Windows Hard Drive Recovery requirements, there are various third-party utilities available that can scan a logically crashed hard drive and restore lost data. Hard Drive Recovery Software are easy to understand and use because of their self-explanatory interface.

Recovering hard drive when NTLDR is missing

2010-04-25T23:35:00.000-07:00

NTLDR, short for NT Loader, is the boot loader for Windows XP and Server 2003. It is used to load the files and programs that are required to boot the computer system into the ready-to-run state. It requires at least two files to boot the system: NTLDR, ntdetect, and boot.ini. The configuration options for the boot menu are stored in the boo.ini file while NTLDR enables you to select the operating system. However, sometimes the system fails to boot up. It can happen because of various reasons such as virus infections, human errors, power outages, etc. In such cases, you consider taking appropriate measures to sort the issue. However, if you are not able to address the situation then consider using a third-party hard drive recovery software to recover hard drive.

Consider a scenario wherein there is some power fluctuation at your place and the system gets shut down abruptly while you were working on it. When the power is restored, you switch on the system it fails to boot up. An error message is displayed that can be either of the following messages:

NTLDR is missing
Press any key to start
Couldn't find NTLDR.

Cause:
There could be following reasons for the aforementioned error message:

The BIOS settings of your computer may be outdated.
One of the following Windows boot files is missing:
NTLDR
Ntdetect.com
boot.ini

Resolution:
To resolve the issue and get a healthy computer again, you should perform the following methods:

Verify that the BIOS settings are updated.
Manual file re-patching: This method replaces the corrupted (or lost) file from the Windows CD to your hard disk. The steps are:
Insert the Windows CD into the system as default boot up media.
Enter Windows Recovery Console.
At the command prompt, type the following commands:
copy X:\i386\ntldr C:\
copy X:\i386\ntdetect.com C:\
Press Y when prompted to overwrite any existing file.
Restart the system.

Reinstall Windows system. However, if you reinstall Windows then you will lose all the data.

So all said and done, if you are not able to resolve the issue or do not want to lose data in the process then you should perform a third-party Windows hard drive recovery software. Such tools are able to perform hard drive recovery using fast yet sophisticated scanning algorithms without any data loss.

Resolving Unknown Hard Error Ntdll.dll Errors

2010-04-25T21:00:00.000-07:00

Windows operating system contains a description of 'NT Layer DLL' in a file named ntdll.dll. This is the file that comprises of all NT kernel functions. But there are various factors that can affect ntdll.dll file and halt its working in a Windows computer. Such situations are troublesome and call for Hard Drive Recovery solutions. The article describes some of these Ntdll.dll errors and the corresponding solutions to deal with those problems.

Ntdll.dll errors are usually caused after or before you use a program, when you start or shutdown Windows, when you are running a program, or when you are installing Windows. Some of the commonly occurring ntdll.dll errors are:

“STOP: C0000221 unknown hard error \SystemRoot\System32\ntdll.dll”

“Unhandled exception at [ANY ADDRESS] (NTDLL.DLL)”

“NTDLL.DLL Error!”

“AppName: [PROGRAM NAME] ModName: ntdll.dll”

If any of these errors occurs at the time of Windows startup, it won't allow you to access the data on the hard drive.

Cause

Most of the times, ntdll.dll errors occur because the ntdll.dll file is missing or damaged. Other reasons can be conflicting programs, corrupt hardware drivers, and malfunctioning hardware.

Steps to Solve the Issue

Ntdll.dll errors can be temporary, which can be resolved by simply rebooting the computer
If you encounter these errors only with a specific program, reinstall it. Also, reinstall all the patches and updates available for the program.
Install the latest service packs for your Windows version.
If ntdll.dll error occurs when you use Internet Explorer, one or more add-in might be creating the problem. Disable each of them, one at a time and determine the problematic add-on.
Disable Data Execution Prevention for Explorer.exe. Make sure you revert these settings back to original ones if this doesn't resolve the issue.
Update all the device drivers of your computer
Replace the computer memory if required
Replace the malfunctioning IDE cable and/or hardware components if any
Repair your Windows installation
As the last resort, perform a clean Windows reinstallation

For any type of backup concerns after reinstalling Windows, use a Windows Hard Drive Recovery software. These Hard Drive Recovery utilities can scan a Windows hard drive for lost files and folders and restore them at a safe location.

How to use Stellar Phoenix Windows Data Recovery Software in case of hard drive crash

2010-04-14T04:43:00.000-07:00

A hard drive can fail due to physical as well as Logical reasons.

There are two types of failures in computer hard drive - Logical hard drive failure and Physical hard drive failure. If the hard drive is making clicking and tricking noise instead of low humming or quiet whistling sound then there are chances of physical problem else it is Logical problem.

Physical reasons for hard drive failure

A hard drive can fail due to :
1.Scratched platters
2.Broken read/write arm
3.Hard drive motor failed
4.Humidity or moisture or overheat in the drive
5.Bad sectors on disk
6.Power surge.

Logical reasons for hard drive failure

1. Failed boot sector
2. MBR failure
3. Operating system malfunctioning
4. Corrupted file system
5. Improper shutdown
6. Reformatted hard drive, repartitioned hard drive.

If your hard drive fails then always follow the following steps hard drive recovery

Avoid Using the Drive further
Do NOT Shake/Hit the Drive
Keep it away from extreme temperatures
Never try to fix the issue with "Off The Shelf" Software
Do NOT Run SCANDISK, CHKDSK or FSCK On The Drive
Contact a Data Recovery Company As Soon As Possible

One thing I would like to add here. A reliable and an advanced Data Recovery Software can also solve the issue. As far as my experience is concerned , I have used the Stellar Phoenix Windows Data Recovery Software V4.1. Its easy to use and user friendly to understand all the steps for data recovery process.

Steps to use the Stellar Phoenix Windows Data Recovery Software in case of hard disk crash.

Step 1. Select the Data Recovery Option and choose the formatted lost files/ folder recovery from menu below.

Step2. Select the Drive you want to recover data from and click Start Scan button.

Step3. The following window shows the status of scanning process.

Step4. Here you can see the preview of all your recoverable folders . Select the folder you want to recover and Click Recover button

The user should take care of the fact that the windows data recovery software can be used recover hard drive data after a logical failure and . If the user faces physical hard drive issues then he must go for hard drive recovery services.

How to detect the hard drive failure with sound ?

2010-04-12T23:51:00.000-07:00

When a hard drive faces a physical failure, it creates a typical sound which helps the data recovery experts to recognize the extent of damage. But there is nothing to worry about. If your hard drive makes noises like these and you are still able to recover hard drive data - backup immediately. If your drive can no longer be seen in your system please fill out our simple evaluation form to get a fast quote on our hard drive recovery services.

Western Digital

Western Digital desktop drive with bad heads clunking.

Western Digital 500GB desktop drive with bad heads slowly clicks a few times and spins down.

Western Digital 250GB desktop drive with head crash clicks a few times, then spins down.

Western Digital 250GB desktop drive with stuck spindle can't spin up, chatters.

Western Digital laptop drive with bad heads making clicking sound.

Western Digital 200GB desktop drive with bad preamplifier chip (located on the headstack) clicks a few times, spins down.

Western Digital desktop drive with unstable heads clicks a few times and stops spinning.

Western Digital laptop hard drive with stuck spindle trying to spin up with siren.

Western Digital 500GB desktop hard drive with bad bearings can't gain full rotational speed.

Seagate

Seagate desktop drive with failing heads making thrashing, then clicking sound.

Seagate desktop drive with bad heads slowly clicks and beeps on spin up.

Seagate laptop drive with bad heads making clicking/knocking sound.

Seagate desktop drive with seized spindle trying to spin up.

Seagate Momentus laptop drive with bad heads making nasty drilling noise.

Maxtor

Maxtor desktop drive with bad heads making clicking/knocking/beeping noise.

Maxtor drive with bad heads making steady clicking/knocking sound.

Maxtor desktop drive with stuck spindle playing futuristic cell phone melody.

Maxtor drive with stuck spindle and musical siren again.

Samsung

Samsung 80GB desktop hard drive with bad heads making fast clicking sound.

Samsung desktop hard drive with bad heads clicks, then spins down.

Samsung 40GB desktop hard drive with bad head knocks a few times.

Samsung desktop drive with degraded media making scratching sound when hitting bad sectors.

Hitachi

Hitachi laptop drive with bad heads clicks once on spin up, then beeps.

IBM desktop drive with degraded media making scratching sound when hitting area with bad sectors.

Hitachi/IBM laptop drive with bad heads making clicking sound.

IBM 40GB desktop hard drive with degraded media/heads rattles and squeals on spin up.

Hitachi 60GB laptop drive with stuck spindle can't spin up, makes humming/buzzing noise.

Toshiba

Toshiba laptop hard drive with stuck spindle trying to spin up(heard if taken close to your ear).

Toshiba laptop drive with failing bearings making grinding sound.

Toshiba laptop drive with bad bearings making loud grinding sound.

Toshiba laptop drive with bad bearings making nasty drilling/screaming sound.

Toshiba laptop drive with bad heads making clicking/sweeping sound on boot up.

Fujitsu

Fujitsu laptop drive with bad heads making clicking/knocking noise.

Fujitsu laptop hard drive with bad heads making sweeping sound.

Fujitsu 40gb desktop drive with bad media making scratching noise.

Quantum

Quantum desktop drive with bad heads making clunking sound.

Courtesy: http://datacent.com/hard_drive_sounds.php

Factory Reset Tool - A discussion

2010-03-30T00:23:00.000-07:00

The latest PCs and Laptops available now a days, have a useful recovery partition (sometimes called a restore partition or factory reset tool). The user can use this option to quickly restore your laptop to the same state that it was when you first bought the computer.

But please note here : it will remove you data on the hard drive so, it is suggested to be the last option.

Different manufacturers use different methods of accessing the recovery partition. Here are some of the familiar names in this regard:

Acer eRecovery:

Plug in the AC adapter and battery, then turn the system on
Immediately, press ALT on the keyboard and start tapping F10. Continue holding ALT and tapping F10 as the unit boots up.
A screen stating "Starting Acer Erecovery" should appear. (Release ALT and stop tapping F10 at this point)
There will be 4 options:
1. Restore system to factory default
2. Restore system from user backup
3. Restore system from cd/dvd
4. Exit

Asus System Recovery:

Turn on the notebook, Press F9 when you see the ASUS logo, and then choose the second item to recover OS to the first partition.
Press [F9] during bootup (requires a Recovery Partition)
Press [Enter] to select Windows Setup [EMS Enabled]
Read the “ASUS Preload Wizard” screen and click Next.
Select a partition option and click Next.
Follow the on-screen instructions to complete the recovery process.

Dell Restore Partition:

Turn on the computer.
When the Dell splash screen appears during the computer startup process, press and hold and then press . Then, release both keys at the same time.
In the Dell PC Restore by Symantec window, click Restore. Alternatively, press to highlight Restore, and then press .

Gateway Recovery Partition:

Turn on your computer, then press Alt+F10 during startup. Gateway Recovery Management opens.
Click on Restore system from factory default.
Click on Next. Your hard drive’s original, factory-loaded contents are recovered. This process will take several minutes.

HP / Compaq System Recovery:

Turn on the comptuer and repeatedly press F10 at the HP logo until the recovery screen appears.
When the recovery screen appears, press "Next" and then "Yes" to perform a non-destructive recovery. To perform a destructive recovery, click "Advanced" and then "Yes".
After the recovery is finished, the computer will reboot.

Sony Recovery Partition:

Turn off your computer.
Restart your computer.
When the VAIO logo appears on the computer's screen, briefly press the F10 key on the computer keyboard.
The VAIO Recovery Wizard appears.
4. Click Next.
5. Select one of the available menu options.

Toshiba Recovery:

Make sure the computer is turned off.
Press and hold the 0 (zero) key on your keyboard while powering on the computer. When the computer powers on, the TOSHIBA HDD Recovery Utility screen displays.

To recover windows data visit: http://www.hard-drive-recovery-software.com/windows-data-recovery.php

Causes and cure of hard drive failure

2010-03-25T23:57:00.000-07:00

The hard disk fails due to to hard disk malfunctions and the stored information cannot be accessed with a properly configured computer. A disk may also fail due to an external factors like fire or water or suffering a sharp impact which can crash the head of hard disk..

The most common type of hard disk failure is head crash. It must be fixed by a hard drive recovery specialist with proper equipments. Hard drive platters are coated with an extremely thin layer of non-electrostatic lubricant, so that the read-and-write head will simply glance off the surface of the platter should a collision occur. However, this head hovers mere nanometers from the platter's surface which makes a collision an acknowledged risk. Another cause of failure is a faulty air filter. The air filters on today's hard drives equalize the atmospheric pressure and moisture between the hard drive enclosure and its outside environment.

If the filter fails to capture a dust particle, the particle can land on the platter, causing a head crash if the head happens to sweep over it. After a hard drive crash, each particle from the damaged platter and head media can cause a bad sector. These, in addition to platter damage, will quickly render a hard drive useless. A hard drive also includes controller electronics, which occasionally fail. In such cases, it may be possible to recover all data.

Since hard drives are mechanical devices, they will all eventually fail. While some may not fail prematurely, many hard drives simply fail because of worn out parts. Many hard drive manufacturers include a Mean Time Between Failures figure on product packaging or in promotional literature. These are calculated by constantly running samples of the drive for a short amount of time, analyzing the resultant wear and tear upon the physical components of the drive, and extrapolating to provide a reasonable estimate of its lifespan.

Since this fails to account for phenomena such as the aforementioned head crash, external trauma (dropping or collision), power surges, and so forth, the Mean Time Between Failures number is not generally regarded as an accurate estimate of a drive's lifespan. Hard drive failures tend to follow the concept of the bathtub curve. Hard drives typically fail within a short time if there is a defect present from manufacturing.

If a hard drive proves reliable for a period of a few months after installation, the hard drive has a significantly greater chance of remaining reliable. Therefore, even if a hard drive is subjected to several years of heavy daily use, it may not show any notable signs of wear unless closely inspected. On the other hand, a hard drive can fail at any time in many different situations.

Courtesy: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hard_disk_failure

How to tackle the Missing of Boot Recover Signature ?

2010-03-25T22:44:00.000-07:00

The Windows computers which are based on Intel depend on BIOS (Basic Input/Output System) for loading and executing bootstrap code. The ‘int 0×19′ generated by Bootstrap routine of BIOS loads the first sector of hard drive in memory at 0000:7C00H segment address.

MBR (Master Boot Record), the first physical segment on hard drive , contains bootstrap loader code. Sometimes the system does not boot due to missing boot code and the system becomes inaccessible which makes all your data, stored on hard drive, inaccessible and cause serious data loss situations. In such circumstances, you need to perform hard drive recovery to fix the problem.

Click here for complete story

Interruption in Chkdsk Process in Windows may result data loss

2010-03-22T02:12:00.000-07:00

In Microsoft Windows , Chkdsk is used to verify logical integrity of the file system on hard drive. When there occurs any inconsistency with the file system, it corrects the error and make the things continue. Here, its also very necessary to mention that an interruption to the Chkdsk process can result in hard drive damage and cause serious data loss. One can find the solution to this problem through windows data recovery.

Mr. Robin Watson explains the phenomenon in more detail CLICK HERE

Freezing of Windows Vista at CRCDISK.SYS

2010-03-15T03:02:00.000-07:00

The biggest disadvantage of halting of Windows boot process is inaccessibility of data saved in the hard drive. Booting can halt at any stage, for example while accessing CRCDISK.SYS. A CRCDISK.SYS is a disk block verification filter driver that performs CRC (Cyclic Redundancy Check) on the files stored in hard drive.

Mostly the booting process halts when CRCDISK.SYS is installing an incompatible device driver on your system. To access your data after the boot process halts at CRCDISK.SYS, you will need to restore the data from an updated backup. But in case, the backup file is or inaccessible, then you will have to opt for advanced third-party hard drive recovery software.

To illustrate the above problem, consider a practical case wherein you attempt to boot your Windows Vista based system. While the booting process was in progress, a black screen on your computer screen appeared. The screen contained no errors. Again, when you tried to boot your system in safe mode, it got stuck on CRCDISK.SYS. The boot process halted at CRCDISK.SYS every time you tried to start your system.

Cause:

The main cause for boot process halting at CRCDISK.SYS is that the system is corrupt or loading an incompatible device driver.

Resolution:

To surmount the above problem, you need to re-install Windows Vista operating system. Re-installation resolves the above problem and allows you to boot your system. But, the process deletes all the data from your hard drive. In such cases, you can restore the data from a backup. However, if no backup is available, then you need to look for an effective hard drive recovery software .

Such Hard Drive Data Recovery tools use advanced recovery methods to recoup lost files post formatting. These applications can be used by any non-technical user, having basic knowledge of computers.

Hard Drive Reliability and Time between Failures

2010-03-15T03:00:00.000-07:00

The user cannot rely cent percent on hard drive's performance . Because even a minor careless step of its user can make the data stored it, totally inaccessible and eventually causes data loss situations. Here , all that the user needs here is hard drive recovery software to overcome the problem.

Among all the hard drive reliability specifications MTBF (Mean Time Between Failure) is one of them. Mean time between failures (MTBF) is the predicted elapsed time between inherent failures of a system during operation. MTBF can be calculated as the arithmetic mean (average) time between failures of a system.

Linux Hard Drive Recovery After Crash

2010-03-11T01:32:00.000-08:00

Linux is a popular operating system, known as an actual techies' operating system. The robust architecture and open source coding of the operating system insures that it can't be affected by viruses and other malicious programs easily. However, even the Linux is prone to situations where you may lose hard drive volumes and data. Hard drive crash is one such kind of situation that leads to significant data loss and needs Linux Hard Drive Recovery to be sorted out.

The hard drive crash is a situation where you cannot access your data from a properly configured system, however the data is still there. The hard drive may get crashed during normal computer operations, or because of external reasons, like power outages and heat. You must have an effective backup plan to save your data, but if it is not available; commercial hard drive recovery software and services are required to overcome the problem.

Linux hard drive may crash due to numerous reasons, which are broadly categorized into two major groups: Logical Failure and Physical Failure. Irrespective of the cause of hard drive crash, your data is still recoverable from Linux hard drive.

Symptoms of Linux hard drive crash

Computer is unresponsive or unbootable.
You encounter error messages, which indicates hard drive is unrecognized.
Black screen at start up.
Grinding or clicking sounds coming from hard drive.
System generally stops responding, restarts, or you cannot run any application.
Error messages related to missing or damaged data structures, like file system and Superblock.

When you encounter any of the above situations with your Linux computer, the very first thing that you need to do is determine the type of problem. Whether it is logical failure or it's caused by breakdown of mechanical hard drive components.

In case of logical hard drive failure, you can recover lost data in a quick and easy way through Linux Hard Drive Recovery Software. The applications carry out extensive scan of whole hard drive using advanced scanning methods and extract all lost, missing, and inaccessible data from it.

Stellar Information Systems Limited is the foremost provider of both types of Linux Hard Drive Recovery solutions. The software is able to recover data from Ext4, Ext3, Ext2, FAT12, FAT16, and FAT32 file system volumes of all major Linux distributions.

FAT Corruption and Windows Data Recovery

2010-03-10T02:36:00.000-08:00

Due to the performance reasons, main sectors are not allocated in FAT file system and it takes too much of effort to track all the small sized files. So, to resolve this issue the hard drive is divided clusters. And Cluster are divided into sectors. Usually, a Cluster represents 4 to 64 sector.

FAT stores information about the clusters and a description about how it is being used. It tells OS about availability of the hard drive parts and detail of the allocated parts. The details of Fat is stored in hard drive just after the VBR (Volume Boot Record). Two copies of FAT are available in each volume.

So, it can be mentioned here that Damage of FAT can damage data and lead to a data loss situation. Although the second copy of FAT can be used as backup but the problem is that the second copy is stored next to first one. And if the bad sectors affect the first copy of FAT, there are very strong chances that the second one is also affected.

These situations can easily be handled by , hard drive recovery software which use the powerful for quick and effective hard drive data recovery.

Problems for Windows 7 Release Candidates (RCs)

2010-02-18T03:28:00.000-08:00

The people who have downloaded free test version of Microsoft Windows 7 are known as the release candidate(RCs ) and who will start receiving messages warning of shutdowns from 1 March 2010. The release candidate will expire completely on June 1, 2010.

The notifications will be sent once a day for Windows 7 RC users in the task bar. After expiration Windows will go to a black desktop and Windows 7 RC users are presented with a Windows Activation screen.

It will start with a message that Windows that the user is running is not genuine one. Computers that are running Windows 7 RC restart every two hours.

This version of windows was launched on Oct. 22. If a user wants to move from RC to a released version of Windows 7 , it will require a "clean" install which simply means that any application will no longer be available after the upgrade.

The "update" installation option is not available for this update. Although the freeloaders can extend the trial upto 90-days of the Enterprise Edition, but that will also require a clean installation to upgrade to a licensed copy. Here is an advantage for students to have a reduced price of the retail software version by heading to www.win741.com.

In such situations , hard drive recovery software can be a rescue to recover the lost dat from your hard drive.

Windows Data Recovery from Encrypted Partitions in Vista and BitLocker Repair Tool

2010-02-15T02:27:00.000-08:00

Although the technique of encryption is the best technique to protect your data from unauthorized access but at the same time, the data structures gets complexed which increases the possibilities of data loss. Encrypted data is difficult as compared to unencrypted data.

Microsoft Windows Vista come with a tool called BitLocker Repair which is able to reconstruct the significant hard drive parts. Here the user must have recovery key or recovery password to decrypt recovered data.

This is applicable in following conditions:

You've encrypted the MS Windows partition using the BitLocker Drive Encryption tool.
MS Windows Vista doesn't boot up, or you simply can not start BitLocker recovery console.
You have not created backup copy of the data, which is contained on encrypted Windows hard drive.

The below files are contained by BitLocker Repair Tool:

Software License Terms.rtf
Executables\repair-bde.exe
Executables\bderepair.dll
Executables\en-us\repair-bde.exe.mui

And if the hard drive area, on which BitLocker utility stores significant information, gets damaged, there can be a severe data loss situation. The improper system shutdown or hard drive failure causes such issues.

In this situation the Microsoft Windows Vista stops booting and furthermore, if your system is not configured to enter recovery console , below error message will be prompted:

“Windows failed to start. A recent hardware or software change might be the cause. To fix the problem:
1. Insert your Windows installation disc and restart your computer.
2. Choose your language settings, and then click "Next."
3. Click "Repair your computer."
If you do not have this disc, contact your system administrator or computer manufacturer for assistance.
File: \Windows\system32\winload.exe
Status: 0xc00000001
Info: The selected entry could not be loaded because the application is missing or corrupt.”

Now, if the BitLocker Repair Tool does not work, you need to use hard drive recovery software to get your data back. The Hard Drive Data Recovery tools use advanced mechanisms to ensure absolute, safe and easy recovery in most of the data loss situations.

Google Broadband - More than a giant search engine

2010-02-11T04:22:00.000-08:00

The search giant – Google (as per its corporate blog.) has planned to connect customers to the internet through fibre optic broadband network that will provide the speed 100 times faster than most existing broadband connections in the US.

According to Google product managers, Minnie Ingersoll and James Kelly "Our goal is to experiment with new ways to help make internet access better and faster for everyone,"

This Technology will be tested in trial communities in the next quarter of the year encompassing about 500,000 people. They cited 3-dimensional medical imaging and quick, high-definition film downloads among the applications of such high-speed internet access."We'll deliver internet speeds more than 100 times faster than what most Americans have access to today with 1 gigabit per second, fibre-to-the-home connections," the post said. "We plan to offer service at a competitive price to at least 50,000 and potentially up to 500,000 people."

Now google has taken initiative to expand into market beyond its core web search speciality. The same thing happened last year also when Google entered the mobile phone market with its Android operating system and Nexus One handset, and Tuesday announced a social networking feature aimed at taking on Facebook and Twitter.

According to Federal Communications Commission chairman Julius Genachowski "Big broadband creates big opportunities," he said in a statement. "This significant trial will provide an American testbed for the next generation of innovative, high-speed internet apps, devices and services."

For Windows Data Recovery Software Visit : http://www.windows-data-recovery.net/windows-data-recovery.php

How to Prevent Hard Disk Failure Through Environment Control

2010-02-11T03:08:00.000-08:00

The hard disk drive or hard drive is the main data storage component of your computer system. It may fail unexpectedly in some circumstances. However, you can prevent the hard drive failure by taking some precautions. As recommended by the Hard Drive Data Recovery professionals, you mus keep the environmental conditions in control, in order to avoid various failure instances. Some of these conditions are as give below:

The internal components of hard drive, particularly magnetic platters and read/write head, are quite fragile and prone to failure because of air particulates. Dust particles and smoke like air contaminants may affect the functioning of hard drive. You should use a air purifier to prevent hard drive damage.
You must control the heat. Hard drive overheating may lead to failure and eventually data loss. Overheating may cause the disk platters to expand and head crash. Thus, you should use proper cooling fans for hard drive.
You should take extra care while moving your hard drive one computer to another or one place to another. High shocks and vibrations may damage the hard drive internals.
In addition to control the vibrations during hard drive shipment, you must also avoid the vibrations near your computer.
Changes in the temperature may lead to hard drive failure and need Hard Drive Recovery solutions. If you move your drive from cold to warm place, condensation may take place that needs sufficient time for getting evaporated.
An external firm magnetic field may damage the the magnetic material of your hard drive. It directly affects your valuable data as the data is stored on magnetic platters only.
You must take extra care while using laptops. These are the portable computers and thus more prone to failure because of tipping and falling during use.

In case if your hard drive fails if you do not take above precautions or due to any other reason, you may encounter significant data loss situations. In such cases, you need to opt for recovery solutions to get your valuable data back.

If your hard drive is failed due to logical reasons like file system corruption, virus infection, and more, Hard Drive Recovery Software are required to get your valuable data back. In case of physical failure, Hard Drive Recovery services can help you to retrieve lost data.

Stellar Information Systems Limited is the foremost provider of high-quality recovery solutions. The software are offered for Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, UNIX, and Novell operating systems. Service is delivered through Class 100 Clean Rooms using advanced technologies.

To Recover Data From Windows Platform Visit : http://www.windows-data-recovery.net/

Hard Drive Recovery Software to Recover Missing or Damaged c_1252.nls File

2010-02-09T22:19:00.000-08:00

With all the powerful features, Microsoft Windows XP has become the most reliable and advanced operating system. But , as it happens with every good thing, installation of Windows XP might suffer some issues such as damage to some critical system files. So, in order to tackle the situations, the user should immediately backup all the valuable data to prevent data loss situations.

While trying to boot the system one may experience the following error message:

“The file C:\windows\system32\c_1252.nls is missing or corrupt”

Here the boot process halts and the PC does not start. This leads the entire hard drive inaccessible and cause a critical data loss situations. At this point, you need to carry out hard drive data recovery by sorting out this issue.

Reason of this behavior

The problem is caused by *.nls file. It is stored in the System32 folder of Microsoft Windows operating system. The corruption or loss of the ‘c_1252.nls’ file causes this file issue. These are code pages which are consisted of various tables that are used for translating text into other alphabets or languages.

Solution

Try the following methods to overcome the issue.

Use MS Windows XP boot CD to start your system and run chkdsk/r command via command prompt.
Replace the damaged system file (c_1252.nls) by using Windows Recovery Console.

If these methods fail to solve the issue, one will have to format the hard drive and reinstall Windows XP. Although it resolves the problem but at the same time it also gives birth to a data loss situation which further requires a hard drive recovery software to be solved.

These hard drive recovery applications are designed for advanced scan the entire hard drive and extract all the lost data from it. The Hard Drive Recovery tools have rich graphical user interface for an easy and fast recovery of all the lost data.

Data Loss in Windows XP while Repairing, Upgrading or Reinstalling

2010-02-09T01:05:00.000-08:00

All the data in users folder and settings and the program template can be lost after reinstalling, upgrading or repairing the MS Windows XP. It may result in severe loss of documents and other media files stored in Shared folder. This requires a hard drive recovery to retrieve your lost data.

Any of the following behavior can cause the data loss situation in Windows XP computer :

An attempt to repair Windows XP by booting your system from XP installation CD and pressing Enter key to set up XP and then press R key to repair selected installation.
Re installation of Microsoft Windows XP on same folder by selecting Upgrade (Recommended) after running Winnt32.exe, or though Install Windows XP link on “Welcome to Microsoft Windows XP” screen, which appears when Windows XP CD. It is also called in-place upgrade.
An Up gradation of Windows XP Home Edition to Windows XP Professional.

Cause Analysis:

If Undo_guimode.txt file is present on Windows\System32 folder on Windows hard drive during above actions , it may result this problem. These issues need hard drive recovery to be solved.

What is the solution?

Following are the suggested methods to solve the issue :

Try to install the latest service pack of MS Windows XP.
If you're prompted by the Setup to update setup files, click Yes, download the updated Setup files (Recommended), click Next button. The option is not available when you repair Windows XP by booting your system from XP boot CD and pressing Enter key to set up.
Manually remove Undo_guimode.txt file from Windows\System32 folder prior to perform any of the above actions.

If data loss situations occur, the Hard Drive Recovery software is the solution to get your valuable data back. The deep scan method assures recovery of all lost data from hard drive .

A Change in Active Partition and Damage of NTLDR File in Windows

2010-02-07T22:06:00.000-08:00

In Microsoft Windows Active Partition stores all the system files in it. The Active Partition must be the primary one on the disk. In any case if the active partition is changed, it may lead to an unbootable system and can cause a severe data loss situation. Here one needs to go for Hard Drive Recovery to get the lost or inaccessible data.

When hard drive partition as active using a snap-in utility , the following error message is displayed on reboot.

“NTLDR is missing.
Press Ctrl+Alt+Del to restart”

NTLDR (New Technology Loader) loads the operating system and boots system. But here as displayed in the above error message if the NTLDR file get damaged , the data stored on the hard drive goes inaccessible. In this situation a Hard Drive Recovery is required to be done .

Possible Causes of the issue:

The missing of Windows boot files on the newly created Windows Active Partition may be be the reason behind this behavior. It might also take place when it encounters other boot files of Windows operating system.

Resolution Process

In order to sort out this problem, go through below given steps:

Change active partition of hard drive by booting it with floppy disk. You could then use disk repair tools like fdisk.
You could also use Windows Recovery Console to sort out the problem. It would work if the current active partition is formatted as NTFS or FAT file system.

When the above methods fail to resolve the issue then the ultimate solution is formatting the hard drive and reinstalling the Windows operating system. Although it solves hard drive problems, but at the same time cause data loss problem which needs Hard Drive Recovery Software to get back lost data.

These software are capable of scanning the affected Windows hard drive deeply and has the capability to recover all the inaccessible data. Hard Drive Recovery through these applications is quite easy and safe.

How Do We Recognize Hard Drive Failure?

2010-01-20T04:04:00.000-08:00

Here are some symptoms which help us to recognize the type and level of hard drive failure.

When system shows “unable to boot” error
Drives become inaccessible
The major applications become unable to run or load data
Data corruption due to virus attack
Hard disk parts or component damage
Damage due to physical factors like Water , Dust etc.
Accidental reformation of partition
Accidental data deletion

In all the above cases there is a need of hard drive recovery .The very first step to resolve the above mentioned issues is to first diagnose the potential of recovery. At a Data Recovery Service Center first determine whether the media is accessible to the lab equipment. If so, the first thing needed to be done is to create a raw image of the data . Storage Media like hard drive can be recovered by deep analysis.

If in case, the media is inaccessible then the hard drive recovery specialist examine its internal health to determine the extent of physical damage.

To resolve the issue, sometimes it demands to replace the hard drive components in a (class 100 clean room) totally dust free environment and using specialized hardware and software tools to create the raw image. Some components typically include electronics, read/write heads, head assemblies, magnets & drive motors failure makes hard drive inaccessible.

In case of logical recovery, raw image is used for examining the low-level data sectors and determining what things can fix the problem. File system structures are also needed to get access to the important data. Sometimes the existing file system structures are too damaged to recover hard drive data and it has to be extracted directly from one or more fragments of the raw image.

Disk Striping in Microsoft Windows

2010-01-15T21:36:00.000-08:00

Disk striping is a method of dividing data into several data blocks across different partitions on several hard disks which are used in a multiple hard disk systems such as RAID (Redundant Array of Independent Disks). Each stripe in the disk stripping process is of the minimum size in the multiple hard disks. Because of an array of hard disks, the disk striping enhances the performance by using the hardware in all these drives in parallel.

Disk striping is an important tool to help you to recover your data if any of the disk fails in array. If more than one drive fails, the data becomes inaccessible and you need to opt for Hard Drive Recovery software to get the data.

The Server versions of MS Windows operating system (including Windows Server 2000 and Windows Server 2003) enable you to set default hard drive striping with parity for redundancy. It can be done even without parity:

What happens in Striping with parity ?

In this mode the striping can b done with min 3 and max 32 hard drives. A single stripe on stripe set with the parity could be located on every physical disk. The space used used on hard drive for storing the parity information is equal to size of a partition in set.

Lets Discuss Striping without parity

The problem with this process is that it does not provide fault tolerance. In this method if any of disks in stripe gets damaged, the whole disk stripe would be lost. Here the stripe set is created on minimum 2 and maximum 32 disks. A single stripe on stripe set could be located on every physical disk. It provides excellent performance of all the Microsoft Windows disk management strategies.

In these situations, Hard Drive Recovery is required to solve the data loss situations. The recovery is best possible by using hard drive recovery software. They work in most of the data loss situations and retrieve all types of lost files, documents and other data.

Lets Discuss about Defect Mapping and Spare Sectoring

2010-01-06T01:51:00.000-08:00

In spite of so much of advanced technologies, it has not been yet possible to manufacture a hard drive with millions of sectors and without errors. Imperfections in hard drive can make the sectors inoperable. The problem in hard drive sector, generally hits as error while trying to access data on hard drive. This may lead to critical data loss and require Hard Drive Data Recovery solution.

Now a days the hard drives use Error Correcting Code or ECC to help you identify if errors take place and resolve them. However, ECC can not fix the physical problems in the hard drive. Generally such sectors which do not work and are known as bad sectors.

The hard drive sectors, which are bad and can not be used for storing the data, because they are not reliable to write data. It is thus required for your system to keep track of which hard drive sectors are bad and not to use them. The most excellent method for it needs to be done for hard drive for detecting and avoiding them. If the bad sectors aren't detected before they've been written, data may lost.

To ensure maximum reliability the hard drives are tested systematically to reduce the chances of failure. The method of identifying and removing hard drive bad sectors are known as defect mapping. When bad sectors occur on the drive, you may also feel that your system performance is decreasing.

Bad sectors on the modern hard drive are generally an indication of critical problems with the drive. If a newly purchased hard drive has bad sector, get it exchanged. If you see bad sectors on the older hard drives while scanning the drive, this must be fixed. The bad sectors in the hard drives can be handled by using hard drive data recovery to be handled.

Hard drive recovery software are to solve the logical data loss problems. By using these software an image of the drive is created for recovery of data on bad sectors of the hard drive. The hard drive data recovery software provides a user friendly and safe method get the lost data back.

“0X05” STOP Error in Microsoft Windows Vista

2009-12-24T03:42:00.000-08:00

Under some circumstances, your Windows Vista computer may stop responding during boot process. You may get BSOD (Blue Screen of Death) with a STOP error and the system automatically shuts down. The problem may occur every time when you boot your system, and thus the system become inaccessible or unusable.

This behavior of Microsoft Windows Vista makes all your valuable data inaccessible and cause severe data loss problems. In order to retrieve lost data in these cases, you need to opt for Windows Data Recovery solutions.

For example, you may come across below error message while booting your Microsoft Windows Vista computer:

“A problem has been detected and windows has been shutdown to prevent damage
to your computer

The problem seems to be caused by the following file: win32k.sys

Page_Fault_In_Nonpaged_Area

Stop: 0×00000050 (0xE41B0E15, 0×00000000, 0xBF88CD88, 00000001)

Win32k.sys-Address BF88CD88 BASE AT BF800000, Datestamp 45F013F6”

The above error message prevents your system from booting, making all your data inaccessible. In order to access data in such cases, find out the cause of this problem and perform Windows Recovery by sorting it out.

Grounds of the problem:

The STOP error 0x50 in Microsoft Windows Vista shows that the required data is not in memory. Windows operating system generates the exception errors while using the reference to any invalid system memory address. The defective memory or an incompatible application may cause this error.

Resolution:

Try out following things to fix this problem-

If the problem is caused after installing a new hardware, remove it and check if the issue recurs. If any existing hardware component has failed, replace it.
If error occurs with a BSOD, reboot the system and then press F8 key at character-mode menu to see operating system choices. Select Last Known Good Configuration from Windows Vista Advanced Options menu.
Anti-virus application may also cause this issue. Disable it and check whether it helps you to fix the problem.
Problem may also be caused by the damaged NTFS (New Technology File System) file system partition. Run Chkdsk /f /r for detecting and fixing hard drive errors.

However, if above methods do not work, you need to format the hard drive. Formatting fixes most of the hard drive related errors, but also removes data from the drive and cause severe data loss. In such cases, you need use Windows Data Recovery Software to extract lost data.

The Hard Drive Recovery applications use extensive scanning techniques for assured recovery of all your lost data. They are completely safe and easy to use. The tools work in most of the data loss situations.

Damaged FAT32 Boot Sector cannot be fixed by Using Backup Boot Sector

2009-12-16T03:56:00.000-08:00

In Microsoft Windows XP and 2000 operating systems, a backup of boot sector is created and stored in the last sector of partition. You can use the backup copy of boot sector for replacing damaged boot sector of the partition.

But, if the FAT32 partition become inaccessible or damaged and you try to repair it using Chkdsk utility, the file system might be reported as FAT32 (or RAW, depending upon the corruption), however Chkdsk utility quits immediately without repairing the partition. In such cases, the hard drive data remains inaccessible and you need to opt for Hard Drive Recovery solutions to get your valuable data back.

For instance, you may come across the below message when you use 'chkdsk : f' command:

“The type of the file system is FAT32.
Volume Serial Number is C408-2213”

When you run the Chkdsk tool again without command-line switches, it still displays the partition is corrupted. If you run 'chkdsk :' command, the below error message might be displayed:

“The type of the file system is FAT32.
Volume Serial Number is C408-2213
Errors found. CHKDSK cannot continue in read-only mode.”

At this point, the drive remains inaccessible. In order to access the hard drive, you need to find out the cause of this problem and perform hard drive recovery by sorting it out.

Grounds of the issue:

This problem occurs because FAT32 file system has a backup copy of boot sector. However, the Chkdsk tool does not try to use backup copy unless primary boot sector of your partition is physically stored in bad sector and the utility receives I/O error messages while attempting to read partition. Chkdsk does not attempt to use backup copy as primary copy is damaged or has invalid information.

Resolution:

You can fix corrupted primary boot sector using Dskprobe.exe tool. This tool enables you to copy the backup of boot sector over damaged boot sector.

If this method does not work, you need to use hard drive recovery software to retrieve your data and format hard drive to fix the damaged boot sector. The applications effectively scan damaged Windows hard drive and extract all lost data from it. With interactive and simple graphical user interface, the Hard Drive Recovery tools are very easy to use.

Hard Disk Failure and Hard Drive Recovery Possibilities

2009-11-23T02:11:00.000-08:00

Hard Drive failure is no more a big issue. Data loss of any type cannot be acceptable . To make the accessible , there are so many software available . In such cases, hard drive recovery solutions come for your help to get your valuable data back. The solution depends on type of failure. The hard drive failure and data loss causes may fall in following categories:

1.Electronic Failure: Some factors like power outages and fluctuations may cause issues for PCB (Printed Circuit Board), disk controller and disk cables. Short circuits may also damage the hard drive electronic components. Electronic failure cause your hard drive to be dead or the hard drive can not be recognized in BIOS (Basic Input/Output System).

2.Mechanical Failure: Failure or damage to the components such as read/write head, actuator arm, spindle motor, magnetic platters and so forth. All these are moving components and constitute mechanical failure.

3.Firmware Corruption: Its a program that control hard drive components. In fact it is a microcode that is responsible for making hard drive functional. Firmware corruption may occur due to virus infection, improper system shutdown and other such reasons. When it gets damaged, operating system can not interact with hard drive and thus system does not work.

4.Logical Damage: Such kind of failures occur due to damage to the logical components of your hard drive such as file system, operating system and boot record. It also occurs due to virus infection, hard drive formatting and accidental deletion like situations.

When electronic, mechanical and firmware corruption occurs physical hard drive failure occurs, you can get your data recovered through Hard Drive Data Recovery service help. It is a personalized and sophisticated help to repair damaged drive and retrieve data from it.

Logical data loss situations need hard drive recovery software to extract lost data from affected drive. The Hard Drive Data Recovery applications are completely safe and easy to use in most of the data loss situations.

How to Cure Missing or Damaged c_1252.nls File in Windows XP

2009-11-21T00:41:00.000-08:00

Microsoft Windows XP is the most popular version of windows operating systems. It has a so many features that make it a reliable and advanced operating system. But in some situations, installation of MS Windows XP might suffer some issues such as damage to some critical system files. In such situations, you should immediately backup all of your valuable data to prevent data loss situations and need of hard drive recovery solutions through third-party applications.

In a practical scenario, you might come across below error message when you try to boot up your Windows XP computer:

“The file C:\windows\system32\c_1252.nls is missing or corrupt”

Now , the boot process gets halted and your system does not start. This behavior of Windows XP renders entire hard drive inaccessible and leads to critical data loss situations. At this point, you need to carry out hard drive data recovery by sorting out this issue.

Reason of this behaviour

As stated in above error message, the problem is caused by *.nls file. The file is stored in the System32 folder of Microsoft Windows operating system. The *.nls file issues are caused by corruption or loss of the ‘c_1252.nls’ file.

NLS is stand for the National Language Support. These files are code pages, which are consisted of various tables that are used for translating text into other alphabets or languages.

How to solve the issue

Following are the possible way outs that you can try to fix this problem:
Use MS Windows XP boot CD to start your system and run chkdsk/r command via command prompt.

Replace the damaged system file (c_1252.nls) by using Windows Recovery Console.

Download and install latest service pack of Microsoft Windows XP.
When none of the above works, format the hard drive and reinstall Windows XP. This method resolves most of the hard drive and operating system related errors. But it also removes all the files from hard drive and need hard drive recovery software to retrieve lost data.

These applications are specifically designed to methodically scan whole hard drive and extract all of the lost data from it. The Hard Drive Recovery tools have rich graphical user interface and thus offer easy and quick recovery of all your lost data.

How to Use BitLocker Repair Tool to Recover Data from Encrypted Vista Partitions

2009-11-18T22:10:00.000-08:00

Encryption is the best technique to protect your data from unauthorized access on a Windows hard drive. When you encrypt the hard drive, it data structures become complex and thus possibilities of data loss gets increased. Recovery of lost encrypted data is difficult as compared to unencrypted data. For this purpose Microsoft Windows Vista provides you a tool, called BitLocker Repair Tool. It helps you to access encrypted data from severally damaged hard drive. The utility is able to reconstruct significant parts of hard drive, salvage recoverable data and carry out absolute hard drive recovery. You must have recovery key or recovery password to decrypt recovered data.

You can use this command-line recovery utility, if below conditions are true:

You've encrypted the MS Windows partition using the BitLocker Drive Encryption tool.
MS Windows Vista doesn't boot up, or you simply can not start BitLocker recovery console.
You have not created backup copy of the data, which is contained on encrypted Windows hard drive.

The below files are contained by BitLocker Repair Tool:

Software License Terms.rtf
Executables\repair-bde.exe
Executables\bderepair.dll
Executables\en-us\repair-bde.exe.mui

You might come across data loss problems on encrypted hard drive if the hard drive area, on which BitLocker utility stores significant information, gets damaged. Such issues are generally caused by improper system shutdown or hard drive failure. They needs Hard Drive Data Recovery to be handled.

When this issue occurs, Microsoft Windows Vista can not boot up and you are prompted to repair your computer. Furthermore, if your system is not configured to enter recovery console in such situations, you come across below error message:

In such situations, if BitLocker Repair Tool does not work, you need to use third-party hard drive recovery software to get your mission-critical data back. The Hard Drive Data Recovery tools use advanced mechanisms to ensure absolute, safe and easy recovery in most of the data loss situations.

Stellar Phoenix Windows Data Recovery is the most robust and effective tool for assured recovery in majority of data loss situations. It recovers data from FAT32, VFAT, NTFS and NTFS5 file system partitions. The software is compatible with Microsoft Windows 7, Vista, 2003, XP and 2000.

Change in Active Partition Can Damage NTLDR File in Windows

2009-11-09T00:54:00.000-08:00

In Windows computer the system files Active Partition of the hard drive. This partition is must for windows to start up. So, it is a primary partition on basic disk. In case you change your active partition, your system may become unbootable and this may lead to a serious data loss scenario. Here one has to look for Hard Drive Recovery to retrieve the lost data from your affected Windows hard drive.

For example when you use the Windows Disk Management snap-in utility to mark the hard drive partition as active and reboot your system, you might come across below given error message:

“NTLDR is missing.
Press Ctrl+Alt+Del to restart.”

Why does it happen?

This message pops-up if some boot files are not available on the newly created Windows Active Partition. It might also take place when it encounters other boot files of Windows operating system.

How to solve the issue?

Please follow the following steps to overcome the issue:

Change the active partition of hard drive by booting it using floppy disk. You could then use disk repair tools like fdisk.
You could also use Windows Recovery Console to sort out the problem. It would work if the current active partition is formatted as NTFS or FAT file system.
When all else fails, format the hard drive and reinstall Windows operating system. It resolves all hard drive related problems, but also cause data loss and need Hard Drive Recovery Software to retrieve lost data.

There are various hard drive recovery software which are capable of scanning the affected Windows hard drive and recover all of the lost data from it. Hard Drive Recovery through these applications is quite easy and safe.

Disk Boot Error can be resolved by Hard Drive Recovery

2009-11-06T21:39:00.000-08:00

In modern hard drives the high rotating speed of the hard drives is increasing by bounds and leaps and this can cause hard drive failure. This behavior causes critical data loss and require hard drive data recovery solutions to retrieve data if the backup is not there.
The boot-failure messages indicate the failure of hard drive. For example you might get the following error:

“Disk Boot Error, Replace and Strike Key to Retry”The BIOS (Basic Input/Output System) is not able to recognize the hard drive.

The above error message indicates that your hard drive has some physical problems and hard drive data recovery software is required to handle it. But before you go for some hard drive recovery procedure, please check the following :

Your system may be trying to boot from other disks inserted into it like floppy in drive A.
So remove all the drives and try to reboot the system.
Check BIOS settings.
Make sure that the hard drive settings are correct and the hard drive is enabled. Verify the boot order.

Mark the primary partition as active.

Make sure that the hard drive power connector and ribbon cables are properly connected.
Examine that all the device drivers are installed.

If the above methods are not successful then switch your system off and consult some expert recovery professional to repair the hard drive and retrieve all the data from it. Please don't open the drive in free environment otherwise it may lead to a permanent data loss.

Stellar Information Systems Limited is the pioneer service provider in the field of hard drive recovery. The service is delivered by skilled and experienced recovery through Class 100 Clean Rooms. Service is provided for all IDE, EIDE, SATA and SCSI hard drives.

Data recovery on a hard drive so expensive?

2009-11-05T20:36:00.000-08:00

Some of the things in computer world are the major cause of data loss like hard drive damage , system failure, or virus attack .It often made worse when you learn how things become expensive at the time of retrieval of precious files.

As the process to recover lost files from a failed hard drive can be quite expensive and some times may not be but its definitely time consuming process .How much time it will take in recovery totally depends upon the condition of hard drive. We all know that hard drives are highly complex devices and need care because failure due to any of the reason either it is mechanical or electronical will render to data loss.

Many users assume that the amount of data which we want to retrieve is on the basis for what the recovery should cost. This article will clear you that exact cost of recovery doesn't depend on the thing that either you want to recover 1 file or 10,000 files cost of recovery will be same, because the real work is to get back lost data of hard drive in order to get any data at all.

The copied file from a recoverable drive requires less time and requires no human interaction once the process is started.

Two Basic Scenario of hard drive recovery - logical and physical

Logical recovery -This type of hard drive recovery is needed when your system drive is mechanically and electronically functioning properly but the data has become inaccessible due to virus attack, improper shut down or corruption of file , damage from user error or external hardware failure.

Each hard drive contains a ‘table of contents’ that guide the system about the location of the stored files. If the table of contents get infected and becomes corrupted and failed to locate then desired file becomes inaccessible for the operating system either it is windows mac or Linux.

As logical recovery can also be done by that kind of user who has little knowledge over computer or by those technicians who have complete knowledge over how to operate the tools to work with data at the binary level to retrieve lost files in less cost for this kind of user there are many hard drive recovery software available in the market.

In Physically damaged hard drive recovery needed due to mechanical or electronic failure or due to damage of internal parts or fire in electronic wire or heat . These are the main causes of physical failure . Physical recovery requires dust free environment(100 clean room )facility substantially and more machines, tools and climate to open the drive that can be found at data recovery specialist company like Stellar Information System Ltd .

Additional cost is required to repair the parts of the hard drive because locating a spare parts with an exact match is musr in recovery other wise critical recovery attempt to be unsuccessful due to this reason. Stellar Provides hard drive repair facility to users. User can try stellar phoenix hard drive recovery software for logical drive recovery in case of hard failure of different operating system., hard drive data recovery,

Unknown Hard Drive Partition Type in Disk Management Cause of Data Loss

2009-11-04T21:25:00.000-08:00

A hard drive is partitioned into different data areas called partitions to ensure better data management. Windows XP includes a built-in tool called 'Disk management' that allows you to create, delete and move these hard drive partitions. The disk drivers use some specific valid partition types. But sometimes, you observe a healthy unknown partition type present in your Windows based system. To solve such problems, you might need to perform clean installation of Windows that results into data loss. You should check your data backup status in order to restore the lost information, which if found to be invalid compels you to use hard drive recovery Software.

For an instance, when you access Computer Management or Disk Management in a Windows XP based computer, you might observe a healthy partition with unknown type. You can deduce this behavior as when you try to delete or format this partition, you fail to do so with an error suggesting that Windows cannot continue to delete or format the partition as currently, it is in use.

Cause

A Windows XP based computer exhibits the similar behavior, as above, if a third party utility is being used that creates an operating system image onto the unknown partition. It is generally performed while Windows shutdown process. Since this third party software uses the unknown partition, it displays it currently in use and prevents it from formatting or deleting within Disk Management.

Solution

To solve the existing behavior and to remove the unknown partition, you need to perform clean re-installation of Windows XP. This allows you to delete the unknown partition and installation partition of Windows XP . You should then use your recent data backup available to restore the deleted data. If no valid data backup is present, you should scan your hard drive using Hard Drive Recovery applications.

Hard drive recovery software are designed to scan a logically crashed drive using powerful scanning algorithms. They locate and restore the lost data at a safe location, providing graphically rich user interface. Designed to provide safe data recovery, these applications serve as comprehensive products to recover data.

Stellar Phoenix Windows Data Recovery is a comprehensive Hard Drive Recovery tool that supports Windows 7 RC1, Vista, XP, 2003 and 2000. It is an advanced recovery application with three most powerful drive features: Drive Status, Disk Cloning and Disk Imaging. The application supports FAT32, VFAT, NTFS and NTFS5 file system drives.

Hard Drive Recovery Providers

2009-10-31T03:57:00.000-07:00

We are living in the age where software can do almost everything. The advanced technologies are massively available at mobiles, PCs,Laptops at extremely low cost, coupled with the advances in the operating systems. This means you can use different kind of software to manage your company, your finances, even your health. Companies maintain records of sales, schedule appointments and gain competitive edge with the help of software and leading to one of the most dynamic economic revolutions ever.
In current time we are totally based on software and computer. There is also a risk of data loss. But there are many data recovery or back up programs available One of them is hard drive recovery software which is available for different hard drive and for different operating system like windows, Mac, Linux,Novell and UNIX .Data recovery software are also part of this age of invention, these software are helping hand in case of emergency and necessary to increase productivity. But hard drive recovery software is a product to be used very carefully. Let us explain why.

Different Vendors Solution are Available In Market

Data recovery companies are also increasing day by day. Last decade has shown that it is one of the greatest businesses ever existed, with the margins to prove it. When it comes to the concern to hard drive and its recovery user must be serious and choose about the company. The company who has proven recovery of all type of data from hard drive can create a trust your drive recovery. Because your data is valuable and to go for this option himself is quit risky .

The Only difference with hard drive recovery is that it is at stake which is extremely valuable. When it comes to damage ,deletion or loss of data you need to be assured that the hard drive recovery software you are going to use is 100% effective. That is able to retrieved data safely during the recovery process.
With some data recovery companies you can not recompense and their recovery software,overwrites your data that can lost. But there are important ways to distinguish between first and second rate hard drive recovery software with the help of good reviews in the market. They can recover hard drive deleted files and folders.
Retrieval of Data with Recovery Software

To retrieve your data with the hard drive recovery software which as developed by hard drive repair companies like Stellar Information System Ltd will give you best result with no data no charge . Additionally, professional data recovery service and hard drive recovery software provider will not give this kind of solution with your satisfactory results .You can install this software o other computer or with the help of second hard drive you can recover all your whole hard drive data. Else what you can you can run them directly from external media such as a CD-ROM or floppy disk. This is the best approach, as it ensures none of your data is lost and it can be retrieved fully. Contacting a professional data recovery service provider or technician will ensures you in both cases of damage either physical or logical do not make any rash moves to attempt to retrieve your data. Let us put your mind at ease, and return your data to you as soon as possible.

Protection for Hard Drive Failure

2009-10-31T03:53:00.000-07:00

Today's computer user is very familiar with hard drive failure .Carelessness about system ,mechanical failure ,physical damage or wrong software installation are very common reasons of failure which user knows but never try to think over it ,Failure of system can be quit problematic But user got solution for different type of failure. Every year, computers get smaller, faster, and therefore generate more compatibility and portability and heat than ever before. Heat is the most common term for hard drive failure as we can say hard disk damage is "smoking gun". Protection over excessive heat within your system can protect your hard drive from failure. Below we outline some handy tips for ensuring hard drive failure if it is doesn't happen to you, then hard drive recovery software or services use will not be necessary for you.

Protection of Hard Disk Drive

Pollution and dust is almost every where these are the thing which automatically magnetized by computer systems, whether it is PCs, laptops or servers. This is often comes with the fans which attempt to cool these systems. By bringing fresh air into your PC or laptop, these fans also collect and transfer dust to your system. For laptops this issue is not bigger as their fans are smaller and having a typical environments, but try not to pull in mass amounts of dust. Regular PCs, however have this problem which arises the data loss cases and need of data recovery for hard drive.

In PCs you can eliminate this hard drive failure. With the help of only a screwdriver, you can quickly and easily clean your computer. Dusting your system may be as simple , blow out your computer using compressed air or vacuum out excessive dust. Usually hard drives continue to feature larger capacity and smaller physical size, they are also working much hotter. The overall size of a hard disk drive case has not increased for quite some time, while the capacity of these hard drives has. This generates excessive heat.

Try to put your computer on cool place for laptops or notebook we recommend the addition of an add-on accessory fan which attaches directly to the hard drive. But because of your carelessness if you are in a condition of hard drive failure the you can contact to a good hard drive recovery and repair solution provider who is a leading company in data recovery That is Stellar Information System Ltd. User can try windows hard drive recovery software to get preview of your recoverable file and can get your data back with the help of hard drive data recover software.

Hard Drive Data Recovery Diagnosis

2009-10-30T22:06:00.000-07:00

If you have accidentally deleted a partitions and don't have another partitions for back up of data or left it blank .Is like you deleted a files from the recycle bin and you realize you needed it again but you are unable to get that data back and you are thinking over for lost data recovery. Then you are on right track with the help of this article You can recover hard drive data .You must be clear about the thing that your all data directly store on hard drive .If you haven't used a save command to your file then nothing has been saved on your hard drive that data indicates permanent loss of data or non recoverable data. When we use a delete command to delete a partition actually delete command erases all data of partition with deletion of complete partitions. When you erase a file from the operating system, it is just marked as deleted. When your system needs to store more data on that drive, it will consider files on the drive marked Deleted as being free space, and it will copy over it. If this happens then you are in big trouble.

This phenomena is applicable for hard drives also as hard drive partition information operating system present with a way of addressing the space available on that drive. If you delete a partition from operating system, everything will be gone because there is no partition information, no data can be read by the operating system. Your data will be on the hard drive but operating system can not see that. To see that data you need to use hard drive data recovery software by which you can easily see the recoverable data by scanning the hard drive. In data loss situation first try to make sure no more data is written to that drive. If you have just one partition and it has less free space, system can't boot properly with the operating system.

To recover that hard drive data there is a good option of second hard drive with the help of that drive you can transfer your hard drive data to another computer till it is in accessible condition. Transferring the Hard disk drive to another computer is best because it will prevent the drive from being over written, and potentially allowing you to retrieve files from the disk just by using Windows Explorer to look through the file structures. If you have damaged or erased important operating system files, but the partition information is still readable Windows will not boot.

If you don't have knowledge about how to transfer you physical hard disk to another computer, The simplest way to gain access to your data on your hard disk drive with a DOS boot disk and then the use of DOS compatible hard drive recovery program.

Hard drive recovery becomes more difficult if you have only one hard drive with a single partition that is no longer bootable because most of the windows hard drive recovery programs need a place to copy recovered data, and if you are using the same drive which has the lost data on it you will be destroying more data than you save.

It is better to install a new hard drive onto the current system and save the recovered data on new hard drive. For this , there is a good program such as Stellar Phoenix Windows Data Recovery Software which will help you to boot your system straight into DOS based system then perform hard drive recovery.