How to recover partition when the MBR gets corrupt in Windows XP

Image via WikipediaIn all the storage media that is used around, all of them have to be partitioned using the in-build feature in the respective operating system. The operating system starts from the active partition as the boot files are stored in this partition only. At times, these files are damaged due to some external factors that bar the system from booting. Appropriate restorative measures should be taken to recover partition in such cases. Having said that, if nothing succeeds, then according to me you should take the services of a professional partition recovery software.

One such situation can be considered wherein you are unable to start your Windows XP system. In this case, either of the following message is displayed

• Missing operating system.
• Operating system not found.

Reasons:

Such problems occur when there is some undesirable issues with the active partition in your system. Some are them are:

• The Sector 0 of the hard drive is having corrupt MBR.
• The partition that is marked as Active is incompatible.
• The partition containing the MBR is not active.
• The hard disk is corrupt.

Solutions:

For the aforementioned causes, the following methods are suggested:

• Check the BIOS settings: You should check the BIOS settings and check whether the booting preferences are properly defined to boot the correct storage media. If not, then adjust the settings accordingly. Restart the system after saving the settings.
• Use fixmbr tool: If the previous method does not work, then you should enter the Recovery Console using the Windows XP Setup CD. Then, use the the FIXMBR command to repair and rebuild the MBR of the active partition.

If the system is still not able to start properly, then you should re-install the Windows XP operating system. However, in that case all the data would not be secure or may get removed. At this juncture, I would suggest you to use a Windows data recovery software to recover all the data safely. While performing partition recovery, these tools ensure that no data is destroyed as these use sophisticated scanning algorithms.