Recovering inaccessible Windows XP data when you install Windows Vista to make it dual-boot

The startup pattern of Windows XP is very different than that of Windows Vista. That is the reason when you install Windows Vista in a system that is already having Windows XP, some or the other startup problem comes up. One of the reasons behind this is that in Windows XP, the boot.ini file tells the operating system about the location of Windows installation. And when Windows Vista is installed in another partition, you may not be able to start Windows XP. You can modify the boot.ini file in such case to recover partition. If that is not possible, then you should use a third-party Windows partition recovery software to recover all the data.
Let us consider an instance when you have installed Windows Vista in a system that already has Windows XP to make it a dual-boot computer. However, when you start the system using Windows XP it does not start and displays the following error message:

“Windows could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt:
C:\Windows\system32\ntoskrnl.exe. Please re-install a copy of the above file.”

Cause:

This problem has occurred as Windows Vista is installed in formerly unallocated disk space that existed in front of the partition on which Windows XP was installed.

Resolution:

To resolve this problem, you should perform the following steps:
· Start Windows Vista.
· Right-click 'Start' and click 'Explore'.
· In the 'Organize' menu, click 'Folder and Search Options'.
· Click 'View' in the 'Folder Options' dialog box.
· In the 'Advanced settings' area, click 'Show hidden files and folders'.
· Clear the selected 'Hide extensions for known file types' check box, and 'Hide protected operating system files (Recommended)' check box.
· Select the 'Yes' check box to confirm that you want to display the operating system files.
· Click OK when done.
· Browse and click the Windows XP system drive.
· Right-click boot.ini file, and click 'Properties'.
· Click Owner | Edit.
· Leave the default 'Administrators' option selected in the 'Change owner to' list and click OK four times.
· Right-click boot.ini file and click 'Edit'.
· Modify the ARC (Advanced RISC Computing) path as appropriate for the correct path of the Windows XP startup partition. The ARC path should look like the following path:
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /fastdetect
· Save the boot.ini file and close Notepad.
· Restart the system and boot into Windows XP.

However, if you are unable to boot Windows XP partition then you should recover partition with the help of a third-party partition recovery software. These tools are absolutely safe to use that do not damage the existing files during recovery.

READ MORE » Recovering inaccessible Windows XP data when you install Windows Vista to make it dual-boot

Recovering inaccessible data from damaged hard disk in Windows XP

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In the Windows operating system, there are certain system files that are used to boot the system. These files perform several types of tasks of their own like suggesting which type of operating system to select to boot, the partition to access, etc. However, this practice fails to occur when these system files are corrupt due to any miscellaneous reason such as virus infections, hard disk damage, abrupt or unplanned system shutdown, etc. Such situations call for reinstalling the Windows system but for that you would need to recover the lost data. That is made easy using a third-party hard disk recovery software that would help you in doing so.

Let us consider a situation in which you start your Windows XP system but it fails to boot properly. It stops showing a black screen and may display either of the following error messages:

STOP: C0000221 unknown hard error
Path\File_name
STOP: 0xC0000221 unknown hard error
C:\Winnt\System32\Ntdll.dll (or another specific file or driver)
STOP: 0xC0000221 STATUS_IMAGE_CHECKSUM_MISMATCH
Path\File_name

Cause:

There could be the following reasons for this situation at the system startup:

The files mentioned in the error messages are either missing or damaged.
You have installed an inappropriate system driver that is incompatible with the system.
You may have installed an Iomega ZIP drive on the same IDE (Integrated Device Electronics) cable as the hard disk drive.

Resolution:

You can perform the following methods to resolve this problem:

Repair the damaged files: You should try to use the Windows XP Setup CD to repair or replace the corrupt system boot files.
Reinstall Windows XP: If the previous method does not work, then you should use the Setup CD to reinstall Windows XP.

These mentioned methods would be able to address the problem. However, as one of the methods suggests to reinstall Windows XP that would result in you losing the precious inaccessible data. In such cases, you would need to recover all such data using a third-party hard disk recovery software. Using sophisticated scanning mechanisms, these data recovery tools ensure that the data is not damaged during the recovery.

READ MORE » Recovering inaccessible data from damaged hard disk in Windows XP

Advanced Mac photo recovery software to recover your seemingly lost photos

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Are you unable to mount your external hard drive carrying all your memorable photos to your Mac system? Don't worry! This is a panic situation of photo loss that many Mac users must have witnessed. However, the good thing is that your lost or deleted photos are never permanently lost from the Mac system, until they are being over written and with the help of any Mac photo recovery utility can be easily recovered back.

This article will give you a insight of the problem that you have faced, how to deal with it and how to perform photo recovery Mac to bring back your precious pictures.

While trying to mount your external hard drive with some thousands of valuable photos and videos, you encounter an error message, following which the media got completely inaccessible. The error message that you received can be read as below:


"Directory cannot be rebuilt, this file system is unsupported

Or This disk is not a Macintosh disk

Or This disk does appear on the desktop."


The errors appear as problem related to the file system of the media. The cause can be the corruption or damage to the file system of the external device after an abrupt shut down of your Mac system, virus/ malware infection etc.


Resolution


In such a case, if there is not any visible damage to the storage device, you can run the 'Disk Utility', by connecting the device to your Mac system. Disk Utility is an in-built utility with most of the Mac OS X based system to check the integrity of the disk and repair them as well. However, if Disk utility fails, you have another option to check and repair the file system of the media by running the command-line utility 'fsck'.


However, 'fsck' also fails at times, when there is a severe corruption to the storage media and under such a complicated situation, you need to take the help of advanced Mac image recovery software to recover and restore your seemingly lost photos back.

READ MORE » Advanced Mac photo recovery software to recover your seemingly lost photos

How to recover data while BCD store is corrupt or missing entries in Windows Vista

In the Windows Vista and later operating systems of Windows, the BCD (Boot Configuration Data) store contains the boot entries, which are read by the boot manager when the system is started. The well being of the BCD store is very essential for the system. However, due to some unavoidable circumstances such as virus infections, power outages, hardware malfunctioning, abrupt or unplanned system shutdown, etc the BCD store gets corrupt and you are unable to start the system. In such cases, you should try to rebuild the BCD store to recover Windows data using appropriate methods. If these methods are insufficient to save your day, then I would suggest using a third-party Windows data recovery software from the inaccessible system.


Consider a situation in which you are unable to start your Windows Vista-based system. An error message is displayed in this regard, that is:


“File: \Boot\BCD

Status: 0xc0000034

Info: The Windows Boot Configuration Data file is missing required information”


Cause:


Such problems at system startup can appear for either of the following conditions is true:


* The Boot\BCD file on the active partition is damaged or missing.
* The Windows Boot Manager (Bootmgr) entry is not present is the BCD store.


Resolution:


This problem can be resolved using either of the following methods. Please note that you follow these methods in the given sequence only:


* Repair the BCD store by using the Startup Repair option: You should use the 'Startup Repair' option in the Windows Recovery Environment to repair the BCD store. Restart the system after doing this. If the problem is not solved, then proceed to the next method.


* Rebuild the BCD store by using the Bootrec.exe tool: You should rebuild the BCD store by using the Bootrec.exe tool in the Windows Recovery Environment. Restart the system after doing this. If the problem persists, then try the next method.


* Rebuild the BCD store manually by using the Bcdedit.exe tool: Finally, you should try out manually rebuilding the BCD store by using the Bcdedit.exe tool.


If the problem is still persisting, then you should recover Windows data using a powerful third-party data recovery software. These hard drive recovery utilities are able to recover all the inaccessible files using fast and sophisticated scanning algorithms without any data loss.

READ MORE » How to recover data while BCD store is corrupt or missing entries in Windows Vista