Windows XP Data Recovery after “Unmountable Boot Volume” Error

MS Windows XP contains a system volume where the operating system is installed. On completion of POST (Power On Self Test) operation, system partition is read operating system is loaded. If the boot or system partition is not recognized then the machine may not boot up.

This may result a severe data loss problem. In such critical situations, an updated and valid backup proves great help. But, if backup is not available, Windows data recovery is the only way to go.

In a practical instance of unbootable Windows XP computer, you may come across the below error messages while booting up y our computer:

“Unmountable Boot Volume”

After the above error message, boot process gets interrupted. The operating system can not load and you can not get into your system. In order to fix this behavior and recover Windows data, you must figure out the root of this problem.

What is the reason for 'Unmountable Boot Volume' Error in Windows XP?

You may run across this behavior of Windows XP due to any of the below reasons:

The Boot.ini file of your Windows XP computer is either missing or damaged.

The hard drive is bad and unreadable.

Solution

There are two possible solutions of this problem, depending upon the cause of the problem:


Missing or Corrupt Boot.ini File-

Boot your system in recovery console.

Type chkdsk /p in recovery console to check if drive is bad.

Reboot your system if chkdsk does not find any error.

If you system has same problem after running chkdsk, reboot your system back into recovery console.

Run chkdsk /r to locate bad sectors and retrieve data.

Bad or Unreadable Hard Drive-


If critical data structures, like file system, boot loader, and MBR (Master Boot Record) of your Windows XP, are corrupt, you need to format the hard drive and reinstall operating system to fix the issue.

Then comes the ultimate solution ie formatting but it also removes all the data from hard drive and puts you in need of Windows recovery.

Recovery is potential through advanced and powerful third-party tools, known as Windows data recovery software. They are competent enough to systematically scan entire hard drive and extract as much data as possible from it.