Problem in Boot.ini File and Data Loss in Windows

Is your computer unbootable after upgrading to Microsoft Windows XP? Are you getting errors in the Boot.ini file? This behavior may occur if your system has an invalid Boot.ini file and thus can not boot. In such situations, you are not allowed to log into your system and access the data stored on Windows hard drive. It leads to significant data loss, if there is no backup in place. In such circumstances, you need to use windows data recovery to extract lost data.

As a practical instance, you may come across one or both of the below error messages when you boot your Windows-based computer after upgrading to Microsoft Windows XP:

• Invalid Boot.ini

• Windows could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt:
  Windows\System32\Hal.dll

In the event of these error messages, your system refuses to boot up and data remains inaccessible. To gain access of your mission-critical data in such cases, you are required to find the root cause of this problem and perform Windows Recovery by fixing it.

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Cloning and Data Loss Situations in Windows Hard Drive

The computer hard drives store data and programs together and thus there is a need to switch over a faster and larger capacity drive. Now you need to reinstall the operating system and all the programs on the new drive. This may also lead to a severe data loss situation and require Windows Data Recovery. To tackle such situations, you can create a mirror copy of your hard drive that could easily restore all of your documents, files, data, programs and even operating system. This method is known as Disk Cloning.

The Disk Cloning is process of replicating all the contents of one hard drive to another computer hard drive or image file. Generally, the contents of first hard drive are written to image file as intermediate step, and second disk is loaded with contents of image. The process is very helpful specifically when moving to large hard drives. The cloning is made easy through Disk Cloning software.

The hard drive cloning tool is used for :

• Hard disk upgrade: You can use such applications to upgrade to new or larger capacity hard drive. It prevents data loss and need of Windows Data Recovery Software.

• Provisioning new systems: Provisioning with the standard set of software so that you can go away with complete application suite and doesn't need to waste time in installing individual programs.

• Complete system backup: Using hard drive cloning applications, you can create a comprehensive and full backup of your operating system, data and all the installed application software.

• System recovery: Using the disk clone software you can create rescue disk that is used to restore your computer to its original settings after operating system malfunction. This is basically used for operating system recovery.

The disk cloning software have to be able to access even the protected operating system resources on source drive. The system must be in a consistent and working state while the software read the drive and create clone image of it. If you have any operating system or applications installed on the destination disk while cloning, the software will overwrite everything and create a fresh copy of all the data.

Stellar Phoenix Windows Data Recovery is the most effective and advanced tool to easily clone your hard drive. It works well with Microsoft Windows 7, Vista, 2003, XP and 2000. It creates clone of all FAT32, VFAT, NTFS and NTFS5 file system partitions of your Windows hard drive.

Lets rectify error : “DISK READ ERROR OCCURED”

It happens some times that at the time of up gradation the hard drive is automatically formatted with FAT (File Allocation Table) file system and all the data stored on the hard drive gets lost.

This situation is general in dual-boot system. This behavior of Microsoft Windows makes all your data inaccessible and can cause serious data loss. Now you are required to scan the affected hard drive and opt for an effective Windows Data Recovery to retrieve lost data from Windows hard drive.

In a practical situation, if you've NT-based version of Microsoft Windows installed on first primary partition that is formatted as NTFS (New Technology File System), and you select to format the partition as NTFS file system during setup to begin with clean partition, Windows setup process will format the drive as FAT, copy files from CD and try to reboot system in GUI mode to continue installation. In such situations, your system would stop responding and you come across below error message:

“DISK READ ERROR occurred.”

If you run ChkDsk on affected Windows drive, you will encounter following error message:

“The media descriptor byte is invalid.
FAT copies are not the same.
Many cross linked files.
All directory entries were invalid.”

Try to repair partition doesn't sort out the problem and the installation could not be continued. In these cases, you need to find out the cause of this problem and carry out Windows Recovery by fixing it.

Root of the problem

Earlier Windows NT kernel format the partition using FAT file system and then convert the file system to NTFS on final re-boot after installation. If you reformat the boot partition using NTFS file system, setup writes 16 sector boot area on freshly formatted FAT drive after file copy operation completes.

In order to sort out such issue, Windows Data Recovery is required. This is best possible using advanced third-party applications, known as Windows Data Recovery Software. The tools work in the majority of data loss situations and allow you to perform quick and easy recovery. The have non-destructive conduct and thus do not alter original data on drive and always perform safe recovery.

VMI Automation Interface May Cause Data Loss in Microsoft Windows

In Microsoft Windows, when you run the programs that use asynchronous WMI (Windows Management Instrumentation) automation interfaces, applications might unpredictably and sporadically shut down or stop responding, possibly resulting into serious data loss. This behavior of Microsoft Windows operating system cause critical situations and require Windows Data Recovery to be sorted out.

Any Windows application, which uses asynchronous Windows Management Instrumentation automation interfaces might be subject to the unpredictable behavior because of different timing issues. This problem might not be identified during the development process of application as nested events occur rarely. Some common factors like network speed, CPU (Central Processing Unit) speed, external variable and system speed could provoke this behavior and lead to improper program termination and data loss.

For instance, a garbage JScript collection could lead events of fire, resulting into an irretrievable crash and causing all script codes to stop executing. Later versions of the JScript suppresses explosive stops and shutdowns, but the WMI automation interface still fires the events improperly. Particularly, the event could be fired at random times, when all other events are being processed, simply causing data loss from Windows hard drive.

The warning signs of this bug are unpredictable as they depend upon the timing of the garbage collection and on speed at which the asynchronous operations are completed. In the real-world applications, such bug causes a number of problems, which show up so often.
Data loss is something that can not be accepted at any cost. It causes a number of problems in business continuity. At this point, if you have an update backup of your data, use it for Windows Recovery. In case if the backup is not available or its not updated, you require recovery from third party solutions.

Recovery of lost data is possible in the majority of data loss situations, until it gets overwritten. You can easily recover lost data in such situations using using third-party Windows Data Recovery Software.

The Windows Recovery applications use advanced scanning algorithms to perform methodical scan of entire hard drive and extract all of the lost data out of it. The tools are completely easy to use as they come equipped with interactive and rich graphical user interface. They do not alter original data on the drive as they have read-only and non-destructive behavior.

Damaged Boot.ini File In Microsoft Windows

If the windows operating system does not boot , you can not get access data from it. It can be a case of damaged Boot.ini file. In such situations, usually we go for some data recovery software. An advanced Windows Data Recovery software can solve all the problems.

In technical words..............

At the time of booting, the NTLDR (NT Loader) program refers to Boot.ini file to check where the files of operating syatem are stored and what options to enable as operating system keep on loading. Thus if there is any issue with Boot.ini file, it could render the Windows operating system incapable of starting properly.

When you suspect that your Windows operating system does not boot up because the Boot.ini file has been damaged, you could use special Recovery Console of Bootcfg.exe utility to sort it out and perform Windows Recovery. In order to access the Recovery Console, you must first boot your system with Windows installation CD (Compact Disk).

Use the following command to use Bootcfg.exe utility from Recovery Console:
Bootcfg /parameter

Here /parameter can be anyone of the following given:

/Add: Scans hard drive for all MS Windows installations and enables you to add a new one to Boot.ini file.

/Scan: Scans hard drive for all Microsoft Windows installations.

/List: Lists every entry in Boot.ini file.

/Default: Sets default OS as main boot entry.

/Rebuild: Re-create the Boot.ini file. You must confirm every step in it.

Although the Bootcfg.exe utility can handle of the problems with system booting. But take care that improper editing of the Boot.ini file requires hard drive formatting.

Of course, the formatting removes all the errors but it also deletes all of the data from your Windows hard drive. After this the recovery is possible with the help of Windows Data Recovery Software. Although there are so many applications available for this but the one with advanced and reliable features are still lacking.

My view..........

In my opinion Stellar Phoenix Windows Data Recovery is the most comprehensive application for smooth, simple and secure recovery of your precious data and being a user of this software I highly recommend it to overcome the problem.