Recovering partition data from NTFS file system when the MFT gets fragmented

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The MFT (Master File Table) is a repository in the NTFS file system that keeps the record of all the file data including file name, creation date, access permissions, and contents, etc. To view any type of information related to the files, you can refer to the MFT. However, at times the MFT itself gets corrupt due to too many files. Because of this, you may not be able to even start your system. You can use the 'Bcupdate.exe' utility to get rid of this problem. If that tool is unable to recover partition data, then you should use a third-party partition recovery software to overcome this situation.

Let us consider a situation in which you are using Windows XP and are unable to start it after the boot process gets over. In this case, the following error is displayed:

“NTLDR is missing

Press CTRL+ALT+DEL to restart.”

Cause:

Such problem can occur if the MFT root folder is severely fragmented because of too many files. If the folder contains several files, then the MFT becomes so fragmented that an additional allocation index is created. As the files are now mapped alphabetically in the allocation indexes, the NTLDR file may get pushed to the second allocation index. Because of this, the NTLDR is not found during the boot process and the given error is displayed.

Resolution:

To resolve this problem, you should use the Bcupdate2.exe utility. For this, the following steps are required:

• Contact Microsoft Support to obtain the Bcupdate2.exe utility.
• Create a Boot disk so that you can start the system in recovery mode.
• Run the following command to extract the Bcupdate2.exe utility from the software update.

Expand drive_letter:\bcupdate2.ex_ drive_letter:\bcupdate2.exe

• Run the following command to update the boot code of the NTFS boot sector:

Bcupdate2.exe C: /F

• Press Y when you are prompted to update the volume. After it is done successfully, you will receive the following confirmatory message:

The boot code was updated successfully.

However, if the provided solution does not solve the purpose then you should use a third-party partition recovery utility to retrieve all the inaccessible Windows files. Such data recovery tools are capable of recovering all types of data using non-destructive scanning algorithms.

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How to Handle Data Loss Situations

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Loss of data and information is something that could be very stressing. Whether it is with critical business files and documents or with your personal data, pictures, songs and videos, losing data could be a quite traumatic situation. You are have not ever experienced grave situations of hard drive failure and data loss, it could indeed be the situation where you would find yourself working how to recover lost data. At this point, Data Recovery solutions come into picture to help you retrieve lost data.

No matter what happens to your data, you should not take stress or let the situation become worse. Though, computer systems are good to have and the hard drives work well for huge data storage, but they both are mechanical devices and tend to fail at some point of time. Nevertheless of how sophisticated the hard disk drives get, they would never be capable of avoiding failures and crashes completely.

It is not worth to panic in case of data loss as recovery is possible in most of the data loss situations. Whenever you suspect that your hard drive failing or you have lost your stored data, you should immediately stop using it. Further use of the drive may cause more damage and permanent data loss.

If the hard drive is making strange clicking or grinding sounds and it could not be detected by your operating system, the the problem may be caused by physical damage to the drive. It might occur due to read/write head crash, PCB (Printed Circuit Board) damage, damaged spindle motor, natural disasters and so forth.

Such situations need Hard Drive Recovery Services to be handled. Recovery professionals completely analyze the hard drive and find out exact cause of failure. Then they replace damaged disk components and make it functional. Then they care image of the drive and apply recovery solutions on it.

If problem is caused by virus infection, accidental formatting, file system corruption and similar reasons, Data Recovery Software are required to handle the situations. The applications use high-end scanning techniques to methodically scan entire hard drive and extract all of the lost data from it. Data Recovery Software have simple and rich graphical user interface and thus let you carry out easy recovery in most of the cases.

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