Stellar Phoenix Windows Data Recovery

There are some situations where you need to promote your Windows Server to domain controller and to demote domain controller to member server. This is possible using the Dcpromo.exe (Active Directory Installation Wizard) feature of Microsoft Windows Server.

This wizard deletes configuration data for domain controller for the Active Directory, as a part of demotion process.  It takes form of the NTDS settings object, which is stored as child of server object in the Active Directory Sites and Services. However, if  you use the Dcpromo.exe utility incorrectly, you may come across serious problems of system failure and data loss, which ultimately requires hard drive recovery to be fixed.

The information about promotion process and NTDS settings is stored in Active Directory in the below location:

“CN=NTDS Settings,CN=<servername>,CN=Servers,CN=<sitename>,CN=Sites,CN=Configuration,DC=<domain>…”

Attributes of NTDS settings object has data that represents how domain controller is recognized by the replication partners, naming contexts which are organized on machine, default query policy, and whether domain controller is global catalog server.

If NTDS settings objects are removed improperly, Exchange Server administrator can manually delete metadata for server object. Administrator can manually delete NTDS Settings objects in Windows 2003 Server and Windows 2000 Server using Ntdsutil.exe tool. Before you modify the Active Directory attributes or remove server objects, you should keep the following things in mind:

When you use the LDP utility, ADSI (Active Directory Service Interfaces) Edit snap-in, or any other LDAP (Lightweight Directory Access Protocol) client version 3 and you improperly modify the Active Directory object attributes, you may come across serious problems. Such problems may cause operating system malfunction and require you to format the hard drive and reinstall operating system.

You should always make sure that you have complete backup of your mission-critical data after demotion before you manually remove NTDS Settings objects from any server. Incorrect use of Ntdsutil.exe utility might affect Active Directory and cause severe data loss situations.

When any of the above problems occur and you face serious data loss from your Windows hard drive, hard drive data recovery is the best option to sort it out. The hard drive recovery is possible using third-party data recovery software.

The hard drive data recovery applications use high-end scanning techniques to carry out in-depth scan of entire hard drive and extract all lost data from it. The have interactive user interface and read-only conduct to ensure easy and safe recovery.

Stellar Phoenix Windows Data Recovery is the most efficient and advanced utility that recovers lost data in all scenarios. The software is compatible with Microsoft Windows 7, Vista, 2003, XP, and 2000. It recovers data from all FAT12, FAT16, FAT32, VFAT, NTFS, and NTFS5 file system partitions.

A file system defines the mechanism to store and organize computer files and their data in a computer system. Two basic types of file systems are used in the Windows system, FAT and NTFS. Of these, the NTFS file system is considered more beneficiary for the system as it is more secure, performs file compression, encrypts the files, etc.

That is the reasons more and more users are shifting from FAT to NTFS. However, sometimes when you perform the conversion the Windows system is unable to boot. In such situations, you should use appropriate methods to resolve the issue. However, if you are unable to sort the issue then you should use a third-party Windows hard drive recovery software to do the needful for you.

Consider a scenario wherein you have FAT 32 file system in your Windows XP system. You want to convert the active partition from FAT 32 to NTFS using the ‘convert drive: /fs:ntfs command’. However, when you perform this operation and restart the system, it is unable to boot. An error message is displayed, that is:

“Windows could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt: System32\Drivers\Ntfs.sys”

Cause:

The root cause of this error message is that the Ntfs.sys file has either corrupted or gone missing while you converted the file system from FAT 32 to NTFS.

Resolution:

To resolve this error message, you should perform the following steps:

Boot the system using the Windows XP CD ROM.

Enter the Recovery Console and press R to start the repair process.

Type the following commands and press Enter after each command:

cd \windows\system32\drivers

ren ntfs.sys ntfs.old

The ntfs.sys file will be renamed if it is corrupt. However, if it is not there it means that it is missing.

Type the following command and press Enter.

copy X:\i386\ntfs.sys drive:\windows\system32\drivers [Where X=CD-ROM Drive]

Enter quit, and press Enter to exit the Recovery Console.

Restart the system. The system should boot properly now.

However, if you are still not able to access the data then you should use a third-party hard drive recovery software to do the needful. Such read-only tools are able to recover hard drive using fast yet sophisticated scanning algorithms.

Stellar Phoenix Windows Data Recovery is a hard drive recovery software that enables you to recover lost, deleted, or formatted data from both FAT and NTFS file systems. It is capable of recovering more than 185 different file types from various storage media such as hard disks, external hard drives, USB flash drives, memory cards, etc. This Windows hard drive recovery software is capable of recovering deleted emails from Outlook Express and MS Outlook. It is compatible with Windows 7, Vista, Server 2003, XP, and Server 2000.

Serial Advanced Technology Attachment (SATA) is the new-generation drive interface used to connect the system with the storage devices. It is fast, compact, reliable with data transfer, and supports hot swapping. However, sometimes you face difficulty in booting your Windows 7 system.

This may happen because of any hardware failure or hard drive corruption. In such cases, you should take remedial measures. However, if you are not able to resolve the issue then you should use a third-party hard drive recovery software to recover hard drive.

Consider a scenario wherein you have a Windows 7 system. In this, you have just changed the SATA mode of the system drive to use either the Advanced Host Controller Interface (AHCI) specification or RAID features. After that, you restart your system but it fails to boot. An error message is displayed, that is:

“STOP 0×0000007B INACCESSABLE_BOOT_DEVICE”

Cause:

The root cause of this error message is that the disk driver is disabled.

This issue occurs if the disk driver in Windows 7 is disabled. This driver must be enabled before you change the SATA/RAID mode of the boot drive.

Resolution:

To resolve this error, you should enable the driver before changing the SATA or RAID mode of the system drive. To do this, you should modify the system registry by performing the following steps:

• Quit all the Windows-based applications.
• Click Start, and type regedit in the Start Search box.
• Press Enter.
• Click Continue on the User Account Control message box.
• Click one of the following registry subkeys:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\Msahci

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\IastorV

• Right-click Start in the Name column, and click Modify.
• Enter 0 in the Value data text box.
• Click OK.
• Quit Registry Editor.

However, you should be careful while modifying the registry settings yourself. If you are not sure how to do it safely, you should consult a technician who should be able to do it more confidently. However, if you have valuable data and want to restore that first, then you should use a third-party Windows hard drive recovery software to recover the trapped data. Such read-only tools are able to recover data safely without overwriting the original data.

Stellar Phoenix Windows Data Recovery is a hard drive recovery software that enables you to recover lost, deleted, or formatted data. It is capable of recovering more than 185 file types from various storage media such as hard drives, external hard drives, pen drives, etc. In addition, this hard drive recovery software is able to recover lost emails from MS Outlook and Outlook Express. It is compatible with Windows 7, Vista, Server 2003, XP, and 2000.

Startup problems are very common with any of the operating system, including Microsoft Windows. Most of such problems are caused by damaged system files of Windows Operating system, such as registry. Windows registry is a database, which contains critical information about all the installed software and hardware components of your computer. This behavior does not let you log into your system and renders all your valuable data inaccessible. It leads to significant data loss and requires hard drive recovery to be fixed, if you do not have a complete backup in place.

For example, you may come across the any of the below error messages, when you attempt to boot up your Windows XP operating system-based computer:

Windows XP could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt: \WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\CONFIG\SYSTEM

Windows XP could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt: \WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\CONFIG\SOFTWARE

Stop: c0000218 {Registry File Failure} The registry cannot load the hive (file): \SystemRoot\System32\Config\SOFTWARE or its log or alternate

System error: Lsass.exe

When trying to update a password the return status indicates that the value provided as the current password is not correct.

After this behavior of Microsoft Windows XP, you cannot get into your system and access stored data from Microsoft Windows hard drive. You must first recognize the cause of this issue and resolve it using Hard Drive Data Recovery, to get your mission critical data back.

Root of the problem

You may come across this behavior of Microsoft Windows XP computer due to corrupt or damaged registry hives or entire registry database. The Windows registry may get damaged because of numerous reasons, such as virus infection, unexpected system shutdown, operating system malfunction, and incorrect registry editing.

Resolution

You can sort out this problem by restoring damaged registry file from the most recent backup. It is quite easy to restore Windows registry. If the backup is not available, you need to format the hard drive and reinstall Microsoft Windows operating system.

It fixes all the hard drive related problems, but also removes the data from your hard drive, causing severe data loss. In such cases, Hard Drive Recovery Software come for your rescue. The applications are particularly designed to systematically scan the affected hard drive and extract all lost, missing, and inaccessible data from it. The Hard Drive Recovery with the applications is quite safe, quick, and easy.

Stellar Phoenix windows data recovery software recovers lost data from hard drive, USB drive, memory card, and other Windows-supported storage media. It is usable with Windows 7, Vista, 2003, XP, and 2000. The software recovers data from NTFS5, NTFS, FAT32, VFAT, FAT16, and FAT12 file system partitions.

Are you unable to extend a hard drive partition on Microsoft Windows 2003 Server-based computer? Are you getting errors while extending the partitions and process stops halfway? The problem may occur if you are extending a Windows partition using a third-party application, which use incompatible control codes. This behavior may damage the volume data structures and make it inaccessible. It may cause data loss on your Windows hard drive and needs Hard Drive Recovery to be fixed, if backup is not available.

For example, you may come across a STOP error, which is similar to below one, when you try to extend a Windows 2003 hard drive partition using third-party partition resizing utility:

“A problem has been detected and windows has been shut down to prevent damage to your computer.
If this is the first time you’ve seen this Stop error screen, restart your computer. If this message appears again, follow these steps:
Disable or uninstall any anti virus , disc defragmentation or backup utilities. Check your hard drive configuration, and check for any updated drivers. Run CHKDSK /F to check for hard drive corruption, and then restart your computer.
Technical Information
Stop 0×00000024 (0×0019033c, 0xf016e7a0, 0xf016e49c, 0xe061dcdc)”

When the partition extending process fails, the partition may become inaccessible. In order to get your mission-critical data back in such cases, you need to find out the cause of this problem and go for Hard Drive Data Recovery to fix it.

Root of the problem:

This behavior may take place if partition resizing utility uses the below FSCTLS and IOCTLS control codes for extending the volume:

FSCTL_EXTEND_VOLUME

IOCTL_DISK_UPDATE_PROPERTIES

IOCTL_DISK_GROW_PARTITION

For instance, you might be using a third-party tool for resizing a hard drive partition or for appending unused disk space to an existing Windows partition.

Resolution:

If the resize process is incomplete and partitions are damaged, you need to format the hard drive and reinstall operating system. Although, formatting helps you to sort out all the hard drive errors, but also removes the data stored on the drive and cause severe data loss. In such cases, Hard Drive Recovery Software come for your rescue.

These are commercial applications, which Recover Hard Drive data in absolute and efficient way, using powerful scanning algorithms. With simple user interface and read-only design, such tools are easy and safe to use.

Intel-based Windows computers rely on system BIOS (Basic Input/Output System) for loading and executing bootstrap code. Bootstrap routine of BIOS generates ‘int 0×19′ that loads the first sector of hard drive in memory at 0000:7C00H segment address. First physical sector of hard drive is known as MBR (Master Boot Record) and it contains bootstrap loader code. In some cases, your system refuses to boot due to missing boot code and you can not access the system. This behavior renders all your data, stored on hard drive, inaccessible and cause serious data loss situations. In such circumstances, you need to perform Hard Drive Recovery to fix the problem.

After loading sector zero of the hard drive, BIOS checks that last two bytes of the sector are 55AA. The 55AA is the boot record signature. It is like EOF (End OF File) when sector is read. Boot record signature is required by BIOS to boot the system. In case, this signature is missing, you come across a BIOS-dependent error message, stating:

“Boot Record Signature AA55 Not Found, xxyy Found”

Alternately, you may get either of the below error messages and the system may stop responding:

“Non-System or Non-Bootable Disk”

Or

“Strike f1 to retry boot”

If Microsoft Windows operating system is installed on any logical drive in the extended partition, you receive below mentioned error message after BOOT MENU choice and NTDETECT runs:

“OS Loader 4.0

Boot record Signature AA55 Not Found, xxyy Found.”

In this scenario, your system becomes unbootable and unresponsive. It does not let you access data from hard drive and needs hard drive recovery.

Cause

This problem may occur due to any of the below reasons:

Disk configuration or inconsistency problems.

Damaged MBR.

File system corruption or missing system files.

Resolution

You can settle this problem and Recover Hard Drive data by:

Running ChkDsk utility to repair hard drive.

Booting your system in Recovery Console and using Fixmbr command to rewrite MBR.

Format hard drive and reinstall Windows.

Formatting can fix most of the hard drive related problems, but it also has a downside. It removes all the data from hard drive and causes severe data loss. In such situations, you should recover lost data using Hard Drive Recovery Software to ensure quick, safe, easy, and absolute recovery.

Stellar Phoenix Windows Data Recovery software successfully recovers lost data from your Windows hard drive in all data loss situations. Designed for Microsoft Windows 7, Vista, 2003, XP, and 2000 operating systems, this recovery software preserves integrity of your data. It supports recovery from FAT16, FAT 32, VFAT, NTFS, and NTFS5 file system partitions.

All types of hard drives fail sooner or later, however, the signs, reasons and severity of damage might vary. Data loss is something that is not acceptable in any case. In such cases, hard drive recovery solutions come for your help to get your valuable data back. The recovery solutions may vary, depending upon the cause and type of failure. The hard drive failure and data loss causes may fall in following categories:

Electronic Failure: Malfunction or damage to any of the electronic components of hard drive conduces to create this category. Some factors like power outages and fluctuations may cause issues for PCB (Printed Circuit Board), disk controller and disk cables. Short circuits may also damage the hard drive electronic components. Electronic failure cause your hard drive to be dead or the hard drive can not be recognized in BIOS (Basic Input/Output System).

Firmware Corruption: It s a program that control hard drive components. In fact it is a microcode that is responsible for making hard drive functional. Firmware corruption may occur due to virus infection, improper system shutdown and other such reasons. When it gets damaged, operating system can not interact with hard drive and thus system does not work.

Mechanical Failure: Damage to the internal hard drive components such as read/write head, actuator arm, spindle motor, magnetic platters and so forth. All these are moving components and constitute mechanical failure when they stop working or gets damaged. Such failures are generally indicated by strange clicking, scrapping and ticking sounds coming from hard drive.

Logical Damage: Such kind of failures occur due to damage to the logical components of your hard drive such as file system, operating system and boot record. It also occurs due to virus infection, hard drive formatting and accidental deletion like situations.

When electronic, mechanical and firmware corruption occurs physical hard drive failure occurs, you can get your data recovered through hard drive data recovery service help. It is a personalized and sophisticated help to repair damaged drive and retrieve data from it.

Logical data loss situations need hard drive recovery software to extract lost data from affected drive. The Hard Drive Data Recovery applications are completely safe and easy to use in most of the data loss situations.

Stellar Information Systems Limited is the leading provider of superior recovery solutions for all types of data loss circumstances. Service is delivered through Class 100 Clean Rooms using cutting-edge technologies. Recovery software are available for Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, UNIX and Novell operating systems.

The hard drive, most popular and widely used data storage media, is extremely prone to failure. Major reasons of hard drive failure are overheating, mechanical failure and electrical failure. The internal components of hard drive are pretty fragile and may fail if the temperature of hard drive gets increased up to an extent, which the drive can not resist. Other causes of drive failure includes file system corruption, operating system malfunction, virus infection and so forth. Crash or failure of hard drive usually cause in serious data loss situations and requirehard drive recoveryto be sorted out.

Hard drive failure renders all of your critical data on the hard drive inaccessible. The overheating expands the hard drive platters and they touches read/write head. It causes head crash, which is the most common cause of mechanical failure and data loss. The failed hard drive needs Hard Drive Data Recovery to extract lost data from it.

Every computer hard drive has a upper and lower operating temperature limit that works as threshold values for the drive. When the hard drive temperature exceeds the upper limit, the drive catches high risks of failure and losses its life if you continuously operate it above maximum temperature limit.

Although, you have computer fans installed in your system to prevent overheat and damage to the system due to overheating. If the failure occurs, you need to Recover Hard Drive and retrieve data from it.

You should never attempt any recovery on your own on the physically damaged hard drive. It might cause further damage to the hard drive and make your data irretrievable. If you open the damaged drive in general environment, sensitive platters of hard drive could get damaged due to dust particles available in environment.

In such situation, personalized and sophisticated recovery helps is required, which is known as Hard Drive Recovery service. It is carried out in safe and sterile environment of Clean Rooms using advanced tools and techniques. The recovery professionals have enough skills and experiences of handing all types of data loss situations effectively. Experts first completely analyze the hard drive and then find out the exact cause of the problem. To avoid further damage to the hard drive, they never attempt any recovery procedure on the original drive. They create image of the drive and apply hard drive recovery software solutions on the same.

Stellar Information Systems Limited is the foremost provider of high-quality recovery service. The service is available for all hard drives that have IDE, EIDE, SATA and SCSI interfaces. Drive is opened and operated in controlled surroundings of Class 100 Clean Rooms.

For EFI-based computer systems, the boot loader is IA64ldr and performs the same functions as NTLDR does in x86 or x64 systems. Each operating system on such systems maintains its individual copy of boot loader on EFI partition. Windows component- Ia64ldr.efi loads Hal.dll, system boot drivers, Ntoskrn.exe files to successfully start the boot the process. But, if the file gets corrupted or goes missing somehow, a Windows-based computer loses the ability to boot, while rendering your stored files and folders inaccessible. You can deduce such issues from error messages that display when you try to start the computer. However, to solve these problems, you should try replacing the damaged or missing boot loader file using boot disc. If this fails, use your backup to restore data or opt for a powerful hard drive recovery utility.

For example, you might receive the below error message when trying to start a EFI-based computer systems installed with Windows operating system:

“Couldn’t find loader.

Please insert another disk.”

Such errors imply that your stored files and folders are inaccessible and you cannot boot into the computer.

Cause

Ia64ldr.efi file is either missing or damaged. This file is typically located at \Device\HarddiskVolume1
\EFI\Microsoft\WINNT50\ .

The error might also occur if computer is trying to boot from a non-bootable media.

Solution

Make sure that no external media is inserted when you are trying to start the system. To boot the computer and resolve the issue, you should follow these steps:

If this works, you will be enable to access data. But if it fails, you are suggested to restore data from backup or employ a hard drive recovery software that could access and recover those lost files.

Hard drive recovery utilities are high-end applications, specially designed to scan and recover data while maintaining its integrity. They can be easily implemented because of graphically rich user interface.

Stellar Phoenix Windows Data Recovery is a professional and completely reliable data recovery tool with advanced options and features. It is a safe hard drive recovery softwarethat supports Windows 7 RC1, Vista, XP, 2003 and 2000 based systems. The tool provides you features like Append Header, RAW File Recovery, Save Scan and more.

Windows XP SAM (Security Accounts Manager) is a database registry file storing user’s passwords and uses hash format. A Windows XP installed computer might fail to start if the file goes missing or damaged. For solving such problems, use the file backup provided you have backed up the system state or try to copy it using parallel installation. However, if none of the measures works, perform clean Windows XP installation and restore data from backup. In case of valid backup unavailability, a hard drive recovery software can help extracting all your lost files and folders.

For instance, a Windows XP Home or Professional Edition installed computer might prompt the following error when you try to start it:

“Security Accounts Manager initialization failed because of the following error: A device attached to the system is not functioning.
Error Status: 0xc0000001.
Please click OK to shut down this system and reboot into Safe Mode, check event log for more detailed information.

Starting the computer in Windows Safe Mode doesn’t help and prevents you from accessing the stored files.

Cause

Windows XP SAM file is either missing or damaged.

Solution

You cannot use any Recovery Console method as it requires authentication that SAM provides.

Following are the recommended solutions to the given problem:

• If you have backed up system state using Windows Backup utility, use it to restore SAM through Automated System Recovery Wizard or Restore Wizard
• Perform parallel Windows installation and execute the following set of commands using command prompt:
• copy c:\windows\system32\config\sam c:\windows\tmp\sam.bak
  delete c:\windows\system32\config\sam
  copy c:\windows\repair\sam c:\windows\system32\config\sam
• Replace the SAM file by reinstalling Windows XP. Restore data from backup

At times, backup cannot restore desired set of files. To deal with such situations, windows hard drive recovery utilities are available to prevent rework. Hard drive recovery software are graphically rich applications with suitable recovery features to provide safe, comprehensive and robust data recovery. These tools are specially designed to scan a logically crashed drive to locate missing data.

Stellar Phoenix Windows Data Recovery is a reliable and fully-competent utility designed to recover lost files for Windows 7 RC1, Vista, XP, 2003 and 2000 based systems. It is a non-destructive windows hard drive recovery application providing advanced and impressive set of features. The tool supports complete recovery of data for FAT32, VFAT, NTFS and NTFS5 file system drives.