Ring The Team

Several common error messages are related to problems in the file system or drives. These usually occur when booting the system. It might also happen when trying to log in or to access a drive. The common ones are listed below:

• Missing Operating System
• No ROM Basic – System Halted
• Boot Error Press F1 to Retry
• Invalid Drive Specification
• Invalid Media Type
• Hark Disk Controller Failure

Missing Operating System

This error indicates problems in the master boot record or partition table entries. The partition table entries may be pointing to a sector which is not the actual beginning of a partition. Invalid BIOS settings, which sometimes is caused by a dead or dying battery, could cause this error. Another cause can be virus damage to the MBR. This error can also occur if no active partition is defined in the partition table.

The normal solution is to correct the invalid BIOS settings. The LBA translation and the BIOS settings for drive parameters must be set to the same values as when the drive was partitioned and formatted to read the drive correctly. If the MBR on a FAT drive is damaged or virus infected, you can try FDISK/MBR to repair it. Use FIXMBR with a NTFS drive. Other types of damage require more sophisticated use of a disk editor utility or repartitioning and reformatting the drive to start over.

No ROM Basic – System Halted

This error is generated by the AMI BIOS when the boot sector or master boot record of the boot drive is damaged or missing. You may also get this error when the boot drive has been improperly configured or is not configure at all in the BIOS. In this case, although bootable partition does not exist the data in the partition may still be valid and undamaged.

For IBM systems, it would normally drop into a built-in BIOS versions of BASIC if it is having the similar problem. However most non-IBM BIOS manufacturers did not license this code from Microsoft. So, instead of dropping into BASIC, they displayed this cryptic massage. The typical solution to this problem is to run FDISK and set the primary partition as active because the most common cause of this type of error is a failure to set at least one partition as active (bootable). If this is not the problem, the solution is to repair the damaged MBR or correct the improper BIOS settings.

Boot Error Press F1 to Retry

This error is generated by the Phoenix BIOS when the hard disk is missing a master boot record or boot sector or when there is a problem accessing the boot drive. It is a problem similar to NO ROM Basic does on an AMI BIOS. The most common cause of this message is having no partitions defined as active (bootable).

Invalid Drive Specification

This error occurs when you attempt to log in to a drive that has not been partitioned or for which the partition table entry has been damaged or is incorrect. You can check the existing partition using FDISK or use FDISK to partition the drive. You should perhaps use a data recovery tool including REMO to rectify the problem if the partitions are damaged.

REMO is a Mac Recover Software that could also be used for Mac file Recovery. It will recover data on a failed hard drive and recover formatted memory card. It can also be used on Windows.

Another solution is to repartition the drive from scratch, but this causes any existing data on the drive to be overwritten.

Invalid Media Type

This indicates the partition table is valid, but the volume boot sector, directory, or file allocation tables are corrupt, damaged, or not yet initialized. For example, if you try to access a drive that has been partitioned but not yet formatted, you would normal receive this error. The format command is what creates the volume boot record (VBR), file allocation tables, and directories on the disk.

A data recover utility is required to solve this problem. Another solution could be redoing the high-level format on the drive. High-level formatting does not actually destroy the data. You can recover the data by first doing the high-level format (OS Format) the volume and then immediately unformatting it using the unformat utility.

Hard disk controller Failure

You would get this error message when the hard drive controller has failed, the hard drive controller is not set up properly in the BIOS, or the controller can not communicate with the attached drives due to cable problems.

The solution is to check out the drive installation and make sure that the cables to the drive are properly installed, the drive is receiving power, it is spinning, and the BIOS setup definitions are correct. If all these are correct, the drive, cable, or controller might be physically damaged. Substitute them with know-good spares one by one until the problem is resolved.

Recovery data from flash memory devices such as USB keychain drives and card used in the digital cameras and digital music players come be a challenging task. From an user standpoint these devices emulate conventional disk drives. They can usually be formatted through the Window Explorer and they have file allocation tables similar to those found on floppy disks. Many data recovery programs are not able to recover data from these drives, especially when the devices have been formatted, even though these programs work well with conventional drives.

Under several conditions, data loss can occur with a flash memory device. Some of them, such as formatting of the media or deletion of one or more photos or files, can occur when the device is connected to the computer through a card reader or whether flash memory device is inserted into a digital camera. When photos are deleted, the file locations and name listings in the file allocation tables are changed in the same way as when file are deleted from magnetic media: The first character of the filename is changed to a lowercase sigma, indicating the file has been erased. Undelete programs that support removable devices can retrieve deleted files on flash memory devices the same way that they retrieve deleted files from magnetic media.

However retrieving data from a formatted flash memory device, whether it has been formatted by a digital camera or through Windows, is much more difficult. Traditional unformat programs can not be used because the flash memory devices are accessible only from within the Windows GUI and command-line programs are designed to work with BIOS-compatible devices such hard and floppy drives.

Formatted Data Recovery

To recover data from a formatted flash memory card, you can use may use data recovery tools such as REMO Recover. REMO Recover (Windows) is an integrated utility suit that can be used to retrieve data from hard drive and flash memory card.. It also come with features such as email backup. It may be used to fix corrupt pst as well.

If a file is deleted, the subsequent changes happen to the disk where the file is located:

• The first character of the filename would be replaced with a lowercase sigma character.
• Two entries, one for the deleted file and one for its associated long file name (LFN) are created in file allocation table. They are:
• Erased. An erased file
• Del LFN. An LFN belonging to an erased file.

The clusters where the file is recorded are marked by the operating system as clusters which can be reuse. Hence, if an undelete action is not performed instantly, some or all of these clusters may be overwritten by new data. Based on the file type, the loss of even one cluster could destroy the file.

File Undelete:

There can be four steps in undelete process:

• The original file name will be restored.
• The clusters where the file is stored will be identified.
• FAT entries for the file will be recreated.
• LFN records for the file would be linked to the file.

Of these four steps, the most critical are locating the clusters used by the file and recreating the FAT entries for the file. However, if the file is a program file, restoring the original name is essential for proper program operation, and restoring the LFN entries enables a Windows user accustomed to long filenames to more quickly use the file.

How to Recover Data

You may use data recovery tools, for instance REMO Recover, if you want to undelete file. REMO Recover (Windows) is an integrated utility suit which can be used to retrieve deleted files. It also has email recovery feature that will be used to recover outlook emails.

Recovering lost data can be as simple as opening the Window’s Recycle bin, or it might require spending a lot of money on specialized data recovery software or services. For most serious cases, your hard drive may have to be sent to data recovery center. Here are the factors that affect the degree of difficulty you could have in recovering your data:

• How and when the data is deleted.
• Which file system was used by the drive on which the data was stored?
• Whether the drive uses magnetic, optical, magneto-optical, or flash memory to store data.
• Which operating system is used?
• Whether you have data protection software installed on your system.
• Whether the drive has suffered from physical damage to heads, platters, or its circuit board.

The Windows Recycle Bin

A file is removed from its normal location and stored in Recycle bin when delete the file. Windows reserves about 1% of hard drive space for Recycle bin and whatever is sent to the Recycle bin is actually protected from being overwritten by the system. However, the Recycle bin will eventually kick out older files when it is full. As a result, you are more likely to retrieve the file if you discover it has been sent to Recycle bin accidentally. To retrieve a file from Recycle bin, open the Recycle bin, select the file, right click it and select Restore. Windows will list the file in its original location and removes it from the Recycle bin. The Recycle bin would be bypassed if a file is deleted when the shift key is hold down. Retrieving lost data at this point requires data recovery software.

Recover Files that Are Not in the Recycle Bin

The Recycle bin is a useful first line of defense against data loss but it can be bypassed when you select file for deletion. Besides, files stored in Recycle bin are eventually kicked out by the newer deleted files. If you want to retrieve files that are not in the Recycle bin, it is necessary to use data recovery software such as REMO Recover. REMO Recover (Windows) is an integrated utility suit for windows and Mac that offers many features which include deleted partition recovery and laptop hard drive recovery. It is also en email recovery software which would recover the lost e-mails.

Recovering Data from Partitioned and Formatted Drives

The hard drive’s file allocation table, which is used to determine the location of the files, is lost when it is formatted. The original file system and partition information is lost if a hard drive has been repartitioned with FDISK or another partitioning program. In such cases, more powerful data recovery tools much be used to retrieve data. To retrieve data from an accidentally formatted drive, you have two options:

• use a program that could unformat the drive
• use an application that could bypass the newly created FAT and browse disk sectors directly to discover and retrieve data.

To retrieve data from a drive that has been partitioned, you need to use a program that can read disk sector directly.