The Cancer Facts

Several common error messages are associated with 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 might be pointing to a sector which is not the actual beginning of a partition. Invalid BIOS settings, which sometimes is triggered 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. This error also can occur if the boot device has been improperly configured or is not configured at all in the BIOS. In this case, data in the partition might be valid and undamaged but no bootable partition exists.

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, they would display this cryptic massage instead of dropping into BASIC. 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

when the hard disk is missing a master boot record or boot sector or when there is a problem accessing the boot drive, you may get this error, which is generated by the Phoenix BIOS. This has the same meaning as 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. If they are damaged, you probably should use a data recovery tool for example REMO to rectify the problem.

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

You can solve the problem by repartition the drive from scratch. However this could overwrite existing data on the drive.

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 look into 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 could be physically damaged. Substitute them with know-good spares one at a time 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 a user point of view, these devices are similar to the 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. Formatting of the media when the device is connected to the computer through a card reader can cause data loss. When the device is inserted into a digital camera, deletion of one or more photos or files can cause data loss. 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 operating system marks the file as deleted and changes the first character of the filename to a lowercase sigma. 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

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

The following changes occur to the disk when a file is deleted:

• 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. These include:
• Erased. An erased file
• Del LFN. An LFN belonging to an erased file.

The operating system will mark the clusters where the file is stored are available for reuse. Hence, if an undelete action is not carried out promptly, some or all of these clusters may be overwritten by new data. Based on the file type, loosing even one cluster could destroy the file.

File Undelete:

You will discover four steps in undelete process:

• Restoring the original filename
• Finding the clusters used by the file
• Recreating the FAT entries for the file
• Relinking the LFN enteries for the file 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 restoring a deleted program file to its original name is necessary. Or else the program would not function correctly. Restoring the LFN entries enables a Windows users accustomed to long filenames to more easily use the file.

How to Recover Data

You can use data recovery tools, for instance REMO Recover, if you need to undelete file. REMO Recover (Windows) is an integrated utility suit that 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 may require spending hundreds of dollars on specialized data recovery software or services. In the worst case scenario, you may have to deliver your hard drive to data recovery center. Here are the factors that change the degree of difficulty you can have in recovering your data:

• In what way 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.
• The operation system you use.
• Is there any data protection software installed?
• Whether the drive has suffered from physical damage to heads, platters, or its circuit board.

The Windows Recycle Bin

When you delete a file in the Windows, it is deleted from its normal location and it is sent to Recycle bin. 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. In this case, the data recovery software is need to retrieve the lost data.

Recover Files that Are Not in the Recycle Bin

The Recycle is a good first line of defense when it comes to data recovery. However it can be bypassed and it does not keep the deleted files forever. You have to use data recovery software, such as REMO Recover, if you want to retrieve files that are not in the Recycle bin. 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

When a hard disk, floppy disk, or removable-media drive has been formatted, its file allocation table, which is used to determine the location of the files, is lost. 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 can unformat the drive
• use a software program that can bypass the newly created FAT and browse disk sectors directly to discover and retrieve data.

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