Recover Lost partitions from Windows

The components for Windows data recovery designed by us offer the best tools to recover data from hard disk. These handfuls of hard disk recovery software allows you to recover lost or deleted files, formatted or accidentally formatted partitions, and re-partitioned drives.

Hard Disk Recovery Software – The recovery

If you encounter a data loss situation our hard disk recovery software can fix, the recovery process requires no technical skills on the part of the user in operating the software. In fact, these utilities are so easy to use that all you need to get started is to install the software, select the hard disk from where you need to recover data, and then follow the systematic process until the software algorithm automatically rebuilds your files. Put in the CD, or another healthy partition or drive, also you may attach an external new hard drive to recover the data.

After the initial steps are complete, then you can reload your Windows using the manufacturer's restore disk. Disk recovery does take time, and it is not something you look forward to, but when you realize that you may be able to recover all of your lost data, it is worth it. If it is what it takes to get your data back, it is well worth the time and investment made for the software and recovery.

Download Hard Disk Recovery Software Free Demo

You should download and test the results using the Free demo version, demo version gives you the fair chances and results of recovery that full version might deliver.

Once you are satisfied with the results of demo version, purchase the software and you would get a link to download a full version and a serial key to activate the software. Uninstall the demo version and Install full version to recover all your precious data.

Recover deleted files in Windows XP

Have you accidentally or intentionally deleted files from Windows XP? Now realize that you need them back. Don’t get frightened, there is a good chance that you can recover those deleted files.

The most popular editions of Windows Operating System is Windows XP. It comes in two major editions Windows XP Home Edition (designed for home users) and Windows XP Professional (designed for enterprise users). With features like easy to use user interface, security, manageability and reliability, Windows XP is primarily intended for users who may not be familiar with all of Windows features.

Irrespective of the file system you use, the files purposely or mistakenly deleted from Windows XP are recoverable. Before considering the below suggestions, let us first discover what happens behind the scene when a file is deleted.

When you delete a file (a simple delete or using Shift+Del keys), it is not completely wiped-out from the computer. Only the deleted file entry is removed from the directory that Windows keeps for the disk. The sectors of the hard drive where the file resides are marked as available to hold new data. Thus, avoid adding/saving new data file to the hard drive after file deletion. This might actually erase the data by over writing it and further leading to permanent data loss. Until the files get overwritten by the operating system, they still exist on the hard drive and are recoverable with the help of good data recovery software.

Disk Doctor's Undelete can recover deleted and lost files from both FAT and NTFS file systems. The application easily locates the deleted files and recovers them all unless they are not overwritten by the operating system.

Sector

The disk is divided into tracks and sectors. A sector that cannot be used due to a physical flaw on the disk is called a bad sector. Boot sector viruses can be used to infect code for master boot record of a PC. The master boot record is a small program that runs every time the computer starts up.

The master boot record generally resides on the first sector of the hard disk. Boot sector viruses are typically very difficult to remove, as most antivirus programs cannot clean the MBR while Windows is running. Some common boot sector viruses include Monkey and Form. A boot sector virus can cause a variety of boot or data retrieval problems. Boot sector viruses are usually spread by infected floppy disks.

In the past, these were usually bootable disks, but this is no longer the case. A floppy disk does not need to be bootable to transmit a boot virus. Any disk can cause infection if it is in the drive when the computer boots up or shuts down. The virus can also be spread across networks from file downloads and from email file attachments.

In most cases, write enabled floppies can infect PC and pick up the boot sector virus. The best protection against boot sector viruses is same as against viruses in general: a good antivirus program with up-to-date virus definitions. A computer virus behaves in a way similar to a biological virus, which spreads by inserting itself into living cells. Viruses are one of the several types of malware or malicious software. In common parlance, the term virus is often extended to refer to computer worms and other sorts of malware.

While viruses can be intentionally destructive (for example, by destroying data), many other viruses are fairly benign or merely annoying. Some viruses have a delayed payload, which is sometimes called a bomb. For example, a virus might display a message on a specific day or wait until it has infected a certain number of hosts. A time bomb occurs during a particular date or time, and a logic bomb occurs when the user of a computer takes an action that triggers the bomb.

However, the predominant negative effect of viruses is their uncontrolled self-reproduction, which wastes or overwhelms computer resources. This can confuse computer users, since viruses in the narrow sense of the word are less common than they used to be, compared to other forms of malware such as worms. This confusion can have serious consequences, because it may lead to a focus on preventing one genre of malware over another, potentially leaving computers vulnerable to future damage.

The viruses can be destructive many other viruses are merely annoying. Some viruses have a delayed payload, which is sometimes called a bomb. For example, a virus might display a message on a specific day or wait until it has infected a certain number of hosts. The sectors can be used to store data and when these sectors are affected by the viruses causes the data to be corrupted. Thus, the backup is the only answer to the question in order to avoid the damage of the harmful viruses.

Disk Boot Error

There are many troubleshooting problems in your computer. There might be a problem in your operating but problem such as cannot read sectors error while reading the drive; it is an indication that there are some bad spots on the drive. These bad spots normally are fixed by reformatting the hard drive. A good alternative is to purchase a program from the company Gibson Research which has pioneered the hard drive test software. There is various troubleshooting instruction.

There may be some type of electrical connection problem Make sure the cable connections are correct. Check the 4-wire connector that carries power and makes sure it is properly plugged in. This connector has a taper on one end and cannot be put on backwards. When power is first applied to the computer, the hard drive light will momentarily come on which is a good indication that the drive is getting power.

Also the vibration of the spinning platter and the slight hum will verify that the drive is plugged in. Next check the data ribbon cable. This cable is a flat cable with a one edge colored red or blue to indicate the location of pin 1.

There may be some problems in the cables and they might be having a small tab in the center of the connector's edge. On many hard drives pin 1 is the pin closest to the power supply connection, but not always, so check the hard drive documentation or look on this site in Hard Drives and locate your model.

You can find hard drive documentation on this site simply by using the index on top of each page to find the manufacturer and then on the manufacturers page will be a listing which would have links to each product and the technical support documents. Older drives are on different pages then newer drives. Once you find the page where the manufacturer's products are listed, look at the top of the page for a link that says Older Models and you will find them listed there.

If all the cables are connected properly, and power is applied, you should be able to hear and feel the drive spinning. If the drive is not spinning, turn off the power and try using a different power plug. If the drive is not spinning then it is probably bad. The hard drive controller has failed A controller failure is usually indicated by an error at boot up. There is not much that can be done except to replace the hard drive. See hard drive error codes 3.

The hard drive has failed physically There can be two indications for this condition. The drive is not spinning. To troubleshoot this condition you need to physically access the drive while the computer is on. With the cover off, look at the drive and find the side which has NO components. With your hand touch that side and try to feel the spinning of the hard drive platter.

A typical hard drive has a small amount of vibration and a slight whine. The hard drive head has crashed onto the platter. This usually causes the drive to emit unusual sounds sometimes grinding and many times repeating on a regular basis. A normal hard drive has a smooth whine so it should be easy to identify the bad drive by just listening.

The hard drive has failed electronically. This will be indicated by an error message during the computer boot cycle. Not much can be done in this condition other then replace the drive. In most of the cases, the electrical fluctuations causes the problems in the hard disk.

Hard Disk setup in BIOS

The important BIOS parameters in the Hard Disk setup are maximizing the likelihood of the system functioning. Setting the BIOS can help to expose problems in a system. The Auto detects Hard Disk will entry in the BIOS setup menu for auto detecting your hard disk and uses it. Auto detecting of hard disks have auto detection as an option in the Standard Settings menu, where the hard disk parameters themselves are enter the standard settings menu and configure the following options: If you successfully auto detected your hard disk in the previous step then you should see the hard disk parameters in the BIOS displayed here.

These parameters are discussed in this section. If your system does not have a separate auto detection menu item, it probably auto detects devices by pressing Enter. This should normally be set to user for hard disks. If your system has it, then set this to for your CD-ROM drive. This is calculated and not something you can enter. This is supported by most hard disks but should be disabled for maximum compatibility. PIO Mode: This can normally be left at whatever the BIOS detected. However, if the BIOS set it to a value that you know exceeds the maximum for the drive, reset it to whatever the maximum is. You may want to try lowering this value if you experience problems with your system. CD-ROMs generally have a maximum PIO mode of 3.

The other methods of hard disk setup in BIOS are to set advanced features and enter the advanced features menu and configure the following options: Virus Protection and Virus Warning. This should be enabled at all times. If disabling this is required for stable operation, you probably have a motherboard hardware problem. It may also be a CPU problem, especially with processors that have integrated level 2 cache.

First, boot disk will work properly. You’re your floppy drives and make sure whether this is set correctly or you are going to be mighty confused about the behavior of your floppy disk drives. You can disable this at first when setting up a new system, or if you are experiencing hardware or system problems. Note however that if you totally disable power management, this will also eliminate some advanced power features such as the ability to have Windows turn off the PC on an ATX form factor system.

As an alternative, leave power management enabled but disable the standby/suspend timing parameters so that the BIOS does not automatically turn off parts of the system after a period of time. Integrated IDE / Hard Disk Controllers: Some will also have a device on the secondary channel. You will normally want this enabled, and the standard resource setting with I/O address. You will usually want this enabled, and the standard resource setting with I/O address. If you don't need it, plan to install a modem configured using default resources. Integrated Parallel Port: You will normally want to enable this. Do not set it to ECP, as this mode involves the use of additional DMA resources and is less compatible. There are other various methods of hard disk setup in BIOS, which offer the reliable one in order to setup the BIOS in your disk without creating a major problem for the system.

Hard Disk Management

The hard disk is the secondary storage device that is used in the computer system. Usually the primary memory is used for the booting up of the computer. But a hard disk drive is necessary in the computer system since it needs to store the operating system that is used to store the information of the devices and the management of the user data.

The management of the IO devices that is the Input Output devices, like the printer and the other peripherals like the keyboard and the etc; all require the usage of the operating system. Hence the information of the all such devices and the management of the system is done by the operating system. The operating system works as an interpreter between the machine and the user.

The operating system is a must for the proper functioning of the computer. The computer is a device that needs to be fed with the instructions that are to be carried out and executed. Hence there needs to be an interpreter who is going to carry out the conversions from the high level language of the user to the low level language of the computer machine.

The hard disk drive as secondary memory is therefore needed for the purpose of installing the operating system. If there is no operating system then the question arises where to install the operating system. The operating system obviously cannot be installed in the primary memory however large that may be. The primary memory is also a volatile memory that cannot be used for the permanent storage of the system files of the operating system. The operating system requires the permanent file storage media like the hard disk.

More over the hard disk management is an important part of maintaining the computer, since it requires an efficient management of the data or the user information. The information regarding the Master Boot Record is stored in the hard disk drive. This is the information that is required during the start up of the computer. The computer system needs this information for loading the operating system.

The file management and the resources management is also a part of the hard disk management. The hard disk management requires an efficient knowledge of the operating system and its resources and the methods of how these resources can be employed in order to achieve maximum benefit. The operating system contains the resources and the tools that are used to manage the files in the operating system. The partitioning and the installation of the operating system itself may be considered as the hard disk management.

The hard disk management also involves the formatting of the hard disk drive and to check the integrity of the file system. The data redundancy check can also be carried out for the consistency of the hard disk drive. The hard disk drive management is also important in the case of the network where there are many hard disk drives to be managed.

Managing a single hard disk in a single user operating system is quite easy in comparison with the management of the hard disk drives in a multi user operating system where there is more than one user. It is not that much easy since the users are also required to be managed.

Installing an Additional SMPS in your PC

How can you not fall into trouble, if the power requirements of your computer aren't sufficiently provided for by your existing SMPS (Switch Mode Power Supply)? You might be wondering "Why put an extra SMPS when I just installed one with 300 Watts of power?" Your answer lies therein.

Well, for most of you power users out there, plugging in say, more than 3 IDE devices, which might be a combination of anything, from Hard Disk drives to CD/DVD ROM / RW drives or the latest SATA drives is a common practice... but it can never go beyond 4 devices, isn't it? Oh, did I forget to mention that cooling fans need some power too. It is very likely that you might end up with a blown SMPS or an unstable PC in case the power requirements of your computer are way beyond what the SMPS can deliver. Say, you got a combination of the above devices along with some fans and your friend has got over his HDD to copy some of the cool stuff to and from your drive. You would be in a mess trying to figure out which drive to disconnect in order to connect his drive.

In such a scenario, to get many devices connected inside your PC and running peacefully at the same time, the only viable option seems to be replacing your existing 300W SMPS with the more expensive 450W or higher variant. But there's one more thing you can do to solve this problem and save a few bucks. Simply add another SMPS to your existing rig and enjoy the ride!

Just buy another SMPS from the market, with a true rating of at least 350 Watts. In case you are one of those who own a power-hungry card like the Geforce 7800, better go in for something more heavy duty such as a true 400 Watts SMPS. Ideally, replace your existing SMPS with this one and use the older one to drive smaller and less power hungry items in your computer (assuming that your new SMPS has a higher power rating than the old one).

To use an additional SMPS, you need to simply attach it to the various devices that would draw power from it as regular devices do. The ATX power connector needs to get a jump signal to turn it on. This happens when the necessary pins are shorted. It receives such a signal through your motherboard when you press the power switch. As your motherboard would only have one slot to connect the SMPS connector, you cannot connect the second SMPS to it. So to turn it on, you need to short particular wires or pins on the ATX power connector.

Caution: Beware of short circuits and blown SMPS or fried motherboards/CPUs if done in an incorrect manner. Kindly take precautions while doing this exercise by disconnecting the power supplies and other hard disks or IDE drives. Check for a grounding or earthing connection prior to installing an additional SMPS for safety sake.

Display Settings

This procedure describes the steps required to configure a motherboard for installation. You will normally use this procedure when building a new PC or performing a motherboard upgrade. Configuring the motherboard is traditionally done using jumpers, which are small pieces of plastic and metal that are used to change how the circuitry on the motherboard functions. Some newer boards today are called jumperless, because they use not jumpers but rather a special group of BIOS settings to set most of the configuration options that are set with jumpers on conventional boards (they do still have some jumpers so the name isn't entirely accurate). These boards reduce this particular procedure a great deal (but add an additional step later on in the build process). You still need to look through this procedure however since as I say, these boards do have some jumpers.
Note that this procedure covers configuration only; installation is addressed in this procedure.
Procedure Overview:
Difficulty Level: 3 (Moderate). Motherboards can be quite confusing to figure out and it can be hard to find where all the jumpers are.
Risk Factor: 4 (High). Setting the incorrect jumpers on the motherboard can lead to permanent hardware damage or data loss. If you are careful this won't happen but it is a possibility.
Hardware Required: Needle-nose pliers, or another tool for grasping small objects (jumpers are very small). Long fingernails will do for some people.
Software Required: None.
Time to Perform: 10-15 minutes, as long as you know what the jumper settings need to be or your manual contains the necessary information.
Preparation / Warnings:
If you have not already done so, please read the section on general installation and assembly tips.
This procedure lists the most common jumper settings, and is not an exhaustive list. Always set and/or check every jumper that your board has. Similarly, some of the settings discussed here may not apply to your particular board.
Some motherboards aggregate two or more of the individual jumper settings listed in this procedure into a "processor type" group setting that changes several functions at once. For example, some boards instead of spelling out the jumper settings for processor core voltage, I/O voltage, system bus speed and multiplier, just list every one of the common CPUs and tell you how to set a block of different jumpers. Some manuals actually show it both ways. It doesn't really make much difference, although you should realize that if the individual jumpers are not listed, and you are using a newer CPU that wasn't around when the manual was printed, you will have to contact the manufacturer to find out what the jumper settings are for it. This procedure shows only the individual settings.
Always check all the jumper settings. Many motherboards have some jumper settings that are almost never changed from their defaults. Do not be lulled into not checking these, as sometimes the manufacturer will not correctly set defaults. Incorrect jumper settings can cause bizarre problems later on that are very hard to trace back to their actual cause.
Similarly, some vendors will considerately pre-jumper the board to match the CPU and other hardware you are using, if you buy this other material with the motherboard. This is a nice service, but you should still double-check the settings. Vendors are human too, and it's your hardware.
Jumpers are most often labeled with a "JP" prefix, such as "JP20", however many boards label them differently. Watch out for boards that use "JP" for jumpers" and "J" for pin connectors (such as the hard disk LED, speaker, etc.) It can be easy to mix up "J16" and "JP16". I've seen boards that even mixed "J" and "JP" for both jumpers and connectors! I'd like to smack some of these designers around sometimes. :^)
Be careful to jumper the processor based on the true bus speed and multiplier settings required for it, and do not be fooled by the "P" rating on some CPUs. For example, the Cyrix 6x86L-PR166 runs at 133 MHz, not 166. See the reference section on processor families if you need to look up the specifics for any processor, but this information is normally in a good motherboard manual.
Some newer CPUs interpret multiplier settings differently from what they are specified as in the motherboard manual. In particular, since most standard Pentium motherboards do not have a 3.5x multiplier, processors like the K6-233 interpret 1.5x as 3.5x, and should be jumpered using the 1.5x setting.
If necessary, first carefully unpack the motherboard from its packaging and inspect it for damage.
Always exercise care in the handling of the motherboard. Watch out for ESD. I normally place the motherboard on top of the anti-static bag in which it came while working on it, and then on top of something soft to cushion the metal pins that stick through the bottom of the board. Do not put the board directly on a work surface or you could damage the bottom of the board. Always work on a flat surface.

About Display Problem

If your system is not switchon,

It has so many reasons, first you have to reset the jumper settings and put into correct position.Then unplugged all the power cable ie., which is going through smps to mother board. And then remove the RAM, then placed it. Before the process started you have to switch off the power button and then do all process which i specified above. Then switch on the power, it will work.

Motherboard Configuration Procedure

This procedure describes the steps required to configure a motherboard for installation. You will normally use this procedure when building a new PC or performing a motherboard upgrade. Configuring the motherboard is traditionally done using jumpers, which are small pieces of plastic and metal that are used to change how the circuitry on the motherboard functions. Some newer boards today are called jumperless, because they use not jumpers but rather a special group of BIOS settings to set most of the configuration options that are set with jumpers on conventional boards (they do still have some jumpers so the name isn't entirely accurate). These boards reduce this particular procedure a great deal (but add an additional step later on in the build process). You still need to look through this procedure however since as I say, these boards do have some jumpers.
Note that this procedure covers configuration only; installation is addressed in this procedure.
Procedure Overview:
Difficulty Level: 3 (Moderate). Motherboards can be quite confusing to figure out and it can be hard to find where all the jumpers are.
Risk Factor: 4 (High). Setting the incorrect jumpers on the motherboard can lead to permanent hardware damage or data loss. If you are careful this won't happen but it is a possibility.
Hardware Required: Needle-nose pliers, or another tool for grasping small objects (jumpers are very small). Long fingernails will do for some people.
Software Required: None.
Time to Perform: 10-15 minutes, as long as you know what the jumper settings need to be or your manual contains the necessary information.
Preparation / Warnings:
If you have not already done so, please read the section on general installation and assembly tips.
This procedure lists the most common jumper settings, and is not an exhaustive list. Always set and/or check every jumper that your board has. Similarly, some of the settings discussed here may not apply to your particular board.
Some motherboards aggregate two or more of the individual jumper settings listed in this procedure into a "processor type" group setting that changes several functions at once. For example, some boards instead of spelling out the jumper settings for processor core voltage, I/O voltage, system bus speed and multiplier, just list every one of the common CPUs and tell you how to set a block of different jumpers. Some manuals actually show it both ways. It doesn't really make much difference, although you should realize that if the individual jumpers are not listed, and you are using a newer CPU that wasn't around when the manual was printed, you will have to contact the manufacturer to find out what the jumper settings are for it. This procedure shows only the individual settings.
Always check all the jumper settings. Many motherboards have some jumper settings that are almost never changed from their defaults. Do not be lulled into not checking these, as sometimes the manufacturer will not correctly set defaults. Incorrect jumper settings can cause bizarre problems later on that are very hard to trace back to their actual cause.
Similarly, some vendors will considerately pre-jumper the board to match the CPU and other hardware you are using, if you buy this other material with the motherboard. This is a nice service, but you should still double-check the settings. Vendors are human too, and it's your hardware.
Jumpers are most often labeled with a "JP" prefix, such as "JP20", however many boards label them differently. Watch out for boards that use "JP" for jumpers" and "J" for pin connectors (such as the hard disk LED, speaker, etc.) It can be easy to mix up "J16" and "JP16". I've seen boards that even mixed "J" and "JP" for both jumpers and connectors! I'd like to smack some of these designers around sometimes. :^)
Be careful to jumper the processor based on the true bus speed and multiplier settings required for it, and do not be fooled by the "P" rating on some CPUs. For example, the Cyrix 6x86L-PR166 runs at 133 MHz, not 166. See the reference section on processor families if you need to look up the specifics for any processor, but this information is normally in a good motherboard manual.
Some newer CPUs interpret multiplier settings differently from what they are specified as in the motherboard manual. In particular, since most standard Pentium motherboards do not have a 3.5x multiplier, processors like the K6-233 interpret 1.5x as 3.5x, and should be jumpered using the 1.5x setting.
If necessary, first carefully unpack the motherboard from its packaging and inspect it for damage.
Always exercise care in the handling of the motherboard. Watch out for ESD. I normally place the motherboard on top of the anti-static bag in which it came while working on it, and then on top of something soft to cushion the metal pins that stick through the bottom of the board. Do not put the board directly on a work surface or you could damage the bottom of the board. Always work on a flat surface.

Hard Disk Capacity measurements

Capacity of a hard disk drive is usually quoted in gigabytes and terabytes. Older HDDs quoted their smaller capacities in megabytes, the first drives for PCs being just 5 or 10 MB.
The capacity of an HDD can be calculated by multiplying the number of cylinders by the number of heads by the number of sectors by the number of bytes/sector (most commonly 512). Drives with the ATA interface and a capacity of eight gigabytes or more behave as if they were structured into 16383 cylinders, 16 heads, and 63 sectors, for compatibility with older operating systems. Unlike in the 1980s, the cylinder, head, sector (C/H/S) counts reported to the CPU by a modern ATA drive are no longer actual physical parameters since the reported numbers are constrained by historic operating-system interfaces and with zone bit recording the actual number of sectors varies by zone. Disks with SCSI interface address each sector with a unique integer number; the operating system remains ignorant of their head or cylinder count.
The old C/H/S scheme has been replaced by logical block addressing. In some cases, to try to "force-fit" the C/H/S scheme to large-capacity drives, the number of heads was given as 64, although no drive has anywhere near 32 platters.
Hard disk drive manufacturers specify disk capacity using the SI prefixes mega-, giga- and tera-, and their abbreviations M, G and T. Byte is typically abbreviated B.
Most operating-system tools report capacity using the same abbreviations but actually use binary prefixes. For instance, the prefix mega-, which normally means 106 (1,000,000), in the context of data storage can mean 220 (1,048,576), which is nearly 5% more. Similar usage has been applied to prefixes of greater magnitude. This results in a discrepancy between the disk manufacturer's stated capacity and the apparent capacity of the drive when examined through most operating-system tools. The difference becomes even more noticeable for a gigabyte (7%), and again for a terabyte (9%). For a petabyte there is a 11% difference between the SI (1000^5) and binary (1024^5) definitions. For example, Microsoft Windows reports disk capacity both in decimal-based units to 12 or more significant digits and with binary-based units to three significant digits. Thus a disk specified by a disk manufacturer as a 30 GB disk might have its capacity reported by Windows 2000 both as "30,065,098,568 bytes" and "28.0 GB". The disk manufacturer used the SI definition of "giga", 109 to arrive at 30 GB; however, because Microsoft Windows, Mac OS and some Linux distributions use "gigabyte" for 1,073,741,824 bytes (230 bytes), the operating system reports capacity of the disk drive as (only) 28.0 GB.

Different RAM modules on the same machine

With a lot of force you could even insert your graphics card into the RAM slot. What I mean is: It doesn't work mechanically. RDRAMs are quite different, yes they have to be in pairs besides that you have to add terminator modules into the empty slots. Combining different RAMs generally is not really a good idea. As long as the timings and the clocking is the same it's not such a problem, but no one will tell you that it's the best thing you can do

System Over Heating

In terms of your heat issues, do you have any spaces for extra fans on your case? You can pick up a standard 80mm case fan extremely cheap. Likewise, with your northbridge chipset, I take it that it doesn't have any cooling at the moment? Bolt a heatsink, and possibly a fan onto it. I would also try giving the whole box - fans, vents, corners of the case - a good dust out, and replace any overly long cables (IDE / power etc) with shorter ones to reduce the amount of space they occupy. You may also be able to tweak your BIOS settings a bit, depending on your mobo and components, and underclock everything until you have your heat / airflow issues sorted out.

The Boss

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