Partition Loss When You Upgrade to Windows Vista
Most software vendors periodically release new versions of their products. Among these releases, operating systems like Microsoft Windows are the most popular as they have a wide array of users across the world. The next version (Windows 7: Project name Vienna) is already going through testing by professionals and users post the overall operating system creation.
Such new versions come with several new features, improved functions, look and feel. The users generally become eager to take benefit of these added features as quickly as possible. So, they opt for an operating system upgrade other than a fresh reinstall. The best example will be an upgrade from the all time favorite MS Windows XP to MS Windows Vista, which has the maximum market share in the OEM PC segment.
Due to the advanced features like better security and hardware support several computer users like to upgrade their existing Windows XP systems to Vista. It also comes in various versions to cover the user segments of Computer Science Professionals, Gamers, Business & Enterprise Users, different Home Users and End Users more.
Such upgrade documentation and even screens suggest to backup data, though to avoid effort and time we often skip that. So, if the upgrade process completes successfully, it means that every data file is safe and will be there in the respective locations like ‘My Documents’ files will now be found under ‘Documents’. But, in case of operating system issues like system files altered by programs, malicious software like virus, incompatible driver versions, highly fragmented hard drive partitions etc. the upgrade process may fail.
During the upgrade we might encounter one or more of the underwritten errors:
? You can not choose hard drive partition for upgrade
? You can not set the hard drive partition size
? You come across a generic Windows Vista upgrade error message :
”Windows is unable to find a system volume that meets its criteria for installation”
After such an error, the upgrade process fails and the system becomes unstable or encounters a no boot situation.
You may encounter this behavior of Windows due to any of these causes:
? Vista is not compatible with mass storage driver
? The hard drive is formatted as a dynamic disk
? The file system of your Windows hard drive is damaged
? You are trying to install Vista on a hard drive partition which is formatted with FAT file system. FAT is incompatible with Vista.
No matter what the cause of this problem is, the final result would be incomplete upgrade operation. It would render the system inaccessible and we need to fix it.
Resolution
If the problem is due to the incompatible mass storage drivers, update them. In case if the problem is due to file system corruption or incompatibility of file system, you need to format your hard drive and perform clean installation of Windows Vista.
Though, it may fix all the issues, but also has a downside. Formatting wipes all the stored data from hard drive and you have to carry out partition recovery to overcome this problem.
Stellar Information Systems, the masters of data recovery from 1993 offers various data recovery software for every data recovery need as well as proactive backup. Stellar Phoenix Windows Data Recovery offers complete recovery in the above scenario. Phoenix Partition Recovery Software is compatible with MS Windows Vista, XP, Server 2003 and 2000. It supports partition recovery from both FAT and NTFS based Windows hard drives.
Simpson Raid is a freelancer for Stellar which offers file recovery software and file recovery programs for different OS and file system.
Article Source: ArticlesBase.com - Partition Loss When You Upgrade to Windows Vista