Computer Maintenance London Data Disaster Recovery Plan Computer Network Services UK IT Support London

Like with most machines and gadgets, your computer requires regular maintenance. Maintenance ensures that your computer gives you years of trouble-free service. Basic computer maintenance usually involves periodic cleaning, checking and updating of the system and its components. Apart from those, periodic backup of your critical data, defragmenting of hard disks to maintain disk efficiency and speed, deleting temporary and old files and installation of latest software's form the core of computer maintenance. At Netstaruk, we undertake contractual maintenance of your computer hardware, software and networking systems. With all our latest, sophisticated tools, software's and technical know-how, we ensure that your computers function to their optimum. Our regular computer maintenance contract also includes troubleshooting which can be remote, telephone or on-site. With the telephone support, just phone or email any time your system faces a problem; and the expert team at Netstaruk solves it for you. Netstaruk also offers you remote services by fitting a small piece of software into your system. This software enables staff at Netstaruk to share your screen with you remotely, thereby having better control of your system. Remote monitoring was until recently a luxury only large companies could afford. Now, Netstaruk brings remote services even to small and medium sized businesses. As a part of our maintenance contract, our team of qualified engineers will visit your premises periodically for on site services. Installation, configuration, major troubleshooting and minor projects are all undertaken on site. We update your systems to protect your computers from viruses, Trojans, worms and malicious spy ware by using firewalls, virus protection software's and high-level encryption. With highly qualified and extremely experienced engineers, you can rest assured that your computer maintenance work will be done to your complete satisfaction. We also offer you professional data backup solutions that can ensure you peace of mind. Our fully automated Internet backup solution holds your data securely offsite. Online data storage of encrypted information provides a safe, reliable and cost effective alternative to traditional backup. And technologically advanced data disaster recovery planning services offered by Netstaruk, ensures that even in case of a data loss, you can rely on Netstaruk to recover your systems quickly, causing minimal disruption to your work. With timely and dependable services provided, network and computer maintenance by Netstaruk ensures that you have a smooth running office. A trusted name in UK, Netstaruk network support London has an enviable clientele. Also as a Microsoft Certified Partner, Netstaruk has the expertise with Microsoft technologies and the ability to deliver. So, look no further for your computer maintenance contracts - ensure an efficient office with services from Netstaruk.

I write Articles on IT support services.

Where to Turn to When You Need Data Recovery Services

There is perhaps no worse feeling in the world of technology than having your hard drive crash and realizing you have not made a backup of the valuable data it contains. These days most of us end up storing vast amounts of personal data on their computers, and data recovery services can be a godsend when the worst happens.

The idea behind data recovery is that the data on a failed hard drive is not truly gone. Depending on the physical damage to the hard drive, the actual data may still be intact, and a qualified data recovery service may be able to recover most or even all of the data contained on the failed hard drive.

When shopping for data recovery services, it is important to choose carefully, and it is important to move as quickly as possible. If a physical problem exists with the failed hard drive, that problem is likely to get worse quickly, and the faster you can get that drive to a data recovery service the faster you will get your valuable data back.

It is also important to choose a data recovery service with a good track record of recovering data from failed hardware and failed hard drives. It is a good idea to look for references for those data recovery services. In addition, you may want to check with the manufacturer of your hard drive for recommendations on data recovery services. Some data recovery services will work better with certain brands of hard drives, and the maker of your hard drive may be a good source of information on the type of data recovery services that are most likely to be effective.

When contracting with a data recovery service, it is important to read the fine print carefully and to understand what your financial obligations are in the event of a successful data recovery. In most cases the charges for data recovery will be determined by a combination of the size of the drive and the extent of the damage. It is important to get a good estimate before allowing the data recovery to go forward. Data recovery services can sometimes be expensive, but recovering your personal data can be priceless.

No matter what type of data recovery service you ultimately choose, one thing is fairly certain, and that is that you will suddenly discover the power of a good backup. Nothing causes people to get the backup religion quite like a loss of data.

Recovering your data with Data Recovery

Looking for the best data recovery software can be a real nightmare when you have just lost, seemingly irretrievably, much of your work. But if you don't panic and look carefully for the best solution, than very often it is possible to retrieve much if not all of your lost data. There are many software packages out there that can help with this process as long as you take the correct steps initially The right software can enable you to not only retrieve files that you have unintentionally deleted, but also, in some cases, data that has been lost due to a virus attack. The key for most of these programs to work is to not allow any more writing to the disk in question. A good program for data that has been accidentally deleted is undelete. It has been used hundreds of times to recover data that has been deleted by the act of a person.

One of the key things in choosing the right software, is to know how the data was lost. Whether it was due to a virus, a mistake on your part, or even a hardware failure, so that you can decide which is the best data recovery method to use.

If you are quick enough, it is possible that you will not even need the data recovery software. When data is deleted it is not always trashed straight away. The operating system will change the file so that it won't be displayed when you're looking for it.

If you can find this gap in the system before the computer uses it for something else, then it is possible to simply undelete it and the file will reappear with all your data. This way you can avoid the need for data recovery software and you should be back in business.

The trick is to be very quick and find the gap in the system before doing too much other work, as this, especially if your hard drive has got very little unused space, may cause the computer to use the gap for something else. If you have not noticed the loss, and the computer has used it, then probably your best chance is in using some good quality data recovery software or service.

Another problem can arise if you decide to repair the drive by defragging the computer, before you have a chance to try any data recovery. You probably will not lose all of it, but it is possible to lose some of it, as when you defrag it can cause some of the files to be overwritten.

Of course even if you only use one or two small files by doing this, chances are they will be the most important ones! So it is best to try to get to grips with your data recovery before doing any defragging. Even if you are not actively running this application, you should think whether you have preprogrammed to defrag the disc at specific intervals.

So if you think you have lost any data, it is always best to try and recover it before doing anything else. That way you have a much better chance of success with your data recovery.

Data Recovery - You Can Get It Back!

Data recovery is a process whereby you can save data and files you accidentally deleted, had eaten by malicious software or viruses, hardware failures, corporate espionage and many more scenarios. Most people believe that when the hard drive crashes their world ends also, but that's not usually the case. In fact 85% of the time the data is recoverable, and at far less trouble and expense than you might fear at first.

It's a wonder something that spins at thousands of times a minute doesn't crash more often than they do, what with all the abuse we heap upon them. When's the last time you did a dust patrol near your drive ports? Hard drives aren't the only data that can be saved too. Zip drives, floppies, DVD's, CD-ROM's and more can be rescued. And sometimes the worst of disasters will yield up results. Technicians regularly extract data from computers that are burned to a crisp. Admittedly this is trickier and more expensive, but it can be done. On woman had her Apple Powerbook sink to the bottom of the Amazon, whereupon tiring of waiting for the salvage operation, she promptly donned her scuba gear, swam down to the sunken boat and retrieved her precious files. She then mailed the whole mess to DriveSavers and they managed to save most of her data, despite being submerged for three days!

Most recoveries aren't nearly as sexy, and can usually be resolved with a software solution, usually by the client his or herself. Off the rack data recovery software is quite good and relatively inexpensive, especially when you compared to the cost of dealing with replacing the lost files. Most data recovery issues stem from human error, roughly 25%. A software solution can run you anywhere from $75-$400, whereas if the problem is too difficult and you have to box it up and send it out, expect to pay between $500-$2000, with the average price of $1000.

The key to remember is that deleted data is usually not gone forever, just maddeningly misplaced. The good news is that recovery can be a mouse click away!

www.y-capture.com is the publisher of this article on data recovery. At www.y-capture.com you will find all the information you need on data recovery to protect yourself from loosing all your favorite data and memories that is stored on your computer. So to protect yourself or your business, go to www.y-capture.com bookmark this website because all you need to know about data recovery and how to protect yourself is there. constantly updated and reniewed by pro's.

Tips for Failed Hard Drive Data Recovery

One thing that manufacturers of hard drives do not tell us when we buy our brand new computers, is that hard drives are subject to fail, regardless of the amount of time they are used. With some systems it may take more than 10 years before the hard drive failure occurs, while others can fail within just a year of normal use. Because of this, failed hard drive data recovery is an important issue that needs some thought.

Basically, there are two main types of hard drive failure. The first is those hard drives that fail due to a software problem, and the second failed hard drive category applies in the case of a physical malfunction with the hard drive.

Referring to the first category, the failed hard drive data recovery is usually considered when the data on the drive gets corrupted due to something like a corrupted partition table, damaged boot record, or missing root directory information. A lot of experts feel that the hard drive failure due to software is generally easier to recover with the use of easily available failed hard drive data recovery software.

It involves a much more complicated process when you need to recover data from a failed hard drive that has physically malfunctioned. This is because when the failed hard drive has been physically damaged in some way, then any additional access to the hard drive may cause further corruption to the data stored on the drive. It is harder for the failed hard drive data recovery process to obtain the key files and stored information back from the hard drive. Most of the failed hard drive data recovery services that you will see advertised are offered for this category of failed hard drive data recovery.

If you are unlucky enough to need a failed hard drive data recovery, bear in mind that a greater level of caution is needed so that your data recovery is successful. When you are considering using any of the failed hard drive data recovery software you need to be aware that there will be a risk of further data loss as the software gets to work on the hard drive. One of the best ways to avoid an additional damage is to create an image of the drive using an imaging tool.

If as an example, your failed hard drive happens to be the drive which contains the operating system, the best failed hard drive data recovery step you can take is not to boot the drive at all if this is possible. According to the experts this is reasonably simple for a desktop system - all you need to do is to disconnect the boot drive and replace it with a new drive. For this to be totally successful you need to ensure that you have a drive with a large enough capacity to hold the image of the current drive.

You will then be able to install an operating system on the new drive. This basic failed hard drive data recovery step is accomplished by just reconnecting the old drive as a slave unit or by placing it in an external case and then connecting to it through USB or FireWire. However, for your failed hard drive data recovery to work best, it is important to disconnect the current boot partition, because trying to install the Operating System on the new drive will just result in temporary files being written to the old drive.

For more articles by Charles Cass on Hard drive failer.

Data Recovery Tips

Here's Some Tips From Our Data Recovery Engineers.

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Choose a "DATA RECOVERY" Company very carefully. Sending your drive to an inexperienced company can only cause more damage. In fact this is the most common cause of "data loss".
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Never power up a drive that may have been exposed to water, fire, lightning or smoke. The drive must be serviced or data recovered in an air-and static-controlled Class 100 clean room by data recovery professionals.
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If you hear a clunk, clunk sound when you power up the drive then the servo pattern has been lost and the drive can't find track zero. Shut the drive down and do not power up again. You may break the TRK 00 Stop inside the drive.
*

Use the same type of precautions for any type of media including floppies, tapes, or CD's when the data is valuable to you or your company.
*

Do not continue powering up a drive you believe has been damaged. It can and will only get worse.
*

If a drive has been through a great deal of force or is visibly damaged do not try to power it up to see if you can see any data..
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Don't t drop or hit the drive to get it "unstuck" or spinning again.
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Do not remove the cover from the hard drive. This will only cause further damage.
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Never shake the hard disk drive.
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Don't expose the drive to extreme temperatures.
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Do not attempt to recover data with commonly available software utility programs.
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Backup your data frequently.
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Package the drive properly when you send it in for data recovery. This is a major cause of permanent loss of data.
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Don't assume that data is unrecoverable, no matter what it has been through

Emergency Data Recovery Tips

As a data recovery service provider, we're quite aware that every data loss problem is an emergency. Each year, hundreds of businesses find themselves at this data crossroads, whether because of physical damage, hard drive crash or a simple file system corruption.

Many of these businesses lose their data, but a good majority recover it, either with the help of a professional, or with data recovery software. The following tips will help ensure your "hard disk emergency" concludes with a happy ending.

First: In the event that you have lost data, determine what type of data loss has occurred.
Is your data loss the result of physical hard disk damage?

Typical symptoms of this type of data loss include clicking or buzzing sounds emanating from your hard drive (or computer box). Also, you may encounter what is commonly known to PC users as the "blue screen of death". This blue screen may occur at odd times, and without warning, even when your hard drive is making no peculiar noises.
Physical Hard Disk Damage

With physical drive damage, you may also find that your drive is "not found" when you attempt to reboot your computer. This may also be accompanied by inactivity (no flickering) by your computer's drive light.

While this may also be a faulty boot or partition record, in most cases it is physical damage. Best thing to do in this situation is to contact us here, or get in touch with another hard drive recovery professional.

Other physical damage is more obvious. In cases of flood, or natural disaster, where your drive has been exposed to the elements, recovering your data will almost always require emergency professional data recovery. If you are in this category, please contact us for a data recovery consultation right away. We can often have your data for you on a new drive within 2-6 days.
Is your data loss the result of file system corruption or damage, accidental deletion or non-physical drive problems?

When you "lose" files, whether through accidental deletion or boot or partition sector corruption, your files can often be returned quite quickly, with specialized software provided by us.

Typical symptoms of this can be simply a "disappearing file" or an accidentally emptied "recycle bin". It is likely that your computer still boots (except in cases where your boot record had been compromised), and there are no noises coming from your drive.

In cases like this, your file or data is likely still recoverable. The best thing to do is call a professional quickly. We offer data recovery software which does not save anything to your drive, which is critical in this situation.

Remember: Avoid any data recovery software that requires you to save it to the drive from which you have lost data. Saving anything on to your drive could eliminate the possibility of recovering your lost data!!
A Final Emergency Note

It is important that when you have lost data, you do not do anything rash. Your actions (including rebooting several times, using unapproved "utility software" or saving new files to your drive) greatly affect your data's recover-ability. Be assured that there are data recovery professionals out there who are qualified to recover your data. Always ensure your are dealing with a professional emergency data recovery technician.

Hard Drive Recovery

Ontrack® Data Recovery services offer world-leading solutions and multiple data recovery service options for all types of hard drive recovery:

* Any interface: (IDE, EIDE), Serial ATA (SATA), SCSI, SAS, and Fibre Channel
* Any combination of drives: single hard drive or multiple RAID drives
* Any brand

Thousands of IT professionals and technology users trust Ontrack Data Recovery services with seemingly unrecoverable data.

Lost data can be recovered in no time whether the hard drive has crashed, has been damaged or has been the victim of a natural disaster. Why Do Hard Drives Lose Data?

Ontrack Data Recovery engineers classify hard drive data loss in two categories:

* Logical failure - the hard drive is in working order but some files or data cannot be accessed for logical reasons such as a lost partition or accidental reformatting.
* Mechanical failure - the hard drive is not functioning. The most common causes are head crashes and motor failures.

What Causes Hard Drive Failure?
The list of incidents causing hard drives to fail and lose data is not limited, but some of the main causes that Ontrack Data Recovery services recover from everyday include power surges, overwriting, physical damages, natural disasters, and viruses.

How Ontrack Data Recovery Services Helps to Recover From Hard Drive Data Loss

Data recovery involves more than just replacing parts. Ontrack Data Recovery services use cutting-edge hard drive recovery tools and processes that come from heavy investment in R&D and 20 years experience. A sample of the expert techniques used include:

* In case of mechanical failure, hard disk recoveries are performed in dust-free cleanroom environments where they are carefully dismounted, examined and processed.
* Hard drives are imaged. A copy of the disk is made and transferred to a new system.
* Ontrack Data Recovery tools can “force” the drive to read around the bad area.

NOTICE: Trying this on your own or through an inexperienced provider may lead to further damage to the drive.

Data Recovery Tips for Hurricane Victims

When computer equipment and other data storage devices are damaged by the winds and rains of a tropical storm, recovering lost files may seem like a lost cause. Don’t make this assumption! No matter how extreme the damage may seem it is often possible to recover data from water-damaged hard drives, servers, digital cameras and other electronic devices.

Through its Ontrack Data Recovery services, Kroll Ontrack has responded to many of the most extreme disasters; successfully recovering data following Hurricane Katrina, the Columbia Space Shuttle disaster and the earthquakes in China. A team of more than 150 data recovery engineers makes Kroll Ontrack uniquely equipped to handle the high volume of data recovery requests that follow a major storm.

Handling Storm-Damaged Computer Equipment

* Proper handling of storm-damaged computer equipment will greatly increase the odds of successful data recovery.
* For mission critical situations, contact a data recovery provider before any attempts are made to reconfigure, reinstall or reformat
* Do not attempt to power up or operate visibly damaged computers or hard drives.
* Do not shake, disassemble or attempt to clean any hard drive or server that has been damaged - improper handling can make recovery operations more difficult which can lead to valuable information being lost.
* Never attempt to dry water-damaged media by opening it or exposing it to heat - such as that from a hairdryer. In fact, keeping a water-damaged drive damp can improve your chances for recovery.
* Do not use data recovery software to attempt recovery on a physically damaged hard drive. Data recovery software is only designed for use on a drive that is fully functioning mechanically.

Hundreds of hard-drive repair tips!

By Fred Langa

Having hard-drive trouble? Don't panic! Odds are, there's a fix.

If the CPU is your PC's brain, then the hard drive is its heart, pumping necessary data throughout your system. Hard drive troubles are the PC equivalent of a heart attack, but the tips below will ensure that your data has a long life!

When to put your drive in the freezer

Unbelievable! It's been a month, and the reader e-mails are still coming in about heat and cold, and their effects on various storage media. We first discussed "How to predict CDR and DVD-R longevity" in the Feb. 8 issue. We continued with "CD-Rs don't survive freezing temperatures" in the Feb. 22 issue, and "Cold weather can damage hard drives" in the Mar. 1 issue. We then ran "Worldwide responses to CD longevity" in the Mar. 15 issue, which covered data tapes and flash drives.

But, there's more — as this reader note from Ken Stewart suggests — beginning with a way that extreme cold can actually benefit an ailing hard drive:

* "Your article on hard drives having issues with cold temps brought to mind an old wives' tale about freezing a bad hard drive, then trying to get it to work for one last time. This was a last-ditch effort to get a bad drive to come back to life one last time. I guess that was not a good idea after all. Do you know of any last-ditch method for getting a drive to come back from the dead?"

It's not a wives' tale, Ken. The "hard-drive-in-the-freezer" trick is a real and proven, albeit last-resort, recovery technique for some kinds of otherwise-fatal hard-drive problems. In fact, it's part of a trio of unusual fixes that — believe it or not — can be summed up as "freeze it," "hit it," and "drop it"!

Clearly, these fixes run the risk of further damaging a drive. They truly are last-ditch efforts to be called upon only when you've already tried the normal drive fixes without success and have nothing left to lose. (We'll come back to this in a moment.)

The freezing trick sometimes works because the mechanical contraction/expansion may help free up binding parts. Other times, the cold can help an aging, failingelectrical component to remain within specs for at least a few minutes — perhaps enough time for you to recover your essential data from the drive.

Here's how the freezing trick works:

Take the dying, otherwise-irreparable hard drive out of your computer, and place it a Ziploc bag (to help minimize condensation on the drives). Put the bagged drive in a freezer for several hours. Then, working fast, take the drive out, remove the bag, and reconnect the chilled drive to the PC. If the drive spins up and seems to be working, get your essential data off the drive as fast as you possibly can.

The best option for this is to selectively copy portions of the dying drive to a new drive. Start with the most essential folder trees (My Documents, for example), and then copy increasingly less important folders as the drive warms up. Odds are, the drive will again become erratic or fail. But, if you're lucky, you'll be able to squeeze one last brief use from it.

The above method can work, but it's classification as a "last-ditch effort" begs the question: What are the front-line techniques? Glad you asked! Here's a series of articles I wrote that will walk you through a whole range of proven techniques for resurrecting a dead hard drive (including the in-the-freezer trick mentioned above):

NTFS Partitions

The first sector of NTFS partitions is reserved for the partition boot sector. This contains the information that allows the OS to read the partition. Without it, the partition cannot be accessed.

By its nature, NTFS keeps a backup copy of the boot sector on the last sector of the partition which can allow recovery programs to restore it. The FAT equivalent of this is also called the boot sector, and resides on the first sector of the partition. The difference is that FAT does not keep a backup copy of this information, making recovery much more difficult...

The first file stored on an NTFS partition is the Master File Table(MFT) which is essentially a listing of the names, properties and locations of all the other files in the partition. This is referenced by the operating system to access individual files.

NTFS stores a backup copy of this file. Data restoration software will attempt to access or restore a copy of the MFT in order to access files on the partition.

FAT partitions use something similar, called predictably enough the File Allocation Table (FAT). The FAT is also backed up on the disk, and can be restored by software. The major disadvantage of the FAT as compared to the MFT is that it needs to be located on a specific area of the partition to function, so if that area of the disk is damaged, recovery can be difficult.

When a file is deleted (removed from the recycle bin within Windows), both file systems simply mark the file as deleted. The data is not actually removed from the drive, but rather the space it takes up on the disk is now considered to be free. Consequently, if you delete a file accidentally, you have an excellent chance of being able to restore it provided you do not write more information to the disk.

In my situation, I had two NTFS partitions on the effected disk. When I ran FDISK, it wrote garbage information over certain areas of this disk, including areas of both partitions. As a result, the first partition (the one with my article on it) had lost its partition boot sector, meaning it could not be accessed normally by an operating system. The second partition had merely had crucial system files overwritten, and was unbootable, but still fully accessible once I transferred the disk to another computer.

Thankfully there is a way to fix all of this, and get the data back!

First, a small disclaimer: All the processes described from here on are strictly for resolving software issues with your data, like accidentally deleting partitions or files. If your hard drive has a physical problem, if it is making strange noises, shaking, rattling or smoking, nothing here will apply. Turn your computer off, unplug the drive and call a data recovery service if your files are vital.

Attempting to self-service your hard drive it may only make things worse.

Primary Partition Gone?

The hard drive that suffered the data loss was a 17Gb Fujitsu drive with two 5Gb XP NTFS partitions (Home and Professional) and 6Gb of unused space. Both XP partition were unbootable after the incident.

After transferring the drive to a Windows 2000 computer so I could use disk manager, (to load disk manager on XP or 2000, right click 'my computer' select 'manage' then 'disk manager') this is what I saw.

The Primary partition where my 5000+ word article was saved, is seen as unformatted and cannot be read by the OS. The second XP partition could not be booted, but was seen as formatted and I could transfer files easily from it using explorer. Unfortunately, all the data I needed was on the first partition.

What to do? Well there are a few tricks you can use to get data back from the brink of an abyss like the one I've created for myself here. First though, we should understand exactly what a file system is, and how it controls access to your data on a computer.

An overview of file systems

A file system is a method an operating system uses to arrange data and free space on a hard drive or other storage device so it can be written to and read from. File systems create partitions which are areas of free space than can be addressed by the file system and seen as a logical drives (C: D: etc.) to be written to and read from.

The two file systems used by the various Windows operating systems are NTFS (NT File System) and FAT (File Allocation Table). FAT is an earlier file system, used first in DOS as FAT-16, then later in Windows 9x/ME as FAT-32.

The only major difference between FAT-16 and -32 is in the amount of data they can address. FAT-16 can only use up to 2GB of space on each logical drive, and FAT-32 has no such limitation. Later Microsoft operating systems like Windows 2000 and XP are fully compatible with FAT, even if it is not the default method they use to store files.

NTFS is used in Windows NT, 2000 and XP and provides a more secure and efficient method of file storage. In addition to allowing security to be implemented on individual files, NTFS also stores backup copies of essential disk information to aid in recovering from disaster.

Both file systems use the Master Boot Record (MBR) and partition table, found in the first sector of each hard drive or storage device. The MBR and partition table determine which partition(s) on the disk are bootable, and locate and pass control to that partition to boot the operating system.

If the MBR or partition table are damaged, the drive will become unbootable, and may appear to be blank if the partition information has been erased.

Hard Drive Data Recovery

Killed a hard drive without backing up? Deleted your babies first photo and already emptied the recycling bin? Not to worry, you can probably recover your data with the help of this guide from PCSTATS. - Version 1.3.0

If you've been using computers for a decent amount of time there is a good chance someone has told you that data stored on a hard drive is not exactly safe. I'm here to assure you that this is indeed true.

Never mind the fact that unlike tapes or CDs or other methods of storage, hard drives are mechanical, active devices and are thus subject to comparatively rapid breakdown.

No, the real threat to hard drives are the people that use them, by which I mean you and me. Hard drives, being the dynamic storage devices that they are, are extremely easy to erase in any number of amusing and simple to achieve ways... as are USB hard drives and flash memory cards (recovery tips for that media is detailed here).

Working as a computer tech during the glory days of Windows 98, you get rather used to using FDISK and other hard drive utilities to prepare and repair customer's drives, which leads to a certain over confidence. That attitude can lead straight to disaster, sort of like giving a 12 year old boy the keys to an ATV.

Picture this if you will; there I was, two or three sentences and a screen shot away from finishing a 5000+ word article on computer upgrades. All I had to do was fire up FDISK on a dual boot Windows98/XP Pro system and grab a few screen shots. I figured I'd write a little blurb on how to partition a drive, making sure to tell the readers not to mess with FDISK if they were not sure what they were doing…

Yes, there's going to be some irony here.

So anyway, I wanted to get some more screen shots of the actual partitioning screen, but I did not have a blank hard drive handy. I figured I could use my NTFS formatted XP drive (which FDISK perceived as a blank drive) to start the "process," grab the screen shots and then cancel the partitioning.

No problem. Except for one little thing…

I had forgotten that FDISK, in the process of checking the disk before it prompts you for the size of the partition, writes information to certain areas of the hard drive. This data writes over whatever might have been there before. Meanwhile, there I was, watching the '%complete' counter and wondering why a little red warning flag kept going off in my brain? I restarted WinXP and waited for it to boot, and waited... and waited... Oops.

Stellar launches V3.0 of Phoenix Outlook PST Repair

The Version 3.0 of Stellar Phoenix Outlook PST Repair recover lost PST Password, split large PST file and Repair corrupt Microsoft Outlook PST & recover email, calendar, notes, tasks & contacts.

Stellar Information Systems Limited, the masters of data recovery, announces major updates for its PST repair software. Due to the great intellect of Stellar, you can now have the PST password recovery feature along with. Stellar Phoenix Outlook PST Repair 3.0 has also been made capable of splitting the large sized PST into smaller PST files. With the unique feature of identifying the e-mails with attachments, the software has now come up with a new look and lots of added qualities.

The software is identified for its great achievements in PST recovery for all the e-mails, contacts, calendar, journal, and rest other objects. This recent version of the software will provide you certain other benefits like password recovery and splitting the PST, together with the complete PST repair options. With its interactive user interface, you will discover the experience of ease and PST recovery as the job of clicks. You may have a look over the key features of the newer version, blended with the earlier one:

• PST repair for MS Outlook 98, 2000, 2002, 2003 and 2007
• Recovery for the lost or forgotten passwords
• Splits the large Microsoft Outlook PST file into several small sized PST files.
• Easy identification to the e-mails having attachments
• PST repair for e-mails, calendar entries, contacts, notes and journals
• Needs negligible technical skills to use with the intuitive user interface
• The demo version provides preview of five e-mails, 20% contacts and calendar entries from which the user can evaluated the software
• Also repairs password protected and encrypted files
• Repairs PST files even larger than 2GB.
• Live Update Feature to catch the recent updates

For better knowing the software, Stellar has benefited the users with its demo version, available from its website. You can experience the interface, its repair and recovery qualities, and preview repairable files, except the saving abilities which are applicable after having the serial key.

For more information on Stellar Phoenix Outlook PST Repair please visit us at: