# Unmountable boot volume?



## chaos4001 (Aug 3, 2005)

So I turn on my computer today, and it goes through the normal booting process. Everything looks fine. Then, a blue screen comes up, telling me that I have an UNMOUNTABLE_BOOT_VOLUME. 

Now, this computer can't have a virus or spyware, it's not connected to the internet. It can't be a problem with a drive, because my computer consists of a hard drive, power supply, mobo, and ram. It's pretty much bare bones.

Any help will be appreciated.


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## daz1 (Nov 4, 2006)

http://www.techtips4u.com/kb/sw/SW00014.htm


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## chaos4001 (Aug 3, 2005)

I have an HP. No boot disk. And neither computer has a floppy drive, so making my own is also ruled out.

It says on another site that a pretty common problem is that the boot.ini file is corrupted. What if I were to connect the HP's drive to the computer I'm using now, then go into the system files and edit the boot.ini back to however it's supposed to be?


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## Wolfeymole (Jun 18, 2005)

Neither computer? 
Are we talking two?
Get the XP disk that came with the original pc and repair the boot.ini file from there.


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## Triple6 (Dec 26, 2002)

If you decide to connect it another computer, which is perfectly fine, then the first thing I'd so is run CHKDSK on the drive.

CHKDSK can also be run from the Recovery Console which might be an option on the startup menu or can be accessed from a Windows XP CD, any Windows XP CD.

Here's how to run the CHKDSK: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CHKDSK

Oh, and why can't it be the drive? Drives are one of the parts that commonly fail of PC's.


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## Wolfeymole (Jun 18, 2005)

Just don't connect it as a boot drive as it won't work.


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## Guest (Mar 2, 2008)

Hello!

Seems like your having the same problem as I did... see my thread here:

http://forums.techguy.org/windows-nt-2000-xp/643999-unmountable-boot-volume-please-help.html

if its like mine, use Bart PE and install a 'Get Data Back NFTS plugin' while creating the disk image... see the post and my next post here to find out vaguely how...

also go onto serials.ws and get a serial code for the get data back NFTS. You will need this if you try to recover your data on the hard drive to an external one.


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## Guest (Mar 2, 2008)

I had come, eventually, across this website:

http://forums.techguy.org/windows-nt-2000-xp/645656-get-data-back-ntfs-cant.html#post5275997

about 'get data back nfts', as a friend of mine had an illegally
validated 'get data back 'fat'' on his flash drive (I tried this,
incidentally, and it didn't work - probably as the hard disk drive
isn't FAT formatted).

I then came across, after searching for ages, a
miracle! These websites, here:

http://www.jakeludington.com/digital_lifestyle_report/20040914_hard_drive_data_recovery.html

and a tutorial of how to create a bart pe cd here:






and have just found these now:

http://www.suggestafix.com/index.php?showtopic=24453

I finally used BartPE to create a recovery type disk from an iso
image, and then added plugins (all the available ones) - including get
data back for nfts. Then getting a serial for this from serials.ws, I
ran it on the broken hard drive (which just about managed to load this
new operating system) and ran the 'get data back NFTS' program. The
get data back utility only seems to let you copy programs to an
external hard disk drive when it has been registered (as I knew from
my illegal FAT copy), so i registered it with the serial code; and hey
presto!

I was able to recover the files to the external toshiba hard drive -
but getting the computer to recognise the drive was a really big
problem. See my earlier posts on the techguy forum to see what the
guys recommended me to do...

I managed to download all my data, and the weird thing is the laptop,
as old and battered as it may be IS NOW STILL WORKING, with the SAME
HARD DRIVE, on xp home edition - albiet a little slow, and the casing
a bit (a lot, actually, but superglued back) cracked! Crazy, or
what... ?

also look at the bart pe and get data back nfts websites for help on creating the cd - they're really good!

any problems just message me/post back and I'll do my best to help


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## Guest (Mar 2, 2008)

also see: http://groups.google.co.uk/group/computer-tech-support/browse_thread/thread/4214321c755637ef#
although you may have to join the google group 'computer tech support' to do so.

Regards,
Ghost3203


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## Guest (Mar 2, 2008)

also try this: http://www.tech-recipes.com/rx/2605/fixing_the_dreaded_unmountable_boot_volume_error
but it didn't work for me (partly because I didn't have a copy of xp shipped with my laptop, just a recovery cd, and partly due to the other disks I tried being copies...)


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## Guest (Mar 2, 2008)

ha ha ha 

... well, desparate situations demand desparate measures


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## Slipaway172 (Apr 9, 2005)

you have a bad hard drive. replace and format it. if you need data off of the old drive, you need to see the geek squad about a data recovery.


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## Guest (Mar 2, 2008)

other possible sources of help:

http://www.computerhope.com/issues/ch000630.htm
http://www.datarecovery.com.sg/data_recovery/troubleshoot_unmountable_boot_volume.htm
http://techrepublic.com.com/5208-11184-0.html?forumID=47&threadID=162468

http://www.supertechtips.info/unmountable-boot-volume-error-windows-xp-fix.shtml 
(looks really useful)

and this especially for hps:

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?dlc=en&lc=en&product=95831&cc=us&docname=c00035720

are you running xp or vista?


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## Guest (Mar 2, 2008)

agree with slipaway172 on this one, but at least try to recover your info first!

P.S.: Don't use techies - e.g.: pc world's, etc. if you can help it... you'll pay through your nose


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## Guest (Mar 2, 2008)

OFFICAL SUPPORT: (ha) http://support.microsoft.com/kb/555302


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## Guest (Mar 2, 2008)

looking at your comp spec, would recommend also getting a usb plug n play cd-rom drive, and possibly a floppy drive too - but the latter doesn't always work (boot disk) - depend on how far your hdrive has gone, if it is the h drive


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## Triple6 (Dec 26, 2002)

Anyway check the date on this thread, its almost a year old.

Ghost3202; 9 almost sequential posts to one thread...you know you can go back and edit previous posts to add to them.


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## Guest (Mar 3, 2008)

: O


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