Disk partition table is extremely important. If it gets corrupted, no matter your PC operating system, file system or others will definitely malfunction. Thus, it’s pretty essential to figure out the causes and learn some prevention tips to prevent it.
As we all know, many factors can result in disk partition loss or partition damage. But the root cause must be suffering disk partition table, which is containing a lot of various parameters, like boot sectors, system ID, partition name and size, and file system, etc. All the information is fairly significant for your PC and hard disk. Therefore, if the disk partition table is damaged, your PC will fail to boot, and you will surely suffer serious data loss, like corrupt PST.
My previous post “5 Most Common Symptoms of Disk Partition Table Corruption”, have taught you how to recognize partition table failure. Now, hereinafter, we will proceed to release the 5 most common causes of disk partition table corruption and offer the corresponding prevention tips to avoid these causes.
1. User Improper Operations
Most of time, partition table gets compromised owing to users’ wrong operations. For instance, if you change Windows registry file improperly, causing registry file damage, or if you delete main disk partition without deleting extended partition firstly, the partition table will fail surely.
Prevention tips: You need what out for all of your operations that are involved with computer disk or system. If you lack related expert knowledge, you’d better recur to professionals.
2. Failed Disk Conversion
If you want to convert your hard disk from GUID Partition Table (GPT) to Master Boot Record (MBR), you may recur to some third party tool. In this process, disk is quite sensitive. Thus, if the conversion fails, partition table will become corrupt absolutely.
Prevention tips: You need apply the reputable, experienced and reliable tool. Don’t trust in any tools from unknown sources to perform disk conversion.
3. File System Damage
Similar to the above cause, if you desire to divide disk partitions, but something wrong occurs in this course, like sudden power failures, partition division will be terminated. In this case, the file system, usually NTFS in Windows, will be corrupt. Accordingly, partition table will become damaged.
Prevention tips: To avoid this factor, you need ensure consistent power supply when performing partition division. For example, you can invest in an uninterruptible power supply (UPS).
4. Virus Infection on Boot Sectors
Virus is actually one of the most threatening factors that can cause disk partition table damage. Many viruses are able to directly attack the boot sectors and disk partition table. Not only will it make partition disappear, but also remove all the data. In this case, your PC will certainly fail to boot.
Prevention tips: You ought to install a robust antivirus program on your PC and stick to updating it. In addition, you should beware of your daily online behaviors, like not visiting potential unsafe websites, etc.
5. Hard Disk Failures
If the hard disk fails, such as bad sectors, system information area error, corrupt track servo information or physical damage, the disk partition table will also get damaged.
Prevention tips: You should take good care of your hard disk. Also, to detect and fix bad sectors, you can utilize the inbuilt tool – CHKDSK.
Author Introduction:
Shirley Zhang is a data recovery expert in DataNumen, Inc., which is the world leader in data recovery technologies, including sql fix and outlook repair software products. For more information visit www.datanumen.com