Active@ Partition Recovery v 3.0
Copyright (c) 2012
Active@ Data Recovery Software 


USERS MANUAL


Contents

1. PRODUCT OVERVIEW	
2. SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS
3. DIFFERENCES BETWEEN DEMO AND COMMERCIAL VERSION
4. OPERATING PROCEDURES
	4.1. Bootable floppy disk (startup disk) preparation
	4.2. Program start and information display
	4.3. Scan for deleted partitions and drives
	4.4. Scan existing or damaged partitions and drives
	4.5. Partition recovery (Professional version only)
	4.6. Backup MBR, Partition Tables(s), Volume Boot Sectors
	4.7. Restoring MBR, Partition Table and Boot Sectors from backup
	4.8. Disk Image creation
	4.9. Long file names display
	4.10. Command line parameters
5. COMMON QUESTIONS
	5.1 Partition is damaged after a virus attack and cannot be neither recognized 
	    nor scanned. What to do? 
	5.2 How to prevent the Master Boot Record (MBR) corruption? 
	5.3 How to force LBA mode to access larger drives (more than 8GB size)? 
	5.4 Situations which Active@ Partition Recovery is unable to restore partitions
	    or Logical Drives in. 
	5.5 Why cannot FDISK and Windows 98 see a detected and recovered partition? 
	5.6 Why do I receive an error message while trying to save the  partition 
	    information back to the Hard disk Drive? 


1. PRODUCT OVERVIEW

Active@ Partition Recovery is a very small, easy to use DOS Program 
(only 150k in size) using which you can:

- Recover deleted partitions (FAT and NTFS) 
- Restore deleted FAT and NTFS Logical Drives 
- Scan hard drives and detect deleted FAT and NTFS partitions and/or Logical Drives 
- Preview files and folders on deleted partition or drive, to recover proper data 
- Backup MBR (Master Boot Record), Partition Table, Volume Boot Sectors 
- Restore MBR, Partition Table and Volume Boot Sectors from backup if damaged
- Create Drive Image 

It will help you when:
- Drives or partitions inadvertently deleted (using fdisk or other programs) 
- Hard Disk Logical Structure has been corrupted  
- Boot sector is damaged by virus



2. SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS

Active@ Partition Recovery  requires:
- AT compatible CPU with 286 or greater processor
- 640Kb of RAM
- 1.44 Mb floppy diskette drive
- EGA 640x480 or better screen resolution
- Bootable Floppy disk containing MS-DOS 6.0+, or startup disk for Windows 95/98
- HDD of type IDE/ATA/SCSI attached to be recovered.


3. FEATURES

 
Can be placed to and run from bootable floppy            
Displays complete physical and logical drive information 
Supports IDE / ATA / SCSI drives                         
Supports large (more than 8GB) size drives               
Supports FAT12, FAT16, FAT32, NTFS, NTFS5 file systems   
Supports MS-DOS, Windows 95/98/ME/NT/2000/XP partitions  
Detects deleted primary/extended partitions and drives   
Scans partitions damaged by virus or with damaged MBR    
Ability to preview partition data before recovery        
Displays long file names                                 
Ability to create Disk Image as set of 1GB files         
Creates backup for MBR, Partion Table, Boot Sectors      
Restores MBR, Partion Table and Boot Sectors from backup
Saves detected partition information back to HDD        
 
 
4. OPERATING PROCEDURES


4.1. Bootable floppy disk (startup disk) preparation
   
	If you do not have bootable floppy, you can prepare such disk from MS-DOS, 
	Windows 95/98 the following ways:
   
	- If you boot in MS-DOS or in Command Prompt mode of Windows 95/98, 
	  insert blank floppy and type:
	
			FORMAT A: /S

	and follow the instructions on a screen.
	

	- If you boot in Windows 95/98/ME, go to the "Control Panel" then 
	  "Add/Remove Programs", then switch to tab "Startup Disk" and 
	  click button "Startup Disk..." and follow the instructions 
 

	- If you boot in Windows XP, insert blank floppy, right-click A: drive, 
	  choose "Format...", check "Create an MS-DOS startup disk" option and 
	  click "Start" button

	Copy Active@ Partition Recovery (PR.EXE) to the bootable floppy disk


4.2. Program start and information display

	- Boot from the floppy in DOS mode, or in Command Prompt mode in Windows 95/98
	- Run Active@ Partition Recovery by typing:

			A:\> PR.EXE

     	At the left side you will see the list of detected Hard Disk Drives (HDD).
	If HDD has partitions and logical drives, they are displayed beneath.
	If partitions were deleted, or HDD has space that is not occupied by partitions,
	you'll see "Unallocated" space.

	Use arrows to move cursor between HDD and logical drives. When you position cursor
	to the particular drive, its information is displayed at the right side.


4.3. Scan for deleted partitions and drives

	- Run Active@ Partition Recovery 
	- Locate the HDD on the left pane that contains deleted partition 
	- Position the cursor on "Unallocated" under HDD containing deleted partition 
	  and press [ENTER]. Active@ Partition will start to scan the disk

	- If the deleted partition is found - it is displayed and Active@ Partition will 
	  suggest to add it to the list of found partitions

	- After adding the partition, files in the partition can be previewed. 
	  Just position the cursor on the partition and press the [ENTER] key

	- If you are satisfied with the information found you can save the partition 
	  table while exiting the program (see paragraph 4.5)
	
	Note:
	If "Extended" partition with logical drives was deleted, you'll have to scan 
	two times:
	- Scan "Unallocated" space and you will be suggested to add partition of 
	  type "Extended"
	- Then scan "Unallocated" space beneath "Extended" partition, and you'll detect 
	  and add logical drives located in the "Extended" partition
 

4.4. Scan existing or damaged partitions and drives

	When a partition is damaged, i.e. of type "Unknown", Active@ Partition Recovery 
	cannot handle it properly. Preview of files and folders is not possible in that 
	partition. However partition exists and there is no "Unallocated" space on the 
	screen, so we cannot scan it for detection of other partition information.

	Start the program using parameter -ignoreMBR that explicitly tells to Active@ 
	Partition Recovery to ignore default MBR and partition information, and to 
	scan drive like the one having all partitions deleted.

	For example: 

			A:\> PR.EXE -ignoreMBR=80h


	After program start, the "Unallocated" space will be displayed beneath HDD 80h.
	Scan it by pressing [ENTER] to try to detect and recover the partitions 
	as it was described in paragraph 4.3.


4.5. Partition recovery (Professional version only)
	
	- Run Active@ Partition Recovery 
	
	- Scan for deleted partitions and drives as it was described in paragraph 4.3
		or
	- Scan damaged partitions and drives  as it was described in paragraph 4.4
	
	- If you are satisfied with the information found you can save the partition 
	  table while exiting the program by pressing [ESC] key.

	- Press [Y] to confirm saving partition information, or [N] if you want to leave
	  program without saving.

	- If there is no partition with "Active" status exists, you'll be asked to select
	  one of partitions to be active. Select one and press [ENTER]

	- You will be prompted to create MBR backup for the current configuration before
	  found parition information is saved to HDD.
	  It can be helpful if later on you'll decide to go back to the configuration
	  that was before partition recovery. 
	  - Press [Y] to backup current MBR, Partition Table and Volume Boot Sectors
	  - Press [N] to cancel backup of the current configuration.

	After partition information is saved, machine re-boot is required.
	

4.6. Backup MBR, Partition Tables(s), Volume Boot Sectors

	In some situations such as a virus attack, power surge, etc, Master Boot Record 
	can get damaged. Due to this damage the computer becomes un-responsive and 
	unbootable.

	To prevent this you can backup your partition information:

	- Run Active@ Partition Recovery 
	- Select HDD you want to backup 
	- Insert floppy disk and  press [Ctrl]+[B]
	- Information will be saved to  A:\HDD80h.MBR if you backup HDD 80h


	Using this floppy disk Master Boot Record can be restored (see paragraph 4.7)

	IT IS STRONGLY ADVISED TO MAKE MBR AND PARTITIONS BACKUP EVERY TIME THE COMPUTER
	CONFIGURATION IS CHANGED (SUCH AS ADDING/REMOVING HDDs, PARTITIONS, LOGICAL DRIVES)


4.7. Restoring Master Boot Record, Partition Table and Boot Sectors from backup

	To restore partition information from backup follow the steps:

	- Insert the floppy disk containing the Master Boot Record backup file 
	- Run Active@ Partition Recovery with parameter -restoreMBR :

			A:\> PR.EXE -restoreMBR=80h

	This command will restore the Master Boot Record, Partition Table(s) and Boot Sectors. 
	You can view paritions, logical drives and preview files.

	- While  exiting the program, save this information back to Hard Disk Drive
	  if you want to. See paragraph 4.5 for details.

 
	Note:
	DEMO version of the program allows you to load partition information from the backup
	and preview partition structure and files, but does not allow you to save it when you 
	exit the program.
	Professional version of Active@ Partition Recovery allows you to save parition 
	information from the backup back to the HDD.


4.8. Disk Image creation


	A "Disk Image" is a copy of the drive saved in file. Disk Image is used for backup
	purposes or for the analysis by other utilities like WinHex. Using Active@ Partition 
	Recovery "Disk Image" for the whole Hard Disk Drive or for a particular logical drive 
	can be created.

	- Start Active@ Partition Recovery 
	- Select the drive (HDD or Logical) to create the "Disk Image" 
	- Press "Ctrl+I" 
	- Select the path of another logical or network drive where you wish to save "Disk Image" 
	- Press OK [ENTER] key 
	- View the progress and wait until creation of disk image is finished


	- Another way (available in Professional version only) is to run software with the 
	  parameter -image. 

	For example:

			A:\>PR.EXE -image80h=E:\

	Resulting Disk Image is saved in the following files: Drive_80h.hdd, Drive_80h.001, 
	Drive_80h.002... Each file (except the last one) has size 1GB. MS-DOS does not support 
	files more than 2GB in size. Due to this reason the files are separated in 1GB file size. 
	If you want the Disk Image in one file - merge them later on manually.

	
 
4.9. Long file names display
	

	Starting from Windows 95, file name is not limited to 8.3 pattern anymore and can have
	the length up to 255 characters.

	Standard View displays all files and folders the same way as DOS does, 
	i.e. forms file name using 8.3 format and displays it. 
	However sometimes it is not convenient to see the only first symbols of the long file 
	name.

	To display long filenames (up to 36 symbols):
	
	- Boot in DOS mode and run Active@ Partition Recovery  
	- Scan the particular drive by pressing [ENTER] 
	- Press [TAB] key to switch to long filenames view


4.10. Command line parameters

	Active@ Partition Recovery has the set of command line parameters.
	To see them and their definition, type:
		
			A:\> PR.EXE  -?
	

	-lba          - force LBA mode for access to all detected HDDs

	-lba=N        - force LBA mode for access to the particular HDD,
	                where N=[80h,81h,82h,83h]

	-restoreMBR=N - restore of MBR from the backup for the particular drive
	                where N=[80h,81h,82h,83h]

	-ignoreMBR=N  - do not load MBR information for the particular drive,
	                where N=[80h,81h,82h,83h]
			It allows you to scan existing or damaged parition

	-imageN=PATH  - create image for the physical drive
	                (Professional version only),"\
			where N=[80h,81h,82h,83h] and PATH=<drive>:\\<path\\>

	

5. COMMON QUESTIONS


5.1 Partition is damaged after a virus attack and cannot be neither recognized 
    nor scanned. What to do? 

	Problem:
	Due to a virus attack my computer may not boot and  FDISK displays partition 
	of unknown type. Active@ Partition Recovery also shows partition of "Unknown" 
	type and does not allow previewing and scanning.

	Reason:
	When a partition is damaged, i.e. its type is "Unknown", Active@ Partition 
	Recovery cannot handle partitions of the type "Unknown", so it does not allow 
	to preview files in that partition. However partition exists and there is 
	no "Unallocated" space.

	Solution:
	Start the program with a parameter -ignoreMBR to ignore default partitions.
	See paragraph 4.4 for details


5.2 How to prevent the Master Boot Record (MBR) corruption? 

	Problem:
	In some situations such as a virus attack, power surge, etc, Master Boot Record 
	can get damaged. Due to this damage the computer becomes un-responsive and 
	unbootable.

	Solution:
	If a Master Boot Record and partition information backup is available on a 
	floppy drive, then using Active@ Partition Recovery you can recover and 
	restore Master Boot Record.

	Boot the machine using that floppy and run  Active@ Partition Recovery 
	and restore Master Boot Record from the  backup.

	IT IS STRONGLY ADVISED TO MAKE  MBR AND PARTITIONS BACKUP EVERY TIME THE 
	COMPUTER CONFIGURATION IS CHANGED ( SUCH AS ADDING/REMOVING HDDs, PARTITIONS, 
	LOGICAL DRIVES). 
	See paragraph 4.6 for details


5.3 How to force LBA mode to access larger drives (more than 8GB size)? 
	
	Problem:
	I use Windows NT installed under VMWare. I'm trying to scan partition having 
	size 10GB or greater and get an error message saying "Error reading physical 
	sector". Is it a drive's problem or your software does not support drives 
	more than 8GB?

	Reason:
	It could be bad clusters on the drive as well as BIOS/OS that does not 
	support LBA mode problem. 

	MS-DOS versions prior to 6.0 does not support LBA mode. Some versions of BIOS 
	could report that LBA mode is not supported for larger drives, however actually 
	it does. VMWare v.3.0 is an example. Active@ Partition Recovery tries read the 
	drive 100 times. In case of read failure it reports this problem.

	Solution:
	Make sure that you boot your system using the proper version of DOS. If it is 
	MS-DOS then version must be 6.0+. In most cases you do NOT need to tell 
	Active@ Partition Recovery to force LBA mode, because if BIOS supports it, 
	Active@ Partition Recovery does it automatically, giving you access to larger 
	sized hard drives.

	If BIOS reports that LBA mode is not supported, Active@ Partition Recovery uses 
	standard Int13h to access the drive. You could try to force LBA mode by 
	starting Active@ Partition Recovery with a parameter -LBA, for example:

			A:\>PR.EXE -LBA

	However it will not help if BIOS actually does not support LBA mode. It usually 
	happens with old versions of BIOS. In this case you can try to take out HDD and 
	plug it to another machine having newer version of BIOS. 


	In situation if your drive has lots of bad clusters, its advisable to save your 
	data onto another physical drive and to get rid of the damaged hard drive.


5.4 Situations which Active@ Partition Recovery is unable to restore partitions 
    or Logical Drives in.

	If you have:
	- Created and formatted new partition instead of deleted one 
	- Written some information to the sectors where partition information was located 

	In the above scenarios most likely Active@ Partition Recovery will not be able 
	to detect the deleted partition as the partition information has been overwritten.

	Even in situations if the Master Boot Record and Partition Table(s) have been 
	detected and restored successfully, some data on the drive might have been 
	overwritten and can be seen as garbage data in some folders.

 
5.5 Why cannot FDISK and Windows 98 see a detected and recovered partition? 

	Problem:
	I used Active@ Partition Recovery to detect and recover a deleted partition 
	successfully. However after reboot FDISK is not able to see the partition. 
	Also if I try to access the  C: drive, an error message is displayed saying 
	that drive is not valid.

	Reason:
	Both Partition and Master Boot Record were damaged.

	Solution:
	Re-create MBR by running FDISK with parameter /MBR: 

			A:\>FDISK.EXE /MBR
	
	After MBR is re-created, partitions can be detected if Active@ Partition 
	Recovery restored them successfully.


5.6 Why do I receive an error message while trying to save the  partition 
    information back to the Hard disk Drive? 

  
	Problem:
	While saving the partition information I receive an error message saying 
	"Error writing physical sector". Not able to save the partition information 
	to the HDD.

	Reasons:
	1. Boot sector is write-protected. Some BIOS allow protecting Boot sector from 
	   write operations in order to prohibit viruses to damage it. 
	2. Run the software from Windows 95/98/ME "MS-DOS Prompt" console. 
	3. Hard Disk Drive is physically damaged (i.e. has bad clusters). 

	Solutions:
	1. Check your BIOS settings. If you have setting like "Virus Warning", 
	   make sure that it's been "Disabled".
	2. DO NOT try to run the software from under Windows Operating System! Boot 
	   your computer in "Command Prompt" mode (press [F8] when Windows boots) or 
	   boot from the floppy disk. 
	3. If your HDD is physically damaged, it's better to copy all important data 
	   from there and use another Hard Disk Drive or you are at risk of loosing your 
	   data.
