Methods to Recover Lost Data from Corrupted MBR [2022]

David Darlington

Apr 10, 2023 • Filed to: Windows Computer Solutions • Proven solutions

MBR, which is known as "Master Boot Record", is used to identify the location of an operating system. In this way, it is loaded to a computer’s primary memory for a seamless booting process. Needless to say, if your system’s MBR has been corrupted, then it can directly affect its booting as well. This will make your data and content inaccessible. Therefore, to recover lost data from corrupted MBR, you need to take some added measures like using Windows PE. To help you do the same, we have come up with this post. Read on and learn how to recover lost data from corrupted MBR.

What Could Have Caused a Corrupted MBR?

Since MBR contains information regarding the location of the system’s operating system, it is also known as the master partition table by many. Once a system is started, MBR provides the location of the operating system and loads it to the primary memory (RAM). If MBR is corrupted, then the necessary files to boot a system won’t be identified. Instead, it displays a message stating the boot configuration data or system device can’t be loaded or found.

MBR can be corrupted due to the following reasons:

• Dual OS: If you have multiple operating systems on your PC, then it can cause a conflict in MBR. This can further make MBR corrupt and non-functioning.
• Malware attack: Just like any other malware or virus, there is specific malware that targets MBR. They can erase the registered information in the partition table and cause a boot failure.
• Update issue: There are times when during the updating process of an operating system, MBR also gets affected. If an update has gone wrong, then it can cause some crucial damage to MBR as well and cause your system to not boot the right way.

Thankfully, you can recover lost data from corrupted MBR by taking the assistance of a reliable tool. We will discuss it in detail in the next section.

How to Recover Lost Data from Corrupted MBR

The most reliable way to recover lost data from corrupted MBR is by taking a reliable data recovery program. Recoverit can help you to recover any lost data from the corrupted storage device or formatted devices. It supports to recover data from the unbootable system with a created WinPE bootable drive.

Your Safe & Reliable MBR Data Recovery Software

• Recover lost or deleted files, photos, audio, music, emails from any storage device effectively, safely and completely.
• Supports data recovery from recycle bin, hard drive, memory card, flash drive, digital camera, and camcorders.
• Supports to recover data for sudden deletion, formatting, hard drive corruption, virus attack, system crash under different situations.

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Free download and install Recoverit on your computer, launch it, and follow the next simple steps to recover corrupted files. To recover lost data from corrupted MBR, you should create a bootable media firstly.

1. Launch Recoverit and select "System Crash Data Recovery" to create a bootable drive for data recovery. Then, click "Start" on the next pop-up window.

1. Select a bootable drive mode, USB or CD/DVD bootable drive, and click the "Create" button to move on.

1. Then click on "Format now" to continue. But please note that formatting will erase all data on the selected drive, so make sure that your important data has been backed up before the click.

1. It will take a while to finish creating a bootable media. Please do not eject your USB or CD/DVD drive during the process.

1. Finally, you'll get a stepwise guide on how to recover data from corrupted MBR using the created bootable media.
   1) Adjust the BIOS to boot from USB/CD/DVD: restart your crashed computer and press the BIOS entry key from the computer launching screen. You can check out this page to learn how to set your computer to boot from a USB/CD/DVD drive.
   2) Connect the USB flash drive or insert the CD/DVD drive to your computer.
   3) Restart your computer and start to recover data from the corrupted MBR.

After creating a bootable media and restarting your computer, the data recovery can be performed.

Step 1 Select the scenario. To recover MBR data with the bootable drive, you can select the "Deleted Files Recovery" mode to get started.

Step 2 Select the target location where the data gets lost and click the "Start" button to process.

Step 3 This software will immediately scan your drive for your lost data. If you find the wanted files nowhere, please try "All-Around Recovery" to deeply search more files.

Step 4 Finally, you can preview the displayed files, choose the ones you want to recover and click "Recover" button to get them back from corrupted MBR.

More about corrupted MBR

By taking the assistance of Recoverit, you would be able to recover lost data from corrupted MBR pretty easily. Though, you can also try this method to get some assistance:

• Use the official CD/DVD of the operating system to troubleshoot the problem. You can also use a standalone Windows PE disc as well to resolve the issue.
• As you would open the command prompt, browser all the way to the directory where Windows is stored.
• After locating the directory where MBR is stored, provide the "fixmbr" command.
• The command will fix a minor MBR issue by writing it to the hard drive.
• Later, you can restart the system and check whether it is able to boot properly or not.