AOMEI Partition Assistant
How to Repair NTFS Boot Sector in Windows 7?
How to repair NTFS boot sector in Windows 7? This passage will give you an easy guide to quickly fix boot issues.
By Irene / Updated on October 29, 2024
What is NTFS boot sector?
The NTFS Boot Sector is the first sector of a partition on a storage device, such as a hard drive or SSD. It contains important information that the operating system needs to load the NTFS file system. This sector includes boot code for starting the operating system, details about the NTFS structure—including size and layout—and metadata about the volume, such as its name and size.
Users may sometimes encounter the message "The first boot sector is unreadable or corrupt" when running the chkdsk disk check. This problem can occur for several reasons, including malware or viruses that target the boot sector, sudden power outages or system shutdowns during data writing, and errors during the installation or update of the operating system. Additionally, physical damage to the storage device, such as bad sectors or hardware failures, as well as incompatible or faulty third-party software that disrupts the boot process, can also lead to corruption.
In addition to this message, a corrupted NTFS Boot Sector can result in various symptoms, including:
- Inability to boot the operating system
- Frequent system crashes or blue screen errors
- Messages like "File System is RAW", "Sector Not Found", "Disk Not Recognized", or "Boot Device Not Found"
- Error messages related to the corrupt boot sector
- Missing or inaccessible files and folders
- Slow system performance or unusual behavior
How to repair NTFS boot sector in Windows 7?
If you want to perform NTFS boot sector repair, you can use Windows Repair CD/DVD or a professional and handy tool. In this part, we will display the specific steps.
Method 1. Use Windows Repair DVD/CD to repair boot sector in Windows 7
Since the Windows 7 PE/repair environment doesn't recognize USB drives or can't detect USB 3.0, you can try repairing using a Windows CD or a USB 2.0 drive. Choose whichever option is more convenient for you. Boot from the CD or USB 2.0 drive, then press Shift + F10 to open the Command Prompt. Type the following commands and press Enter:
• bootrec /fixmbr
• bootrec /fixboot
• bootrec /rebuildbcd
Restart your PC after that and you’ll find it starts fine. Alternatively, you can type bcdboot.exeC:\Windows /s C: directly on the prompt in Windows Recovery Environment to solve the issue.
Method 2. Run a professional boot repair tool
To easily fix boot issues, it is recommended to use a professional boot repair tool to ensure the process is simple and safe. AOMEI Partition Assistant, which is compatible with Windows 11, 10, 8/8.1, and 7, provides a user-friendly interface suitable for all levels of users. Its Boot Repair feature is helpful for resolving common issues like system boot failures, including errors such as "Boot Configuration Data file is missing" or "Boot Configuration Data file is corrupted." It also assists with boot problems after updates, boot conflicts in multi-OS setups, and boot sector corruption caused by viruses or other issues.
AOMEI Partition AssistantThe Best Windows Disk Partition Manager and PC Optimizer
Option 1. Repair Boot for Local PC
Step 1. Install and launch AOMEI Partition Assistant. In the Main Tab, please click the "Recover" tab and select "Boot Repair".
Step 2. The Boot Repair tool will pop up. Please click "Next" to start the system’s boot entries scan process.
Step 3. After the process is completed, it will display the scan result: system paths, system versions, and boot status. And, all repairable boot entries will be available to select.
Advanced Settings(Select a location to store the repaired boot entry):
1. Repair to the current disk: The system will boot from the current disk and ensure the boot files are complete and functioning properly. (By default)
2. Repair to another disk: This operation will repair the boot entry or create a new system boot entry to ensure the system can boot from the disk you select.
You can either repair to the current disk or repair to another disk. Repair to the current disk is recommended for common users.
Step 4. Select one/multiple repairable boot entries you want to repair and click the "Repair" button to start the boot repair.
Step 5. Wait for the repair process to finish. Once it is finished, you can check the repair result. If it succeeds, you will get a "Repair Successfully" result.
Option 2. Repair Boot for PC that won't Boot
Step 1. Install and launch AOMEI Partition Assistant on a working PC, click "Recovr"-"Boot Repair" and then click the "create a bootable disk" option to create a WinPE "Boot Repair" disk.
Step 2. Boot the PC that cannot boot into WinPE. It will automatically load the Boot Repair tool and start the boot entries scan process. All boot entries will be displayed.
Step 3. Select the repairable boot entries you want to repair and click the "Repair" button to start the repair.
Step 4. Once the repair is repaired successfully, you can remove the bootable disk and boot the PC from the original system drive.
Tip: How to recover lost files due to system crash in Windows 7?
If you’ve lost important data due to a system crash or because repairing the boot sector can involve changes to the file system structure, you can use AOMEI Partition Assistant to recover your files. Its Recover Data feature works in various situations, including recovering from formatted disks, emptied Recycle Bins, and data lost from system crashes. It can recover thousands of file types, including office documents, photos, and videos.
AOMEI Partition AssistantThe Best Windows Disk Partition Manager and PC Optimizer
Step 1. Launch AOMEI Partition Assistant. In the Main Tab, please click "Recover"> "Recover Data".
Step 2. The Recover Windows Data tool will pop up. Please select the partition location to start data recovery and click "Start Scan".
Step 3. Once the scan is completed, all deleted files, recycle bin, and other missing files will be displayed. Please select data you would like to recover and then click "Recover".
Step 4. Please select a folder path on your PC to save the recovered data.
Step 5. The recovery progress will start and data will be saved to the path you select once the recovery process is successful.
Conclusion
This is a full guide about repairing NTFS boot sector in Windows 7. With AOMEI Partition Assistant, you can easily and effectively fix boot issues. Even if you unfortunately suffer data loss, it can also help you recover lost data. This multifunctional software also allows you to extend C drive for Windows 7, clone hard drive to SSD, boot Windows 7 from external hard drive, and so on. For Windows Server users, please choose the AOMEI Partition Assistant Server edition.
