Corruption in USN journal or NTFS log file may damage the NTFS volume and cause severe data loss

The USN journal (or Update Sequence Number Journal) is a new feature introduced with NTFS v3.0. that is responsible for keeping track of all the changes that occur to the files, streams, and directories present on the NTFS volume. It also records changes in their attributes or security settings. The '$Logfile' is another functionality that is added to the NTFS file system. It is basically an NTFS log file that is used to record any meta changes to the NTFS volume. If these files become corrupt due to any reason or contain some invalid records, it may cause NTFS volume corruption. If the damaged volume is your boot volume, then it may make your system unbootable which would further result in losing all the vital data stored in your system. To recover back your lost data from the corrupt NTFS volume, you need to go for Windows partition recovery through a reliable third party utility.

For instance, you are using a Windows 2000-based computer. When you try to access your NTFS file system-based volume, you may come across any one of the following error messages:
“The disk structure is corrupted and unreadable”
OR
“There is not enough space on the disk. ”
If the damaged volume is your boot volume, you may also receive an error message on rebooting your computer:
“stop 0x0000007B (0x00000000, 0xC0000032, 0x00000000, 0x00000000)
Inaccessible_boot_device ”

Cause:
The $UsnJrnl file or the $LogFile file contains some invalid records.
The STOP error will render your system unbootable and prevent you from accessing the precious data stored in the system. In such situations, you can use a backup to recover partition data. If you don't have a backup, follow the below mentioned resolution steps.

Resolution:
You should follow these steps to resolve the STOP error:
Use a Windows XP operating system CD and restart your Windows 2000-based system to the recovery console.
Click 'Run' in 'Start' menu and then type 'Chkdsk.exe /r'
Click 'OK' and reboot your system.

However, if the 'Chkdsk' tool is unable to detect the errors and you are not able to access your NTFS volume, you should take help of an efficient Partition recovery software. These software can easily recover lost, deleted, or formatted data from the corrupt NTFS, FAT, or exFAT file system-based partitions.