Recovering Windows partition in case of 'Operating system not found' error

A partition in a computer system is a logical space in a hard disk. It is created to keep the system files and data files separated from each other. Keeping the system files away from the data files ensures that there is enough space for virtual memory paging and swapping. Also, if one of the non-system drives gets corrupted then other partitions do not get affected by this. However, like everything else the partitions are also prone to corruption. And the corruption can happen due to various reasons, such as power outages, improper system shutdown, damaged system files, virus infections, etc. In such cases, you should take certain measures to rectify the issue. However, if you are not able to resolve the issue then you should use a third-party Windows partition recovery software to recover Windows partition.

Consider a scenario wherein you are unable to boot your Windows XP system. An error message is getting displayed, that is:
Operating system not found
Missing Operating System
When you boot your system from the Recovery Console to recover its functionality, the following error message is displayed:
Setup did not find any hard drives installed on your computer.

Cause:
There could be the following reasons for the aforementioned error messages:
The hard disk is corrupted.
The BIOS settings are configured in a way that the BIOS is unable to detect the hard disk.
The Sector 0 of the physical hard disk has a corrupted MBR.
An incompatible partition is marked as Active.
The partition containing the MBR is not active anymore

Resolution:
To resolve these error messages, you should use the following methods:
Check the BIOS settings:You should check the BIOS settings and ensure that the BIOS enlists and recognizes the hard disk.
Use Recovery Console: You should use the fixmbr command in the Recovery Console to repair the MBR of the system drive.

Either of aforementioned methods will be able to resolve the issue. However, if you still are not able to resolve the issue then you should use a third-party Windows partition recovery software to recover partition. Such read-only tools are able to safely recover trapped data using sophisticated scanning algorithms.

Stellar Phoenix Partition Recovery is a partition recovery software that enables you to recover lost, deleted, or formatted data from both FAT and NTFS file systems. It is able to recover more than 185 different file types from various storage media like hard disks, external HDDs, pen drives, iPods, etc. Also, this partition recovery tool is capable of recovering lost emails from MS Outlook and Outlook Express. It is compatible with Windows 7, Vista, Server 2003, XP, and Server 2000.
Source:- Hubpages