subject: Caution: Cross Linked Files Cause Data Loss In Microsoft Windows [print this page] Microsoft Windows operating system manages the data area on hard drive into several different sections, which are known as clusters and allocation units. Each file on the hard drive contains an individual directory entry, which includes important information about file such as file size, file name, creation date and time, attribute information and address of cluster where starting address of the file and file header is stored. Any damage to this area might cause critical data loss and require Windows Data Recovery to be handled.
The Windows file system (either FAT or NTFS) includes an entry for each cluster. This entry of every cluster has either an address of next cluster used by the file or a code that specifies that this is the last cluster of file.
The cross linking of the files might occurs in some situations where two or more Windows files are marked as 'owning' same memory cluster. Usually the last file updated is incorrect and the other files are correct apart from the value of cluster, which is the part of another Windows file.
This is a serious file system error, which damages the data in an existing file by writing new data from another file on same memory location that is already occupied by another file. These are file system entries, which point to same cluster on the drive. The cross linked files are generally created when your system is shut down improperly and file system caught some errors. Issue may also occur if any Windows application aborts improperly.
How to resolve cross linked file problems?
The only method to sort out this problem is to delete both of the files. When you delete the file, each cluster that is assigned to both these files is marked as free to use. If you remove only one file, the cluster is marked as unused but the file system would show that specific cluster belongs to a good file.
Ultimate result of this entire behavior will be the loss of critical data and requires Windows Recovery. Recovery is best possible using easy to use and efficient third party Windows Data Recovery Software to recover windows partitions.
The applications scan whole hard drive using effective scanning algorithms and retrieve all of the lost data from it. The Windows Data Recovery tools are completely safe to use as they have read-only conduct.
Stellar Phoenix Windows Data Recovery is the most advanced application for successful recovery. It recover data from FAT32, VFAT, NTFS and NTFS5 file system partitions. The software is designed for Microsoft Windows 7 RC1, Vista, 2003, XP and 2000.
