How to Loss data due to deletion of SAM file

The user information in Windows NT operating systems (such as Windows 7, Vista, 2003, XP and 2000) is stored in SAM (Security Accounts Manager) database. Corruption of SAM file primarily occurs due to operating system malfunctioning, file system corruption, software bugs and more. Two major consequences that you might encounter after the SAM file gets corrupted are unbootable system and data inaccessibility. In such situations, an ideal solution is to restore the data from an up-to-date backup. However, if an updated backup is not available or backup falls short of restoring the desired information, data recovery software comes to rescue.

SAM file, in Windows Vista, is stored in %SystemRoot%\System32\config\ folder. The computer system halts if the C:\Windows\System32\config\SAM file gets deleted. In addition, the system automatically reboots during the startup, right after you see the first sign of mouse pointer. The process of automatic rebooting moves into infinite loop, making the system unusable.

To overcome such data loss scenarios, you need to follow the below measures:

1 Copy the SAM file from C:\Windows\System32\config\RegBack\SAM file

2 Try to get into Safe Mode and create a backup of your data. However, in most of the above cases, you are unable to get into Safe Mode as your system restarts automatically.

3 Windows Vista always maintains a backup copy of SAM file at C:\Windows\System32\config\RegBack folder. You can attempt to save the copy of the SAM file. But, it is practically impossible to copy the SAM file from another Vista computer as it contains the sensitive secret user password data.

4 Use Recovery Console Environment or boot into another system that allows access to NTFS filesystem of Vista system drive.

If all the above measures fail to perform and the data still remains inaccessible, then you will need to reinstall Windows. A fresh reinstall of Windows will erase all the files and folders from the selected hard drive partition. For complete recovery of data from a formatted hard drive, you need to opt for advanced data recovery software. Such data recovery applications employ effective scanning algorithms to systematically recover lost data from a formatted hard drive.