NTLDR is missing on LG XD4 External Hard Disk

I was having Dell Dimension 4600 laptop with windows vista home premium operating system installed on it. I was also having Avast antivirus installed on my laptop so that my system could be protected from malware, adware etc. I have plugged an LG XD4 external hard disk into the laptop. When I tried to boot from the external hard disk, the booting was failed. The booting was failed displaying an “NTLDR is missing” error message. I tried to start booting again but failed. I need a solution so that I can fix this error message and the booting could startup.

NTLDR is the boot loader files for windows platform. NTLDR can runs on primary hard disk drive as well as on external devices such as CD-ROM, USB drive, floppy drive etc. NTLDR is responsible for loading the system files. If the NTLDR file is missing or corrupted then your system may fail to boot. If the NTLDR is missing then you can fix it by making use of Windows operating system CD and if NTLDR is corrupted then you can make use of the system recovery option to repair it. When you have fixed the NTLDR problem, your system may start booting without any problem.

If you have connected the LG XD4 External Hard Disk into the USB port of the laptop and you restarted the system to boot from the new connected hard disk. If you are getting the “NTLDR file missing” error then you can fix it easily. To fix the NTLDR error message you need to follow the steps given below:

1. Insert the windows XP CD into the CD-ROM and restart the system.
2. Press R from the key board to start the Windows Recovery Console. You will be prompted to enter password. If the password is not set then you need to simply press the enter key.
3. Select option 1 and press the enter key.
4. When the recovery process gets loaded, you will get a command prompt at the screen.
5. In the command prompt type the following command and press the enter key:
   Copy D:\I386\NTLDR C:\
   Copy D:\I386\NTDETECT.COM C:\
6. Where the letter D represents CD drive. Remove the windows CD and restart the system.

You can use the above given solution if there is any problem with NTLDR which is used for booting the system. If you are not able to fix the NTLDR problem on your system then you may have to reinstall the same operating system either on the same partition or on the different partition again. Reinstalling the operating system may fix the NTLDR problem and the system may boot up correctly.

You can also make use of System Recovery Options to fix the corrupted NTLDR. The NTLDR might be corrupted because of virus attack. If the NTLDR is corrupted then you may have booting problems. You may fix the NTLDR if it has been corrupted so that your system may start booting. To fix the corrupted NTLDR you may need to insert the Windows vista DVD into the DVD-ROM and restart the system. Press any key from the keyboard to boot from the DVD. Then you need to select language, date and time configuration. Click on repair your computer at the windows installation screen. Now you need to click on startup repair from the System Recovery Options. The System Recovery Options will repair your boot loader i.e. NTLDR. Click on the finish button after the repair has been completed to restart the computer.