Partition disappeared after erroneous "deletion" of system reserved partition of data drive while installing W7 64bit v2

How to use TestDisk to recover lost partition
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Author
Yosuno
Posts: 1
Joined: 05 Jun 2016, 03:29

Partition disappeared after erroneous "deletion" of system reserved partition of data drive while installing W7 64bit v2

#1 Post by Yosuno »

Hello,

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I apologize for writing a lot but i tried to explain what i did.
And sorry for my english but i think more people might help me then
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MY System : SSD + HD Data
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I bought my computer and i did not install it.
I have two hard drives.

One SSD of 240 Go, where Windows 7 64 bit was installed with other software
--> the only partition that was visible was "C"

one HD of 3 To (WD caviar green) where are my data
--> the only partition that was visible was "F"

I have also a DVD reader that was labelled "E"

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Issue With installing W7 64 bit -> HD data partition disappeared after deletion of the 2nd 'system reserved partition"
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i already installed Win XP several time but it was the first time I wanted to reinstall W7.
However when i ran the W7 DVD, there were 4 partitions. 2 'new' partitions of 100 Mo had appeared ("System reserved")
It was something like

C -> 238 Go
D -> 100 Mo
F -> 2.7 To
G -> 100 Mo

(not sure for F & G letter as that screen only appeared once)

I formated the C drive, the selected it to install but i got an error windows.
I looked on the net the error with my phone and it said the SSD should be the only disk in the list so that W7 accepts it.
I did not check further and did a stupid thing, i selected the "F" partition of 100 Mo and clicked on "delete" as I thought it would only remove it from the list.
( I found a bit later that we should only keep one hard drive when installing windows 7....)

Then I was able to install W7 but when it was done, I could only see on my computer:

C -> 238 Go
D -> 100 Mo ( System reserved)
E -> DVD
F -> 100 Mo (System reserved)

My 2 To of Data had disappeared.....
And i do not know if both 100 Mos partitions existed before as hidden partitions or if W7 overwrote my Data HD to create this 100 Mo partition.
I bought a new HD in case I would need to restore data via copy and i heard then of Testdisk.

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First Use of Testdisk -> table allocation repair done -> then stuck before Bios at reboot
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I used the 64 bit version ( i saw later that perhaps it is better to use the normal one)
I ran it, followed the usual basic procedure² and could see the 2 partition on my drive and browse data.
I validated through the "Write" the partition and rebooted. (I did not check boot data/sector in testdisk i confess)

=> then i got stuck before the bios on black screen, and on "entering setup" if I press "del".

I unplugged the WD HD and tried to modify boot orders, as I had once issues with SSD after electricity shortage, but it did not work.
I tried to switch Sata and power cable, but it worked on my SSD.
I then tried (bad idea I know) to hot plug mu WD once i started W7 on my SSD, I got a message saying something should be formatted (the 100 Mo part i think).
I think i misclicked as it rebooted and then black screen.

I unpluged the sata cable of the WD but let the power one. I could start W7. It also seems my HD might do some noise but not sure.
I then tried to toy with Bios and found there was a kind of "hotplug sata option" from SATA 1 to 6 not sure I have 6 but I activated them all.
I rebooted W7 and after it statted I hot plugged again the disk. I got a pop up saying I would need to restart, but I clicked cancel.

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Hot plug of data HD -> testdisk can access it but boot sector and backup boot sector issue
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I then ran again Testdisk and could acces my data again.
NB : the deep search analysis will need at least 6-7 hours so i stopped it and did the quick one, but if necessary i will run it.

However, this time I saw there was some boot issue i had surely missed.
And the large partition appears at analysis but not after quick search
The thing is the wiki is not clear how to go to the menu to change/check boot sector. (perhaps because i was on 64 bit version, i now used the normal one)
I found one menu, but it seems to be on the big partition, and both Boot sector and backup sector are corrupted.

I wonder If W7 overwrote them because of the 100 Mos partition, or If my first try at restoring allocation table impacted it.
In addition, the smal partition is tagged bootable but I do not want to use it to boot.

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My questions
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==> Question :

Should i use the adanced option and "Rebuild Bs" on the big partition?
Should I change the type of the small partition to Primary (P) instead of Bootable (*) ?
Should i just delete this small partition as I already have a Sytem reserved on "D" and it is useless or do i need to keep it (not sure if is used to store allocation table, or if it is to store windows security data) ?
Any others advices ?

cf screenshot for details, seems i can only put 3


Thanks A lot,
Yosuno


NB: Very late here, sorry for any mispelling

² http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/TestDisk_Step_By_Step
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Boot error - p1
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cgrenier
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Re: Partition disappeared after erroneous "deletion" of system reserved partition of data drive while installing W7 64bi

#2 Post by cgrenier »

Assuming the partition table is ok. In Advanced, you can select the second partition, choose Boot, RebuildBS, List.
If you can see your files, choose Write, confirm, Quit and reboot

If it doesn't work, maybe the partition table is wrong, use Analyse, Quick Search and if your partition isn't listed, choose Deeper Search.
Use the arrow keys to switch the partition you want to keep from D(eleted) to P(rimary). On next screen, choose Write, confirm, Quit and reboot.

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