accidentally split HD, one partition can't be turned into a volume

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CaptainStpd
Posts: 3
Joined: 01 Jun 2017, 10:42

accidentally split HD, one partition can't be turned into a volume

#1 Post by CaptainStpd »

I was messing around in testdisk just to try out some stuff and I accidentally split my HD into two partitions somehow. It probably happened when I deleted all data in the partition table. I'm just using a disk for testing so there's no data to recover but I don't want to lose the disk so can anyone please help me fix this somehow? I don't have a log since I was just trying out some stuff on an already formatted disk.

Using windows the disk no longer shows up as E: and when I when I use disk management I see two unallocated partitions (nearly equally sized). I can only turn one of these partitions into a volume which I can then access but it won't let me do anything with the other partition. Maybe it's easier to fix it with a third party partition manager but since I'm trying to learn to use testdisk maybe someone here can walk me through it?

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cgrenier
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Re: accidentally split HD, one partition can't be turned into a volume

#2 Post by cgrenier »

If you have no data to recover and want to continue to "play" with the partition table, you can either use windows disk manager to delete the current 2 partitions and create a new one or use testdisk to search for old partitions (Analyse, Quick Search and if necessary, Deeper Search...)
Read chapter "TestDisk and PhotoRec in various digital forensics test cases" from https://www.cgsecurity.org/testdisk.pdf and test using the various dftt images to practice without risk.

CaptainStpd
Posts: 3
Joined: 01 Jun 2017, 10:42

Re: accidentally split HD, one partition can't be turned into a volume

#3 Post by CaptainStpd »

I was not able to delete the first partition in windows disk manager or turn it into a volume or do anything with it. That's why I was worried maybe I had broken the disk. But I searched for the old partition and restored it, didn't take long. Thanks!

CaptainStpd
Posts: 3
Joined: 01 Jun 2017, 10:42

Re: accidentally split HD, one partition can't be turned into a volume

#4 Post by CaptainStpd »

Oh, the reason why the HD seemed split in half was probably because it had been turned into MBR which only supports partitions up to 2TB. I found out when it happened again after I used a certain file shredder. I didn't mention but the HD is 4TB. I changed the HD back to GPT in windows disk manager. Mystery solved.

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