Too Many Partition To Choose

[Seadee]

Hello:

First time poster. I've used TestDisk successfully before but I'm new to doing this:

My Dad woke up to a Windows computer that had the MBR missing on a 1TB drive. He tried several things, then finally called me. When the Windows repair disk said there wasn't an operating system installed, I pulled the drive, attached it as an external to another computer to discover there was no operating system, or files on the drive. WEIRD. Also, the drive had 3 partitions, and still had them, but two of the three were re-sized:

Originally had C: 100 GB, D: 820 GB (approx), X: 10 GB HP Recovery.
Now the drive is re-partitioned to 100 MB (shows 50 MB free), 920 GB (shows completely empty, when it should have 220 GB of data), and 10 GB (shows 1.53 GB free, has one folder that is empty).

Thankfully he backed up two weeks prior, so not much data was lost, just some reorganizing of folders. We did manage to recover the files with a deep scan, so we're all good on that front.

I would like to repair the file system to get back to the original partitions so we can access his original file structure, and it's a learning exercise for me

I cloned the drive to another, so I am working from image.

I've attached the TestDisk showing various partitions after a Deep Search. Here's my interpretation of what's listed:

Partition 1 looks like the original 100 GB partition (boot partition), so I want to save that.
Partition 2 named Clone, is the name of the drive I gave it when I formatted it, so that can go.
Partitions 3,4,5 are 100 MB partitions but sector sizes are different. Don't need these.
Partitions 6, 7 are 920 GB and is the remainder of the original partition, but when added to the 100 GB partition makes the drive too big? (sector sizes are different as well)
Partitions 8, 9 are the recovery drives, which seem to be the correct size (sector sizes different)

So I'm getting the Structure: Bad on everything except Partitions 1 & 8 (boot and Factory Image partitions) when I try to change partition characteristics.

Can/How do I change the sector count to save the largest partition that has all the data? Help. Need my hand held.

Thank you for any help!

[Seadee]

No ideas?

So I've played around with changing Cylinder/Head/Sector etc, but am unsure as to what Cylinder number to change the second, larger partition to (the one that starts at Head 12, Sector size 1930729472 in the photo).

Will changing the Cyldinder/Head/Sector etc numbers take care of the Structure: Bad error?

I should note that although there are NINE partitions listed, the drive only had 3 originally. The one labeled Clone is the name I gave this drive (it is an image drive, not the original). The smaller partitions I think were created when my Dad was trying to System Repair before he called me (I'm not sure why this happened frankly).

Am I correct to think I need to change the Cylinder/Head/Sector numbers to make one of the two (Partitions 6 & 7 in the photo) to resize it to make all the partitions I want to save add up to 1TB?

The partitions I want to save are:
Partition 1 is already 100GB,
Partition 6 or 7 says it's 980GB, but should be 890GB for the math to add up to 1TB
Partition 8 (Recovery) is 10GB

The rest of the partitions are redundant and not needed.

So again, Partitions 1 and 8 seem to be fine, I think I need to change the Head/Cylinder numbers of Partition 6 or 7 (I'll choose one). What should those numbers be? Since Partition 1 ends at 13056 / 254 / 63, do I change the Start of Partition 6/7 (depending on which one I choose) to Cylinder 13056 Head 254 Sector 64 and the end to 120195 57 54? If not, then what?

Help.

[cgrenier]

It's best to run TestDisk 6.14 or 7.0-WIP (6.14-WIP is old). For each partition found, use 'p' to list its content. This way you will know which partition is correct.

[Seadee]

Thank you for your reply.

So I've updated to 6.14, re-imaged my drive. This is a 1TB drive showing up is 931GB (it shows 1000 GB / 931 GiB - CHS 121601 255 63). Shouldn't a 1TB drive be about 976GB as formatted in Windows? Doesn't the drive size have to be correct for everything else to read correctly after?

The initial scan for partitions shows three, with Partitions 2 and 3 showing a Bad Sector Count. Partitions 1 and 2 are not the correct size. Deeper Scan shows the extra partitions (as explained in my first post). I'm rescanning now with the updated 6.14 (not 6.14 WIP) and will list files after that.

But do I have to worry about the 1TB drive not showing the full 976GiB instead of 931GB? If so, is that changing the geometry? And what settings do I plug in to do that? New territory for me so be patient please.

Thank you.

1TB Initial Scan with 6.14

Testdisk2.JPG (134.78 KiB) Viewed 4438 times

[cgrenier]

This is a 1TB drive showing up is 931GB (it shows 1000 GB / 931 GiB - CHS 121601 255 63). Shouldn't a 1TB drive be about 976GB as formatted in Windows?

It has nothing to due with filesystem format but about unit: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Octet_%28computing%29

[Seadee]

Regardless of unit, how do I fix, or can I fix, Bad Sector Count?