Space conflict between two partitions

[gemma]

Firstly, my apologies if this has been answered before but I've been unable to find anything pertaining to this issue.

I started up my machine this morning to discover that one of my partitions wasn't available to view by disk letter. Using the Disk Management console I tried to give it a letter and I'm given the error that the view isn't up-to-date and I need to refresh disk management. No matter how many times I refresh I cannot do anything with the disk, I can't even see the properties.

Using TestDisk I'm able to successfully see the missing partition and all the files on it. I've copied all my files from the missing partition but would much rather repair the partition rather than having to start again!

When viewing the partition structure in TestDisk I get this:

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Disk /dev/sda - 500 GB / 465 GiB - CHS 60801 255 63
Current partition structure:
     Partition             		Start        			End      			Size in sectors
 1 * HPFS - NTFS         	0  32 33	         	828 194  6   	        13312000 [Recovery]
 2 P HPFS - NTFS          	828 194  7   		867   1 30     		614400 [System]
 3 P HPFS - NTFS          	867   1 31 			13928 112  8  		209831936 [Windows7]
 4 E extended LBA         	13928 112  9  		60801  80 15  		753012736
 5 L HPFS - NTFS          	13928 144 41 	 	60801 254 63  		753021698 [Data]

Space conflict between the following two partitions
 4 E extended LBA         	13928 112  9 		60801  80 15		753012736
 5 L HPFS - NTFS          	13928 144 41 		60801 254 63  		753021698 [Data]

Then after a quick search:

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     Partition             		Start        			End      			Size in sectors
>* HPFS - NTFS          	0  32 33   			828 194  6   		13312000 [Recovery]
 P HPFS - NTFS          	828 194  7  		867   1 30     		614400 [System]
 P HPFS - NTFS          	1867   1 31 		13928 112  8  		209831936 [Windows7]
 L HPFS - NTFS          	13928 144 41 		60801  47 46  		753008640 [Data]

To me it looks like P4 is the one causing issues as it's overlapping the sectors of other partitions, namely my Data partition that holds all my files. All the rest of the partitions are spot on.

Can I just delete P4 out of the partition table?! Will that cause it all to right itself?
Any help that can be given will be much appreciated.

[remy]

P4 is extended partition. It must includes your data partition. The problem in the first detection is that your data partition is bigger than your extended partition. After the quicksearch, the data partition seems to have the good size. If you are still able to list your files after quicksearch, then you can run "WRITE" and reboot.

[gemma]

Hi Remy,
Thanks for your reply.

After the quick search I'm given the second section I mention above.
When I hit Enter to continue I can see the Ext LBA again.

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     Partition          	Start        		End    		Size in sectors
 1 * HPFS - NTFS    	0  32 33   		828 194  6   	13312000 [Recovery]
 2 P HPFS - NTFS        828 194  7   	867   1 30     	614400 [System]
 3 P HPFS - NTFS        867   1 31 	13928 112  8  	209831936 [Windows7]
 4 E extended LBA       13928 112  9 	60801  80 15  	753012736
 5 L HPFS - NTFS        13928 144 41 	60801  47 46  	753008640 [Data]

I'm then given the option to Write the partition structure to disk.
I gave it a try and am given the error "Partition: Write Error".

I'm running TestDisk as an Administrator. I've taken a look at the log file and it says "write err Permission denied".

[remy]

What is your OS / testdisk version ?

[gemma]

I'm using Windows 7 x64 and TestDisk 6.14-WIP.

[remy]

I'm note sure about the permission problems with W7, I'll ask to Fiona to have a look on your thread.

[Fiona]

It's recommended to use TestDisk6.WIP and the 32bit-version.
What version of Win7 do you have?
Home, Professional or Ultimate?
When you start TestDisk, you'd get a message to run it as administrator.
This is integrated in TestDisk and called manifest.
If you don't get this message, it'd look like, that you were switching off UAC (usser access control) from Win7.
To use TestDisk, it's recommended not to run any background process like Antivirus, Norton Go Back, Norton Sonar etc.. which can prevent TestDisk from modifying your MBR and writing your partition table.
You can use msconfig to disable processes from your Start and services.
If you disable services, you should check that little checkbox to hide microsoft services.
Disabling of microsoft services can prevent windows from starting.
Please be careful.

[gemma]

HI Fiona,
I'm using Win 7 Home Premium.
I believed I was using the 32-bit version but shall re-download and try again.

I'm running as Administrator (right click on the exe and Run As Administrator).

I switched off my laptop last night and have just tried to boot it up.
I'm greeted with the error message "NO BOOT MGR. Ctrl+Alt+Del to restart". It just keeps going round in circles, I can't even get far enough to boot into safe mode.
I guess I'll have to pull the HDD out of the chassis and plug it into another machine to see it.

Why is this happening now? There was no issue with the Windows partition on the drive!

[remy]

Write errors may also come from hardware failure, and hardware failur may also prevent booting if going worse. Be careful, and if able, duplicate your disk with bit to bit tools.

[gemma]

Thanks but I'm still unsure as to how I'm supposed to fix it.

Any ideas how to get round the permissions errors?

And before writing the table to dialog shows me the Ext LBA again. How do I put my table right?