Can't access C: partition after BSOD

Okay, I'm having a huge problem. After my pc BSOD'd my pc wouldn't boot up, windows 7 couldn't repair or even find any restore points. I connect my HD to my girlfriends computer and for whatever reason, my HD is only 100mb and renamed to "reserved space".

Viewing the HD Disk Management I can see that the 208gb that makes up the bulk of the HD is still there... but I can't get to it for some reason. Right clicking it only gives me an error about needing to refresh the view.

I can see all the data and everything is still there using programs like GetDataBack or Acronis, but I just can't do anything with it in windows, and since it's not really gone or in need of repair I can't seem to repair it.. I just don't have any access to it. How can I make this HD bootable again? or at the very least, be able to see my files on windows?

Any help please? This is torturing me.

 

Hello,
Because you can attach your hard drive to another computer try Minitools Power Disk Recovery (free for home use) to get back your files. Save the files to a different disk other than the one with the corrupted data.

 

Hi, thank you for the reply. Is there no way at all I can make this usable again? It doesn't seem that the data is corrupt, it just seems that Windows 7 doesn't see it.. I guess would be the best way to describe it.

In disk management it shows 100mb of unallocated space before it shows I think like 200 some gigs of the main drive, if that makes any sense or helps any.

if all I can do is transfer files over, that's fine.. better then nothing.

 

After you retrieve the files, you can try to repartition and format the drive either through Disk Management or using something like Gparted Live CD. Minitools might even be able to get the partition back.

The 100MB partition is the System Reserved Partition that Windows 7 uses for booting, so I would assume something is corrupted because it cannot see your 200GB partition.

Do you have the ability to do a clean install again?

 

You did try the bootable repair disk, correct? Sometimes it take more than one boot and repair to work. Also at the command prompt you might want to try the Bootrec command.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/927392

 

Hi, thanks again for the reply.

Yes, I can do a clean install and will most likely end up doing that. I even ordered a new HD for that very purpose.. but... a part of me is still hoping something can be fixed with this one.. though, I'm sure I'll just end up doing a clean install.

Well I tried bootrec, I used my windows 7 disc, let it get to the repair and went to the command prompt, just like the instructions in the link. Thing is everytime I tried any of the bootrec options (tried all of them, even the exact commands that were listed), it kept telling me 0 windows installations found.

http://members.cox.net/kindredwarr/discmanager.jpg

This is what I'm dealing with and my apologies if I'm not explaining it properly.. or perhaps it is just corrupt, but it's as if windows seems to think that the 100mb of allocation is the hard drive.


And here's what I get through Minitools, I barely know what I'm looking at. 17 partitions on this hard drive?

http://members.cox.net/kindredwarr/partitionlist.jpg

I can get access to all my files though through minitools and I supposed that's all that matters. Great program btw. Also sorry about the size of the pics, everytime I attempted to resize it things looked too garbled, at least through a quicky mspaint resize.

 

As long as you can get your files and you can do a clean install you are very fortunate compared to a lot of people. After you transfer your files, delete the partitions in GParted Live CD and reformat. You will have to burn the iso with something like Imgburn and then boot from the CD. Be careful on which drive you are doing the operation on. Linux uses different names for hard drives. You can change the drive in the upper right of the tool bar.

GParted partitioning software - Full tutorial

http://www.dedoimedo.com/images/computers/2009/gparted-create-partition-table.jpg

 

Hi KindredWarr and tgell,

I'm not familiar with the Minitool Disc Recovery software but because it seems to find all your files and Windows disc management also sees the partition (doesn't mark it unallocated), I think partition recovery may be an option rather than reformatting.

Copying your most important file using the Disc Recovery software would be wise.

I do think that Minitools Partition Wizard may well be able to recover the partition table rather easily.

I would run PW and select Partition Recovery.
Select Whole Disk.
Select Quick Scan.
Look at the partition(s) that it finds and if looks about correct with the appropriate amount of free and used space then double click the partition to Explore the files. If the list of files look correct then it may be worthwhile to let PW recover the partition. If it only has one partition in the list similar to your partition 1 in your second screen shot, I would check the box and let it recover it. Then you have to hit Apply button at the top of the window to finalize the recovery. [If it has more than one partition listed let me know what it sees and I can advise]

I've had very good luck with PW and think it is a valid option.

 

@sach2,
I agree with you. There have been people who were able to recover a corrupted partition when using Paragon Partition Manager. They deleted all the partitions and then let the Partition Manager find and recover the partitions. Hopefully your suggestion will work.

 

Well I've having luck recovering files from the messed up hard drive, it's taking forever, but it works. Now just one thing, and it's not a big deal. I can't seem to get the Partition Wizard to do anything for me.

I go to partition recovery wizard, select the disc I want to recover a partition in, select full disc, quick scan, check partition I want (I double click and all the files/folders look fine) then click finish... now I'm supposed to be able to click apply at the top, but nothing there, like there's no job for it to do.

Also, just by simply running Partition Wizard both partitions on the messed up HD show up properly in the program, no searching or anything, as if it's there with no problems and nothing for it to do. Do I need to modify the partition in any way? Set as logical? anything like that for windows to see it normally?

At this point it would just make getting stuff I want out of there easier so I can wipe it and use it as storage for misc. junk

Also thank you kindly for the help. It's nice to get access back to my files instead of having a paper weight.

 

I will test PW out on an old drive. I seem to remember the Apply button being a needed step but the documentation doesn't state that.

Looking at your first screengrab from Disk Management I really think that Windows sees the partition but it has not assigned a drive letter. If Disk Management didn't crash when you right-clicked the partition I would have recommended trying to assign a drive letter there to see if that worked.

Downloading and burning the PW .Iso to create a bootable CD would be my method of choice. Use imgburn or similar burning software to write the .Iso file to a blank CD as an image file.

Then you could boot to your own computer with the drive in place and using the CD.

You could then try to assign the drive letter C: to the missing partition. (which you can't do from a secondary computer)

Or do partition recovery (selecting both partitions listed the 100mb and the large one--always select all partitions unless it looks like there are duplicates of one of the partitions) and then assign the drive letter to the large partition. Then you would need to hit Apply for the drive letter assignment which should integrate that new letter into Windows making it visible. Where I am unsure is whether or not the letter C: would be available as an option, which is what you want.

I will test the options on an old HD using the bootable CD but I don't have one with the System Reserved partition. I really think since Disk Management has the hash marks across the 298gb partition it is just a matter of giving it a drive letter.

 

You're right that you do need to hit apply, you'll see things in a queue on the bottom left that will be done when you hit apply.

In disk management I wasn't able to assign a letter to the partition, but I could in PW, hit apply and still windows doesn't want to acknowledge it.

I tried the boot disk and basically the same thing, attempted to recover the partition, but it doesn't add anything to the queue. Oddly though I also couldn't assign a drive letter through the boot disk. I start up windows again and it lets me... no idea what that means.

How would I go about formatting this stubborn section once I'm done pulling what I want off of it? format the whole drive? Or delete volume and extend the partition that windows does see?

 

I'm going to look at the bootable version in the next half an hour. I have to find the HD I want to use. I don't think I will find any magic bullet it is just that those screen grabs sure look like this should have been an easy recovery.

Since you will have to reinstall your OS on the drive, I would just delete both partitions and then create a new one and format it for the OS install. This could be done with the Windows disc or PW.

 

You know, that's exactly what I was hoping for when I came here.. not that I'm knocking the help I was given!! Be assured, I'm grateful for every ounce of assistance. But I was hoping I was just over looking something, just one little thing that would've made Win7 flip it back on and working the way it should. Especially since scanning with minitools so I can pull stuff off the drive takes a couple of hours before I can get to work on it.

But I've already installed windows 7 on a new hard drive, all that's left is to get stuff I want to keep before formatting this annoying thing. So don't trouble your self with finding an HD to test the boot disk on. Thanks though

 

Okay, drive formatted, every ounce of space where it should, still think it's just odd as hell what happened :confused

But whatever, it's ok now. thanks again.

 

Sorry, we didn't figure this out. Not being able to exactly duplicate the problem makes it difficult to find a solution.

I was going to say that TestDisk might have been a last ditch option but I thought you had a few more hours of data recovery. TestDisk works but is a rather confusing interface.

The situation was very odd since every program was able to not only see the partition but able to access all the files with their original names. That is very unusual. I've had a lot of luck with PW in the past and find it strange that it couldn't help here. I'll have to refresh my memory on some of these recovery options for future reference.

You are probably just as well with the new install, you don't need an unreliable file system on your boot drive.