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    What software to rescue/recover a partition?

    Discussion in 'Windows OS and Software' started by Phil, Jul 27, 2010.

  1. Phil

    Phil Retired

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    I was moving a partition on an external hard drive. It was taking too long, I canceled it.

    Not surprisingly, the disk is now not accessible in Windows.

    Is there any software that can recover the partition on it?
     
    Phil, Jul 27, 2010
    #1
  2. newsposter

    newsposter Notebook Virtuoso

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    well, clonezilla was just updated, gpartd has many of the same tools.
     
    newsposter, Jul 27, 2010
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  3. Ecar88

    Ecar88 Notebook Consultant

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    If you need an all-out solution, then TestDisk is the way to go. It's been a while since I used it, so I don't think I could throw together a proper guide on the fly; but there are far more knowledgeable folks than me who update such things. A few minutes of digging should point you in the right direction. TestDisk is a bit more command-line than some people are used to, but you can't argue with the results. I've never had it fail me because of a program limitation; solely because of hardware failure.
     
    Ecar88, Jul 27, 2010
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  4. timtravel42

    timtravel42 Notebook Virtuoso

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    timtravel42, Jul 27, 2010
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  5. Ecar88

    Ecar88 Notebook Consultant

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    That's the official overview, and it's definitely a good place to go if nowhere else. I know that I've seen other step-by-step guides that are a bit more fleshed out, but I seem to have lost the links to them.

    That said, the guide you linked is a lot further along than when I last saw it a couple years ago. Didn't even have screenshots then, if I recall correctly.
     
    Ecar88, Jul 27, 2010
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  6. Phil

    Phil Retired

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    Thanks guys.

    It seems that the partition is still there. The D: partition is the one I can't acces.

    [​IMG]

    In Windows it looks like this:
    [​IMG]
     
    Phil, Jul 28, 2010
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  7. newsposter

    newsposter Notebook Virtuoso

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    clonezilla/gpartd will let you reset the media descriptor bytes which in turn might let you recover the mbr/fat.
     
    newsposter, Jul 28, 2010
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  8. jasperjones

    jasperjones Notebook Evangelist

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    +1 to clonezilla

    next time you--hopefully--know you need to keep backups
     
    jasperjones, Jul 28, 2010
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  9. Phil

    Phil Retired

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    The data is easily accessible, that's not the problem.

    The problem is I can't access the partition like normally from Windows.

    I was hoping there's a way to do it without creating bootable linux USB key. TestDisk doesn't seem to be it.
     
    Phil, Jul 28, 2010
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  10. jasperjones

    jasperjones Notebook Evangelist

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    ok, i misunderstood then. why don't you delete the partition then, recreate it, and put the data back on. this is not exactly elegant, i know, but it should do the trick
     
    jasperjones, Jul 28, 2010
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  11. Phil

    Phil Retired

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    yes I would do that but currently I don't have enough storage capacity for that.
     
    Phil, Jul 28, 2010
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  12. Ecar88

    Ecar88 Notebook Consultant

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    Ah, I misunderstood as well. That issue is a bit different from what I was expecting. For the sake of argument, I don't suppose you've tried having TestDisk rebuild the partition table? To be perfectly honest, I'm not entirely sure what that would do. I haven't ever seen a situation exactly like what you're seeing. Normally the partition isn't there, or is corrupted; not some odd middle-ground.
     
    Ecar88, Jul 28, 2010
    #12