Urgent Partition Help Needed, Please!

Beev · 12. Jan 2011, 09:02 PM

Hey folks.

I was using Parted Magic to get rid of a copy of Windows 7 (in short, someone else installed an illegal copy for her. she wants to roll back to XP, but I was unable to do so using the WinXP Disc).

Somehow, I ended up pressing the Write New Partition Table option (I have never done this before and have used Parted Magic no end of times). Now the drive is not listed on her laptop and is unable to be formatted as from what I can gather, the drive is empty, with no MBR!

The drive originally had a boot partition that was 100MB in size, which has now gone.

Im trawling Google with little success, so any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

Yours,
Beev

Ritho · 12. Jan 2011, 09:35 PM

I could be wrong, but I am pretty sure MBR is never larger than 512 bytes in size, and you can't normally see it even in most Partitioning softwares.

What it sounds like you have is one large empty partition, that is unformated. I am not sure why windows can't see it, but can't you format the partition using Parted Magic?

I am off to bed, but I will look in on this thread in the morning.

Beev · 12. Jan 2011, 09:52 PM

Hi. Its an Acer Laptop, so it may have been some acer specific partition. I have formatted the partition, but when I do it is unmounted, so I mount the partition and a padlock appears, which then gives me very limited capabilities. I have then trieds to reinstall windows, and it will not even boot from a WinXP Disc (genuine disc too, not that it makes any difference of course.) but comes up with the error No OS found.

Beev · 12. Jan 2011, 09:53 PM

oh, and I formatted it as an NTFS Primary Partition. Tried it with the options of writing to the edge checked and unchecked. Neither have worked.

Yours,
Beev

tushR · 13. Jan 2011, 12:06 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ritho

I could be wrong, but I am pretty sure MBR is never larger than 512 bytes in size, and you can't normally see it even in most Partitioning softwares.

What it sounds like you have is one large empty partition, that is unformated. I am not sure why windows can't see it, but can't you format the partition using Parted Magic?

I am off to bed, but I will look in on this thread in the morning.

Yes MBR is 512b, I think the 100MB is the boot partition that Win 7 creates.
@Beev - how about connecting this HD to another computer and formatting it?

Beev · 13. Jan 2011, 12:10 AM

I have no way of doing that without buying an external 2.5" Caddy.

Sope · 13. Jan 2011, 12:13 AM

Microsoft have a knowledge base article which describes the correct procedure for restoring a previous Windows OS after upgrading it to Win7.
You can find it here.

Unfortunately it may be too late now that you have formatted the 100MB System Reserved partition which would have been created by the Win7 upgrade install.
Still may be worth a look though.

If you can retrieve the personal files from the HDD first, maybe your best option is to just do a completely fresh XP installation using the disc you have. (I thought Acer laptops usually have a hidden restore partition but maybe this was overwritten during the upgrade?).

tushR · 13. Jan 2011, 01:03 AM

Once I managed to kill partition table using diskpart (external HD)...data recovery was important - no software was recognizing the HD - I formatted the HD (1 pass) and then ran Recuva on it - all data was recovered.

Another thing that one can try is Linux boot CD - It may help.

Popjudy · 13. Jan 2011, 02:28 AM

hi, I really felt so sad because of partition magic stopping upgrading, incompatible with windows 7. My os is windows 764 bit now, so I have to give it up.
Under windows 7, there is a 100MB system reserved partition next to system partition, it's quite important to preserve it, or else you will fail to start up your system.
to try bootable cd is a good way

Ritho · 13. Jan 2011, 06:11 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tushR

Once I managed to kill partition table using diskpart (external HD)...data recovery was important - no software was recognizing the HD - I formatted the HD (1 pass) and then ran Recuva on it - all data was recovered.

Another thing that one can try is Linux boot CD - It may help.

@ TushR -- Parted Magic is a Linux boot CD.

@ Beev -- It has been a while since i used Parted Magic, but I believe Gparted is on there too. I assume you were using Parted or Partimage, have you tried Gparted to see if you can format the drive from there. Gparted is what I use most of the time. If you need help with it we can walk you through it a bit.

Quote:

hi, I really felt so sad because of partition magic stopping upgrading, incompatible with windows 7.

@ Popjudy -- True. Just so you know, there is a difference between Partition Magic and Parted Magic. Parted Magic is a free partioning software that runs off a bootable Linux "Live CD."

12. Jan 2011, 09:02 PM	#1 (permalink)
Beev Full Member Join Date: Dec 2008 Posts: 50	Urgent Partition Help Needed, Please! Hey folks. I was using Parted Magic to get rid of a copy of Windows 7 (in short, someone else installed an illegal copy for her. she wants to roll back to XP, but I was unable to do so using the WinXP Disc). Somehow, I ended up pressing the Write New Partition Table option (I have never done this before and have used Parted Magic no end of times). Now the drive is not listed on her laptop and is unable to be formatted as from what I can gather, the drive is empty, with no MBR! The drive originally had a boot partition that was 100MB in size, which has now gone. Im trawling Google with little success, so any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance. Yours, Beev

12. Jan 2011, 09:35 PM	#2 (permalink)
Ritho Foundation Editor Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: Planet Earth Posts: 1,391	I could be wrong, but I am pretty sure MBR is never larger than 512 bytes in size, and you can't normally see it even in most Partitioning softwares. What it sounds like you have is one large empty partition, that is unformated. I am not sure why windows can't see it, but can't you format the partition using Parted Magic? I am off to bed, but I will look in on this thread in the morning. __________________ The smallest good deed is better than the greatest intention.

13. Jan 2011, 01:03 AM	#8 (permalink)
tushR Senior Member Join Date: Feb 2010 Location: Bangalore Posts: 187	Once I managed to kill partition table using diskpart (external HD)...data recovery was important - no software was recognizing the HD - I formatted the HD (1 pass) and then ran Recuva on it - all data was recovered. Another thing that one can try is Linux boot CD - It may help. __________________ Relativity applies to physics, not ethics...

13. Jan 2011, 02:28 AM	#9 (permalink)
Popjudy Member Join Date: Dec 2010 Posts: 4	Re:Urgent Partition Help Needed, Please! hi, I really felt so sad because of partition magic stopping upgrading, incompatible with windows 7. My os is windows 764 bit now, so I have to give it up. Under windows 7, there is a 100MB system reserved partition next to system partition, it's quite important to preserve it, or else you will fail to start up your system. to try bootable cd is a good way

Thread Tools
Show Printable Version Email this Page
Display Modes
Linear Mode Switch to Hybrid Mode Switch to Threaded Mode

12. Jan 2011, 09:52 PM	#3 (permalink)
Beev Full Member Join Date: Dec 2008 Posts: 50	Hi. Its an Acer Laptop, so it may have been some acer specific partition. I have formatted the partition, but when I do it is unmounted, so I mount the partition and a padlock appears, which then gives me very limited capabilities. I have then trieds to reinstall windows, and it will not even boot from a WinXP Disc (genuine disc too, not that it makes any difference of course.) but comes up with the error No OS found.

12. Jan 2011, 09:53 PM	#4 (permalink)
Beev Full Member Join Date: Dec 2008 Posts: 50	oh, and I formatted it as an NTFS Primary Partition. Tried it with the options of writing to the edge checked and unchecked. Neither have worked. Yours, Beev

13. Jan 2011, 12:10 AM	#6 (permalink)
Beev Full Member Join Date: Dec 2008 Posts: 50	I have no way of doing that without buying an external 2.5" Caddy.

13. Jan 2011, 12:13 AM	#7 (permalink)
Sope Senior Member Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: Wales, UK Posts: 809	Microsoft have a knowledge base article which describes the correct procedure for restoring a previous Windows OS after upgrading it to Win7. You can find it here. Unfortunately it may be too late now that you have formatted the 100MB System Reserved partition which would have been created by the Win7 upgrade install. Still may be worth a look though. If you can retrieve the personal files from the HDD first, maybe your best option is to just do a completely fresh XP installation using the disc you have. (I thought Acer laptops usually have a hidden restore partition but maybe this was overwritten during the upgrade?).