exFat partition changed to Raw when syncing Zune?

runwitmeeh · 16 Aug 2011

So something strange happened to my computer partitions. I run Windows 7 on a Mac, i need both operating systems for different programs, so I set up my harddrive to have the OS X partition, a Windows 7 Partition, and an exFat partition so that I can easily transfer files between OSes. However, something really strange happened when I tried to sync my Zune to my music library. I booted through Bootcamp, (not through a virtualization software), and everything seemed fine. My Zune wouldn't sync new songs that I added to my collection so I decided to reset it and re-link it to this computer. However, when it did that it seemed to damage the partition table or something as my exFat partition no longer became accessible and was converted to a RAW partition. So now my computer keeps asking me to format the partition, which I have not done as to not corrupt the data. I've been trying to look online as to how I can fix this without having to reformat. I've tried some data recovery software, but they all seem useless as they find files that I deleted on my working partitions, but don't seem to ever find files from my RAW partition where all the data should still be intact. I was wondering if there was a way to fix this as I figure correcting the partition tables would solve the problem, but this is something I don't have much knowledge in.

I usually wouldn't care so much about this as I usually have everything backed up elsewhere, however, this is a pretty new computer and happened during my process of moving things around. Any sort of help would be nice or atleast something to point me in a direction. Thanks in advance.

seth500 · 16 Aug 2011

"correcting the partition tables" is an option I wouldn't dare do as it can reset everything and you lose all information on the drive. Another option would be is to "Rebuild the Partition Table" that way the program that your using scans the partition and gives you a choice of which partition type you want back. For instance some programs will find that you had 2 file systems at one time on a particular partition say NTFS and your exFAT you would then choose to rebuild the exFat partition.

Acronis Disk Director Suite will do this but you can't select the automatic mode to rebuild the partition you have to select it manually so you have a choice after it searches the mbr for partitions. The only thing is I don't know if this will work on a multiple partition single drive I haven't done it in a long time and hopefully one of our other members who does it often will see this thread and put you on the right track. There are other programs for doing this but Acronis and Easeus are the ones I have used in the past.

runwitmeeh · 17 Aug 2011

Thank you very much for the help. In the end, I was able to find all my missing files in a bunch of different harddrives. Ironically my Mac saved pictures I told it not to, strange...but good I guess. Now my computer thinks its smarter than me. But whats stupid is that OS X time machine DIDN'T back up the partition when I wanted it to, which would've saved me a lotta time. Stupid thing......