Partition Formatting Itself???

I left my computer on overnight, woke up. I couldn't find my D drive. I checking Disk management, the partition was formatted and only a new volume could be created out of the space that was once my media partition.

How does this happen? Virus? Malfunctioning HDD?

Thanks for all replies.

IaskQuestions said:

I left my computer on overnight, woke up. I couldn't find my D drive. I checking Disk management, the partition was formatted and only a new volume could be created out of the space that was once my media partition.

How does this happen? Virus? Malfunctioning HDD?

Thanks for all replies.

Click to expand...

So it is still shown as a formatted partition in Disk Management, but with zero space occupied? Or is the drive completely unacknowledged in Disk Management?

Can you post an image of Disk Management?

Do you see the drive letter in Windows Explorer or in the BIOS?

Are other partitions on this hard drive visible and acting normally---or is this a single partition drive?

ignatzatsonic said:

IaskQuestions said:

I left my computer on overnight, woke up. I couldn't find my D drive. I checking Disk management, the partition was formatted and only a new volume could be created out of the space that was once my media partition.

How does this happen? Virus? Malfunctioning HDD?

Thanks for all replies.

Click to expand...

So it is still shown as a formatted partition in Disk Management, but with zero space occupied? Or is the drive completely unacknowledged in Disk Management?

Can you post an image of Disk Management?

Do you see the drive letter in Windows Explorer or in the BIOS?

Are other partitions on this hard drive visible and acting normally---or is this a single partition drive?

Click to expand...

I've already assigned a drive letter and put my stuff back on it. But it showed as a CLEANLY formatted drive. Did not display in Windows Explorer. I thought at first i may be able to assign a drive letter to it, like how you have to do sometimes after reformatting. I could only see the free space from my partition by viewing Disk Management (Right Click My Computer> Manage). Out of 191 GB, 191GB was free space. This was a partition from a 350GB HDD created using Partition Wizard Pro.

It's Crazy! I'm computer literate enough to know that drives don't format themselves, i'm just baffled at how this could happen. I experience nothing that hints at HDD failure, crazy noises, lagging on the computer, computer hanging, etc.

The only programs that run in the background while i leave the computer on at night is ESET NOD, Peerblock, and uTorrent. I have DHT and all that disabled to help reduce chances of unwanted entry on my computer.

My nephew is 3, and i doubt he successfully formatted my D drive without leaving cookie crumbs and other food debris. LoL.

It's working fine now though. I just really wanna know what happened.

Thanks for your response!

If I understand you correctly--the drive was in fact reformatted and all data on it was gone, just as if you had deliberately reformatted? And Disk Management showed no sign of data, just as if you had deliberately reformatted?

If those 2 sentences are true, what are the options?

1: Your nephew
2: You re-formatted deliberately and don't remember it
3: Voodoo
4: Malware

Only other choice I can think of is that there was no re-format. You just thought there was due to some type of hard drive/controller error that caused bad info to be displayed in Disk Management and Windows Explorer. If that is the explanation, I would wonder about the stability of the hardware and whether there will be another occurrence.

It's peculiar that the drive showed in Disk Management, but not in Windows Explorer.

Why were you using Partition Wizard Pro?

You presumably had backups since you say you reloaded the drive.

Can you wipe that partition out deliberately and make a partition with Windows 7 instead of Partition Wizard Pro?

Does the drive pass the manufacturer's diagnostic tests?

ignatzatsonic said:

If I understand you correctly--the drive was in fact reformatted and all data on it was gone, just as if you had deliberately reformatted? And Disk Management showed no sign of data, just as if you had deliberately reformatted?

If those 2 sentences are true, what are the options?

1: Your nephew
2: You re-formatted deliberately and don't remember it
3: Voodoo
4: Malware

Only other choice I can think of is that there was no re-format. You just thought there was due to some type of hard drive/controller error that caused bad info to be displayed in Disk Management and Windows Explorer. If that is the explanation, I would wonder about the stability of the hardware and whether there will be another occurrence.

It's peculiar that the drive showed in Disk Management, but not in Windows Explorer.

Why were you using Partition Wizard Pro?

You presumably had backups since you say you reloaded the drive.

Can you wipe that partition out deliberately and make a partition with Windows 7 instead of Partition Wizard Pro?

Does the drive pass the manufacturer's diagnostic tests?

Click to expand...

I use Partition Wizard because it has a more user friendly interface and there was an option it provided that Disk Management didn't, i forget what option it was it was awhile ago. I know that the other half of my partition is for my OS, tho. I need to install malwarebytes to see if anything pops up.

I could wipe the partition and create another with windows 7 if i wanted, yes.

As far as the manufacturers tests goes, i haven't tried that yet. I will end up testing my HDD's for sure after this incident. I will eventually post the results for everyone to see.
Although, i have performed error checking via windows explorer BEFORE this incident and nothing suspicious came up at all. No errors, etc.

I was wondering if it really was an error of some sort and it wasn't really formatted, until i looked at Disk Management and it told me it was wiped clean. Never heard of a HDD partition displaying as having been formatted but actually wasn't. Then again, you never know with computers. Sometimes its like they have a mind of their own.......

Oh, and if i formatted i definately would have known it since thats the drive i save everything to on a regular basis

Thanks for the response.