Solved Need help with Paragon software. Messed up my drive.

[Bob Marley]

Hello,

I'm using Paragon hard disk manager 15
I was merging 3 partitions into one. 2 were empty and the third was full of very important data (not OS).
I was asked to reboot so I authorized it. The operation went on and then windows was booted. But obviously something went wrong. The hard disk when viewed through windows appears empty and all the data is gone. See screenshots below. We're talking about the last two partitions which are in red. They were supposed to be one partition and the size should be 830GB.
Please help me!

http://s9.postimg.org/mvrtg4cof/image.jpg

http://s11.postimg.org/dr1k25ioz/image.jpg

http://s2.postimg.org/9f5nkj6x5/image.jpg

It says at the end that a restart is required but I restarted and nothing happened.

 

[GokAy]

Did you try restarting a second time?

 

[Bob Marley]

Yes, I restarted a few times.
The partition table seems to have gotten messed up. I'm wondering how to repair it now...

 

[GokAy]

Be patient and don't do anything hasty.

I will PM an experienced person (he may not be checking this section).

 

[SIW2]

Paragon has a partition undelete module. Try that and see what it says. Might refuse to do anything as it classes them as invalid.

You may be better trying a different partitioner. Paragon is excellent, but none of them are perfect.

Aomei do a good freebie.Download Magic Partition Manager Freeware or Free Trial - AOMEI Partition Assistant

 

[Nostromov]

I was merging 3 partitions into one. 2 were empty and the third was full of very important data (not OS).

It's too late for you, but -maybe- for other people... Disk partitions, in Windows... The basic types are: Primary and Extended (Logical). The Extended partition is, like, a container that sits within the Primary (& in turn, logical drives are containers in the Extended). Usually there will be, there is, a limit or four (4) Primaries...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disk_partitioning

Before moving, resizing, merging or splitting partitions - you gotta make sure that the disks are defragmented, no special Services /tasks are running /scheduled, and so on... Basically (next time, heh), take it one operation at a time - only! Mitigate the risk(s).

Unfortunately, like people said: there's probably isn't much /anything else that you can do, other than try to undelete /recover the data; & on top of that, because physical sectors were moved, rewritten /deleted /whatever - your chances are slim, next-to-none. Whatever is there, to get picked up... & nothing much -else- that you'll be able to do (about it, meh).

Only thing is, might wanna try a couple /few different recovery software programs!.. Because some will have different algorithms... The most important thing will be to use a different /external drive to write the (recovery) info and try to IMMEDIATELY disable /stop /remove any-and-all startup programs, stop whatever Services you can - disable the Windows Defender, your antivirus... Whatever you can do, the better! =)

Edit: ^^ You know, anything that's writing to the drives... There's a LOT that has to be done, but for example:

• Hibernate - Enable or Disable; so, don't let it sleep /hibernate!!
• If you're plugging-in a second /external drive, move the Pagefile there!..
• Turn Windows Defender On or Off in Windows 7
• [Windows 7] Disable Windows Update << might be the easiest way to stop it.

AND, actually, if you can unplug the drive and use it w/another Windows (system) OS drive - to recover it that way... Might be the best way 2 go.

IDK why I hadn't said this first!! ^^

 

[RolandJS]

MiniTool Power Data Recovery free, along with its Partition management/recovery might be able to recover some of your important files [and folders] -- up to 1GB. Pro version will do its best, unlimited GB recovering what is recoverable. If your data is very valuable, you may have to bring your computer to a restore specialist somewhere near you.

 

[Nostromov]

If your data is very valuable, you may have to bring your computer to a restore specialist somewhere near you.

And/or invest in - something like - the Ontrack EasyRecovery Professional; which is RLY good (in many /most cases. )

Edit: PM me, if you see this, you're seemingly not allowing sending of messages.

 

[jumanji]

For a better understanding of your problem, I would suggest that you post the following screenshots.

1. Screenshot of Windows Disk Management showing that drive. (Please remove all other external drives, pendrives, Card Readers, USB Printers - in short anything connected to the USB ports except your USB Keyboard and USB mouse)

Please read through the following tutorial and adhere to all points therein to upload an untruncated WDM screenshot.

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/274797-disk-management-post-screen-capture-image.html

Also upload all your screenshots to Seven Forum Servers and not to any third-party servers.

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/9733-screenshots-files-upload-post-seven-forums.html

2. A screenshot how your drive appears in Partition Wizard. Download and install Partition Wizard Free Edition Version 9 from here Best Free Partition Manager for Windows | MiniTool Partition Free

 

[GokAy]

Edit: PM me, if you see this, you're seemingly not allowing sending of messages.

New members can't send and receive PM unless an Admin set them up.

 

[Bob Marley]

SIW2,

I can't undelete, it doesn't allow it. Partitions are not deleted, just invalid.

jumanji,

Here's a screenshot of disk manager:

*Size of DISK0 is actually 1TB

 

[Bob Marley]

You will not believe this!!!!!!!
I deleted the bigger invalid partition which was 830GB. The partitions appeared exactly as they were before I merged them with the only difference that the 820GB was still invalid.
Then I restarted and an automatic repair by Paragon launched at boot... AND FIXED THE WHOLE THING!!! Everything is in its place, nothing missing. There were literally tears of joy in my eyes!

 

[jumanji]

That is good to know. Well done. Please mark the thread as solved and it may help others.

You have a GPT drive. Please save all the important sectors as shown by bootice and it may help restore the Protective MBR, GPT header, and Partition Table in case of any partition related problems. In your case you may additionally need to save the backup sectors n ( last sector which is the backup of the GPT Header at LBA1) and n-4 ( the backup of the partition table at LBA2.)

http://www.sevenforums.com/performa...ary-mbr-logical-partitions-3.html#post2693984

Saving and restoring with bootice http://www.sevenforums.com/hardware-devices/310295-lost-partitions.html#post2584426

( You have to download your OS bit version of bootice )

 

[Bob Marley]

1. Made backups (as much as I can considering the huge size)
2. Reinstalled Paragon to make sure there are no corrupted files
3. Merged 12GB partition to its left-standing 820GB - SUCCESS!
4. Attempted to merge 350 MB partition to its right-standing 832 GB - Failed - Left-standing partition needs to have enough disk space to contain data of right one. Probably the reason for the previous drama.
5. Merged 350 MB one to left-standing OS partition - SUCCESS!

Thanks for everybody's help!!!!!!!

 

[Bob Marley]

OK, here's a weird one for you:
Drives are not showing up in windows 8.1 defragmenter ever since I merged them. When I launched optimizer it said something about drives being optimized by another program (which is a message that I have never seen before), and I clicked on discarding those settings and managing them through windows. I can see them perfectly fine in Ashampoo win optimizer and can defragment them, just not in windows.
Screenshots:

Drive Optimizer:



Disk Management:



Paragon:




I have no idea what caused this. The only thing that I can think of is that I deleted a folder which was generated by the merge process and it contained the information from the merged drives (which were empty). This folder was locked but I unlocked it and deleted it. Later I noticed that in the recycle bin I had with that folder a folder named System Volume Information, which was not visible when I deleted those folders, and I figured it's information about the partitions before they were merged so I don't need it and deleted it. I don't know if that has anything to do with this.

 

[RolandJS]

I think meddling with System Volume Information can often lead to reaching for either one's restorable OS image, or, for the repair/restore/reinstall Windows OS DVD.