Disk Manager Not Recognizing C: Drive after failed Ubuntu install

originalspam · 26 Apr 2012

Hello,

Very new to this sort of thing, hope I don't upset anyone. Basically what happened was I deleted the factory partitions on this laptop( HP Pavilion G6) using disk management down to two partitions and attempted to install Ubuntu on the other partition.

After a horrendously failed attempt to install Ubuntu, disk management will not recognize my hard drive even though I can see it and access it through windows. I just want to re-partition it so I can set up a recovery partition.

It wouldn't boot up after the failed install, saying I had no operating system, but I used a win7 repair disc and now it boots up fine, but disk management doesn't show my hd or any partitions.

any help would be appreciated.

-originalspam

Night Hawk · 26 Apr 2012

In a situation where you attempted the installation of another OS I would opt for the use of GParted Live for cd you can also see written to a small usb flash drive. You first remove the new, existing partitions in order to start off with a fresh C primary.

From the dropdown list of file systems you simply select "ntfs" in lower case letters not the default ext 2 when going to format it. This should also eliminate all traces of the Grub installer used by many distros that is automatically installed as well as replace the traces of VFat in favor of NTFS.
Hello originalspam Welcome to the SevenForums!

Evidently while the 7 install went all well something of the other OS is lingering that has to be removed. That little bit of Partition Table info is still Linux where Windows cannot see onto any Linux drives or partitions as a rule.

This would be one explanation why your drive isn't being seen in the DM even with a 7 install on the drive itself since it hasn't been initialized there yet. GParted is preferred as the best since it is cross platform and will insure the drive becomes all MS. The latest release in iso is 126.1mb in size found at GParted - Browse /gparted at SourceForge.net

The General Documentation for use is seen at GPARTED DOCUMENTATION - GENERALITIES Some additional screenshots can be viewed at GParted -- Screenshots

Before the use of the drive tools on the 7 dvd or for any other paritioning program to see a new C primary created you could also use a security tool to nuke the drive entirely. A security tool like Eraser will literally write binary zeros to the drive over and over again while run wiping any form of data from it.

That would be rather unnecessary for this however. Also if you do not want the 100mb System Reserved parition which houses the BCD store and boot files keeping them separated from the main C volume(helps in rootkit protection) you could use a 3rd party drive paritioning program like GParted as well.

The suggestion for GParted is to allow you to also see just what is presently on the drive for a file system as well as being a free program to do away with any remaining traces of the other OS.

gregrocker · 26 Apr 2012

If you deleted all but the Win7 and your Ubuntu target partition then you don't have the Recovery partition any longer. To reinstall it and set your Win7 back to factory condition you'd need to boot the Recovery Disks which you should have made before deleting Recovery partition, or can order from HP Tech SUpport.

However HP has the worst load of factory bloatware of any make in the industry, so I'd strongly consider a Clean Reinstall - Factory OEM Windows 7. Everything you need is in the blue link. If you had GRUB on the HD then I'd wipe it first with Diskpart Clean Command from DVD using DISKPART At PC Startup

If you're satisfied with Win7 for now then post back a screenshot of your maximized Disk mgmt drive map and listings, using the Snipping Tool in Start Menu: Screen Shots. Tell us what you'd like to do with the partitioning and we'll give you the steps.

Night Hawk · 26 Apr 2012

If you opt to use the DiskPart method you will want to unplug any external hard drive first before use of the Clean or Clean All commands! You wouldn't want to select the wrong drive and see that wiped instead!

The Clean All command can easily wipe them all!

If you are not familiar with that option we can walk you through it easy enough. The alternatives mentioned use the gui method to see the same results. Also if you intend to add a second partition for storage not having any external drive the gui method will be far easier to see that done.