Solved Got tricked into deleting a valid System Reserved Partition

[jasjeet]

Ok so i put in 3 more Drives into a newly built PC, of which 2 had Windows installed on them.

I formatted one drive, the 160Gb one. Then i tried to delete its System reserved Partition, and when i did this, the System reserved partition on my 1Tb Drive also dissappeared.

Both drives came from seperate PC's.

Now im scared when i take my 1Tb drive back to my other PC at University itll be unable to boot.

Ive used GetDataBack NTFS to see if the files are in tact, and have managed to get all the files back.

But is there a way to restore that System reserved parition?

If not what must i do to get that 1Tb drive to boot in my other PC again?

 

[Bare Foot Kid]

Hello.


When you get it back to the original PC, leaving it the only HDD connected and that to the #1 SATA port of the motherboard, set it as the second boot device after the CD/DVD drive.

Boot the Windows 7 installation media and mark that Windows 7 partition as Active using Option Two #1 of this tutorial at the link below and run the three separate startup repairs with the restarts to create a set of boot files to that partition for that PC.

Startup Repair - Run 3 Separate Times

DISKPART : At PC Startup


Be sure to post back with any further questions you may have and to keep us informed.

 

[jasjeet]

So glad you replied friend! I have so much data on this drive, so much school work i cannot lose it!

Ok i will do so, i am going back tomorrow evening, so 24hours from now, i will try to post if i can use my neighbours laptop to get online.

Is it not possible to use Option 1 from here: http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/105541-startup-repair-run-3-separate-times.html?ltr=S to make my Drive active? As i have the drive slaved in the new PC atm.

Then when i get back to the PC at University, to run the the three startup repairs?

 

[Bare Foot Kid]

Greg has an excellent idea to recreate the System Reserved partition and making that the "System" partition.


System Reserved : Create Using Disk Management

 

[jasjeet]

Here is a picture to explain:

 

[jasjeet]

Greg has an excellent idea to recreate the System Reserved partition and making that the "System" partition.


System Reserved : Create Using Disk Management

I dont fully understand this, does this mean i can just format it to NTFS as shown, thn replace the files with the ones i recovered? Or must i use Windows Disk to reinstall the OS to populate the reserved parition?

 

[Bare Foot Kid]

Use Windows disk management to create and format a partition to that unallocated space.

It would have to be connected to the #1 SATA port of the mobo or it won't work.

Then mark the new partition as active and do the startup repairs.

I saw again, this will not work and create an even worse mess if you try it as is.

 

[jasjeet]

Ok, so what im going to do is:
On my Home PC, the drive is slaved in port SATA #1.
Ill format the 100Mb Unallocated as NTFS, with Volume Label System Reserved.
Then right click and Mark the System Reserved Partition as Active in Disk Management.
Then at Uni PC, connect the 1TB drive up to SATA #1 as the only HDD connected.
Boot Windows 7 DVD, and launch repair.

This should fix everything?

 

[SIW2]

Undelete the 101mb partition with Best Free Partition Manager Freeware for Windows 7, Windows Vista, and Windows XP 32 bit & 64 bit. MiniTool Free Partition Manager Software Home Edition.

Just d/l - it (it's free ) install on your existing o/s , and undelete the partition you deleted by accident.


Do a quick scan of Disk2 - tick ALL the partitions you want to keep, click apply - takes 2 seconds.

 

[Bare Foot Kid]

Ok, so what im going to do is:
On my Home PC, the drive is slaved in port SATA #1.
Ill format the 100Mb Unallocated as NTFS, with Volume Lable System Reserved.
Then right click and Mark the System Reserved Partition as Active in Disk Managent.
Then at Uni PC, connect the 1TB drive up to SATA #1 as the only HDD connected.
Boot Windows 7 DVD, and launch repair.

This should fix everything?

Yes that should do the job.

 

[jasjeet]

That partition program successfully found the System Reserved partition, now i am wondering whether to proceed or to do as i mentioned before.

Any other opinions?

And lol what a dangerous tool, it would delete all existing paritions by default!!!!! Like you said, you have to select all Paritions you want to keep! XD

Still waiting, on whether to proceed with this restore.

 

[Bare Foot Kid]

It can't hurt to try though I have been having issues getting PW to repair system boot files.


I would be really interested to know if it works successfully for you.

 

[jasjeet]

Ok im going to copy my Documents to my other drive, then try the partition restore.

Whats the chance of loosing my other data by doing this? When you say you had issues, you dint mean any data loss did you?

 

[Bare Foot Kid]

Be sure to post back here with the outcome.

 

[jasjeet]

Ok, I applied the changes, it restored the partition and files in under a second.

In Disk Management ive marked it as Active, now i will have to test the drive in 24hours when i arrive back at my other PC.

Assigning a Drive Letter to the Partition shows all the files are present.

The Drive Management Window doesnt show "System" as being a property of the drive, unlike my other System Reserved Paritions. Im guessing ill still have to run the Startup Repairs.

Crosses Fingers

 

[Bare Foot Kid]

When you make it the "System" partition (do the startup repairs) don't allow it to have a drive letter.

 

[jasjeet]

Ok ill remove the Drive Letter now so i dont have to worry about that, then im guessing Startup Repair will take care of the rest.

 

[Bare Foot Kid]

How does disk management list that partition now?

 

[jasjeet]

Currently Disk Management says
100MB NTFS System Reserved Healthy (Active, Primary Partition)

 

[gregrocker]

May I ask how you started this HD on this computer if it was installed on another computer? Did you SysPrep it or run Paragon Adaptive Restore? Or were you merely attempting to access files?

The reason I ask is that if you Repair on this hardware it may give the System partition a different hardware ID which will not start up on the old hardware.

The correct way to start Win7 on different hardware is to SysPrep the HD first on the originally-installed computer or run Paragon Adaptive Restore CD on the HD. This removes all drivers, activation and hardware ID so it starts fresh on new hardware: http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorial...lation-transfer-new-computer.html#post1161038

I would wait until you return the 1tb to it's native machine to do the repairs if necessary, post back here if you need further help.

In the future backup your files and a Win7 backup image externally at all times.