How do I recover a lost Partition?

[kofiward]

I tried shrinking my Windows 7 64-bit OS volume by 128GB to make room for a new partition and lost it in the process. My harddisk capacity should be 465.76 but now shows 337.76 GB.

I have an attached document with a screenshot of what it shows in device manager. I have downloaded the free versions of Partition Wizard 9.0 and Power Data Recovery 6.8 but I cant seem to be able to restore the lost sectors.

Can anyone direct me on how to recover this partition?

Thank you.

 

[Berton]

The only way I see to get the space back is to first Shrink the C: partition then create a new partition in the resultant unallocated space. I've found that by deleting a partition any data in it is usually lost. That's different from inadvertently formatting a partition which sometimes can be recovered.

 

[SIW2]

I think you meant the other way round.

Formatting a partition makes recovering data from it very difficult.

A deleted partition can usually be recovered.

 

[leejosepho]

I tried shrinking my Windows 7 64-bit OS volume by 128GB to make room for a new partition...

Doing a thorough cleanup and defrag beforehand and only from within Win7 is important.

I have downloaded the free versions of Partition Wizard 9.0 and Power Data Recovery 6.8...

Very bad idea. No two partitioners ever doing things exactly alike, and that makes them incompatible within a Win7 system that already does things poorly in its own ways. You best bet at the moment might be to use a third-party partitioner to re-resize that partition to its fullest and to then try a Win7 recovery. If that works, do a thorough cleanup and defrag from within Win7, then reboot and tell Win7 to reduce its size and add a new partition in the available space.

 

[DavidE]

If I had this issue the first thing I would do is create a System Backup Image.
I would use Macrium free and create the image on a removable HD (USB, eSata, ... whatever you have available).
Continuing on making changes without a backup can lead to more problems.

 

[gregrocker]

What do you mean you lost the partition? What were you using to shrink or Resize it? Disk Mgmt will not fail unless you interrupt power, while all others can and will fail except Partition Wizard boot disk.

If it failed during shrink then the data is likely lost, though you can browse in to see if you see it using Copy & Paste - in Windows Recovery Console.

I don't know what it is you attached using Word. It says Device Manager. If you want to help us better then take a picture of the Partition Wizard boot disk drive map showing all listings and attach it correctly following Screenshots and Files - Upload and Post in Seven Forums - Windows 7 Forums

 

[jumanji]

1. You have an HP Desktop. Have you made the recovery disk/s you are supposed to create and keep immediately after setting up your PC for the first time? Yes/No

2. As suggested by DavidE create a system image backup just in case things get awry during the repair process now. The image should be stored on an external storage deice. Whatever imaging software you use you must also create a Recover/Restore disk to enable restoring the image by booting into it.

3. Please capture the screen using Windows Snipping Tool as jpg and upload the screenshots. http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/9733-screenshots-files-upload-post-seven-forums.html

4. From your description I presume that your system still boots into Windows but shows as 337.76GB. That would mean that a 128GB partition/ volume has indeed been created but not visible right now.

5. Please post a screenshot of Windows Disk Management as it is now http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/274797-disk-management-post-screen-capture-image.html
(Please read through deligently and adhere to all the points mentioned therein to post a full screenshot without any truncation and loss of information.)

6. Also post a screenshot of how your drive appears in Partition Wizard. ( The first screen after you launch the application)

Edit: Greg beat me exposing my slow typing - compounded by jet lag due to which I wake up at 3 o'clock in the morning.

 

[gregrocker]

That's OK you'll do better with Jumanji on the case anyway.

 

[kofiward]

Recovering space after running Windows Shrink

1. You have an HP Desktop. Have you made the recovery disk/s you are supposed to create and keep immediately after setting up your PC for the first time? Yes/No

2. As suggested by DavidE create a system image backup just in case things get awry during the repair process now. The image should be stored on an external storage deice. Whatever imaging software you use you must also create a Recover/Restore disk to enable restoring the image by booting into it.

3. Please capture the screen using Windows Snipping Tool as jpg and upload the screenshots. http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/9733-screenshots-files-upload-post-seven-forums.html

4. From your description I presume that your system still boots into Windows but shows as 337.76GB. That would mean that a 128GB partition/ volume has indeed been created but not visible right now.

5. Please post a screenshot of Windows Disk Management as it is now http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/274797-disk-management-post-screen-capture-image.html
(Please read through deligently and adhere to all the points mentioned therein to post a full screenshot without any truncation and loss of information.)

6. Also post a screenshot of how your drive appears in Partition Wizard. ( The first screen after you launch the application)

Edit: Greg beat me exposing my slow typing - compounded by jet lag due to which I wake up at 3 o'clock in the morning.

Hi Jumanji:

I have an HP ProBook and currently in the process of creating a system image backup and a quick restore disk as suggested.
My system still boots without a problem into Windows but shows a capacity of 337.76GB out of 456.76GB with 262.31GBof free space.
This does indicate somehow that the 128GB partition was created but for whatever reason is not visible in Disk Management.
Will be posting screenshots of how drives appear as seen in Partition Wizard and Disk Management shortly. Thanks again for your assistance in helping to resolve this issue.

 

[gregrocker]

You only have one partition on the disk as can plainly be seen. The free space is on that same partition. So you can shrink in Disk Mgmt or if it won't shrink enough then Resize with Partition Wizard up to 262 gb.
Partition or Volume - Shrink + Partition or Volume - Create New
Partition Wizard Resize Partition - Video Help.

 

[SIW2]

Looks like something is wrong.

Shouldn't be showing as all used in PW.

 

[gregrocker]

I would only accept PW as determinative using the boot disk. It's Windows app can be as wrong as Disk Mgmt.

Can we see a camera snap of Partition Wizard boot disk, burned to CD using Windows Image Burner then booted and maximized showing all listings?

Also can we see a screenshot of the Properties of C drive, especially the pie chart. Rightclick C drive to select Properties.

 

[jumanji]

Looks like something is wrong.

Shouldn't be showing as all used in PW.

Definitely something is/has gone wrong. What is it? Look at the File System. It is "Others" and not NTFS.(in PW)

How did it happen? That has to be demystified.

Anyway let us wait for PW run on boot disk as greg suggested.