Solved System Recovery can't find my c drive

[pcardoso73]

OS: Windows 7 Enterprise 64 bit

Dear all,

I was playing with a linux pen and accidentally overwrote the MBR. Usually this is easy to fix, but not this time.

As I have a bootable pen with windows, I started the computer with it and used the normal procedure to fix the boot issue using the command prompt (bootrec /rebuildbcd and bootrec /fixboot).

A very important detail is that I have used a 32 bit Windows (in my pen) trying to recover a 64 bit system.

I thought it could work since I only had to restore the MBR, and from my understanding this is the same regardless the windows version.

The main problem, now, is that when going to the command prompt drive c no longer exist.

Doing c: doesn't work, using diskpart doesn't work.

Any ideas of what I can do ?

Thanks in advance.
Best regards

 

[samuria]

When you say c doesn't exists could it have another drive letter if you boot a live Windows the CD may be c as it's booting from it can you see a partition for c? Are you sure the disk is MBR not gpt or uefi?

 

[pcardoso73]

Hi,
When I said MBR I wasn't accurate att all, I meant a problem in the partition table that prevents booting (I think it is UEFI on my case).

I am using a live windows 7 pen to rescue/fix the system. When the windows starts, it shows up an option to go to a prompt window. The first 2 or 3 times that I used this pen, I could access the drive C (typing C: ) but now it doesn't recognize C partition. It is not found. As I said previously, diskpart can't find any partition neither. So it is as the ssd had disappeared.
Pedro

 

[Megahertz07]

Legacy-MBR boot is completely different from UEFI-GPT.
Fist of all, you must find out witch one you have. Boot Linux and find out if your disk is MBR or GPT and if there is a 100M Fat32 partition.

 

[pcardoso73]

According to Linux is MBR. Running a program called gdisk the following is returned:
"Found Invalid GPT and valid MBR" Main Partition Table overlaps fist partition by 33 bytes.

Doing fdisk, only a partition appears with 62.8 MB. The remaining 465GB appear as empty (partition does not exist) although having information.
Can I create a partition where the data is so I can see the data again ? Does that make sense ?

 

[Megahertz07]

Don't try to fix it.
Is your disk a HDD or SSD? Is it a 500G?
What exactly did you do on fist place.

Do you have another computer where you can plug the disk and use some tools to repair it?

 

[pcardoso73]

Hi,
The disk is an SSD and I've tried to fix the boot using a 32 bit Windows bootable pen, but my OS is 64bit.

I used the normal instructions that you can find on the net:
bootrec.exe /fixmbr
bootrec.exe /fixboot
bootrec.exe /rebuildbcd

How to Fix Windows 7 When It Fails to Boot

Now the error when turning the computer on is:

File: \Boot\BCD

Status: 0xc000000f

I can't rebuild BCD using the bootable pen because it doesn't find any partition. So, all of the commands below don't work:

bcdedit /export C:\BCD_Backup
c:
cd boot
attrib bcd -s -h -r
ren c:\boot\bcd bcd.old
bootrec /RebuildBcd

Best regards,
Pedro

 

[SIW2]

This boot media contains Aomei partition assistant - which has a partition recovery function:

17514x64-v5.iso

To extract it to usb stick, you can use this (leave it set at FAT32 to support uefi and bios boot)
View attachment Usb7ice.zip

 

[pcardoso73]

Hi,
Thanks a lot for the files.
I have chosen "fast search"and it is still at 0% after 20 minutes, is this normal ?
Thanks,
Pedro

 

[SIW2]

No, it's usually quiker than that.

What does it tell you about the disk in Aomei main window? You can post a screenshot. There is a little camera icon on the task bar to take a screenshot.

 

[pcardoso73]

Please find the screenshot attached.

 

[SIW2]

That is not the main window. Post a screenshot of the main window. In the main window, it should tell you if it is recognizes as mbr or gpt. If it says mbr, then write the code to it again in case it is damaged. Rt click the disk and select Rebuild mbr.Use win7/8/10 type

 

[pcardoso73]

Sorry. Here it goes.

 

[SIW2]

If it is a Tosh A300 they are a few years old. Unlikely to have been gpt. I would rebuild the mbr ( it is just the executable code - doesn't affect the partition table). Then see if a scan can find anything. It will take a while to scan a 500gb disk.

 

[pcardoso73]

I am sorry but I forgot to change the Laptop that I have. Actually is a recent one. It is a Dell Latitude E7470, with a 500GB SSD.

 

[Megahertz07]

Pedro, did the SSD came with the laptop and does it has the original software?
Does it has Win 7 or Win 10?
What I don't understand is that a 6th generation CPU with M.2 SSD should come with a UEFI-GPT format. And your disk apparently is Legacy-MBR as it has a logical partition.

Pedro, you must give us all the details of the laptop and what did you do on the disk under Linux.

 

[pcardoso73]

Hi,
Yes it is the original SSD and it came with Windows Enterprise 64bit installed.

Regarding what I have done,
I was creating a bootable USB pen with a linux distro in it, and accidentally wrote to drive c instead of the letter of the pen. So when I started the machine it got stuck in the point when it starts the bootloader (grub/lilo) and loads the kernel. Basically it is waiting for me to point to a valid kernel.
After that you know the story, I used a 32bit pen to fix the boot of a 64bit windows 7.
Thanks,
Pedro

 

[Megahertz07]

Pedro, don't try to fix it.
I'm not the disk expert but I think you cleaned the whole disk and then formatted as ext4 (Linux default).
I will ask Jumanji for help.

Windows Enterprise 64bit installed is Win 7 or Win 10?
Who has installed? The company you work for?

 

[jumanji]

I see that you had used Minitool Partition Wizard ( your post#11). Use that and delete the 62.78MB partition. That should make your whole disk Unallocated. Once you make sure of that, run Partition Recovery Wizard. Let us see whether it finds all your previous partitions. Post a screenshot of found partitions.

 

[pcardoso73]

I've tried to delete the partition but it says it is locked by another program, which I don't know if it is true.



Using "PartGuru" gives a similar error: "The media is write protected."

Using "GParted" from an Ubuntu live CD gives the same error as above.