Recover Raw Partition

[Poplar]

Hi, everybody. Here is my problem. Yesterday, I installed SUSE linux on my WinXP SP2 computer and made it dual-boot. Originally, HDD has two partitions on it, C and D, where C was Windows partition and D was data partition. I created two new partitions to install Linux by resizing C partition and keeping D intact.

The installation seemed good. I rebooted computer and got GRUB menu. I could boot into Linux and Windows without any problem. However, something must have gone wrong, because I couldn't access to D partition anymore. Windows tells me the partion isn't formatted and asks me to format it, which I declined. I am not that stupid

The partition is still there, because Windows still recognizes it. But for some reason, it thinks it's raw. I ran diskmgmt.msct and here is the result:



I scanned the HDD with Active@ Partition Recovery demo and found all the files and folders are still there. The question is how can I get D partition back to NTFS format without destroying any data? Since the partition is 148 GB and almost full, simple data transfer is the last option. Is there anyway to repair the partition table and get the partition's NTFS tag back, if there is indeed such a flag. What is the best software available?

Thx in advance !!

[Seeker47]

I can't be sure if the program I'm about to suggest would address the problems you describe, but a very good program for working with HDDs and partition issues is DFSEE (check out DFSEE.Com). It is shareware, with a 30 day trial period. One possible advantage for your situation is that it comes in a multi-platform distribution, which includes a Linux version. This program is intended to do a lot of the things that Partition Magic does, and can do some things that PM can't do. (That is a two-way street, however.) DFSEE began as a tool with a techie orientation. Although the interface has come a long way in accessibility, it still isn't GUI or particularly neophyte-friendly like PM. (There is documentation, which is wide-ranging but still a work in progress.) So, it helps a lot if you start out knowing something about the technical side of HDD partitioning, and the more you know about that the more mileage you can get out of it. DFSEE also has a support forum on Yahoo Groups, where you can exchange queries with the developer and other users

In another thread here, I just saw someone praise Disk Wizard and Seatools, both from Seagate, and these may be free. Don't know if they are applicable either, but something else to check out. Good Luck.

Oh, just thought of something else, part of which will be of limited help to you at this point. DFSEE is great for cloning partitions or entire HDDs, for backup purposes. Since there is some risk attached to the drive changes you performed, it would have been better to do an experiment like this on a drive that was cloned first as a precaution. But you can still try whatever corrective procedures on a duplicated drive, thereby mitigating any further damage and affording you extra chances. Drives are pretty cheap these days, especially with the many sales, rebates, etc.

[Krispy Kritter]

I've had similar issues in the past. A Google search will turn up quite a few choices, none are free. The Shareware and Trial versions will usually scan the disc, but can't fix it. I tried quite a few and none were very successful correcting the issue. It is rather frustrating to have the program scan your disc (which sometimes can take hours), let you see all or most of the files are there, spend many more hours restoring (to another drive with enough free space...you can't restore to the "damaged" drive), then find out that you have a bunch of "files" that are completely useless.

Hope you have better luck than I did.

[TBoneit]

Had good luck in the past with the software from Ontrack, Not really cheap though.

http://buyonline.ontrack.com/ecom/catalog.asp?cookie%5Ftest=1

OTOH it worked. made the customer happy to get all the pictures and backup files back.

[ahhaa]

You might also read up on GRUB/LILO boot managers.
Your old MBR is still on the machine, if you don't make too many changes it can be recovered. Google uninstall Linux.

You might also check out the Puppy distro. About a 70Mb download. It runs from a LiveCD, without messing with the HD; and now reads/writes NTFS- may help you recover files.

There are logical & extended partitions; you may have a problem with that, or where the new bootloader put the MBR.

I have put a couple rants on Linux forums about this kind of thing. OS heads don't understand what this kind of fault does to the whole linux movement by screwing up & permanently turning off trial users; after 15 years its ridiculous to have problems like this.

The only really safe & relatively easy way to check out any unfamiliar Linux distro is to swap in a blank hard drive. An emerging alternative to dual boot is to set up a virtual machine- google VMware, virtual machine, etc.

Good luck & don't forget to bring this up on the SUSE forum too!