Disk not recognized in Disk Management

[wcology]

So I was trying to put a Win 7 installation onto a partition of an external hard drive using WinToFlash (WTF), but after WTF unable to lock down the specific partition I backed out of it by forcing log out, but now I can only see one of the many partitions on the hard drive. How do I find the other ones?

[cluberti]

Do you see things if you view the disk and partition(s) in diskpart?

[DigeratiPrime]

That screenshot is strange: in the Volume List it shows the volume F capacity as 68.36GB and in the Graphical View as 298.09GB.

Maybe this WinToFlash program tried to clean the destination disk, or messed up the partition table; I am not sure.

[wcology]

Do you see things if you view the disk and partition(s) in diskpart?

errr... diskpart? is that the hit program these days?

[cluberti]

If you have partition table issues, the disk management MMC (which uses the standard APIs for disk access) will have trouble with the partitions and disk. Diskpart, however, bypasses most of these and gets the raw data. It's been available for use since August 2001, and was first seen in Windows 2000. So it's been the "hit program" for about 9 years.

[gosh]

here's what you need to do:

1) backup the data on the external HDD

2) Wipe it, and wipe the boot sector

3) repartition and format the drive, then copy the data back

[wcology]

here's what you need to do:

1) backup the data on the external HDD

2) Wipe it, and wipe the boot sector

3) repartition and format the drive, then copy the data back

I would've done that if I could get the data off the other partitions. It had like 4 but I only see one now. I'll try diskpart when I figure out the commands.

[cluberti]

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb490893.aspx

Basically, you want to start with "list disk" and then "select disk #", where # is the disk you're trying to view. From there you can list partitions and volumes via the list command, and start modifying things as necessary. The link above contains all the commands possible in diskpart.

[jaclaz]

Wait a minute...

Stop it now.! (if you need to recover data from the "other" partitions).

Most probably the partitioning attempt wiped the partition table, you should run TESTDISK in order to try and recover the "missing" partitions.

Only once you have backed up the data, start again fiddling with partitioning tools.

http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/TestDisk

AFAIK WintoFlash is intended for use on a Flash device (please read as USB stick), creating a single partition on it:

http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=137540

We do have here a whole Forum dedicated on installing Windows from USB with methods that cover BOTH "flash" and HD's:

http://www.msfn.org/board/forum/157-install-windows-from-usb/

jaclaz

Edited February 23, 2010 by jaclaz

[wcology]

Most probably the partitioning attempt wiped the partition table, you should run TESTDISK in order to try and recover the "missing" partitions.

Only once you have backed up the data, start again fiddling with partitioning tools.

http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/TestDisk

Testdisk seems to found 4 partitions, but how do I recover them? after analysis I still only see one of them.

Edited February 23, 2010 by wcology

[wcology]

so it sees them but how do i make them appear in places like My Computer?

[wcology]

Found them!! :w00t: Thank you!

[Sp0iLedBrAt]

Found them!! :w00t: Thank you!

How? Please share your solution with others :-)

[wcology]

oh i went back and read the wiki, so after the screen above just press enter and then write to back up, then reboot and everything reappears.

[jaclaz]

How? Please share your solution with others :-)

RTFM?

After you are satisfied with the Analysis and with the "temporary" partition mapping TESTDISK gives you , you simply write the values to the MBR from within the program and exit (advised is to disconnect and re-connect the device).

@wcology

Happy there is now another happy bunny, thanks to TESTDISK!

jaclaz