7:00 PM Pacific it'll be in 15 minutes... OK, let's do it!

Now, for a starter, give me please two screenshots: on from HD1 and one from HD3, showing the errors. Let the highlight on the MBR (where is by default as it starts) for these 2 screenshots. We'll be using solely RPM 2.43, OK?

The error you mentioned is "MBR/EMBR partition overlaps an existing partition. Partition not imported", right? Take good care not to modify anything in HD1, for now.

When RPM 2.43 1st opens -

Then HD1 (everything looks kosher - not red) -

When hit F5 going from HD2 to HD3 -

Then HD3 looks like this -

Edited October 2, 201015 yr by piikea

OK. Great. Let's do a simple test. Start RPM without attaching the External HDD. Then dismiss it and get back to me. Does the MBR/EMBR error appear even when the External HDD is not connected?

Does the MBR/EMBR error appear even when the External HDD is not connected?

Yes it does.

btw - I can resolve the HD1 MBR recovery another time.

Edited October 2, 201015 yr by piikea

OK. never mind. It must be complaining about HD2, and since both HD1 and HD2 are working OK, it's not in our interest to find out just now what RPM is thinking is not right with HD2. We can look at that later.

So... Go to HD3, highlight the red line (that's partition #2) and hit "Del". Then dismiss RPM, unplug the extenal HDD. wait 10 seconds, replug it, and get back to me. Did all become blue (except the MBR which should remain white)? And did it remain blue after replugging? If so, no screenshot is needed. If not, please do give me a screenshot.

Yes all is still blue except MBR line.

OK. Then highlight the 1st blue line, which is partition #1 and hit "enter". You'll see a gray window open: in the Step 1 field highlight FAT-32 and hit "enter". The highlight will move by itself to the "Select Size" item of the Step 2 field, which will contain a number... no matter which value appears. hit "Del" repeatedly until that number becomes a zero, with a blinking cursor below it... then type 32505856 and hit "enter". A red window will appear with "Save now" highlighted: hit "enter" and the highlight will now be over "Format now", so you'll hit the right-arrow to highlight "No. I'll do it later" and then hit "enter". That should leave you in the main screen of RPM again, with the MBR in white, partition #1 unused in blue with a size of 31 kB and partiton #2 in red (because we didn't format it), but with the right size. At this point, a screenshot is in order, please.

Done.

Great! 32499463 bytes is 30.99 GB, so we have it of the right size!

So, now highlight partition #3, which is unused, and hit "enter". You'll see again a gray window open: in the Step 1 field use the down arrow to highlight Extended and hit "enter". Then hit "enter" again to accept the default size (which is the rest of the disk, don't worry about that, it is as it should be) present in Step 2. A red window will appear with "Save now" highlighted: hit "enter". That should leave you in the main screen of RPM again, with the MBR in white, partition #1 unused in blue with a size of 31 kB, partiton #2 in red (because we didn't format it), but with the right size and partition #3 in green, identified as Extended. At this point, a screenshot is in order, please.

Displaying as desired & described...

Great! now we have also an Extended LBA partition!

OK. Then highlight partition #4 and hit "enter". You'll see a gray window open: in the Step 1 field highlight FAT-32 and hit "enter". The highlight will move by itself to the "Select Size" item of the Step 2 field, which will contain a number... no matter which value appears. Hit "Del" repeatedly until that number becomes a zero, with a blinking cursor below it... then type 314750824 and hit "enter". Observe that it's possible that 314750824 is a number too big for the black box and that you'll not be able to see the last or the two last digits of the number you typed... but that's OK, if you typed in the right number, RPM will understand it even if it cannot show it ther for you. A red window will appear with "Save now" highlighted: hit "enter" and the highlight will now be over "Format now", so you'll hit the right-arrow to highlight "No. I'll do it later" and then hit "enter". That should leave you in the main screen of RPM again, with the MBR in white, partition #1 unused in blue with a size of 31 kB and partiton #2 in red, then the green extended LBA as #3 and a brand new Logical FAT-32 LBA partition as #4, in red (because we didn't format it). At this point, a screenshot is in order, please.

Looks to be as expected.....

Sure! Now we have also the 1st logical partiton created with the right size!

OK. Then highlight partition #5 and hit "enter". You'll see a gray window open: in the Step 1 field highlight FAT-32 and hit "enter". The highlight will move by itself to the "Select Size" item of the Step 2 field, which will contain a number... no matter which value appears. Hit "Del" repeatedly until that number becomes a zero, with a blinking cursor below it... then type 314753512 and hit "enter". Observe that it's possible that 314753512 is a number too big for the black box and that you'll not be able to see the last or the two last digits of the number you typed... but that's OK, if you typed in the right number, RPM will understand it even if it cannot show it there for you. Observe also that this number is a little different than the one we just used for partiton #4... that's OK, too. I'm updating the values from what I see in the screenshots. A red window will appear with "Save now" highlighted: hit "enter" and the highlight will now be over "Format now", so you'll hit the right-arrow to highlight "No. I'll do it later" and then hit "enter". That should leave you in the main screen of RPM again, with the MBR in white, partition #1 unused in blue with a size of 31 kB and partiton #2 in red, then the green extended LBA as #3 and two Logical FAT-32 LBA partition as #4 and #5, in red (because we didn't format them). They'll not be exactly the same size, but will be almost the same size, which is good enough. At this point, a further screenshot is in order, please.

Looks correct......

Sure! It's perfect!

OK. Now highlight partition #7 and hit "enter". You'll see a gray window open: in the Step 1 field highlight FAT-32 and hit "enter". The highlight will move by itself to the "Select Size" item of the Step 2 field, which will contain a number... no matter which value appears. Then hit "enter" again to accept the default size (which is the rest of the disk). A red window will appear with "Save now" highlighted: hit "enter" and the highlight will now be over "Format now", so you'll hit the right-arrow to highlight "No. I'll do it later" and then hit "enter". That should leave you in the main screen of RPM again, with the MBR in white, partition #1 unused in blue with a size of 31 kB and partiton #2 in red, then the green extended LBA as #3 and three Logical FAT-32 LBA partitions as #4, #6 and #8, and the green extendeds #5 and #7. If so, there remains only some finishing touches to be done. At this point, a further screenshot is in order, please.