Help - partition not recognized after fresh install

[JohnS]

Hi, all.

I have an Asus Eepc with Windows 7 x64 pre-installed.

I had two partitions, C: and D:

Because of a virus I decided to format and re-install Windows 7 x64 from DVD.

Booting from an external DVD player, I started the fresh installation process.

Windows found four partitions:

C: 100 GB as Disk 0 Partition 1

A 15 Gb partition as Disk 0 Partition 2

D: 200 GB as Disk 0 Partition 3

A 16 Mb partition as Disk 0 Partition 3.

I formatted C: and ordered windows to be installed there.

It gave me the following error: "The selected disk has an MBR partition table. On EFI systems, Windows can only be installed to GPT disks."

I was not expecting this.

I rebooted several times - I already had formatted C: and had no access to the OS - tried again and the last time that message didn't show up, so I could finish the installation.

Now I have the C: partition, where Windows is installed, but my former D: partition, where all my documents are, is not shown. Instead I have a D: partition with 15 Gb and nothing inside.

Using an Ubuntu DVD I can see that my D: partition is still there with all my data, but Windows is not showing it.

Who can help me to get it back?

Thank you so much in advance,

JS

Edited January 5, 2013 by JohnS

[JohnS]

Some head-up.

I installed EaseUS Partition Master Home Edition and it presents the following result:

C: /-/ File System: NTFS /-/ Status: Boot /-/ Type: Primary

D: /-/ File System: FAT32 /-/ Status: None /-/ Type: Primary

* (my former D:) /-/ File System: NTFS /-/ Status: System /-/ Type: Primary

* /-/ File System: Other /-/ Status: None /-/ Type: Primary

Also, Ubuntu Disk Utility is displaying the following information:

C:

Partition Type: HPFS/NTFS

Partition Flags: -

Type: NTFS

And my former D:

Partition Type: W95 FAT32

Partition Flags: Bootable

Type: NTFS

Does this help?

Edited January 5, 2013 by JohnS

[Ponch]

Windows found four partitions:

C: as Disk 0 Partition 1

A 15 Gb partition as Disk 0 Partition 2

D: as Disk 0 Partition 3

A 16 Mb partition as Disk 0 Partition 3.

I formatted C: and ordered windows to be installed there.

Why do you only provide size for half the partition ? One of them probably was a recovery partition and could have be used to reinstall. Maybe not anymore.

When you say your old D: does not appear in Windows anymore, have you checked Disk Management or is it just not showing in Explorer ?

[JohnS]

You are right, Ponch.

Disk Management shows my missing partition.

Internet Explorer doesn't, so I don't have access to its files.

What I want it for it to show, as before.

I am not that much interested in the recovery partition, which before was hidden and now internet explorer shows as D:

JS

PS - I edited my first post by putting the size of all the partitions.

[nitroshift]

In disk management, assign a letter to your missing partition.

nitroshift

[JohnS]

In disk management, assign a letter to your missing partition.

nitroshift

UAU! That simple!

It's already done. I have my missing partition back!

Thank you so much.

What I don't understand is why this happened during the installation process.

Just one last question:

Now that I made unusable my recovery partition, the one with 15Gb, I might as well merge it with one of the other big ones, no?

JS

[Ponch]

Yes you could but merging partitions is a risky business in the sense that there is no way back. It is still not clear what originally (or still) was on the 1st, 2nd and 4th partitions. The 4th one might be a sort of diagnostic partition like Dell has (but they put it as 1st on the disc, I'm not sure Asus makes one). Are you sure the 1st partition is 100Gig, not 100Meg ?

[JohnS]

Ponch,

Before formatting I only knew about two partitions, C:, where Windows was installed, and D:, where my documents were.

During Windows installations, it found:

C: 100 GB as Disk 0 Partition 1 (where Windows was installed)

A 15 Gb partition as Disk 0 Partition 2

D: 200 GB as Disk 0 Partition 3 (where my documents were)

A 16 Mb partition as Disk 0 Partition 4.

I formatted C: and re-installed Windows there.

Now that I have my missing partition back, disk management is showing the following:

- A first 16Mb partition with no letter assigned - EFI System Partition

- A second NTFS 100Gb partition, C: - Boot, pagination file, error image, Primary Partition

- A third FAT32 15 Gb partition, D: - Primary Partition

- A fourth NTFS 200 Gb partition, E: - System, Active, Primary Partition

I am thinking about merging D: with E:

JS

[nitroshift]

Seems to me that Windows is now installed on your E partition. I would save all my data onto an external drive, pop in the Windows installation DVD, delete all existing partitions then create 2 new ones, one for Windows and the other for your data. Mind you, when creating the new partition for Windows, it will pop up a notification that a 100MB partition will be created automatically, just say OK to that and carry on installing Windows.

nitroshift

[Ponch]

The problem is... you don't seem that confident in that matter and the way you list the partitions adds to the confusion, as well as the fact E: is now the active partition after you reinstalled your system, which is weird. Always list partitions in physical order. The starting partition scheme is weird as well (that floating 15G partition) , is this how you got it from Asus out of the box or was it already reinstalled before ? Or was it a 2nd hand computer ?

Anyway, if it works like that, I'd leave it.

You can't merge D in E as D is physically before E. Well, you can do it but in 3 steps;

-delete E

-move D at the beginning of the unused space,

-expand D