how to force unknown partition back to NTFS?

  • Thread starter Thread starter peter
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peter

I crashed a hard drive. It used to have an NTFS partition, now that
partition is labeled "unknown" partition by windowsXP install CD.

How can I force the partition back to NTFS, so that I can recover some
files?

I googled this topic and found lots of hits, many with elaborate
discussions. But I have yet to find a simple solution -- something that
writes the NTFS id back into the unknown partition.
 
peter said:
I crashed a hard drive. It used to have an NTFS partition, now that
partition is labeled "unknown" partition by windowsXP install CD.
Click to expand...
How can I force the partition back to NTFS, so that I can recover some files?
Click to expand...

Try a Linux Live CD, that usually can see the partition because it isnt as fussy as XP.
I googled this topic and found lots of hits, many with elaborate
discussions. But I have yet to find a simple solution -- something
that writes the NTFS id back into the unknown partition.
Click to expand...

There's more involved than the id.
 
peter said:
I crashed a hard drive. It used to have an NTFS partition, now that
partition is labeled "unknown" partition by windowsXP install CD.

How can I force the partition back to NTFS, so that I can recover some
files?
Click to expand...

I hope you backed up your important files. For now, you could re-Format
it. Use Disk Management in Computer Management in Control Panel.

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Try a Linux Live CD, that usually can see the partition because it isnt as fussy as XP.


There's more involved than the id.
Click to expand...

If is just the Master Boot Record (sector 0) then updating the
partition table may help.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Master_boot_record
http://www.cnwrecovery.com/manual/index.html?PartitionTableStructure
http://www.win.tue.nl/~aeb/partitions/partition_types-1.html

You will need to set the ID as 7 and point to the BIOS Parameter
Block. If the BPB is not there, it is much more complex and you will
need a specialised program, or data recovery company

Michael
 
peter said:
I crashed a hard drive. It used to have an NTFS partition, now that
partition is labeled "unknown" partition by windowsXP install CD.

How can I force the partition back to NTFS, so that I can recover some
files?

I googled this topic and found lots of hits, many with elaborate
discussions. But I have yet to find a simple solution -- something that
writes the NTFS id back into the unknown partition.
Click to expand...

However possible, it is unlikely that editing the 'partition type ID' in the
partition table will fix this:

1. Either partition table is wrong and points to sector that's not an NTFS
boot sector. This often can be fixed.
2. Or, partition boot sector is corrupt. This often can be fixed
3. None of the above, file system itself is corrupt. Can't be fixed (or
unpractical), instead extract data with some file recovery software.

With our DiskPatch demo you can create a logfile. If you post that logfile
in our forum we can estimate if this can be fixed with our tools or maybe
even free 3rd party tools. We can have a look, no hard feelings if you then
decide to use other tools.

--

Kind regards,
Joep - DIY DataRecovery.nl

http://www.diydatarecovery.nl

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