Partition Not Active in Windows 7 after converting from primary to logical -- Issue Solved by MudCrab!
Hello: Was happy to hear that Disk Director 11 now works with Windows 7 so I bought it and installed it.
Two days ago I made some changes. Everything worked accept the result of converting a primary partition to logical. Perhaps that was because I merged the partition too.
Previous state:
My 750 WD HDD partitioned into three, with an approximate 5gb not active. I activated the 5 gb part, merged it with the 298gb partition aside it that contain some files, and changed that partition from a primary to logical. The operations all appear to have been effected, but Windows 7 64 shows it faded out, not active.
Knowledge base tells how to make a partiton active, but the "make active" command is not there and the check disk command is not there in DD11, although those commands are present for all of the other partitions.
Current state:
The files are still there because DD11 will show them there, but windows 7 doesn't make the partition useable. The partition shows Ext3 instead of NTFS as the other partitions do.
What can I do to get this partition to work on Windows 7? Is there a way to save those files before I have to delete the partition and redo it?
Please offer advice/guidance, and thank you.
Clarence
Hello MudCrab: It has been some years since I posted here with an issue. You have helped me and many others here using Acronis products and I am grateful to you.
I have attached the two files for viewing. Between the time I posted the issue and now I tried changing back to a prmary patition and the NTFS but those changes made no difference.
In the window's view, the partition has no lable but shows healthy. It is the first on the left, third row down.
In the Disk Director View, the partition looks perfect. I can see the files are still there, but cannot open them as you know.
I have Acronis True Image 2010 too, but have not tried to see if I can extract the files I want to salvage and put them someplace safe.
Please advise.
Clarence
You said that you merged the 5GB with the 298GB partition next to it. There are no 298GB partitions on the third drive.
When you tried to change the partition type to NTFS, did DD complete it successfully? Did you try this in Windows or from the DD CD also? Note that DD may still show the File system for the partition as Ext3. Try to do the conversion again and see which type is selected (this is the current value). It may take several attempts to get the change to stick. Also, check in Disk Management after each attempt to see what it shows (exit and restart Disk Management for each attempt to avoid errors). Caution: This may cause data loss if the file system (format) isn't recognized correctly.
Does anything look different from the DD CD?
Is DD browsing the partition as NTFS or as Ext3? I assume NTFS since you're seeing your existing files.
Does Disk Management give you the option to Shrink the partition? It may only be there if the partition type is NTFS.
You may be able to fix the problem by resizing/shrinking the partition slightly smaller. If this works, you should be able to resize it back to full size afterwards. Caution: This may cause data loss if the file system (format) isn't recognized correctly.
Do you have any important files on this partition? If so, I still suggest trying a Live Linux CD and seeing if you can copy them off before making any further changes.
Thank you MudCrab.
Your reply/advice was superb and contains a great deal of information and help. I tried repeat the NTFS conversion but the Ext3 persisted. I then resized the partition making it smaller, but the Ext3 stayed. I then activated the smaller left over 19 gb part, making it an NTFS. I then merged it with the larger partition, giving several commands. In short, I got the partition the way I wanted it, NTFS and all of the data is secure, thanks to your help.
We are all very lucky to have you help us. Your first assessment of what I did will be remembered. I must think things through better to make sure I take the right path to get to where I want to go. I think I should have just resized the partition to absorb that extra 5 or 7 gb instead of merging it, as you pointed out.
Well, I must get to spleep now.
Really am grateful to you for your help.
GbwU always,
Clarence