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Resize failed; unbootable; data present; how to resize back?

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I resized "C:" partition to include unused space before partition. Resize failed upon reboot - some error that I didn't catch. Partition is now listed as "Not formatted" but I can see where the data begins when going into the disk editor (via Acronis bootable recovery disk)

My thought is to change it back to the way it was - resize it back to no longer include the unused space, however the option to resize it back to the original size is grayed out. I thought about changing the file system type to NTFS but I'm not sure if that will make matters worse.

Any advice? Thanks very much!

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Scott:

If you have imaging software it would be prudent to back up the disk in its current state. If using Acronis True Image, choose the "Sector-by-sector" mode to include all sectors on the disk, including those in unallocated space. This is a fallback in case the recovery procedure fails to work.

The Recovery Expert in Acronis Disk Director may be able to recover the partition. You will need to run it from the bootable media, so boot your PC from the recovery CD, or download a copy of the Disk Director ISO from your account on the Acronis web site and burn the ISO to a CD. When booted into the recovery program, do the following:

1. Locate the partition that used to contain your "C:" volume. If the former partition is showing as unallocated space, skip ahead to step 5.
2. Right-click on the partition and choose "Delete volume" (this step only removes an entry from the partition table; it does not delete data in the partition).
3. Commit the operation and allow it to complete.
4. You should now have unallocated space in the part of the disk that used to contain your C: partition.
5. Start the Recovery Expert in manual mode.
6. Point the Recovery Expert to the unallocated space and let it search for evidence of former partitions, trying fast mode first.
7. You should see a suggested location or list of suggested locations that may contain your C: partition's data
8. Choose the most likely location from the list and allow the Recovery Expert to proceed.

If you are successful in recovering your former partition, try the resize operation again but this time DO NOT start it from the Windows version of the program. Instead, boot to the recovery CD and do the operation there while Windows is shut down. You should be able to successfully resize the C: partition to include unallocated space before the partition.

The Recovery Expert may or may not succeed, depending on how much damage was done by the failed resize operation.