Power failure during Partition resize - possible to recover or continue resize operation ?

Did you see if the Recovery Expert in DD could find any partitions? If it does, you could see if it looks correct and recover it. However, be aware that DD was moving data around and changing the partition. Even if one is found, the data may not be accessible normally. You may need to use data recovery software.

It's recommended to create an Entire Disk Image backup prior to making any partitioning changes, even if it seems simple. There's always the chance something will go wrong.

if you do need other recovery software option I would go here

Hi MudCrab,

Thank you for that.
How can I run Recovery Expert on the driver if it is unbootable ?
Do you mean insert the drive to another computer ?

I've tried to use Photorec on a Gentoo Live CD - but it only recovers partially, makes a mess of the directory structure and file names, and then quits on a Segmentation Fault.

Another idea - what if I try to fix the MBR - is there a chance it will boot and allow me to partially recover files ?
Thank you -
Nir

Run DD from bootable media. You should have made a recovery media version, or you can download an ISO image file from your account. Burn a CD (properly for an image file), boot with the CD, and run Recovery Expert from there.

The MBR has two parts: initial program loader code and the partition table. Fixing the MBR normally affects only the initial program loader code, not the partition table, so it will possibly help booting. File recovery relies on finding the partitions, rebuilding the partition table (which maps where the partitions are), and seeing if file system information can be recovered. But the partitions need to be found first.

Hi,

Thank you Gary - I just ran the Recovery Expert from a Bootable CD -
Apparently the partition is still there -
DD indicates: None (C:) Pri,Act 224.2GB FS:None Partition: 0x7(NTFS, HPFS)

Which was the status before I did the resize and create new partition steps. I guess I interrupted the process before the resize operation was done.

From this information - is the partition table OK ? What should I do to try this out ?
My intuition says to write the program loader code and see if it boots ...

What troubles me is the FS:None i.e. cannot read the file system on the partition..
Perhaps there is a tool that I can run to fix the file system ?

Anyway I'm a bit lost - appreciate any help...
Rgds,
Nir

Did DD recover the partition? If so, it should be in the partition table.

You may just need to change the partition type to 7 (NTFS).

Note that even if the partition is recovered, the file system may be in an unknown state and not be accessible normally. Depends on what DD did/was doing at the time of the failure.

Hi MudCrab,

DD didn't recover the partition - it was already in this state, i.e. appears normal and FS:None
The partition type was also already set to 0x7.

So the partition is OK - the file system is toast.
Any way to recover from this ?
Can I try to just write an MBR and try to boot it ?

Should I attempt to fix the file system first ? With which tool ?

Tnx!
Nir

Hi!

I've recovered the boot sector using TestDisk, but it is unable to fix the MFT - Master File Table
Windows 7 recovery Console chkdsk c: /f fails with
"Corrupt master file table. Chkdsk aborted."

Any chance to fix the MFT with any other software ? TestDisk developer recommends "Zero Assumption" but this tool only runs within Windows..

Is this the end ?
Does anyone have any idea ?

Tnx
Nir

I can't provide real specifics. but I believe there may be a copy of the MFT in other sectors. You may want to check on the Easeus website - they have a free PDF ebook on data recovery which has some useful NTFS file system info (or do some online searches on this topic). I don't know if this will help. But if a copy of the MFT could be found, the Acronis Disk Editor could be used to restore the original sectors (I've never done this with NTFS, only under FAT16 many years ago...). I don't know enough about NTFS directory structure to be of real help.

There is a tool called something like FileScavenger or something like that mentioned somewhere on these Forums, but I don't know where. I looked at it briefly some time ago and it seemed pretty capable. I'll see if I can find more information for you.

Here's the forum thread where File Scavenger is discussed: http://forum.acronis.com/forum/11140

Here is the free Easeus data recovery ebook: http://www.easeus.com/data-recovery-ebook/

Nir-

I should have mentioned this earlier on...

I don't know if you have True Image or not, but I found that the ISOLINUX True Image 2010 bootable media was able to recover some critical data files for me from a totally toasted disk. No other utility could even read the disk - no recognizeable file system, one said disk was full, another said disk was empty - our IT person at work gave up on it and gave me permission to try my own copy of TI that I had just acquired (I had not used it on my home system at this point, and I had acquired TI at his recommendation in the first place). It was able to grab files that nothing else would, and TI is not even a "data recovery" program! There was just something about the ISOLINUX environment that worked when nothing else would.

Don't know if this will help, but I just remembered how well it worked and wanted to pass that along.

Hi Gary,

Thank you very much for all the useful information !

Eventually I gave up on repairing the partition and recovered what I could from it using TestDisk.
I installed Win7, and now must "scavenge" what I can from the recovered files..

Thanks again to everyone for their help - I must say I learned the hard way to make a disk image *before* messing with partitions :)
Regards,
Nir

Hello,the Partition Assistant maybe useful. It is excellent and easy to use. Here, I will share it with you, I hope it will give you a hand.

I have try it, it is great, thank you.