Windows 7 Partition Re-size with Acronis. Major Catastrophe.

Elmer

Extraordinary Member
Joined
Mar 5, 2010
I've had a major crisis this morning using Acronis to reclaim an empty 8gb partition.

The hdd from left to right, in disk manager was:

8Gb Empty (formerly page file) || D:\Data 210Gb Data || R:\Recovery 80Gb Recovery

Using Acronis I expanded the 210gb to include all the 8Gb so now it would be:

D:\Data 218Gb || R:\Recovery 80Gb Recovery

After the re-start, in Computer, it says I have D:\Data 8Gb plus 80Gb Recovery.

Acronis tells me I have D:\Data 218Gb plus 80Gb Recovery

Disk Manager tells me I have D:\Data 8Gb AND D:\Data 218Gb plus 80Gb Recovery.

The 140Gb plus of files that where on the original D:\ when at 210Gb have disappeared.

Recuva only recognises D:\ as 8GB.

What the f-f-f-flippin hecks happened? Where's my bloody files? HELP!!!!

A couple of piccies.
1.PNG2.PNG
 
You might try changing the views around to see if anything has gotten out of sync.

Can you refresh the window?

I would either go back to Acronis and check it, or use Partition Wizard.

After that, I would run chkdsk with it set to not fix anything, just report.

I always worry about extending the front end of a partition. Especially near the MBR area.
 
Hi Clark, Thanks for your response.

You might try changing the views around to see if anything has gotten out of sync.
Can you refresh the window?
Stays the same in both cases.

I would either go back to Acronis and check it, or use Partition Wizard.
Sort of fighting shy of Acronis, don't know why!!

After that, I would run chkdsk with it set to not fix anything, just report.
I ran chkdsk twice, once by isolating the drive and then during boot. No Errors found ????

I always worry about extending the front end of a partition. Especially near the MBR area.
I'm always wary of this as well but Acronis has never give me a problem before.

HOWEVER!!!
I'm told that when I was down the shop, it stopped merging at 50% with an error message that said "(dunno, dunno, dunno) Press any button to re-boot, so I did to have it ready for when you came back." :O

Currently running Easus Recovery on the hard drive in question. Bear in mind that the Recovery partition has three Macrium back-ups in there, This is what's been found so far:
Capture.PNG

Whether that means anything or not.....

EDIT!!! Totally OT but, My main drive is #0 on the Mobo, the drive I'm having probs with is #1 and the 80Gb/74Gb is #2 They've never shown up in that order with those Disk numbers in Disk Manager. My Main/system drive has always been #2. The other pair change seats occasionally, I assume when their bum cheeks are sore and they wanna try another chair.
 
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Since I am not familiar with the normal readings for such a scan, I cannot judge how yours looks. But I was thinking, if you use Diskpart and detail the partitions, it will tell you things like offset with which you might be able to compare to the other drives.

I think Disk Management looks at the SATA port for those drive numbers. Don't know why they would change, unless possibly an external was involved..

I can't think of a quick way to rebuild a partition table, but hopefully your software will be successful. I think Partition Wizard can also recover partitions, and it seems at the end it asks something about writing the data to the drive..but it has been a long time since I played with that. You may even want to try making the partition smaller (from the front) to make sure you left room for the drive data.
 
Thanks Clark, I've it in my mind all the files it's finding are in the 3 Macrium backups. I'll get diskpart next. 6 minutes left of Easus, something else I'll believe when I see it!!
 
OK, Update. Not being used to Easus it finished and then after "Next" gave me a list of about 150 partitions. 4 at a time Max. Anyhow's I highlighted the only one that was "high". Now at 30Gb of 99Gb Recovery to E: Might be missing a bit but a quick glance shows everything I can think of. So kudos to Easus. I had a horrible feeling the d/l would say "1Gb" limit but it's still going strong.

Now, the hard drive. The "recoveries" are older ones. I can afford to lose them. Best to Wipe the whole disc and reformat the two partitions?

And again Thanks Clark. A second opinion always makes me think outside the mindset I can channel myself into.
 
I just found the missing "40ishGB", hadn't selected Raw. More Kudos to Easus for letting you step backwards to re-check.

@JoeS, Yes I did. TBH I thought that was going to be my saviour, but even it saw the "218Gb drive" as an "8Gb drive" with only recycle and sys info in it. Puppy Linux has dragged me out of a few corners, that to be honest, I put myself in before. But then that's easy, it's when you get thrown a wobbly by something I would call a trusted program, makes you think.....
Now when something you totally don't expect happens.... Well, gets the grey matter moving!

Sadly not all recovered files are replaced in the manner of the "original" tree. But least I got them.
 
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The problem with partitioning is most of us rarely do it and it's easy to screw up. I can probably count the number of times I've partitioned on my fingers. Over the years I've installed the OS a huge number of times. on real PCs and virtual ones. It's definitely not one of my favorite tasks.
Joe
 
Elmer, Do you mean you attempted a repartition with Acronis True Image Home? This is not a partitioning app, as you found out. Perhaps I missed something (did not read every post). Acronis is an Imaging app. You would need to use a 3rd party partitioning app to accomplish what you wanted. These apps can reclaim that space and move your entire C Drive to the newly reclaimed space with no problems. Here's how:

Start with Recovery Partition and C Drive Partition with OS and apps.

Use a 3rd party app such as Partition Wizard or EaseUS Partition Magic (I have used both to do this procedure with excellent results)

note: The Win 7 Disk Manager will elliminate the Recovery Partition, but will not be able to recover that space (It is in front of the C Drive. Win 7 can recover unallocated space behind the C Drive, not in front)

First - open Win 7 Disk Manger or either of the 3rd party apps. Delete the partition you wish to reclaim (Make sure you choose the correct partition. I have renamed my partitions to easily identify them: Note my naming convention)

PartitionWizard.jpg

Second - Once you have deleted the space, it will show up as unallocated space. You can then reclaim this space using either of those 3rd party apps. (This is where Win 7 Disk Manager will fail, it can reclaim unallocated space behind the partition in question, not in front of it)

note: This operation involves reclaiming the space and moving all your files on the partition in questions to the front of the newly reclaimed space.

This operation must happen outside of Windows so after you choose what you want the partition app to do it will reboot your PC and perform the operation. Once completed your PC will reboot and you will see something similar to my screenshot above. My PC originally had a recovery partition with Vista (originally bought PC with Vista) I have done this several times on several PC's with excellent results.

Elmer, unfortunately this is kind of like locking the barn door after the horse has already left the barn, but it may help the next person. As always, make a good full system Image before doing any of these things in case something goes wrong.
 
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@Ted, It was Disk Director but after the joy of EaseUS Recovery finding everything that had been "hidden" I'll be looking at there Partitioner for future use.

Funny how once bitten etc. Years ago I had a Ford Cortina. Worst car I've ever owned and I've never bought another Ford since. Acronis has been binned.
 
Keep an eye on Give Away Of The Day I got the EaseUS Partition Master Pro there a few months ago.
Joe
 
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