Windows 8 Upgrading to Window 8.1 Corrupted the Partition to my D Drive?

eROCK

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Mar 30, 2014
I'm desperately trying to find some help with this. I recently upgraded from Windows 8 to 8.1. I really didn't want to, but I just wanted my computer to stop bugging me about upgrading. I finally did, and when it was all said and done, it looked like my D Drive wasn't recognized. I sat with Windows support for almost 3 hours, and they couldn't fix my issue. They said level 2 engineers could, but I would have to pay $150 for their "Paid Support", which is ridiculous. Frankly, I don't think I should have to pay for support when everything was working fine before their update. I restarted the computer, and the drive would show up for about 10 minutes and then seemingly disappear. I can get it to come back after restarting the computer, but again, only for about 10 minutes. Is there some way I can fix this on my own? I'm not ready to fork over $150 when all I wanted is for Windows to stop bugging me about an update.
 
What is D drive? External: partition?

Can you post up a disk management picture?
 
Well you can't be all that desperate since the details of your problem are secret:

1. Make, model and brand.

2. When your d: drive goes away, does the computer generate an error report?

3. Did you do a pre-upgrade system test… did your system past it?

Hint, a screenshot is worth a thousand words.
 
It's an Intel Raid, I'm not sure if that is the exact model, or where to find that info. Internal disk. I never did a system test before upgrading to 8.1, I didn't know I needed to.
Disk Management.jpg
There's no error when it disappears, but it shows up as unallocated space in my disk management after about 10 minutes after I restart the computer. I've watched it change in my disk management from a Healthy, Active partition to unallocated space in the blink of an eye. I try to initialize the disk, but I get an error saying: Data Error (cyclic redundancy check).
 
Just so I understand, you have Windows 8/8.1 Legacy install on the SSD and the second drive is not a RAID setup, just a normal drive?

Since you are working with an SSD, had you made any configuration changes to your install prior to the 8.1 update?

Since the drive shows as "Not Initialized", can you put it in another machine to see if your data is still there, or disconnect it to check your system?

I've watched it change in my disk management from a Healthy, Active partition to unallocated space
Does the drive have an active partition on it, and if so, why?
 
Before you do anything. What is the size of your disk(s) It looks like you should have somewhere around 570 gbs? If that checks, then I would first format it and give it a letter designation. - See how it then runs
 
I think I was posting at the same time as Saltgrass. I think you should follow him so that there is no confliction..
 
Since the drive shows as "Not Initialized", can you put it in another machine to see if your data is still there, or disconnect it to check your system?

Unfortunately, I don't have any other machines I could try this on. As far as I know, it should be set up as a normal drive. I'm not computer wizard, but I'll try to answer the questions as best I can, as I'm learning a lot of this as I go. I didn't make any changes to my SSD before the 8.1 update. It simply asked me to download the update from the Windows store app, then asked me to restart the computer to apply the update, and then I have had this issue ever since. The drive says it is an active partition before it turns to unallocated space, and I activated it after the 8.1 update, thinking that may fix the issue.
 
From the picture...the D drive in unallocated and needs to be converted to a simple drive so it can assign it a drive letter. Right click the drive and select new volume.

To create a simple volume using the Windows interface
  1. In Disk Management, right-click the unallocated space on the dynamic disk on which you want to create the simple volume, and then click New Simple Volume.
  2. In the New Volume Wizard, click Next, click Simple, and then follow the instructions on your screen.

resource link..... http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc725610.aspx
 
Unfortunately, the option to create a new simple volume is greyed out and unable to be selected. The only option I have is to select "Properties" and "Help" when right-clicking on the drive when it becomes unallocated.
 
If I understand correctly, you say that a system reboot restores the drive to healthy for a few moments before it drops off again… if that’s the case a format is not the answer because the drive itself could be faulty but we need more answers before we can solve this;

a. Is there any important info on it that needs to be backed up? … personally, I'd remove the drive in this case.

b. Who installed this ssd drive?... do you know if it was cloned from what is now your D: drive & how long ago was it installed i.e. from day 1 or a later upgrade?

c. Most importantly does the intermittent nature of the drive have any consistent features i.e. does opening a certain program affect it… has time got any influence on the outcome… that is, are you sure it always happens within 10 minutes running time or does it sometimes go for an hour and other times happen right away?
 
Hi

I'm going to suggest what is pretty much my standard comment for practically everything.

Make a Ubuntu disk, boot your computer to it and if you can see your D:\ drive back up all your data before you do anything drastic.

http://www.ubuntu.com/download/desktop

Make a 12.04 32 bit disk, for general compatibility.

If you haven't done this before, you download the ISO file and write it to a DVD using Imgburn.

Use the option "Write Image File to Disk"

Put the disk in your computer and reboot. it should boot into Ubuntu, (a version of Linux) and give you access to all the drives in your computer whether Windows sees them or not.

http://www.imgburn.com/

Once you have your data backed up you won't have to worry about losing all your data by doing something that erases the disk.

I'd second DaveHC's suggestion of trying Eases Partition Tool.
It has a Recovery Wizard that will check the drive and attempt to make it readable.

Mike
 
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