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#!!##!*~# Microsoft!

Two days ago my main computer - this one - refused to boot past the large Windows logo page (Windows 10). After the third attempt I was offered a Windows recovery facility which I ran. Since then the PC has been slow to boot but it does get there. I have/had a SSD and a HDD set up into a total of five partitions.

Tonight, for the first time since the boot problem, I tried to download something into my Download partition on the HDD. It ain't there! It's disappeared. So has my Data partition on the SSD. Fortunately I back up everything every day with Acronis TrueImage 2020 to an external USB drive and I haven't used this computer much lately apart from browsing hence why it's taken me two days to notice the disappearance. So I'm not worried about losing the data on either partition as I can see it in my backup taken before the boot problem.

Any recommendations for partition recovery software? From what I see on t'internet the data may still be on the HDD/SSD and the partitions may be recoverable. The HDD was divided into two partitions but now shows just one on it. The SSD had three partitions and only two now show on it. I'm inclined to go for Acronis Disk Director 12.5 Home as I already use Acronis TrueImage for backup. I could of course just subdivide the HDD/SSD partitions and run my backup but I'd like to try recovering the partitions first in case the data is just hidden.

Commiserations.

I too lost a SSD earlier this year.
They do not seem to have the reliability of HDD's yet.
I'm not planning on replacing mine in the near future.

As for recovery s/w, I couldn't access the SSD at all!
If had the SSD connected, to any port, the PC/Win wouldn't boot.

C16 - it sounds as if your Master Boot Record (MBR) was somehow damaged either before or during the recovery. Googling partition loss will offer many programmes (and the way using 'CMD') to recover the partition/s which is probably still there. Some 'costing', some free. I have used 'minitools'(free!) very successfully for many years - it has partition recovery on it. https://www.minitool.com/free-tools/min ... overy.html

Assuming the partition/s is still present it simply 'tells' the MBR to recognise it.

I use Paragon as partitioning software. It's on the computer but not used it for ages.

Your other delight my be updating Windows.

PN - I don't think Paragon Free will recover a partition - most 'free' disk management software (including MiniTools) requires an 'upgrade' (ie dosh) to recover a partition. The really free way is via CMD, although Stellar Free https://www.stellarinfo.com/partition-r ... 0a0a180513 claims to offer recovery of up to i1b partitions.

BOAC mine was free but it isn't free of you see what I mean

PC Inspector File Recovery will find and restore partitions from a damaged boot sector. In your case MS may have overwritten the boot sector, which will make it more difficult, but the programme can still recover the partitions by examining the whole disk. I have not used it on Win 10 though.

Thanks for all the suggestions. I have found that, as Boac says, the free versions mainly won't do partition recovery and the demo versions of paid ones will only recover small partitions. So I bit the bullet and paid for Acronis Disk Director. I ran their 'automatic' recovery program earlier today and it failed to find the lost partitions.

At the moment I'm running their 'complete' method. More thorough than the automatic scan but it's slow. Looking at current progress I reckon it will be this time tomorrow before it finishes - and I really don't hold out much hope.....but at least I've got an up to date program to then re-partition what's left and then I can reinstall my backups.

I shall never understand how a computer's mind works! Acronis Disk Director finished its 'complete' run earlier today and still didn't find my two missing partitions. So I intended to resize what was left so I could put back the two missing partitions and then I would recover the data from my backup.

I created a new partition from 43GB of unallocated space that had appeared. I then merged it with the existing adjoining partition which contained all my programs. Acronis needed to reboot the PC to complete the task. When the PC rebooted it wouldn't go past the Windows logo - back to where I was on 5 November. I manually rebooted once more and eventually Windows Recovery started up. It gave me the options of restarting - which it said might work sometimes - or going through the Recovery process. What the hell, I thought, and took the restart option before attempting the Recovery option.......and all my partitions came back with all my data from before all this happened. Magic! I wonder how long it will last though.

Huzzah! Well done - as you say it is a black art. However, you are back.

Well my euphoria didn't last long! It seems quite a few of my programs have lost their association and won't start up. MS Word has frozen and there is nothing I can do about it. Even Task Manager won't launch. So I think a complete reinstall of Windows 10 is called for.........at least this basic computer which I use for my weather software and upload to my website is working okay.

Buggah! Have a look at https://appuals.com/fix-task-manager-no ... indows-10/ before you re-install. Personally i would look at items 1,3 and 4 and not create a new user yet.

It sounds as if your machine has been nadgered well and truly.

You might try a 'repair' of Office as well to see if that will fix Word - assuming you can get into Programmes and Features!!.

Thanks Boac - that has worked. After I shut down Word in Task Manager the PC came alive again. Weird or what!

Weird or what

- indeed - remember both 'Weird' and Windows' begin with W................

The solution of course is to load XP as an OS with all three major updates, and turn automatic updating off once you've done so. Use Malwarebytes once a day and you're set. All you need, and you're free of those unmentionable so-and-so's in Redmond periodically buggering everything up for no reason.

Lost the two partitions again today so bit the bullet and did a reset which reinstalled Windows 10 and kept my non-Windows files. On rebooting, all the partitions came back and no data lost. However all my programs have to be reinstalled as the links have been broken with the fresh install. I won't be convinced this has fixed it until a trouble free week has gone by.

OFSO - I use the paid up version of Malwarebytes so its looking for problems continuously and nips them in the bud rather than dealing with them afterwards. XP won't work for me as I have programs that won't run on it. This is the first big hiccup in four years of using Windows 10. For me XP never lasted long without rolling on its back with its feet in the air.

I use paid-up MalwareB on three of the computers: two WIN7 and one XP. The Linux machine and Chromebook don't need it. Only had one XP failure many years ago. As many people here agree, Linux is the way to go for a tranquil life ! My main PC I built to default to Linux if the SSD running XP fails.

CharlieOneSix wrote: ↑

Mon Nov 11, 2019 5:39 pm

Lost the two partitions again today so bit the bullet and did a reset which reinstalled Windows 10 and kept my non-Windows files. On rebooting, all the partitions came back and no data lost. However all my programs have to be reinstalled as the links have been broken with the fresh install. I won't be convinced this has fixed it until a trouble free week has gone by.

OFSO - I use the paid up version of Malwarebytes so its looking for problems continuously and nips them in the bud rather than dealing with them afterwards. XP won't work for me as I have programs that won't run on it. This is the first big hiccup in four years of using Windows 10. For me XP never lasted long without rolling on its back with its feet in the air.

Just stumbled back on this, remarkably similar to my crash. The rebuild is a pain especially with some older programs like Office 2007 where updates are no longer available.

An update on my woes. The two partitions kept disappearing and intermittently reappearing on boot up even after the rebuild. Thick person that I am, I eventually realised that these were the only two partitions on a 400GB hard disk that I use for data and photos. I replaced the power and SATA cables individually but nothing changed. Then I swapped the SATA cable with another HDD cable position on the motherboard. The problem swapped HDD's. So it was a motherboard connector problem all along. Fortunately I had a spare motherboard connector so all is now sweetness and light. I could have saved myself a lot of aggro if I'd realised the problem was associated with just one hard disk but I didn't. However I now have a lightning fast Windows 10 having reinstalled everything.