Swapping a FAT32 partition to NTFS

[TimC]

Hello All,

After various other problems, I've found myself in the unenviable situation of having messed up my partitions so I now have one FAT32 partition and appear to have lost my real NTFS windows partition. How did I get here?

My computer wouldn't boot, so I looked at it using Recovery Console, when I did a dir it said there was nothing there. So I looked at the partitions using the XP boot CD and it said I had one unpartitioned space and another smaller available space on C:. The unpartitioned space was the NTFS one, which I assume was my current XP installation.

Back in recovery console, I did fixboot C: , which has got me in the situation I'm in now, I appear to only have one FAT32 partition and my NTFS one has disappeared...

Does anyone know if there is a way of getting my NTFS partition back, or should I just count my losses and reformat?

[-Vampyre-]

You might be able to fix it with some 3rd party partition/MBR recovery software that will scan the disk for the data on it to try and restore the partition info. I found one that is free called " Partition Recovery Bootable CD 3.5 ". I have never used one of these so YMMV. Sorry it isn't free, but i beleive you can use the free trial to see if it can show you your old partition. If it does then you can pay for it to fix it.

[Platypus]

Some well regarded freeware that has a good chance of recovering a drive (or at least some significant files) includes:

http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/TestDisk

http://www.pcinspector.de/Sites/file_recovery/info.htm?language=1

http://www.recuva.com/

In situations where free software is unsuccessful, or only partially, I've seen numerous statements that GetDataBack succeeded, however it's another solution that's not free. But the demo will determine what the program could recover for you.

http://www.runtime.org/

Some of the information on the runtime.org site regarding file recovery is general, and applies to attempting recovery using any software:

http://www.runtime.org/recoverability.htm

[t34b4g5]

If i'm not to tired and reading the OP like i think i'm reading this then here's a quick quote from a thread from AO.



You can change your Windows XP file system {FAT or FAT32 to NTFS}, without the need of formatting the partition! Simply, the following function and its switches can easly get the dirty job done!



Go to start=> run=> type "CMD" without quotes

then type, the follwoing:



Convert volume /FS:NTFS [/V] [/CvtArea:Filename] [/Nosecurity] [/X]



The first two switches are MUST! you can't operate without specifing the drive volume and its desired file system!



Volume: Specifies the drive letter {followed by a colon}, the volume name that you want to convert.

/FS:NTFS: Specifies converting the volume to NTFS.

/V: Runs the convert in the verbose mode.

/CvtArea:finelname: Specifies a contiguous file in the root directory to be the pleacholder for NTFS system files.

/Nosecuirty: Sets the security settings to make converted files and directories accessible by everone

/X: Forces the volume to dismount first if necessary, and all open handles to the volume are then not valid.



I hope you found it helpful rathar than helpless



Cheers

Source:

http://antionline.com/showthread.php?t=269687


Hope this helps. Will take a re-read once i get a some rest. :knife:

[Ferrit]

I think something else is amiss here. I cannot imagine how it is possible to change a drive from NTFS to FAT32 by typing fixboot C:.
I think before you do "anything" else i would advise pulling the drive out and hooking it to another computer as a slave and inspecting the drive.
I kind of suspect very little is recoverable at this point. That doesnt mean it is not recoverable. It means with whats been done the chances are slim and they get slimmer with everything you do to the drive. Pull it out and hook it to another computer and inspect it.

[TimC]

Thanks to reply #3.

TestDisk is a very useful utility, which is on a Knoppix LiveCD I happened to have lying around. I tried it once and it wouldn't detect my SATA hard drive, but then I realised you need to do it in a root window.

I can now see all my old paritions and all my old files (using testdisk), so I chose to write the partition table.

I wrote the partition table and it now looks like the following:


Partition Start End Size in Sectors
1 * HPFS - NTFS 5 0 1 14179 254 63 227721375
2 E extended LBA 14180 0 1 19040 254 63 7809965
3 P FAT32 LBA 19041 0 1 19451 254 63 6602715 [DellRestore]
5 L HPFS - NTFS 14180 1 1 19040 254 63 78091902 [Backup]

* = primarey bootable
P = Primary
L = Logical
E = Extended
D = Deleted


Now when I try to restart windows, I get the following message:

Windows could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt:
<Windows root>\system32\hal.dll


If I look at the computer using the Windows XP boot CD, it now thinks I have a C:, E: and F: drive.

Before all of this happened, I had just one visible C: drive, so I guess the other partitions need to be merged into this, or made invisible somehow? Once I've done that, I'm hoping that I can use the Windows XP repair install option to replace all my missing files etc and start again...

So my question is, what do I need to do to all that partition stuff?

[NooNoo]

If you have upset the hal.dll, you need to reinstall windows... you have a dell with a restore partition - if you mess with that you won't be able to do anything without the system recovery cd/dvd... do you have one?

[NooNoo]

Oh and reading the partition information, you do have a primary NTFS partition - the first one listed with a *

[TimC]

Hi NooNoo, thanks for the reply. You're right, I have a Dell which does have a DellRestore partition. But before I messed all this up, I could only see one C: partition, so I think I wrote the wrong partition information to disk, and thats why hal.dll has gone missing, as per #5 on:
http://pcsupport.about.com/od/findbyerrormessage/a/missinghaldll.htm

I suspect it is living on one of the other partitions I now have on my hard drive, thus I want to merge them all, but I'm not sure which to merge. I guess its the Extended one I need to get rid of?

[NooNoo]

The extended partition is the container in which the logical drives lives.

So on a normal hard drive you will have say
C: as your primary active partition
Then the extended partition will contain D: (or more if required)
Add to the mix a hidden partition, usually doesn't have a drive letter assigned but does have a volume label. The hidden partition is neither active nor in the extended partition.

Frankly I would just do a repair install... Dell provides you with a system disk so you can do this.

[TimC]

I don't have that one I think, I only have the XP one, but its got all the Dell branding on it... The only options it gives me when it boots are to reinstall XP or use the recovery console.

I'm currently using TestDisk and examining each set of partitions to see which has the write partition table, then I can write that one and hopefully it will work

[NooNoo]

A repair install does reinstall XP.... if you let setup run, press f8 to do the licence and then you get to the partition screen, you then get an option to repair the existing xp installation. If it doesn't offer you a repair there, then it's beyond repair!

[TimC]

The problem I'm having at the minute is TestDisk is offering me a lot of different partition files I can write to disk. All my files are still there and all the partitions are, with various partition tables available. The question is, which of those partition tables is the one I need to write to get my system as it was?

Tomorrow night, I'll copy down some of the different partition tables i'm being offered, then we might be able to figure out which is the correct partition table.

[NooNoo]

Hence why I suggested using the Windows cd... it will detect the windows installation in whichever partition it is in.