How can I fix my NTFS partition?

[furything]

Just a quick question.
You only tried to resize the windows 7 partition - a big partition?
You did not touch a partition called system reserved about 100mb???

From ubuntu live can you run in a terminal

sudo fdisk -l

and post results here so we can see how the disk is partitioned

[Vinay Kumar D]

Hi All,

In attempting to shrink my NTFS drive to a smaller size, so I can dual boot my currnet Windows 7 with a brand new Ubuntu 12.10 (didn't want to use Wubi), I've somehow managed to stuff up the drive and what Windows can see.

Essentially, after shrinking it with a partition manager, Windows blue screens upon restarting. I shrank it while Windows was running (which is valid to my surprise, according to many Windows 7 & 8 dual boot HOW-TOs), and it said to restart to finish off the process.

Other partition managers I burnt to an ISO say it's a raw format. Ubuntu *trumpets blare* to the rescue; the live CD said I can see your NTFS partition sure no problem.

SO. Here's my issue. I'd like to recover my drive, so that Windows can boot again. Whether I then format or not, I'd like to get Windows running so I can do things like run steam and properly back-up... run other programs that can't just be copied over.

How do I fix my NTFS partition from an Ubuntu Live CD?

I've tried so far:

• ntfsfix /mount/point/31415: Runs & exits fine; have tried with all parameters
• ntfs-label /mount/point/34154 NEW_LABEL: Said sure no problem. Hasn't helped.
• fsck /mount/point/3115: Said it can't find/run fsck.ntfs. I can't find that package either.

Help would be greatly appreciated!! I'll update this description with clarifications as they come.

I faced same problem while installing ubuntu.
Boot using WindowXp cd.. continue till partition process, soon after partition-exit the setup... Your memory will be back.

[darkod]

I faced same problem while installing ubuntu.
Boot using WindowXp cd.. continue till partition process, soon after partition-exit the setup... Your memory will be back.

First, the OP didn't even start installing ubuntu. This was done by the windows partitioning program.

Second, if you start the windows installer and write new table/partitions, you will lose all data on the disk even if you don't continue installing XP. The OP doesn't want that.

[Mark Phelps]

I faced same problem while installing ubuntu.
Boot using WindowXp cd.. continue till partition process, soon after partition-exit the setup... Your memory will be back.

The OP said they are using Win7. You do NOT want to mess around with Win7 filesystem partitions using an XP CD.

To the OP: What you can try (which probably will not work -- but you never know) is using a Windows PC to download and burn the Minitool Partition Wizard Boot CD. Boot from that and see if it will let you select the Recover Partition option -- and if that works, you should be OK.

[collisionystm]

The OP said they are using Win7. You do NOT want to mess around with Win7 filesystem partitions using an XP CD.

To the OP: What you can try (which probably will not work -- but you never know) is using a Windows PC to download and burn the Minitool Partition Wizard Boot CD. Boot from that and see if it will let you select the Recover Partition option -- and if that works, you should be OK.

Unless you know something I don't, there is no reason that windows XP cannot safely manipulate a windows 7 partition. The NTFS file system structure has not changed in a very long time.

[mikesena]

First, it would help to specify which software you used to shrink the partition. The built in Disk Management? Or third party?

I can't remember the name of it... I could find the link. Yes to using Windows first though.

What you can do from ubuntu live mode is download and run a program called Testdisk which scans the disk for partitions that existed earlier and in many cases can restore them back. You have a step by step here:
www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/TestDisk_Step_By_Step

VERY IMPORTANT: Testdisk can help much, and also mess it up much more! If you don't understand it, ask before doing any actions. I suggest you first do the Deeper Search, post the screenshot of it which will show all old partitions found (including ones you might have deleted on purpose), and then we can see what can be done.

Thanks! Will try TestDisk tonight.

[mikesena]

Just a quick question.
You only tried to resize the windows 7 partition - a big partition?
You did not touch a partition called system reserved about 100mb???

From ubuntu live can you run in a terminal

sudo fdisk -l

and post results here so we can see how the disk is partitioned

At work so I can't paste the error, but there was a problem running this. Complained about being able to list for some reason. Will paste the results later.

[furything]

At work so I can't paste the error, but there was a problem running this. Complained about being able to list for some reason. Will paste the results later.

Try running up gparted or disk utility and post a screen shot or the partitions.

I know a bit late as we need to get windows working again first but is this a desktop?
instead of using a single hard drive (if desk top) you could install a second hd and have that for linux.
Similarly for a laptop you could install (as opposed to live boot) a usb stick.

[Mark Phelps]

Unless you know something I don't, there is no reason that windows XP cannot safely manipulate a windows 7 partition. The NTFS file system structure has not changed in a very long time.

Actually, YES it did. MS made some changes to NTFS when Vista came along and continued with Win7. I found out the hard way when I created an NTFS partition using GParted for a Vista install, and repeatedly had filesystem failures after that. I blew that away, recreated it with Vista -- and there were no problems after that.

The article below lists some NTFS changes:

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/l...=ws.10%29.aspx

[collisionystm]

Actually, YES it did. MS made some changes to NTFS when Vista came along and continued with Win7. I found out the hard way when I created an NTFS partition using GParted for a Vista install, and repeatedly had filesystem failures after that. I blew that away, recreated it with Vista -- and there were no problems after that.

The article below lists some NTFS changes:

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/l...=ws.10%29.aspx

I found out the hard way when I created an NTFS partition using GParted

Why would you use a linux tool to create an NTFS file system? You created it using NTFS-3G. NTFS-3G is an opensource NTFS compatible tool made so linux can read an NTFS drive. I would never trust Gparted to safely create a stable NTFS partition.
That being said, XP can create an NTFS partition a million times better than Gparted.