[Solved] Partition Table lost - Testdisk fails to write GPT (MBR works)

Discussion in 'PC Hardware' started by KNARZ, Oct 4, 2014.

  1. KNARZ

    KNARZ MDL Addicted

    Oct 9, 2012
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    #1 KNARZ, Oct 4, 2014
    Last edited: Oct 4, 2014
    Hm...
    I don't know how and when (today) but my 3TB WD HDD lost it's Partitiontable.
    I fixed a few HDDs with Testdisk but this one doesn't allow me to do what I want. I'm not an expert on recovery as "Quick" or "Deep search" (in Testdisk) always did the job for me.

    My problem is I also that I really don't know the format MBR or GPT as also I don't know the sectorsize.

    I guess(ed) it's GPT with 4KB or 8KB... I exprimented a little with GPT/MBR and size. I know that I have 3 partitions with 1Tb, 1TB, rest (760GB or something). The only matching setting I can achieve (by testdisk) the 1Gb 1Gb 760GB structur is by 512KB sector and with MBR. But this doesn't fix the Partitions. - Also testdisk gives errors about NTFS sectorsize which should be 1024 or something (512 != 1024).

    Any attempt to write a GPT to the Disk ends with "write error". Under Window and Linux (bought current Partition Magic ISO for this). I only can edit the partitiontable with Intel/MBR settings. I don't really get it and don't know what to do now.


    ATM I'm copying all my stuff (nearly 2TB) within Testdisk (list/copy files) to another HDD (my Just in Case HDD - not it is the case!) It get's all read out but will take hours.
    Maybe someone can help or has a clue/guess what could might be the problem?!


    I would donate donate 10 bucks and Partition Magic for a solving answer... This Issue took and still take me down a whole f* day.
     
  2. KNARZ

    KNARZ MDL Addicted

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    #2 KNARZ, Oct 4, 2014
    Last edited: Oct 4, 2014
    (OP)
    Okay solved the issue.
    Used gdisk to recover some gpt things that testdisk was not able. After using gdisk with (r (recover) and c (load from backup sector) option) and committing (w)) I was able to use testdisk to write GPT information... No Drives in windows found yet but no MBR things left. - Had manually select every 2. partition (you get it double as this is the backup sector information) After writing/appyling the information I checked on filesystems utils (in testdisk). So than I checked Bootsector for every partition. This one was Bad for all drives - and is the cause of not appearing in Windows. I did "Rebuild BS." as there was no option to use the backupsector, and this Backup sector was Bad. This means Main und Backup Bootsectors have to match. Unless the Backupsector is not recovered the disk don't appear in Windows but in Linux! - After rebuilding the BS for each partition they appeard in Windows. Worth to Mention: I did NOT fix MFT! You better don't do it.
    After it's all done and fixed I used checkdisk with /x /f options on every partition.

    Problem solved.
    Cause.... I don't know. It is a WD 3TB Green. I guess I will change the HDD soon to Hitachi or WD Red or. Back

    And I also didn't know the real difference between "Sectorsize" (physical) and "Blocksize" (logical). In kind of panic I mixed it...
     
  3. KnowledgeableNewbie

    KnowledgeableNewbie MDL Member

    Sep 30, 2014
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    congrats! glad all worked well for you. that's why it's always a good idea to have a good backup of all the important stuff. or a good disk image to work from. dism works well for this because it only back up files. not sectors. so you can reformat and then apply the image in a lot less time. at least that's how i do it. if you browse the forum you can get all the info you need. just make sure the backups are on a separate drive. good luck.
     
  4. Mr.X

    Mr.X MDL Guru

    Jul 14, 2013
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    Had the same issue a couple of hours ago. I was doing some dism stuff on Windows 10 TP and suddenly my second 1 partition GPT HDD disappeared and is completely inaccessible.
    Where do I get that gdisk tool?
    I don't want to recover data, I want that partition to be visible for Windows once again.
     
  5. s1ave77

    s1ave77 Has left at his own request

    Aug 15, 2012
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