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Corrupted primary partition?


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#1
shelleywa

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Hi All!

I partitioned my hard drive 50/50 donkey's years ago to use one as a backup partition. Now the space on my partition #1 is almost full and my partition #2 is empty, so I want to steal the space back to partition #1. Easy, yes? As if ANYTHING is EVER easy when it comes to computers :lol:

I have now tried THREE different partition softwares - Acronis Partition Expert, Partition Magic and MiniTool Partition Wizard. All 3 told me that I couldn't take any space from P2 and add it to P1. Acronis said the partition had reached its maximum size. Partition Magic wouldn't let me do ANYTHING in the demo version (one wonders what the point of it actually is). MiniTool lets me set up the operation but when I give it the go-ahead it says the partition has errors and to use the 'check file system' button. This requires a reboot to scan for errors, seemingly doesn't find any and reboots as normal. I try again to add space to P1 and get the error again. I've moved the free space from P2 into 'unallocated space' but still can't add it.

Can anyone tell me what's going on?? Or even better how to fix it? When an OS corrupts you can just wipe it clean and start again but what can you do when a partition corrupts?? :help:

Any help/advise would be gratefully received, thank you.

Shelley Bean
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#2
Wolfeymole

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If you have right clicked on partition 2 and clicked Delete Partition then you should be left with the same amount of space which then says Unallocated.

Right click on the partition again and click format.

Format it using the same file structure that is on partition 1, ie FAT 32 or NTFS.

Once done you should be able to increase the space on partition 1 to incorporate partition 2.
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#3
123Runner

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Have you tried Easeus Partition Master Free?
Also, you indicated that the 2nd partition was for back ups but it was empty.
You do need to have backups of all of your data. The backups should not all be on the same physical drive. A partition can become corrupted, but you can also have a mechanically bad drive and you will lose the OS and your data.
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#4
shelleywa

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Thank you for your replies!

Wolfeymole, I tried this but I still got the same message.

123runner, I tried this also and the same thing happened!

I think now that 4 different programs have shown pretty much the same thing, it's safe to conclude that my C drive is corrupted :no:

I'm going to do a thorough clean (AVG, CCleaner, Spybot), then a defrag, then run one more error check and try to increase the space again.

If it STILL doesn't work, I'm guessing my only other option is to format the C drive and start all over again, do you think?? I hate playing computers, it takes hours :killcomp:

Also 123runner, I just bought a second External HDD, so I can now have backups on THREE completely separate locations. :cool:
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#5
Wolfeymole

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What operating system are you running as I suspect it's XP.

We also need a screen shot of what it shows in Disk Management please.
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#6
123Runner

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Correct me if I am wrong, but I believe that even if the "C" portion is corrupted we should still be able to resize the partition.
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#7
shelleywa

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Yes, it is XP. Oh dear Wolfeymole, that doesn't sound good!

For the screen shot of disk management, do you mean when the computer restarts and does a disk check before loading Windows? How do I get a screen shot of that, does the 'Print Screen' button still work at that stage?

Also, since my original post I have encountered the dreaded BSOD... Argh! It's downhill from here then... :surrender:
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#8
Wolfeymole

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This sounds like the hard drive has failed Shelley, are you able to access Safe Mode by continually tapping F8 on reboot?
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#9
shelleywa

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Hi Wolfeymole,

Yes, it does let me do that.
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#10
Wolfeymole

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In Safe Mode can you go to the section called Last Known Good Configuration?
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#11
shelleywa

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Yes I can but don't think I need to do that, as I only got the BSOD once and it hasn't happened since. I think I'm going to do a clean install anyway, as it's been doing strange little things for a while now.

As I'm doing a clean install anyway, I would like to sort out the corrupted partition issue at the same time (seems like a perfect time to do it in case it all goes kaput - at least I (technically) won't lose my backed-up data).

Will a clean install likely solve the corrupted partition issue automatically?

Also, if my system was backed up since the C drive corrupted (likely), would the restoration of that back-up also be corrupted?

Many thanks for your ongoing help with this!
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#12
Wolfeymole

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There's nothing wrong with doing a clean install every so often Shelley and while doing it I'd delete all partitions, create a new one and install to that.

Once done you could use Easeus to make a new partition for new backups but the down side of this is that if the primary drive dies then so do the backups.

I have three external drives with one being solely for backups.

You're welcome by the way.

Edited by Wolfeymole, 27 January 2013 - 04:41 AM.

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#13
shelleywa

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OK, so that sounds like the best solution. But my Laptop came with the OS already installed (for a clean install I just restore factory settings) - if I delete the C drive partition, won't the OS be lost also?
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#14
Wolfeymole

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I must refer back to when I mentioned asking you to do a screen shot of what it says in Disk Management which I need to see.

To do this Right click on My Computer and in the box that opens choose Manage.

In the next box that opens open the section called Storage, (it may already be open).

Click on Disk Management and maximise the screen if need be.

Press Print Screen, nothing will appear to happen.

Open Paint and hold down Ctrl + V and the shot will appear.

Save the shot with a file name in either .jpeg or .png format and then add it as an attachment in your next reply.
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#15
shelleywa

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I have attached the image. The second partition SERVICEV001 was visible in my computer up until when I first started trying to increase the C drive. Now it's not visible in my computer.

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