HDD not recognised in file explorer only

Kungr · 26 Apr 2017

Hi, yesterday I turned on my pc to find that I can no longer boot off my main drive. Through installing windows on another drive and entering disk management, the drive shows as two equal "unallocated" partitions, the only option to delete and format them. If I use the Ubuntu file explorer, I am able to view all files on the drive. No changes were made before this happened.
Can anyone help me use the drive again without formatting it? Thanks.

dalchina · 26 Apr 2017

Hi, you could try the boot fix on a Macrium Reflect boot disk, also available on Kyhi's boot DVD/flash drive at the top of the Software and Apps section. This is said to be fairly comprehensive.

That said, it all depends on what has happened to your PC.

So I would start by using Kyhi's disk (which boots up as Win 10 with utilities- you can see the list where you download it- and running HDTune to do a check on your disk, assuming it's a compatible type with SMART parmeters.

Then I would also examine the partition layout, and check it's what you expect for either a UEFI or legacy BIOS layout, whichever you have.

If all is ok, then I would try the Macrium Fixboot routine.