Deleted recovery and boot partitions; can no longer boot

Jagwar · 02 Feb 2016

I used MicroTool partition manager to delete the extra partitions on an OS drive with win10 (leaving just the main C partition on the drive), and now the laptop will not recognize the SSD with the OS on it, and obviously cannot boot. I also tried using the bootable partition recovery tool from MicroTool, but restoring the partitions also does not work, it will only allow one of the two partitions to be restored.
Any suggestions to recreate these necessary partitions?

NavyLCDR · 02 Feb 2016

Install Macrium Reflect Free on an operating computer. Create a rescue USB/DVD with it. Boot the laptop with the Macrium rescue USB/DVD. Under the restore menu is an option to fix windows startup problems.
Macrium Reflect Free

Also, Kyhi's Bootable Windows PE might have EasyBCD on it. You can use EasyBCD to create boot files from scratch:
Windows 10 Recovery Tools - Bootable Rescue Disk - Windows 10 Forums

If you have an UEFI bios you are probably going to need to create a small (150mb) FAT32 partition to hold the boot files. But you can try just putting the boot files on C: drive first.

Jagwar · 02 Feb 2016

I tried Reflect, the repair takes almost no time and it didn't work... so ya.
I am in the process of using a bootable EaseUS Partition manager and using their online instructions for this problem to fix it. I will post how it turns out.
I am also not sure if my bios is UEFI.

topgundcp · 02 Feb 2016

If EaseUS Partition manager does not work.
With only drive C: connected. Boot up with Macrium Rescue disk again. Click on the Command Prompt icon on bottom left then type:

Diskpart
select disk 0
list par
exit

Copy and paste the result so we have an idea if your Windows was installed using GPT or MBR disk type.
Then we can suggest what need to be done.

Jagwar · 02 Feb 2016

Still trying to get EASEUS running

Jagwar · 02 Feb 2016

No luck with EASEUS or even Aomei partition manager
By the way, I am running Kyhi's bootable OS in attempt to get somewhere

XweAponX · 02 Feb 2016

You can use MiniTool to copy, delete or move partitions, you have to remember never to delete the "reserved" or the partition(s) that seem to be "unallocated". You mau be able to recover those partitions if you use a tool like Hiren's Boot CD that has Partition Wizard 7 included, if not, MiniTool sells a partition Recovery tool that may or may not work, I think in your case though, by deleting those partitions you have lost your Boot partition.

See below, this is my Windows 10 partition. There is an Unallocated, then a reserved, then at the end there is another unallocated. These are all created with Windows Setup during an initial install. Maybe there is some way to re-create those partitions on a new drive, you would have to copy the partitions marked 1 and 2 from a valid Windows 10 HDD first, then you could copy over your main System partition. Then copy that final partition and make sure it ends up at the very end of the drive. I've done things like this before when Moving my system drive and it worked, but the partitions I copied were all the original partitions from the system drive. You could try this, but it would have to be copied from a system that had the exact same version of Windows 10 as you had there. But it is a longshot.

I've done what you did before and lost my whole system, I don't know if there are other ways to recover it. For future reference, note the image below and if you ever do this kind of thing in the future, leave the 3 selected partitions alone. Also give Navy's suggestion a try.

Deleted recovery and boot partitions; can no longer boot-win10partition.png

Jagwar · 02 Feb 2016

XweAponX said:

You can use MiniTool to copy, delete or move partitions, you have to remember never to delete the "reserved" or the partition(s) that seem to be "unallocated". You mau be able to recover those partitions if you use a tool like Hiren's Boot CD that has Partition Wizard 7 included, if not, MiniTool seems a partition Recovery tool that may or may not work. I think in your case though, by deleting those partitions you have lost your Boot partition.

See below, this is my Windows 10 partition. There is an Unallocated, then a reserved, then at the end there is another unallocated. These are all created with Windows Setup during an initial install. Maybe there is some way to re-create those partitions on a new drive, you would have to copy the partitions marked 1 and 2 from a valid Windows 10 HDD first, then you could copy over your main System partition. Then copy that final partition and make sure it ends up at the very end of the drive. I've done things like this before when Moving my system drive and it worked, but the partitions I copied were all the original partitions from the system drive. You could try this, but it would have to be copied from a system that had the exact same version of Windows 10 as you had there. But it is a longshot.

I've done what you did before and lost my whole system, I don't know if there are other ways to recover it. For future reference, note the image below and if you ever do this kind of thing in the future, leave the 3 selected partitions alone. Also give Navy's suggestion a try.

I could indeed try copying partitions over from a fresh install on another system. I have other laptops and other hard drives to use.
I just don't know how to copy partitions or copy them in the proper way to get them to work together.

whs · 02 Feb 2016

I would try to fix the bootmgr

How to Manually Repair Windows 7 Boot Loader Problems

http://www.thewindowsclub.com/repair...rd-mbr-windows

XweAponX · 02 Feb 2016

Jagwar, just have both drives (plus a new empty drive) installed onto a PC. It's best to use Hiren's Boot CD to boot outside of your OS, Use Windows XP lite which is on the disk to mount an XP. Then open Partition Wizard, its in the Partition area of the Hiren's menu. In ytour case you would have to have 3 drives mounted, your hosed original, the working Win 10, and an empty drive. If you don't have enough SATA ports, then put one of the drives into an external USB case.

Start by copying the first two partitions from the WORKING Win 10 drive. Hit Apply and it will copy. Then, copy the main partition from your hosed drive. make sure you leave room at the end for the final partition, and after the main data is copied, then copy the partition at the end of the Good Win 10 disk to the new disk.

It's because Partition Wizard copies partitions in the exact order of how you choose them for copying - Actually, it's best to copy each partition one at a time so that they get copied in the right order. It only takes a few seconds to copy the boot and reserved partitions, it will take up to an hour to copy your main system partition.