Summary:
Are you unable to access the partition due to corruption in the partition table? How would you know if the damage is in partition table? Here is a guide that helps you to understand partition table and problems associated with. Also, helps you recover data from inaccessible/invalid Partitions without losing any data.
What is a Partition Table?
The partition table is known for having basic information of a hard drive and its partitions. All the basic information that the partition table holds are very vital for the operating system to boot. When this partition table is damaged or corrupted, the operating system fails to boot the computer and throws up an error called an invalid partition table.
When the partition table gets corrupted or lost, the saved data on the drive will go missing. Under such situations, you need to restore partition immediately to recover the partition table and data from the drive.
Below given are the some of the reasons that can cause damage or corruption in the partition table and make partition table invalid.
What can Damage a Partition Table?
- A partition may get lost or damaged easily due to incorrect operation of the drives such as using command prompt to erase or clean MBR of hard drive without backing up data. If any tampering is observed on MBR, that would directly lead to damage in partition table.
(MBR stands for Master Boot Record which holds the information related to the logical partitions and file system along with the executable code that aids MBR to act as a loader for the OS installed on your computer)
- Drive failures are another major cause of MBR errors. MBR cannot be read if there are any defective clusters on the hard drive where MBR is located. That leads to invalid or damaged partition table.
- Some OS programs may accidentally overwrite the part of the MBR, causing it to be corrupt.
- Virus invasion or other software related to logical errors creates a need for partition table recovery.
If you encounter any of the above-mentioned scenarios, it is recommended to immediately stop using the partition and perform Partition recovery to keep your data intact.
Note: You can fix the partition table using a manual method, using bootrec.exe command and recover data. But, the manual methods need a strong technical hold to perform the Master boot process. In case, if you find complexity executing the commands or unable to complete the process, do not panic!!! Here is an automated way to fix the problem and recover the data from the partition without losing any of the data.
SFWare Partition Recovery tool is designed to recover lost, deleted or inaccessible Windows partition data along with the partition table in all sorts of data loss situations. Download the trial version and recover the partition table in a few clicks.
What is bootres.exe utility?
To rebuild the partition table, you can make use of bootrec.exe utility. The utility that Windows automatically starts with Windows Recovery Environment – a recovery platform based on Windows Preinstallation Environment.
Using bootrec.exe utility you can find various tools like Startup Repair, Command Prompt, etc that can potentially fix your computer problems. The utility also helps in recovering the partition table with all MBR data. Bootrec.exe can be used on all platforms of Windows like Windows 10, 8, 7, vista and other versions.
How to Rebuild Partition Table (MBR)?
Using bootrec.exe utility you can find various tools like Startup Repair, Command Prompt, etc that can potentially fix your computer problems. The utility also helps in recovering the partition table with all MBR data. Bootrec.exe can be used on all platforms of Windows like Windows 10, 8, 7, vista and etc.
- Initially, insert the CD/DVD of Windows OS and reboot the computer
- Press any key to boot from CD/DVD, select language and time
- Next, click on repair the computer, select the OS and click on Next
- After booting your system, launch the command prompt.
- Type bootrec.exe and enter to fix computer issue and to recover partition table
The bootrec.exe command is available with four options namely:
- bootrec.exe /fixmbr: Helps in repair corrupt/ damaged boot sector
- bootrec.exe /fixboot: Used write a new boot sector
- bootrec.exe /scanos: To add missing windows installations to the boot configuration data
- bootrec.exe /rebuildbcd: To rebuild boot configuration data
let’s see when and how to use these commands to rebuild the partition table.
Steps to Rebuild/ Repair Damaged Partition Table (MBR)?
The errors like “Operating System not found”, “Error loading operating system”, “Missing operating system” or “Invalid partition table” specifies that something went wrong with the MBR and it needs to be repaired. In such a situation run bootrec.exe /fixMbr to fix the error and the same command holds good to rebuild and recover partition table entries.
- Run bootrec /fixmbr to clean the Master Boot Record.
- Next, run exe /nt60 all /force
Where,
- nt60 is to repair the boot sector for Windows 10, 8, Vista, etc.
- all specifies that master boot code is updated on all the partitions
- force indicated that all volumes will be forcibly dismounted while boot is updating.
If you encounter boot time issues while replacing boot sector with any Windows boot sector, run bootrec.exe with /fixboot parameter. By running this command, a new boot sector is written to the system partition and partition table recovery can be performed.
Rebuild damaged BCD (Binary Coded Decimals) by using exe /rebuildbcd command
In case multiple operating systems are installed on your system, some of them turn unavailable due to the missing installation files of BCD on OS. MBR may go missing in such conditions, bootrec.exe /scanos scans for all the installed OS on the disks.
The above commands create a new MBR and allow the correct Windows boot loader to load the specific Windows installation that was previously unavailable. By these process you can easily fix MBR corruption and recover partition table linked with the MBR.
If you couldn’t fix the partition table, and wondering how to recover data from inaccessible partition, here is an automated solution to recover unreadable data from the partition without altering or losing the original data.
How to Recover Data Lost Due to Invalid Partition Table?.
SFWare Partition Recovery software is designed with a deep scan feature that effortlessly scans the entire hard drive sectors for the deleted, lost or corrupted partitions data. It helps in recovering the partition table along with its attributes in a few minutes. Download the free version now and try recovering the partition table with ease.
Steps to Recover Data from Corrupt Partition table
Download and Install the SFWare Partition Recovery Software. Launch the application.
- Click on Drive or Partition Recovery option and select the storage drive from which you want to recover the partition table and click on next.
- The software scans and displays the list of partitions available for recovery, skip the next process and go for the deep scan.
- After the completion of the deep scan process, you will be able to view recovered files in either File Type View or Data View.
The partition table is recovered along with the data recovered from the partition. Preview the files recovered from the drive and save in your preferred location on the computer.
Conclusion:
You can solve most of your Windows boot or startup problems using the bootrec.exe. If you fail to fix corrupt MBR, your data is still at stake. In such situations, it is recommended to recover your data before you lose it entirely. Make use of the SFWare partition recovery tool to recover data from the damaged partition table (partitions) without losing any data from the drive.