Deleting a partition can cause a lot of trouble. Thankfully partitions can be rather easy to recover and this tutorial will guide you through process of recovering a partition created by Windows. To make this tutorial, I deleted a partition with Windows XP on it, then I booted up the computer and got a “Operating System Not Found” error. Then in about 5 minutes I recovered the partition with Testdisk, via BootMed, and rebooted my computer. It booted up into Windows as if nothing had happened!
Before I continue, I cannot stress the importance of making regular back ups. I suggest using MyPCBackup, an online back up utility. MyPCBackup is easy to use and comes with a free version. Even if you mistakenly delete an file, you can recover it from your MyPC Backup.
You will find a shortcut to TestDisk on BootMed’s desktop, just double click it to start TestDisk.
In the window that opens hit enter to select [Create].
TestDisk will then show a list of your storage devices. Use the up/down arrows to select your hard drive. Here are a couple hints for finding your hard drive:
- ATA will probably be part of its label
- It will most likely be the largest drive listed
- It will not have USB as part of its label (unless it is an external hard drive)
Once you have found your drive, use the up/down arrow keys to select it and hit enter.
Next select [Intel] and hit enter.
On the next menu select [Analyse] and hit enter.
You will then be asked if the partition was “created under Vista.” If you have Windows Vista, hit the Y key otherwise hit the N key on your keyboard.
After TestDisk searches your drive, it will list all of the partitions it has found. Using the up/down arrows, select your partition and hit enter.
Now TestDisk will ask you what you want to do. Hit the left arrow key and select [Write] then hit enter.
TestDisk will now ask you if you would like to Write Partition Table (Y/N), hit the Y key. TestDisk will then prompt you that you need to reboot your computer to finish recoverying the partition. Just restart and you should have your partition back.
