Invalid Partition Table - Win 7!! :@ :@

[Tjcrazy]

Basically while I was running Windows 7 I wanted to clone my 149GB Hard Drive to a 500GB partition on my 1TB HardDrive, with Ubuntu taking up the other 500GB.

I coulnd'nt clone using Windows tools because I always had an error of some sort. I then tried cloning using various Ubuntu tools on the Live CD - these didnt work either. I then tried dd if= of= command and it copied about 50% before an I/O error.


After the dd failed I tried booting Windows 7. The boot manager gave me 2 options. Win 7 ultimate and win 7 ultimate (recovered) win 7 ultimate never booted, because it was the new-er, half-cloned HD. The other windows loaded but was bugged, had to manually run explorer etc.

I then formatted my newer HD and tried booting from the old HD. I must of done something down the line, because I have all the data etc on the drive but:

There is no bootloader
diskpart cannot see the volume
bcdedit doesn't work
bootrec /fixbbot says element caanot be found
bootrec /scanos cannot find installations

I then went back into the recovery console and deleted the Windows 7 volume in diskpart - Which I don't think helped.

I load up my Ubuntu Live CD and look at gParted. I am shocked when it says both Hard Drives are 100% un-allocated. I then try sudo fdisk -l which returns:

ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ sudo fdisk -l

Disk /dev/sda: 1000.2 GB, 1000204886016 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 121601 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x000c56bc

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System

Disk /dev/sdb: 160.0 GB, 160041885696 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 19457 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x00000000

Disk /dev/sdb doesn't contain a valid partition table

/dev/sdb = Old 149GB Hard Drive - should contain Windows 7
/dev/sda = New 1000GB Hard Drive - should be empty.

Now I am stuck - I wouldn't mind re-installing Windows 7, but NEED some of the stuff on the Hard Drive.

Maybe a dd would help, but could make things worse?!?!?

Thanks in advanced

 

[clifford_cooley]

Hi Tjcrazy - Welcome to w7forums

If one of those drives is Seagate, Maxtor, Western Digital. There is free software that will let you create a Backup Image then you can restore the image to the new partition.

This process works best if your data is separate from the operating system. You should consider using smaller drives for your operating systems that will share the larger drive with all the data.

I have two operating systems installed to a 30-GB partition each and a larger 500-GB partition for all my data.

 

[Tjcrazy]

My 149GB Drive is a Seagate Barracuda ST3160811AS! Where could I find this software?

 

[clifford_cooley]

Check out this thread for more details

https://www.w7forums.com/backup-you-hard-drive-acronis-t1489.html

 

[Tjcrazy]

From what I have read, you cannot boot this of a CD? I can only access Ubuntu on the live cd - Windows 7 does not boot, so I cannot run the Disc Wiizard

 

[clifford_cooley]

DiscWizard will create Bootable media. Trust me Seagate drives are what I use.

 

[Tjcrazy]

I'm so close to fixing it, after spending two full days non-stop working on it.
Windows StartUp Repair on the DVD now says that there are no errors and that the OS should boot.

Now there is no option for me to select an OS, it just boots to Win 7. But I am getting an autochk error (Autochk program not found - skipping autocheck), which reboots my computer.

I have tried all of (Disable Autochk on Startup | Pcman.net) and nothing works.

THis is the last thing getting in my way of a succesfull boot!

 

[clifford_cooley]

If you are using Windows 7 Bootloader for the Boot manager you can try a program called EasyBCD to add entry's to the boot menu.

 

[Tjcrazy]

Would the EasyBCDchaning my boot settings do anything to this autochk error?

My Windows is booting, I can select Safe Mode etc, but whatever I select loads after a few mins gives me this 'autochk' error!