BOOTCAMP partition not showing up on Mac OSX after resize

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BOOTCAMP partition not showing up on Mac OSX after resize

Hello, I have a iMac 27" late 2013 with OSX 10.9.5 and recently I resized my bootcamp partition and reformatted the OSX partition for a clean install. After the formatting, I cannot see or access the Bootcamp partition anymore. I really don't want to have Windows anymore, but I messed up thinking I would be able to recover my files. I tried following these answers but none of them worked for me. Now I can try to boot into Windows, but it gets into a disk error.

- I tried this solution without any success: http://nerdr.com/bootcamp-partition-lost-repairing-mac-partitions/

- I tried LonerT's solution on this post but it was hard to apply to my case: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/6574886

diskutil list /dev/disk0

/dev/disk0

#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER

0: GUID_partition_scheme *1.0 TB disk0

1: EFI EFI 209.7 MB disk0s1

2: Apple_HFS Macintosh HD 550.3 GB disk0s2

3: Apple_Boot Recovery HD 650.0 MB disk0s3

4: Microsoft Basic Data BOOTCAMP 249.0 GB disk0s4

Could anyone give me some hints? I tried following other solutions but I don't really grasp how partitioning works on the OS X.

Thanks anyhow 🙂

iMac, OS X Mavericks (10.9.5)

Posted on Apr 27, 2015 11:15 AM

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Answer 1

Kappy

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Apr 27, 2015 11:19 AM in response to pmcimini

First, you need to use Disk Utility to partition the drive into one single volume equal to the full size of the drive. Then you need to reinstall OS X. After that you can use Boot Camp Assistant to create a new Windows partition but this time be sure it's the right size. Thereafter, do not make any further attempt to alter the partitions.

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Answer 2

pmcimini Author

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Apr 27, 2015 11:23 AM in response to Kappy

I see, but can I recover my data this way?

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Answer 3

Kappy

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Apr 27, 2015 11:32 AM in response to pmcimini

Nope. Once the drive or volume has been re-partitioned, re-formatted, or removed you cannot restore the data.

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Answer 4

Loner T

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Apr 27, 2015 11:37 AM in response to pmcimini

Can you post the output of the following commands?

sudo gpt -vv -r show /dev/disk0

sudo dd if=/dev/rdisk0s4 count=1 2>/dev/null | hexdump -C

As Kappy says, Windows should not be resized/repartitioned once installed. It is not supported, unless you use third-party tools.

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Answer 5

pmcimini Author

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Apr 27, 2015 11:38 AM in response to Kappy

Than it doesn't work for me. The Bootcamp partition is still there, I just can't access it anymore.

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Answer 6

Kappy

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Apr 27, 2015 11:50 AM in response to pmcimini

You gave the impression that you repartitioned the drive. So, now I'm not sure of the point of the question. You've re-sized your OS X partition. What did you want to do now?

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Answer 7

pmcimini Author

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Apr 27, 2015 11:55 AM in response to Kappy

Let me try to be more clear:

I have created a bootcamp drive long time ago. Therefore I had two data partitions on the HD (one for the OSX and the bootcamp). I needed more space in the Bootcamp partition and I repartitioned again by reducing the size of the OSX partition in disk utility and by increasing the size with a software in the windows. This worked OK for several months. However I decided to get a fresh install on the OSX partition and this broke the indexing for the bootcamp partition and now I cannot access it anymore.

The Bootcamp partition is larger than what is shown in the disk utilities screenshot I sent. However, it is grayed out and I cannot see what is in it...

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Answer 8

Loner T

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Apr 27, 2015 12:02 PM in response to pmcimini

It may be possible to recover your data. Using any tool to resize the Bootcamp partition, leaves two (or more) live NTFS headers. The Yosemite Upgrade or the Recovery Upgrade ends up being confused and typically ends up choosing the incorrect (and smaller) partition header. This leaves a live NTFS header in no man's land, in the gap between GPT3 and GPT4. Testdisk and GPT Fdisk can be used to scan for possible recoverable headers, and the GPT can be re-built, if found and verified. You may also need Windows Startup repair, because the MBR and Boot loader may be incorrect.

Please post the output of the two commands, if possible.

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Answer 9

pmcimini Author

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Apr 27, 2015 12:19 PM in response to Loner T

sudo fdisk /dev/disk0

Password:

Disk: /dev/disk0 geometry: 121601/255/63 [1953525168 sectors]

Signature: 0xAA55

Starting Ending

#: id cyl hd sec - cyl hd sec [ start - size]

------------------------------------------------------------------------

1: EE 0 0 2 - 1023 254 63 [ 1 - 1467197439] <Unknown ID>

*2: 07 1023 254 63 - 1023 254 63 [1467197440 - 486326272] HPFS/QNX/AUX

3: 00 0 0 0 - 0 0 0 [ 0 - 0] unused

4: 00 0 0 0 - 0 0 0 [ 0 - 0] unused

sudo gpt -r -vv show disk0

gpt show: disk0: mediasize=1000204886016; sectorsize=512; blocks=1953525168

gpt show: disk0: Suspicious MBR at sector 0

gpt show: disk0: Pri GPT at sector 1

gpt show: disk0: Sec GPT at sector 1953525167

start size index contents

0 1 MBR

1 1 Pri GPT header

2 32 Pri GPT table

34 6

40 409600 1 GPT part - C12A7328-F81F-11D2-BA4B-00A0C93EC93B

409640 1074902336 2 GPT part - 48465300-0000-11AA-AA11-00306543ECAC

1075311976 1269536 3 GPT part - 426F6F74-0000-11AA-AA11-00306543ECAC

1076581512 390615928

1467197440 486326272 4 GPT part - EBD0A0A2-B9E5-4433-87C0-68B6B72699C7

1953523712 1423

1953525135 32 Sec GPT table

1953525167 1 Sec GPT header

Apparently the Bootcamp partition isn't starting where it should be, since I resized it.

EDIT (forgot TestDisk):

TestDisk 7.0, Data Recovery Utility, April 2015

Christophe GRENIER <grenier@cgsecurity.org>

http://www.cgsecurity.org

Disk /dev/disk0 - 1000 GB / 931 GiB - 1953525168 sectors (RO)

Current partition structure:

Partition Start End Size in sectors

1 P EFI System 40 409639 409600 [EFI System Partitio

2 P Mac HFS 409640 1075311975 1074902336 [Macintosh HD]

3 P Mac Boot 1075311976 1076581511 1269536 [Recovery HD]

Warning: number of heads/cylinder mismatches 255 (NTFS) != 1 (HD)

Warning: number of sectors per track mismatches 63 (NTFS) != 1 (HD)

4 P MS Data 1467197440 1953523711 486326272 [BOOTCAMP]

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Answer 10

Loner T

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59,471 points

Apr 27, 2015 12:28 PM in response to pmcimini

You need to run Testdisk Deeper Search. Please see http://imgur.com/a/PjmnK for initial Testdisk UI. What options do you see at the bottom of the screen shot you have posted?

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Answer 11

pmcimini Author

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Apr 27, 2015 12:34 PM in response to Loner T

The options are quick search and backup.

Like the pictures, I should run on /dev/rdisk0 instead of disk0, is that alright?

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Answer 12

Loner T

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Apr 27, 2015 12:40 PM in response to pmcimini

The rdisk0 is much better for scanning and faster. Run Quick Search.

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Answer 13

pmcimini Author

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Apr 27, 2015 12:45 PM in response to Loner T

The Bootcamp partition was initially 250gb and then increased to 500gb (or so).

TestDisk 7.0, Data Recovery Utility, April 2015

Christophe GRENIER <grenier@cgsecurity.org>

http://www.cgsecurity.org

Disk /dev/rdisk0 - 1000 GB / 931 GiB - 1953525168 sectors (RO)

The harddisk (1000 GB / 931 GiB) seems too small! (< 1249 GB / 1163 GiB)

Check the harddisk size: HD jumpers settings, BIOS detection...

The following partitions can't be recovered:

Partition Start End Size in sectors

> MS Data 1953523711 2439849982 486326272

Mac HFS 1953525124 1954794659 1269536

[ Continue ]

NTFS, blocksize=4096, 248 GB / 231 GiB

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Answer 14

Loner T

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Apr 27, 2015 1:13 PM in response to pmcimini

This is a list of unrecoverable partitions. Press Enter to Continue.

The Gap + GPT4 size is roughly 390GB using 512-byte sectors.

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Answer 15

pmcimini Author

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May 5, 2015 12:35 PM in response to Loner T

Hey Loner T, thanks for all the help, I had a rough last week so I didn't even turn this computer on.

Anyhow, when I run deep search it goes through the whole disk, right? It is running atm and I will upload the results later. It seems that the NTFS header I am looking for is at the start of the gap, since I merged it with the Bootcamp partition.

This is where I am right now, running deeper search

http://imgur.com/a/fZRCN

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