Recovering Windows 7 Bootcamp Partition

Hi, I have a problem similar to many others on the forum. It has been a couple of weeks before I have used my Windows partition, so I am not sure the root of the problem, however I had used iPartition at some point to resize my partition and retake some space. I have a MBP Mid 2009 running 10.10.3. Yesterday, Windows stopped working although Bootcamp did mount but booting into it would get stick on the windows logo and sit there.

I went through the initial steps as Loner T has so nicely outlined for some other folks. My partition numbers are a bit different from other people (The Microsoft Basic Data has always been #1 as opposed to number #4 (EFI)) so I wanted to verify with the crowd before I went too far and regretted it. I had started part 1, but wanted to ask about what to delete in step 4, and in part 2, step 6 about which to hybridize since mine look slightly different. I wrote the commands for part 1 but never for the second set of steps out of fear.

I am attaching all of the screenshots outlining my steps. Any and all help would be appreciated.

Text of part of last night's attempt before I got worried.

MacBook Pro, OS X Yosemite (10.10.3)

Posted on Jul 9, 2015 8:35 AM

18 replies

Loner T

Level 9

59,536 points

Aug 1, 2015 6:11 AM in response to wbb44

This is what was afraid of with the non-standard MBR configuration. Let me first explain the process and then I can outline the issues.

The following two conditions are true for normal BC installations

1. GPT and MBR are in sync and map 1:1.

2. BC/Windows is the last entry.

Your configuration meets 1, despite the order being different. The second condition is not true. BCA when used to restore the disk when removing the partition which should be last one, moves Recovery HD to the end and coalesces the free space back into the OS X partition. In your case, it is an issue. because mergePartitions requires your second entry WBB to be preserved rather than the first one, which is not the case.

You do have an option. Using Windows Startup Recovery, restore you backup to the layout as it stands currently.

wbb44 Author

Level 1

4 points

Aug 1, 2015 9:26 AM in response to Loner T

Does this mean that the full erase and reinstall and then restore is the way to go?

Loner T

Level 9

59,536 points

Aug 1, 2015 9:31 AM in response to wbb44

If you can separately backup OS X and Windows, erase your internal drive and restore OS X first, and then Windows.

Windows Backup/Restore will restore the originally-sized volume, so partition for Windows should be done carefully.

Winclone (a commercial tool) or CampTune may be an option to explore.

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Recovering Windows 7 Bootcamp Partition