erenacar

Q: Windows bootcamp - partition cannot be mounted

Hey all,

 

I have been using Windows on my iMac (late 2012, Yosemite 10.10.5) without a problem but today, after i booted MacOS Yosemite (for a simple file control), cannot boot back to Windows again. Didn't have any bootcamp problems before... haven't used any 3rd party disk utility either. The only thing recently I did was increasing Windows partition size 200GB by decreasing MacOS partition via Disk Utility (a month ago, no problem since then, till today)

 

1.   Windows disappeared from Startup Disk

1.png

 

2.   Disk utility shows disk0s4 greyed out and cannot be mounted. Moreover, the correct partition size was 700 GB but here its shown as 500GB (which was the old size before increasing it)

 

2.png

 

3.   When i try to reboot with ALT pressed, Windows shows up, but cannot reboot, with a black screen showing “a disk error occurred”

 

3.jpg

                                                                

I am not very familiar with any more technicals. I only tried to install “Refind” but cannot succeed anything with it.

 

I tried your advice above and seems NTFS is there...

 

4.png

 

one more thing... when I try to verify disk0s4, says "it needs to be repaired". when i hit repair; it says this:

 

5.png

 

Need my Windows ASAP, what more should i do?

 

I haven't upgraded to Sierra yet. Should I? Or will it make worse?

 

I have tons of files on Windows that I need and unfortunately not backed up for awhile anywhere (very sorry about it now).

 

Please help...

iMac, null

Posted on Oct 6, 2016 6:03 AM

Close

Q: Windows bootcamp - partition cannot be mounted

  • All replies
  • Helpful answers

first Previous Page 4 of 4
  • by Loner T,

    Loner T Loner T Oct 9, 2016 6:59 AM in response to erenacar
    Level 7 (24,748 points)
    Safari
    Oct 9, 2016 6:59 AM in response to erenacar

    You can use OS X terminal. DD is built into OS X and cab used to dump the partition to an external disk. You do not need to take the internal disk out from the iMac .

  • by erenacar,

    erenacar erenacar Oct 9, 2016 7:48 AM in response to Loner T
    Level 1 (8 points)
    Windows Software
    Oct 9, 2016 7:48 AM in response to Loner T

    ah that was stupid of me. so my 2TB WD 2.5 is enough for a disk image backup. should I format it in exFat?

  • by Loner T,

    Loner T Loner T Oct 9, 2016 8:08 AM in response to erenacar
    Level 7 (24,748 points)
    Safari
    Oct 9, 2016 8:08 AM in response to erenacar

    Format it as GUID GPT. Write the dd output to a file on the external disk.

  • by erenacar,

    erenacar erenacar Oct 9, 2016 8:25 AM in response to Loner T
    Level 1 (8 points)
    Windows Software
    Oct 9, 2016 8:25 AM in response to Loner T

    Does this seem ok:

     

    dd bs=512 if=/dev/disk0 of=/2TBWDHDD/GUIDGPT.dmg conv=noerror,sync

  • by Loner T,

    Loner T Loner T Oct 9, 2016 2:37 PM in response to erenacar
    Level 7 (24,748 points)
    Safari
    Oct 9, 2016 2:37 PM in response to erenacar

    Yes, this will work. Run diskutil info on the Bootcamp partition from the OS X side and verify the block size. Use that as "bs=" value

  • by erenacar,

    erenacar erenacar Oct 10, 2016 7:25 AM in response to Loner T
    Level 1 (8 points)
    Windows Software
    Oct 10, 2016 7:25 AM in response to Loner T

    ok here's what I did: I split my external HD into 2 partitions. 1300GB+700GB. First I tried formatting my target as NTFS but terminal reminded me it cannot write on that. So I formatted it again to MacOS extended.

     

    Screen Shot 2016-10-10 at 17.18.56.png

     

    Then I started dd command, it took 6 hrs to copy whole 1TB disk image:

    Screen Shot 2016-10-10 at 17.17.55.png

     

    and now it's available:

    Screen Shot 2016-10-10 at 17.19.33.png

     

     

    LonerT, once again thanks for all your efforts here for helping out all the guys.   What do you suggest doing next from here?

  • by Loner T,

    Loner T Loner T Oct 10, 2016 9:04 AM in response to erenacar
    Level 7 (24,748 points)
    Safari
    Oct 10, 2016 9:04 AM in response to erenacar

    Disconnect the external 2TB HD. You will need to go back into Testdisk and look for MS Data entries that can be inspected.

  • by erenacar,

    erenacar erenacar Oct 10, 2016 9:32 AM in response to Loner T
    Level 1 (8 points)
    Windows Software
    Oct 10, 2016 9:32 AM in response to Loner T

    I tried all of them tlafter deep search, they were all showing errors or useless stuff.

  • by Loner T,

    Loner T Loner T Oct 10, 2016 10:15 AM in response to erenacar
    Level 7 (24,748 points)
    Safari
    Oct 10, 2016 10:15 AM in response to erenacar

    In Testdisk, you can rebuild the MFT, but you cannot write it to disk. Please try rebuilding the MFT.

  • by erenacar,

    erenacar erenacar Oct 10, 2016 11:54 PM in response to Loner T
    Level 1 (8 points)
    Windows Software
    Oct 10, 2016 11:54 PM in response to Loner T

    Screen Shot 2016-10-11 at 09.46.46.png

     

    Google search says this means my only remaining option is recovering files via data recovery software, do you think so? I tried that and recovered some of the files but all in generic names and all folder structure gone as well.

  • by Loner T,

    Loner T Loner T Oct 11, 2016 5:25 AM in response to erenacar
    Level 7 (24,748 points)
    Safari
    Oct 11, 2016 5:25 AM in response to erenacar

    If both MFT and the mirror are corrupted, you can try PhotoRec bundled with Testdisk and see if it recovers files based on header signatures.

  • by erenacar,

    erenacar erenacar Oct 11, 2016 11:33 PM in response to Loner T
    Level 1 (8 points)
    Windows Software
    Oct 11, 2016 11:33 PM in response to Loner T

    For the record, I tried solo office doc search but photorec started recovering files just like any other data rescue program, without file name or folder info. But fortunately, some of the files' "date created" info is now visible, which I will use to filter my lossed stuff. Better than nothing.

     

    So I will format the annoying MSData partition and start with a clean sheet.

  • by Loner T,

    Loner T Loner T Oct 12, 2016 4:50 AM in response to erenacar
    Level 7 (24,748 points)
    Safari
    Oct 12, 2016 4:50 AM in response to erenacar

    It is a pain to loss data. I suggest creating regular external disk backups for OS X and Windows (on separate disks) once you re-install Windows.

  • by erenacar,

    erenacar erenacar Oct 15, 2016 12:59 AM in response to Loner T
    Level 1 (8 points)
    Windows Software
    Oct 15, 2016 12:59 AM in response to Loner T

    Thanks for all your help LonerT.

     

    To wrap up;

    I don't know how I managed to ruin Boot Camp partition so severely by solely creating an additional partition (overwritten files: zero)... but nothing brought back Windows 7 again; not even close. So I tried to salvage lost files via data rescue software both on original disk and on external hdd (after cloning on it). Approximately %25 of the files definitely corrupt and lost. %75 rescued with thousands of unnamed file lists. Fortunately Photorec eased the pain by providing "file date created" info which allowed me to classify them much faster.

     

    After finishing the rescue work yesterday, I erased old Boot Camp and emtpy 200 GB partitions, merged the empty space with MacOs (which is compulsory, as Boot Camp request). Started clean and installed fresh Windows 8.1 on 700 GB. Needed drivers are all done and everything working smooth again.

     

    10 days later, lesson well learnt: backup everything. backup frequent. backup thrice. Couple of hours of copying once awhile and 100 bucks for an external drive will save your life.

     

    cheers.

  • by Loner T,Solvedanswer

    Loner T Loner T Oct 15, 2016 6:49 AM in response to erenacar
    Level 7 (24,748 points)
    Safari
    Oct 15, 2016 6:49 AM in response to erenacar

    It was not a fairly tale ending, but glad to see some pride (and files, too) was (were) salvaged. Back up, Back up and then some more... .

first Previous Page 4 of 4