# Help! Bricked HDD?!



## Tsiap (Jun 28, 2012)

GUYS!
I need your help. Long story short, wanted to format, and there was a HDD I never had, named "System Reserved" (100 MB) or something like this, thought it was something OS has created, searched a bit and people said that it was, so I formatted it. It was a partition of the HDD I store ALL my data in, now it wont let me copy em, it can see the directories tho, but I cant access them.   Is it bricked?  Any program I try to open to backup when I go to any directory into the specific drive it just freezes and stops responding.
Haven't backed up for a while, so there are MANY files there I cant find anywhere else, is there any way I take them back?
Guys please help me, cant stand loseing them


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## Yo_Wattup (Jun 28, 2012)

A lesson about computers i have learned the hard way: unless you need to, dont delete things. 

Im sorry..


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## Tsiap (Jun 28, 2012)

So that was it?
Dead? All my files, almost 1TB gone??


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## 95Viper (Jun 28, 2012)

Yo_Wattup said:


> A lesson about computers i have learned the hard way: unless you need to, dont delete things.
> 
> Im sorry..



Real helpful...

Back to the topic.

Windows creates the 99MB(100MB) partition to store the boot info and such.

Take and boot from your Windows install disk.  You need to run the "repair your computer" tool.
Hopefully windows will correct the problem, if not you may need to use the "system restore" or "startup repair" options.
If you deleted more than the 99MB partition, then you may need further help from something such as, Easeus partition recovery software.

Look here > How to use the Windows 7 System Recovery Environment Command Prompt


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## natr0n (Jun 28, 2012)

http://www.piriform.com/RECUVA


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## Radical_Edward (Jun 28, 2012)

natr0n said:


> http://www.piriform.com/RECUVA



This. Recuva works wonders.


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## Tsiap (Jun 28, 2012)

Tried it, found some stuff, will tell you tomorrow how it works, atm my heads ready to explode this bricked disk thing is getting on my nerves and my mood, will continue tomorrow, thank you guys!


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## phanbuey (Jun 28, 2012)

the data is still there you will be fine - use the tool that they recommended, all you did was delete the boot system partition.  everything else is still intact.

you didnt physically break anything.


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## ThE_MaD_ShOt (Jun 28, 2012)

Also "Bricked" means dead, no longer usable, bad, burnt, hardware gone for good. You didn't brick it you just deleted data off it. Use the windows disc as mentioned before and you should be good.


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## Kantastic (Jun 28, 2012)

Worst case scenario is you need to copy and paste all of your data onto another HDD (external or internal). All your files are still there so you don't need to fret, just don't delete anymore stuff.


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## Peter1986C (Jun 28, 2012)

Tsiap said:


> So that was it?
> Dead? All my files, almost 1TB gone??



You just deleted the Windows Boot partition. The Hard Drive itself is still in a working condition. Calm down please. Your personal files are in a different partition, hell, even the partition Windows is installed onto is seperate of the "boot" partition. Simply use the drive as a second/third/whatecver drive and access it. Then save your data elsewhere.


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## micropage7 (Jun 28, 2012)

or you could try to attach the drive on other pc and take the data from there


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## FordGT90Concept (Jun 28, 2012)

If I were in your shoes, I would plug the drive into a working computer, copy all the important data off the drive, format the drive, reinstall windows on it, then copy the data from the working computer over the NIC to the computer that was recovered.



Windows Vista and newer requires a "System Reserved" partition which defaults to 100 MB in size.  From what I understand, there's no easy way to recreate it.

My System Reserved contains (all are "protected operating system files"):

```
Folders:
$RECYCLE.BIN
Boot
System Volume Information

Files:
bootmgr
BOOTSECT.BAK
```


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## Deleted member 67555 (Jun 28, 2012)

Hook it up to a working Windows PC..
in the start menu type "Administration tools"
In "Administration tools" click on the "Computer Management" tab
On the left in the "Computer Management" tab Click on "Storage" then sub tab "Disk Management"


From there I cannot remember how to restore the "System Reserved" partition LOL but I believe it involves a format...
Oh yeah shrink the main partition and format it the reinstall windows and delete the partition making it one disk again...


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## Tsiap (Jun 28, 2012)

FordGT90Concept said:


> Windows Vista and newer requires a "System Reserved" partition which defaults to 100 MB in size.  From what I understand, there's no easy way to recreate it.
> 
> My System Reserved contains (all are "protected operating system files"):
> 
> ...



I used recuva, and It found 2 files deleted in the System Recovery folder, bootsqm.dat and bootex.log. I recovered them, so where o I have to put them?

No bootmgr or bootsect. Do I need them?


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## Athlon2K15 (Jun 28, 2012)

you have to backup your data and reinstall windows,its the only way


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## Tsiap (Jun 28, 2012)

Thats the problem, I cant backup any data cause every program I use, even if I just copy/paste the files it freezes and it doesn't close, even with task manager. Also the drive which has the partition is not the one which has the OS in. Right now I have:
C drive (OS) and it's partition (100MB System Reserved)
D Drive (files) and its partition (100MB System Reserved, the one I accidentally formatted)

More detailed:





When I go to My Computer I can see 3 HDDs: C,H and F


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## Tsiap (Jun 29, 2012)

I can access some files, not all tho, and it makes some grinding noise when I do so.
The solutions you suggested are
formatting
putting it into another comp
recovering deleted files
which should I try?


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## Deleted member 67555 (Jun 29, 2012)

Recover what you can...Format in disk manager...profit


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## Tsiap (Jun 29, 2012)

jmcslob said:


> Recover what you can...Format in disk manager...profit



Yeah, but HOW?
How can I recover if any mean I use to recover freezes?
Manual copy/paste fails, recovery programs freeze, acronis backup wont even start, windows backup gives me this.
What else can I do, I cant lose these files!


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## Deleted member 67555 (Jun 29, 2012)

Have you tried to go into Disk manager and then shrink the volume and then format the smaller volume?


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## Tsiap (Jun 29, 2012)

jmcslob said:


> Have you tried to go into Disk manager and then shrink the volume and then format the smaller volume?



Shrink which volume? Also how would this help?
Please explain me


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## Deleted member 67555 (Jun 29, 2012)

When you are in disk manager does the drive show up at all?
Easy way to get to disk manager...Type "create and format" into the start menu and it should come up

When in disk manager right click on the drive click on properties and then tools and check the disk for errors...what happens?

Also when you right click can you A) open the drive? and B) Explore the drive?


EDIT: Have you tried to install windows on that disk without formatting it?
If windows was installed on it before all files will be in windows.old and you can recover them easily...


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## 95Viper (Jun 29, 2012)

At this point, IMO,  you (or your os) have probably over written so much on the disk, your only chance now is to connect the drive to another computer to try and save what you can. And, reinstall your OS. 

I don't believe you have or had any chance to recover your boo-boo from within your os. 
However,  that is a mute point, IMO, now. 

Also, curious, do you have two 1Gb drives or one?


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## Aquinus (Jun 29, 2012)

That 100Mb partition is the Windows boot loader, that is all. If you do a clean installation you may want to boot from something like an Ubuntu live CD to backup your stuff. If you have an OEM Windows 7 install disk you should be able to repair a problem like this fairly easily if you can delete whatever you put in that 100Mb partition's place. Either that or as a stop gap measure you should be able to install the Windows boot loader to a USB drive, granted I've never done this and I'm sure it would take a bit of finagling.


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## Deleted member 67555 (Jun 30, 2012)

I boogered up a drive once using it as a DVR for my dish box...When I went to connect it to a PC It would not let me see anything on the drive at all....

I had to go into Disk manager and shrink the volume as small as it would allow...Then I formatted it to NTFS reinstalled windows on the new partition and then resized the drive to it's maximum size...

I thought perhaps shrinking the volume and installing windows on it would allow him to get the DATA he needs off of it...but tbh I'm not sure it would work...


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