Accidentally converted basic disk to dynamic disk

[DistortedVision]

HELP!

I have a HDD with critical data (work related files, personal family photos and videos etc).

When I connected it to one of my machines it was showing the hdd in computer management but no drive letter was assigned and all options were grayed out except delete volume. I had this happen in the past and I think I did convert to GPT and all was fine. I accidentally converted the hdd to dynamic. Have I lost all the files on it? I've tried GetDataBack for NTFS and it finds a NTFS partition but I can't recovery any files.

Please help anyone!

Many thanks.

[fzabkar]

If all you did was to convert a partition from basic to dynamic, then you would have changed a single byte in the partition table, assuming it was partitioned in MBR mode.

Could we see sector 0? You could use a disc editor such as DMDE (freeware).

[DistortedVision]

I think I've done this correctly:





I don't recall there ever been a ext3 partition on the HDD. Why is it showing there is one? There can't be a ext3 and NTFS partition both of 750Gb as that's the size of the HDD.

I await further instructions.

Many thanks.

[DistortedVision]

Are there any other screenshots I need to post?

[labtech]

This is from an external drive, no? If so, what is the full model on the external casing?

[DistortedVision]

No its Seagate Barracuda ES.

[labtech]

What operating system do you have on the machine you connected this drive to?

[DistortedVision]

Windows 7 but the NTFS was originally created in Windows 2008 Server I think. Not 100% sure.

[DistortedVision]

I'd be grateful for anyone's help as I desparately want to recover the data on the disk.

[labtech]

The ext partition is strange to me.
Either way, the data should be there in the NTFS partition.

but I can't recovery any files.

So, can you explain what is the problem in more detail?

[fzabkar]

The MBR code is Win2K/XP:
http://thestarman.pcministry.com/asm/mb ... br.htm#CHS

Can you show us the contents of sectors 63 and 1465145343?

[DistortedVision]

I connected the hdd to my main desktop. I could see the disk in the BIOS and also Disk Management but the partition was not accessible in Windows. When I right clicked on it in Disk Management everything was grayed out except for Delete Volume. I accidentally converted it to Dynamic Disk.

Hope that clarifies.

[labtech]

Not that part, about why "can't recover files". Meaning are the files corrupt? 0kb in size? The file structure interpretation is wrong? etc.

[DistortedVision]

[DistortedVision]

Upload screenshots - awaiting moderator approval. I am able to recover some files with R-Studio. But I want to see the directory tree etc. Is there no way I can undo what I did in DMDE and repair the partition?

[fzabkar]

I connected the hdd to my main desktop.

What does this mean? Where was the drive before?

[DistortedVision]

My main desktop has Windows 7 on it. It was removed from a Windows 2008 server but I think the partition was created in Windows 2000 Server.

The post with the new screenshots is awaiting moderator approval.

[DistortedVision]

I can recover files with R-Studio but I cannot see the directory tree etc. Is there no way I an undo what I did in DMDE and repair the partition?

[fzabkar]

IME the simple solution is to change the partition ID byte from 42 to 07, but there is something odd about sector 63, so we would need to examine it first.

[DistortedVision]

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/105925038/Screenshot%202014-03-19%2017.26.29.png

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/105925038/Screenshot%202014-03-19%2017.27.28.png