If you have an inscription in the Windows installation " Installing Windows This disk is impossible. The selected disk has GPT sections style ", then your hard drive is really broken by the manufacturer to the GPT sections, (and not the MBR, as usual, for Windows 7 or XP), most likely the disk was intended to install Windows 10 or 8.1 x64 bits.

If you have a computer or laptop with new Bios. (having a graphical interface), then you just need to reconfigure the BIOS to install Windows on GPT by changing BIOS Parameters: Include UEFI download instead of CSM (Compatibility Support Mode) is usually located in Bios Features or BIOS Setup; SATA mode Install in AHCI instead of IDE (usually configured in the Peripherals section). After that you can install 64x Bit Windows with boot disk, as usual, or with boot flash driveif it supports UEFI download (Creating a flash drive with UEFI support Look here). If you need to install 32-bit Windows or you have an old BIOS, then read the article further.

If your case does not fall under the previous paragraph, then the situation may not be pleasant, because this inscription appears at the moment when you click "Create a section" during Windows installation, and at this point you have already destroyed old boot record, which means that there is no access to all of your data on all the disks of the hard drive, because The old system has already been destroyed, and you can not put a new Windows 7 or XP without converting a pre-hard drive in the MBR. The fact is that when converting HDD in MBR, all data on all discs (and not only on the system disk with :) will be destroyed. If you have an important data on the disk that you have not transferred anywhere (hoping that they will be saved on the D :) disk, then you will have to postpone the installation of Windows 7 or XP and save the remaining data on the Winchester, which can be done in two ways: either boot from the boot disk (for example Live CD with GPT support ((image can be found on the Internet)) and transfer data to flash drives or DVD discs; or set the system that supports GPT-Windows 10 or 8.1 for a while, (the image can also be found on the Internet) and also save data to other media, the first method is clearly faster, but in any case it will take a lot of time if nothing is particularly valuable on The disk was not, it is better to simply donate the data. So, the question with data is resolved, go to the installation of Windows 7 or XP, on your hard drive, more precisely to its transformation from GPT in MBR.

The easiest way to convert the GPT disk in MBR is using the funds included in the set windows package (The data will be lost from all over the hard drive, and not just from the disk with :). So, when you, during the installation of the system, saw the inscription "Installing Windows to this disc is not possible. The selected disk has the GPT sections style", close this window and click the SHIFT + F10 key combination - opens command line In which you need to enter the following commands:

• diskpart. (entrance to the disk management program)
• lIST DISK. (As a result of the execution of the command, you will see a list of your disks Remember the disk number to be converted)
• sELECT DISK N. (where n is the disk number from the previous command)
• clean. (After executing this command, the data will be destroyed)
• convert MBR (disk will be converted to MBR)
• cREATE PARTITION PRIMARY. (Creating a new section)
• active. (Selecting an active partition)
• format FS \u003d NTFS Quick (formatting)
• assign. (Mounting)
• eXIT (output)

Now click "Update" to update the disk configuration. Further installation occurs in the usual mode.

Until Windows 10 slowly, but inevitably conquers homemade and office computersMore and more users start looking for a data recovery program that would work with a new operating system. HETMAN PARTITION RECOVERY 2.3 (as well as subsequent versions) is fully compatible with Windows 10, its new system structure and safety mechanisms. Let's consider some key technical features of the tool.

GPT and MBR support

At dawn, era personal computers (At least those who worked under the Microsoft operating system), hard drives were divided exclusively using Master Boot Record, or MBR. In those days, MBR was part of the system loading process, and the BIOS was answered for everything. Then, the boot sequence looked as follows. BIOS Computer (A set of programs running from the chip-built chip) initialized the equipment, started hDD And tried to download software from the disk. In order to determine where exactly look for the boot code, the BIOS analyzed the information about the section that was stored in the Master Boot Record.

GPT (GUID PARTITION TABLE) is a universal standard for separating the disk. Technically, this is part of the new standard UEFI, which was created to replace the ancient BIOS. Initially, GPT was partially supported by 32-bit versions of Windows 7. But, all 64-bit versions of Windows starting with Windows Vista., fully support the boot with GPT disks. Windows 8, 8.1 and Windows 10 can be downloaded from GPT disks in 32-bit and 64-bit versions.

During restoration hard diskIt is important to choose such a utility that supports the current drive split circuit. Hetman Partition Recovery fully supports MBR and GPT even if you work with a system in a system that has limitations or does not support this partitioning scheme. For example, the most common 32-bit version of Windows XP does not have access to GPT sections. hard disksWhile Hetman Partition Recovery has the ability to analyze and restore such hard drives without problems.

A unique feature of Hetman Partition Recovery is its ability to work on all motherboards: and based on BIOS and on the basis of UEFI, which allows you to restore GPT sections even if motherboard Does not support UEFI.

It is worth saying that, supporting both disk separation schemes, Windows 10 prefers a newer GPT as part of the boot process.

Compatibility with Windows 10

If we talk about compatibility with Windows 10, then in the latest version of the operating system from Microsoft implemented a number of changes in the entire system. After all disputes around the previous Microsoft attempt with Windows 8, new Windows 10 Designed to become the best Microsoft Windows.which was represented so far.

Updated to Windows 10 with previous version Windows, the installation wizard tries to save all user data, including programs, documents and files. However, in some cases it may be impossible (for example, when upgrading from a 32-bit version of Windows by 64-bit, or vice versa). And in some other cases, the transition may be incomplete. Windows 10 is known that it can delete software without asking, and in some cases even block the computer causing freezing (or the so-called "bootloop"). If something like this happens to you, and you will lose access to your files, or if your documents are lost during the operating system update, you will need a data recovery program.

Hetman Partition Recovery is designed to help you restore files and folders even if you can't download Windows (in this case, you need to connect a hard disk to another system). Even if the files are fully lost and a new file system or partition structure has been created on the disk, Hetman Partition Recovery will help using an adjoint search.

Anart search

Anart search is a general designation for a number of content data recovery algorithms. With signature search, the data recovery tool will look for topical data, and not just analyze file System. The operation of signature search algorithms is similar to the work of antivirus products. They scan the entire surface of the hard disk or read all the contents of the flash drive or memory card, in order to find identifiable signatures. As soon as the defined signature meets (and there are thousands of them in the HETMAN Partition Recovery database), the algorithm will search for a file header, analyze it, and try to determine the length of the file based on the information obtained from the title.

In some situations, simple analysis of the file header is not enough. For example, text or html files do not contain information about the length of the file. In such cases, the algorithm will continue reading the disk sectors of one by one in the search sector, which does not contain information that will be considered part of this file. If we are talking about a text file, a signature search algorithm (in this case, it is more content analysis than an alarm search) will determine the file encoding and scan the subsequent sectors to determine if they contain text in the same encoding. If the corresponding binary data is found, the algorithm believes that the end of the text file will be achieved.

For some formats, such as Skype databases (or SQLite database as a whole), the process is even more complicated, since the database does not have a certain fixed coding and its size is not determined in the title. In the case of such files, the Hetman Partition Recovery will continue to scan subsequent sectors, trying to determine if they belong to the initially found file.

In a word, the signature search helps to restore the data that is located on the failed, damaged or not loaded disk.

Output

HETMAN PARTITION RECOVERY is one of the most complete tools for recovering data on the market. The program supports many magnetic and solid-state devices, including all types of hard drives, SSD discs, USB discs, memory cards, regardless of the brand and model, as well as many storage devices that you probably have not seen in real life. The product is actively developing and is constantly updated, including support for the latter versions of Windows. You can download the free trial version of the program!

Video about the program

April 17, 2011 at 18:39

Restoring the killed MBR and partition table

• * Nix

0. Intro.

The situation is as follows. There is a screw at 160GB. On it 2 sections - 40GB and 120GB. In order to install Ubunti as the second system, a breakdown was made 120GB -\u003e 100 + 10 + 2 + 8.

RESULTS

1. When loading the system, the message MBR Helper Not Found is displayed;
2. FDISK shows one large 160GB disk.

Fool is clear that this is the beginning of a fun night.
Next, under the cut, solving the issue.

1. Restore partition table

1.1. Parted Magic.

This LiveCD \\ USB distribution, 100MB in size carries a huge bunch of software, to work with disks. From breakdown, before recovery.
Of these, all we need will be gpart., testdisk., fDISK. and mS-SYS..

1.2. Gpart.

gPart is a utility scanning a sector disk for sections that are present on a carrier, but not in the table. In his work, she ignores already existing table (if present). The program is raised by the German programmer Michail Brzitwa and no longer supported. The sluggish development is conducted by Fedora and Debian teams. Current version - 0.1h.

The utility allows you to quickly and easily restore the partition table, but it carries several drawbacks. First, the development was long abandoned, secondly, it sometimes does not quite correctly define sections.

GPart can work in 2 modes. This is a quick analysis and detailed scanning. In some cases, the first mode is sufficient. We will look at the second.

GPART -IF / DEV / SDA

-I. - Interactive mode. A question will be asked for each found partition, save it or skip it.
-f. - Full disk scan.

After, quite a long time, a report will be created with possible partitions. Its one must necessarily look at the recording as closely as possible.
Example of the report (not mine):

Begin Scan ...
Possible Partition (DOS Fat), Size (1907MB), Offset (0MB)
Possible Partition (SGI XFS FileSystem), Size (5730MB), Offset (1907MB)
End Scan.
Checking Partitions ...
Partition (DOS or Windows 95 WITH 32 Bit Fat, LBA): Primary
Partition (Linux Ext2 Filesystem): Primary
OK.
Guessed PRIMARY PARTITION TABLE:
PRIMARY PARTITION (1)
Type: 012 (0x0c) (DOS O Windows 95 WITH 32 BIT FAT, LBA)
Size: 1907MB #S (3906544) s (16-3906559)
CHS: (0/1/1) - (1023/19/16) D (0/1/1) - (12207/19/16) R
PRIMARY PARTITION (2)
Type: 131 (0x83) (Linux Ext2 FileSystem)
Size: 5730MB #S (11736000) S (3906560-15642559)
CHS: (1023/19/16) - (1023/19/16) D (12208/0/1) - (48882/19/16) R
PRIMARY PARTITION (3)
Type: 000 (0x00) (Unused)
Size: 0MB #S (0) S (0-0)

PRIMARY PARTITION (4)
Type: 000 (0x00) (Unused)
Size: 0MB #S (0) S (0-0)
CHS: (0/0/0) - (0/0/0) D (0/0/0) - (0/0/0) R

If everything is OK, then agree to the entry in the partition table, we cross your fingers and reboot.
In my case, the program identified sections that were before breaking (40 and 120), which did not fit and forced to look for alternative methods Recovery.

1.3. Testdisk.

Note: More This utility is described in, I will not repeat here.

This utility is similar to the previous one, but has a number of advantages:
1. Fresh and actively supported;
2. Subjectively, it works much faster;
3. Functional;
4. There is a simple console interface based on Ncurses.

Go!
1. In the first window, select CREATE A NEW Log File;
2. Select the desired disk (/ dev / sda) -\u003e proceed;
3. We note the type of sections as Intel;
4. Select Analyse Current Partition Structure and Search for Lost Partitions;
5. If the found partitions are correct, click Backup and go to step 6, it is possible to quickly retell the disk if somewhere else is an error (Quick SEARCH);
6. There is already a green list with sections. If OK, then write, otherwise launch Deep Search.;

In my case, the result was similar to the result of GPART, which is incorrect.
Running Deep Search, waiting about 40 minutes. I received a response from which the soul was sad enough.
A few partitions were found, which were superimposed by one to another (these were the initial (to manipulation) 120GB and the new, 100GB). Noting unnecessary, as a remote, I recorded the table on the disk and rebooted. Fortunately, everything turned out and the computer returned to the state, which was initially, and I could go to bed with a clean conscience.

3. Restoration of MBR

For this task, we have a MS-SYS Tulza in the arsenal.
First we learn that with our MBR.

MS-SYS / DEV / SDA
/ Dev / SDA HAS AN x86 boot sector
IT IS Unknown Boot Sector

Now it can be seen that this disk No boot sector.
The utility can work with MBR various operating systems. The list can be obtained by running the program without aggregates. In my case, it was necessary from Windows 7.
Record MBR to disk:

MS-SYS -7 / DEV / SDA
Windows 7 Master Boot Record SuccessFully Written To / Dev / SDA

Check:

MS-SYS / DEV / SDA
IT IS Microsof 7 Master Boot Record, Like The One This
PROGRAM CREATES WITH THE SWITCH -7 ON A HARD DISK DEVICE.

That's all, the necessary MBR is installed and can be rebooted.

3. Outro.

This post is an example of how from an empty place you can create a problem and midnight do not do what it is necessary. But it gave an invaluable experience that I tried to set out here.
Perhaps someone is useful. After all, it is not very difficult to get into this situation, but there is no particular manual.

GPART RECOVER support in Head /. After two weeks I plan to make MFC in 8-stable, if everything is fine. But I would like to have time before freezing the code before the start of preparing for the release, otherwise it will be soon in 8-ku.

A little more. First of all it is worth noting that now when damaged metadata, the GPT table will be labeled as corrupt. And any actions will be prohibited with it. Those. If you used to receive a message about a damaged GPT into the console and could not pay attention to them, now it will not be possible to ignore :)

Forbid any actions would not be logical if you do not offer something in return. In exchange, it is proposed a kind of guarantee that you will not accidentally break anything, as well as the opportunity to fix the partition table, or if you don't need it - to destroy it at all. To be able to destroy the table, I had to remake the "GPART DESTROY -F". Now the forced destruction is performed inside the kernel, and not in Userspace as before.

To know what types of damage it is possible to recover in GPT using GPart, you need to have an idea of \u200b\u200bhow GPT is arranged. If briefly, it consists of a header and partition table itself. All this is duplicated. The main table header is in the second sector of the disk, follows the partition table, its size may be different. The backup table header is located in the last sector, the table is located in the sectors previously. The content of the tables is identical and must have the same control sum. But the headers are different, the sectors numbers are saved in them, in which the headline itself is located and its copy, the number of the table and the boundaries of the space for use by partitions. Part of this information is displayed in the command output. gPART LIST.:

\u003e GPART LIST ADA1 GEOM NAME: ADA1 State: OK FWHEADS: 16 FWSectors: 63 Last: 320173022 First: 34 Entries: 128 Scheme: GPT here fIRST. and last. - sectors that limit the available space for GPT sections, entries - maximum amount Records in the table, in other words, the maximum number of partitions.

Also, another one mandatory condition To work with GPT is the presence of PMBR, which occupies the first sector. If you damage the contents of the PMBR, the class part will not even look for the GPT on the disk. Such is a feature. Therefore, if your GPT is not detected at all, the kernel does not give any messages associated with GPT, the first thing is to restore the PMBR. Its copy can be found in the / boot / pmbr. You just need to record it in the first disc sector. This automatically initiates the search for metadata by various GEOM classes, including geom_part_gpt.

Now about possible damage. The first is damage to the main header or GPT table. If such damage is detected, the kernel will issue a message:
Geom: Provider: The Primary GPT Table IS Corrupt or Invalid. Geom: Provider: Using The Secondary Instead - Recovery Strongly Advised. Here Provider is the name of the disk, for example ad0. In addition, a message that can usually be seen only during system boot, that your GPT is damaged can crack commands gpart Show., list and status..
\u003e GPART SHOW \u003d\u003e 34 1250263661 ADA0 GPT (596G) 34 256 1 FreeBSD-Boot (128K) 290 8388608 2 FreeBSD-SWAP (4.0g) 8388898 1241874797 3 FreeBSD-ZFS (592G)\u003e GPART LIST ADA0 | GREP STATE STATE: Corrupt. Next Type - Damage backup GPT header or table. As a particular case, this is the option of a non-compliance of the backup and main copies (for example, when in the main copy of the title and table with one data, and in the backup - with others, but they are completely correct). In this case, the GPART simply uses data from the main copy. The message from the kernel in this case will be:
Geom: Provider: The Secondary GPT Table IS Corrupt or Invalid. Geom: Provider: Using The Primary Only - Recovery Suggeted. The third case, when the GPT table is marked as damaged - this is the wrong arrangement of the GPT backup header. This may happen, for example, if your GPT is created on some virtual medium, which can be expanded by adding new disks. Either, just, for example, you created GPT on the GMIRROR device, but forgot to download the GEOM_Mirror class. In this case, the size of the provider will increase, since GMirror reserves space under its metadata.

Now, actually about recovery. All you need to do - right Select the media on which to restore GPT and execute the command:
# gpart recover ada0 in my example is aDA0.. Why I allocated the word " right"? Let's come back for example in which GPT is created on top of GMirror. So, if you forget to download GMIRROR, then the GPT will be found on the disk on which GMirror is created. And accordingly, if you perform gpart Recover. For this disk, all GPT header parameters will be recalculated, which means the value will change last. - The boundaries of the last available sector, as well as in the last panel sector, the GPT backup header will be recorded, which will destroy the GMirror metadata. Well, if this is exactly what you wanted :)

Subjecting everything written above, I want to recall once again that the recovery of the data is a responsible process, it is impossible to do it without considering. This applies not only to the topic of this note.