Need help with corrupted partition

I discovered I was running out of space on my OS partition, so I started up Partition Magic, as I've done in the past, only to discover it didn't work with Win 8.1. I went online and checked out reviews of free partition managing programs. One of the higher rated programs was Mini Tool Partition Wizard, which seemed to score #1 or 2 in the reviews I read.

After installing and running Partition Wizard, which seemed to easily move extra space from my storage partition to my OS partition, I discovered my storage partition was corrupted. Mini Tool suggested I run their Power Data Recovery program, but that just kept shutting down on me when I was half-way through saving the files. They suggested my HDD is damaged, and they could no longer help.

I used Seagate's File Recovery program and had no problem recovering and saving everything from that partition. I'm sensing that Mini Tool's programs are just too unstable to depend on.

Now I have everything saved on another partition but wonder if there is a way I can install it back on the original partition without having to format the partition and then reinstall all the programs. Programs on my OS partition are linked to this storage partition. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

 

I don't think you can install programs to the original partition. They simply won't work. So take the plunge & reload the OS.

As you have already found out, these partition utilities are very powerful & can result in severe damage. I only trust something like GParted. Have used it many times but the threat of damage is always there.

 

The OS works fine. It is my storage partition that is corrupted, but I install most of my programs on that partition, also. If I don't hear otherwise, I'll format, transfer the files and then start downloading and installing all the programs this weekend.

 

I formatted the partition and then copied and pasted the recovered files into the new formatted partition. Surprisingly, everything I've tried, so far, has worked. I have all my files and programs and emails. I didn't expect it to work this well. If there is something I need to watch out for, please let me know, but I enjoy everything working again. I was especially happy to see all my emails, after discovering that all my online Gmail emails prior to January 7th of this year no longer exist.

 

Good for you. Never expected it to work !

If you need to expand/shrink partitions in future, take an image backup of all the partitions on an external hard disk/other computer.

I use AOMEI Backupper Standard.

 

I've had several experiences of losing an OS partition, but this is my first experience with losing any other partition. I don't like having to reinstall programs, so putting my non-OS programs on other partitions has always worked for me. I've never noticed any issues in doing this, other than a slight glitch with MS Excel (which wants to take me through set-up whenever I open the first page -- I just exit the set-up process and all opens fine).

 

For future reference, I use and recommend EASEUS Partition Master Home Edition. It is free for home/personal use. I have used it dozens of times with no problems.

But do note, whenever dinking with partitions, you should always make a backup first - just in case. An untimely power outage could wreck havoc on your data.

@rsinfo - if you like AOMEI products, their Partition Assistant has received good praise from folks I trust.

 

@Bill - thanks for the link. As I already said, I trust only GParted which works in Linux & not Windows.

 

You are welcome. And for sure, if GParted works for you, then great. Just letting you know there are other options - especially for those not comfortable with Linux.

 

Thanks for all your suggestions. The reviews I read kept mentioning Easus and Mini Tool. I guess I just picked the wrong one. I'll switch to Easus next time I need to partition and wouldn't use Mini Tool for anything. I'll stick with Seagate's File Recovery program, as it has always come through for me.