[Fixed] How to Recover a Partition Table

If you have a lost partition table on your Windows computer, you won't be able to access your files and folders.

Fortunately, you can recover a lost partition table in Windows 10 in several different ways without data loss. You can use a partition table recovery tool, repair your partition table on Windows using Bootrec, or you can recover your lost partition table with a data recovery service. There is also a ton of other useful information here, so keep reading.

What Is a Partition Table?

So, what exactly is a partition table, and why is it so important?

According to the official definition, a partition table is a unique partitioning table used on hard disks by the Windows operating system. It's an OS-based system for partition management that describes the partitions on the connected hard drives.

The most common formats that divide a hard drive into partitions include BSD disklabel, Apple Partition Map (APM), GPT (GUID Partition Table), and Master Boot Record (MBR).

Windows PCs commonly use GPT and MBR for hard drive partitioning. FAT and NTFS are the most common file system formats used in Windows partition tables.

When You Will Have to Recover a Partition Table

You'll need to repair and recover a partition table when it gets damaged, corrupted, or lost. Several factors can cause such Windows partition table issues:

• 🙁Data corruption – a virus or malware infection can breach your Windows security measures and corrupt system data on your hard drives, thus corrupting a partition table.
• 🔍Partition loss – a partition table can get lost during the installation of an operating system on a Windows computer due to software failure, file corruption, and invalid installation media. Faulty disk operations can also lead to partition loss.
• 🤳Accidental deletion – you can accidentally delete an entire disk volume when you try to format or clean a specific partition.
• 🚨Bad sectors on a hard disk – these are unwriteable/unreadable areas of an internal or external hard drive. If your system hard disk develops a bad sector, your computer may report an invalid partition table error.
• 🔋Sudden power surges – a sudden power outage can wreak havoc on your system, causing partition loss, data corruption, and the whole nine yards.
• 🧩Hard drive upgrade – upgrades can change your hard drive, resulting in either partition corruption or partition table loss.
• 🔧Repartitioning the drive – hard drive repartition will delete all the existing partitions and tables on the connected hard disk.

When dealing with a corrupted or lost partition table on a hard disk, you can't access your files and folders in that partition anymore. Since this presents a serious problem, let's discuss the best methods to recover a lost partition table in Windows 10.

How to Restore a Lost Partition Table

Below are the best, most effective methods to repair and recover a lost partition table on a Windows computer.

Fix 1: Using a Partition Table Recovery Tool

Wondershare Recoverit is a hard drive and lost partition recovery software solution for retrieving lost, deleted, and corrupted data from Windows/Mac/Linux internal and external drives. Accidental partition deletion, hardware failure, software issues, and other things can cause a Windows partition table to become inaccessible and unreadable.

This app can successfully recover a lost partition in Windows 10 and help restore the valuable data stored on a hard drive without additional data loss or damage to your files and folders.

If any external factor causes partition loss on your Windows or Mac computer, Wondershare Recoverit can effectively and successfully recover over 1000 file types from any connected storage device. Using it is a straightforward process.

Download and install the lost partition recovery tool on your computer, then follow the steps below to recover a lost partition table in Windows 10.

1. Launch the app and navigate to the main File Recover menu;
2. Select Hard Drives and Locations to choose the drive with a lost partition;

   

3. Click Start to initiate the scanning process and scan the selected drive for a lost partition table;

   

4. Once the app completes the scanning process, preview the recoverable partition files before recovery;

   

5. Select the lost file and partition table data you wish to restore and click Recover > Save to save them to a safe location.

   

Fix 2: Repair Your Partition Table Using Bootrec

If your Windows can't boot, you may have a corrupted or lost partition table on a system hard drive. When a PC refuses to boot up your system, you must repair a damaged partition table using a built-in Windows utility that can fix this issue effectively.

However, you'll need a Windows repair disk or installation DVD to apply this method. If you have the disk, insert it in the CD-ROM to boot your Windows, and then follow the steps below to repair your partition table.

1. On the start screen, select ;
2. Select Troubleshoot > Advanced Options > Command Prompt;

   

3. In the Command Prompt window, type bootrec.exe/fixmbr and hit Enter to repair and recover a lost or damaged Windows partition table.

   

Once the process is complete, exit cmd, eject the DVD, and restart your PC. The partition table should now be recovered.

Fix 3: Restore Partition Table With a Data Recovery Service

If these methods don't give the desired results, consider taking your storage device to a professional data recovery service.

Data recovery service providers use industry-standard tools and patented data recovery techniques to repair internal and external storage devices in a controlled environment.

Find a reliable and trustworthy data recovery service with a high recovery success rate, follow the on-site instructions, explain your problem, and mitigate partition table loss.

How to Fix a Corrupted Partition Table

If you're dealing with a corrupted partition table, you can repair data corruption on a hard drive with Windows Disk Management. This method allows you to replace the corrupted volume with a new one.

Note: This method will delete all data on the corrupted volume, so back up your data beforehand.

1. Type diskmgmt.msc in the Run box and click OK;
2. In the Disk Management window, select the drive you wish to repair;
3. Right-click the drive and select Initialize Disk;

   

4. Click OK to proceed and select the default partition style (MBR or GPT);
5. Click OK to confirm and restart your PC.

   

Note: Once you initialize the disk, format it so you can save files on it.

If this doesn't help, try an alternative method:

1. Open Disk Management and select Create and format hard disk partitions;
2. Right-click the drive with an invalid partition table and select Delete volume;

   

3. Now that the volume space is unallocated, right-click the space and select ;

   

4. Follow the New Simple Volume Wizard instructions to create a new hard drive volume with a usable and accessible partition table.
5. Click Finish to complete the process.

   

Partition Table Tips & Tricks

Follow the tips and tricks below to avoid partition table issues in the future:

• Install a reliable and trustworthy antivirus program to avoid partition loss and data corruption due to virus and malware infections;
• If you have to customize hard drive partitions and make changes to partition tables, ensure you do it carefully;
• Connect your computer to a constant power source to avoid power surges and the consequences they can have on your internal and external storage devices;
• Avoid making frequent adjustments to your system drive to ensure your actions don't lead to partition table loss or partition data corruption;
• If making hard drive adjustments is unavoidable, use a reputable disk management software solution to avoid further damage to your system and associated partition tables.
• Always check the partition's validity and accessibility before using it to avoid inflicting damage to the relevant partition table.
• Use a professional backup software tool like Wondershare Ubackit to create regular backups of essential data saved on your hard disks to avoid data loss.

In addition, consider the following actions if you need to repair a partition table on Windows:

1. Use System Restore to restore your system to a previous state and fix any partition table eros;
2. Label other primary partitions as inactive;
3. Access BIOS to change the boot sequence via the Boot menu;
4. Use the Command Prompt to scan the problematic partition table and fix bad sectors using the following commands:
   • bootrec /fixmbr;
   • bootrec /fixboot;
   • bootrec /rebuildbcd.

Conclusion

The methods mentioned here show you how to repair and recover a lost partition table in Windows to make your internal and external hard drives accessible again. These tricks here will help you avoid losing your precious files, regardless of the partition table issue you run into.

Remember that you need a reliable antivirus program to scan your system for virus or malware threats and avoid system corruption. In addition, we recommend installing a trustworthy hard disk and partition recovery software like Wondershare Recoverit to increase your chances of data recovery if the worst-case scenario occurs.