How to Recover Missing or Deleted Partitions on Windows 10/11?

A storage drive like an HDD or SSD contains a single undivided memory space. To systematically store data, it is logically divided into different sections called partitions. These partitions hold important data like documents, pictures, and more. But, if you’ve somehow lost or accidentally deleted a partition, then it becomes dreadful. However, one should not worry as performing missing or deleted partition recovery is possible. Let’s see how.

Common Reasons Behind Deleted Partitions

The most common reasons for a missing or deleted partition are –

• MBR corruption
• Partition table corruption
• Accidentally deleted/formatted partition
• Interruption while resizing the partition
• Running CHKDSK after Disk Defragmentation
• Bad sectors
• Hard drive failure

How to Perform Deleted Partition Recovery?

There are multiple methods to recover deleted partitions of a drive. Let’s look at them in detail.

Method 1: Assign a Letter to the Missing Partition

In some cases, while creating a partition, we forget to assign a letter to it. Due to this, the partition is not visible in the File Explorer, making it seem like the partition is deleted. You can recover the partition via Disk Management by confirming the existence of such a partition and assigning a letter to it. To do so –

• Press WINDOWS + X, and click on Disk Management from the list.
• Locate your primary drive and find the partition showing some storage consumption but no letter assigned or displaying ‘New Volume’.
• Right-click on it and select Change Drive Letter and Paths.

• In the Change Drive Letter and Paths for New Volume box, click on Add.

• A new pop-up window will appear. Select the Assign the following drive letter option and choose the desired letter from the drop-down menu.
• Click on OK to finish the process.

• Return to the File Explorer. You will see the missing partition restored.

Method 2: Recover/Use the Unallocated Hard Drive Partition

While creating a new partition via the Disk Management utility, we end up with an unallocated partition that we somehow forget to convert into a partition/volume. Because of this, the File Explorer doesn’t show the unallocated space. This seems like we have deleted a partition.

However, upon checking in Disk Management, it appears as ‘Unallocated.’ This also happens when you accidentally delete a partition. You can easily restore a missing / deleted partition using the steps below –

• Open Disk Management and locate the Unallocated partition.
• Right-click on the unallocated partition and click on New Simple Volume.

• The New Simple Volume wizard will open. Click on Next.
• Choose the size of the missing partition or keep it as it is. Click Next.

• On the next screen, choose the Assign the following drive letter option and choose the desired letter from the drop-down menu against it. Click Next.

• Choose the Format this volume with the following settings option. Ensure that the File system is set to NTFS. Add Volume label (Name).
• Select the formatting style and click Next.

• Click on Finish.

Doing this will format the unallocated partition and make it visible in the File Explorer.

Note – Be careful while formatting a partition. Formatting a partition with data will cause you to lose your files. In such a case, you must stop using the drive immediately and use a professional data recovery software to recover data from formatted drives or partitions.

Method 3: Use a Free Partition Recovery Tool

The above methods will help you recover deleted or missing partitions. However, there is another tool that can help you perform deleted partition recovery. This tool is TestDisk – an open-source freeware utility that can be used to recover lost drive partitions or make non-booting disks bootable again. However, it is a bit tricky to use due to its lack of GUI. Here’s what to do –

• Download and install TestDisk from its official website.
• Launch it.
• Select Create.

• Select the drive with a deleted partition.

• Select the type of partition table.

• Select Analyse.
• Select Quick Search. The tool will look for all the drive partitions.

• Once it shows the partitions, highlight the missing partitions and press A.
• Choose Done to recover lost partitions.

Method 4: Recover lost or Deleted Partition with Professional Data Recovery Software

If you want to save time and looking for a quick recovery method, you can use Stellar Data Recovery Professional to perform deleted partition recovery.

With its intuitive UI and easy-to-understand options, the software enables even novice users to perform data recovery or partition recovery in numerous data loss scenarios, such as deletion, corruption, logical damage, and deleted drive partitions.

Additional Tips to Avoid Data Loss Due to Deleted Partitions

In case of deleted partitions, accidental formatting, file deletion, etc., there are chances of losing vital data and files from the computer.

Hence, to be prepared for such situations to avoid panicking and taking the wrong steps in a desperate act to recover data, it is wise to follow some tips like creating backups to manage important files.

• Use the 3-2-1 data backup strategy to create periodic backups.
• Enable the File History feature while configuring Windows.
• Always use a reliable and updated antivirus to keep malware at bay.
• Diversify backups using multiple locations to create backup copies.
• Keep a reliable data recovery software handy as a contingency plan.
• Avoid saving files on the Desktop.

Conclusion

Storage drives such as HDDs or SSDs are widely used as a way to store data. We create partitions on them to manage and store files systematically. However, these drives are prone to failure and consequent data loss.

No matter the data loss situation, there are ways to recover lost partitions or files using the methods mentioned in this post.

FAQs

Q. How do I restore a partition table?

A. Launch the Command Prompt in WinRE and use the bootrec.exe/fixmbr command to restore a partition table.

Q. Does Windows 11 have a recovery partition?

A. Yes, Windows 11 comes with a recovery partition by default. While installing Windows, formatting a drive to GPT automatically creates one.

Q. Can I recover an entire partition deleted from my Windows PC using a data recovery software?

A. Yes. It is possible to recover a deleted partition and its contents using a powerful data recovery software like Stellar Data Recovery Professional.

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About The Author

Keshav Katyal

A passionate writer, driven by his interest in everything tech, Keshav Katyal has always been captivated by the latest gadgets since childhood. His interest in gadgets grew when he got his first gaming console, the Nintendo Game Boy Advanced. Hours and days of tinkering with gadgets encouraged the inner geek in him who now loves writing about the latest technologies.