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Using DiskPart to Recover a Partition in Windows 11, 10, 8, or 7

30 August 2024
photo of optical disc drive

Introduction to DiskPart

DiskPart is a powerful command-line utility tool available in Windows 10, 8, and 7, allowing users to manage their disks, partitions, and volumes. This guide will walk you through the steps to recover a lost partition using DiskPart. Whether you’re dealing with unallocated space or a missing partition, DiskPart can help you get back your data.

Opening DiskPart

To begin, you’ll need to open the DiskPart tool. Follow these steps:

  • Press Windows + R to open the Run dialog.
  • Type diskpart and press Enter.
  • If prompted by the User Account Control (UAC), click Yes.
  • DiskPart will open in a command prompt window.

Selecting the Disk and Partition

Next, you need to select the disk and the specific partition you want to recover. Use the following commands:

  • Type list disk and press Enter. This will display all the connected disks.
  • Identify the disk with the lost partition, then type select disk X (replace X with the disk number) and press Enter.
  • Type list partition and press Enter to see all partitions on the selected disk.
  • Identify the missing partition, then type select partition Y (replace Y with the partition number) and press Enter.

Recovering the Lost Partition

To recover the lost partition, you can try the following command:

  • Type create partition primary and press Enter. This command might help if the partition was deleted but the space is still available.
  • If the partition was formatted or the filesystem is damaged, consider using chkdsk /f to fix filesystem errors beforehand.
  • After creating the partition, you can type assign to assign a drive letter to it.

Once these steps are complete, your partition should be recovered and available in Windows Explorer.

Conclusion

Using DiskPart to recover a lost partition in Windows 10, 8, or 7 can be an effective method when all other tools fail. By following these steps, you can reclaim your lost data. Remember to always back up your important files to prevent data loss in the future.