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Wanted to merge multiple partitions on my SSD, and added Windows Recovery partition to the mix as it was sitting between other data partitions. (I believe this was my mistake).

Used MiniTool Partition Wizard, and "queued" multiple merges in the batch.

As C drive as involved in the merge, once I asked MiniTool to apply the changes it rebooted the PC to proceed - after concluding the first merge (C: + Windows Recovery), PC entered in boot loop as couldn't find bootable partition - now shows as unformatted NTFS

I'm now trying to undo this merge. With the help of MiniTool's Partition Recovery Wizard I get this as the current state of my partitions - Current partitions state after merge

The NTFS partition with 593 MB in there is the original Recovery partition - I can see its contents when double clicking on it - The recovery partition & contents, but the merged partition doesn't show any contents.

When looking only at these two partitions (64.89 GB and 593 MB partitions), you can see they almost share the Ending LBA - just a difference of 1

I was thinking that maybe, if I was able to split this 64.89 GB partition in two as per the LBAs below I could be it all back to its original state

Drive Starting LBA Ending LBA Size Comments
C:\ 388212736 523073535 64.3 GB end LBA just before recovery partition starts
WRE 523073536 524287998 593 MB original recovery partition start/end LBAs

Is my reasoning above correct? If so, how could I set these starting & ending LBA changes?

I've made backup of the partitioning table as it stand currently, so at least I can revert to my current state if making these changes doesn't work.

Any other suggestion is well appreciated :)

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    Yes, it was your mistake, that and not having backups. No, it can't be recovered. Best case scenario you'll be able to recover some files with proper software.
    – ChanganAuto
    Commented Mar 12, 2023 at 20:18
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    As @ChanganAuto states, any change to the file system itself should be preceded by creating a full disk image. Closing the barn door, and all that..
    – DrMoishe Pippik
    Commented Mar 12, 2023 at 20:49
  • "now shows as unformatted NTFS"... shows where? Do your files not show up at all? Does running chkdsk report issues? If the only symptom you're facing is being unable to boot, you're very likely barking up the wrong tree...
    – user1655754
    Commented Mar 13, 2023 at 16:12

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Merging two (or more) partitions isn't by definition reversible as it is more than adding up the space occupied by the partitions involved.

You're not merging partitions essentially, but you're merging file systems. Depending on how far the merge went before it crashed you may be dealing with a highly inconsistent file system.

If we for example consider the merge of two NTFS file system we'd start with two master file tables (MFT) but they're both referencing clusters from different offsets. If we add a partition move into the mix, both will be working with wrong offsets. The tool doing the merge will be basically merging the 2 MFT's into a consistent one, if this gets interrupted at some point you'd end up with a mess.

Failed or interrupted partition merges can be among the hardest logical data recovery cases, much harder than deleted or formatted volumes for example but it depends at what stage the merge fails. At the start of the operation and at the end, we have more of less consistent file systems, that should be less hard to recover data from.

My weapon of choice for such cases is DMDE.

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If you need the data I suggest at this point:

  • You stop trying to fix this 'in-place' as it may make the situation worse
  • If you insist on fixing first create a sector by sector disk clone
  • Instead try read-only file recovery

File recovery would involve using a competent file recovery tool to scan for candidate file systems (not partitions). Below is just an example of an in progress scan. Examine each of the candidate file system by selecting and Open Volume option.

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If file system looks messy like so

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Click 'All found / Virtual FS', the pure FS system reconstruction

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Now locating and try previewing some larger JPEG or BMP files. If these correctly preview, you have a consistent file system, copy everything you need to a different drive.

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