How to Recover Deleted Partition in Windows 10 or 11

Accidentally Deleted a Partition in Windows 10

You may just want to manage your disk in Disk Management, Diskpart or third-party partition manager, but find you accidentally deleted partitions on the hard drive and it’s not showing in Windows Explorer.         

“Hi! I have made a mistake and really need help. I have deleted a partition and created it into a new disk d, but I haven't copied anything in that. And I now want my old partition files back. Is it possible?”

But take it easy, please. This is not doomsday. If you don’t do the following things on this disk, you still can recover deleted partition and files with a high success rate.

• Perform any action on the hard drive.
• Reformat the hard drive.
• Add new data to the lost partition.
• Rebuild the partition table.

Is It Possible to Recover Deleted Partition?

Windows PC recognizes a partition through its partition table and boot sector. When you delete a partition on the disk, it will remove the partition type, size, file systems and location from partition table and make it invisible in Windows Explorer. However, it doesn’t wipe the space occupied by delete partition completely.

Sometimes, you may think the partition is deleted, because it does not have a partition name, volume label or drive letter or show as unallocated space. It will be much easier and you can need to assign drive letter, or create new partition with Disk Management or DiskPart.

IMPORTANT: To avoid further data loss, it’s suggested to create a copy of your disk or partition. Because any operation may increase the data loss risk.

Common Causes of Partition Loss

If you have no idea of how to recover deleted partition in Windows 10 or 11, you can start from the partition causes. Here is a list of most common causes below:

✍  Accidental deletion. This is among the most common cause of partition loss. So please double-check if there are important files on it when you want to delete a partition.

✍  Unexpectedly format partition. In disk format, the quick format only overwrite the boot sector and file system tables, but your data are still on the disk. The full format will zero out disk space and delete all the data on it. Besides, changing the file system of a formatted partition will corrupt the service data and result in partition loss ad well.

✍  Partition table corruption or loss. The partition table plays a crucial role in disk functioning and allows the OS to “know” which disk or partition can be read or written. Amissing or corrupted partition table will lead to lost partition.

✍  Bad sectors. Negligence in the maintenance of the hard disk, such as the hard disk being bumped or shaken violently, may cause bad sectors on the hard disk, resulting in partition damage.

✍  Unexpected shutdown. If you encounter a sudden shutdown while you’re resizing, converting, or formatting, leading to computer malfunctioning and partition loss. This may be because a power outage, infected apps or irregular BIOS upgrades.

✍  Virus attack. Malware and virus is able to attack MBR and cause severe damage to partition table, leading to inaccessible partition or partition deletion.

How to Recover Lost or Deleted Partition in Windows 10

If you know the partition is probably lost but not deleted, you can check if it is a particular partition (eg: recovery partition, boot volume, and OEM partition) in Disk Management or missing a drive letter. If it shows as unallocated space, you need to create a new partition on it or try partition recovery software like AOMEI Partition Assistant.

Method 1: Assign a Drive Letter for Lost Partition

From Disk Management:

Step 1. Go to Control Panel > System and Security > Administrative tools and select Create and format hard disk partitions.

Step 2. Right-click the lost partition on your disk and select Change Drive Letter and Paths.​

Step 3. In the pop-up window, click Add. Then, select a drive letter and click OK to confirm this operation.

Notes:

• This method applies to assign a drive letter for a new partition.
• If you want to change drive letter for current partition, click Change instead.

From DiskPart:

Step 1. Type cmd in the search box and select Run as administrator.

Step 2. Type diskpart and press Enter to open this tool.

Step 3. In Diskpart, type the following commands and press Enter.

• list disk
• select disk X
• list volume
• select volume Y
• assign letter=Z 

Note: Replace "X", “Y”, and “Z” with disk number containing lost partition, lost partition number and desired drive letter.

Method 2: Create a New Partition on Unallocated Space

From Disk Management:

Step 1. Open Disk Management. Right-click the unallocated space and select New Simple Volume.

Step 2. It will pop up a wizard to help you create new partition. Click Next.

Step 3. Specify the partition size you want and click Next.

Step 4. Assign a drive letter and click Next.

Step 5. Select a file system (eg: FAT32, NTFS, etc) and click Next. It will format this disk and create a new partition automatically.

From DiskPart:

Step 1. Run diskpart in the command prompt window.

Step 2. Type the following commands and press Enter.

• list disk
• select disk X (here, replace "X" with the hard drive number containing the lost partition)
• create partition primary [size=n] [offset=n] [ID=byte | GUID] [noerr]
• assign letter=Y (here, replace "Y" with an available drive letter)

Note: Replace "X" and “Y” with disk number containing lost partition and desired drive letter.

Method 3: Try Partition Recovery Software

If your partition is actually deleted, but not overwritten, you still can perform unallocated partition recovery to get the accidentally deleted partitions back easily and quickly.

To recover deleted partitions in Windows 10, you need to use a credible third-party partition recovery software - AOMEI Partition Assistant.

• Provides partition recovery wizard and two advanced scanning methods: Fast Search and Full Search.
• Successfully Recover lost and deleted partition from HDD/SSD/USB/memory cards, etc.
• Apply to Windows 11, 10, 8, 7, XP, and Vista.

Its concise and explicit interface and detailed guide make it easy to use. Even novice can use it like a professional.

Step 1. Download, install and launch this partition recovery software - AOMEI Partition Assistant. Click Partition Recovery Wizard and select a disk containing lost or deleted partitions. Then, click Next.

Step 2. Choose Fast Search or Full Search to scan and find lost partition(s) on the disk.​

Notes:

• “Fast Search” will quickly find out the the lost or deleted partition. It’s the recommended search mode.  
• “Full Search” will deeply scan each sector of the disk. So it is time-consuming and not recommended if you don’t try “Fast Search”.

Step 3. After scanning, it will show you lost or deleted partition(s) and ask you too select them. Do as suggested and click click Proceed to recover lost or deleted partition in Windows 10.

How to Recover Deleted Partition Data in Windows 10

If you just want to recover partition data instead of entire partition, you can also try data recovery software - MyRecover. It helps to recover lost or deleted Word documents, Excel files, photos, videos, audio, emails, and more than 200 file types .

• Automatically start two advanced scanning methods - Quick Scan and Deep Scan.
• Filter specific files quickly and recover them immediately once it’s found. Don’t need to wait until the scanning process complete.
• Keep the original file name, format, quality, and path of recovered files or folders.
• Recover data from HDD, SSD, USB, SD card, etc with a high success rate and fast speed.
• Recover lost or deleted data due to accidental deletion, format, virus infection, system crash, etc.

Download data recovery software - MyRecover and recover data on lost or deleted partition. You can free recover files up to 500MB in total. To recover unlimited files, please upgrade MyRecover.

Step 1. Start Windows data recovery software - MyRecover. Hover the mouse over the disk containing lost or deleted partition and click Scan.

Step 2. The scanning process is automatic. It will run a quick scan first and then deep scan. Any file scanned will be displayed below. You can then directly recover deleted files or wait for the scanning result.​

You can also search for specific files (eg: PDF files) with Filter and it’s faster. Here are 3 options in the following:

• Type: It will contain all the file types in the local drive, such as, images, videos, documents, mails, webpage, compressed files, etc.
• Data Modified: It supports today, yesterday, last 7 days, last 30 days, and custom.
• Size: It allows you to filter file size from less than 128KB to 128KB ~1MB to 1MB ~ 512MB and above, or custom.

To retrieve PDF files on lost or deleted partition, click Filter > Type and select Documents. Then, input PDF in the Search for files or folders box.

Step 3. Select the deleted PDF files you want to recover and click Recover x files to restore PDF files on deleted or lost partition.

Notes:

• MyRecover will display the number of files to be recovered and their entire size.
• Select a new location to store the deleted files. Retrieving files to original location may overwrite the space of deleted data, resulting in data recovery failure.
• Except for PDF files, you can also recover Excel files, Word documents, PPT, videos, images, compressed files, etc.
• Except for Windows 7, 8, 10, 11, etc, it still can recover deleted files from Windows Server 2016, 2019, 2022, etc.

How to Recover Damaged or Corrupted Partition

If your partition is damaged instead of lost or deleted, you need to repair it. But any operation on this partition may increase data loss risk. Please recover partition or data with methods in previous two contents.

Method 1: Repair Damaged Partition with Chkdsk Command

If the corrupted file system is the cause of your damaged partition, you can try the chkdsk command. It will scan file system errors and fix it.

Step 1. Type cmd in the search box and select Run as administrator.

Step 2. In the command prompt window, type chkdsk X: /f/r/x and press Enter.

Note: Replace “X” with the drive letter of your corrupted partition.

Method 2: Repair Corrupted Partition with Bootrec.exe Command

The corrupted MBR also cause lost partition. At this time, you need to repair MBR with Bootrec.exe Command. It requires a Windows installation disc. If you don’t have such disc, try to create a repair boot USB in advance.

Step 1. Insert the installation disc or repair USB into your computer. Start your computer, press a specific key (eg: F2, F10, ESC, etc) to access BIOS and set the plugged-in device as the first boot option. Press F10 to save changes and restart.

Step 2. It will load Windows 10 recovery environment. Click Next in the initialized window.

Step 3. Click Repair your computer > Troubleshot > Advanced Options > Command Prompt.

Step 4. In the command prompt window, type the following commands and press Enter in order.

• Bootrec.exe/fixmbr
• Bootrec.exe/fixboot
• Bootrec.exe/rebuildcd

Step 5. Wait until the process complete and restart your computer. Then, check if the lost partition goes back.

Method 3. Repair Lost Partition using SFC

The corrupted system files in OS might turn non-booting disks bootable. Worry not, Microsoft offers users system file checker to repair it.

Step 1. Type cmd in the search box and select Run as administrator. Click Yes if you receive the User Account Control prompt.

Step 2. In the command prompt window, type sfc /scannow and press Enter. It will check the file system integrity and repair the found issue.

Step 3. Reboot the computer and check if your lost partition goes back.

Precautions to Avoid Partition and Data Loss

Whether your partition is lost, deleted or corrupted, you can get it back quickly and easily if you don’t overwrite the “free” space. But sometimes it can be avoid. Here are some suggestions you can follow:

• Be careful while managing disk or partition.
• Back up your disk or specific partition containing important files or folders. You need a free backup software to make it. AOMEI Backupper Standard is a good choice. It not only offers the ability to backup disk or partition, but also make this process run automatically.

• Always keep your PC running in a clean and dry environment.
• Stay away from spam, malware or dangerous websites that contain high probability of viruses.
• Scan your disk with antivirus software regularly.

FAQs

✍ Can I recover lost partition using cmd?

Yes, you can use Diskpart tool to assign drive letter for lost partition. If it shows unallocated space, you can also create a new partition with it.

✍ Can I recover deleted partition on external hard drive?

The answer is definite. You can recover deleted partition on external hard drive as long as you don’t overwrite the space and act fast.

✍ Can I recover deleted partition for free?

If your partition just lost drive letter, you can use Disk Management or Diskpart to recover deleted partition for free. Both of them helps you assign drive letter.

Written in the End

You can easily recover lost, deleted or damaged partition and data in Windows 7, 8, 10, 11, etc as long as you don’t overwrite the “free” space occupied by the malfunctioning partition. If it’s damaged, you still need to repair it after getting your partition or data back.

However, if you are careful when dealing with disk or partition, the partition and data loss sometimes can be avoided. Also, there are many things you can do. Among them, the most effective method is to create a sector by sector backup including everything on the disk.