G
Gordon Coates
Perhaps this is simply a cautionary tale, but any information about possible
causes would be very much appreciated...
Recently, a number of "essential" downloads for Office 2007 from the
Microsoft Update site destroyed my wife's computer (irrevocably). This
happened in stages - initially, only the Windows 7 dual boot facility was
corrupted. Next, the Windows 7 Recovery Options failed. Next, reinstallation
of Windows 7 failed. Next, the Windows XP Recovery Console failed to find the
installed instance of winXP. Next, I made an error when providing the
installation key while reinstalling Windows XP - and that installation also
failed. As a result, all data files on two separate system partitions were
lost - though fortunately, most were backed up elsewhere.
As a result of this cascade of errors, I decided it was time for a new
computer. This had Windows 7(64 bit) installed on a 1.5 Tb system partition,
that being the only partition on the system. Crazy, but remarkably common...
Windows 7 was only able to shrink this partition to about 700 Gb, due to an
"immovable file". Also crazy, but I don't know how common. Paragon Partition
Manager (64 bit for win7) was confident that it could do much better, but
failed. Fortunately, it had automatically copied sufficient recovery options
to restore the system. Partition Wizard (allegedly 64 bit for win7) was also
confident, but destroyed the partition structure at its first attempt.
Paragon Backup and Restore easily restored the system image, after which some
further partitions were able to be made - but only by Partition Wizard...
Windows 7 displayed these new partitions, reporting them as healthy, after
which it happily changed their drive letters and happily wrote data files to
them. Then I rebooted...
During a simple, normal, clean reboot, Windows 7 simply replaced these two
"healthy" data partitions with a single empty partition - possibly to "save"
a "second" instance of an "unknown Windows OS of 0 bytes" which it had
previously offered during startup!
This is the first time that ANY operating system (of many that I have used,
over the years) has ever destroyed partitions during a simple restart. I sent
an enquiry about it to Microsoft, and received a very polite reply to the
effect that "I would also like to assure you that we do consider such
feedback to be extremely valuable as it helps us to improve the products and
service that we offer. With this in mind I will make sure that your feedback
is passed to the appropriate department for their consideration".
As I said, perhaps this is simply a cautionary tale... however, I would be
very interested to hear of possible explanations, as it is not an experience
I would ever like to repeat!
causes would be very much appreciated...
Recently, a number of "essential" downloads for Office 2007 from the
Microsoft Update site destroyed my wife's computer (irrevocably). This
happened in stages - initially, only the Windows 7 dual boot facility was
corrupted. Next, the Windows 7 Recovery Options failed. Next, reinstallation
of Windows 7 failed. Next, the Windows XP Recovery Console failed to find the
installed instance of winXP. Next, I made an error when providing the
installation key while reinstalling Windows XP - and that installation also
failed. As a result, all data files on two separate system partitions were
lost - though fortunately, most were backed up elsewhere.
As a result of this cascade of errors, I decided it was time for a new
computer. This had Windows 7(64 bit) installed on a 1.5 Tb system partition,
that being the only partition on the system. Crazy, but remarkably common...
Windows 7 was only able to shrink this partition to about 700 Gb, due to an
"immovable file". Also crazy, but I don't know how common. Paragon Partition
Manager (64 bit for win7) was confident that it could do much better, but
failed. Fortunately, it had automatically copied sufficient recovery options
to restore the system. Partition Wizard (allegedly 64 bit for win7) was also
confident, but destroyed the partition structure at its first attempt.
Paragon Backup and Restore easily restored the system image, after which some
further partitions were able to be made - but only by Partition Wizard...
Windows 7 displayed these new partitions, reporting them as healthy, after
which it happily changed their drive letters and happily wrote data files to
them. Then I rebooted...
During a simple, normal, clean reboot, Windows 7 simply replaced these two
"healthy" data partitions with a single empty partition - possibly to "save"
a "second" instance of an "unknown Windows OS of 0 bytes" which it had
previously offered during startup!
This is the first time that ANY operating system (of many that I have used,
over the years) has ever destroyed partitions during a simple restart. I sent
an enquiry about it to Microsoft, and received a very polite reply to the
effect that "I would also like to assure you that we do consider such
feedback to be extremely valuable as it helps us to improve the products and
service that we offer. With this in mind I will make sure that your feedback
is passed to the appropriate department for their consideration".
As I said, perhaps this is simply a cautionary tale... however, I would be
very interested to hear of possible explanations, as it is not an experience
I would ever like to repeat!