Partition D erased after reinstalling

My laptop came with only one partition (C:), and I created a new partition (D:).

After reinstalling Windows using the recovery USB, the new partition (D:) was erased, leaving only partition (C:}.

Is there any method to create a recovery USB which when used to reinstall Windows will keep the new partition (D:) intact?

Man 11 said:

My laptop came with only one partition (C:), and I created a new partition (D:).

After reinstalling Windows using the recovery USB, the new partition (D:) was erased, leaving only partition (C:}.

Is there any method to create a recovery USB which when used to reinstall Windows will keep the new partition (D:) intact?

Click to expand...

It would help if you posted a screen shot of Disk Management.

To post a screenshot on this forum...​

1. Take the screenshot, edit it as desired, save to your desktop as .png or .jpg (max. size = 2MB)
2. Left click in your post, where you want to place the screenshot.
3. Click the Attach Files button at lower left, browse to your pic and click Insert.
4. After clicking Insert, I usually choose the Thumbnail option, rather than the Full Image option.

did you lose files you're attempting to recover? if not, then just recreate it by shrinking the C: via disk management. if you want to make a custom iso that will wipe your disk and install windows and create a second partition on its own... NTLite

Man 11 said:

After reinstalling Windows using the recovery USB

Click to expand...

Is this a recovery USB that you made, or that came with the computer? Speaking of the computer, is it a laptop or a desktop, and a name brand or a home built machine?

We need more information, please.

johnlgalt said:

Is this a recovery USB that you made, or that came with the computer? Speaking of the computer, is it a laptop or a desktop, and a name brand or a home built machine?

We need more information, please.

Click to expand...

This USB was made using facility provided by Windows, It is a Laptop, it is Acer Aspire 5 A514-55.

I made the USB before I created the new partition, I wonder if I made the USB after I created the new partition, the new partition will be kept.

I am also wondering, If download iso from Microsoft and create a bootable USB for reinstalling, the new partition D: will not be affected, since while I was reinstalling Windows 10 the sytem will ask where to put the Windows, I may choose partition C:.

Using the MCT/Media Creation Tool by Microsoft gives a choice of downloading the .iso file used to burn a DVD+R/DL disc with is bootable and can install Windows or create a bootable USB Thumb 8GB drive to install Windows.

No. Creating a usb with media will not retain your patition schemes. It all depends on how you go about installing windows. If you want it to wipe your drive and create 2 partitions, installing windows on one all by itself, you will have to use a 3rd party tool.

If you want to install windows and choose partition c during the installation process manually, you can do that and it will leave your other partitions alone.

Ghot said:

It would help if you posted a screen shot of Disk Management.

To post a screenshot on this forum...​

1. Take the screenshot, edit it as desired, save to your desktop as .png or .jpg (max. size = 2MB)
2. Left click in your post, where you want to place the screenshot.
3. Click the Attach Files button at lower left, browse to your pic and click Insert.
4. After clicking Insert, I usually choose the Thumbnail option, rather than the Full Image option.

Click to expand...

I created partition D after reinstall.

Got called to supper and didn't finish. A default install of Win10 and Win11 on a clean drive may make 3 to 5 partitions but 3 or 4 will be quite small. If upgrading over an older version there may be a different scheme in the layout.

Man 11 said:

This USB was made using facility provided by Windows, It is a Laptop, it is Acer Aspire 5 A514-55.

I made the USB before I created the new partition, I wonder if I made the USB after I created the new partition, the new partition will be kept.

I am also wondering, If download iso from Microsoft and create a bootable USB for reinstalling, the new partition D: will not be affected, since while I was reinstalling Windows 10 the sytem will ask where to put the Windows, I may choose partition C:.

Click to expand...

I suspect what happened is you used the provided Acer utility to create a restore bootable USB drive. If so and used it to restore the PC all it did was restore the hard drive to it's original factory installation which didn't/doesn't include the newly created data drive partition. I'm not sure what/how Acer uses their utility.

Man 11 said:

My laptop came with only one partition (C:), and I created a new partition (D:).

After reinstalling Windows using the recovery USB, the new partition (D:) was erased, leaving only partition (C:}.

Is there any method to create a recovery USB which when used to reinstall Windows will keep the new partition (D:) intact?

Click to expand...

Generally, it much easier to just install Windows on a drive with all unallocated space.
After the install, use a tool like Minitool Partition Wizard (free), to set up your partitions as desired.



Microsoft doesn't seem to have a "consistent" method to the way they do things.
So it's much easier to let the Windows installer "do it's thing", and then do your partitioning.

When you do things like that... you can end up with a much "neater" set of drives...





It IS possible to install Windows to a specific partition. But it's much easier to just do your partitioning afterwards.


Side note: When doing your partitioning afterwards, you'll find that the Page File is immovable. Consequently, resizing the C: partition to make room for another partition becomes problematic. So you'll need to disable the Page File, do your partitioning, then re-enable the Page File.





After installing Windows, your drive will probably look like this. Just disable the Page File and shrink (resize) the C:\ partition in the direction shown. Computer will need to reboot to resize the C:\ partition. When back on the desktop... re-enable the Page File.





After resizing the C:\ partition, things will look like this.
Then you can just create your D:\ partition in the unallocated space.




When creating your new D:\ partition, choose these options...






Secret Ancient Wisdom: In Minitool Partition Wizard, the "Apply" button is in the lower left corner.

I'm not the one who can advise about recovery drives as I never use them. I use a current installation drive which can get be used to get into recovery options, do a repair install, or clean install the OS. I also never mess with a system reset when restoring an image is a better option to recover without an data loss.

BamaInArk said:

I suspect what happened is you used the provided Acer utility to create a restore bootable USB drive. If so and used it to restore the PC all it did was restore the hard drive to it's original factory installation which didn't/doesn't include the newly created data drive partition. I'm not sure what/how Acer uses their utility.

Click to expand...

Yes, I also noted Acer just made the laptop as it was when left the factory.

Man 11 said:

Yes, I also noted Acer just made the laptop as it was when left the factory.

Click to expand...

That's pretty much typical with the OEMs that provide the feature, also with most when sending a machine back for warranty work, put back to as shipped condition. Be sure to save or copy any data you don't want to lose.

Man 11 said:

Yes, I also noted Acer just made the laptop as it was when left the factory.

Click to expand...

Okay that Recovery partition looks rather large, 1 GB, so that is perhaps where Acer stored the data for a Restore. That is where the Recovery USB looks when it's restoring the drive back to factory defaults...maybe. Unless it's all incorporated within the Recovery USB drive itself. Did the system ship with any CDs of software? There may be a built in Utility to burn the included software onto CD/DVDs for future reinstallations.

BamaInArk said:

Okay that Recovery partition looks rather large, 1 GB, so that is perhaps where Acer stored the data for a Restore. That is where the Recovery USB looks when it's restoring the drive back to factory defaults...maybe. Unless it's all incorporated within the Recovery USB drive itself. Did the system ship with any CDs of software? There may be a built in Utility to burn the included software onto CD/DVDs for future reinstallations.

Click to expand...

There was no cd or dvd come with the device, I created the recovery USB using the utiltiy in Windows.

The recovery USB is important, it also stores the proprietary drivers.

Berton said:

That's pretty much typical with the OEMs that provide the feature, also with most when sending a machine back for warranty work, put back to as shipped condition. Be sure to save or copy any data you don't want to lose.

Click to expand...

Berton said:

That's pretty much typical with the OEMs that provide the feature, also with most when sending a machine back for warranty work, put back to as shipped condition. Be sure to save or copy any data you don't want to lose.

Click to expand...

Yes, I should save the data stored in the new partition before restore. Create a new partition is easy, the most frustaring expererience was I lost all the data stored in the new partition.