Fix Windows 8 Hidden Recovery Partition

ClonZilla refused to create disk images because it found something wrong with the file system in two partitions. One of them is PBR_DRV which is a recovery partitions. I cannot see it in Windows 8.

After running a disk check on the visible partition, ClonZilla may create disk images for it but still stops for error in PBR_DRV. It seems I must do a disk check on PRB_DRV. But how can I check a non-visible partition?

fsck in ClonZilla

I choose to switch to command prompt in ClonZilla. But I cannot execute fsck due to privilege, I need to switch to root. According to official document, I quickly use sudo -i to switch to root. You may also use sudo su –.

In Clonezilla live, two accounts are available: (1) account “user” with sudo privilege, password is “live”, (2) administration account “root”, no password. Therefore you can not login as root, the only way to get root privilege is to login as user, and run “sudo -i” or “sudo su -” to become root… Clonezilla Live

I may see the PBR_DRV but fail to execute fsck.ntfs because it is not available. Accorging to Does fsck.ntfs exist?, I should use chkdsk which comes with Windows to fix problems related to NTFS. Although there is a ntfsfix in Linux which may fix some NTFS problems, it is recommend to use chkdsk to maintain NTFS if you have Windows.

Command Prompt in Windows RE

Then I boot up with Windows recovery drive and choose to use command prompt, I may see the hidden drive in Windows RE which is not visible in Windows. Then execute chkdsk/f to scan and fix unclean shutdown.

Now, I have no problem to create disk images with ClonZilla.

Reference

1. ClonZilla
2. Recover Lenovo One Key Rescue after Resizing Partitions
3. Clonezilla Live
4. ubuntu Forums: Does fsck.ntfs exist?
5. Debian: Package: ntfsprogs
6. ETA → ∞: NTFSFIX a life saving command !
7. Microsoft: Create a USB recovery drive