Recover Accidentally Deleted Primary Partition in Windows 10

This article will dive more into accidentally deleted primary partition and show you 2 proven methods on how to recover deleted partition in Windows 10 step by step.

By @Lora Last Updated December 11, 2024

“After the installation I deleted the 30GB partition in Windows 10 hoping to get my hard disk back to its original, every method I tried is not working as the external storage won't open and when I check from disk management it's showing the remaining volume as unallocated. Please any suggestions on how I can fix this without losing my files on the hard disk?” – Question from Microsoft Community

Some users have accidentally deleted a partition in Windows 10 and found things went wrong. If you have deleted primary partition, you might get into some problems as well. We are here to help you with that. In this article, we will explore what happens if I deleted primary partition and how to get it back quickly.

What happens if I deleted primary partition?

Head to Disk Management by right-clicking on the “Start” menu; You will probably find some partitions marked as “Primary partition”. It can be a partition with the operating system installed (active), an EFI system partition, or system reserved partition, a recovery partition, or a data partition.

However, the Delete Partition option for the system partition or hidden partition is disabled in the Disk Management tool. Thus, the deleted primary partition must be a data partition, not surprisingly. Correspondingly, you will lose all the data stored on it. All the files, items, and anything important will be inaccessible after deletion.

⚠️Please do not delete any partitions before you are aware of the results it will bring. However, it is normal and, of course, okay to delete all the primary partitions on the drive if you plan to reinstall Windows. It will take care of everything and create all the needed partitions during installation.

How to recover accidentally deleted primary partition and its data 

If you have deleted a primary partition that stores data, then you have to deal with the data loss. Here are two helpful ways, namely using partition recovery software and data recovery software. The previous is simple and easy to solve this problem completely while the latter is to recover data from lost partition.

Way 1: Restore deleted primary partition and its data directly 🥇

Actually, it is tough for a normal user to get primary partitions back on their own. But no worries, an excellent primary partition recovery tool is about to help. AOMEI Partition Assistant, supported by a sophisticated team with over 10 years of data recovery app development experience, is competitive, convenient, and compatible.

Using this tool, you could easily retrieve accidentally deleted primary partitions from internal or external storage devices, like HDD/SSD, USB drive, SD card, etc.

It supports Windows 11/10/8/7/XP/Vista, all users can use it to scan hard disks for deleted partitions. It is easy to use, requiring no expertise.

⚠️You might have heard about the “recover”command in CMD, but it has strict limits. It can only restore lost files from the hard drive. What’s worse, it can merely recover one file at a time. So, never waste your time using a complex command-line app, but turn to professional and easy recovery software

Now download AOMEI Partition Assistant Pro Demo to enjoy. Stop using your affected hard disk after deletion to maximize the recovery rate.

Download Demo Win 11/10/8.1/8/7/XP
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Step 1. Run AOMEI Partition Assistant. In the Recover tab, select Partition recovery, and the drive containing the deleted primary partition. Then, click “Next”.

Step 2. Select a search method to locate the deleted partitions. “Fast Search” is recommended for the first time to save your time. If failed, try “Full Search”. It will scan every sector of the selected disk, thus taking more time.

Step 3. Choose the accidentally detected partition in Windows 10 you need to restore and click “Proceed” to restore it.

Thus you could restore deleted primary partition securely and easily. As a very versatile tool, you could also use it to recover data from formatted hard drives.

Way 2: Restore data only from lost partition 

If you only want to restore data from lost partition, try the powerful data recovery software - MyRecover. It is embedded with two advanced scanning technologies, has a simple and clear interface, and supports numerous data recovery scenarios, which is very important for data recovery, making it easy and simple.

MyRecover
Powerful Data Recovery Software for Windows
  • Core technologies. Its two advanced scanning algorithms will thoroughly scan your disk for deleted or lost data, laying a basis for a high success rate.
  • 200+ file types: It can recover documents (e.g. recover Word documents), images, audio, videos, emails, compressed files, etc., without reducing the quality, up to 200+ formats.
  • Highlight features. It allows users to search or filter deleted files quickly, preview, and recover them while scanning if necessary.
  • Comprehensive data loss scenarios. It can handle accidental deletion, virus-infected, corrupted oR formatted disk, and more scenarios.
  • Recover deleted files in Windows 7, 8, 10, 11, etc., and Windows Server for free over 500MB.
Download Freeware Windows 11/10/8.1/8/7 & servers
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Now, download this powerful data recovery software for Windows and follow the steps below to recover data from lost partition in Windows 10.

Step 1. Open this Windows data recovery software - MyRecover. Hover the mouse over the deleted primary partition and click Scan.

Step 2. It will run two advanced scanning methods - Quick Scan & Deep Scan automatically and display all the found files or folders on the selected partition. You can filter and preview files on it. 

 

⚠️Here are three ways to find different types of missing files:

  • To find and recover specific files or folders: Directly type the file or folder name in it. For a specific format, type the file extension instead.

  • To locate specific data types: Click Filter and select a file type, such as Documents. You can also set the data modified and size and make use of the search box to narrow it down.

  • To locate files in the original location: Expand the Deleted Files, Recycle Bin, or Other Missing Files tab to preview files in the accessible drive.

Step 3. Select all the files on this deleted partition and click the Recover x files button. You will then be asked to select a location. Please select a new location instead of the original location, which may cause further data loss.

⚠️Notes:

  • The restore button will display the number of selected files and their full size. 

  • You can recover files in the accessible drive for free, up to 500MB in total. Try advanced editions if you want to recover all files.

Further reading about primary partitions

If you are not familiar with primary partitions, you may want to learn more about it, as well as the partition style - primary partition vs. logical partition.

What is a primary partition?

MBR drives and GPT drives have different partition structures. but they all consist of primary partitions and logical partitions. 

You can use the primary partition to load the operating system and boot your computer. Note it must be set as s “Active” and should be the only “Active” partition. Otherwise, the computer will be unbootable. Of course, if you have accidentally deleted Windows 10 boot partition, it will also fail to start your computer.

Generally, it is the C: drive that is in charge of the startup process and is set as “Active”.

In addition, you can use it to save data such as documents, images, videos, emails, etc., and access them where they are stored.

Primary partition vs. logical partition

Besides the primary partitions, you may discover some extra “logical partitions”. Actually, the primary and logical partitions are not concepts on the same level.

The MBR partition table only occupies 64 bytes of storage space, and every primary partition takes up 16 bytes. So we can only divide the MBR disk into 4 primary partitions. However, that’s far from enough for users to store different types of data.

This is why Disk Management provides the extended partitions and allows users to separate the MBR disk into 3 primary partitions and 1 extended partition. Meanwhile, one extended partition can be divided into several logical partitions to meet users’ needs.

On the contrary, there is no such limitation on GPT disk and it supports up to 128 primary partitions. They are often called “Basic Data Partitions”.

🌟Tip:  If you need to clone MBR to GPT disk, having a basic image of MBR and GPT would also be helpful.

Written in the end

There is no need to worry about the deleted primary partition and its data. This article provides you with two proven ways to recover accidentally deleted partition in Windows 10.

Of these two methods, using partition recovery software is the top choice as it solves the deletion of the primary partition and gets back deleted data quickly.

Download Demo Win 11/10/8.1/8/7/XP
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You can also try to recover data from deleted partition using data recovery software if you cannot find this partition using the first method. It allows you to scan the entire partition and locate all the deleted or lost data for recovery. 

FAQ about partition recovery

What is deleting a disk partition?
 
Deleting a disk partition will remove all data as well as this partition. In Disk Management, it will display as "Unallocated" and you can create a new simple volume with it. If there are any important data, please recover data from it first. Otherwise, your data will be overwritten.
Which partition should not be deleted?
 
Honestly, you can't delete the partition containing the operating system as well as other boot partitions, such as system reserved partition on MBR disk, or EFI system partition on a GPT disk. Deleting either of them will make your computer unbootable.
Is it okay to delete a system partition?
 

System partitions are created by default when the Windows OS is installed, being responsible for the startup process. It contains the boot loader and other boot files that the OS needs. So your computer will fail to boot correctly when you delete the system partition. Never delete any partition if you don’t know what result you may get. If you cannot find system reserved partition,  perhaps you have accidentally deleted it, please get help to fix it.

Can I delete a recovery partition? Is it necessary?
 

A recovery partition is used to restore the PC to factory reset whenever you meet any system issues. Commonly, it will occupy several hundreds of MB of storage spaces. Simply put, it is okay to delete a recovery partition, but not recommended. It is a better bet for everyone to keep it on your drive, in case one day you may need it to restore your computer. If you need to restore an accidentally deleted recovery partition, please refer to the tutorial and get help.

What if I deleted a partition and now PC won't boot?
 
If you have deleted a partition and then failed to get access to Windows, you need to first make it bootable. AOMEI Partition Assistant can help you. Create bootable media with a USB stick using this program > connect the USB to the unbootable PC > restore the deleted partition > boot correctly. Get a more detailed guide in the tutorial.