ERROR c:\recovery.dat

Hey all,
well my noobie behind screwed up on my upgrade on my laptop. it went smooth up till the point where it had to start up for the first time and i got an error with huge red letters and a cannot open file c:\recovery.dat. i tried using the repair tool on the dvd, but had no luck. I tried all that i can, and still no luck. I did manage to find from google that i need to delete a partition or something. well thats why im here, can someone give me detail instructions on how to delete my partition or any other help that would restore my laptop. I dont want to have to result to a clean install.

 

I remember this problem but not a solution.

You could indeed backup all your data, then delete all the partitions on the HDD EXCEPT the recovery partition, recreate one or two partitions in the remaining space and then run recovery.

You may also try to format the master boot record, but that may, and probably will, interfere with the way the computer boots from the recovery partition.

Use PartitionMagic (commercial) or Linux with qtParted for partition work.

If this fails you can completely wipe the HDD and try to recover from the recovery disks. Before that, you may want to backup the recovery partition with Acronis True Image or similar software.

 

thanx for the reply, but how can i back up my hdd if i cant even boot up???

 

You can run Linux off of a CD if you boot from it.

Or, get the HDD and install it as a secondary one in another computer.

Or, get the HDD and throw it in an external enclosure and connect it to another computer.

 

Thanx you guys for all the help but i figured it out. I did have to delete the recovery partition. took some googleing, but one i found out how to boot cmd, i took care of the rest. next time i'll just do a fresh install and save myself from all the headaches.

 

Hi nfan4life, hope you don't mind helping out, I've currently got the same problem and found your post while googling for answers.
I own an Asus M51 laptop and installed a copy of Windows 7 on a second partition just to try it out. For some reason I can't seem to access my other partition with my original Vista OS (I hope it hasn't been overwritten). It goes straight to a screen which says, "Can not find file C:\RECOVERY.DAT" and a big red "ERROR".
How did you partition it through CMD??
Thanks

 

look i had the same thing happening to me, i tried EVERYTHING(and i mean everything) so what you want to do is just dump your computer, run your computer with the computer booting off a cd and delete your hdd and it will make a new partition as c file (C/) so after thats done you have to follow directions and just start over. Its no solution. Its like getting a batch file that make it so u cant get on your computer but it still works. ERROR

 

Yeah I worked how out to change the boot sequence on the ASUS, didn't realise I had to press Esc and not DEL! I've booted from the Win 7 CD (my Vista copy is back in Australia) and can access CMD from there. I don't want to delete my C drive partition, just reformat D drive's partition with Win7 on it. I'm guessing the problem may have occurred because I set Win 7 up on a logical/extended partition and not a system partition.
Do you know how to dump a partition using the CMD? Gonna google it as well.

 

Hey awalado i think i can help,
aftr you boot from the cd and start cmd type DISKPART, this will enter you into the disk info part.
Then type LIST VOLUME and this will show all your partitions on your disk, you might get an error saying you have to select a disk, but if you do just type SELECT DISK=0 (assuming you only have one harddrive) then LIST VOLUME
look for the partition that has the least amount of size, usually will be about 8 or 9 GB
then type SELECT PARTITION=(the number of the partition with the least amount of size)
then for the final step you type in DELETE PARTITION
the last step might be wrong, i dont rem, if it gives you an error it will tell you how to correctly type it. You now have delete the recovery partition, now all you do is exit diskpart by typing exit then exit cmd and restart.

 

I've got an Asus K107IO and experienced exactly the same problem as you
Fortunately the great help in this thread helped me to recover my lapcop and continue the upgrade.
Just one note to nfan4life: I had to LIST DISK then select the only disk
Then i had to LIST PARTITION and choose the small one.
Other than that it was great, thanks!

P.S. I specially made an account here just to say thanks.

 

Thanks for the help guys, I got Windows 7 working now!
I had the exact same problem on my Asus F3 Series laptop.
Here is the step by step on how to fix this problem: (Its a combination of Wigguno and nfan4life steps)

1. Once you get the error message, restart your computer and boot the Windows 7 CD.
2. Enter the required fields [Example: Keyboard (US)] and click next
3. Click on the " Repair your computer" button and select the drive (C:/OSVista) (this is what mine said)
3. Then select the option "Command Prompt"
4. In Command Prompt type in DISKPART
5. Then type in LIST DISK
6. Then select the disk by typing SELECT DISK 0 (or which ever disk it is) and hitting enter
7. Then type LIST PARTITION and enter
8. Then select the partition you want to delete by typing SELECT PARTITION 0 (MAKE SURE YOU ARE DELETING THE SMALLER PARTITION, Mine was about 5000MB I believe)
9. Lastly, type DELETE PARTITION OVERRIDE

Once these steps are done, exit and restart your laptop
Enjoy Windows 7!

WARNING: Try this at your own risk!

 

Hey i have the same problem but i was wondering if their is a way to fix this problem without deleting the recovery partition.If not what can deleting the recovery partition do

 

also i installed windows 7 in a fresh partition because i wanted to duel boot windows 7 ans vista

 

Hey, I have a asus pro50Gseries and I also got that error. I also changed the boot order to the cd drive and have a bootable disc. I thought that the bootable disc was the problem so I made other bootable disc But none of them have booted the cd. Can I have some help please?

 

i found the solution is delete your partition recovery that is hidden.

 

Hey, You dont have to delete the recovery partition to solve this issue.

After booting from Win7 DVD drive, click on "Repair Your Computer" to gain access to the System Recovery window. Now choose "Command Prompt" in order to run the desired utility which is called "bootsect.exe". type now on the prompt

bootsect /nt60 ALL /mbr

to repair all partitions. Eject the DVD, and restart computer. Your computer should now boot properly.

 

if i have deleted recovery partition, how to reinstated that partition? is it possible?

 

Unfortunately I have no idea how to do that. I didnt want to delete this partition and finally found a solution for the problem other than deleting recovery partition.

 

Other then pulling the drive physically out and tossing it onto my Desktop to fix is there a way to get to the command line prior to windows loading to remove the partition or reassigning the drive letter (not sure which I need to do) I get ERROR no matter how i boot the drive (Safe Mode/Safe w/Command/Directory Services Restore Mode/Windows Kernel Debugger). Using a Recovery.Dat to load Win7 so all other options listed here I can't do.

 

I was able to get it working!! only took all 3 steps to get it done. !st I tried the cmd line bootsect /nt60 ALL /mbr. It said it was able to correct the drive but upon reboot it still didn't work. I then did what BRizzy89 instructed in deleting the smallest partition. Still didn't work. Last but not least I was able to find an old Win7 RC copy and used it to "repair" and wham-O! it booted right up! Thanks to ALL for the help with the suggestions.

 

I also registered in this forum only to thank people writing in this post. The information posted allowed me to solve this problem

I deleted the recovery partition booting from a Win7 DVD using the prompt commands mentioned in this post and the recovery.dat error disappeared, enabling me to install Win7 without any problem. The post pointing out that Esc is the key to select the booting device (instead of f-something or Supr) was really useful!

 

Hi and thanks,

Like other users i only created an account to say thanks.

LeRoy's bootsect /nt60 ALL /mbr command worked at treat after my M50VM (i think that's the model) failed to boot with the 'cannot open recovery.dat' error after i tried to dual boot with Ubuntu 10.10 and the Grub boot loader installed.

As it stands i have Vista booting again. i'll have to figure out how to get a boot loader to successfully load both Vista and Ubuntu, but at least now i can take a back up of the MBR before attempting anything drastic and killing Vista again.

One point tho, the Vista recovery disk doesn't have the bootsect command, so you'll have to download the Window 7 one.

thanks again

cheers
Adam