A problem with partiotions on Samsung Series 9 NP900X3C-A05UK

Hi,

A few days ago I have bought a new SS9 from a display in London.

I was unhappy with the fact that I only had access to ~65GB of space on the laptops 128SSD.

I have made a full disk backup with Easeus todo backup 5.3 home edition.

The SSD partitions at that point looked something like this:

Code:

500mb NTFS labeled Windows Re tools
300mb fat32 labeled System
128mb unsure about FS and label
65gb ntfs windows partition
30gb ntfs with something that looks like windows image
22.4gb ntfs labeled SAMSUNG_REC2
1gb ntfs labeled SAMSUNG_REC

I decided to join (merge) the 65gb and 30gb partitions to one 95gb partition.
After doing so with Easeus Partition Master my laptop will not boot.

I get an error saying:
"A required device isn't connected or can't be accessed" then when I hit enter I get:
"The application on operating system can not be loaded because a required file is missing or contains errors
File: \windows\system32\winload.efi"

The problem is that if I press F4 on boot nothing happens an F8 does not get me anywhere as well.
I was unable to restore to my backup using Easeus todo backup (the SSD is grayed out - I can attach screenshots).

Right now I'm using PartedMagic to try and fix the SSD.
GParted shows the following picture:

I don't mind loosing my data (the laptop is new) but I really want to restore my windows back.
What can I do to make this work?

Thanks!

 

It looks like something zapped the 100MB System partition which should be the first partition on the SSD.

According to this, you should be able to repair this with a bootable Windows installation disc. If you didn't get a disc with your X3C then you can create one from an ISO file downloadable following the guide here. If that fails, you have to reinstall Windows after which you can install SW Update (link here) to install all the Samsung drivers / software.

John

 

I didn't get a CD.
I had Windows 8 installed on the laptop. Could you provide similar links to Win8?

How do I extract the Win8 key (license) from my old partition?

 

Try the Windows 8 links in this thread.

Note that my comments are based on Windows 7. It's possible that there's a difference in details with Windows 8 although I suspect that the arrangement with the System partition is the same. Also see this Windows 8 on Series 9 thread in case there's something relevant.

Regarding the key, one of the comments I have read indicates that it is coded into the BIOS / UEFI, in which case the Windows 8 disc should know how to find it. If not, you will have to ask Samsung support. However, first try to do a repair, which shouldn't need the key.

John