Bitlocker Partition Lost

[xseaplus]

Hello,
I have an external disk which has a bitlocker partition in it. It was plugged to my pc when i opened Paragon Partition Manager, and partition manager program warned me some disk errors and i clicked OK button
Now my bitlocker partition has been lost. I see it as "unallocated partition", i did not format it again, just waiting for your comments.
I attached the disk photos.
Best Regards

[Robin A.]

Perhaps PM just don´t recognize it. How do you think it should appear?

[xseaplus]

Originally Posted by Robin A.

Perhaps PM just don´t recognize it. How do you think it should appear?

PM doesnt recognize Bitlocker partitions yes, PM changed something and then Windows doesnt recognize too

[xseaplus]

Anyone can help?

[Paragon_Matt]

PM doesn't modify any partitions unless you selected a task to do so. Unfortunately, due to the fact that the partition was encrypted by bitlocker, even attempting a un-delete partition would result in failure because the partition wouldn't be recognized.

[xseaplus]

My external disk was plugged in. I opened PM and PM warned me some partitions are wrong and has to be corrected. I had a mistake and clicked OK button...
Then bitlocker partition of my external disk has gone to the heaven...
I didnt deleted, formatted etc... Just clicked OK button...

Any solution to get this partition back as bitlocker? Its unallocated now

[Paragon_Matt]

Please clarify for me what version of PM you were using to perform this, at the very least you can attempt a data recovery software to pull the data but the fact that it was encrypted is where the issue comes in, by any chance was that partition decrypted when the software was being accessed?

[xseaplus]

Paragon Partition Manager V8.5
Sorry for my poor English but what can i do step by step?
Should i use a data recovery program? Partition is not accessable by Windows (not visible), i only can see in Windows Disk Manager (as unallocated)

[xseaplus]

No comment?

[SIW2]

8.5 is a very old version.

I don't know if anybody is entirely familiar with it now.

Originally Posted by xseaplus

No comment?

[Escalader]

It was my understanding that Paragon doesn't work with Bitlocker.

Can Paragon confirm please?

[Robin A.]

Originally Posted by Escalader

Can Paragon confirm please?

Paragon? It seems they abandoned this forum.

[Escalader]

Originally Posted by Robin A.

Paragon? It seems they abandoned this forum.

Is this true? Anybody?

I get support from the vendor direct so I'll ask them as well!

[Paragon_Chris]

Originally Posted by xseaplus

Paragon Partition Manager V8.5
Sorry for my poor English but what can i do step by step?
Should i use a data recovery program? Partition is not accessable by Windows (not visible), i only can see in Windows Disk Manager (as unallocated)

The drive being encrypted with bitlocker appeared as disk errors in your Partition Manager 8.5, when you chose to correct these errors, it essentially changed the data and windows will no longer be able to decrypt the information.

Any partition software or hard disk modification software has the capability to completely destroy data if you perform the wrong operations or choose incorrect options. Extreme caution should always be taken whenever working on a disk level and every action should be thought out.

The only way to restore would be if you had a disk level raw copy of the disk. Data forensic software may potentially be able to recover information but that is out of our scope of support.

[Paragon_Chris]

Originally Posted by Escalader

It was my understanding that Paragon doesn't work with Bitlocker.

Can Paragon confirm please?

Due to the nature of the encryption used with Windows and Bitlocker the only way we can accurately back up a bitlocker encrypted drive would be a file level backup when you have the drive unencrypted or a drive level with raw processing.

[Paragon_Chris]

Originally Posted by Robin A.

Paragon? It seems they abandoned this forum.

Paragon has not abandoned this forum. The forum is a community forum for customers to ask the community for help when they no longer have a support contract and do not wish to submit a help ticket or purchase a per incident/yearly support contract. Community forums are an excellent source of information for people who do not wish to pay for support or for customers to get answers from the community during non-business hours.

[Escalader]

Originally Posted by Paragon_Chris

Due to the nature of the encryption used with Windows and Bitlocker the only way we can accurately back up a bitlocker encrypted drive would be a file level backup when you have the drive unencrypted or a drive level with raw processing.

Would it be possible to produce a procedure to publish to do that?

When the drive is unencrypted, can I then run a partition backup for C: and as well a F: backup for data? I'm thinking the answer is no as they are not "file" level backups.

What do you mean raw processing?


The complexity here on this one is excessive (IMHO).

Bitlocker is good for notebooks or other pc that are stolen.

Backup is for restoration of programs and data or transfer to a new PC.

Help us out here!

[Robin A.]

Originally Posted by Escalader

What do you mean raw processing?

From the HDM Manual:

"HDD raw processing. Mark the checkbox to copy/back up a hard disk in the sector-by-sector mode, thus ignoring its information structure (e.g. unallocated space or unused sectors of existing partitions will be processed as well). This can help to avoid problems with hidden data created by certain applications or the system administrator. However, it will take more time to accomplish the operation.

Partition raw processing. Mark the checkbox to copy a partition in the sector-by-sector mode to successfully process unknown file systems. However it is not recommended to enable this option when working with supported file systems as it takes more time to accomplish the operation."

Also, I think that the size of the backup will be the same as that of the partition (no compression).

[Escalader]

Originally Posted by Robin A.

From the HDM Manual:

"HDD raw processing. Mark the checkbox to copy/back up a hard disk in the sector-by-sector mode, thus ignoring its information structure (e.g. unallocated space or unused sectors of existing partitions will be processed as well). This can help to avoid problems with hidden data created by certain applications or the system administrator. However, it will take more time to accomplish the operation.

Partition raw processing. Mark the checkbox to copy a partition in the sector-by-sector mode to successfully process unknown file systems. However it is not recommended to enable this option when working with supported file systems as it takes more time to accomplish the operation."

Also, I think that the size of the backup will be the same as that of the partition (no compression).

Good G.d that will take hours!

What we need is an imaging system that will work with Bitlocker.

Backup in BL and restores in BL.

[Paragon_Chris]

Originally Posted by Escalader

Good G.d that will take hours!

What we need is an imaging system that will work with Bitlocker.

Backup in BL and restores in BL.

Robin is correct on that, the backup will backup the entire partition including free space, with compression it will be smaller but it will still take a much longer time and create a much larger partition.

Unfortunately we are bound by the way Microsoft handles the data on a bitlocker encrypted drive.

[Escalader]

What if user followed this backup process:

1) pull the plug on the www
2) turn off bitlocker and decrypt the drive (assumption we can do this)
3) backup the whole drive make the image in Paragon on external drive/stick
4) turn bitlocker back on
5) connect again to www

To restore do the same only step 3 becomes a restore process.