[SOLVED] Did extending my boot partition corrupt my SSD?

[Parachute007]

I have just used Minitool Partition Wizard to extend the boot partition on my SSD (Windows 7 64-bit). I previously had four partitions of various sizes which I attempted to combine into one. The other three partitions were blank. Partition Wizard said it would need to restart the PC and perform the extension as it was booting, so I rebooted. The Wizard loaded before the OS as expected, performed its operation, and then my system rebooted again. However this time I was presented with a black screen and a string of garbled letters and symbols at the top. I rebooted again but that changed nothing. I can access the BIOS but trying to go any further results in the black screen and garbled text.

I booted from my Windows 7 bootable flash drive thinking I might need to reinstall altogether, but my SSD doesn't even appear on the list of available drives. I've also inserted my original Windows 7 installation disc to attempt startup repair, but it doesn't recognise the drive either. Is there anything I can do to rescue my SSD or have I somehow managed to destroy it?

 

[USAFRet]

It used to work.
You attempted to extend/combine one or more partitions.
It now does not work.

Yeah....something got corrupted.

You recover this from the full drive backup you made before going down this path.

When trying to boot from your USB(?), what do you see exactly?
Screencap, please.

 

[Parachute007]

It used to work.
You attempted to extend/combine one or more partitions.
It now does not work.

Yeah....something got corrupted.

You recover this from the full drive backup you made before going down this path.

When trying to boot from your USB(?), what do you see exactly?
Screencap, please.

Based on some reading I did beforehand, my impression was that extending a partition was extremely simple and could often be done without even restarting, so I didn't create a backup.

I can't easily provide a pciture, but basically after the BIOS I just get a black screen with a single line of random text, numbers and symbols at the top.

 

[USAFRet]

Based on some reading I did beforehand, my impression was that extending a partition was extremely simple and could often be done without even restarting, so I didn't create a backup.

I can't easily provide a pciture, but basically after the BIOS I just get a black screen with a single line of random text, numbers and symbols at the top.

I don't know where you read that, but no.

As you've seen, it is not always just clicky clicky all is good.

You didn't physically destroy the drive.
But...disregarding your current SSD, what happens when you try to boot from your WIn 7 USB?

 

[Parachute007]

Booting from the USB starts the installation process, but the SSD isn't recognised at all. It deosn't appear in the list of available locations for the installation.

 

[USAFRet]

Booting from the USB starts the installation process, but the SSD isn't recognised at all. It deosn't appear in the list of available locations for the installation.

During that install, when it asks where, did you choose Custom?

 

[Parachute007]

After trying a few different things, I gave up and secure erased the SSD through the BIOS. This allowed the Windows installer to recognise it again and now I'm doing a fresh install. Safe to say I won't be messing around with partitions again.