DISKPART UNIQUEID=GUID failure. Why ? Any Alternatives ?

[alan_b]

I have this error when I launch CMD.EXE with full administrator privileges and then run DISKPART :-

DISKPART> UNIQUEID DISK ID=21EC2020-3AEA-1069-A2DD-08002B30309D

The specified identifier is not in the correct format.
Type the identifier in the correct format:
in hexadecimal form for an MBR disk or as a GUID for a GPT disk.

I am using 64 bit Windows 7 Ultimate + SP1

DISKPART correctly obeys me without any errors with MBR operations such as
DISKPART> UNIQUEID DISK ID=000FA832
and
DISKPART> UNIQUEID DISK ID=000FA830

I am working on a secondary non-system HDD that is GPT style and has been in use as such for a few years.
600 GB WDC WD6401AALS-00L3B2
I booted and selected my "YUMI" Boot Flash Drive based on SysLinux and after a couple of seconds it should have given me a menu to select from various BOOT ISO images within the Flash Drive,
but instead of a menu it simply crashed and the BIOS restarted and I allowed a normal Windows Start-Up.

The consequence of an abnormal RESTART into Windows is that it no longer sees a GPT GUID ID but an MBR Hexadecimal ID and now considers :-
the first 25 GB NTFS partition to be RAW,
and the main 500 GB NTFS partition has become unallocated space.

A Data Recovery tool has done an almost job on the 250 GB of files that remain in this unallocated space,
and I have another Partition Recovery tool that promises to work on both MBR and GPT disks.

I am simply trying to undo the damage and make Windows correctly recognise this GPT disk,
in the hope that both the recovery tools will have better prospects of success if Windows is not telling them they are dealing with an MBR disk.

Are there any alternatives to DISKPART UNIQUEID which I could try ?

I looked at the possibility of initialising the disk as GPT, but that seems to require cleaning the disk,
which would avoid confusing the tools,
but would also put my files out of their reach.
I would welcome any alternatives.

N.B.
My drives are connected by SATA and Microsoft have never understood or fixed Windows to properly work with SATA.
According to a KB????? their intention was that Windows would report the drive on SATA channel "n" as being Drive "n"
They failed with XP and then VISTA and WIN 7, and I doubt WIN 8 is any better.
My OCZ SSD is connected to SATA Channel 0, but it almost never is seen as Disk 0.

On my system a Power UP START will every time result in
Drive 0 = WDC HDD
Drive 1 = SamSung HDD
Drive 2 = OCZ SSD

A RESTART results in either
Drive 0 = OCZ SSD
Drive 1 = WDC HDD
Drive 2 = SamSung HDD
Or a RESTART results in
Drive 0 = WDC HDD
Drive 1 = OCZ SSD
Drive 2 = SamSung HDD

I am guessing that the Linux Abort led to yet another chaotic Windows RESTART.
I KNOW FOR SURE that Windows restarted and the WDC HDD had been allocated the same UNIQUEID as the SamSung HDD has always used,
and so Windows declared a Disc Signature Conflict and promptly put the Samsung HDD "offline",
and then it told me I had no Pagefilesys and it created one for me on the SSD
(I had moved my Pagefile away from the SSD and into what was now unallocated space on the WDC HDD.)

I now have the Samsung HDD back on-line and have reduced Pagefile.sys to a tolerable size,
and now my focus is on restoring normal operation of the WDC HDD.

Regards
Alan

[Sponge Belly]

Hi Alan!

Wow! I didn’t understand a word of that. Sounds like the kind of thing Fred Langa of Windows Secrets fame would sink his teeth into. Or have you solved the problem on your own in the meantime? Don’t leave us hanging in suspense!

- SB

[alan_b]

I tried several forums and had no success.

Fortunately most of my 1 GB Samsung HDD was unallocated space,
so I created on that the partitions with letters that I used on the WDC HDD.

The WDC HDD is now a test platform for trying out various Data Recovery tools.
The best of breed is the 20.6 MB free-ware on the top of the page
http://www.lazesoft.com/download.html
Lazesoft Recovery Suite 3.3 Home Edition (Free)

This saw everything on the WDC as being RAW files (Windows Speak for "unknown format")
but was able to rescue everything that existed at the time of destruction,
and restored all these files to new partitions that I created on the Samsung HDD.
Further more, over 50% of the 500 GB rescued was Macrium Reflect backup image files that have internal hash checksums incorporated,
and the Macrium validation utility confirms that each and every one of the rescue files is validated and free of error.
All my files which were on the WDC HDD are now faithfully restored to corresponding partitions on the Samsung HDD,
and it is now business as normal.

A commercial $69 Data recovery tool also managed to recover the same files BUT WITH ERRORS.
On average there was about 200 fragments in each of the 6 GB image backup files as held on the WDC HDD.
The recovered files were the exact same size as before,
but I guess the expensive tool joined the fragments in the wrong order.

When I have a need for the WDC I will try EaseUS Partition Manager Professional which has available free of charge for 24 hours on GAOTD.
It claims to recover from GPT discs, BUT with that tool recovery involves writing to the damaged HDD,
and that is a one way trip to oblivion if it fails,
and it could permanently corrupt the contents and prevent success with any other tools.

I am resigned to the need to low level format the WDC as an MBR style HDD,
( since GPT would be much more difficult when Windows goes wrong the next time,)
BUT I intend to try out tools such as EaseUS Partition Manager Professional immediately before I format and re-use the WDC HDD.

Regards
Alan