Data recovered from HDD doesn't have contents

[Rossykemp]

Hi, this is my first post on the site so I appreciate any help I can get on the subject.

I am trying to recover files from a HDD with a RAW partition using Stellar Data Recovery (and also EaseUS). I'm finding that although I am able to identify pretty much every file on the hard drive (all 900+GB), the files once recovered more times than not will not hold any contents - such as note files will open but no writing will be inside and most of the time audio files and images will open in the software assigned but no content will be there to view or hear.

I don't have much experience at all recovering hard drives, but some information on the drive being corrupted (to my first attention): I had a Windows 10 update, the laptop shut down and once it powered on again the laptop would not run its OS. I tried troubleshooting online and with Windows Live chat and even tried installing Windows again, but the hard drive would not finish the installation. Now I am using a USB to Sata cable to connect it to the new laptop I have. Both the previous hard drive and the new laptop are using Windows 10.

If you have any suggestions of different methods I may be able to recover the files considering the information above that would be greatly appreciated. As I said, I can actually view all of the files (and there are a lot) when using Stellar and EaseUS and nothing is labelled wrong etc. The Note files in particular would be great to recover if anyone has any tricks to try for that specifically.

I also hear people saying it's best to create a copy of the hard drive or a disk image? To prevent damage being caused when trying to recover my files? If I'm not wanting a copy of my OS and just want to recover files specifically is this still recommended?


Thanks a lot for any help in advance!

[Arch Stanton]

Those are tools I'd never recommend, unfortunately these, and also Disk Drill and RecoverIt, are the ones you're most likely to find when looking for data recovery software.

Doesn't mean better tools will actually recover your data, but they'll give you a better chance. Tools I recommend are for example ReclaiMe, UFS Explorer, R-Studio or DMDE. ReclaiMe is IMO the perfect tool if we take results and user friendliness both into account It's professional cousin is used by labs. UFS and R-Studio are powertools used by many pros, DMDE is the most affordable one.

Yes, ideally you create a clone or disk image. Not to get the OS back, but to have a safety net. Also cloning or imaging will reveal possible issues with the drive itself. For a healthy drive cloning a USB connected drive is okay, it's far from ideal when cloning a disk with bad sectors etc.. All of the above tools can create sector-by-sector disk images although for drives with (many) bad sectors you may want to use something like HDDSuperclone.

Corruption of recovered files can often be explained by,
- the file contents being overwritten (your windows reinstall most certainly did some of that)
- if majority of files corrupt the file recovery software may be using wrong file system parameters
- TRIM which is a factor on SSD and many SMR drives

In all of these examples the folder tree + file names may look perfectly okay while recovered files still contain incorrect data.

Without being able to inspect the drive and without exactly understanding what happened my current recommendation would be to image the drive and scan this image with better software than you used until now.

[Rossykemp]

Thanks a lot for the help, I appreciate it. I'll look into that software!

[fzabkar]

Can you show us the Partitions window in DMDE? I'm wondering whether your USB-SATA bridge is configured with a sector size of 4KB, and whether your data recovery software is confused by this. A DMDE screenshot would clarify this.

[Rossykemp]

Hi fzabkar, thanks for the help.

My recovery software (Stellar) does not have a window for partitions as far as I can see, just the drive itself. Once in the drive, the tree view shows folders inside but once again, no partitions. I have taken a screenshot of the partitions in Disk Management if this is of any help to you? If not, if there's any other way you know I could check for this issue that would be really appreciated!

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[northwind]

No, what fzabkar is saying is that you should download DMDE software and show us the partitions table from DMDE.

[Rossykemp]

Oh, I'm sorry I was unfamiliar with the software. I do apologise. I have downloaded the software and taken a screenshot for you here.

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[alfarom]

Have you looked in the 2 OS folders? That's where the user data should be.

[fzabkar]

The data should be in the first of the OS volumes (EBCF indicators). Double-click this volume and expand the $Root.

[Rossykemp]

So... interesting but amazing turn of events. The DMDE software is able to recover the files that Stellar and EaseUS can't! Using the same files from the same OS directories. I'm in the process of recovering now. Thanks guys, I appreciate the help!

[alfarom]

DMDE is a great product. Glad it has helped you out.