Recover a 1TB SSD Hard Drive with a damaged MBR.

I have messed up.

These days I use Windows 10 Pro but the PC was originally set up for Windows 7 which was changed some years ago. - (Even though it was great).

I had speed test issues and it was considered that there was a problem with my Windows 10 Pro laptop/PC, (which to me was running really well and it had been running like a charm since I first installed Windows 10 Pro). That said, I took it onboard that something within my Windows PC was a part of the problem and I started fiddling around with the settings. I have two 1 TB hard disks in the PC and both had the same windows 10 Pro installed on them with the same settings via a clone of the original to the 1TB hard disk. - Everything was good and I had got out of the habit of backing up to my portable 500GB USB drive which I last used over 2 years ago.

To avoid the possibility on a Windows 10 Pro issue on my laptop/PC I installed a brand new copy of Windows 10 Pro on the second, (ie the original/reserve), internal 1TB hard drive that the main 1TB SSD Hard Drive had been cloned from last year and then I was faffing about swapping between the Linux USB, (as had been recommended) and the fresh install of windows 10 which seemed to make little difference and this was in the early hours of the morning and I had been at it for days,

The upshot is that when I seemed to see what I thought were Linux files, (which I don't really know/trust), inside my Main 1TB Hard Disk I deleted them and when these were changed, (they were probably EFI files), I could not boot into the main 1TB Hard Drive even via the recovery disc and upon foolishly pressing F4/recovery at start up screen it may have change its MBR to Windows 7 so now my main 1TB Hard Disk information is unobtainable and cannot be seen from the other hard drive even though the main hard drive itself is reported as being available and OK. - (These things happen at 4;00 in the morning when you have been faffing around for days with speed tests, making change to a system that was working well and and using different operating systems).

I tried using bootrec codes via the Windows 10 recovery plug in drive but that has not worked and the recovery drive cannot carry out a repair because it cannot see the original files and these files cannot be seen from the other hard drive.

I was always more comfortable with hardware than software and since I retired, (some years ago), I have not had any PC problems/issues and Windows 10 had been so reliable that I become complacent regarding backups and I had tended to use the original 1TB Hard Disk with had a fresh format and a new install of Windows 10 Pro on it. - I never store anything in the cloud for and I keep everything on my PC.

I have tried recovery software but up to now no luck when I tried some free demo versions of recovery software when accessing the main 1TB Hard Drive from the other 1 TB Hard Drive in the PC that used the fresh install of Windows 10 Pro but the files could not be seen by the recovery software.

Can my files be recovered ?

Can I put back the original boot files for that 1TB Hard Drive so that its windows files become accessible and so that it can boot up ?

Kindly advise,
Fido

have you tried booting off the win 10 usb/dvd install media and use the repair option on one of the first screens?

The Recovery USB does boot into the recovery options but the option to repair the previous copy of Window 10 Pro does not work. - It does not seem to be able to see the Windows Files, therefore, the only option that it gives is to install a complete new copy of Windows 10 Pro either as a keep PC clean or sell PC clean choice and this would overwrite and would remove everything.


The Operating System and my files must still be there even if it cannot presently be accessed..

In reply to a post by petsy:

have you tried booting off the win 10 usb/dvd install media and use the repair option on one of the first screens?

Yes I tried that first and it could not repair the Operating System because it did not access/see the Windows Operating system.

I would have restored Windows and kept files if that option had been available but I did not want to just reinstall Windows 10 Pro, which I could do, from the Recovery USB as that would overwrite everything and I am hoping that there is a way to get the hard disk to boot up and/or make my files accessible.

Post deleted by RobertoS

There seem to be new ways to fix these, compared to when it was a single parameter in the Format command at the c: prompt to do nothing but fix the MBR.

There are some MS-qualified posters on these forums and you may be best to wait until one of them turns up in the morning. I fear you may have made things worse, but there is probably still hope.

I suggest you read but do not take action over the methods in the search results here.

Experts should be able to guide you through more clearly than those generalised approaches in your specific circumstances.

It's very easy to make things worse when dealing with this situation. Your first step should be to make an exact clone of the disk on another one, and do your recovery attempts on that clone. That way you avoid further damage.

It is usually fairly simple for a competent technician to recover from a corrupted disk. If you don't have the facilities, or confidence, to work in the way I suggest - and if the contents of the disk are important to you - it might be better to find a local repair shop that can do this for you (not PC World, but a small guy). They should be familiar with this process and have the necessary tools.

Alternatively, bite the bullet and use this as an excuse to reinstall Windows.

I suspect that I have already made it worse as I did try to clone the first partition of my second hard drive, with its new install of Windows 10 Pro, into the first partition of the main hard drive via a partition clone but that was not successful.

Since the main drive contains all of my letters letters, documents, passwords etc. I would prefer to access it myself if that is at all possible. - The main 1TB Hard Drive is a SanDisk Ultra 3D SSD with 3D NAND Technology.

What methods could be used to bring the Main 1TB Hard Drive back to life or at least to see my proper files on it ?

At the present time I can still see my main 1TB Hard Drive, (from my second 1TB Hard drive), if I log into my second hard drive and I connect my main hard drive to my laptop either via a USB to SATA Connecting Cable or if I connect it internally.

However, although I can see my main 1TB Hard Drive from my second internal 1TB Hard Drive I cannot access any information on it and it looks for the most part it is empty but there are a few small size hidden files on the main partitions but they mostly seem empty even when they are seen via disk management where I can see the partitions exist and it report them as being healthy but they seem empty with the main drive 100% free.

The file recovery software that I tried to scan with, as a test, could not see any of my files. - If it had seen my files I would bought the software to recover them.

I have been using the Command Prompt Screen mainly via the Recovery USB and have tried more of the bootrec codes to try to revive the old boot files but bootrec /fixboot resulted in Access Denied and bootrec /scanos resulted in a O. (ie, a zero).

So I decided to clear 99 MB system partition and I reformatted it for FAT32 via Command Screen and I am presently trying to get it to load the boot files from the Windows Partition bit up to now that has not happened.

When I connect the main hard drive to my PC which is presently running of the second hard drive from its new installation of windows and I connect my main Hard Drive, via a USB SATA cable, i can see the all od the partitions in both hard disks via the Disk Manager and the command screen within the PC and the properties reported for my main had drive says that it only has 190 MB in there in the Windows Partition of my Main Hard Drive so at present so at present the files are not visible at all.

I have tried a few types of file recovery software and they have not found any files to recover other than some Windows files of some type or other..

If I find some generic Windows 10 UEFI boot files and I manage to install them in the reformatted clear what was not working 99MB System Partition in my main hard drive I am hoping that this will allow me to boot into Windows partition via the recovery partition.

Is this a realistic way forward ?

Is there some other way that I can revive the windows partition ? - (I have set it to active via the command screen).

I got Linuxed.

I may be wrong but I have concluded that my using a Linux USB for speed tests after the issued with the main drive developed has made the files unobtainable.

I could not understand how most of the Windows 10 Pro system files seemed to have vanished into the either and I have concluded that it is something to do with Live Linux USB. - Probably not in the fact that the system failed in the first place but because when the system did fail because I kept trying Linux speed Tests it may have compounded the problem and made things much worse.

When the system failed and it would not boot or recover if I had I not used Linux at all I suspect that I could have recovered everything via the Command Prompt Screen, but while carrying out one of the Linux speed Tests, (that others were pressing me to carry out), after the main hard disk had been failing to boot, I may have inadvertently looked at the non-operational windows hard disk to see if my files were visible in Linux and in doing so I may have inadvertently removed the very windows system files that I needed for recovery. - I don't know.

I do know that, from the tests that I have done, I have concluded that just about all of the Windows System files are missing from the Windows partition; I have no idea where they have gone but I suspect that none of the files are recoverable from the main hard disk. - If the windows system files were still there I could have programmed the system, (via the Command Prompt Screen), to recover and to reboot and/or I could have found my missing data but other than a few MB scraps of windows data there is just nothing there and various types of quite invasive recovery and partition checking software finds nothing of use, (other than another few MB of windows information which I recovered).

If I had not been carrying out Linux Speed Tests after the system would not boot or recover I believe that I could have recovered the system but the use of USB based Linux and/or my not knowing it may have compounded the problem and it could have removed the very windows system that I needed in place to enable a recovery.

Therefore, I will need to take this on the chin and will move on.