Help... I've lost my book

jumanji said:

@Trebo58
I have just one question at the moment.
You said Western Digital My Book. That would be an External Disk. Crystal Disk Info shows your disk as ST5000NM0084-1HT17X
Did you buy it as an internal disk? Refurbhised/Renewed? Did you format it and partitioned it after purchasing?

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STxxxxxxxxxx is Seagate model and 5000 stands for 5TB.

pparks1 said:

Yeah, i wasn't trying to derail the conversation. I just mentioned it since I'm kinda surprised that Windows hasn't really ever included a nice built-in easy to use external backup. It would solve a bunch of these problems. It looks like what MS did instead was more or less focus on OneDrive as the solution and to ensure that files were in 2 locations. This is even better than a physical backup to an external hard drive in the event that the hard drive and the external are onsite at the same place and a disaster like a fire were to take place.

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I am not sure, but I think you can use good old Windows Backup from Windows 7 on Windows 11. Haven't done it, so I cannot tell for sure.

PS: No you cannot. I think this is to restore files you have backup from Windows 7 in Windows 11. Not able to backup any Windows 11 files. You need a third-party backup application or old school copy-paste to another disk, preferably an external disk that will be kept unconnected and safe.

I think you can use good old Windows Backup from Windows 7 on Windows 11.

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you can but it is not going to help the OP right now.

From my past experience unallocated means that the partition was deleted somehow. If it had lost only the table of contents (I don't know the correct term) it would show as raw. If Minitool fails to recover the partition and make it readable again, most likely, the only solution is a full disk scan with a data recovery tool. It will take many hours but hopefully, if there is no other damage, he will be able to recover his files. That's why I told him to save the scan status so he won't have to repeat it once he registers the tool. He can load the file and go directly to the recovery part.

Checked partition... Reports it has no errors

Screenshot DiskGenius-3.png shows details of the FREE 2TB space

Trebo58 said:

Checked partition... Reports it has no errors

Screenshot DiskGenius-3.png shows details of the FREE 2TB space

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Perfect! You have a great chance to recover your data. Download Get Data Back or any other utility and start a full disk scan. It will take some hours... If the utility cannot automatically determine the file system choose NTFS.

spapakons said:

Perfect! You have a great chance to recover your data. Download Get Data Back or any other utility and start a full disk scan. It will take some hours... If the utility cannot automatically determine the file system choose NTFS.

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I know that the lifetime version of MiniTool can do a full scan and provide multiple options of what partitions you would care to recover, often dating back to when the drive was first partitioned. Evidently the free version doesn't provide this.

@Trebo58
The DiskGenius Screenshot you put out in post#65 is nothing different than what is shown in Disk Management. The middle partiton is shown as free. Please right click on the middle partition and in the popup menu click on Recover Lost files and it should scan the partition and try to find out. I hadn't used DiskGenius anytime. Check what happens when you try to Recover the files and report. Wait for any further instructions from @SIW2 .

As for GetDataBack recommended by @spapakons: I had always used freeware TestDisk to recover data in these forums. Where TestDisk cannot repair a file system corruption ( Yes, if TestDisk finds the Master File Table is corrupt. it will try to repair and in 90% of the cases it will fail to repair MFT), TestDisk Author Christophe Grenier himself recommends using Commercial Software GetDataBack and/or Active@file recovery in such cases This did happen in a few cases and we had redirected them to these commercial softwares

If you prefer to go directly to these software , you can jollywell try these. These are "Try before you buy" software. You can install these software and try to recover the data,If it shows your data, you can even open the files and check the file Integrity. If you are saisfied you can buy the licence to copy the files.

GetDataaback GetDataBack — Data Recovery Software for Failed Hard Drives USD 79

Active@ File Recovery Free demo Active@ File Recovery: download evaluation version for free Standard Personal USD 29.95

Please read all the documentation in their webpages on how to use these.

jumanji said:

@Trebo58
The DiskGenius Screenshot you put out in post#65 is nothing different than what is shown in Disk Management. The middle partiton is shown as free. Please right click on the middle partition and in the popup menu click on Recover Lost files and it should scan the partition and try to find out. I hadn't used DiskGenius anytime. Check what happens when you try to Recover the files and report. Wait for any further instructions from @SIW2 .

As for GetDataBack recommended by @spapakons: I had always used freeware TestDisk to recover data in these forums. Where TestDisk cannot repair a file system corruption ( Yes, if TestDisk finds the Master File Table is corrupt. it will try to repair and in 90% of the cases it will fail to repair MFT), TestDisk Author Christophe Grenier himself recommends using Commercial Software GetDataBack and/or Active@file recovery in such cases This did happen in a few cases and we had redirected them to these commercial softwares

If you prefer to go directly to these software , you can jollywell try these. These are "Try before you buy" software. You can install these software and try to recover the data,If it shows your data, you can even open the files and check the file Integrity. If you are saisfied you can buy the licence to copy the files.

GetDataaback GetDataBack — Data Recovery Software for Failed Hard Drives USD 79

Active@ File Recovery Free demo Active@ File Recovery: download evaluation version for free Standard Personal USD 29.95

Click to expand...

I can't tell anyone what to do. I can only share what I have learned and I have learned that MiniTool Partition Wizard Pro Ultimate (life time license) will rescue the lost files even if it can't rescue the partition. Of course, the user will need to have a spare drive to transfer the recovered data to. After this the user should still have the option of attempting a system recovery or a system restore. Sometimes old methods will work.