Lost all the data: "disk does not contain a recognized file system" error in Windows Explorer


Fortitude

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Windows 11 Pro 22H2 OS Build 22621.675
I was doing an image backup of my C drive to an external disk and I noticed that the transfer rate was very slow (about 50 Mb/s). I suspected that something was wrong and after several attempts to investigate, there was an error that "the disk does not contain a recognized file system". Thankfully the error referred to the destination disk, not drive C. I decided to run chkdsk /f on the destination disk. Something went past on the command prompt screen about orphaned files and in the end I ended up with the disk apparently in working condition, but with all my files missing.

Hard Disk Sentinel reported that the disk is in perfect health and condition so I guess I can still use it for backups.

Is it possible to recover the missing data on the disk? To be fair, this is not critical for me, because I use the disk for backups with Macrium Reflect and in the end I'll just repeat the backup tasks if I cannot recover the data. However, I'm curious where the data went in the first place.
 
Windows Build/Version
Windows 11 Build 22000.493

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 11 Pro 22H2 OS Build 22621.675
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Dell Inspiron 5482 2-in-1
    CPU
    Intel Core i7-8565U
    Memory
    8GB
    Monitor(s) Displays
    BenQ
    Internet Speed
    1Gbps/300Mbps (nominal)
    Browser
    Chrome, Firefox, Edge
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender, Defender UI, Voodooshield
There are third party software that you can test drive but if there is significant size they typically have fees.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 10
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    HP
    CPU
    Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-4800MQ CPU @ 2.70GHz
    Motherboard
    Product : 190A Version : KBC Version 94.56
    Memory
    16 GB Total: Manufacturer : Samsung MemoryType : DDR3 FormFactor : SODIMM Capacity : 8GB Speed : 1600
    Graphics Card(s)
    NVIDIA Quadro K3100M; Intel(R) HD Graphics 4600
    Sound Card
    IDT High Definition Audio CODEC; PNP Device ID HDAUDIO\FUNC_01&VEN_111D&DEV_76E0
    Hard Drives
    Model Hitachi HTS727575A9E364
    Antivirus
    Microsoft Defender
    Other Info
    Mobile Workstation
There are third party software that you can test drive but if there is significant size they typically have fees.
The actual recovery of the data is not crucial to me in this case, although I would naturally be interested to know what caused the data loss. I'll never find out.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 11 Pro 22H2 OS Build 22621.675
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Dell Inspiron 5482 2-in-1
    CPU
    Intel Core i7-8565U
    Memory
    8GB
    Monitor(s) Displays
    BenQ
    Internet Speed
    1Gbps/300Mbps (nominal)
    Browser
    Chrome, Firefox, Edge
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender, Defender UI, Voodooshield
Have at least a second backup medium.
Actually I do have more than one backup medium. I do daily image backups to three different external disks plus a continuous backup in the cloud. I also backup my data only to another external disk. I suppose that should be enough :)
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 11 Pro 22H2 OS Build 22621.675
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Dell Inspiron 5482 2-in-1
    CPU
    Intel Core i7-8565U
    Memory
    8GB
    Monitor(s) Displays
    BenQ
    Internet Speed
    1Gbps/300Mbps (nominal)
    Browser
    Chrome, Firefox, Edge
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender, Defender UI, Voodooshield
OK (y) I myself have 3 backup media, no cloud. If one of my backup media had an incident that lost data, I would have replaced it.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 10 Pro
I suspect now that it could be a corrupted MFT that caused the disappearance of the data files.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 11 Pro 22H2 OS Build 22621.675
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Dell Inspiron 5482 2-in-1
    CPU
    Intel Core i7-8565U
    Memory
    8GB
    Monitor(s) Displays
    BenQ
    Internet Speed
    1Gbps/300Mbps (nominal)
    Browser
    Chrome, Firefox, Edge
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender, Defender UI, Voodooshield
A note, I've had an External USB drive fail and turned out the drive was okay but it was the interface in the case that had failed, pulled the drive out and it could be recognized in a drive dock but most of the files were as RAW.. The package the drive came in said it was for PC and Mac.
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • OS
    Win11 Pro RTM
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Dell Vostro 3400
    CPU
    Intel Core i5 11th Gen. 2.40GHz
    Memory
    12GB
    Hard Drives
    256GB SSD NVMe
  • Operating System
    Windows 11 Pro RTM x64
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Dell Vostro 5890
    CPU
    Intel Core i5 10th Gen. 2.90GHz
    Memory
    16GB
    Graphics card(s)
    Onboard, no VGA, using a DisplayPort-to-VGA adapter
    Monitor(s) Displays
    24" Dell
    Hard Drives
    512GB SSD NVMe, 2TB WDC HDD
    Browser
    Firefox, Edge
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender/Microsoft Security
Yes it is possible to recover the data if the disk is in readable condition, you can easily restore the data by data recover software.
But you have to make sure to create a image before you start scanning the drive this will help you in fast recovery without damaging the drive
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    10
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    2018
    Memory
    256 GB
    Screen Resolution
    15.6
Good advice but this post was back in February.
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • OS
    Win11 Pro RTM
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Dell Vostro 3400
    CPU
    Intel Core i5 11th Gen. 2.40GHz
    Memory
    12GB
    Hard Drives
    256GB SSD NVMe
  • Operating System
    Windows 11 Pro RTM x64
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Dell Vostro 5890
    CPU
    Intel Core i5 10th Gen. 2.90GHz
    Memory
    16GB
    Graphics card(s)
    Onboard, no VGA, using a DisplayPort-to-VGA adapter
    Monitor(s) Displays
    24" Dell
    Hard Drives
    512GB SSD NVMe, 2TB WDC HDD
    Browser
    Firefox, Edge
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender/Microsoft Security

My Computers

System One System Two

  • OS
    Windows 11
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Homebuilt
    CPU
    AMD Ryzen 7 3800XT
    Motherboard
    ASUS ROG Crosshair VII Hero (WiFi)
    Memory
    32GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    EVGA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti
  • Operating System
    Windows 11 Education
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Dell Inspiron 7773
    CPU
    Intel i7-8550U
    Memory
    32GB
    Graphics card(s)
    Nvidia Geforce MX150
    Sound Card
    Realtek
    Monitor(s) Displays
    17"
    Screen Resolution
    1920 x 1080
    Hard Drives
    Toshiba 512GB NVMe SSD
    SK Hynix 512GB SATA SSD
    Internet Speed
    Fast!
(y):-)
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • OS
    Win11 Pro RTM
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Dell Vostro 3400
    CPU
    Intel Core i5 11th Gen. 2.40GHz
    Memory
    12GB
    Hard Drives
    256GB SSD NVMe
  • Operating System
    Windows 11 Pro RTM x64
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Dell Vostro 5890
    CPU
    Intel Core i5 10th Gen. 2.90GHz
    Memory
    16GB
    Graphics card(s)
    Onboard, no VGA, using a DisplayPort-to-VGA adapter
    Monitor(s) Displays
    24" Dell
    Hard Drives
    512GB SSD NVMe, 2TB WDC HDD
    Browser
    Firefox, Edge
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender/Microsoft Security

My Computers

System One System Two

  • OS
    Windows 11 Canary Channel
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    PowerSpec B746
    CPU
    Intel Core i7-10700K
    Motherboard
    ASRock Z490 Phantom Gaming 4/ax
    Memory
    16GB (8GB PC4-19200 DDR4 SDRAM x2)
    Graphics Card(s)
    NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 TI
    Sound Card
    Realtek Audio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Samsung SAM0A87 Samsung SAM0D32
    Screen Resolution
    1920 x 1080
    Hard Drives
    NVMe WDC WDS100T2B0C-00PXH0 1TB
    Samsung SSD 860 EVO 1TB
    PSU
    750 Watts (62.5A)
    Case
    PowerSpec/Lian Li ATX 205
    Keyboard
    Logitech K270
    Mouse
    Logitech M185
    Browser
    Microsoft Edge and Firefox
    Antivirus
    ESET Internet Security
  • Operating System
    Windows 11 Canary Channel
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    PowerSpec G156
    CPU
    Intel Core i5-8400 CPU @ 2.80GHz
    Motherboard
    AsusTeK Prime B360M-S
    Memory
    16 MB DDR 4-2666
    Monitor(s) Displays
    23" Speptre HDMI 75Hz
    Screen Resolution
    1920x1080
    Hard Drives
    Samsung 970 EVO 500GB NVMe
    Mouse
    Logitek M185
    Keyboard
    Logitek K270
    Browser
    Firefox, Edge and Edge Canary
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender

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