Recover folder structure and filenames possible?

I ran into an issue when migrating my data between two NTFS HDDs, from Seagate Ironwolf 4TB to WD Red Plus 4TB.

My steps were:

Successfully transferred source drive file content using Teracopy on to target drive. Quick formatted source drive.

Swapped drive letters in Windows 11 disk management, shut down and reconfigured the SATA connections on my motherboard. On next boot some kind of glitch caused to Windows 11 disk management to mark the partition as RAW. To troubleshoot I opened Minitool Partition Wizard which instead reported an NTFS partition, using right-click>explore and could see all my files.

Next I ran chkdsk /f /v on target drive from the command prompt. Some filetable corrections were made.

Most files on target drive are now missing.

Can I hope to recover the files with their original filenames and folder structure somehow? I'm guessing that's a no go for the source drive due to the quick format. But could I recover that from the target drive, given that the missing files were not marked for deletion?

You could try 2024 Free Undelete and File Recovery tool by R-TT

But first thing is to stop fiddling with the drive. Stop trying to fix it. Install r-undelete on another drive and have it search the broken drive.

In this guide, i will show you how to use Windows File Recovery in Windows 10 and Windows 11 to restore accidentally deleted files.

To troubleshoot I opened Minitool Partition Wizard which instead reported an NTFS partition, using right-click>explore and could see all my files.

Click to expand...

At that point I would have run diskgenius because it can fix raw in some situations.

Then if diskgenius was unable to correct the issue, try a data recovery program. If the files can be seen in minitool and similar the chances of recovery are good

Next I ran chkdsk /f /v on target drive from the command prompt. Some filetable corrections were made.

Most files on target drive are now missing.

Click to expand...

There is probably less chance now.

Sorry that you are in this situation. It won't help you this time, but as a consideration for the future, I suggest you incorporate some sort some sort of backup/imaging plan into your computing life. It's the best insurance you can have.

Thanks for all the help. I ended up using DMDE to fully scan the quick formatted HDD, selecting "virtual FS from found MFT fragments" or something to that effect I was able to recover virtually all my files with the original filenames and folder structure. Very happy with the outcome. Keeping a backup would be better but this was a good lesson for why.