Restoring laptop's data disk

[smo]

My 17 in laptop has two disk drives, disk A is used for system and disk B for data. Recently I had to replace the system disk, disk A. Strange thing happens is that with the new disk A, disk B's data seems to have been compromised, ie I don't see the files that used to be on it anymore (mostly movies and they all have disappeared.) However the size of storage used has not shrunk it's still the same (nearly full.) My guess is disk B's index has been corrupted - if so, how do I go about repairing/restoring it? Thanks in advance for any input/advice.

[steven100]

you could try to do a scan and repair using the command prompt.

click on start bottom left corner.

click on run, 

type in cmd

opens the command prompt

type chkdsk /f /r

then restart .... do the scan and see if that fixes it.

[steven100]

another option may be if you can do a system restore.

Open system restore

click ' restore my pc to an earlier date

select the date you want .... so try back as far as possible.

then click restore and let it do the restore and it will reboot automatically.

[steven100]

not sure if either of those will work but worth a try. good luck with it.

[smo]

4 minutes ago, steven100 said:

you could try to do a scan and repair using the command prompt.

click on start bottom left corner.

click on run, 

type in cmd

opens the command prompt

type chkdsk /f /r

then restart .... do the scan and see if that fixes it.

It says:

"Access denied as you do not have sufficient priviliges or disk may be locked by another process.

You have to invoke this utility running in elevated mode and make sure the disk is unlocked."

[smo]

3 minutes ago, steven100 said:

another option may be if you can do a system restore.

Open system restore

click ' restore my pc to an earlier date

select the date you want .... so try back as far as possible.

then click restore and let it do the restore and it will reboot automatically.

the original disk A is kaput so I can't do a restore on it. With the new disk A whatever restore would just go back to the time disk B has been already corrupted.

[steven100]

It becomes very complicated regarding partitioning.

https://www.disk-partition.com/diskpart/access-denied-as-you-do-not-have-sufficient-privileges-3889.html

[steven100]

you might want to wait until tomorrow when more IT orientated guys are reading.

[KittenKong]

14 minutes ago, smo said:

It says:

"Access denied as you do not have sufficient priviliges or disk may be locked by another process.

You have to invoke this utility running in elevated mode and make sure the disk is unlocked."

Did you use a Windows user password before you changed the system disk? I suspect that you did.

 

[JamJar]

47 minutes ago, smo said:

It says:

"Access denied as you do not have sufficient priviliges or disk may be locked by another process.

You have to invoke this utility running in elevated mode and make sure the disk is unlocked."

 

Run Command prompt as Administrator; Right click on the option in the Start Menu and choose Run As Administrator....and then run Chkdsk.

 

But more likely to work is a recovery with Recuva or PhotoRec to another (external perhaps) drive.

[ballpoint]

A quick check to do to see if the username you're logged in as has permission to view files on the disk is to click the Start button, scroll down the programmes/apps to "Windows Administrative Tools", select "Computer Management" and then "Disk Management" on the window that opens.  Select the drive you want to access and click the "Security" tab.  Make sure all the "Allow" boxes are ticked for your username.  

 

[smo]

1 hour ago, KittenKong said:

Did you use a Windows user password before you changed the system disk? I suspect that you did.

 

 

1 hour ago, KittenKong said:

Did you use a Windows user password before you changed the system disk? I suspect that you did.

 

No password used.

 

26 minutes ago, ballpoint said:

A quick check to do to see if the username you're logged in as has permission to view files on the disk is to click the Start button, scroll down the programmes/apps to "Windows Administrative Tools", select "Computer Management" and then "Disk Management" on the window that opens.  Select the drive you want to access and click the "Security" tab.  Make sure all the "Allow" boxes are ticked for your username.  

 

all the "Allow" boxes are ticked.  

[smo]

3 hours ago, JamJar said:

 

Run Command prompt as Administrator; Right click on the option in the Start Menu and choose Run As Administrator....and then run Chkdsk.

 

But more likely to work is a recovery with Recuva or PhotoRec to another (external perhaps) drive.

 

Hi Jamjar - chckdsk run as administrator done.

(for some reason I couldn't load a pic of the screenshot here)

"Windows has scanned the file system and found no problems. No further action is required."
Next step?

[JamJar]

Do you have enough space to recover your files to an external drive?

[KittenKong]

10 hours ago, smo said:

No password used.

OK, then you should try to take ownership of the folders:

 

https://winaero.com/blog/how-to-take-ownership-and-get-full-access-to-files-and-folders-in-windows-10/

 

If that doesnt help then you can try unlocking the folders using this tool:

 

https://www.majorgeeks.com/files/details/unlocker.html

 

Neither of those procedures should harm the files in any way and I have used both before to solve the same problem.

 

I would not attempt to recover the files until both the above possibilities have been tried as the error message you are getting normally relates to ownership rather than corruption.

[smo]

On 6/1/2019 at 1:12 AM, JamJar said:

Do you have enough space to recover your files to an external drive?

Yes I have plenty of external drives laying around like house cats.

 

On 6/1/2019 at 7:52 AM, KittenKong said:

OK, then you should try to take ownership of the folders:

 

https://winaero.com/blog/how-to-take-ownership-and-get-full-access-to-files-and-folders-in-windows-10/

 

If that doesnt help then you can try unlocking the folders using this tool:

 

https://www.majorgeeks.com/files/details/unlocker.html

 

Neither of those procedures should harm the files in any way and I have used both before to solve the same problem.

 

I would not attempt to recover the files until both the above possibilities have been tried as the error message you are getting normally relates to ownership rather than corruption.

Thanks KittenKong for the advice, will attempt that in the next couple of evenings and report back dutifully,

[chrisinth]

Another thing you could try OP is to remove your drive B from the computer and connect it back using a SATA (assuming you are using SATA and not IDE?) USB adapter and try reading the disk that way. I would do this before trying to use any 3rd party software to attempt recovery.

 

If you don't have a SATA adapter, you could mount the drive in an external enclosure and try that.

 

Can you see the files/folders on your drive B?

[johng]

I had great success in recovering files from a corrupted  camera SD card (photorec)

and restoring a whole 2 TB disc partition layout that I accidentality  messed up with no data loss at all

(testdisk)  this freeware  can be found here

https://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/TestDisk_Download

[JamJar]

15 minutes ago, johng said:

I had great success in recovering files from a corrupted  camera SD card (photorec)

and restoring a whole 2 TB disc partition layout that I accidentality  messed up with no data loss at all

(testdisk)  this freeware  can be found here

https://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/TestDisk_Download

 

Yes. TestDisk/PhotoRec. Have already mentioned it.

Personally I think KittenKong has misinterpreted what he has read. But since he has suggested the OP should follow his advice before following mine, I've given him the floor.

[smo]

6 hours ago, chrisinth said:

f you don't have a SATA adapter, you could mount the drive in an external enclosure and try that.

 

Can you see the files/folders on your drive B?

I used to have a SATA external box, but the connection gone bad because of overused. Now I can move the sick drive to another dual-drive laptop to check its directory. Or I can use the recovery software as suggested by many here. Right now the directory of disk B only shows new files written since disk A replacement. So we have a huge pile of (old) data (=lost movies, hard to find on either ebay or amazon, etc.) lying there, invisible except for its footprint, ie the amount of storage it still occupies - unseen to the naked eye ( the disk is running out of space).

 

Testdisk is OS command driven and technically it's a bit to dense for me (or me for it). Photorec seems more user-interface friendly so I think I will head there first, and then Recuva which I'm downloading right now and will give it a go also....I have numerous unused external drives to help out so that is not a concern. Will post the outcome pronto!

Edited June 4, 2019 by smo

[KittenKong]

6 hours ago, JamJar said:

Personally I think KittenKong has misinterpreted what he has read. But since he has suggested the OP should follow his advice before following mine, I've given him the floor.

You are right. It seems that the OP is saying that the folders/files are not visible in which case he probably wont be able to regain ownership of them.

 

But I wonder if perhaps setting Explorer to show hidden files and system files might make them reappear in some way or another? Windows does apparently know that they are there. If he can see them listed in Explorer then he may be able to regain ownership of them.

Cant help thinking that there is more to this than has been indicated so far as changing a system disk should not cause this.

 

[JamJar]

2 hours ago, smo said:

I used to have a SATA external box, but the connection gone bad because of overused. Now I can move the sick drive to another dual-drive laptop to check its directory. Or I can use the recovery software as suggested by many here. Right now the directory of disk B only shows new files written since disk A replacement. So we have a huge pile of (old) data (=lost movies, hard to find on either ebay or amazon, etc.) lying there, invisible except for its footprint, ie the amount of storage it still occupies - unseen to the naked eye ( the disk is running out of space).

 

Testdisk is OS command driven and technically it's a bit to dense for me (or me for it). Photorec seems more user-interface friendly so I think I will head there first, and then Recuva which I'm downloading right now and will give it a go also....I have numerous unused external drives to help out so that is not a concern. Will post the outcome pronto!

 

You can recover first and then try TestDisk later.

 

I haven't opened PhotoRec recently so I don't know which interface you can see. But if you go into the PhotoRec folder you should see a file named qphotorec(QPhotoRec). Run that as Administrator(right click and choose Run As Administrator) That should have a more friendly interface with which to work. You should be able to recover everything that you have not overwritten, to another drive. Might take a while. 

Edited June 4, 2019 by JamJar

[JamJar]

1 hour ago, KittenKong said:

You are right. It seems that the OP is saying that the folders/files are not visible in which case he probably wont be able to regain ownership of them.

 

But I wonder if perhaps setting Explorer to show hidden files and system files might make them reappear in some way or another? Windows does apparently know that they are there. If he can see them listed in Explorer then he may be able to regain ownership of them.

Cant help thinking that there is more to this than has been indicated so far as changing a system disk should not cause this.

 

 

Of course there may be an quicker way to gain access to the files once again, but since the OP seems to value the data, a back up should really be the first step. Not least because everyone should make back ups of valued data.

Then he can try the other methods in a more relaxed manner, knowing that the files are safely stored elsewhere.

[Farangwithaplan]

1 hour ago, KittenKong said:

You are right. It seems that the OP is saying that the folders/files are not visible in which case he probably wont be able to regain ownership of them.

 

Taking ownership would still be a good path to take before anything else. In Disk Management it might be worthwhile to check that there is a still a drive letter associated or there has not been something screwy happening ... Who knows if there was an extended partition or anything similar that may have been created in the past.

 

Ownership thought the reg edit addition is the easiest thing to try with no ramifications if it doesn't work.

[KittenKong]

8 hours ago, Farangwithaplan said:

Taking ownership would still be a good path to take before anything else. In Disk Management it might be worthwhile to check that there is a still a drive letter associated or there has not been something screwy happening ... Who knows if there was an extended partition or anything similar that may have been created in the past.

The OP does say that he can see some new files that were saved to it later in Explorer, so he should be able to try to take ownership of the entire partition from there by right-clicking on the drive letter.

Still seems an odd situation though and I would definitely try showing hidden folders and system folders first as that may throw some light on it. If the folders have been set to hidden in error as part of the system disk replacement then that could explain everything he is (not) seeing.

 

https://www.winhelp.co/knowledge-base/show-hidden-system-files-windows-10/

[johng]

6 hours ago, KittenKong said:

If the folders have been set to hidden in error as part of the system disk replacement then that could explain everything he is (not) seeing.

Yes certainly a very possible reason...if so very easy to recover from.

[smo]

I started qphotorec last night before going to be, it went along nicely in command mode and this morning posted the result successfully how many files restored, blablabla. But when I looked into the restored drive, say drive I, the directory showed a mumble jumble of files: xml, zip (zillions of them), mp3, jpeg, text, you name it. The data is there but not all, the original disk B is half a TB almost full, but the restored drive showed only about 300GB restored, no matter I can't possibly put it back in any usable order anyway, so that is wasted. BUT,

 

- when I jumped around and looked into different directories, the original sick drive B: showed all of its files, OLD AND NEW, movies, music everything - as if nothing at the slightest weirdest had ever happened! I opened a movie just to make sure I wasn't hallucinating and watched it, completely normal...

 

I held my breath, easy easy, it's all there, nothing has happened so what to do? I started a clone process (with EaseUs partition master) and the thing has been going on since noon. Moving at a molassey pace (right now at 96% moving up 1 percent every 15 minutes, it should finish by dinner time. Then I can really breathe easy and start doing the ownership reclaim thing, hidden files and whatnot as many here are suggesting...If the clone process is succesful, then at least I ll have one "good" copy for safekeeping. Will report back upon cloning completion.

[JamJar]

2 hours ago, smo said:

I started qphotorec last night before going to be, it went along nicely in command mode and this morning posted the result successfully how many files restored, blablabla. But when I looked into the restored drive, say drive I, the directory showed a mumble jumble of files: xml, zip (zillions of them), mp3, jpeg, text, you name it. The data is there but not all, the original disk B is half a TB almost full, but the restored drive showed only about 300GB restored, no matter I can't possibly put it back in any usable order anyway, so that is wasted. BUT,

 

- when I jumped around and looked into different directories, the original sick drive B: showed all of its files, OLD AND NEW, movies, music everything - as if nothing at the slightest weirdest had ever happened! I opened a movie just to make sure I wasn't hallucinating and watched it, completely normal...

 

I held my breath, easy easy, it's all there, nothing has happened so what to do? I started a clone process (with EaseUs partition master) and the thing has been going on since noon. Moving at a molassey pace (right now at 96% moving up 1 percent every 15 minutes, it should finish by dinner time. Then I can really breathe easy and start doing the ownership reclaim thing, hidden files and whatnot as many here are suggesting...If the clone process is succesful, then at least I ll have one "good" copy for safekeeping. Will report back upon cloning completion.

 

qphotorec is not the command line option. It has a GUI. So you can easily set it to recover the types of files you want to recover, but choosing the kind of extension.

 

Either way, good news. Making a back up is the way to go. 

[smo]

On 6/1/2019 at 7:52 AM, KittenKong said:

OK, then you should try to take ownership of the folders:

 

https://winaero.com/blog/how-to-take-ownership-and-get-full-access-to-files-and-folders-in-windows-10/

 

If that doesnt help then you can try unlocking the folders using this tool:

 

https://www.majorgeeks.com/files/details/unlocker.html

 

Neither of those procedures should harm the files in any way and I have used both before to solve the same problem.

 

I would not attempt to recover the files until both the above possibilities have been tried as the error message you are getting normally relates to ownership rather than corruption.

1) I tried :

https://winaero.com/blog/how-to-take-ownership-and-get-full-access-to-files-and-folders-in-windows-10/

the whole thing read a bit like the Mueller report, but toward the end of the page they suggested takeownershipEx to get everything done in one-click. I jumped on it, downloaded, ran it and was told "you get full access to target" but pouf, the whole directory disappeared(="this folder is empty!"). I ran it again to restore previous rights  and was told "you have restored original permissions" but directory still shows ""this folder is empty".

 

Unfazed, I went back and did it the hard ie manual way hoping to restore the disk back to its previous state whatever it was and ran into errors ("failed to enumerate objects in container. Access denied") at various stages.

 

-----Luckily I did on this on a test drive so only 20GB (of junk files) of data was gone though a chunk of 20GB remained used on the disk.----

 

2) I then tried :

https://www.majorgeeks.com/files/details/unlocker.html

 

I downloaded the setup file, installed it, ran it and was told "cannot unlock local drives."

[smo]

Ok back to the main mission: the clone operation completed succesfully. Disk B now shows the complete directory (of all the new and old files) plus I've also got a clone of it on external drive.

 

---- Afterward I have also unhidden all files in "view" of windows explorer as suggested by KittenKong and others just to have everything covered----

 

I still don't know the cause nor cure of this "phantom directory" problem. It just happened one day and as for the solution all I know was when I hooked up the external drive (which got 4 separate partitions each 500GB) and got a bit of things going, somehow the gods (of windows) woke up and resynched all the indexes/directories and thus disk B got its grooves back.

 

My only suspicion is Windows Defender with its idiosynchratic settings. Disk B is internal but somehow WD still occasionally flags B's files as virusy and shut them up. To be safe I forever have to turn real-time virus protection off but it always theaten to " will turn back on automatically in a short while..." Could this be what fouled things up? Is there a way to turn virus protection off FOREVER???

Thanks to everyone for your input/advice so far, and it's been a surprisingly 3C (cooperative, constructive and cordial) thread throughout (see, it can happen!)  Merci beaucoup and wish you all a nice day,

Edited June 5, 2019 by smo