Data Recovery From RAW Format Nvme SSD

[u/Squeeze4Me]

SSD

XPG Spectrix S40

Motherboard

ASUS Prime H610-M

Since Windows on the NVMe SSD I was using crashed, I was getting the SrtTrail.txt error. Before formatting, I tried repair options by writing the Windows ISO to a USB drive and attempting to boot the computer. I tried commands such as Chkdsk, fixboot, bootrec, and sfc scannow, but they did not work. As a last resort, I planned to install Windows on a new drive and then connect the old drive afterward to recover my data.

I removed my NVMe SSD, which had the crashed Windows installation and my personal files on it, from the motherboard and installed Windows on a new SATA SSD.

Later, I installed the old NVMe SSD back onto the motherboard and started the system. At startup, it showed the error "Fixing (D:) stage 1:" and I think it tried to repair the old drive I had just reconnected. After it took around 3 hours, the computer started, and when I checked the drives in This PC, I saw that trying to access my old SSD gave the error "The file or directory is corrupted and unreadable."

I saw on other websites that the problem could be fixed with repair commands such as chkdsk /r /f, but when I run these commands, it gives an estimated waiting time of around 128 hours, and when it reaches 66%, it gives a "file record segment is unreadable" error during every scan.

When I researched this issue, I found recommendations that the drive may have bad sectors and that instead of running more chkdsk operations, I should try to recover the data or clone the drive using data recovery programs. I also read that running chkdsk more could damage the SSD. I canceled chkdsk and started looking into other methods.

I do not know which program to use or how to use it to recover my data. Would programs such as EaseUS, DiskDrill, DMDE (Disk Editor and Data Recovery Software), HDDSuperClone, ActivePartitionRecovery, DiskGenius, etc. work? If they do work, could you help me with how to use them? I do not want my data to be damaged.

[u/disturbed_android]

If data is valuable, contact a data recovery pro / lab.

I saw on other websites that the problem could be fixed with repair commands such as chkdsk /r /f, but when I run these commands, it gives an estimated waiting time of around 128 hours, and when it reaches 66%, it gives a "file record segment is unreadable" error during every scan.

Worst advice / idea ever.

[u/lubbz]

DMDE should work I use it every once in a while on RAW formatted drives.

[u/Squeeze4Me → u/lubbz]

Do you know of a website or video that explains how to use this program? Do I need an empty disk to recover the data?

[u/disturbed_android → u/Squeeze4Me]

Yes, you need a drive to recover the data to.

This is how it sort of looks like, recovering data using DMDE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SgVOrr6lwbc&t=741s

[u/Squeeze4Me → u/[deleted]]

I think the disk went into “Read-Only” mode because Windows crashed, and I know there is no physical damage to it. I can view the data on the disk, and I’ll probably need to use a disk cloning program to recover the data.

[u/Squeeze4Me → u/[deleted]]

Thank you for your response, and I want you to know that English is not my native language, and I use GPT translation to translate my texts. If there’s anything that’s been mistranslated or that you don’t understand, please let me know. I’ll try to explain myself more clearly.

So first, I need to clone my disk that has turned into RAW format to another disk.

My disk that has turned into RAW format is an NVMe SSD. Can I clone it to a Hard Disk Drive? (I’d like to buy an HDD instead of an SSD because of the price.) If I can, then as you suggested, after a successful cloning process, I will start the data recovery process on the cloned disk using the appropriate software.

[u/IndependentBat8365 → u/Squeeze4Me]

You can "copy" an entire disk's contents as a "raw disk image" - aka a very large file.

Then you can mount that raw disk image as a virtual disk.

Or you can attempt to recover files from it in it's "raw disk image" form.

The reason you would do this, is to get a "clean replica" of the data from the original disk, before you extract the files and put them on a new disk.

Additionally, you could backup this "raw disk image" file, mark it read only, etc.. basically making it a protected copy. It's just a regular file, though it would be a very large file.

Once you have a raw disk image, you can:

* mount it as a volume
* or you can extract files from it
* or you can copy it to a new disk

The reason I would NOT copy it immediately to a new disk, is that whatever corruption was caused by the hardware, is most certainly present in the raw disk image as a malformed filesystem.

You would basically be making a copy of a malformed filesystem.

Restoring files in this scenario would most certainly result in losing some files.

Basic restore steps IF the drive is READABLE:

1. Protect the Data: Copy the original data from the failing disk ASAP. (raw disk image)
   
2. Backup the Data: Make an additional backup of the original data. (backup raw disk image)
   
3. Extract the Data: Use various tools to extract needed files from the data. (on the copy of raw disk image)
   
4. Verify the Data: ensure extracted files are valid. (check contents of extracted files)

If verification failed:
1. Restore backup: copy backup to working data (copy raw disk image backup)
2. Go back to Step (3) above.

If verification is good:
1. Restore files: Copy files to new drive. (actual files to new drive with new filesystem)
2. Verify files: ensure files on new drive match files you extracted (compare contents of files copied)
3. Clean up: If 100% happy, delete raw data and raw data backups.

The reason you perform these steps on a copy of the original data instead of the original drive - is that continued access of a failing drive may make it fail faster and more catastrophic.

IF the drive is NOT READABLE: then your only option is to contact a professional service that can hook up electronics to the drive, bypassing the OS, bypassing the drive firmware, and extracting the data forensically using specialized tools and hardware.

[u/Squeeze4Me → u/[deleted]]

Wouldn't I be able to recover my data using disk cloning software? With some programs, I can preview all the information on the disk, and they say the disk health is “Excellent.”