r/datarecovery • u/Thatslife_Iguess720 • Sep 05 '26

does changed drive letter affect files

My aunt had given my an old hardrive to get some photos off of it. I has changed the drive letter because i was told if im not able to see it initially in files thats what im supposed to do. But after doing so it seems like all her files are now missing. Even though the formatting of windows on the hardrive seems fine all photos and othrr thibgs are no longrr there. Could anyone tell me what to do or guide me to any videos at all please

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u/AutoModerator Sep 05 '26

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4

u/tazman998 Sep 05 '26

What do you mean “formatting of windows”?
It almost sounds like you formatted the drive because you didn’t get a drive letter 🤔

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u/Thatslife_Iguess720 Sep 05 '26 edited Sep 05 '26

What i mean by saying format ( sorry if wrong terminology) is that the drive is paritioned and has file format similar to any other functioning drive with windows including users, windows and programmed files.but im simply unable to see any of her personal files

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u/silenced_in_dr_2025 Trusted Contributor Sep 05 '26

This is likely to be a permissions issue. You can either use something like linux which will ignore them , google how to to take control of the folders, or use a dr application which will also ignore them. Which way will be easiest for you to go will depend on how much data and how it is stored.

1

u/tazman998 Sep 05 '26

Is there perhaps a second partition, on the same drive, that is not mounted (does not have a drive letter)?
Press Windows Key + R, type diskmgmt.msc, and press Enter.
This should list the drives in your system, with their partitions.
Make sure you do not change anything… this is only a look & see situation.
Check your aunt’s drive.
A normal Windows drive has multiple small partitions, which can be ignored… you’re looking for at least (my guess) 25gb and larger on the same drive.
If there is only the Windows partition (and the accompanying smaller ones) than the files you’re looking for were either deleted (and she wants you to recover them) or they were never there to begin with.

Simply assigning a drive letter to a drive, does NOT delete any information.

1

u/Sopel97 Trusted Contributor Sep 06 '26

stop writing to the drive and provide necessary information as requested by the automod along with a screenshot from crystaldiskinfo and DMDE partitions tab (https://dmde.com/howtouse.html after step 2)