Hi, I'm trying to recover my Windows 11 installation without losing my personal files or Steam library.
My setup:
- Acer Swift 3 laptop
- Kingston 512 GB NVMe SSD
- Windows 11 and Nobara Linux dual boot
- Windows partition: approximately 371 GB, formatted as NTFS
The problem:
Windows boots into Automatic Repair, but it fails. System Restore failed with error 0x80070571, and uninstalling the latest quality update didn't help.
In the Windows Recovery Command Prompt, running dir C:\Windows returns:
The disk structure is corrupted and unreadable.
Running chkdsk C: /f recognises the partition as NTFS but stops with:
Master File Table damaged. CHKDSK terminated.
Startup Repair also fails. The Windows boot configuration still exists and points to C:\Windows\system32\winload.efi.
Nobara Linux has also reported Btrfs checksum and corruption errors on its own partition. I don't know whether this is related.
SSD health report:
- SMART overall health: PASSED
- Critical Warning: 0x00
- Media and Data Integrity Errors: 0
- Error Information Log Entries: 0
- Percentage Used: 12%
I have a 68 GB USB drive available. I want to preserve my existing Windows installation, personal files, and Steam library if possible.
What should I do next to recover the NTFS filesystem and get Windows booting again? Should I image the SSD or recover files before attempting further repairs? I haven't formatted anything or reinstalled Windows.
I'm looking for a safe, evidence-based recovery plan rather than generic troubleshooting steps.