Downloaded Windows Media Creation tool on my SP Armor 1TB lost all files help!!!

[Michael Anthony]

Downloaded Windows Media Creation tool as a back up like I was advised, onto my SP Armor 1TB and NEED help!!!! The External shows under a deferent letter D drive and it's about 3Gb and the other 899 Gb shows RAW...It wants me too format, but I'm afraid of loosing everything...(Very important videos and pictures). So many recovery tools out there, and not cheap. I NEED advice PLEASE.

[nukecad]

Hi Michael,

For now I would not do anything with that drive, don't even connect it to the computer.

I have 3 questions to start with:

You do not say if this SP Armor drive is the HDD or the SSD version? That can be very important.

It's also not clear from your post - did you actually run the Media Creation Tool to create bootable installtion media on the drive?
(3 GB seems too small for the files if you did).

The 899 GB that is showing as RAW, is that in a partition (lettered or not) or is it 'unallocated'.
A screenshot of Disk Management would help.

The Windows Media Creation tool does wipe the drive that you create installation media on. It does warn you of that a couple of times during the process.
Usually people use an 8 GB or 16 GB USB stick for Windows installation media, not a full drive.

But OK it appears that you may have have made a mistake and wiped your drive.
It might just be possible to get the files back for free, or at least most of them, using Recuva.
I say 'might just be' because I am not sure if you actually ran the MCT, or if the MCT does a FULL format or a QUICK format on the drive.
If it's a Quick format then many of the files should be recoverable, if its a FULL format of the entire drive then probably not.

Note that I am not too optimistic of recovery here, it's most likely that the MCT does a FULL format and so any data that was on the drive has been completely overwritten.

If you can answer the 3 questions above then we can work out the best way to go from there, with detailed recovery instructions if appropriate.

EDIT - Just to add that I have successfully recovered files from drives that have become RAW; but it can depend on just how/why they became RAW in the first place.

[Michael Anthony]

It was a quick download and don't remember it saying or warning of the format (I was following along with a You tube video).I never ran it after. I went to This PC and it was gone. It was actually 32 GB NTFS (pictures added). I'll add pictures of my disk management and properties. Where do I go to find the SSD or HDD? https://photos.app.goo.gl/cg2XeCQz42ZWUufB6  

Thanx for ANY help in advance

[nukecad]

As you hadn't actually run the MCT then that does all sound and look more promising for possible recovery of your files.

The code MSIP-REM-SLL-A30 on the back identifies the drive model, but I'm still struggling to find anything from SP to say if it's a HDD or SSD.
TBH though a SSD wouldn't really need that level of physical 'drop' protection.
I can't find any reference to the serial # 20013866-04-010TA30-TO
What I can find is a Youtube video review that says that it is a mechanical drive (HDD) in there, so let's go with that.
If it does happen to be a SSD then fair enough, if it has crashed then it should/may still be recoverable.

It apears that there has been a drive crash for whatever reason when downloading the MCT, (or possibly before then) and so the E: drive (partition) has become RAW.
It does happen, and I've had it happen myself - and sucessfully recovered the files from the crashed drive.

So here is how to do that and see what you are able to get back:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Note that with a 1TB drive the recovery process will take some time, but I'm sure you are not too bothered about that and just want your files back if you can get them.

Firstly- do not write anything else to the drive that you want to recover from. Don't even connect it to the computer until recovering from it.

You will need another drive with enough free space to hold the files that will be recovered. That will depend on how much space the files were taking up, so if the drive was full then you'll need another 1TB drive at least.
(If there are already files on the drive you want to recover to them make a new folder to recover the files into).
That 'Recovery' drive will also need to be connected to the computer during the recovery.

Don't try to recover files to the crashed drive, doing that will just write newly recovered files over the top of what you are trying to recover destroying aby chance of recovering more.

You will need to download and install Recuva Free version: https://www.ccleaner.com/recuva/builds
Double click the downloaded file (rcsetup153.exe) to install Recuva.
Note that the Free version is all that you need, the Pro version does nothing extra as far as recovery goes. (You are just paying for support and automatic updates, which you don't need).

You might want to have a look through Recuva to familiarise yourself with it before starting the recovery.
You will need to use the Advanced mode, so may want to read this: https://support.ccleaner.com/s/article/using-recuva-s-advanced-mode?language=en_US

The 'Wizard' is to help with recovery of deleted files, that it not what you want here - you want to recover the 'live' files that were on the crashed drive.
So skip the Wizard and go to Advanced mode.

Once you have Recuva installed, and have read the documents so you know what to expect, you are ready to begin the recovery.

Connect  the crashed drive that you want to recover files from.

Now do a 'QUICK format' of the drive you want to recover from. ie. Quick Format that E: partition to NTFS.

Next connect the drive that you are going to recover the files to, so that you now have both the 'Source' and 'Recovery' drives connected.

Once the drive has been reformatted open  Recuva, go to Advanced mode, and scan the newly formatted drive E: for non-deleted files.

Note that if your lost files were in sub-folders then you may also want to tick the "Restore folder structure" option. Personally I have't used it so can't really comment on it.

Restore the files that are found to the second drive.

Once recovery has finished disconnect the 'source' drive and check any files that have been recovered to the 'recovery' drive to see what is there and check that they open OK.

As with any attempted recovery there are no guarantees.

Please ask if you need any of the above clarifying.

Let us know how you get on.

Once you are satisfied that you have recovered all that you can then you can think about reusing the crashed drive, run a CHKDSK on it before using it again.
https://mysupport.razer.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/6234/~/how-to-use-the-check-disk-tool-to-repair-your-hard-drive

[Michael Anthony]

Just wanted to let you know I saw last post...Ordering a new drive now. If I get these files back...Brother, I owe you big. 

Thanx for all the advice in advance.

[nukecad]

I'd read that documentation and download Recuva and familiarise yourself with it's interface whilst waiting for your new drive.

Good luck with the recovery and let us know how things go,

And of course if/when you do get the files back then make a backup copy of them to another drive.
(You should have a spare 1TB drive once the SP drive has been checked and fixed using CHKDSK).
It's always easier and safer to have a backup copy of important files than to have to try and recover the originals if/when something goes wrong.

[Andavari]

On 24/09/2023 at 02:49, nukecad said:

You do not say if this SP Armor drive is the HDD or the SSD version? That can be very important.

 

Probably an HDD such as the SP Silicon Power Armor A60 which they've been making for ages.

Windows 10/Windows 11 can damage the file system on their own whim out of nowhere for whatever reason (bugs) on external/portable USB HDD/SSD drives. I've seen it countless times which is why it's important to have at the bare minimum 3 large capacity drives that have duplicate/exact backups. And when messing around with things like OS images (Windows setup files, etc.,) use USB 3.0/3.1/3.2 Flash Drives instead keeping the large capacity backup drives safe and out of the mix. 

Nowadays allot of external/portable drives use exFAT to be compatible with both Mac and Windows, and maybe it's safer to instead use NTFS if only dealing with Windows PC's and no other hardware for the resilience of NTFS.

[Michael Anthony]

21 hours ago, Andavari said:

Probably an HDD such as the SP Silicon Power Armor A60 which they've been making for ages.

Windows 10/Windows 11 can damage the file system on their own whim out of nowhere for whatever reason (bugs) on external/portable USB HDD/SSD drives. I've seen it countless times which is why it's important to have at the bare minimum 3 large capacity drives that have duplicate/exact backups. And when messing around with things like OS images (Windows setup files, etc.,) use USB 3.0/3.1/3.2 Flash Drives instead keeping the large capacity backup drives safe and out of the mix. 

Nowadays allot of external/portable drives use exFAT to be compatible with both Mac and Windows, and maybe it's safer to instead use NTFS if only dealing with Windows PC's and no other hardware for the resilience of NTFS.

Thank you sir...Lesson learned if I get my files back...