Problem accessing my HDD from another PC

[galapogos]

Hi,

i just built a new Windows 10 PC, and I'm trying to copy files over from my old 2TB HDD on another Windows 10 PC. When I plugged the old HDD into the new PC via a USB-SATA adapter, it didn't show up on Explorer, so I ran Disk Management, only to see it being listed as "Dynamic" and "Invalid". After googling a bit, I found a link saying to convert it to "Basic" instead, and that no data would be lost. So, I did it, only to find that it is now listed in Disk Management as "Unallocated". What just happened, and how can I recover my files?

 

[commach]

Sorry to hear that, likely you lost all the data because you need to delete all volume on the drive before you can convert it to basic drive.

Are you using the Home Edition? FYI, Home Edition does not support Dynamic disk.

With volume and LDM deleted and converted to basic drive, the chance of data recovery is slim even after you revert it back to dynamic drive.

 

[galapogos]

The drive was originally from a Windows 10 Pro PC, then migrated to a Windows 10 Home PC. Both systems were able to read the drive OK.

However, I just connected it to a new Windows 10 Pro PC, which showed it as "Dynamic" and "Invalid", which prompted me to convert it back to Basic, upon which it showed as "Unallocated".

Correct me if I'm wrong, but partition information doesn't affect the actual data in the drive, and if so, the actual data still resides on the disk, and can hopefully be recovered?

 

[galapogos]

I'm currently using PhotoRec to recover files. It'll take a few hours though, but it has already recovered a lot of files. I've lost the file names and directories though.

 

[sadboy]

I'm currently using PhotoRec to recover files. It'll take a few hours though, but it has already recovered a lot of files. I've lost the file names and directories though.

Great to hear that. Not sure why your HDD wasn't detected when you first plugged in. No error message ?

 

[galapogos]

Unfortunately, only managed to recover 150+GB of files lol. Any other options?