I accidentally formatted my internal hard drive, and now it's unreadable since it's not set up for any operating system. I don't have any OS USB drives that can detect it, and no matter how I tweak the settings, I can only access the BIOS menu. I'm working with a Gateway laptop that features a 2021 American Megatrends BIOS. I've searched for guides on hard drive recovery that don't require another computer or USB recovery software, but I haven't found anything useful. Is there any way to recover my system using just the BIOS? Or have I completely disabled my laptop? I really need to get this sorted out for my work from home job. Ideally, I want to access the terminal and run recovery commands, but I'm not sure if that's possible without an operating system on the device.
2 Answers
Unfortunately, to fix this, you'll need access to another computer. Since you have no operating system to get into, there's no terminal available to run any commands. Your best bet is to create a USB boot drive from another device to reinstall an OS onto your hard drive. Your laptop itself is likely fine; it just needs the OS back on it to function. If you need help making that USB drive, feel free to ask!
So when you tried booting from a USB OS installer, did it fire up okay but couldn’t detect any drives? That’s rough. You might want to check the connection of your hard drive inside the laptop; sometimes they can get loose. If that doesn't work, you might need a new drive altogether. Also, how did you wipe it in the first place without formatting it correctly? It usually takes an external OS to do that!
I had an OS on it when it came, and that's how I ended up wiping it. Now I'm just trying to recover it.