I really messed up and I need help! So I have an old HDD that was corrupted, and I tried to clone it using Linux. I used the testdisk command to select a folder for cloning, and then I switched to ddrescue as suggested by an AI. After running it for a minute, I panicked when I realized what was happening and unplugged the drive. Now, my external SSD shows up as only 40MB when I plug it in, and the old HDD does too. I booted into Windows and it asked me to format the drive, but I didn't do that. I haven't written anything new to it yet, and I really need to know if my data is gone forever. Any advice would be appreciated! I'm also running testdisk now and trying to stay hopeful since I only used about 300GB of the 2TB drive. If everything goes wrong, I've found some recovery shops nearby. Thanks for any assistance!
1 Answer
Take a deep breath! Your data might not be gone. It seems like the partition table got messed up, which is why it shows only 40MB. The key right now is to avoid writing anything to that drive or formatting it. Using tools like testdisk can help you rebuild the partition table or at least check what’s still on the drive. If the data is really crucial, think about contacting a recovery service before doing too much to avoid complicating things further.
Thanks for the reassurance! I’m trying to stay calm but I’m still stressing. I only used about 300GB, so I’m hoping that helps, right? I’m running testdisk now, and if it doesn’t work, I’m definitely going to the recovery shop. I just can’t risk messing it up!