I have an older SATA M.2 SSD that previously had Windows and personal files on it. The drive does not seem physically damaged, but an enclosure detects something connected without making the files accessible. Is Windows installation preventing the SSD from being read externally, or is there another likely problem? I would like to recover the files if possible. If recovery fails, can I safely wipe and reformat the SSD so it can be used again?
2 Answers
The boot message does not prove that the drive is unreadable. It could mean the BIOS is not detecting it correctly, the boot files are damaged, or the system is trying to boot from the wrong device. Check whether the SSD is visible in the BIOS and in Disk Management. If you only need to reuse the drive and no longer care about the files, you can remove its partitions with Disk Management or a disk-partitioning utility and create a new volume, but do not do that until you have finished attempting recovery.
Having Windows installed on the SSD does not prevent it from being read through an enclosure. First check Disk Management to see whether the drive appears there, even if it does not show up normally in File Explorer. If it appears as RAW or unallocated, the partition table or filesystem may be damaged, so do not format it yet. Try recovery tools such as TestDisk or Recuva first; TestDisk may be able to rebuild the partition information without immediately overwriting the data. If the SSD does not appear in Disk Management at all, the controller or hardware may be failing, which usually requires specialized recovery equipment. Only wipe or format it after deciding the files are no longer needed, since that can make recovery much more difficult.
When I installed it directly in the computer, it would not boot normally. Instead, I got a message telling me to select the proper boot drive or install an operating system.