I was playing Guild Wars when my PC started to freeze completely. The game stopped working, and the only thing I could do was use the Windows key to open the Windows 11 panel. After that, I hard reset my PC by holding the power button. Now, it won't boot into Windows. However, when I check in UEFI and Diskpart (using a bootable USB), my Samsung 980 NVMe drive appears as "Healthy". Strangely, I can see the usual Windows 11 system partitions, but attempts to repair the boot with the USB stick fail, and so does uninstalling the latest update. I'm hesitant to install Windows again because I haven't backed up some important data. What are my options besides installing over my possibly "dead" system drive? Is there any command I can use to determine if the drive is actually dead?
3 Answers
Before doing anything drastic, make sure you have backups. It's always a good idea to test your data backups before making any changes to your system. If you can access the drive via a different system, that may help you confirm its status.
Just because your drive’s SMART data shows healthy doesn’t guarantee it isn’t failing. What you’re describing sounds like classic drive corruption, often due to a failing drive. Keep that in mind when assessing your data.
You should try using a live Ubuntu USB stick. If your data isn't encrypted with BitLocker, you should be able to back up what you need first. After that, you can wipe your drive clean and reinstall Windows properly. Here’s a good guide on how to create that bootable USB: [Ubuntu USB Creation](https://documentation.ubuntu.com/desktop/en/latest/how-to/create-a-bootable-usb-stick/).
Thank you very much, I'll follow those steps!