After a recent power surge, my computer still detects the SSD in BIOS, but it shows a SMART warning. When the system tries to boot from it, I get an "invalid partition table" error. The drive contains many important files, and I didn't have a backup. Is there a safe way to recover the data without making the problem worse?
2 Answers
Stop using the SSD immediately and don’t try to repair the partition table or install anything on it. Boot the computer from a separate USB drive and, ideally, create a sector-by-sector image of the SSD first. You can then work on the image with tools such as TestDisk or R-Studio rather than the original drive. If the data is especially important, the safest option is a professional recovery service, since a failing SSD controller may not be recoverable with normal software.
Recovery programs such as Recuva, EaseUS, or Disk Drill might help if the drive is still readable, but avoid writing recovered files or repair changes back to the affected SSD. If the software cannot scan it reliably, continued attempts could reduce the chances of recovery, so professional help would be the better choice.
Unfortunately, I didn’t have any backups for these files.