How can I recover data from an unallocated hard drive?

For a straightforward recovery, I've had good luck with R-undelete in the past; it's user-friendly and gets the job done. Also, don't get tempted to use Recuva since it won't help much with drives that have lost their original filesystem. Be cautious and consider consulting a data recovery professional if things seem too tricky.

Before diving into recovery, make sure you **don't modify** the drive in any way. Avoid initializing, formatting, or creating any volumes—it'll only worsen your chances of recovery. Programs like DMDE and R-Undelete are often recommended, though DMDE has a bit of a learning curve. You might also find useful options on the data recovery wiki linked to r/datarecovery. Just remember, once you recover files, save them to a different drive; recovering onto the same one can overwrite the data you're trying to save.

If you're serious about recovering data, I'd suggest creating an image of the failing drive first before attempting anything. This way, you have a backup to work with, and you can avoid permanent loss. If you're not confident, sending it to a pro might save your files.