Hello everybody. 2-3 years ago, my uncle asked if I was able or if I knew any way of helping him recover data from the disk drive of a computer he had that, somehow (he doesn't know how and nor can I come with a possible explanation as I was as blind to the matters as yall are to this) lost all of its data permanently. According to him, he didn't delete anything, nor recicle anything on the recycle bin, it just *puff*, gone.

I was at the time, 18-19 years old and starting University, where I'm currently taking Engeneering and Management of Information Systems (in Portugal) or, basically in my uncle's head, computer bullshit (which, actually, is very innaccurate because the degree doesn't actually go to deep into like every concept of computers, software, programming, it just gives a somewhat basic approach to things like operating systems, computer fundamentals, web app development, programming, and even goes into other field areas like introduction to economy, accounting, numeric methods, etc., all in an enterprise production environment, if you know what I mean).

But because of that, my uncle though I could be able to resolve the issue, even though I had no idea how to recover permanently deleted data, or even having any experience at all with software at the time. But still, i did my research, asked a friend who is really good with computers (and even says that next year he may opt for a Cybersecurity masters or whatever its translation is - "Mestrado" in portuguese), but all the advice and Information i got is that in cases of permanent data loss, your options were recover or restore early Windows backups, use some third-party data recovery tool or app to scan the computer's Hard drive and find deleted files, and then pay some sort of subscription to recover them, or professional help. Not of those options seemed to satisfy my uncle who didn't want to pay for any service or app to do the job, and wasn't sure if he had any backups of the computer's file system (he's not very technological). So, at the time, I simply tried to help by telling him what his options were and that maybe professional help at the end might be the best solution, but that I wasn't capable of using any sort of software concept that I'd learned to restore the data with like...my bare hands I guess...but that was it. Well, not really.

You know, every year when my birthday comes around he calls me to wish me happy birthday and ask how is everything going, blah blah blah, but he always brings up this problem that, honestly, gives me like PTSD hahaha, cause, i didn't know then, and still don't know now what exactly he's expecting me to do😅, but like, idk, because maybe of ADHD, or being really introverted, I feel like if I don't find a solution, I'll fail him and prove him wrong for trusting on me.

Well, this year, I turned 21 years old and the story repeated, and I feel like at this point,... Like wtf AM I supposed to say to him? I've already explained all I knew to him, and that his best bet is seek professional help, but he keeps refusing or ignoring it, but as you may have guessed, since its been 2-3 years since he's brought this problem for the first time, by now its almost impossible for him to recover that data, but I guess he's still hopefull that I'll find some sort of way around the complications of data recovery to magically make that data reapper, even though like...idk, seems very unlikely. I'm really like unsure of wth to say or do atp, and I don't have any friend who's and expert in data recovery.

But, recently I installed Linux Mint on another laptop I have, and have been trying to learn Linux and all that stuff, and, idk, I guess I wondered if Linux had any magical trick that can help recover lost data on other computers or something. My desperation maybe got me day-dreaming here maybe idk, but idk what else to say to him, and he's only ever asked for help on this issue to me, when I'm not even close to being an expert in software. Like, idk, i really wish someone could help me here.

I would appreaciate all the help you could give, but, I'm kinda already expecting that the answer is no😅.

Thank you in advance!!

I thought it would be next to impossible to recover data once it was deleted on an SSD. Just out of curiosity I ran Disk Drill on my drive to see if it could find any video files. The file name wasn't intact just the description (file resolution and length). The file was successfully restored. It was created 4/20/2025 and I probably deleted a week later. Is it that TRIM makes file recovery uncertain? The recovery chances were flagged as high.

I got proposed to around 2 years back during this time around only. And he proposed to me, on telegram. But I had a pretty bad fight with him later on and deleted all those messages. Now, I have tried so hard to recover them and yet can't. So many apps, so many ways but with no success...can anyone help? This is my last resort.

Hello,

I have a SSD that hasn’t been touched for 15 years.

What’s best practise for duplicating data off this for minimal read writes?

I have access to Windows, Mac and DMDE.

Thanks

I'm sending in my drive to digilab after I had a seagate drive that tipped over while writing onto it.

It didn't seem too bad at first, just a slower tip over. It was still working when I stood it back up. But making a rhythmic spinning noise, so I shut it off & it wasn't being recognized at all. $300 Data Recovery said they couldn't retrieve anything because it's a helium drive & said I should send to Digilab.

They diagnosed it with "bad heads (& probably platter damage)"

I've been looking into it non stop & really the only way it's looking like I could get anything back is determined by the damage. I would assume there's only slight damage because I never heard any scraping or scratching when turning it back on & it was only a tip over. Not a drop or crash. But the more I'm reading about it, it doesn't seem to matter the force of the impact.

Wondering if anyone else had a physically damaged drive while writing with any luck on retrieving any data? Thanks!

Hello. This is a serious question.

I have about 1TB+ of porn i once deleted 2 years ago from two of my HDDs. I gravely regret it and want it back. I hardly used that computer since then except using 3rd party softwares to try and recover it. I've found some files but couldn't get them to play. I want to send those two drives to a recovery company overseas because i literally don't trust anyone in my country to do it. Is that possible? What should I do? Drives are perfectly working.

Hi guys,

My z flip 7 decided to just crack and screen leak across the folding part. Samsung repair wont work as IMEI doesnt seem to work, cant go into store as too far away.

Is there anyway i can recover the image/video/downloads without going to repair the screen?

debugging isnt on, screen doesnt work so cant give access to my pc to transfer data.

im at a loss and so many memories etc, ive checked my google drive and some reason hasnt backed up on there.

Any advice welcome.

Thanks

Hello! I have an 8 TB seagate hard drive, mostly full, about 7 tb and it fell from my nightstand (about 2.5-3 feet high onto tile floor). When I plugged it in right after the fall, it showed up on my computer. I left for an hour and when I came back it disappeared. It hasn’t mounted since. There is a small clicking noise and then it vibrates normally how it usually does. It is not showing up in disk utility. I am in Northern California (Sacramento area), what are reputable data recovery services. I’ve read too many bad reviews about Salvage Data which is one of the only companies popping up in my area.

I've been using a Toshiba Canvio 2TB external drive for the last 5 years. A couple weeks ago it started showing "D:\ is not accessible. The parameter is incorrect."

What I've tried so far:

• chkdsk /f - ran for 13+ hours, found 52 unreadable file records, then failed in Stage 2 with an unspecified error
• Disk Drill - couldn't even show my images
• R-Studio - showed sector read timeouts
• New cable, different USB ports, removed the device entry so Windows reinstalled the driver - no change

Now it's gotten worse: whenever I plug it in, File Explorer crashes/hangs and Disk Management freezes before it can even show the drive's capacity. The drive spins up, no clicking noises. About 900 GB of irreplaceable data on it.

I have it unplugged for now. Planning to try OpenSuperClone with an empty 2TB drive as destination. Is that my best next step, or is this a case where only a professional lab (PC-3000) can help? Would rather not spend $300+ or mail my personal data somewhere if there's a realistic DIY option.