So this was how I ended up solving my issue using TestDisk.
Thanks to mdd1963 for that link.
First I went about analyzing my drive and trying to determine this that and the other thing about the partitions etc etc. Waste of time.
I wasted hours of my life.
To solve MY issue I ended up not...
In reference to https://forums.tomshardware.com/threads/master-file-table-corrupt-chkdsk-fails.3712756/ :
That thread seems to trail off into a cliff hanger, and I have my own issues that are VERY similar to the OP in that thread. So I followed along until I reached the dead end.
Where I'm at in...