[SOLVED] Files missing from HDD after installing Windows on SSD ?

[neynator]

After I tryed to install windows 10 on a new m2 ssd when I reached partition selection I tryed to select my m2 storage that was fully formatted but it said that Windows couldnt write a GRT format or something like that, what I did was to go to my BIOS under BIOS /0S boot setting : it was in CMR format and then I changed to UEFI because I though it was affecting not letting the windows write in ssd. Well I changed it and then tryed to write in the ssd ( note: I formatted and the full capacity was available on ssd, it didnt said " space not allocated" it said 935 gb available).

Well windows started installing and I though it was all ok, but when I reached my desktop I found out that all my " Icons" " files" and " executables" in desktop area were missing. When I tryed to open a game for instance or a program like autocad it said that I was missing a lot of files. Furthermore all my files that were on " Downloads" went missing as well. How can I get them back? is it possible?

After that I went full rage and formatted my ssd under windows 10 installing windows and tryed to boot windows via my hdd but it would not boot and told me to repair my files, when I went to repair files option via a hotkey it didnt pop up anything just tryed to boot again and I got back to the same screen before pressing the repair hotkey. I want to get my desktop files back as well as download files, programs. I could always reinstall them but I got some txt and excel files just on desktop and not " inside" hdd.

This hdd had not partitioned so windows would be together with other programs. I did not know desktop and download areas " are windows area" , I mean i am assuming that because files in that space went missing as windows would not boot up again. How can I get them back? I didnt update my backup file to external hdd since I thought it wouldn't touch my hdd in windows installation " and it didn't" but somehow it got corrupted while I installed windows in my ssd, which doesnt make any sense to me, so that is why I didnt do backup. Or maybe changing the OS boot from CMR to UEFI corrupted my files and they went gone , I dunno. Can someone help me?

 

[Lutfij]

Welcome to the forums, newcomer!

GRT
GPT

it was in CMR format and then I changed to UEFI
CSM

It's customary to include your full system's specs when posting a troubleshooting thread. Please list them like so:
CPU:
Motherboard:
Ram:
SSD/HDD:
GPU:
PSU:
Chassis:
OS:

Where did you source the installer for your OS?

On a side note, you're advised to always disconnect all drives except for the one you intend to have your OS on to avoid any mishaps. If you have a prior OS install on a prior drive(which you'd like to keep as storage), you're advised to format the drive(using the OS install window) and the remove the drive from the system.

 

[SkyNetRising]

windows started installing and I though it was all ok, but when I reached my desktop I found out that all my " Icons" " files" and " executables" in desktop area were missing.
When I tryed to open a game for instance or a program like autocad it said that I was missing a lot of files.
Furthermore all my files that were on " Downloads" went missing as well.
How can I get them back? is it possible?

Well - obviously.
After clean install of windows nothing gets saved. There will be no custom icons or desktop or old saved downloads. You have to reinstall all your apps and game clients.
If game libraries were on HDD, then you have to reconfigure game clients to know, where game libraries are located.

After that I went full rage and formatted my ssd under windows 10 installing windows and tryed to boot windows via my hdd but it would not boot and told me to repair my files

If you had windows on HDD previously, then all your user files should be still there.
But if you reinstalled windows on HDD, then those could be overwritten.

Reinstall windows on SSD. Have only SSD connected (no other HDDs/SSDs connected).
After that recover files from your HDD.

And show screenshot from Disk Managemment.
(upload to imgur.com and post link)

 

[neynator]

Welcome to the forums, newcomer!

GRT
GPT

it was in CMR format and then I changed to UEFI
CSM

It's customary to include your full system's specs when posting a troubleshooting thread. Please list them like so:
CPU:
Motherboard:
Ram:
SSD/HDD:
GPU:
PSU:
Chassis:
OS:

Where did you source the installer for your OS?

On a side note, you're advised to always disconnect all drives except for the one you intend to have your OS on to avoid any mishaps. If you have a prior OS install on a prior drive(which you'd like to keep as storage), you're advised to format the drive(using the OS install window) and the remove the drive from the system.

CPU: Ryzen 3800X
Motherboard: X470 gaming plus Msi
Ram: 2x 16 Gb Team Group ddr4 3200 MHz not OC
SSD/HDD: SSD : WD Blue SN 550 1 Tb / HDD WD Blue 7200 rpm 3 Tb
GPU: Gtx 970 Gigabyte Windforce OC
PSU: Cooler Master 600 W can only say that
Chassis: Cooler Master Haf 912
OS: Windows 10 Home

Where did you source the installer for your OS? In a common Flash Drive 30 gb dont know its brand it is generic.

 

[neynator]

Well - obviously.
After clean install of windows nothing gets saved. There will be no custom icons or desktop or old saved downloads. You have to reinstall all your apps and game clients.
If game libraries were on HDD, then you have to reconfigure game clients to know, where game libraries are located.

If you had windows on HDD previously, then all your user files should be still there.
But if you reinstalled windows on HDD, then those could be overwritten.

Reinstall windows on SSD. Have only SSD connected (no other HDDs/SSDs connected).
After that recover files from your HDD.

And show screenshot from Disk Managemment.
(upload to imgur.com and post link)

I did what u told me and reinstalled on sdd without hdd on. Now I realized that most of my files ( desktop ones) that I'd like to get back were in my user in windows, problem is I can't access that user file. I did the following trying to solve it: changed the file properties to administrator user and checked all the boxes. Still it didn't let me apply those changes , a pop up would appear telling me that " you cannot write in this file" . Tryed to use that command to takeover the file via CMD and the same would appear. Even though I'm not trying to write anything on the file, just want to open it and get my desktop files back via copy paste. What I did after that was to use recuva data tool and got some file back but it says that some of them could not be restored, I compared with disk drill and some files disk drill would find I couldn't find with Recuva. Now I'm almost accepting some losses because I could restore some important files back but not all. If you guys have any suggestion to try to open that file I'd appreciate to try it before I format my HD and install all programs again. After running Disk Drill I found out that some files that should be in some folders are missing even in Disk Drill search, I probably got some deleted in the prior proccess of installing win 10.

https://imgur.com/a/K9fUThk

View: https://imgur.com/a/K9fUThk

Here is my disk management, text is in portuguese bt I think you can understand as some words are similar Disk 0 is SSd with win 10 running , Disk 1 is the Hdd wich I lost data and Disk 3 is my external HDD were I recently stored some recovered files so I can format my HDD. Also should I format via Disk Management or Via win 10 boot from flash drive or just right click format and disable fast formatting in my computer?

 

[SkyNetRising]

I can't access that user file.
I did the following trying to solve it: changed the file properties to administrator user and checked all the boxes.
Still it didn't let me apply those changes , a pop up would appear telling me that " you cannot write in this file"

Not quite sure, what you're trying to do there?
What file exactly are you trying to access?

Drive D : is full of data. All your files should be there. Probably - no need to use any recovery software either.

Your old user desktop should be located in

d:\users\yourusername\desktop​

Other files in:

d:\users\yourusername\Documents​

d:\users\yourusername\Downloads​

If you want to gain access to all your old files, then execute following from elevated command prompt (replace yourusername with your actual user name)

takeown /f d:\users\yourusername /r​

icacls d:\users\yourusername /reset /t​

​

How to Open the Command Prompt as Administrator in Windows 10

Much of the time, opening the Command Prompt as a regular user is all you need. Sometimes, though, you’ll need to open the Command Prompt as an administrator so that you can run commands that require administrative privileges.

www.howtogeek.com

 

[neynator]

Ty Sky Net because of takeown command I gainned access again to my files. And if it helps someone they go under user\username\OneDrive\Desktop.
If someone is having the same kind of trouble remember to let takeown finish too, it may take I while, first time i did the command I exited without letting it finish the processing because it seemed stucked and done for me. It is done only when you can type commands in cmd again.