[SOLVED] How to recover data after installing boot media

[casonk17]

I messed up big time. I tried to install windows boot media on a drive with other stuff on it thinking they could both be on there. I know that was dumb. Is there any way the data on this portable drive before the installation media wiped it can be recovered? This is very important.

 

[mdd1963]

Certainly can't hurt to at least have Recuva take a deep scan look on it.... (have another drive to write recovered data files to)

 

[DSzymborski]

I messed up big time. I tried to install windows boot media on a drive with other stuff on it thinking they could both be on there. I know that was dumb. Is there any way the data on this portable drive before the installation media wiped it can be recovered? This is very important.

You'll need a working PC to try Recuva or EaseUS.

Unfortunately, having very important data living solely on a single portable drive was an extremely poor idea. There's a chance it can be recovered, but it's far from a definite.

 

[fzabkar]

Typically what happens in such cases is that the Windows image overwrites the first 4GB+ of the drive. Unfortunately that's where the $MFT in an NTFS file system lives. The $MFT is where the file and folder names are stored.

The best you can do if the $MFT has been destroyed is a RAW recovery.

Can you show us the Partitions window in DMDE?

https://dmde.com/