[SOLVED] My PC just rolled back 2 years

[BlackBorderGuy]

I've been having some minor issues with my GPU lately. I restarted my computer and it didn't come back on even though the light was on. So I manually shut it down by keeping the "Start" button in and when it started everything was back 2 years. All my files, all my applications etc went back to 2019. So I essentially lost everything I've done in the past 2 years. Any help on how this happened or most importantly how to get it back is more than welcome!

 

[USAFRet]

I've been having some minor issues with my GPU lately. I restarted my computer and it didn't come back on even though the light was on. So I manually shut it down by keeping the "Start" button in and when it started everything was back 2 years. All my files, all my applications etc went back to 2019. So I essentially lost everything I've done in the past 2 years. Any help on how this happened or most importantly how to get it back is more than welcome!

1. Please give us a full list of all the parts in this system.
2. A screencap of your current Disk Management window.

 

[BlackBorderGuy]

Thank you for your very quick response!

1. 
   and my GPU is Nvidia 3080
2. 

There is one extra disk here, J:
This isn't a disk that I recognize and its contents are

 

[BlackBorderGuy]

Also I just noticed that my recent files on C are the only ones gone, the files on my other drives are still there. So this rollback and file removal only happened on C.

 

[USAFRet]

At some point in the past, did you do a clone/migration from one drive to another?

Which drive was the C drive yesterday?
250GB, 500GB, 1TB?

 

[BlackBorderGuy]

Not in the near past, no. I bought my C hard drive (Samsung EVO 970 1tb) in late 2018 and at that point installed windows from another drive to that one.

 

[USAFRet]

Not in the near past, no. I bought my C hard drive (Samsung EVO 970 1tb) in late 2018 and at that point installed windows from another drive to that one.

So, 2 years ago...

Currently, the system is booting from Disk 1.
The 1TB 970 is Disk 3. That was your OS drive until this happened.

Check the boot order in your BIOS.

Also, power OFF, disconnect ALL drives except the 970 EVO
Power up.
What happens?

 

[BlackBorderGuy]

Based on your notes and advice I managed I managed to solve the problem, thank you very much, I am very grateful.

 

[USAFRet]

Based on your notes and advice I managed I managed to solve the problem, thank you very much, I am very grateful.

Excellent.

Yours isn't the first issue like this I've seen. Hence being able to zero in on it.

Another one was a bad SATA cable.
Power up, looks exactly like it did 6 months earlier.
He initially thought virus, or Windows Update gone wrong.

Just a bad cable, letting the system go down the boot order to the old drive, with its OS still intact from 6 months previous.
That took 3 days to diagnose.