Acer software ruined my external hdd

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seeterri

Commendable
Nov 29, 2016
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1,510
I bought a new Acer Aspire E5-475G. I also bought a new Seagate 1.5TB external hdd to transfer the files from my old laptop.

Before my new laptop arrived I transferred about 50GB of data onto the new hdd.

When my new laptop arrived I decided to check out the software installed. Acer Care Center was installed and there was a recovery management feature. The description was, "Create Factory Default Backup. If you run into problems with your PC, a recovery drive can help you troubleshoot and fix those problems, even if your PC won't start." So I thought, okay, let's try it.

I decided to use the new Seagate hdd for the backup but the software ended up saying it failed to complete the process. To my horror, my 1.5TB turned into a 32GB partition and the rest was unallocated space and all my data was missing.

Recuva's deep scan has helped me to recover some of those files but some of the recovered videos are unplayable.

The "Extend Volume" function of Disk Management is inaccessible for my Seagate hdd. I don't know why. Looks like I'll have to delete the 32GB partition and create a new partition from all the unallocated space.

I'm wondering if there's still hope to recover my lost data? I'm running Windows 10 Home 64 bit Anniversary Update.

Sigh.. I should've trusted my instincts of never trusting software made my laptop manufacturers...
 
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hang-the-9

hang-the-9

Titan
Mar 25, 2010
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There is nothing wrong with the software, running that utility creates a new bootable partition, which deletes existing data. I'm sure there were warnings about that before you clicked OK to do the procedure. There are posts about this type of stuff every so often, just a matter or reading the prompts that come up.

I actually took at look for this program just to make sure they did not skip that warning, and sure enough, it's there, right after you click to make the disk it states that "everything on the disk will be deleted".

https://youtu.be/IfKn87nk0F4?t=38

You can run Recuva and see if it picks up anything from the drive.
 
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seeterri

Commendable
Nov 29, 2016
3
0
1,510


Hmm.. you're right.. Guess I ignored that message..

So, Recuva's the only option... But what should I do to recover files that are possibly on the unallocated space? Create a new partition from that unallocated space and format it?

In my defense the app took a really long time to run and I left my laptop to do other things.. and wasn't paying attention. To paraphrase Dr. Strange, they should've put the warnings at the beginning.. Huhu.. Still my fault. I know I know.
 
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hang-the-9

hang-the-9

Titan
Mar 25, 2010
60,387
1,081
152,940
If you create a partition again and format it, it will likely just make recovering files harder. Run Recuva and see if it picks anything up. There is also a utility called Testdisk that is made to work with partitions and volumes that may be able to recover the partitions. I have not used that myself so don't know if it will work in your case.
 
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seeterri

Commendable
Nov 29, 2016
3
0
1,510


Hmm.. I wasn't updated by email about your reply.

But how do I get Recuva to scan the unallocated space? I already ran it through the 32GB partition but there's about 1TB of unallocated space.

I'll check out Testdisk. Thank you.
 
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