Why CHKDSK Deleted Your Data?
CHKDSK checks the functionality of the disk. It is a very powerful and useful in-built utility that helps in finding disk issues and solving them. It can also remove errors like Blue Screen of Death. If your drive is infected by a virus or malware, or has any bad sectors, after running the command, it marks the damaged sectors as unusable. It then attempts to repair the file system issues, which can unfortunately cause data loss.
How To Recover Files After CHKDSK?
You might not know this, but many users have experienced data issues after using CHKDSK. It usually makes data hard to access by making it orphaned or lost instead of completely deleting the files (except in some cases).
However, if you stopped using the device when you noticed the problem, good job! It helps avoid overwriting data and improves the chances of recovering your files.
3 Methods Of Recovering Files After CHKDSK Has Removed Them
You can use these solutions on your storage device to recover CHKDSK deleted files; the possibility increases when you act fast on this, especially if you have SSDs with TRIM enabled.
- Use Data Recovery Software
We suggest you try recovering data using SFware Data Recovery Software to make the process of CHKDSK file recovery easier as it is dependable and secure to try on your device.
Even if your device is extremely corrupted or damaged, the tool recognizes and understands the file system to make efficient recovery results. You can recover the deleted files from the drive with simple clicks.
Steps to Recover Deleted Files by CHKDSK Using SFware Data Recovery Software:
Step 1: Download and Install the software on your computer.
Step 2: Launch the software, select the hard drive from which the files were deleted, and click on Start Scan.
Step 3: Locate your files in the Deleted Files folders (Make use of features like Filter and Search box to make the process easier)
Step 4: Double-click on the file to preview them.
Step 5: After scan completion, choose the files you need and click on Save to store them at your preferred locations(in a different location from the previous one).
- Use File History or Other Backups
If you enabled File history in the past then you do not need to worry about file deletion by CHKDSK, you can restore the deleted files using this utility. Here’s how to do it:
- Open the Control Panel and choose System and Security.
- Click on File History and choose Restore personal files on the left.
- Choose the files and folders you would like to restore and click on the Restore button.
After the restoring process is complete, you can check the location of the recovered data.
If you have been using other services like cloud storage to back up the data, you can recover the files from there as well.
- Data Recovery Services
If the above DIY solutions don’t favor you, then you can seek the help of professional data recovery services that have advanced tools to recover the data from your device.
Make sure to check their success rate, cost, and policies before handing out the storage device.
Know This Before Using CHKDSK
While CHKDSK is designed to repair file system errors and recover data in the process, there are situations where data loss can happen. Here are some scenarios where CHKDSK might lead to data deletion or loss:
- File System Corruption: In case of severe file system corruption that CHKDSK cannot repair, it may mark affected files as “orphaned” or “lost” and attempt to recover the data. In the process, some files can be deleted or become inaccessible.
- Bad Sectors: If CHKDSK encounters bad sectors on the disk, it may attempt to recover data from those sectors. However, if the data is heavily damaged, it might be marked as unrecoverable or deleted during the repair process.
- User Interruption: If the CHKDSK scanning process is interrupted by the user, it can lead to incomplete repairs and potential data loss.
- Disk Errors: In cases where the disk has physical errors or hardware issues, CHKDSK might struggle while scanning the device leading to potential data loss.
Conclusion:
CHKDSK is not a data recovery tool; it can only fix minor logical errors that may prevent access to data on the device. Running it without proper knowledge can result in data loss on the device.
We highly recommend that you always maintain a backup of important data. In case of file loss after a CHKDSK scan, you can use the solutions listed in this article to recover them.
