How to Recover Damaged NTFS Partition Data on Windows

For decades, New Technology File System (NTFS) formatted storage devices have been used by organizations to enhance data accessibility and performance. The popularity of NTFS-formatted storages is attributed to the self-healing file system, support for file-level security, compression and auditing, and its size. However, despite being an advanced and agile storage tool, the storage disk may lose data due to the following factors:

• Formatting and reformatting of NTFS drive on Windows-based system
• System malfunction leading to data damage in the drive
• NTFS file system is damaged, causing data inaccessibility
• Repetitive formatting of NTFS partition data
• Corruption in Master boot record leading to Inaccessible NTFS partition data
• Virus or malware attack  

When the files stored on an NTFS partition become unreadable in any of these situations, it is a need to repair and recover the damaged NTFS partition data available on Windows.

The following methods are helpful in retrieving the damaged NTFS partition data on Windows:

• Use CHKDSK utility to check and repair the file system.
• Use data recovery software to retrieve the files.

Method 1: Use CHKDSK utility to check the file system

The Test Disk or chkdsk method checks the file system for the logical and physical errors. This method uses the /f, /r, /x, or /b parameters to fix the errors in the volume. However, this method can also be used to display the status of the volume if used without the parameters.

Note: Only the Administrators and the members of the Administrative group have permissions to run the chkdsk command

The test disk command must not be interrupted, else it may result in data corruption, but running and suspending the chkdsk command will not further corrupt the already corrupt NTFS partition data. 

The syntax to check the damage in NTFS partition data on Windows is as follows:

chkdsk [<Volume>[[<Path>]<FileName>]] [/f] [/v] [/r] [/x] [/i] [/c] [/l[:<Size>]] [/b]

To understand the functions of various parameters, click on this link.

Method 2: Use data recovery software to retrieve the files

Software like Stellar Toolkit for Data Recovery retrieves data from damaged or inaccessible NTFS partitions. The software creates an image of the hard drive that has bad sectors and recovers the data from the image, which is a faster and safer way of data recovery.

Once the software scans the NTFS partition data, it displays a preview of the recoverable data items to verify before saving it.    

The deep scanning technology scans the data based on file signatures to maximize the recovery of data including deleted, corrupt and inaccessible files from the NTFS partition.

The process to recover the data is as follows:

Step 1. Download Stellar Data Recovery Toolkit software.

Step 2. From “Select What to Recover” screen select the type of data you want to recover.

Step 3. Select the location from where you wish to recover your lost or deleted data and click on the ‘Scan’ button.

Step 4. The ‘Scan’ is in progress wherein the software looks for the lost or deleted files and folders. Click ‘Stop’ to pause the scan at any point in time.

Step 5. The ‘Scanning’ process is successfully completed. Click on the ‘OK’ button.

Step 6. Sort and view results by ‘File Type’, ‘Tree View’ and ‘Deleted List’. Preview by selecting a particular data item in the preview window.

Step 7. Specify the destination and Click on ‘Start Saving’ option to save the recovered data.

To understand the functions and working of the entire set of software, visit the link.

Conclusion

Precautionary measures like regular system updates and maintenance, data backup, and proper management of partitions help administrators avoid data loss situations.

Despite these checks, if an NTFS partition gets corrupt or inaccessible, the data stored within can be recovered by using software like Stellar Toolkit for Data Recovery. The toolkit also helps monitor the health and performance of hard drives to reinforce preemptive measures for data loss Due to drive corruption that could lead to inaccessibility of contents present in it.