Recover your lost data from a damaged hard drive.
Recover your lost data from a damaged hard drive.
Hello! Your hard drive is definitely in trouble. The S.M.A.R.T. readings show C5 and C6 at low levels, and the read/write speeds are almost zero. BitLocker encryption is preventing access, and Windows isn’t making progress either. You mentioned you wanted to recover data but couldn’t shrink the partition because of the encryption. Mirroring sector by sector might help, though it won’t work if the drive is too large for your needs—even with just 700 GB used. Since BitLocker is active, shrinking the partition isn’t possible. Let me know if you need more guidance!
A simple approach is to purchase a compact HDD at a low price and then replicate the sectors as needed. It shouldn’t exceed $20–$30.
Mirroring could help, though mistakes like this might ruin the clean copy. Purchasing a 1TB HDD should now be very affordable, as prices aren't high. (Alternatively, opt for a 1TB SSD and repurpose it later instead of using a HDD.) Still, retrieving data will likely be unreliable. For critical information, hire a professional to extract it safely.
Search for a storage device offering at least 1.5TB available space. Once found, use ddrescue to transfer its raw sectors to a backup image.
The drive can be cloned for optimal results. Do you possess the Bitlocker recovery code to retrieve the information?