How to Recover Data & Corrupted Partition in Windows 10 or 11

The issue: My partition is corrupted 

"My HDD is divided into two partitions. I wanted to increase the size of the first partition. I couldn't do it in win7 inbuilt disk management. So, I downloaded a tool to perform. After applying changes, it asked to reboot. Then after about 15 minutes, it froze, nothing happened. I restarted the computer at this point. Then I couldn't get into the second partition. It showed that it's either damaged or corrupted or something like that. Is there any way to recover data from the corrupted partition?"

Yes, there are several ways to recover data from corrupted partition. If your disk is still accessible, remove it and connect to another working computer. You can then copy and paste data on it. If your data seems to disappear, try powerful data recovery software. In this article, you will also learn how to repair corrupted partition.

Symptoms of a damaged partition

If partitions are corrupted, it would be difficult to access data, run programs, or start up a computer. In some situations, the partition will be marked as RAW, and the full partition won't be visible in Windows File Explorer. Also, you may encounter S.M.A.R.T error indicating a disk failure. When a partition becomes corrupted, it will show the following symptoms:

✦“Disk not formatted. Do you want to format now?”

✦ "Sector not found"

✦“Location is not available”

✦ The file system is displayed as "RAW".

✦ File names contain unidentified characters

✦SMART failure predicated on hard disk 0

Why the partition gets corrupted?

Knowing about corruption is not enough, it’s better to know the root cause that will lead to partition corruption, which helps you to prevent partitions from corruption. Some of the main causes that can lead to partition corruption are:

‍💻👨  Improper operation. Computer users often experience this when they use the hard drive inappropriately, like resizing partitions, formatting partition, etc.

🦠Virus or malware attack. Viruses or malware often attack the file system, causing corruption, and the severity of the injury depends on the type of virus, which determines whether the data can be recovered.

🪓 Corrupted partition table. The partition tables contain information related to your partition, such as partition style, the way to access disk data, etc. So if it is damaged, your partition may be affected.

💻 Insecure software. Sometimes, users may download some insecure software from the Internet, which could lead to partition corruption. 

⚡️ Unexpected system shutdown. The operating system would shut down unexpectedly if there was an abrupt variation in the power supply and cause corruption.

💿 Bad sectors. If there are bad sectors in partitions, it can cause corrupt file system, making your partition become inaccessible.

How to recover data from a corrupted partition

Before repairing the corrupted partition, the first thing you need to do is to recover data from the corrupted or damaged partition. It’s better to use professional partition data recovery software as it has a higher success rate.

Option A: MyRecover

MyRecover is a powerful Windows data recovery software with an intuitive interface, which makes it easy for individuals and professionals to recover data from damaged partition. It is good at handling data loss in different scenarios, such as accidental deletion, formatting, virus infection, etc and has a rich feature of data recovery.

Step 1. Start MyRecover, hover the mouse over the corrupted partition, and click Scan.

Step 2. It will automatically take Quick Scan and Deep Scan to search for all the deleted or lost data. You can use the “Filter”or "Search" feature to locate the lost files easily. And you can recover files during the scan, as long as you find the needed files. 

Step 3. Select your data on a corrupted partition and click the Recover x files button. You will be asked to select a location to store the recovered data. Please select a new one instead of the original to prevent data overwriting. 

Option B: Recoverit

Recoverit is another choice for data recovery from a corrupted partition and suitable for both Windows and Mac users. It works well in recovering photos and videos from different storage devices, such as external hard drive like HDD or SSD, flash drive, etc. Try it if your partition contain a large amount of photos and videos.

Step 1. Download and install WonderShare Recoverit. Open it, go to Hard Drives and Locations and select the corrupted partition.

Step 2. Wait until the process complete and click OK. Then, you will see a list of files in the following window. Select the desired files and click the Recover button. 

Step 3. Select a new location to store the recovered files. Don't use the original location, as it will overwrite your old data.

How to repair a corrupted partition 

After recovering data from a corrupted partition, you are able to repair it with confidence. 

Method 1. Add or change a drive letter 

If the disk drive's drive letter is suddenly missing, you may not be able to access it and mistakenly think that it is corrupted. Try to check it in Disk Management and add or change its drive letter.

Step 1. Right-click the Start menu and select Disk Management. Then, right-click the partition missing drive letter and choose Change Drive Letter and Paths.

Step 2. Click Add or Change to open the Add Drive Letter or Path window. Then, select a drive letter and click OK. 

Method 2. Fix corrupted partitions using CHKDSK command

If your hard disk drive file system error or bad sectors, try chkdsk command to scan file system and fix error on itr.  

Step 1. Press Win + R to open the Run box. Type cmd and click OK to run command prompt as administrator.

Step 2. In the command prompt window, type chkdsk #: /f /r/x (Replace # with the drive letter of your corrupted partition) and press Enter. lt will scan your disk automatically and fix the found error.

If you think the CMD method is a little complicated to fix corrupted or damaged partitions, a reliable and professional partition manager is the best choice. AOMEI Partition Assistant is highly recommended.

Step 1. Install and open AOMEI Partition Assistant. Right-click the partition you want to check and select Advanced > Check Partition.

Step 2. There are three options you could choose from. Tick one according to your needs and click OK. Then wait for the process to complete.

Method 3: Rebuild corrupted partition table

If your partition table is damaged, rebuilding MBR is a quick way to fix corrupted partition. AOMEI Partition Assistant offer you an easier way to make it. 

Step 1. On the main page of AOMEI Partition Assistant, right-click the hard disk containing the corrupted partition and select Rebuild MBR.

Step 2. Select the type of MBR for your current operating system and click OK.

Step 3. Then click Apply to start the process of rebuilding MBR.

Way 4: Format the corrupted partition

You can also format the corrupted partition to make it usable. You may think about Disk Management. But if your disk file system is damaged or it has bad sectors, the process will fail. Considering this, it's suggested to use a third-party disk partition manager like AOMEI Partition Assistant.

Step 1. Right-click the corrupted partition and select Format Partition.

Step 2. Select a file system, such as NTFS, FAT32, etc. and click OK. Then, click Applyto proceed the formatting process.

How to prevent corrupted partition and data loss

If you don't want to lose any data due to corrupted partition, you can follow the ways below to protect your data or partition:

1️⃣ Scan your disk regularly using antivirus software. Antivirus software will scan your disk for unsecure software, suspicious files, etc., and remove them from your disk to prevent file corruption, deletion, or partition damage. Try Windows Defender if you don't want to download extra software.

2️⃣ Don't eject the partition while writing process. Abruptly removing the partition may cause damage. Remember to use the safe eject option as well. 

3️⃣ Use a UPS. It is considered a second power source on a PC, which gives you a period of time to save your data and shut down your machine in a power failure.

4️⃣ Backup your important data automatically. Create a copy of your files and save it to a safe location. It will be better if you create multiple backup copies and save them in different locations. Try free backup software for Windows - AOMEI Backupper Standard.

5️⃣ Always keep reliable data recovery software. Using data recovery software to find data on lost partition is the most effective method when you find your files lost and don't have a backup. We recommend you use MyRecover.

Conclusion

To sum up, by following all the steps, you can successfully recover corrupted partition and data on it. Using powerful data recovery software like MyRecover will be your priority choice. Because it is able to scan your partition for lost data quickly and thoroughly. You can then repair corruption without any worry. 

To avoid data loss in the future, it is recommended to backup your important files automatically with a reliable backup software - AOMEI Backupper Standard. It also supports partition backup, system backup, and disk backup, depending on what you want to protect.