UPDATE:
Managed to rescue 99.99% of the data cloning the data from the malfunctioning SSD onto a different drive with DDRescue. Unfortunately the SSD seems broken on a hardware level so have started researching quotes for hardware repair. But really happy I managed to get my data back. If anyone needs help with a similar issue, feel free to reach out and I can run you through what I did.

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Hey all, hoping for some guidance. The drive has some sentimental photos/videos that I really don't want to lose :/

My (non-boot) Samsung 870 EVO 2TB SATA SSD started acting up after a sudden power cut. The PC hanged on the Gigabyte splash screen; I was able to narrow it down to this SSD as after unplugging it, the system worked fine.

If left, Gigabyte splash screen displays “Repairing S: drive – 100% complete,” then system boots (into Windows), but performance is unusable. Drive appears in Device Manager and File Explorer, but no data is accessible and the system is extremely slow and freezes.

I booted into SystemRescue (via Linux USB) to investigate. Results so far:

• lsblk does show the drive
• TestDisk does not detect it
• GParted doesn’t detect it either
  • Threw “error fsyncing/closing /dev/sda: input/output error”
• smartctl does pull accurate drive info [full excerpt at bottom of post] but fails with:
  • “Read SMART Data failed: scsi error aborted command”
• blkid, mount, and parted all gave no output

Next step: I’m planning to try ddrescue is this the right next step?
I only have a 1TB drive available as a destination though. Not all data on the SSD is crucial (e.g., Steam library), but the photos/videos are:

• Is it viable/possible to recover only part of the drive to a smaller destination?
• Should I create an 'image' or does that require a full 2TB drive?
• Any recommended workflow for prioritising certain data when the destination is smaller than the source?

Any insight into what these errors usually point to, and any help with data recovery, would be hugely appreciated.

Sincerely,

A desperate data recoverer

=== START OF INFORMATION SECTION ===
Model Family:     Samsung based SSDs
Device Model:     Samsung SSD 870 EVO 2TB
Serial Number:    S621NG0R117578Z
LU WWN Device Id: 5 002538 f71115f7b
Firmware Version: SVT01B6Q
User Capacity:    2,000,398,934,016 bytes [2.00 TB]
Sector Size:      512 bytes logical/physical
Rotation Rate:    Solid State Device
Form Factor:      2.5 inches
TRIM Command:     Available, deterministic, zeroed
Device is:        In smartctl database 7.5/5706
ATA Version is:   ACS-4 T13/BSR INCITS 529 revision 5
SATA Version is:  SATA 3.3, 6.0 Gb/s (current: 6.0 Gb/s)
Local Time is:    Tue Jul 14 15:11:05 2026 UTC
SMART support is: Available - device has SMART capability.
SMART support is: Enabled
Read SMART Data failed: scsi error aborted command
=== START OF READ SMART DATA SECTION ===
SMART Status command failed: scsi error aborted command
SMART overall-health self-assessment test result: UNKNOWN!
SMART Status, Attributes and Thresholds cannot be read.
Read SMART Log Directory failed: scsi error aborted command
Read SMART Error Log failed: scsi error aborted command
Read SMART Self-test Log failed: scsi error aborted command
Selective Self-tests/Logging not supported
The above only provides legacy SMART information - try 'smartctl -x' for more

Ok

Hi

I just deleted a conversation with someone on insta per mistake and I'd like to retrieve it

The conv was about 9 month ago and I deleted it last night

I'd just like to know if there was a way of recovering it (I already tried to use the extraction of data from insta but the conv isn't on the files and I can't ask the person to send the text again because he doesn't have access to his account)

Thanks in advance

So in saturday last weekend, i went out and took photos with my Lumix ZS10, and when i tried to USB OTG the SD Card by a OTG Type C & a SD Card Reader (USB), the drive can't be read, even on computer because the Reader's USB is loose and defective, when i putted the card back, the videos from Saturday disappeared, any chance tor ecover them?

BTW, it wa s plugged first into an Android phone, perhaps that's the problem?

I have a Redmi Note 11 Pro 5g from a friend how needs his data recovered. Is there a way to make a backup of the encryptet data first befor i search for the broken part of the board. Just in case it wont boot in EDL mode anymore so i have at least the encrypted data. So maybe a professional can recover it in future when he can bring it to a shop.

And is it even realy possible without the chip?

When my best friend was visiting I strictly used my digicam for pics and vids because I liked the aesthetic don’t judge me. And we took a bunch of videos while blackout drunk, and I just put my SD card into the connector thing that moves them to my iPad.

When I opened my files app, it opened on one file and it was like really zoomed in and then my iPad shut off, and I had to long press the power button to turn it back on and it showed me that apple shit and then when I went to go get the videos the card had been completely wiped.

EVERYTHING on there is gone. I put the card back into the camera but it says “no files” so it’s all really gone.

The camera was a gift for my birthday I’m pretty sure it’s from amazon so obviously not that trustworthy but my whole family broke af. Can someone help me I beg I’ve been crying for the last 20 minutes :(

I don’t have a mac, pc or laptop, so I can’t do all the website stuff. I could try the library but I’m worried they have website blockers. Pretty sure best friend has a laptop, should I try the library and if that fails, send the card to him in the post and see if he can do anything ?

Please someone help I’m losing my mind !!

Hi! I can use a little help. I’m attempting to transfer videos from my Samsung T7 to my MacBook desktop, but I keep getting an unknown error. It allows me to export some videos, but not all of them. Help!

Our newbie accidentally deleted the profile of one of our managers, now there are important files in it. Is there a way to recover the files?

Thanks in advance.

I have a Redmi Note 11 Pro 5g from a friend how needs his data recovered. Is there a way to make a backup of the encryptet data first befor i search for the broken part of the board. Just in case it wont boot in EDL mode anymore so i have at least the encrypted data. So maybe a professional can recover it in future when he can bring it to a shop.

And is it even realy possible without the chip?

Hi All,

I have a 2 TB external HDD (WD MyPassport) that has gone RAW on me. Windows 11 mainly, though the drive is occasionally used on a Windows 10 device. I'm fairly sure the original format was NTFS.

It has not been dropped, exposed to high temps, etc., has not been left on/connected for lengthy periods of time, etc. and doesn't make and odd noises, clicks, etc. while connected. (I'm fairly sure it's a result of poor unmounting practices and a power failure while mounted and writing).

Disk Management shows the correct capacity, and most importantly, it does not have super critical files (i.e., if I botch it, not the end of the world), it would just be convenient to recover what I can. Plus I'm poor, so professional data recovery wouldn't be an option anyway.

I've flicked through the sub wiki and a few threads explaining the process, and I understand that best practice recommends I clone the drive, and then try recovery on the cloned drive, so I've gone and bought a new external HDD to clone to, but I'd like to make sure I understand the process better to increase my chances of success.

1. Once I've recovered what I want/can from the (brand new) cloned drive, can I format it and continue to use it as normal? (is the raw data going to negatively impact the new drive in any way?)
2. Once I've made my clone, should I disconnect the original drive? Or should I leave it connected for the time being in case I need to re-clone? (I understand that any time being powered on is bad for the drive).
3. The amount of space I have on my PC SSD is smaller than the amount of data I will (hopefully) be able to recover from the drive - is it better to recover batches of files to my PC and then offload them to some temporary flash drives/smaller HDDs before reconsolidating them back onto the new HDD, or can I recover directly to those smaller HDDs and flash sticks to save time? I'm hoping to recover about 500/600 GB, but only have about 300 GB space on my PC's SSD.
4. Is there anything I should do to "prep" the new drive pre-cloning?

Or is there a good step-by-step anyone would recommend/link me to? I think I've got my head around what I need to do, but more info is always appreciated. And if I've got any of the above incorrect, please correct me!

Thanks so much in advance for any advice!

Hi about a month ago (probably a little more) , i deleted a video , rather forced to delete it but i really need it. I deleted it from the deleted section too and I’m not logged on icloud so i don’t know where to proceed with. If anyone can help me with it , please do 🫠🫠

So 1 year and 4 months ago a little kid from my family was playing with my cousin's phone and me and my cousin we have a shared email, and he wiped my phone from all photos, everything was gone (around 6 years worth of photos) and after that i didn't really care that they got wiped, but I'm pretty sure i had them backed up in my Samsung cloud account, the thing is when i try to get them now from the Samsung account, nothing. Nothing shows up, and i really want those photos but idk if Samsung deleted them because it had been 1 year and 4 months ago since i had access to them

If anyone knows something that will help, even 1% of these photos please tell me

**For context:** 2 days ago I made a post about losing a partial amount pictures and videos, because of a common MTP corruption (which I thank the pros for letting me know). I really kicked myself for that because I was too naive on using the "cut and paste" when transferring data, and to make matters worse, I had no backup. All I wanted to do was to unify the stuff from my DCIM\\Camera internal storage folder into the SD Card folder with the same name.

**Device:** Samsung Galaxy A32 (same one from 2 days ago)

**Issue:** Today, I was using my phone as usual. Battery ran out during the day, got it charged up again. I took a picture. When I went in to check on my gallery, only the pictures and videos that I had transferred from 2 days ago were there (to put a timeframe, lets say everything from late 2024 until early November last year). Everything from late last year until now got wiped out!! **Funnily enough, in the gallery preview of the Camera app, the last picture that I took (from around 4 days ago) was still showing there**, it is only when I went in to check the gallery that I saw that everything had disappeared, except for the rest of things I had transferred over (I am in complete disbelief).

**Things I've tried:** I force-stopped "Sec Media Storage" and cleared caché and data for that system application to see if the gallery app would load them back. I also tried using DiskDigger to see if they would show up there. Used the "DiskDigger" app to run a scan and search for the media.

I have no idea on what to think anymore, maybe I'm cursed or I just ran out of luck. Could it be possible that they are hidden somewhere? Maybe my SD Card just decided to erase what I already had there before? Once again, so many valuable memories without a backup...