Why Are Files Lost from NTFS Partitions?
NTFS data recovery is possible when you get a reliable assistant. Before walking you through the detailed steps to recover files, we prefer to show you some situations where you probably lost files.
File loss is a common issue that everyone can meet in this digital data era. Here we list several possible causes of why are files lost from NTFS partitions, ranging from human error to device problems. You should have a basic understanding of those situations, which can help you prevent data loss in the future as well.
#1. Deleted Files by Accident
“ So... a few months ago I cleaned my HDD a bit by removing a bunch of folders, but much to my frustration, I accidentally deleted an important file that was among them as well.I've seen there are a few programs that can recover files that were emptied from the recycle bin, but do they really work? I'm really desperate to recover this one file of mine to the point I could even pay a professional to recover it for me.How can I recover the files? I'd really appreciate it if someone could help me with this.” – synnchanforums.tomshardware.com
His question can be summarized as how to recover deleted files after Recycle Bin was emptied. When files are mistakenly deleted, the first action is to head to the Recycle Bin to check and restore the deleted files. However, when the deleted files are too large to the Recycle Bin or the Recycle Bin is emptied, Recycle Bin recovery is unavailable.
Don’t worry, there is another chance for you to get data back for NTFS even if they are permanently removed, using professional data recovery software. Data recovery software plays a significant role in restoring permanently removed files as long as they are not overwritten. You can try it to recover deleted files.
#2. Files Deleted by Virus
“Every time I put any flash disk, hard disk, or rewriteable CD, the virus worked by deleting some of my files in that external hard disk. And my flash disk becomes shortcut icon like this: "(external drive name)15GB". Anyone can help me please?”– from Cint
With we’re more and more relying on the internet, it’s getting harder and harder to stay away from computer viruses. They’re hidden everywhere we could think of, such as links, emails, files, folders, etc. So lots of users’ computers have already installed an anti-virus program when the system is first installed.
However, our advice is not to use an anti-virus program to kill the virus until files deleted by the virus have been completely recovered since the virus-killing process may delete other existing files.
#3. Files Lost after Sudden Failure
“I have a Windows 7 ultimate 64-bit on a Lenovo B560 laptop. Yesterday I downloaded a Bluetooth driver from the Lenovo site when the already installed driver was not working and also not getting updated. When I was installing the driver, after some time it seemed as if the system has hanged. So I ended the process through the start task manager, thinking of reinstalling it. As soon as I ended it, I saw many of the files on my system were missing. I tried everything possible to repair it, but ultimately I had to reinstall Windows.
Now my major problem is all the data and software on my system are gone and I have no idea how to recover them. I do not have any system image or as such any backups. I handled any blunders in the past through system restore but that is not working.” – from curiousmindonsevenforums.com
This is a kind of situation in which users don’t even have a clue how the files are missing. They just get lost “mysteriously”, as many users described. As long as the lost files are not responsible for booting the system, users can start the computer as usual.
In fact, even if users couldn’t boot the system after booting files were lost somehow, we still have a way to help them get back data from non-bootable computer. MiniTool Power Data Recovery Bootable allows users to create a bootable media, which helps to boot up the unbootable computer. With this created bootable media, users can rescue files from their computers, including completing the NTFS data recovery task.
#4. File Lost During Conversion Between FAT and NTFS Partitions
Owing to plenty of advantages of the NTFS partitions, computer users would like to convert the partitions from FAT to NTFS. Upon seeing the market of mutual conversion between FAT and NTFS, many developers have seized the opportunity quickly, thus a wide variety of FAT to NTFS converters appear and become available on the internet. But, here comes the problem – some converters are not qualified enough so they keep destroying users’ data saved in both FAT and NTFS partitions. Thus, the demand for NTFS data recovery is very high.
After choosing superior converters to change partitions from FAT to NTFS or vice versa, users may find themselves left in limbo: some important data are gone or partitions become inaccessible. So, they’re in dire need of knowing how to finish NTFS recovery, NTFS file recovery, FAT recovery and FAT file recovery.
#5. Partition Is Deleted/Lost
“I accidentally deleted the NTFS partition on my Win Home premium 64bit hard drive... I now need to recover it, but with all the tools out there you have to pay for it to make it work fully, please help... hard drive is blank.” – from Saulokillo11
In this case, obviously, the user didn’t plan to delete NTFS partition, but he did it due to carelessness. Now, he’s in need of great solutions to make up for the mistake. He said he was not able to find a tool that could work fully. Yet, that is until now.
Here, we’d like to introduce this free data recovery software that could help him with NTFS partition recovery definitely – MiniTool Power Data Recovery. It acts similarly to the Installation Wizard that Windows computer users are quite familiar with. So, there’s no need to worry too much even if you’re a complete novice. In this software, you can find all detected partitions, including deleted and lost partitions. Choosing to scan the proper partition can restore lost files stored on it.
You can get MiniTool Power Data Recovery Free to see if the deleted partition on your computer can be detected.
MiniTool Power Data Recovery FreeClick to Download100%Clean & Safe
#6. Partition Is Damaged
“I want to ask about my flash disk. For some reason, my flash disk has 0 bytes, and is still accessible, but there is no data. When I checked it, it showed me it was an NTFS. When I use computer management, it says MBR, but yet when I use another software, it says it was a raw partition, with all of its component set to zero and dots. Could you tell me how to solve it without formatting it? Or at least recover the file?”– from AgiBLaDE
We could easily summarize what the user said (in the above paragraph) into just one sentence: his flash disk becomes RAW and shows as “0 bytes”. They are both a sign of damage – this user’s flash disk has been damaged somehow. Though we don’t even have a clue why this is happening, we have a solution to fixing it.
In addition to deleted partitions, MiniTool Power Data Recovery can also detect partitions that are unallocated and inaccessible. Scanning and recovering files from those partitions are feasible with the help of this robust data recovery software.
Methods for NTFS Data Recovery in Different Cases
As we mentioned in the above content, MiniTool Power Data Recovery could be your first option to do an NTFS data recovery task since it is able to tackle various data loss situations. Moreover, this software is widely compatible with diverse data storage devices, including Windows, USB drives, external hard drives, SD cards, memory sticks, etc. Here I’d like to introduce you to a specific guide about how to use this tool to get data back for NTFS.
Situation 1. Recover Lost Files from NTFS Partition
Step 1. You should download and install MiniTool Power Data Recovery on your computer first.
MiniTool Power Data Recovery FreeClick to Download100%Clean & Safe
Double-click on the software to enter its main interface. You can find all detected partitions. Choose the partition where your lost files are stored and click Scan.
Step 2. Wait for the software to complete the scan process. You should not stop the scan process in the midway. Look through the file list on the result page to locate the required files. You can facilitate those useful features to improve your search efficiency.
To filter out unnecessary files roughly, you can click Filter to set filter conditions including file size, file type, file category, and file last modified date. If you want to restore a certain type of file, you can switch to the Type tab and browse the file list according to their types and file formats. When it comes to recovering a specific file, the Search function works best. Type the file name into the search box and press Enter to filter the matched files.
After the preliminary filter, you can check the file content before saving it. The Preview function allows you to check documents, pictures, videos, audio, and other types of files.
Step 3. Tick those files you want to recover from the NTFS partition and click Save. In the prompt window, select another file restoration path instead of the original one to avoid data overwriting.
This is the complete guidance to do the NTFS file recovery with MiniTool Power Data Recovery when you accidentally delete files. What should you do if the NTFS partition is lost? Are those files recoverable? Please keep reading to get answers.
Situation 2. Recover Files from Lost/Inaccessible NTFS Partition
Lost, inaccessible, and unallocated partitions can be detected by MiniTool Power Data Recovery as well. However, you should take immediate action to do the NTFS recovery and not rebuild or resize a new partition to overwrite the original one.
After getting this file recovery software, you can browse the partition list to locate the target one to scan. Just wait for the scan process to complete, then you can browse the file list to find and recover files from it.
MiniTool Power Data Recovery FreeClick to Download100%Clean & Safe
MiniTool Power Data Recovery can only recover files from the NTFS partition. If you want to recover NTFS partition, you can use MiniTool Partition Wizard to do it. Please note that to complete the NTFS partition recovery, you need to update to an advanced edition.
MiniTool Partition Wizard FreeClick to Download100%Clean & Safe
Situation 3. Recover Files from Unbootable Computer
Sometimes, if you mistakenly delete the partition that contains the computer operating system, you are unable to start your computer properly. You can get MiniTool Power Data Recovery Bootable to create a bootable disk, and use this created bootable disk to start your computer. Afterward, start to recover files from the unbootable computer.
MiniTool Power Data Recovery FreeClick to Download100%Clean & Safe
What Is NTFS
As the default file system of the Windows NT family, NTFS (New Technology File System) naturally becomes the first choice of people and it is popular and frequently used around the world. It is not even unfamiliar to inexperienced computer users. Why? That is because, compared to other file systems like FAT (File Allocation Table), NTFS has many advantages. For instance:
- Support sparse file.
- Support disk quotas.
- Support a maximum capacity of 2TB.
- Support active directories and domains.
- Provide a better disk compression approach.
- Be able to give permissions to a single file/folder.
- Be capable of compressing individual files/folders.
- Adopt B-Tree structure to accelerate file access rate.
- Provide file encryption to improve the security of information.
That explains why NTFS is more popular than FAT among computer users. Indeed, more and more people prefer to format their new partitions into NTFS rather than FAT nowadays since the former is claimed to have so many advantages. Even some FAT partition users choose to convert partitions from FAT to NTFS. In some special cases like Xbox 360 can only support FAT partitions, people may need to convert NTFS partition to FAT instead.
Final Words
This post explains several common causes that may lead to data loss in daily computer use. Additionally, you can read to learn how to do an NTFS data recovery in different situations with MiniTool Power Data Recovery. If you have any problems in using MiniTool software, please tell us via [email protected].
About The Author
Position: Columnist
Andrea graduated in English and has a keen interest in the IT industry and questions that arise when computers are used. She is passionate about new things and challenging things and has a wide range of interests like playing guitar, gaming, and crafting.