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I installed Windows 10 after Microsoft started getting very insistent last fall. The other day the OS was complaining that it needed to upgrade, so I closed all my programs and said "OK".

I came back several hours later to a doorstop - blue screen with INACCESSIBLE_BOOT_DEVICE error message. Recovery from USB didn't seem to have the right options. Recovery from Microsoft's Windows ISO didn't work, either - it wouldn't allow a recovery, but offered a fresh install. I would like to get some data off that drive - the one little bit of data that wasn't also packed away in the cloud.

So I'm guessing that the GUID Partition Table (GPT) was corrupted.

Can anybody suggest a method of recovering any data on that drive? A bootable "live" Linux disk of some flavor seems to hold promise, but the techniques elude me.

Glorfindel
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John Griswold
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    If you have a windows installation medium, boot into the windows setup, and at the very first screen where it says what language etc you have, press SHIFT-F10 and you get a dos prompt. This should allow you to access your harddisk and any removable storage you have, so you can copy stuff in a more familiar environment. – LPChip Aug 16 '17 at 17:35
  • What options were given to you by the Recovery from USB menu? – var firstName Aug 16 '17 at 17:37
  • Windows should've written a restore point to the drive before updating. See if there's an option to revert to a restore point. – var firstName Aug 16 '17 at 17:37
  • And was the blue screen the very harsh RGB(0,0,255) or the more relaxed one with the big :( on it? – var firstName Aug 16 '17 at 17:39
  • I installed from Windows Update - no media. I don't exactly recall the Recovery options, but they were ominous. I might have been able to boot into a restore point had the drive been bootable (INACCESSIBLE_BOOT_DEVICE means the drive won't boot). And the blue screen was more relaxed, but that's all moot.

    Puppy Linux was able to see into the drive (I just attached the drive with a USB/SATA cable, left the primary installed, and booted Puppy Linux). I saw files on the old drive, but nothing that appeared to be salvageable, like the mail directory I really wanted to capture.

    Thanks, all.

     – John Griswold Aug 17 '17 at 18:28
  • If the file system is fine, just boot a Linux live USB and call it a day. If the file system is broken, see here: https://superuser.com/a/1144489/278831 – Andrea Lazzarotto Aug 17 '17 at 22:23

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You can use puppy linux to recover your files.

This is the guide to use puppy linux to do a live linux version and recover your files from the disk.

https://www.winhelp.us/recover-files-using-puppy-linux.html

I recommend use this puppy linux version:

x64 - 64bits

Slacko 64 6.3.0

x86 - 32bits

Slacko 32 6.3.0

Fernando G.
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