Intel vs EFI GPT

How to use TestDisk to recover lost partition
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recoverme178
Posts: 1
Joined: 29 Aug 2021, 19:04

Intel vs EFI GPT

#1 Post by recoverme178 »

Broke my RAID 0 array on my Win10 boot drive after accidently resetting my BIOS. I have since made a new RAID volume and testdisk does recognize the missing partitions. It defaults to EFI GPT which I think should be what I use, but I want to confirm with users here just so I don’t screw myself over in recovering my data. Most of the tutorials I’ve seen say to just use what testdisk defaults to. But I haven’t seen any tutorials on recovering a boot drive using testdisk.

recuperation
Posts: 2720
Joined: 04 Jan 2019, 09:48
Location: Hannover, Deutschland (Germany, Allemagne)

Re: Intel vs EFI GPT

#2 Post by recuperation »

recoverme178 wrote: 29 Aug 2021, 19:08 Broke my RAID 0 array on my Win10 boot drive after accidently resetting my BIOS.
There is no such thing as a RAID 0 array on your boot drive. You might have installed Windows 10 on a RAID array. This is the opposite.

On the lowest level there are physical drives that are combined into a virtual combined drive which is on level above. This combination is done either in hardware or in software. On top of it there is an operating system that is installed on that virtual combined drive.
What type of RAID is yours? Hardware or software?
In case of a software RAID array Windows 10 itself provides the necessary layer to combine single physical drives into a virtual combined one. There is no strict separation as with hardware RAID controllers.

As you can easily read here
https://www.cgsecurity.org/
Testdisk only supports Linux RAID.
If you had a hardware RAID Testdisk should work nevertheless because it would not see the single physical disks anymore but the combined physical drive as presented by the RAID controller.
I have since made a new RAID volume
What did you do exactly? You are lacking documentation. I guess you overwrote the existing structure on your physical disks. I would have tried to reenter the old configuration without drives being connected. If that does not work you should have asked your mainboard manufacturer or controller manufacturer in case of hardware raid.

and testdisk does recognize the missing partitions.
You have a low level problem even below the level Testdisk operates. Using Testdisk might even not be necessary.
It defaults to EFI GPT which I think should be what I use, but I want to confirm with users here just so I don’t screw myself
You might have already done so since you "made a new RAID volume".
over in recovering my data. Most of the tutorials I’ve seen say to just use what testdisk defaults to. But I haven’t seen any tutorials on recovering a boot drive using testdisk.
Try using any commercial RAID recovery software. You might have to circumvent an existing hardware raid controller by either connecting your drive as regular drives or configure a hardware controller to operate in a kind of regular, RAID-free mode.

Testdisk can't help here. Do not try to boot from your broken array.

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