cgsecurity.org

Hey guys,

I ran CHKDSK after being prompted by Windows, which then appeared to delete all my files. I have tried to recover files through recovering the partition, but when I list files, they are all just random letters and symbols. using Recuva, I can see the files which can be recovered to an extent. Unfortunately my external HDD is now failing, and connects/disconnects at random. This means I can't recover files through Recuva. Any advice on how to get my data back? I assume if it is visible to Recuva, testdisk must be able to see it somehow?

Thank in advance!

You should clone your disk to a new empty one using ddrescue as described in https://www.cgsecurity.org/testdisk.pdf
Once it's done, remove the original disk and try to recover your data from the clone.

This is on an external HDD, how can I run drescue on Windows?

You can only run ddrescue on linux.
ddrescue comes with various live linux distributions like Knoppix p.e.
Such distributions can be booted from CD, DVD or even a USB-stick.