The "List" option does not appear on TestDisk for my HDD.

[Fulano]

I've been trying to find ways to recover specific files and folders from a dying external Seagate HDD that just started failing today and is impossible to access through conventional means (It's making every program stop working on Windows 11, including the file explorer, so I'm currently working with Windows 7. If there's a way to prevent this from happening on modern Windows versions, please let me know!)

TestDisk seemed like the perfect option. However, most tutorials on TeskDisk show the method of browsing through the files and copying them manually one by one, using the "List" option under Advanced. But for some reason, this option is not appearing for me. It only allows for creating an image of the disc, which I don't want, as I don't have enough space for the entire hard drive. I just want to get the important data.
I realised that this option might not be available for the type of partition that my HDD uses, which I assume was EFI GPT (because it was automatically highlighted when I selected my hard drive), or maybe the filesystem, which (if I remember correctly) was NTFS. If that is the case, what other options do I have? Am I forced to buy a new 1 TB drive and create a clone of the corrupted HDD there?

I did a short test to see if it was even possible to recover anything with Photorec, and turns out it is. But there are files on this hard drive that use uncommon file extentions (which I'm not sure if Photorec can get), and a lot of files with common extentions that used to occupy more storage space than what I have currently available, so I really wish I can manually select the files I want to recover and hopefully get most of them without spending a lot of money.

Thanks in advance.

[recuperation]

I realised that this option might not be available for the type of partition that my HDD uses, which I assume was EFI GPT (because it was automatically highlighted when I selected my hard drive), or maybe the filesystem, which (if I remember correctly) was NTFS. If that is the case, what other options do I have? Am I forced to buy a new 1 TB drive and create a clone of the corrupted HDD there?

It looks like your partition table type is GPT as opposed to MBR. Both table types represent different directory structures, structures that describe type and location of partitions on your disk. The type of a partition is the file system used, probably NTFS in your case.

TestDisk can list the content of a partition if that type of file system is supported by Testdisk and a possible dammage of that partition can be somehow compensated.

I did a short test to see if it was even possible to recover anything with Photorec, and turns out it is. But there are files on this hard drive that use uncommon file extentions

the so-called secret file extensions no user talks about

(which I'm not sure if Photorec can get),

As opposed to the "uncommon file extentions" on your NTFS partition, the documentation of Photorec is not beating around the bush but is listing all supported so-called families of file extensions in brutal honesty on the internet:

https://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/File_Fo ... y_PhotoRec

[Fulano]

Thanks for the reply.
I think I should've mentioned the file extention in question but I thought it wasn't really important, and I have to admit that Photorec does support a lot of families, but the one I'm looking for isn't there.
.DNM is a file extention used for Dn-Famitracker, a music tracker software commonly used to make 8-bit NES compatible songs. It isn't on the list, unfortunately, and it seems like an unique type of file.

[recuperation]

Read the manual - you can build your own fingerprint for DNM files.