DAMAGED PARTITION RECOVERY

A “damaged partition” can show up in many ways: Windows asks you to format the drive, files and folders disappear, the volume turns into RAW, or you see errors like “The file or directory is corrupted and unreadable”. The good news: in many cases, your data is still there — you just need to recover it safely.

What is a partition?

A partition is a section of a physical disk (HDD/SSD/USB/SD card) that Windows treats as a separate volume (for example, C:, D:, or E:). Partitions can become inaccessible due to file system corruption, partition table issues, accidental changes, or unsafe removal — but that doesn’t always mean the data is permanently lost.

Common causes of partition damage

• Power loss, crash, or forced shutdown while the disk is writing
• Unsafe removal of USB drives or SD cards
• File system corruption (NTFS/FAT/exFAT), bad sectors, or failing hardware
• Partition table corruption (MBR/GPT) or resize/clone/ghost operation failure
• Virus/malware or unexpected system updates

Important: do this first (to avoid making recovery worse)

• Stop using the affected drive immediately. Don’t copy new files to it.
• Do NOT run “format”, “chkdsk /f”, or “repair” tools if your goal is data recovery. These can overwrite metadata and reduce recoverability.
• Never install recovery software onto the damaged partition. Install it to a different healthy drive.
• If the disk makes unusual clicking noises or disappears intermittently, consider cloning it first (or recovering from an image) to avoid further hardware degradation.

Recover data from a damaged partition with Lazesoft (Read-Only)

Lazesoft Data Recovery is designed to scan the damaged volume in read-only mode and recover files to a safe destination (another disk). It can help recover data from:

• Inaccessible / unreadable partitions
• RAW partitions and file system corruption (NTFS/FAT/exFAT)
• MBR/GPT partition table problems
• Drives affected by resize failure, clone/ghost failure, or corrupted metadata (e.g., MFT issues)
• Removable storage like USB flash drives, SD cards, and external HDD/SSD

Step-by-step recovery (recommended workflow)

1. Prepare a safe destination (another internal drive, external HDD/SSD, or network location) with enough free space to store recovered files.
2. Download and install Lazesoft on a healthy drive (not the damaged partition). You can get it from the Download page.
3. Launch Lazesoft Data Recovery and choose the scan option that best matches your case (e.g., damaged/RAW/inaccessible partition).
4. Select the affected disk/partition and start scanning. Let the scan complete for best results.
5. Preview and select files/folders you want to recover.
6. Recover to a different drive (never recover back to the same damaged partition).

If the damaged partition is your system drive (C:)

If Windows won’t boot or C: is the damaged partition, use another working PC to create a bootable recovery media, then boot the affected computer from it and recover data without writing to the system drive:

• Guide: How to burn a bootable recovery CD
• Guide: How to create a bootable recovery USB disk
• Guide: How to boot from the created recovery disk

Quick FAQ

Will recovery fix my partition?
Data recovery focuses on getting your files back safely. After recovery, you can repair/repartition/format the drive if needed.

Should I run CHKDSK?
If your priority is data recovery, recover your data first. CHKDSK (especially with /f) can change the file system and make some data harder to recover.

Is it really free?
Lazesoft provides free recovery options for home users. Visit the Download page for the latest editions and features.