Sometimes, we encounter unexpected situations on our PC that set off all the alarms. Without knowing the reasons, we discover, terrified, that one of the units that make up the hard drive has disappeared, with all that this represents in terms of data loss. Above all, calm down. Here we are going to explain cHow to recover a lost drive in Windows 11.
This problem usually appears after performing the disk partition. Dividing a disk into several partitions or drives is a very common and practical action when it comes to better organizing our files. And also when you need to install several operating systems on the same device.
Strictly speaking, rather than speaking of a “lost drive,” it would be more correct to say that one of the drives created after the partition is not showing up on the computer. The real danger lies in the fact that the files contained on this drive can be lost when it is deleted or has been damaged. The good news is that, When you recover a lost drive in Windows 11, your files are automatically restored.
Origin of the problem
Why can a disk drive be lost in Windows 11 after a partition? The list of reasons is as long as it is diverse. Among the most common reasons, we can mention the following:
- Partition table corruption due to user error or virus attack.
- Power failure during partition process.
- Loss of volume label, drive letter or partition name.
- Using incorrect DiskPart cleanup commands.
- Bad sectors that are not recognized by the system.
From the above it can be deduced that, to prevent this error from happening, it is advisable Do not perform any operation that affects the hard drive if we are not completely sure of what we are doing: partitions, formatting, etc. And if, despite everything, we are going to do it, always take the precaution of carrying out a Backup.
Recover a lost drive in Windows 11 step by step
Now that we know the reasons that cause this situation, we are going to analyze how to solve it in a satisfactory way for the user. Recovering a lost drive in Windows 11 is possible. All we have to do is try one of the solutions that we present below:
Using Disk Manager
This is one of the first methods we should try to recover a lost drive in Windows 11. The steps to follow are as follows:
- To start, we right-click on the Start button and select Disk Management.
- Next you need to find the unallocated space where the partition was located, right click and select «New simple volume» to assign a new drive letter.
If the volume appears marked as RAW (that is, without formatting), we will have to resort to some recovery software, as explained in the next section.
With a partition recovery software
In cases where the partition has been deleted or is not visible in the Disk Management screen, the best recourse is to use recovery software. This is tools capable of analyzing disk sectors to detect deleted or lost partition tables. Although there are many options, some of the best are Disk Drill y MiniTool Partition Wizard.
Via Command Prompt (CMD)
Finally, the most suitable method to recover a lost drive in Windows 11 when the problem is caused by the loss of the volume label, partition name or drive letter. The idea is to assign the drive a new letter to make it appear like this in File Explorer. Here's what to do:
- First, we use the keyboard shortcut Windows + R and type "Diskmgmt.msc" in the Run window.
- Behind this, we run CMD as administrator.
- Then we write the command "diskpart" and press Enter.
- Next we enter the command "List disk" and press the Enter key. This will display all the disks on our computer.
- The next command to enter is «select disk #» (replacing # with the number of the hard drive that contains the lost partition).
- Then we write the command «list volume» and press Enter.
- Then we write «select volume #» plus Enter (replacing # with the lost partition number).
- Lastly, we write «assign letter = #» and press Enter (replacing # with an available drive letter).
Disk Recovery Tool
Something else worth trying is to use the system recovery tool to restore the previous disk configuration. Obviously, this will only work if we have previously created a restore point. In this case, here is what to do:
- First we go to the menu Configuration.
- Then we select "System".
- Then we click on "Recovery".
- Finally, we will «Open system restore» and we follow the wizard's instructions to restore the system to a previous point.