Idk what I'm doing with Test Disk. 256GB to 400MB

Hello all,

A couple days ago, my laptop suddenly decided to stop working normally. Every time I would try to turn it on, it will go through automatic repair. I'm not sure why. I've exhausted the options I had available which led me to Task Disk. I want to recover everything that I possible can on the drive. *Note: I have zero experience in working with computers.* I did something with the software and now my 256 gb m.2 ssd now registers at 500. I checked disk management and it shows ~238 gb as "unallocated."

I don't know what to do anymore. I'm desperate and I just want the data from the drive. I don't have access to a pc that has a m.2 slot at the moment, but I plan on buying an enclosure so I can hook it up to my current pc for troubleshooting. Please, any help is very much appreciated. Thank you.

Welcome to the forum can you post a screenshot from disk manager showing all the details so we can see

Samuria said:

Welcome to the forum can you post a screenshot from disk manager showing all the details so we can see

This is where I'm currently at after Analyze. I'm not sure where to go from here. As you can see, the drive is 256 GB. Where as in this next picture, it registers as 400 MB:

Could do with a screen grab of your Computer Management window showing the physical drives connected? :)

kingtez1984 said:

Could do with a screen grab of your Computer Management window showing the physical drives connected? :)

Let me know if you need any more screenshots.

Do I understand correctly that Disk 1 used to be have data on it and was all partition D, but you accidentally did something that turned most of Disk 1 into "unallocated space"?

If that's incorrect, please re-explain.

If that's what has happened, I'd guess you'd need to try to recover that partition as it was before your mistake. Minitool Partition Wizard is the likely tool, but I've never used it for that purpose.

Hope that Jumanji sees your post. Perhaps others have more detail as well.

ignatzatsonic said:

Do I understand correctly that Disk 1 used to be have data on it and was all partition D, but you accidentally did something that turned most of Disk 1 into "unallocated space"?

If that's incorrect, please re-explain.

If that's what has happened, I'd guess you'd need to try to recover that partition as it was before your mistake. Minitool Partition Wizard is the likely tool, but I've never used it for that purpose.

Hope that Jumanji sees your post. Perhaps others have more detail as well.

Yes, that is correct. However, I may have miss pressed some buttons on the first screen shot. Here are my updated screenshots from the start of Test Disk:

After selecting drive


After quick search


I'm unfamiliar with Test Disk and partitions already.. Do you have any references that I can look into?

I'm aware of Test Disk, but not familiar with how to use it.

You may not be getting good response to this thread because of your title re "Task Disk".

A moderator may want to move this thread to another section?

Jumanji is the member with the most experience in partition recovery, but others may be able to help.

I wouldn't go further without guidance. Don't write anything to that disk. Any further mistakes may ruin your recovery possibilities.

@ignatzatsonic , @essenbe Thanks for the call. I am in and since the OP will be sleeping now, it gives me enough time to compose my next post. Will return shortly (before the OP wakes up) with further questions and instructions . I keep learning something new with every data recovery attempt - my strength and weakness .

@secretlyblue, when you wake up you will hear some sermon - informal: a long or tedious piece of admonition or reproof, a lecture - a volley of questions and instructions to further prepare you for a long haul - may be a short haul also , I can't say now.. Let us see.