Using the command prompt to copy or recover files from your failing hard drive
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- Опубликовано: 25 фев 2021
- Tutorial on some simple commands to recover your files from a failing hard drive. You'll need a USB stick or external hard drive and patience.
This video will show you the commands necessary to discover your files, discover your external memory drive to where you'll copy, and the copy command.
Only use this if you are willing to lose your data. While this method is quick and generally easy, failing hard drives can completely fail at any point, and a professional is a better way to go if you cannot afford to lose files. You will lose your data and it may be very expensive or completely unrecoverable if you allow it to fail completely.
Better yet, back your stuff up daily.
Hope this helps! 
Авто/Мото
My parents harddrive failed on the windows start up, no way to recover windows, reinstall/repair windows or access it in any way.
They were scared to lose all the videos and photos they had of my sister and brother as kids, but I knew from the past that a friend of mine (who passed away) did something like this with my external HDD that failed.
This helped me backup all the precious photos they stored on the drive.
Thanks so much for the clear explanation.
Glad to hear this! Please like & subscribe.
3:12 c:\>wmic logicaldisk get name (which drives are on the PC)
3:38 c:\>wmic logicaldisk list brief (more details on each drive)
8:32 x:\sources>xcopy "c:\users
ick\desktop\photos\*" j:\ /s /i (template to copy from source to destination)
Thank you for the video. This comment is just for reference.
Thanks so much! Like & subscribe.
LIFE SAVER! THANK YOU SO MUCH! I RECOVER ALL MY WORK FILES, SAME ON THE DESKTOP, I FORGOT THE DOS COMMANDS AND YOU JUST REFRESH MY MEMORY.
I was able to copy all my important personal/work files before doing a clean install of Windows. This tutorial is mind blowing! Thank you so much, Nick! 🥰
You're welcome! Glad it worked. Thanks for the subscribe!
Dude you've just saved the entirety of my remaining uni year. Holy shit I was freaking out the entire day until I found your video. I wanna hug you so bad man, you´re an absolute legend
Glad to hear it. Like & subscribe and we'll call that the hug. Take care.
Dude! So simple, no nonsense....AND IT WORKED! Thank you.
Awesome, like & subscribe!
Thank you so much , Nick . After hours of trying to recover data from my laptop I was able to recover it only because of you.
Thank you so much 😊
Glad to help. Take care.
I've been working two days straight trying to find a solution and your video helped tremendously! I'm in the middle of transferring ALL of my files to an external hard drive. (Wish me luck)
Glad to hear it. I had to do a lot of remembering from my teenage years using DOS!
I can't thank you enough... This saved my ass🤗 After watching several videos on youtube, yours solved the problem easily.
Like & subscribe! Take care.
Very helpful and just wanted to say thanks for the vid!
Thanks! Like and subscribe!
Thank you very much. Because of you I was able to recover all my files safely, thank you very much!! I also subbed.
Glad to hear it
Thank you so much! I was able to get 90% of my wife's files off her crashed computer before doing a factory reset. Life Saver!
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AMAZING! I am a technology specialist at a college, and this quick well made video saved my day.
Great to hear! Like & subscribe.
Thank you so much for your insight! Helped me tremendously
Great news. Like & subscribe!
Bro I’m a music producer & trying to fix an HD with session files to a few major artist!! This video is GOLD omg thank you bruh 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭💯💯💯💯💯💯💯
Great! Tell those major artists to promote this channel so I can put some real content out. Take care!
This just saved me from losing a photoshoot I did last Saturday you're a hero bro.
Glad to help - could you like & subscribe so this gets to others? Thanks!
@@NickTheBody did already subscribe and will definitely recommend.
Great job! It's a great video.Hope to see more videos from you that save us a couple of bucks 😊🎉🎉
Happy to help! Please like & subscribe!
Oh my God you are a living god
I tried for days and days until I found your vid thanks so much man God bless you
Super! Like and subscribe!
Hey Nick, I just wanted to thank you for a nice video. My laptop crashed during a Windows Update last night and it's doing a Loop Repair. Before I try and repair that, I wanted to backup my C Drive. I do backup online each day, but I just wanted the raw files off my laptop. A good refresher in using the Command Prompt, bravo from the UK!!
Thanks Chris! Mine refresher was certainly out of necessity so I figured I should make this video for myself in case it ever happened again, though I am backing up to two places now as well. Take care!
I love that you speak like a friend. You don't add in a bunch of unnecessary things to get attention, you just share what needs to be shared. And adding in other information about what the commands actually do along the way and why we type them the way we do is super appreciated. I'll look later, but I hope you have more videos on using cmd and things.
Thanks! Like & subscribe!
Dude you a lifer saver. I had to convert back to the DOS days to figure what to search for. I know the young kids know nothing about DOS. You got me in the right direction. Thank you!!!
I am glad I had the basic DOS knowledge to figure this out locked away in my brain. Happy to help, take care.
Holy crap you are a hero! Thank you soooo much.
Take care!
Thanks so much, you really helped me out with this
Super. Take care!
😅this video just saved my ass. Bad sectors on the HD and can't boot to safe mode but was able to salvage the important stuff. Soooooooo glad I found this almost lost months of work.
Great news! Like & subscribe!
Thank you very much. Ill been searching how to copy my files on documents thru cmd prompt.
My pleasure. Take care!
I am a graphic artist with years of artwork on my computer. I thought all my hardwork was gone forever after a catastrophic hd failure. No other video was as comprehensive as yours in recovering my files. I am eternally greatful. Like, subscriber here.
That is fantastic news, thanks for the subscription.
Thank you. I just used the commands today :-)
Super duper. Like & subscribe!
You are the real MVP! I accidentally dropped my laptop like 2 ft on the floor and it hasn't been able to log on to my desktop since. Been looking for a way to keep my files and thank god I found your video. Now if you can just do a video for log file c windows system32 logfiles srt srttrail.txt that would be perfect lol
Super! Like & subscribe.
This is a quality content. Tutorials on youtube must be like this. Great job sir!
Thanks for the feedback. Take care!
You save me from killing myself it was just as I lost my all research work.
Thank you so much ❤️
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Great video! made a dad look super human in front of his son. I was able to save his Minecraft files.
This is the reason i posted this. Happy to help. Like and subscribe!
Thanks buddy.. you are a life saver. ❤️
My pleasure, like and subscribe so it gets to more people!
Thank you for this. Saved me.
Good to hear. Like and subscribe!
Thanks so much, you really helped me
Awesome!
Actually, yes one does recovery better than him; He’s a legend.
It was very helpful. Thanks man
Take care! Like & subscribe!
Thanks a lot bro
It helped a lot
Great. Take care!
Thanks, it's help alot. I thought I m going to loose all my data.
No problem! Like and subscribe!
Thanks so much for the directions, your help saved me a LOT. This content is better than nearly all the people that specialize in it.
That is great feedback. Like & subscribe!
Saved from a disaster thanks a lot buddy
You're welcome! Like & subscribe!
This was exactly what I needed and it was surprisingly difficult to find for my circumstances. I have/had a Samsung 980 EVO that just crapped out because of the firmware issue and was firmware locked to read-only to protect the drive. My issue was that Windows wouldn't copy the files without changing the permissions but it couldn't change them because it couldn't write new ones to the drive. I thought CMD would honor read/write permissions but I'm very thankful it doesn't. I was close to buying an expensive recovery tool but I just refused to believe that I couldn't get the files out without it, since Windows would happily access the files if it could change the permissions.
Great news! Please like & subscribe!
Thank you so much my brother ☺️
My pleasure. Give it a like and subscribe...it'll help get this video further up the search to help others.
Thanks, really helped me
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Hi there. I can’t thank you enough for your excellent way of giving us a step by step tutorial. I am in the middle of saving all my files now. My surface book is stuck on Automatic Repair and nothing seems to be working. I suspect my c drive is completely full. Would you recommend deleting files in command prompt to help free up space, and if so, do you have a video on that?
If your drive is full, then deleting some of the junk files to free up room the computer may not want to overwrite may address the problem, but not necessarily. I do not have a video on this, but I could make one. Essentially though you would find the file you want to delete - the syntax (the command you tell the computer) would be del "filename". So as an example, let's say you had a huge video file you've backed up and it's called BIGVIDEO, it's a .mov file and you know it's on your desktop. You would get to your desktop in my example above by using the directory commands to get to C:\Users\Nick\Desktop> - then use the command del "BIGVIDEO.mov". Would look like this: C:\Users\Nick\Desktop>del "BIGVIDEO.mov"
It will likely ask you to confirm, and you would press 'y' to do so.
Be very careful because if you delete a file this way it is gone forever.
Hello brother i salute you
U have saved me alot of money
Great news.
Thank you so much man you saved me
Glad to help! Like and subscribe so it gets to more people please.
Working like a charm. 👍👍
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your the best man alive!
Maybe not quite the best. Like & subscribe!
I can't thank you enough ❤❤❤ it works 100%
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Appreciate this. You the GOAT.
Awesome! Hit the like button & subscribe!
Thank you, Sir, 🙏🌺😇
Awesome!!!
Thanks a great deal for the help! How do I safely eject my external drive via the command prompt after safely copying the files over?
Command E may work. There are prompt commands such as diskpart... Google "safe USB ejection using command prompt" and there will be a 3-4 step command line process.
Big thanks
Take care.
Very helpful video
Glad to help. Like & subscribe!
Thank you for your video. But the files are copied individually into the external drive but not as a folder with the same folder name. Do we need to create a same folder name in the external drive and give the same folder name in the command prompt as well?
Yes, unless you copy each file individually one at a time. Those files should exist at some root level like a desktop folder though.
thank you! thank you for help
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Great video thanks saver
Thanks, like & subscribe please!
Thank you!
You're welcome! Like & subscribe!
I don’t know why, but it’s telling me there’s nothing in my documents folder under my username, even though that’s where I keep pretty much everything. Is there anything that can be done or does the fact that cmd can’t find them mean that those files are truly gone?
So you have a couple options here. The files may be gone, but they may also be catalogued elsewhere. Go to the command prompt, and do this...ensure you type EXACTLY as below without the quotes (but spaces included):
1. "CD /" (then press ENTER)
2. "dir nameofdocument.doc /s /p (where nameofdocument.doc is the specific name of a file you remember the name to)
The /s command will search ALL files on the hard drive and the /p command will ensure the search pauses between screens for you. You may find the files ended up somewhere else. If so, it should display the entire filepath for you.
Bro you just saved my life with a video you made years ago. 😊. i now feel like am a hacker thanks a lot
Great news. Please like & subscribe so others can find this video as well!
Thanks bro so mush 👍
You're welcome!
nice tuto
Thanks.
I have an external hard drive (internal hdd in an enclosure). I dropped it while it was switched off and unplugged the other week. Since then it has been working OK. Now, today, it isn't working.
When I plug it in and go to My Computer, the green loading bar at the top is continuously there. If I right click on the hard drive (now called "Local Disk" then Windows Explorer will crash. It is like the hard drive is making everything hang.
I try and run SeaTools or HDTune whilst HDD plugged in but nothing happens (something is blocking??) but when I unplug the hdd immediately both programs will open.
I can't use these programs because of this problem, as when I plug it back in it wont find it.
When I go into Computer Management and click Disk Management, It does nothing and just says Connecting to virtual Disk Service at the bottom.. But when I unplug it then it opens and shows me my C drive.
I cannot also use chdisk because when I am in cmd and i type T: to change to that hard drive, it will hang (nothing happens).
Please help mee
That sounds like you will need a professional recovery service. If the command prompt cannot access the HD, it will require a professional or at least a skill level well above mine.
como complemento de tu información, simplemente puedes ejecutar: notepad, abrir archivo, mostrar todos los tipos de archivos (no solo txt) y utilizarlo como explorador y hasta ejecutar algunas aplicaciones de 64bits como bootice, winntsetup, etc. ademas de copiar tus archivos y visualizar un poco mas comodo las unidades
I love you bro❤❤❤❤
You saved my life❤
Thanks! Happy to help, please like & subscribe!
god bless sir... or flying spaghetti monster bless which ever you fancy
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Can i do it using usb chord to phone
Probably not. You have to specify a drive.
If my external hard drive showing no media ,then can this process going to be workable beca in my case my external hard drive in device manager showing "No Media" and I can't get my files away from that,can you guide me?
Possibly. If you can access the command prompt and then use the command in the video above to locate the files (you might have to try a few different file letters C:/ D:/ E:/ X:/ etc.) and see what happens. If they are discoverable, you should be able to make a copy. If not, you will likely require a professional.
@@NickTheBody There is one last alternative may still remains to try, and this is the "Logic Board"Changing , because during the usage of the drive ,there was a power outage did was accured years ago and i since then , so if the logic board i can change and swap the bios chip (Which holds the memory of the files)by placing from the defacted logic board to the new one with the same Model no , there is 90%possibility that i got all the files , but for that i had to buy a logic board from the "Chinies compony"website . Afterwords i need an assistance (Not from the data recovery ...But from the hard ware expert who can un weld and re-weld board connections, so this is the chance i am having now.
Please type in detail the last commands for coping files
X:\sources\xcopy "C:\users\your username goes here\desktop\your file folder name goes here*" J:\ /s /i (J:\ is whatever letter your other drive letter is)
Good job .. Is it possible to restore compressed files in the same way that were erased from about 20 days ago on the same basic hard drive
Probably, if you have a large enough drive. Did you have any luck?
TYSM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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This has honestly been so very helpful, THANK YOU SO MUCH! I got the BSoD and couldn't get past start-up. So far I have managed to copy folders that are smaller in size; and noticed that the folders that are larger in size give me the error "file creation error - the system cannot find the path specified" and it is like all the drives including the internal one disappear and I have to restart the computer for them to be visible again. Is there a workaround for larger folder sizes (I am not able to copy individual files as there are tons). Thank you in advance if you see this and respond.
Is it the documents folder by chance?
@@NickTheBody oh my gosh thank you so much for replying.🤗 Yes, the folders are within the documents folder. So what I did was narrow it down all the way to the last subfolder deep to copy each of them separately. So it basically is \documents\electronic arts\the sims 4\mods\furniture(in this folder are 100s of individual .package files so I'd be trying to copy the whole furniture folder) only problem is some folders are gb in size ranging from 2gb to around 8gb or so.
@@EPCMEDIA this is a known issue though I do not recall how to fix it off the top of my mind. The issue is the documents folder is protected sometimes. Let me check a couple of my references in the next day or two and see if I can find a solution.
@@NickTheBody thank you, I will very much appreciate it 🙏🏽🙏🏽🤗
@@EPCMEDIA this is going to be tough if your hard drive is failing. Likely what has to happen is the documents folder is protected, and you will have to add cmd.exe (the command prompt) to the approved apps list on the your computer so it can copy multiple files at once. I do not know how to do this from command prompt or if it is possible, but I sent a message to someone I know who would know for sure.
when i go to c and write dir i got this message
Volume in driver c is system Reserved
Pls help
That means your drive is partitioned i believe. Try using D: drive (your hard drive might be under another letter). If that doesn't work, trying searching "Volume in driver c is system Reserved copying files resolve" and see what you find.
Can i recover data from a formatted hard drive using this method?
No.
how do i copy all the folders from Desk top ?
Hello - you would need to go into each folder separately using this method, but in the same way - as long as you know the folder names, you should be able to copy the files over.
Thank you po🥺
can i copy my whole user folder using this method?
If you have the space you should be able to do this using this method.
Can I copy decrypted files on this my bro?
Yes you should be able to...same directions.
Can i use this Trick on in Windows XP home ? ... i have a bsod .. &/ but i cant not with cmd neither by safe mode !... & i dunno but .. unless the seller has "deleted"??? the Recovery/Repair mode on my machine ?!.. or win Xp doesnt have One? Then ill have to Pray it will Just Let Me In ONE More Time .. Just so I can Save my files .. then ill be HAPPY!!
Try rebooting your computer and holding down the F8 key as soon as your computer turns on until you get the command prompt. It may enter the command prompt automatically this way.
I tried this and all files were copied but the documents files is not being able to be copied it's saying access denied
Are the documents password protected?
Currently stuck on 05:16. When I type “cd sources” I am met with “the system cannot find the path specified”.
I am trying to copy my files to a USB and then install windows from another USB but everything I try to do fails 😭
Please respond to this because I am having the same issue!
@@jscrilla4266 I managed to figure it out, just had to watch the video a few times
@B B Yeah I was just about to respond back. Seems once I put in cd.. at this point it finally found sources
Sorry for the late response. Glad this got sorted out. Sometimes it can be tricky/time-y to find sources.
Sorry for the late response. Glad this got sorted out. Sometimes it can be tricky/time-y to find sources.
Can you do this for deleted files?
Probably not. If you know the name of the deleted file, you may be able to recover it if it is sitting in a temp file or cached somewhere. A data recovery specialist is likely a better option.
Would I be able to copy the entire users folder to an external HD in one shot?
Yes, if you have a large enough SSD drive you likely can.
So is there a way I could just copy my c drive to another drive
Same process, just don't execute the command for a specific folder.
So for example you can use the command X:\sources\xcopy "C:\users\your username goes here\desktop\*" J:\ /s /i (J:\ is whatever letter your other drive letter is) and the entire desktop should copy to the new drive.
@@NickTheBody thank u I shoulda checked back in before I needed up saving all the important stuff
I get an error and only a couple of files go to the drive
Did the files copy over, or none of them copied at all?
🖕 message him he helped me rectify my problems
Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Can't thank you enough. You're a lifesaver and a superhero! I was in a boot loop like you described. Even using notepad.exe in Command Prompt to access This PC didn't work. I got error 0x80004005. Your method worked perfectly, like a miraculous charm. :-) Am forever indebted to you. Many blessings to you!
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thaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaank you♥️♥️♥️
You're wellllllllllllllccccommmmee. Like & Subscribe!
xcopy is useless, only works in specific cases
If it were "useless" it wouldn't ever work.
👆👆👆👆 All thanks to him, he helped me to recover my files all.
Thanks man 🫡
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accidently full formatted my d volume but not able to recover my data
👆👆👆👆 All thanks to him, he helped me to recover my files all.
👆👆👆👆 All thanks to him, he helped me to recover my files all.