M.2 SSD upgrade in laptop. What should I use? (PCLe, NVMe, 2280, NAND)

[Old_Dad]

Hey,

Wow wow wow... not a good idea to bypass the SSD backup before reset it. But...

There is maybe a solution "if" you didnt use your first HDD since your formatted it and, better chance if you choose to format it in "fast mode" which is the default mode in Win10.

Indeed, there are few softwares that can restore formatted drives or at least most of files on this formatetd drive.

For some of them, they can be free for a limited amount of restored DATA. Like EaseUS Data Recovery: "The FREE version supports all kinds of data recovery from any data loss situation with a limited data recovery amount. You only get 500MB of recovery by default (To gain another 1.5 GB, you need to share it via SNS within the program ). The free version is suitable for document recovery"

You should take a look at this blog: https://www.sodapdf.com/blog/data-recovery-software/ to clarify situation.

The process to restore is quiete simple of all of those softwares. Just boot on your SSD drive, be sure your ex-HDD is plugged too and start Windows. Install the software, launch it, tell it where are the files you would like to restore (D:\ your HDD - NOT your SSD cause you reset it with Windows) and then wait. The process could be a bit long, especially if you choose the DEEP mode to search files (I dont recommend you this mode at first time, only if the "Basic search" dont give you satisfaction). Then you will have to choose which files to recover and where to restore them (dont choose the same HDD! your SSD drive with Windows or an USB key/External HDD should be the target to restore your lost files).
I guess the software will display you sizes of each file so by choosing the only ones you really want you shouldnt  exceed these 500Gb - it's useless to restore ALL your drive while you need only documents/photos/videos/etc.

I think there is no other way but I think too you have a good chance to succeed.

Lemme know.

Regards.

[hannahtr]

Hi, 

So recovering the back up file in my HDD was successful and I thank you .But the problem now is I don't know what to do next because I have tried restoring my HDD to it's original state but windows doesn't recognize the backup image (.vhdx) in the root directory of my external hard drive.

one more detail, I actually backed up the image file with windows backup and restore option and not the file history one, and then did a reset on my HDD before cloning it to my SSD.

[Old_Dad]

Hey,

Uhm... I'm not sure to understand exactly what you did. 😛

The thing I understand is you didnt follow the step by step procedure I gave you 😛

Well, I dont know the exact procedure to restore an HDD with this kind of extension (VHDX) but in the following link you could find how to. I dont re-write all cause it will be stupid and mostly I never used this extension so I'm not sure it will work.

But you can try that: https://hetmanrecovery.com/recovery_news/how-to-restore-files-from-windows-image.htm

Note that at the end of this webpage, tehre is a tuto video too.

Lemme know.

Regards.

PS: Please, for future backups, dont use Windows Backup to backup disk/partition or what ever, use Macrium Reflect (it's free for Home use, fast and sure!)