Windows – How to disable checking the NTFS file system when booting the system

My recommendation is to use the Knoppix Live CD Once you have the live CD, boot to it and then see if you can mount the partition manually. If there is still any data remaining, you should be able to see it.

I would do what you said in the last part.

There are ways by copying the bootloader / system files then marking as active e.t.c. but it can take time and can get complicated

By far the easiest way is simply to delete the other partition and mark your new one as active then put in the DVD and allow it to repair the startup for you.

(of course, this will fail and you can have a lot of problems if you use Bitlocker on your drive... Assuming you don't!)