Windows 7 – How to Recover Data from BitLocker Partition

bitlockerdata-recoverywindows 7

I have one hard drive. It's partitioned into 4 partitions, one of them is encrypted by Windows 7 Bitlocker, then I used Acronis Disk Director to merge both partitions during the process PC power off now the encrypted partition and when I try to enter the partition I have a message to format it, the other partition seems to contain 20 MB but when I open it I found nothing.

all data in this partition is so important to me , so please if anyone can help me recover my data I will be thankful

Best Answer

I would try the bitlocker recovery tool

You can use this tool to help access encrypted data if the hard disk has been severely damaged. This tool can reconstruct critical parts of the drive and salvage recoverable data. A recovery password or recovery key is required to decrypt the data.

For Windows 7, Microsoft have some advice

The BitLocker Repair Tool (Repair-bde) is a command-line tool included with Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2. This tool can be used to access encrypted data on a severely damaged hard disk if the drive was encrypted by using BitLocker Drive Encryption. Repair-bde can reconstruct critical parts of the drive and salvage recoverable data as long as a valid recovery password or recovery key is used to decrypt the data. The Repair-bde command-line tool is intended for use when the operating system does not start, or when you cannot start the BitLocker Recovery Console. If a drive has been physically damaged, it may not be recoverable.

This sort of experience does demonstrate the importance of making a daily backup of important data to an external hard disk or to another computer. It is probably worthwhile making occasional copies onto DVD and storing those in a separate building (in case of fire or burglary).

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