Data recovery from Intel HBRPEKNX0202AH (NVMe SSD with optane)

[JohnMcKee]

I have a customer computer with one of these SSD drives and the Windows installation on it is corrupted and won't boot. I've tried booting a Linux Live USB and a Windows installer USB on the computer, and I've also tried removing the drive to another machine. In all cases it shows up a RAID drive. It also has Bitlocker encryption, for which I have the decryption key. I need to recover the user's files as (surprise surprise) she has no backups. How can I access the drive to recover the files?

[LeonWaksman]

I suggest to try to fix the boot sector on the Optane drive:

1. Boot from your Windows 10 installation USB.
2. Select your language preferences and click/tap on Next.
3. Click/tap on Repair your computer at the bottom.
4. Click/tap on Troubleshoot.
5. Click/tap on Advanced options.
6. Click on Command Prompt
7. In the Command Prompt write the following command:

Hit enter after each command:

BOOTREC /FIXMBR
BOOTREC /FIXBOOT

BOOTREC /RebuildBcd

If the above will not work, use Macrium Reflect Rescue USB to fix the boot problem.

Leon

[JohnMcKee]

Thanks Leon

The drive is GPT, not MBR. I've followed the instructions in https://woshub.com/how-to-repair-uefi-bootloader-in-windows-8/ a few times before on damaged GPT systems before with some success so I'll give that a go.

Cheers

[LeonWaksman]

Right, you have Optane acceleration, so the partition is GPT.  In this case, use the Macrium Reflect Rescue USB to fix boot problem. I've done this already few times on Optane accelerated system.

Leon

[JohnMcKee]

The plot thickens. Macrium Reflect doesn't recognise the existence of the SSD, and entering a command prompt and running diskpart from Macrium also shows no drives other than the boot USB. Booting into recovery mode from a Windows installer USB and then entering a command prompt, then running diskpart's "list disks" command also only shows the boot USB, not the SSD.

An Ubuntu Linux Live USB does recognise the drive and in the DIsks app it shows a 512GB (Windows) drive and a 29GB drive, both of which show as "Intel RSTe raid member", but neither can be mounted. They also show up in gparted as /dev/nvme0n1 and /dev/nvme1n1, with what seems to be the correct sizes but they're inaccessible and they don't show up in the "files" app.

When I remove the drive and put it into a Windows 10 test machine it does see the drive but thinks the 500GB drive is 2TB and there's no sign of the 29GB volume. I don't know if this is because the intel rst drivers aren't installed.

[JeanetteC_Intel]

Hi JohnMcKee,

Thank you for posting in Intel Communities.

We will check on this and we will post an update once it's available. Feel free to let us know if you have any further questions or concerns.

Best regards,

Jeanette C.

Intel® Customer Support Technician

[JohnMcKee]

Thanks Jeanette. I've all but given up on this one, but I'll put the drive aside in case we get a solution and reload a fresh copy of Windows on a replacement drive.

John

[JeanetteC_Intel]

Hi JohnMcKee,

We'd like to let you know that we have a dedicated forum for this product and issue, where you can get faster answers. I am moving this to the Intel® Optane™ Memory forum for you.

Sincerely,

Jeanette C.

Intel® Customer Support Technician

[Poojitha]

Hi JohnMcKee,

Good day!!

Please note this product being discontinued, Intel Customer Service no longer supports inquiries for it, but perhaps fellow community members have the knowledge to jump in and help.

All Intel Optane Memory products, including the H10 SSDs are now EOIS (End of Interactive Support). We no longer provide support to issues related to these products. You can refer the customer to this article: Customer Support Options for Discontinued Intel® Optane™ Solid-State Drives and Modules

Specifically for the H10, this is the EOIS announcement: End-of-Interactive-Support (EOIS) Announcement for Intel® Optane™ Memory H10 and H20 with Solid State Storage

Thank you for your understanding.

Regards,

Poojitha

[DataRecoveryGuy]

We have recovered many of these drives. The H10 in particular. The symptom are usually what you describe about only seeing one portion of the device.