u/Hot-String862

Hey everyone, I am feeling completely sick to my stomach right now and could really use some unfiltered advice.

I was trying to do a good deed and help an old friend fix their corrupted Windows laptop. They had some really important files on their secondary 2TB data drive.

How I messed up: I used Rufus to create a Windows installation USB, but I used the "silent install" (unattended) feature. It completely bypassed the manual drive selection and automatically targeted his 2TB data drive instead of the intended M.2 SSD. It wiped the partition table and installed the Windows OS files right over his existing data.

To make things infinitely worse, I didn't realize the mistake right away. The laptop sat turned on for about 20 to 30 minutes after the install.

The Drive & Current Status:

• Model: 2.5-inch Seagate Mobile HDD 2TB (which I just learned uses SMR).
• Status: The moment I realized what happened, I immediately powered down the laptop and physically pulled the drive. It is currently sitting on my desk, completely disconnected from power.

My Questions:

1. What is my absolute best chance of saving his files?
2. Can I safely attempt with any software
3. Given that it's a friend's important data, do I just need to bite the bullet, tell him what happened, and send this to a professional lab?

Any reality checks or advice would be hugely appreciated right now.

Hey everyone, I am feeling completely sick to my stomach right now and could really use some unfiltered advice.

I was trying to do a good deed and help an old friend fix their corrupted Windows laptop. They had some really important files on their secondary 2TB data drive.

How I messed up: I used Rufus to create a Windows installation USB, but I used the "silent install" (unattended) feature. It completely bypassed the manual drive selection and automatically targeted his 2TB data drive instead of the intended M.2 SSD. It wiped the partition table and installed the Windows OS files right over his existing data.

To make things infinitely worse, I didn't realize the mistake right away. The laptop sat turned on for about 20 to 30 minutes after the install.

The Drive & Current Status:

• Model: 2.5-inch Seagate Mobile HDD 2TB (which I just learned uses SMR).
• Status: The moment I realized what happened, I immediately powered down the laptop and physically pulled the drive. It is currently sitting on my desk, completely disconnected from power.

My Questions:

1. What is my absolute best chance of saving his files?
2. Can I safely attempt with any software
3. Given that it's a friend's important data, do I just need to bite the bullet, tell him what happened, and send this to a professional lab?

Any reality checks or advice would be hugely appreciated right now.

Hey everyone, I am feeling completely sick to my stomach right now and could really use some unfiltered advice.

I was trying to do a good deed and help an old friend fix their corrupted Windows laptop. They had some really important files on their secondary 2TB data drive.

How I messed up: I used Rufus to create a Windows installation USB, but I used the "silent install" (unattended) feature. It completely bypassed the manual drive selection and automatically targeted his 2TB data drive instead of the intended M.2 SSD. It wiped the partition table and installed the Windows OS files right over his existing data.

To make things infinitely worse, I didn't realize the mistake right away. The laptop sat turned on for about 20 to 30 minutes after the install.

The Drive & Current Status:

• Model: 2.5-inch Seagate Mobile HDD 2TB (which I just learned uses SMR).
• Status: The moment I realized what happened, I immediately powered down the laptop and physically pulled the drive. It is currently sitting on my desk, completely disconnected from power.

My Questions:

1. What is my absolute best chance of saving his files?
2. Can I safely attempt with any software
3. Given that it's a friend's important data, do I just need to bite the bullet, tell him what happened, and send this to a professional lab?

Any reality checks or advice would be hugely appreciated right now.

My Viofo A129 Duo just died after 19 months. It couldn't survive being parked outside without shade in Dubai.

I’m open to any brands that actually work here. I need a Front + Rear replacement that handles extreme heat with continuous parking mode (currently hardwired).

Budget: Max 1000 AED.
Priorities: High heat resistance (Supercapacitor) and reliable parking mode. I don't care about a display.

Anyone have a good experience with a specific brand in this climate? Is the newer Viofo A229 better, or should I switch to Thinkware, DDPAI, Vantrue, rove, 70mai or others for better thermal management?
Thanks!