Is This Normal for a Deep Scan?

[imrealdumb]

I had to reinstall Windows 10 on a SSD, so copied all of the SSD's files onto another drive.  I disconnected all the drives in my PC before reinstalling windows on the SSD, but because I'm an idiot, I accidentally reconnect the backup drive instead of the SSD.

I deleted the partitions on what I thought was my SSD, but was instead the backup drive.  I realized my mistake before starting the installation process, and turned off the PC.  Unfortunately, because I assume I deleted the partitions, windows didn't recognize the drive at first (which I fixed), but showed the drive as being empty.  The normal recuva scan didn't work, but I did a deep scan that, after several hours, found tens of thousands of files.  I saved those files onto another drive (because I wasn't sure if I should "put them back" where they were on the affected drive).

Issue is now the folder on another drive that I placed all of these recovered files is just a run-on list that will take me days to go through.  Is that normal?  The files are not in any semblance of a Windows folder structure - just one super-long list.

My questions are:

1.  I thought Recuva's deep scan allowed me to put the files elsewhere.  Am I mistaken?  Are the recovered files the only "copies" and is there nothing at all on the drive that I was trying to recover?

2.  If so, should I do the Deep Scan once again and put them instead on the actual drive that they came from?

3.  Is there any way to work with these tens of thousands of files (e.g. put them in the original folders from whence they came?)

4.  Is there a way to fix my problem?

Thanks in advance.

[Augeas]

1) You an recover the files to anywhere you want, except the 'source' drive. Recovered files are copies of what's on the source drive. I'm not sure what you mean by ' is there nothing at all on the drive that I was trying to recover?'. All the found files come from the source drive (the drive you're trying to 'recover').

2) No. Recover the files and then decide which are to be reinstated on the source drive. Well, that's the correct advice, but as you're recovering a backup drive you could recover all to your recovery drive, recreate the partitions on your backup drive, and then replace your recovered files. The problem with this is that you will be reinstating a lot of junk along with the good stuff.

3) Yes - ish. In Recuva Advanced Mode select Options/Actions/Restore folder structure. However this will not work with files found with a deep scan that have a number instead of a name, as they hold no folder information. If you have a list of file names then these should be in folder order, if that is possible.

4) Perhaps. In Advanced Mode Options/Actions check Scan for Non-Deletred Files. This might, just might, give you better results. Try it without a deep scan as it is vastly faster that way.

[imrealdumb]

Thanks for the reply.  I tried multiple things without the Deep Scan, and it came up with nothing.

I don't need anything I deleted - just basically the stuff on my desktop or downloads folder.  But if I do the Deep Scan, it pulls up tens of thousands of meaningless files, none of which are organized by the original directories.

Am I SOL?  I don't think any files were deleted - just the partitions.

[Augeas]

Files found with a deep scan will have names as [01234].ext. They will not have their proper file names nor will they be able to be sorted into folder order, as this information comes from the MFT, which a deep scan more or less bypasses. Are you SOL? If I knew what that meant I might be able to guess. I'm quite confused by 'I don't need anything I deleted'.