This week an advertising agency brought me an M.2 SSD needing BitLocker data recovery. As far as Windows was concerned, the drive was empty. No drive letter, no folders, nothing. The disk showed up in Disk Management as one big block of unallocated space — every partition had disappeared. On it was around 700GB of the agency’s work: recent client photo and video shoots, drone footage and wedding films. There was no backup.
For a creative business, that is about as serious as data loss gets. A client shoot could be rebooked, at a cost in time, money and goodwill. Drone footage depends on the weather, location and permissions all lining up again. A wedding can never be filmed twice.
To make it harder, the drive was encrypted with BitLocker. I’m pleased to say every single file came back. Here is what happened, in plain English, and what you can learn from it.
In this article
The problem: missing partitions on an encrypted drive
A partition is like the chapter list at the front of a book. It tells the computer where each section of the drive starts and ends. When that list goes missing, the data is usually still there — the computer just has no idea how to find it.
On a normal drive, missing partitions are often fixable. BitLocker adds another layer. Everything on the drive is scrambled, so recovery software that hunts for photos and videos by recognising their contents finds nothing but noise. You have to find the encrypted volume first, unlock it, and only then can you get at the files.
Many people don’t know their drive is encrypted at all. On a lot of Windows 11 laptops, including Home editions, BitLocker (sometimes called “Device Encryption”) is switched on automatically. It is tied to a security chip in the laptop called the TPM, which unlocks the drive silently every time you start up — so you never see a password prompt until something goes wrong.
Partitions can vanish for several reasons — a Windows update or reset that goes wrong, a sudden power cut, the drive being connected to another computer, or someone clicking the wrong option in a disk tool. Whatever the cause, the most important thing is what happens next.
Signs your BitLocker drive needs data recovery
- The drive shows as unallocated space in Disk Management, or has no drive letter.
- Windows says the drive is RAW or asks you to format it.
- Your PC asks for the BitLocker recovery key and you can’t find it, or the key isn’t accepted.
- The drive isn’t detected at all, or is very slow and freezes — this usually points to a hardware fault.
How the BitLocker data recovery was done
- Stopped anything writing to the drive. Every write to a drive with missing partitions risks overwriting the very data you want back. The SSD was only ever connected to my recovery setup, never booted.
- Worked from a copy. Before attempting any repair, I worked so that the original drive stayed untouched. If one approach failed, nothing was lost.
- Located the BitLocker volume. Even with the partition table gone, an encrypted BitLocker volume leaves recognisable markers on the disk. Finding where it started and how big it was is the key step.
- Unlocked it with the recovery key. This is the part people need to understand: without the BitLocker recovery key or password, nobody can recover the data — not me, not anyone. With it, the volume could be opened and read normally.
- Copied everything off and checked it. All 700GB of videos and pictures were copied to a new drive, with the original folder names and structure intact, and spot-checked to make sure files opened properly.
Copying 700GB makes an SSD work hard for hours, and SSDs slow themselves down if their controller chip gets too hot. I kept an eye on the drive with a thermal camera throughout. The controller topped out at 51°C, comfortably within safe limits, so the copy ran at full speed without stressing the drive.
The agency got back every file, in the same folders as before. Every client shoot, every drone clip and every wedding film was there and played properly.
Why this one had a happy ending
Three things made this a full recovery rather than a partial one:
- The agency stopped using the drive as soon as the problem appeared. No “let’s try reinstalling Windows” or running free tools from the internet.
- The BitLocker recovery key was available. On many laptops BitLocker is switched on automatically, and the key is saved to the owner’s Microsoft account — a lot of people and small businesses don’t realise their drive is encrypted until something goes wrong.
- The SSD itself was physically healthy. The problem was the partition information, not the hardware.
What you can do to protect yourself
- Find your BitLocker recovery key now, while everything is working. If you sign in to Windows with a Microsoft account, it is usually stored at account.microsoft.com/devices/recoverykey. Print it or write it down and keep it somewhere safe.
- Back up your work, especially client work. Photographers, videographers and agencies work with huge files on fast SSDs, and it is easy to put off backing up until a project is finished. Keep one copy on an external drive or NAS and one off-site or in the cloud. If you want help setting that up, see our data backup setup service.
- If a drive suddenly looks empty, stop. Don’t format it, don’t let Windows “fix” it, and don’t install recovery software onto it. Switch off and get advice.
BitLocker data recovery: common questions
Can you recover data from a BitLocker drive without the recovery key?
No. BitLocker uses strong encryption, and without the recovery key or password the data cannot be read — by me or by anyone else. Be wary of anyone who claims otherwise. Before any BitLocker data recovery, the first job is to track down the key.
Where can I find my BitLocker recovery key?
The recovery key is a 48-digit number. If you sign in to Windows with a Microsoft account, it is usually saved at account.microsoft.com/devices/recoverykey. It may also have been printed, saved to a file or saved to a USB stick when BitLocker was turned on. On a work computer, your IT administrator may be able to find it in Microsoft Entra ID (formerly Azure AD), Active Directory or Intune.
Do missing partitions mean my SSD has failed?
Not necessarily. In this case the SSD itself was healthy — only the information describing its partitions had been lost. A failed SSD controller is a different and harder problem. A free assessment will tell you which one you are dealing with.
Why is my laptop suddenly asking for a BitLocker recovery key?
BitLocker asks for the key when it notices something has changed — commonly after a BIOS or firmware update, a motherboard repair, or a change to the TPM security settings. In most cases your data is fine. Enter the 48-digit key from your Microsoft account and the laptop will start normally.
My drive shows as RAW or Windows wants to format it. What should I do?
Don’t format it. A RAW or unreadable BitLocker drive is often the same kind of problem as missing partitions: the data is still there, but Windows can’t make sense of it. Formatting or running repair tools can overwrite exactly what needs to be recovered. Switch off and get advice first.
How much does BitLocker data recovery cost?
It depends on whether the fault is logical, like missing partitions, or physical. The assessment is free, you get a fixed written quote before any work starts, and No Data, No Fee applies. See our data recovery prices for typical costs.
Need BitLocker data recovery or lost files on an SSD?
I’ve been recovering data since 2000, from SSDs, hard drives, USB sticks and memory cards. The assessment is free, you get a fixed written quote before any work starts, and if I can’t recover your files you don’t pay for the recovery — No Data, No Fee.
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