My recently purchased Dell XPS8960, only 2 months old, is experiencing boot-up issues. Currently, I can only access it through the command prompt window after the ‘post’ stage. The XPS8960 has a single 2TB PCIe M.2 SSD, recognized as the ‘X’ drive. Upon running the DIR command, folders like Program Files, Program Files (X86), Sources, Users, and Windows are listed. Additionally, there is a file named ‘OfflineRecEnvTrace/etl,’ with the System32 subfolder under Windows containing windows-related files. The Users folder includes a ‘Public’ subfolder with empty directories for documents and photos under the Sources folder.

Before the problem arose, there was a significant amount of personal data stored in a ‘My Documents’ folder on the drive. While some data is backed up on a portable hard drive, the rest is not. I am eager to recover this data, as I suspect its disappearance is linked to the boot-up issue.

Based on my understanding, the X: drive is the SSD responsible for booting up the computer. It seems operational to some extent since I can access the BIOS, troubleshooting, and command prompt. The available free space indicates that a substantial partition of the 2TB drive might not be visible, where my personal data likely remains.

I’ve come across suggestions to remove the drive and attempt data recovery on another PC before reinstalling Windows 11. However, this solution would be inconvenient for me. Is there any way I can explore the current state of the machine to verify if my data is recoverable without resorting to removing the drive?

​My recently purchased Dell XPS8960, only 2 months old, is experiencing boot-up issues. Currently, I can only access it through the command prompt window after the ‘post’ stage. The XPS8960 has a single 2TB PCIe M.2 SSD, recognized as the ‘X’ drive. Upon running the DIR command, folders like Program Files, Program Files (X86), Sources, Users, and Windows are listed. Additionally, there is a file named ‘OfflineRecEnvTrace/etl,’ with the System32 subfolder under Windows containing windows-related files. The Users folder includes a ‘Public’ subfolder with empty directories for documents and photos under the Sources folder. Before the problem arose, there was a significant amount of personal data stored in a ‘My Documents’ folder on the drive. While some data is backed up on a portable hard drive, the rest is not. I am eager to recover this data, as I suspect its disappearance is linked to the boot-up issue. Based on my understanding, the X: drive is the SSD responsible for booting up the computer. It seems operational to some extent since I can access the BIOS, troubleshooting, and command prompt. The available free space indicates that a substantial partition of the 2TB drive might not be visible, where my personal data likely remains. I’ve come across suggestions to remove the drive and attempt data recovery on another PC before reinstalling Windows 11. However, this solution would be inconvenient for me. Is there any way I can explore the current state of the machine to verify if my data is recoverable without resorting to removing the drive?  Read More

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