Lenovo Legion laptops are known for high performance and reliability, making them popular for business and gaming users. However, if a laptop’s hard drive appears in BIOS but not in Windows, it usually indicates logical corruption, preventing the operating system from reading stored data.
This case study details how we successfully recovered business-critical data from a Lenovo Legion laptop hard drive that was no longer accessible in Windows. The affected device belonged to a local bakery, containing inventory records, financial data, and customer orders.
As Ireland’s oldest and most experienced data recovery company, we applied file system reconstruction and data extraction techniques to restore the lost business files.
The Challenge: Hard Drive Detected in BIOS but Not in Windows
A local bakery owner contacted us after their Lenovo Legion laptop stopped recognizing their hard drive in Windows. The symptoms included:
- BIOS detecting the hard drive, but Windows failing to recognize it.
- The laptop displaying a “No Bootable Device” error when attempting to start.
- The drive not appearing in Windows Disk Management, making recovery software ineffective.
- Critical business files, including inventory records and financial transactions, were trapped on the drive.
Since the bakery relied on this data for daily operations, an immediate and professional recovery solution was required.
Diagnosis & Evaluation
When the Lenovo Legion laptop hard drive arrived at our cleanroom facility, we performed a full hardware and software diagnostic. Our findings:
- Logical file system corruption – The partition table was damaged, preventing Windows from reading the disk.
- Corrupt NTFS/FAT32 metadata – The master file table (MFT) was unreadable, making files invisible to the OS.
- No physical damage – The drive was mechanically sound, meaning full data recovery was highly likely.
Since the data was still present but logically inaccessible, we focused on non-destructive recovery techniques to reconstruct the lost files.
The Recovery Process
1. Cloning the Drive to Prevent Further Data Corruption
To ensure a safe recovery, we:
- Created a sector-by-sector clone of the drive, preventing further degradation.
- Used write-blocking tools to avoid accidental overwrites.
2. Rebuilding the Corrupt Partition Table & File System
Since Windows could not detect the drive, we:
- Manually reconstructed the partition table, restoring lost file structure.
- Rebuilt the NTFS file system, allowing Windows to recognize files.
- Extracted fragmented and missing data from the recovered partitions.
3. Verifying & Restoring Bakery Business Files
Once data extraction was complete, we:
- Checked all recovered files for integrity.
- Restored sales reports, customer records, and inventory databases.
- Transferred the recovered data to a new secure SSD for the bakery owner.
The Results: 100% Data Recovery Success
Thanks to our file system reconstruction techniques, we successfully recovered 100% of the bakery’s business data, including:
✅ Point-of-sale transaction records and financial reports
✅ Inventory and supplier details
✅ Employee payroll and scheduling files
The bakery was able to resume operations seamlessly, avoiding financial loss and customer service disruptions.
Why Choose Us?
With 25 years of experience and tens of thousands of successful recoveries, we are the leading laptop hard drive recovery specialists in Ireland and the UK. Our expertise includes:
✔ Logical corruption recovery (BIOS detects but Windows doesn’t)
✔ Partition table repair and NTFS/FAT32 restoration
✔ Hard drive imaging and bad sector recovery
✔ Secure & confidential business data retrieval
If your hard drive appears in BIOS but not in Windows, or your system is showing missing partitions, stop further attempts and contact us immediately for expert data recovery.