Guidance on how to recover my data safely?

[marshy2]

So I just finished a 20 hour backup and wipe of my C: Drive to fix contant BSOD and Hard Drive repair errors I was getting for months now. Since 4/10 whenever I would Shut Down or Restart my PC I would be given these errors. Just finished reinstalling Windows so now I’m at a clean slate. Gave the PC a couple tests 5 restarts & 5 Shut Downs and Ons, and it looks like this solved my issues. Now that it seems like it’s not a bad HDD (I even checked in CrystalDiskInfo beforehand and everything looked good) how should I go about recovering my data to make sure I don’t repeat whatever was breaking my computer in the first place?

I will be honest aside from Documents txts., pictures, videos, music, I do have some questionable folders from that C: Drive in certain places. I have certain emulators, some like TeknoParrot where I’ve even had to place games in the C: Drive directory itself for them to work however with those types of programs it’s kind of run by a “we all just trust this isn’t messing with my computer” type of thing.

So honestly just any tips on how to breakdown what was causing the problems in my backup would be most appreciated.

[Bruce]

a good practice would now be to install one thing at a time, and also restore one folder at a time for good measure.
if your original issues were software or data caused, while reloading or restoring may bring back the issue, at least you’ll know what to blame.

[Bruce]

@marshy2 - any updates?

[Rustys]

Closed following instructions on other forums.