Many people use BitLocker to secure their data and ensure nobody can access their device without permission. Security has become critical in this digital age as many people store business and personal data. In other words, if this data falls into unwanted hands, it could lead to various problems.
However, even though BitLocker is a highly secure encryption system, our storage drives aren’t foolproof. People often lose their data because of errors, corruption, power outages, or simply because they delete it accidentally. Here is where EaseUS, Bitlocker recovery software, comes to the rescue.
Check out how to use EaseUS to recover data from a BitLocker-encrypted drive and discover better alternatives.
In this article
Why do you need BitLocker Encryption?
BitLocker encryption is a Windows security feature that integrates with your OS. It aims to keep your data safe while encrypting entire volumes. It helps users avoid data leaks or theft. Only the device owner has the code for decrypting the drive.
BitLocker is the most effective when you use it with the Trusted Platform Module (TPM). TPM is a hardware element on most newer devices. It works with BitLocker to ensure nobody accesses your PC while you’re away.
BitLocker-encrypted drives have multiple unlock methods. Still, the most popular is the recovery key, a 48-digit password to access the device if BitLocker can’t authorize an access attempt.
What if You Can’t Find Your Recovery Key
You can always use the recovery key as a safety net if you cannot access your encrypted drive. However, users often lose their recovery keys because they don’t write them down (remembering them is tricky). In other words, BitLocker locks them out of their drives, preventing them from using their data.
If you haven’t used the computer for some time and lost the recovery key, restoring it in several ways is possible. You can do that by:
- Running BitLocker as an administrator
- Accessing your Microsoft Account and checking the password
- Searching for the previously saved key on a USB drive
- Looking for the recovery key on a printout you made
- Running BitLocker recovery
You can find your recovery key by following these methods. However, after that, what if you lose your vital data in some scenarios, such as accidental deletion, formatting, drive corruption, virus/malware, hardware issues, or disk errors? EaseUS can come to your rescue.
What Is EaseUS, and How Can It Help?
EaseUS is free data recovery software that can help recover documents, videos, photos, and other files from BitLocker devices. This is powerful software that can access the files within BitLocker containers and restore them successfully.
It’s a really effective tool for restoring data from encrypted drives, but you will need to be able to unlock the container before recovering the data. In other words, you will need the recovery key. EaseUS also has a feature that automatically decrypts encrypted drives, but it has low success rates with BitLocker encrypted drives.
🔍 Technical Overview: BitLocker Data Recovery Performance Matrix
When recovering data from an encrypted storage drive, the software engine must safely read the unlinked sectors through an unlocked cryptographic layer. The following matrix compares how the top three recovery tools handle data extraction, scanning speeds, and complex file system errors:
| Performance Metric | EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard | Wondershare Recoverit Pro | MiniTool Power Data Recovery |
| Pass-Through Decryption | Requires manual password/key input before sector scanning. | Direct prompt for 48-digit key; unlocks raw sector streams easily. | Requires the drive to be unlocked via Windows Explorer first. |
| Scanning Engine Speed | Moderate; can slow down when parsing large encrypted sectors. | High-speed; optimized sector reading for fast scanning. | Moderate; scan times increase on degraded or old hard drives. |
| RAW Volume Extraction | Basic file extraction if the partition table is readable. | Advanced raw file carving; bypasses corrupted partition maps. | Limited file reconstruction on severely corrupted volumes. |
| Free Recovery Limit | Up to 2 GB (with social sharing option active). | 100 MB free data allocation for file verification. | Up to 1 GB of data recovery included in the free tier. |
| Fragmented Video Stitching | Standard file matching; may recover broken video files. | Advanced patented technology; pieces fragmented files back together. | Basic signature mapping; struggles with large video files. |
🛠️ Step-by-Step Manual: Recovering Files from Encrypted Drives Using EaseUS
EaseUS handles encrypted storage by attempting to mount the drive partition inside its interface. While it includes an option labeled "Try Automatically Decrypt," this tool relies on saved Windows registry keys and will fail if the drive was encrypted on another computer or if system logs are cleared. For reliable results, always keep your 48-digit recovery key ready.
- Target the BitLocker Drive Volume
Open the EaseUS software interface. Look under the Devices and Drives dashboard tab, locate your locked BitLocker volume (marked with a lock icon), and click the Scan button.
- Provide the Encryption Key Credentials
A popup window will ask for authentication. Enter your original password or paste your 48-digit BitLocker recovery key. Click OK to unlock the drive and allow the tool to scan the unallocated space.
- Filter Discovered Items and Run File Export
Browse through the files found during the scan using the type filter sidebar. Check the boxes next to the photos, documents, or videos you want to keep, and click Recover to save them to a completely separate external drive.
Alternative 1. Wondershare Recoverit Pro Implementation
Wondershare Recoverit is a free data recovery tool that has been on the market since 2003, but Wondershare has perfected it over the years. The company has over 35 data recovery patents, and its tool excels at recovering over 1,000 file formats from any storage media, including BitLocker encrypted drives.
Recoverit offers the best results when it comes to recovering BitLocker encrypted drives, but you will still have to retrieve your BitLocker key to go past the encryption. If your BitLocker encrypted hard drive was affected by corruption, system crash, virus attack, or unintended formatting, you can rely on Wondershare Recoverit to get your data back.
Pros & Cons
How to Recover Data From a BitLocker Encrypted Drive With Wondershare Recoverit
Wondershare Recoverit is highly recommended for complex data loss situations, such as corrupted BitLocker metadata headers or unreadable "RAW" partitions. Its advanced signature carving engine reads the raw sector data passing through the decrypted layer, which helps it reconstruct fragmented media files that other tools often miss.
Download and install Wondershare Recoverit and follow these steps:
- Launch the Software and Choose the Locked Volume
Open Wondershare Recoverit on your computer. On the primary dashboard screen, find the Hard Drives and Locations section and click on your locked BitLocker drive partition.
- Authenticate to Access the Storage Sectors
When the software asks for your security credentials, enter your password or paste your 48-digit recovery key. This allows the scanner to safely bypass the encryption layer and search the underlying data storage blocks.
- Preview File Integrity and Extract Your Data Safely
As the scan runs, you can click on files to view them in the interactive preview window. This lets you confirm that your photos or videos are intact before restoring them. Select your files, click Recover, and choose a safe folder destination on your local computer drive to save them.
Alternative 2. MiniTool Power Data Recovery Routine
MiniTool advertises itself as the simplest tool for recovering data from a BitLocker encrypted drive. In spite of its simplicity, it does a really great job at scanning BitLocker encrypted files and discovering data.
It supports a solid number of file formats and storage media. Sometimes, users can encounter issues like the program not recognizing the connected recovery device, but this is easily solvable by simply plugging your drive out and back in again.
MiniTool Power Data Recovery also has a preview option like Wondershare Recoverit, but you can’t preview all file types. For example, if you’re recovering RAW photos, you won’t be able to preview them.
That is the most straightforward option regarding functionality, and if you’re looking for something essential, it might work well for a specific time.
Pros & Cons
How to Recover Data From a BitLocker Encrypted Drive With MiniTool Power Data Recovery
MiniTool provides a straightforward data recovery experience for users who prefer a simpler interface. Note that MiniTool cannot unlock a BitLocker drive on its own; the drive partition must be unlocked via Windows Explorer before MiniTool can scan its files.
- Launch the Software and Choose the Locked Volume
Open Wondershare Recoverit on your computer. On the primary dashboard screen, find the Hard Drives and Locations section and click on your locked BitLocker drive partition.
- Authenticate to Access the Storage Sectors
When the software asks for your security credentials, enter your password or paste your 48-digit recovery key. This allows the scanner to safely bypass the encryption layer and search the underlying data storage blocks.
- Preview File Integrity and Extract Your Data Safely
As the scan runs, you can click on files to view them in the interactive preview window. This lets you confirm that your photos or videos are intact before restoring them. Select your files, click Recover, and choose a safe folder destination on your local computer drive to save them.
Conclusion
Recovering data from an encrypted drive using EaseUS is possible if you have the encryption key. Data recovery might sound complicated, but it isn’t with this tool and its alternatives. Take the time to learn about the three options and select the one you think is best for you.
There are no steps other than those we’ve shared here, so follow them carefully, and you’ll retrieve your valuable data in no time. Good luck!
FAQs
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What should I do if Windows says my BitLocker recovery key is correct but still won't unlock the drive?
This problem usually means that the drive's Volume Boot Record (VBR) or its primary encryption metadata blocks have suffered severe file system corruption. Even though your key is correct, the operating system can no longer read the drive's structure. To fix this, you can use the built-in Windows command-line utility called `repair-bld`. Open Command Prompt as an administrator and run the command: `repair-bld C: Z: -rp 48-Digit-Recovery-Key` (replace `C:` with your locked drive and `Z:` with an empty external hard drive). This tool will scan the remaining metadata blocks and copy the decrypted files onto your external drive. -
Can I recover data if a BitLocker drive encryption process was interrupted by a power failure?
An interrupted encryption process is one of the most difficult data recovery scenarios because the drive is left in a hybrid state—part of the data blocks are encrypted while the rest remain in plain text. If the encryption engine's metadata pointers are damaged during a power outage, standard operating systems will see the partition as unreadable or RAW. In this situation, avoid trying to run formatting tools to fix the drive. Instead, launch Wondershare Recoverit, select the unreadable drive partition, enter your recovery key, and use its deep raw scan engine to find and extract any readable file signatures. -
Why do some external hard drives show up as an unformatted 'RAW' file system after enabling BitLocker?
This error often happens if an external USB drive is disconnected from your computer while BitLocker is actively updating its file allocation tables or security descriptors. This sudden disconnection breaks the drive's partition mapping, which causes Windows to read it as an unformatted 'RAW' space. If you see a prompt asking you to format the drive, click Cancel. Let Wondershare Recoverit or EaseUS communicate with the drive directly, enter your 48-digit key to handle the encryption layer, and safely extract your files before running any partition repair utilities. -
Can data recovery software extract files from a drive that uses BitLocker hardware-based encryption?
Yes, but the recovery process depends on the health of the drive's physical controller chip. Hardware-based BitLocker encryption offloads all cryptographic processing directly onto the storage drive's controller (often found in self-encrypting SSDs) rather than using your computer's CPU. If the drive stops working due to an operating system crash or a corrupted file system, software like Wondershare Recoverit can recover your data as long as you provide the 48-digit recovery key. However, if the drive's physical controller chip burns out or suffers electrical damage, software utilities will not be able to communicate with the drive, and you will need to send the card to a specialized cleanroom hardware recovery service.
