First: Backups Are Your Best Friend
Let’s get this out of the way early – the easiest way to recover data from a dead computer is to not need to. If you’ve got regular backups, a failed computer is just an inconvenience. You can recover the most recent image backup using another PC or after your machine is repaired. Chances are, it’s a few weeks or months out of date though.
Your most recent files can be easily recovered from a service like Dropbox or OneDrive. Anything saved there is already backed up and ready to access. You don’t even need a computer for that as your phone and tablet can also open the cloud files!
Unfortunately, most people aren’t running regular backups or may have just lost something not yet saved to the cloud. If that’s you, read on.
Step 1: Try Basic Repairs
If the computer still turns on but won’t load the operating system, it will usually allow you to enter recovery mode or run basic repairs. Most of these can troubleshoot and potentially fix simple issues that arise from failed updates, so it’s worth a try.
If automatic repairs didn’t help, you have another option. Boot your computer from a USB drive with another operating system, like Linux. Provided your hard drive isn’t encrypted (and most are!), you should be able to easily access your files.
If this didn’t help or your computer doesn’t even turn on, you’ll have to open it up…
Step 2: Use a USB Drive Enclosure
This is what we typically do when performing repairs. You can disassemble the laptop (look up the instructions for your particular model), remove the SSD or hard drive and use an enclosure to connect it to a working computer.
Older computers typically have 3.5″ or 2.5″ hard drives or SSDs. Newer laptops usually have M.2 SSD sticks.
Depending on what type of drive you have, you’ll need the right enclosure, which will connect it to a USB port on your other computer. Again, the hard drive might be encrypted with Bitlocker, so chances are, you’ll need to unlock it using your Bitlocker key.
Step 3: Drive Isn’t Showing Up?
If the drive appears unformatted, doesn’t show up at all, or makes clicking noises, there may be a hardware fault. In this case, it’s best to stop trying DIY fixes and take it to a data recovery technician. The more you fiddle with a failing drive, the less chance of successful recovery. Our process for doing data recovery is actually quite involved and we’ve been able to recover data from 90% of failed drives brought to us.
Step 4: File Permission Errors
Even if your drive mounts fine, you might hit a message like “You don’t have permission to access this folder”
This usually happens because the drive came from another Windows install. Good news: if you’re logged in as an admin, you can take ownership of the files and change permissions. We’ve seen this heaps of times – it’s annoying, but totally fixable.
The Takeaway
Hard drives don’t last forever – and they love to fail at the worst time. That’s why regular backups are your best insurance. Set them up now, and next time your PC dies, it’ll be a minor headache instead of a full-blown panic attack.
And if you ever need help recovering data or setting up proper backups, you know where to find us.
