How to Recover Data from a Hard Drive

The hard drive on your computer has one of the shortest life expectancies out of your PC’s components, and at some point, it will inevitably fail you.

It is inevitable, and always seems to happen at the worst possible time – When your data isn’t backed up! So what can you do now? How to recover data from a hard drive? Is it still possible?

This will depend on exactly what it is that happened to your hard drive, however in most cases it is possible to recover at least some of your lost data.

This is the simplest method of recovering lost data, yet it won’t always work. So, how to recover data from a hard drive using an external case? Remove the damaged hard drive from your PC and then insert it carefully into the external hard drive case, then plug it into another PC and see if you can open the drive. If you’re lucky, you will be able to navigate through the damaged hard drive and open your old documents up, and you’ll be able to copy them onto another hard drive.

If the above solution doesn’t work, or seems a little too complex, then you could try using some data recovery software. There are many different free data recovery programs that you can download that will show you how to recover data from a hard drive, or there are some that you can buy, and if you’re lucky you may actually have some success with it.

One of the most reliable data recovery programs is Data Disc Recovery, which is simple to use and more importantly, totally free. It can recover data from crashed drives, while it can also retrieve any deleted files you want to save.

For this method, you’ll need to use another computer and download a program called Linux Live CD, and burn it onto a blank CD. There are different types of programs, though the best ones are Puppy Linux and Damn Small Linux.

Once you have burned the disc, insert it into your damaged computer, and then restart it. When the computer begins to boot, press F2 so you enter BIOS. Set the boot sequence to CD, then save this setting and exit. The Live CD should start, and all you have to do now is follow the on screen instructions on how to recover data from a hard drive. Once the OS starts, you should be able to see your hard drive on the desktop; it should appear as something like “80GB”, etc. Now all you need to do is hook up an external drive to the computer and copy and paste your files to this new drive.

You may find this method somewhat surprising, but it’s possible to freeze your hard drive and recover your data. The idea behind this is that by freezing the hard drive, some of the loose parts in it will constrict, making the drive work again for a short time.

But how to recover data from a hard drive by freezing it exactly? It’s quite simple, but you’’ll need to work fast! First, place the damaged hard drive into a sealable bag and freeze it overnight, then in the morning take it out and place it straight into an external hard drive case, plug it in and see if you can transfer the data to a new hard drive before it defrosts and crashes again.

I hope this article on “How to Recover Data from a Hard Drive” has been beneficial to you and that the various methods above might help you to recover that precious data to your computer! Whether using an External case, Data Recovery Software, a Live CD or even Freezing a Hard Drive, there are various methods to prevent the loss of valuable Data!

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Posted in: Drive,Recover