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Q&A for How to Recover Data from the Hard Drive of a Dead Laptop

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How can I recover my external hard drive data?

wikiHow Staff Editor
Staff Answer
This answer was written by one of our trained team of researchers who validated it for accuracy and comprehensiveness.

wikiHow Staff Editor

Staff Answer

You can try using recovery software (follow the prompts of the particular software). Other options can include trying to recover the data yourself; see How to Recover a Dead Hard Disk or seeking help from a reputable data recovery service.

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Question

How can I recover my hard drive?

wikiHow Staff Editor
Staff Answer
This answer was written by one of our trained team of researchers who validated it for accuracy and comprehensiveness.

wikiHow Staff Editor

Staff Answer

First, try to diagnose the problem so that you can apply the correct solution. You can find help with diagnosing the issue and trying to recover data here: How to Recover a Dead Hard Disk. For a laptop, see the instructions in the steps above.

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How do I recover data from a crashed hard drive?

wikiHow Staff Editor
Staff Answer
This answer was written by one of our trained team of researchers who validated it for accuracy and comprehensiveness.

wikiHow Staff Editor

Staff Answer

First up, don’t panic; it may be fixable! For general instructions on recovering data, see How to Deal with Potential Data Loss from a Hard Drive Crash. For a physically broken hard drive, see How to Fix a Physically Broken Hard Drive. For a dead laptop, see the steps above. There are also various recovery software options, the instructions for which depend on the software (check the manual). Lastly, you can avail yourself of professional recovery services if you cannot work it out for yourself (usually expensive).

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Question

Can data be recovered from a dead external hard drive?

wikiHow Staff Editor
Staff Answer
This answer was written by one of our trained team of researchers who validated it for accuracy and comprehensiveness.

wikiHow Staff Editor

Staff Answer

Data may be recoverable from a dead external hard drive and the sooner you try recovering the data, the better your chances of getting it back. If you’re feeling confident, you might be able to try recovering the data yourself; see How to Recover a Dead Hard Disk. Once the hard drive is making clicking noises though, your recovery chances are considerably reduced and professional help may be all that’s left. Be aware that data recovery services are not cheap; in future, do more than one backup of your data or you really don’t have backup!

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What do I do if the data on my HDD (USB to HDD) on Windows 8 looks completely blank? How do I access it?

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The files could just be hidden. Try showing hidden files. If that does not work, use a data-recovery program.

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How do I access data that's been stored on an external hard drive?

DANIEL GACHARA

Community Answer

Professional external hard drive data recovery software will be required to restore the data from an external hard drive.

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What if it's from a laptop that had a Windows login password on it?

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You will still have to log in to Windows with the password as you would if the laptop was still running.

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I can't get the hard drive out of my old laptop. The last screw is stripped and it will not come out. What can I do?

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If it's an old laptop, just break the screw or surrounding chassis.

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What do I do if downloading a program caused my Windows 7 computer screen to turn black and I can't restart it to retrieve old data?

Community Answer

First, get the data off the drive using the above techniques. Then reinstall Windows.

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