Do you know when your computer crashed, how to recover files from dead disk? If you’re trapped in this problem, then this post is your files saver.
“I’m trying to retrieve some lost images. But my laptop experienced a crash or some sort of issue that required me to perform a "System recovery" or "System Restore." Before the crash, I had a collection of pictures stored either on my Desktop or in the Pictures directory. Following the laptop's usage, it ultimately failed, but the hard drive remains functional. Now, my objective is to locate those missing pictures, hoping that the data hasn't been overwritten. Here are my inquiries: Is it feasible for me to determine the date when the crash occurred? And if so, how can I do that?”
Nowadays, computers play a crucial role in our lives. They store important documents, cherished memories, and valuable data. However, computers occasionally crash leaving us in a state of panic. When a computer crashes, there is a risk of losing all the files and information stored on it.
Like the user in the above scenario, all he wants is to retrieve some pictures, but this is not an easy job on a crashed PC.
To offer better help for you to recover lost files, in this post, we’ll first inform you of some details of PC crash, and then, list some methods of data recovery for you.
Every data loss situation is distinct. However, when attempting to retrieve files from a computer that has crashed, it is crucial to have a general understanding of the cause of the data loss. Specifically, crashes leading to data loss can be classified into three primary categories.
▶ Windows OS crash
It is inevitable that at some point your operating system will experience a crash, particularly with newer OS versions like Windows 11, since it's still unstable. However, the likelihood of crashes decreases as Microsoft releases updates that optimize the OS. Additionally, computer malware can also trigger OS crashes and, in severe cases, result in data loss.
When an OS crashes, it signifies a failure in the software and can potentially lead to software corruption. According to a study conducted by Dell and MozyEnterprise, software corruption ranks as the third most common cause of data loss.
Fortunately, in most instances, recovering files from a crashed Windows OS is not a complicated process. If your computer successfully boots up after the crash, professional data recovery applications can be utilized to retrieve the lost data.
▶ Computer crash
When your computer experiences a crash or hardware failure, it means that one or more physical components have malfunctioned, resulting in the loss of data directly or indirectly. For example, if your laptop's battery fails while you're in the middle of working on or saving files, it can lead to an unexpected shutdown and data loss.
Hardware or system failure is the top cause of data loss in the workplace, as reported by 31% of IT professionals. Similar trends can be observed among average computer users. While it's crucial to take preventive measures against data loss, unforeseen hardware failures can still occur.
Thus, the initial step is to check the functionality of the hard drive. You can detach the hard drive and connect it to another computer to assess its condition.
▶ Hard disk crash
When it comes to hard drive issues, it is important to distinguish failed or crashed hard drives from other hardware failures, as the chances of data loss are significantly higher with direct hard drive crashes. Fortunately, modern hard drives are quite resilient, with a 2020 Backblaze study reporting an average HDD failure rate of 0.93%.
Hard drive crashes can result from physical component failures or software-related problems like logical errors or firmware corruption. In many cases, it is possible to resolve a corrupted hard drive at home, but it is crucial to use reliable hard drive repair software for such attempts.
Since there are different crashes on Windows computers, the solutions also need to be classified under various cases. So, in this part, we’ll separately list the methods of data recovery when users can access the system and vice versa. You can check all situations and choose some suitable ways to have a try.
In some cases, although the crashes have happened on Windows computer, users can also enter the system in some ways and save their data from emergencies. Therefore, in this section, you’ll learn how to recover data after entering the system.
Method 1. Copy files from hard disk on another running PC
The first option to protect the data is to copy out the data on the disk from the target computer.
Step 1. Open the case or the cover of your laptop with screwdrivers. If you've never opened yours before and are having difficulty, examine your computer's handbook or try searching online for information unique to your model.
Step 2. Take the disk out, then plug it into another Windows PC.
Step 3. Now you need to boot that computer, if the plugged disk is a system disk, you need to boot that PC into BIOS and choose the boot disk to enter that PC.
Step 4. Once you enter, please check whether the plugged disk is recognized on that computer or not, if all is fine, you can start to copy crucial data files to another location.
Method 2. Boot crashed PC from Safe Mode
Restart your computer and repeatedly press the F8 key before the Windows logo appears. This will bring up the Advanced Boot Options menu, where you can select "Safe Mode" or "Safe Mode with Networking" to enter the system.
Now, once you’re in Windows, you can employ some built-in tools to try to recover lost data.
★ Tool 1. Recover lost files with Windows File Recovery
Windows File Recovery is a no-cost software that allows you to retrieve deleted files from the Recycle Bin, even if it has been emptied. This software is compatible with Windows 10 from the year 2014 onwards. There are regular mode and extensive mode for different cases, since we need to recover files from crashed PC, we could only use the extensive mode.
Step 1. Go to Microsoft Store to Get Windows File Recovery.
Step 2. Run Windows File Recovery as administrator, then input the command line based on syntax.
winfr source-drive: destination-drive: [/mode] [/switches]
Here, we list syntaxes for you.
For example, if you need to recover picture files from a folder under C: drive to E drive, you need to input commands like:
Winfr C: E: /extensive /n \Users\\Pictures\*.JPEG /n\Users\\Pictures\*.PNG
Step 3. Wait for the recovery to complete. Then a folder named "Recovery_(date and time)" will be generated automatically in the destination.
★ Tool 2. Retrieve lost files from File History
If you have made a backup of your deleted files using file history, you can effortlessly recover them in Windows 10 or 11. However, if you haven't created a backup, no files will be retrievable.
Step 1. Go to Control Panel > System and Security and click File History.
Step 2. Select Restore personal files. It will open file history recovery window. Or you can select drive to find the target files.
Step 3. Click the left arrow to locate your files, and click the Restore to original location icon to restore files.
★ Tool 3. Restore from Windows backup and restore
Step 1. Press “Windows” to start, then click “Control Panel” > “System and Security” and “Backup and Restore (Windows 7).”
Step 2. Click “Restore my files”. If you haven’t made backups yet, you cannot restore files using this app.
Step 3. Select the Browse for files/Browse for folders option to locate your wanted data.
Step 4. You can store your retrieved folders in your destination path or keep them in the original location.
If you can’t access the system, you’ll have to try direct data recovery.
★ Tool 1. Recover all lost files via data recovery expert
In this spot, the first tool we suggest is a professional data recovery tool. This kind of tool simplifies the steps and can recover files at maximum. For users who are not familiar with command lines, a third-party data recovery tool is the best option.
Here, we recommend AOMEI Partition Assistant Professional. This tool can help users create a bootable repair USB on another PC, then users can use this USB to boot the crashed PC into this tool. And with the “Recover Data” function of this tool, users can easily recover over 200 types of data files back from various drives like HDD/SSD/USB/SD cards in disk formatting, crashes, and virus attack.
First, let’s create a bootable repair USB for crashed PC.
Step 1. Install and run this tool on a well-working PC. Click "Tools"> “Make Bootable Media” and click “Next”.
Step 2. On this page, choose “USB Boot Device” and select your USB drive. Then, click “Proceed”.
Step 3. Click “Yes” to continue. When the process completes, click “Finish”.
Then, you can connect this USB to the target disk, and boot the computer from this USB. After you see the interface of this program, you can try data recovery function.
Step 1. In AOMEI Partition Assistant Professional, click Recover > Recover Data.
Step 2. Select the source drive where the Word document was saved > Start Scanning.
Step 3. When the scan is over, all deleted files, Recycle Bin, and other lost files will be listed. Please select the data you want to recover and click Recover.
Step 4. Please select a path to save recovered documents.
Step 5. The recovery progress will start and data will be saved to the path if it is successful.
★ Tool 2. Run CMD commands to recovery lost files
Before the steps, we need to inform you first, CMD lines can only recover one file at once, and it requires the exact save path of the lost file.
Step 1. In the PC logging-in interface, press “Shift” and click “Restart”, and click “Troubleshoot”.
Step 2. Choose the “Advanced options” and “Command Prompt” options in turn.
Step 3. Type the syntax to recover the lost file: recover [:][] eg.: recover d:\fiction\story.txt
Now you know when computer crashed how to recover files on Windows computer. Hope the methods in this guide can save your files. Besides recovering data files, AOMEI Partition Assistant can also help you scan disk, check disk health, move installed apps… If you confront other problems on your crashed PC, you can try other handy functions in this tool.