When your computer won’t turn on or your hard drive won’t spin up, there’s a horrible sinking feeling that comes moments afterwards. It’s easy to think about all the lost data you may not be able to access again, whether it’s work, photographs, or media.
Before you panic, it’s worth figuring out exactly what the problem is. Often, your data remains on the device, it just can’t be accessed through the normal methods. Here’s how to recover data when your device stops working.
Work out what’s wrong
Not every device breaks in the same way, and how it happened is important to inform the best method to recover data. Usually, you’re looking at one of a few different situations:
- The PC boots but won’t load. This could be a software or file system issue, or it could be the drive failing.
- Nothing happens at all when you power it on. This could be the motherboard, power supply, or RAM.
- A hard disk drive makes a clicking, grinding, or whirring noise. This is mechanical failure on a spinning disk drive. Stop trying to power it on to limit damage.
- A solid state drive disconnects, turns read-only, or gets suddenly slower. This can be a sign of SSD failure. Stop trying to power it on to limit the risk of data loss.
- The device has been dropped, crushed, or submerged. This problem will result in physical damage, and the severity depends on what happened.
The first two issues are fairly DIY-friendly, but the latter three may require outside help. In particular, mechanical failure on a hard drive requires professional assistance to minimise damage.
If it’s a boot or software problem
If your computer powers on but won’t load the operating system, check the BIOS or UEFI first to see if the drive is detected normally. If it shows up, the drive is probably undamaged and you’re dealing with a software fault.
The simplest fix is to pull the drive from the machine and connect it to another using a USB enclosure or SATA to USB adapter, turning it into an external drive you can browse normally.
Another option is to use a USB recovery tool. Keeping one of these handy can save a lot of hassle when your computer isn’t working. It’s free to download, and if you’ve got a spare USB drive lying around, this is a great way to use it.
Creating a recovery drive
From Start, search for Recovery Drive and open it. Select Back up system files to the recovery drive and select Next. Connect a spare USB drive to your PC, making sure nothing important is on it, then select it and click Next. Then, click Create. Microsoft’s instructions are available here.
Apple macOS has a built-in recovery system called macOS Recovery. Creating a USB recovery drive is possible, but involves a Terminal command that many users may not feel confident using. Apple’s instructions are available here.
To recover data once you have access
TestDisk and PhotoRec are free and open source options to recover lost partitions or recover files even with corrupt drives. They’re command-line tools that can be daunting at first, but they offer clear instructions on how to use them.
Recuva is another straightforward option if you’ve just deleted something you shouldn’t have by accident. It’s a freemium type of software, so be aware that it may try to install other programs along with it.
If neither of these tools gets the job done, paid options like Disk Drill and EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard are often recommended for their ease of use and broader file type support. They usually provide a free scan so you can see what’s recoverable, but charge a fee to actually recover data.
If the drive itself has failed
The signs of drive failure differ depending on whether it’s a hard drive or an SSD.
Hard drives fail mechanically. Their spinning platters and read heads can make physical contact and cause damage, or parts simply wear out over time. Noises like clicking, grinding, or repeated spin-up and spin-down are signs of mechanical failure. Every minute spent powered on increases the risk of additional damage and data loss.
SSDs fail electronically, and that can mean failure is difficult to spot until it’s too late. Problems like the drive disappearing from BIOS or disconnecting while in use, the file system flipping to read-only, or dramatic drops in read/write speed are signs of SSD failure. Files that fail to open or become corrupt can also be a sign.
For both types, if they are still readable, cloning their contents to a healthy drive before attempting recovery can reduce the risk of making things worse and assist professionals to recover data.
When to call a professional data recovery service
Physical damage, noisy mechanical drives, and water or impact means it’s time to get a repair quote from a professional rather than continue experimenting and risking total loss of data.
For a hard drive, servicing like this demands a cleanroom environment where technicians can physically open a drive and attempt recovery without risking dust damage to the platter.
Pricing varies by provider and by what’s actually wrong with the drive, but ballpark figures from providers in major cities across Australia are broadly similar.
- Logical recovery: between $150 to $600. This is where the drive runs, but the files are inaccessible for some reason.
- Physical HDD recovery: between $800 to $2000. This is when a hard drive has mechanical failure and requires a cleanroom.
- SSD recovery: $300 to $800 when the controller is still working, but chip-off recovery can run $1400 to $3000 since desoldering and reading chips invidually is very specialised work.
- RAID/NAS reconstruction: $1500 to $5000, scaling upwards with the number of drives.
It’s worth noting that the higher prices are for complex recovery, and most typical cases are more likely to land on the lower end of estimates. Most reputable services offer a free assessment before delivering a quote, and many also work on a no data, no fee basis.
Get a quote before committing to the repair, and be wary of shops that offer a fixed price without seeing the drive first.
Prevention is better than having to recover data
The cheapest fix for data recovery is never needing to deal with it in the first place. A solid backup routine, whether that’s a NAS system, cloud sync, or even just a cold storage external drive you copy things to from time to time, turns a dead device from a crisis into a simple inconvenience.
The time and money you spend now on ensuring you’ve got backups of your most important documents, photos, and other media is saved on the other end if and when your drive fails.
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