How to Recover Data from a Hard Drive that Won't Boot

In this video, we explain why it’s possible to recover files from a hard drive that won't boot, and we provide step-by-step instructions on how to do it.

Timestamps:
Can I Get Files off a Hard Drive That Won't Boot? 00:44
Steps to Recover Data from Hard Drive That Won't Boot 01:18

The first thing you probably going to have to do is remove the hard drive from your computer and then you'll need to buy an external case. You can then insert the hard drive into that, plug it in via USB into a booting computer and if this drive is still readable you can probably view your files from the booting computer. There are instances however when that doesn't work what do you do when you attach this to a bootable computer and it can't read the files.

Fortunately there are applications out there that allow you to recover files from a non booting drive one of those applications is called Disk Drill, it's available for Mac and Windows OS.

I'm going to show you how to use Disk Drill to recover files from a non booting hard drive on Windows 10.
Step 1. Insert your hard drive into the hard drive case and then attache the hard drive case via USB to a laptop running Windows 10.
Step 2. Launch Disk Drill software.
Step 3. Hit search for lost data. Select what recovery method you want to use (by default all the recovery methods will be selected), but you can go for a Quick scan a Deep scan or allocate existing data. Deep Scan is going to take quite some time especially for a large hard drive.
Step 4. Click review found items. And if this is the first time you run Disk Drill you're going to get some hints here you can read it and then click got it. It's going to tell you there's a chance to find more data. So you can click the scan the entire disk. You can filter the results (all files, pictures, video, audio, documents, archives, other).
Step 5. Once you find files you want to recover your going to select them select all of the files you want to recover. Click the recover button.

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[Madeofgabe]

2024 user here. I never believed any thing could be done to retrieve my files until I met this video. Thank you

[dorped]

Thank you for making an actual video explaining how to do this. So many videos are vague and don't actually explain how to do it or point you to spending money on stuff that won''t work or say to hire a professional. I build my own computers I know I can do this too. Thank you so much!

[KaranSharma-lmeh]

Oh Man, you are saviour. I had this Alienware m14x laptop and recently tried to boot, but failed, took it to computer repair professionals and they told me that SATA SSD is damaged and they insisted on replacing it with new one, but the main concern was if the data on it can somehow be recovered. I had a lot of collection from movies, games, photos and that is all Gold for me. I was losing hope until i saw your video which is very much informative and with complete demonstration. I was able to recover much of my old data using this technique. I don't know how to thank you for this :)

[skeetermcg]

Would disk drill find stuff off a storage drive if the computer won't see it? I have a hard drive it's not showing up in the bios disk manager and file explorer

[ucdeb]

Perfect. Actual steps and complete explanation. Thank you!

[ThisIsJonny]

So I have a laptop that now displays the “boot device not found” error and makes a clicking/ticking sound. I tried the legacy booting trick, but that did nothing.

Not 100% sure if the drive is bad, but do you think my files may be recoverable? Trying to decide if I should get a brand new laptop or just a new drive. Current laptop is 8 years old, but it’d cost less if I could fix it.

No matter what, just hope I could get my files back. 🙏🏼

does this work either for hard drive from dead laptop with C and D partition on it? because when I connect hard drive with sata adaptor I see nothing

[zacharysweet]

what if disc drill cant detect my hdd. i can hear it spinning, and running. i tried to plug it in via usb, and through sata directly to my motherboard and still, not detected. is my hdd just fried then and ive lost all my files?

[train]

Dear sir, an absolutely brilliant video..
Very clear concise methodical, analytical.
Very clearly, videoed,superb sound, , very helpfull indeed just subbed, steve from the uk.
Keep up the great work sir.thanku

[IronglovesBoxing]

Can you please tell me what kind of external case I would need for Win10 (I have a desktop), I have no idea what to look for. Thank you in advance for your time! Renene

[MarcWolffMusic]

Very helpful, thank you! Wish I'd known about this sooner.

[piyushmehta]

Hi sir, I have one question my laptop hard disk is not working and not showing on other computers and basically it's dead. So when I will put this in other computers which have disk drill my drive will show or not??

[GollumSmeagol]

Good video. Will Disk Drill work on a secondary internal drive that Windows can't read? My hard drive had some problem and each time I start my computer I have "error" messages before Windows boots.

[nikhilteli]

Sir My Hard Disk isn't spinning. Will the methods mentioned in the video is going to work ?

[umeshkumar-rxtd]

hello sir,
my hard disk is spinning but it is not showing in running pc when i am connecting it. if i buy a external case for using these software. Is there a surety that i will be able to recover data from the disk. please reply

[kabean]

Does this process also work to recover a copy of Windows from a hard drive?

[lickalotlickalot]

Hi, I have 2 hard drives I removed from a bad computer that was used as a server with a Windows Server OS installed. I bought an USB external adapter and plugged in the hard drive and usb into my Windows 10 computer. It was not finding the hard drive at all. The only thing was when I clicked the usb icon next to the computer clock I could see a drive but had zero content. Properties showed nothing. Normally when I plugged in a new external drive my computer would show a new drive letter it was very simple. I thought this hard drive was bad but it was doing the same on both hard drive! Will the program smart enough to detect them? Thanks

[thunderdomer]

That one Nice presentation! Thanks for the info

[himitsugawa]

Excuse for such incompetent question, but can I, for example, launch Disk Drill software from a USB flash storage device? Will I be able to upload all files from damaged HDD on Flash storage device?

Thank you very much for this guide!

[prowannab]

I downloaded it and it won't launch. A message "unhadled domain exception" Then " invalid namespace" followed by a few name paths I suppose. I tried the compatibility and that didn't work, Next in the uninstall menu I ran the repair. That still didn't work. So I uninstalled and downloaded a fresh copy and same result.