Data Recovery From a Damaged Hard Drive

The crash of a hard drive can be a devastating loss for businesses and individuals alike. From important customer account information to cherished family photos the information contained on your computer's drive is often vital and irreplaceable. But the blue screen of death does not have to mean that the files on a computer are gone for good. Before having an "Office Space" moment and bashing your computer into bits, there are steps you can try to recover the vital info.

The first recommended step to a blue screen failure of your PC is to make sure the hard drive is, in fact, the problem. If any new hardware has been installed unplug the devices and restart the computer. If it starts up normally then the problem is with the new hardware. If not, try to reboot the computer and start Windows in Safe Mode. This is done by pressing the F8 key when Windows is booting up. If you are able to reach the Windows log-in screen the problem is most likely software related, rather than a defective hard drive. It is recommended at this point to go ahead and back-up your important files before proceeding. Two things to try to repair a malfunctioning operating system are System Restore (reverts the system settings back to a previous successful boot) or a re-install. When reinstalling you can sometimes preserve your file using the Windows Recovery Console.

Should you be unable to get into Windows at all, there are still several ways in which you may be able to retrieve precious data. The first thing to try is resetting the drive. Unplug all cables from the computer and open up the case. The hard drive will be installed with four screws and looks vaguely like an 8-track tape. It will have two cables plugged into it: the power cable and either IDE or Sata connectors. Check to make sure all cables are firmly seated into the appropriate jacks. Sometimes the motherboard SATA or IDE slot can be bad so it's a good idea, before reassembling the computer, to switch the cable from one slot to the other ( i.e.IDE 0 to IDE 1). If after reassembling the computer the problem still exists, the hard drive is likely defective.

The next step is to try a data recovery program. There are a number of other programs as well, but Tokiwa's program can be downloaded to and run from a flash drive, whereas most of the others would require the computer to have a second drive with an OS installed to run. Another option is to remove the it and install it as a second on another computer. If these solutions prove unsuccessful, the problem is likely a mechanical failure in the hard drive and the expertise of a professional may be the only option. Your local computer repairman may offer hard drive recovery services, or, you can send the drive to another data recovery company for evaluation, after which they may be able to retrieve the desired data. This is an expensive service, however, with the evaluation costing about $100 and recovery costing anywhere from $200 - $600 based on the amount of data and the labor required.

Jeff Waters is an expert on technology news & reports on all the latest from the biggest tech companies.