Laptop Hard Drive Recovery: How to Recover Deleted or Lost Files

Can You Recover Files from a Laptop Hard Drive

Files can often be recovered if the storage device is still detectable and the original data has not been overwritten or otherwise made unrecoverable.

Recovery is more difficult when the drive has severe physical damage, is not detected by the computer, or the data has been overwritten by new files.

For the best chance of recovery, stop using the affected drive as soon as you notice data loss. Continued use can write new data to the same storage space and reduce the chance of recovering deleted files.

How to Recover Files From Laptop Hard Drive When PC Is Bootable

Before Using Data Recovery Software: Check the Recycle Bin

When you find data missing from your laptop, you should check the Recycle Bin first. The Recycle Bin is a location dedicated to storing files deleted from the computer’s internal hard drive, and the Recycle Bin icon is usually located on the desktop. If the desired files are in the Recycle Bin, you can right-click them and click Restore to restore them to their original location. Or you can simply drag them to the desired location.

If the desired files are unfortunately not in the Recycle Bin, you can only opt for reliable and free data recovery software to rescue your data.

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Recover Files From Laptop Hard Drive With MiniTool Power Data Recovery

MiniTool Power Data Recovery is a hard drive disaster recovery software that supports recovering files from internal/external HDD and SSD on desktop and laptop computers.

Whether it is a simple data loss scenario like accidentally deleting files, or a complex disk failure like disk file system corruption, hard drive becoming RAW, etc., it can fully play its role and recover your files.

Supported file types include documents, videos, photos, audio files, emails, archives, and so on. When the laptop can start normally, you can download the free edition of this software and then use it to recover 1 GB of data without any money.

MiniTool Power Data Recovery FreeClick to Download100%Clean & Safe

Now, you need to follow the steps below to complete hard drive data recovery.

Step 1. Run MiniTool Power Data Recovery to enter its main interface. Under the Logical Drives tab, all hard drive partitions (including lost partitions and unallocated space) on the computer are listed. Select the target drive and click Scan to start scanning for files.

It may take a while to complete the scanning. To get the optimal scan effect, you need to wait patiently until the full scan is completed.

Step 2. After scanning, files are typically categorized as deleted, lost, or existing on the scan result window. You are required to unfold each folder under the Path tab to find the files you want to recover. Or, there is a Type category list where all files are classified by file type and file format. You can go to this tab and expand All File Types to find the needed data.

Also, the Filter feature plays a similar role in filtering files by file type but it has more file filtering rules, allowing you to filter files by file modification date, file size, and file category.

Step 3. Select all files and then click the Save button in the scan result window. Then choose a directory as the prompt suggests to store the recovered files.

Now, just wait till the laptop hard drive recovery has been finished automatically by MiniTool Power Data Recovery.

As mentioned before, the free edition of this software supports 1 GB of free data recovery. If you have more files to recover, you need to upgrade the software to a full edition.

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How to Get Files off a Laptop That Won’t Turn On

A laptop that cannot boot does not necessarily mean that the files on its internal drive are gone.

If the storage device itself is still readable, you may be able to recover the data without starting Windows normally. There are two main approaches:

You can recover files from the broken laptop directly with MiniTool Power Data Recovery Bootable Edition or remove the hard drive from the laptop and connect it to another computer to recover files.

Please follow the instructions given below carefully to know how to recover data from a dead hard drive.

Solution 1. Recover Data with a Bootable USB Drive

You can use the MiniTool recovery tool to create a WinPE bootable disk and then use the disk to start the computer and recover files. Note that the Bootable Media Builder feature is only available in advanced editions of the software, not the free edition.

Let’s see how to get files off a laptop hard drive that won’t boot:

Step 1. Connect a blank USB drive to a working computer where MiniTool Power Data Recovery is installed.

Step 2. Click the Bootable Media Builder icon and follow the prompt messages in each interface to make a boot disk.

Step 3. Remove the boot disk you’ve made and connect it to your laptop that won’t boot. Now, restart the laptop and press the corresponding buttons like F8, Esc, etc. to enter the BIOS setup. Navigate to the Boot menu and adjust your boot disk to be the first boot device. Now, save changes and exit.

Step 4. Launch MiniTool Power Data Recovery to see the main window of this software. The subsequent data recovery steps are the same as recovering files on a bootable computer.

1. Select the hard drive partition from which you want to recover files and click Scan.
2. Use the Path, Type, Filter, and Search features to locate the required files.
3. Preview the found items and save them to an external disk.

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Solution 2. Connect the Laptop Hard Drive to Another Computer

If the laptop itself has a Windows or hardware problem but the internal drive is still accessible, you may be able to connect the drive to another computer.

For a removable SATA HDD or SSD, you can use an appropriate SATA-to-USB adapter or external enclosure.

Then:

1. Shut down the damaged laptop.
2. Remove the internal storage device if the laptop design allows it.
3. Connect the drive to a working computer using a compatible adapter or enclosure.
4. If the drive opens normally, copy important files to another storage device. If the drive is detected but the files are missing or inaccessible, scan it with free data recovery software.

This approach is particularly useful when the problem is with the laptop’s operating system rather than the storage device.

Do not attempt to open a hard drive or repair its internal components yourself. If the drive has physical damage or makes unusual noises, further operation can make recovery more difficult.

When Should You Use Professional Laptop Data Recovery Services

Software-based laptop hard drive recovery is generally appropriate when the drive is still detected and the problem is primarily logical, such as accidental deletion, lost files, or file system problems.

Consider professional data recovery when:

• The drive is not detected by BIOS/UEFI or another computer.
• The HDD makes clicking, grinding, or repeated mechanical noises.
• The drive has suffered physical damage.
• The laptop has experienced severe liquid or impact damage.
• The drive repeatedly disconnects during access.
• The lost data is extremely important and you do not want to risk further DIY attempts.

In these situations, avoid repeatedly powering on the drive or running repair utilities before the data has been secured.

Bottom Line

It’s easy to discover that your import files were missing from your laptop hard drive, but it’s difficult for you to stay calm in such a case, right? Here, we provide solutions for you to recover files from laptop hard drive no matter whether the laptop can boot successfully or not.

After reading the step-by-step tutorials we give above, you’ll find laptop data recovery is really a piece of cake. You just need to seize time and do what we tell you to do by using MiniTool Power Data Recovery. We guess you’ll fall in love with this hard drive data recovery software like our other users.

Please send an email to [email protected] if you encounter any problems while using MiniTool Power Data Recovery.