Q&A for How to Recover a Dead Hard Disk

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How do I recover my data from a laptop when the laptop is dead and the hard drive isn't working?

Community Answer

If the laptop is dead do to a problem other than the hard drive you need to pull the hard drive and you can access it with another computer. If the hard drive on the laptop is dead, you can't recover it unless you are willing to send it to a professional which is likely to cost around 1000 dollars.

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Question

What does it meant if when I plug in my hard disk, it shows light on it, but it didn't show on my computer?

Community Answer

The light means there is power to the hard drive. It may not be working at all. A partition editor can tell you if your operating system can do anything with the drive or not. If not, shut off and unplug the computer until you can remove the hard drive, so you can take it to a pro.

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Question

What is an image burner?

Community Answer

An image burner is a program or software that burns iso/data (raw file) onto CDs and DVDs.

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Will cloning an old hard drive at imminent failure to a new hard drive place the new hard drive at imminent failure as well?

Community Answer

No. When a hard drive is about to fail, it's due to physical issues with the disk.

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Question

My 9-year-old WD 1TB hard drive has died with all my data inside. Is there some way to recover all my files?

Community Answer

You would probably be better off sending it to a hard drive repair store. DIYing it might make the drive less likely or even impossible to repair.

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Question

I have a WD 2TB My Passport Ultra. It's getting detected under Device Manager and Disk Management, but none of the drive partitions are being displayed under My Computer. What is a way to rectify this?

Community Answer

Open the Disk Management tool, look in the upper list for the partition of that drive. Right-click its entry and select "Change Drive Letter and Paths". In the following pop-up, click the "Add..." button, then pick a letter that is not already taken. Once you've assigned a letter, it should now show up in My Computer and the like.

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Question

My hard disk is slower than it should be. How can I recover it?

Community Answer

Try freeing up some RAM or increase RAM size, if your hard drive usage is within the last two or three years. If it is older, you should back everything up, as your drive may be failing.

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Question

I have an Asus laptop and it is making a clicking noise. The BIOS has appeared. Can I repair it?

Community Answer

The BIOS has nothing to do with a potentially broken hard disk drive. If you're questioning whether you can repair it or not, it's best to take it to a professional.

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Question

My PC beeped and stopped working. What should I do?

Community Answer

Does it show an error on the screen? If it does, look up the error online. If it doesn't, the RAM sticks in your PC are dead and you will have to get them replaced.

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Question

How do I recover the data from an external hard disk that was accidentally formatted?

Community Answer

Use a free data recovery program, which can be found by searching the internet. Plug the external drive into a working computer/laptop and run the data recovery program. You will be asked what you want to recover (All, photos, videos, documents, programs etc.) Once selected you will then be asked to select where to search. Look for your external drive in the list and select it. You can have two types of searches. Quick scan and deep scan. Deep scan is best but can take a long time to complete but will be able to recover even deleted files. Results vary.

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