How to Recover Data from a Crashed Computer

We use our computers daily to store our important stuff. So, if, for some reason, our computer crashes, it becomes a disaster. There can be several situations that can be responsible for your computer to crash. Today, we will take a look at the reasons behind a computer crashing. Then we will tell you how you can recover files from a crashed computer and how you can prevent that from happening in the first place.

What Does Computer Crash Really Mean?

A lot of components need to work together for a computer to run properly. However, there are some cases where they fail to do so. It may be because some hardware component like the RAM or SSD is malfunctioning, or some software has suddenly stopped working.

In such cases, the operating system may stop working. This is called a computer crash.

Here are some signs that will show that your computer may have crashed.

1. You see the Blue/Black Screen of Death (BSOD)
2. You hear a beeping sound on your PC.
3. You are getting redirected to BIOS every time you start booting your PC
4. The fans are making a loud noise

How to Recover Data from a Crashed Computer

Since the OS stops working when your computer crashes, there are three primary ways to recover data.

Way 1: Booting in Safe Mode

There are times when the OS is not responsible for the computer to crash. It might be the fault of some third-party software. In such cases, you can boot into safe mode, find the root cause, and recover files from your crashed computer using an external drive.

Since your PC won’t boot up properly, so you will need to get into safe mode from the start. The process is simple, but you will need some patience.

Step 1: Press the power button on your PC.

Step 2: As soon as you see something on your screen (like the manufacturer’s logo or Windows logo), hold the power button till the computer shuts down. Repeat this process again two times. Below the windows logo, you will see the words “Preparing Automatic Repair”.

Let the process continue. After it is done, it will boot you to the Advanced Boot Menu.

Step 3: From the boot menu, go to safe mode. Recover all your data, delete any third-party applications that you have, update all drivers, and then reboot to see if the issue has been resolved.

Way 2: System Restore

There may have been some changes in your Windows files or settings, which is causing your computer to crash. Perhaps, some drivers or system software are malfunctioning. In such cases, you need to restore your system to what it was before it started crashing.

Step 1: After you have booted into safe mode, click on Start Menu > All Programs > Accessories > System Tools > System Restore. This will take you to the system restore window.

Step 2: If you have no idea about which restore point to choose, click on “Recommended Restore”. Then keep on clicking Next till you confirm all the settings, and then click on Finish.

If that doesn’t work, you can choose another system restore point manually and see if that works.

Note: There is one other process that does a similar task. Once you go to the Advanced Boot Options window, you may see an option that says, “Last Known Good Configuration”. You can try that option to see if your issue is resolved.

Way 3: Recover Files using Wondershare Recoverit

If none of these works, then your OS might be damaged. In that case, you may not be able to boot into safe mode as well. In such cases, you need to use a professional data recovery software l that can recover files no matter what type of crash has happened.

We recommend that you choose Wondershare Recoverit for this job. We are saying this because since your OS files are damaged, you will need a bootable USB drive to boot into your computer. And you can create a bootable USB drive with Wondershare Recoverit present in it.

Once you have booted into your computer using the bootable USB drive, you need to follow the steps given below to recover files from the crashed computer.

Step 1: Opening Recoverit and Selecting Location

After booting, click on Wondershare Recoverit and open it.

Once the program is launched, you will see the hard drives and their partitions in the interface.

Select any of the partitions that you want to recover. Then, click on Start to begin the process of scanning the hard drive.

Step 2: Scanning the Location

Once you press Start, it will start scanning the hard drive. The total time taken to scan may depend on the size and speed of the hard drive. However, in the latest updates, Recoverit has sped up the scanning process a lot.

As the scan takes place, you will be able to see the files that have been scanned in real-time. If you see that you have all the files that you need, you can then stop the scanning process.

If you want to recover deleted videos, click on Advanced Video Recovery present on the panel on the right.

In addition to that, there are several filters and a search option that will help you pinpoint any file you need.

Step 3: Preview and Recover the Files

Once the scanning process is complete or terminated, you can proceed to the next step.

Select a file that you want to recover and click on the Preview button. It will open a pop-up window where you can see the preview of any picture, video, documents, spreadsheets, etc. You can even click on any file to see detailed information about it.

The preview pop-up window also provides you options to zoom, rotate, or watch your photos on full screen.

If the recovered files are up to your liking, click on the Recover button. It will ask you where you want to save your recovered files. Save it in any location you wish to, although we would recommend you not keep it on the crashed computer’s hard drive.

And that’s it! You have successfully recovered files from a crashed computer using Wondershare Recoverit.

Protect Computer from Crash

The first two methods to recover files work only when the software is faulty. If there is something wrong with your hard drive, the Advanced Boot Menu may not even show up. As for Wondershare Recoverit, it will work if your hard drive is responsible for the crash, but if some other components malfunction, it may not work.

So, there are no universal solutions present to resolve this problem. That is why you should always take measures to ensure that your computer does not crash in the first place. Here are some actions that you can take:

• Keep your PC in a well-ventilated, cool place
• Keep at least 500 MB of free hard drive space
• Perform constant maintenance
• Update drivers regularly
• Use surge protectors to protect your motherboard

You can always look up more ways on the internet.