How to Recover Files from a Dead Laptop (2024)

Laptops are widely welcomed by users worldwide because they are easy to carry and can work without a power supply. However, the laptop itself, hard drives, or assemblies, to some degree, are vulnerable and prone to damage. Here's a real user case:

A "dead" laptop can be a laptop that doesn't power on, or it can't boot from the OS. Also, it can be a laptop with a bad monitor, not showing up on the display screen, or it is experiencing various issues. So be sure your laptop is dead and try to recover files from 4 simple and efficient methods.

Is your laptop really dead?

Before starting to recover files from a dead laptop, it's necessary to know whether your laptop is really dead or not. You can check through the following symptoms:

If there is no physical damage, try a hard reset first to see if it's helpful.

Please remove the battery and hold the power button for about 15-20s to to release the remaining charge. Then, reconnect the battery and try to turn it on.

How to recover files from a dead laptop 

If your laptop is really dead, you can choose to disconnect the disk from it (if it's removable) and try to recover data from a working computer.

Way 1: Transfer files to a new computer

Before starting, you need to prepare a screwdriver, universal cable or external enclosure, and a working computer. Then, follow the steps below to transfer files to a new computer.

Step 1. Remove the hard drive from the dead laptop carefully using the prepared screwdriver. It's usually located beneath a cover or panel. 

Step 2. Put the disk into the external disk enclosure and connect it to a working computer. 

Step 3. Then, try to access the drive in File Explore, showing up as an external hard drive, and copy files to another location. 

Way 2:  Recover files from a dead laptop using software

If your drive is recognized but not accessible, it's wise to consider using powerful data recovery software for Windows - MyRecover. It's easy to operate, comprehensive, efficient, and compatible.

It features two advanced scanning technologies, more than 500 scenarios, and 1000+ data types, as well as a wide range of storage devices.

Now, download and install MyRecover on a working computer to recover files from a dead laptop.

Step 1. Connect the drive from a dead laptop to another working PC correctly. Hover the mouse over the connected external drive and click Scan.

Step 2. While scanning, if there are very important files, you can type the filenames/extensions to locate them faster. Also, you can sort the detected files by type, date, size, path, etc. Once found, it will display them in the following window. 

 Step 3. Double-click the files to preview and select them by ticking the checkbox or leaving them blank. Then, click Recover x files and select a new path to save them in case of data overwriting.

In addition, you can use this software to recover deleted files from hard drive, SATA SSD, M.2 SSD, USB drive memory card, etc., in the following scenarios:

• Recover files from formatted hard drive
• Recover files deleted by virus
• Recover files from lost partition
• Recover deleted files from Recycle Bin
• Recover permanently deleted files
• ......

Way 3: Recover files from a bootable hard disk

If your dead laptop fail to boot, except for disconnecting it as an external drive, you can also try to recover data from a bootable hard disk.

Step 1. Open MyRecover on the working PC. Then, click Crashed PC Recovery.

Step 2. Select the USB Boot Device and your USB drive.

Step 3. Click Create > Yes to create a bootable hard disk to start a dead laptop. This process will format the USB drive and delete data on it. 

Step 4. Plug the bootable USB drive out of the working PC. Then,  insert into the dead laptop and try to boot from it. You need to press a prompted key (e.g. F2, F10, ESC) to go to BIOS and set it as the first choice first. Press 10 to save changes and exit.

Step 5. After loading, you will see MyRecover. Click PC Recovery and try to scan and recover data from drive in the dead laptop. 

Way 4: Turn to an in-lab data recovery service

Another feasible method is to send the dead laptop to the data recovery services. You may need to consider this option when the laptop is severely physically damaged. At this time, it is almost impossible to repair it and get files from dead laptops by yourself.

Commonly, the data recovery service will cost from $500-$2,000, according to how intense the damage is. It generally takes 2 days to over 1 week to finish the fixing and shipping.

Always back up your laptop to avoid data loss 

Always backing up your laptop is the best practical method to avoid data loss. You can choose to create a disk backup, system backup, partition backup, or file backup from time to time. 

AOMEI Backupper Standard, with an intuitive interface and rich features, is a good choice. Please download it to get started now.

Step 1. Open AOMEI Backupper on your laptop. Then, select the “File Backup” option.

Step 2. Click “Add Folder/Add File” to add the folder contaning files you want to back up.

Step 3. Click “Schedule Backup” to enable Daily, Weekly, Monthly, Event triggers, or USB plug in based on your needs. Then, click the “Start Backup” button.

Verdict

This article gathers practicable methods and detailed info to teach you how to recover files from a dead laptop on another working PC or from a bootable hard disk. 

You can manually copy files to a new computer or use data recovery software - MyRecover to recover data. It integrates two advanced scanning technologies, which can help you find lost data and recover them quickly, even working for crashed PC recovery.

Why not download it to have a try?