If you are not too much lucky, you must have faced some frustrating moments when you lose all your data due to the crash down of your computer’s operating system. Since it is almost unpredictable that when and how it will happen, you can never prepare yourself for a backup of your latest data.
A day before, we’re discussing about recovering deleted files from a hard disk or removable drive. But the most frustrating part about the system crush down is that you lose all your data and you do not have any choice for the recovery. We’ve tried to come up with an easy and possible solution to this very common system menace. Here is how to recover data from a crashed operating system. This problem occurs very often for the Windows users.
How to Recover Data When Operating System Crashes
If your operating system crashes, the chances are that you lose data only from the drive at which it was installed. Reinstalling or recovery of the OS would completely wipe out the data from your system drive. In such a case, you have three options left – 1. Installing the operating system to another drive of your hard disk, 2. Using a Linux Live Boot Disk, 3. Using your hard disk as an external drive to another computer; provided that the hard disk functionality is still alive.
You could install the operating system to another drive of your hard disk and recover the data from the crashed drive. But if you do not have any free partition in your computer hard disk then it can’t be a preferred way as it will again cause a data lose. Therefore, here are the best ways to recover data from a crashed system drive.
Recover Data From Crashed OS By using Linux Live Boot Disk
Users who are quite accustomed with Linux based operating systems would know that there are many distributions of Linux Live CD’s. These CD’s are nothing but bootable operating systems. These CD’s rather these operating systems run depending on the distribution, completely from the disk, a USB drive, your computer’s RAM or a small portion of a Hard Disk Drive(HDD).
You can download these Live CD’s absolutely free as an ISO image as these Live CD’s are open sources. Then this ISO image can be burnt into a bootable disk (for booting with a CD/DVD Drive) or you can also download the files and boot from a USB drive if your system BIOS supports USB booting devices.
It is very simple to make the Live CD functional. All you have to do is to make a bootable CD and then have a pen drive or an external Hard Disk Drive(HDD) to store the files that you need to copy. Then just follow the procedure mentioned below:
1. Search the internet for the version of the Live CD that you like and download the zip file.
2. Get an ISO reader like Power ISO, and install it in computer which is in a functional state.
3. Now double-click on the ISO image you downloaded. Power ISO will extract the image as a bootable image automatically
4. Simply burn the CD/DVD with the extracted files or write the files into a USB drive to possess a bootable Linux operating system ready to use.
5. Now, Go to your BIOS settings by pressing the key assigned for it (mentioned in your hardware manual) an set your first priority boot device to USB drive if you are using a thumb drive or CD/DVD drive if you are booting from a bootable CD/DVD.
6. Restart your system with the proper boot device (USB or CD/DVD) inserted and Linux will start booting.
When the above mentioned tasks are completed, you will be able to access your Hard Disk Drive(HDD) in pretty much the same fashion as you did in case of Windows. After copying all your important documents in an external HDD or USB stick, you can reboot and reinstall an operating system like Window7 or Windows 8 at your machine.
Recover Data From Crashed OS by Using your Hard Disk as an External Device
If the first option is not suitable for you, this is another much more simpler way to recover the data from the Hard Disk. What you have to do is to unscrew your cabinet, fetch a new external HDD case and connect your HDD to another computer by USB. The entire procedure is discussed in detail below:
1. Switch off your computer and carefully unscrew your cabinet and take out your Hard Disk Drive.
2. Correctly adjust the jumper to change your HDD set from MASTER to SLAVE (for this you may consult the diagram illustrating pins for the ‘master’ and ‘slave’ settings).
3. Now set the jumper to slave by referring to your manufacturer instructions (although usually done by removing the jumper connector) but do not forget to reset the jumper after you finish.
4. Make all the connections and switches on the computer. Now, your Hard Disk Drive will show up as an external drive in ‘My Computer’. From here, you can copy your important documents and data which would have been lost if you tried to repair your operating system.
If neither of the two options is able to solve your problem then your Hard Disk is probably corrupted and your data can be lost forever. Though you can send your corrupted hard disk to its manufacturer service center for data recovery.
Should you remember that data recovery from a corrupted device is costly and there is no guaranty that all the data will be recovered by this way. So think twice before you send your corrupted HDD for data recovery.
Image credits:
1. https://www.flickr.com/photos/blomeruscalitz/6793032769
2. https://www.flickr.com/photos/degra/1380600459
3. https://www.flickr.com/photos/78811166@N05/14063153537
