5 best ways to recover your data on a Windows PC

There are several reasons for disk boot failure such as issues in the operating system, issues with the power supply, error in the drive, and a faulty motherboard. If you didn’t create a backup, the recovery of data becomes a challenging task. But you don’t need to worry. the following are the ways by which you can recover your data on a Windows PC.

1) Booting your PC in Safe Mode 

This is one of the most reliable ways of data recovery. Booting your PC in Safe mode recovers your data in most cases. While your PC boots, press F8 or Shift+F8 repeatedly to boot in Safe Mode. Once your PC is running in Safe Mode, you can use Windows Explorer to find the files and save them into an external drive.

2) Booting from an external flash drive

Sometimes, booting in a safe mode does not work. You may go for booting a Windows operating system from an external flash drive. You should always keep a USB drive to reuse these. You will need to restart your PC and boot into your BIOS to change the boot order.

3) Removing the HDD and using it with another PC

In most cases when you swap drive from one PC to the other, the new PC will recongnise the drive and you can recover and transfer data. In case it does not use the following.

This method can be implemented in the following steps.

a) Remove the HDD from the Trayless Rack to use it as an external drive with another system. You can also utilise a compatible SATA-USB adapter to switch this drive into an external drive.

b) Open your Disk Management tool. Just press Windows+R to begin the ‘Run’ option. Search ‘diskmgmt.msc’ to launch the Disk Management utility.

c) You may need to set a new drive letter to the disk volume if your PC detects an inaccessible hard drive. Just right-click on the drive and then choose ‘Change Drive Letters and Paths.’ Select ‘Add’ /’Change’ and set the letter from the drop-down.

d) Now copy data from the drive to external storage as soon as the drive becomes accessible.

4) Boot PC with Windows installation disc

You should always try this option as there is a chance that your Windows installation is damaged.

1. Enter the Windows installation disk into your computer. You will get a ‘Press any key to boot from CD or DVD’ message.
2. Select ‘Next’ followed by ‘Repair Your Computer’ on the pop-up screen.
3. If you are using Windows 8 or 10 installation disks, you have to follow: Troubleshoot -> Advanced Options -> Command Prompt.
4. A Command Prompt window will open where you have to type ‘notepad’ and press Enter to start the Notepad dialog box. Click ‘File’ and select ‘Open’ in the Notepad window.
5. Now, click the ‘All Files’ option followed by clicking the ‘Computer’ option. This will enable you to use the ‘Open’ dialog box as a Windows Explorer window. 
6. Finally, copy all the files that you want to recover and store them in an external drive.

5) Using a Data Recovery tool

Using a professional Data Recovery tool is the last resort when all the above methods fail to work. Data Recovery Tools like Kernel for Windows Data Recovery can repair, recover, and restore data from corrupt Windows partitions and thus can obtain your deleted files, documents, emails, and media records. To recover data using a recovery tool, follow these steps.

1. On the recovery tool webpage, select the appropriate scan mode. In the tree view structure, choose the drive from which you want to recover your data.
2. The tool will automatically look for all the lost data from the selected drive. Once complete, it will give the list of recovered items.
3. Choose the items you want to recover and press ‘Recover’. You can provide the location where you would like to save your recovered files and folders.

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