There are still hopes for retrieve your data.
Taking the computer to a repair service is one solution. But it is so expensive (usually costs $1000 or more), especially when recovering data.
However, you can retrieve the lost data from the crashed hard drive by yourself! Here is a step by step guide for you to do so:
The first thing you should do is to remove the crashed drive from the computer and install it as a secondary drive in another computer operating Windows Os. Make sure that it is detecting by the computer.
After you have set up the secondary drive, boot up Windows. Then you can copy and paste your files from the drive. However, there are may be two trouble. One, you can't access the drive (means you can’t open it); Two, your files are retrieved but you can't open it!
Don't panic! Just download a hard drive data recovery program, and with a few simple clicks, you will be able get your data back.
There are some costly windows tools available for this. Here I recommend you two cheap ones - Tenorshare Data Recovery and Recuva.
Recuva is a free one. It doesn't work in very extreme case though. It may turn out that your files are recovered but you can't open them. If that's the problem there are more serious software solutions for this, like Tenorshare Data Recovery. It costs a bit but much more effective.
Next, download Tenorshare Data Recovery. Be careful, do not install it to the drive that you are trying to recover. Doing so could actually overwrite files that you want to restore. Install it on the primary drive that you are booting from.
Last, when you use this tool, select "Partition Recovery". And within several clicks, you can retrieve all your data!
Besides, if the hard drive can't be recognized, you can try this trick.
Put it in a sealed plastic bag to avoid condensation. Then put the drive in a freezer and leave it overnight. When you are ready, pull the drive out of the freezer and hook it up quickly. Act quickly because you may only have around 20 minutes to do this. I have seen some reports however, of this fixing the problem all together.
If it fails, you will have to go to a recovery office (where offers recovery service) but let's hope not because it will cost you a lot of money and whether they can recover the data is not guaranteed.
The recovery tool mentioned above only supports for all almost Windows platforms such as Windows 98/2000/2003/NT, Windows XP, Windows 7, Vista. For Mac, you can google search to get one.
Some tips for you:
1. Find a friend who is good at computer to help you.
2. If your computer crashed because of a virus, copy the files to an external hard drive. Do not move directly to a new computer.
3. Hard drives are fragile. Be careful and do not drop it.
4. Run your antivirus software regularly.
Related Articles:
http://www.any-data-recovery.com/recover-data-from-hard-drive.htm
