Nothing is more heart wrenching than to turn on your computer one day and find it not to boot  knowing that you haven't backed up your data.  This is an all too common problem many people face.  There are several reasons that can cause a PC not to boot and in most cases your data can be recovered.  Below we describe the different levels of "crashing" and what we do in each case in an attempt to recover your data.

Level 1:  Your PC repeatedly tries to start Windows over and over but can't.  We call this "looping".

This can happen when the partition (the area the of the hard drive where the operating system is stored) becomes corrupted. This can commonly occur if Windows locked up when you were previously using the computer and you had no choice but to press and hold the power button to get the computer to turn off.  You then turned the computer back on and voila, you get the Windows trying to start over and over but can't.  You're stuck in a continuous loop!

In this case we remove the hard drive from your system and, through a special process on our servers, typically can get your Windows to boot again.  We put your hard drive back in your system and you're back in business.  I guess this is technically not considered data recovery, but considering your Windows now boots and you can get to your data, I guess in a sense it is.

On the flip side, there is a chance in this scenario that even though your hard drive is good, we still can't get Windows to boot.  If this happens, we make a copy of your hard drive, reinstall Windows (also called a "reload") and put your data back on your hard drive.  There's a lot more to it than that but we can explain it all to you when you come in the shop.

Level 2:  This is where your system shows no signs of booting Windows.  It powers on ok, displays the manufacturer startup logo, but then does nothing.  Maybe you heard a sharp ticking noise right before your PC stopped.  Or maybe you possibly even had what's called a blue screen of death, or BSOD, where the entire screen went blue and displayed a bunch of white writing that made no sense.  There are several indicators, not all mentioned here, but the bottom line is now your PC won't boot. 

We have several methods to test and recover data from your hard drive in this scenario.  If the hard drive tests good and we can recover the data, we may be able to reuse the same hard drive to get your system back up and running.

If the hard drive tests bad we will attempt to pull data through several different techniques.  In this case, because the hard drive is bad, we will have to install a new hard drive in your system to get it back up and running.  Once that's done, if we were able to pull any data, we'll copy it back to your new hard drive.

Finally, if you hard drive has completely failed.  It would be considered a Level 3 scenario discussed below.

Level 3:  This is the most severe of all cases where your hard drive is totally unrecognizable in any system.  In this case, the only way to recover data is through a "forensics" type process where your hard drive has to be physically dissembled to have its platters (circular plates of metal that spin on the inside of the hard drive case where data is stored) removed.  A special machine then reads the platters to recover data. 

Once the hard drive is cracked open and dissembled, it can't be put back together due to environmental factors that affect the hard drive once it's opened to the air.  For this reason, a new hard drive would have to be installed in your system if you want to continue to use the PC after this procedure.

This is a very time consuming and costly process that typically can only be cost justified based on the personal or business value of the data.

Due to the nature of this procedure, we partner with a company that specializes in this type of work.  They offer a 100% guarantee and don't charge anything if they can't recover data.

If you are interested in this service please feel free to contact us.