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You've heard the phrase before: "The Blue Screen of Death," but never imagined that it would happen to you or your home computer. Once it has, it seems that all is lost, including applications, pictures, documents and so much more. Even though your operating system may not start, there are ways to get all your data back and avoid seeing that blue screen again
Hiren's Boot Disc
Anytime a bad Window's error occurs, "Hiren's Boot Disc" is the ultimate way to solve a problem. If your computer is already infected by the blue screen error, you can use another computer to download and burn the disc. Use a free program like "Power ISO" to burn the image file. Insert the disc to your computer and start it up. The computer should automatically detect the disc and load the main menu. Select "Mini Windows XP." This is a bare-bones version of Windows that loads directly from the disc and may take several minutes to load. Once loaded, click on "My Computer" to find all of your files. Add the files to a USB thumb drive or attach an expandable hard drive for some of the bigger files. Return to the Mini-Windows as often as possible to retrieve files as long the computer still gets power.
Windows Install
In most cases, a Windows install would clear out the hard drive and start you fresh, but if you want to keep all of your files, you need to install the Windows system using an alternative method. Insert the Window's disc and restart the computer. When the disc loads, choose the "Install" prompt that appears. When selecting a partion to install on, choose the option that says "Create New Partion." Select the option to keep the current installation of Windows installed. Continue with the Windows installation as needed. Once the installation has completed, the new Windows is labeled as "Windows_1" and the older version is just "Windows." Find your old files by browsing through your old folders because they will be in the same locations.
Hard Drive Connection
When the other two methods have failed, you can use another computer to complete the process. Open up the computer and carefully remove the hard drive. Most hard drives are mounted with two small screws and have two plugs in them. Connect the hard drive to a working computer as a slave drive by attaching the extra hard drive plug found in the computer's tower. Access the files through "My Computer" and move them to the working computer.
Hiren's Boot Disc
Anytime a bad Window's error occurs, "Hiren's Boot Disc" is the ultimate way to solve a problem. If your computer is already infected by the blue screen error, you can use another computer to download and burn the disc. Use a free program like "Power ISO" to burn the image file. Insert the disc to your computer and start it up. The computer should automatically detect the disc and load the main menu. Select "Mini Windows XP." This is a bare-bones version of Windows that loads directly from the disc and may take several minutes to load. Once loaded, click on "My Computer" to find all of your files. Add the files to a USB thumb drive or attach an expandable hard drive for some of the bigger files. Return to the Mini-Windows as often as possible to retrieve files as long the computer still gets power.
Windows Install
In most cases, a Windows install would clear out the hard drive and start you fresh, but if you want to keep all of your files, you need to install the Windows system using an alternative method. Insert the Window's disc and restart the computer. When the disc loads, choose the "Install" prompt that appears. When selecting a partion to install on, choose the option that says "Create New Partion." Select the option to keep the current installation of Windows installed. Continue with the Windows installation as needed. Once the installation has completed, the new Windows is labeled as "Windows_1" and the older version is just "Windows." Find your old files by browsing through your old folders because they will be in the same locations.
Hard Drive Connection
When the other two methods have failed, you can use another computer to complete the process. Open up the computer and carefully remove the hard drive. Most hard drives are mounted with two small screws and have two plugs in them. Connect the hard drive to a working computer as a slave drive by attaching the extra hard drive plug found in the computer's tower. Access the files through "My Computer" and move them to the working computer.
