"I have a Dell laptop. Yesterday, it just shut off and won’t turn on again. It is not worth fixing, but I’d like to recover the data from the laptop’s hard drive. Any suggestions?" Laptops are very convenient and portable, so they are popular for both general-purpose business and personal use. However, it is not immune to data loss. In this article, you can learn how to recover data from your laptop's hard drive.

Part 1: How to Recover Data from Any Laptop Hard Drive

When your laptop stops starting up, you cannot access your photos, files, documents, archives, and other content. Luckily, you have a simple way to get laptop hard drive recovery in any situation: Apeaksoft Data Recovery. Moreover, the intuitive design makes it easy to complete the job.

How to Recover Data from a Laptop Hard Drive

Step 1. Scan your drive

Install the best hard drive recovery software on your laptop and launch it from the desktop. Go to the Hard Drive Recovery tab and choose the target disk. If your laptop stops starting up, connect your hard disk to another computer. Install the software on the computer, open it, go to USB/SD Card Recovery, and select the drive. Hit Start Scan to begin scanning your drive.

Step 2. Preview your data

When data scanning is done, you can preview recoverable files by type or via path. Head to the Type List tab, and select the desired file types. Or switch to the Path List tab and select the desired locations.

Step 3. Recover data from the laptop's hard disk.

SCheck the boxes next to the files and folders you want to get back. Click the Recover button, set an output folder, and confirm laptop hard drive recovery. For example, you can recover deleted videos on your laptop.

Part 2: How to Recover Data from an Old Laptop Hard Drive with Another Computer

If your hard disk is not damaged, you can recover data from your laptop's hard drive using another PC. This method requires a hard drive enclosure and a compatible cable. If your hard disk is damaged, you still need a data recovery program.

Step 1. Remove the hard drive from your dead laptop.

Step 2. Put it into the hard drive enclosure.

Tip: If you don’t have a hard drive enclosure, obtain a laptop hard drive adapter kit, which enables you to directly connect the laptop to another computer.

Step 3. Connect the enclosure to another computer with a USB cable.

Step 4. Open a File Explorer.

Step 5. Double-click the external hard drive under the Devices and drives section.

Step 6. Copy the files and folders you want to recover.

Step 7. Then, paste them to a local drive.

Step 8. When the data is done copying, disconnect the hard drive.

Part 3: How to Avoid Data Loss on a Laptop

Having a dead laptop can be frustrating and stressful. Once it is dead, your laptop won’t power on or show any response even if you press the Power button. Another potential sign of a dead laptop is continuous overheating. If you have troubleshooted and performed laptop hard disk data recovery, you ‘d better learn how to avoid data loss in the future.

1. Back up your files regularly. Currently, you have multiple ways to back up your files on your laptop, such as an external hard drive or a cloud service. Google Drive, for example, is able to automatically back up your laptop.

2. Create an image backup. The Backup and Restore feature built into Windows 11/10 allows you to create a backup image for your entire laptop hard drive.

3. Use cloud services. When you process documents, photos, and more, you can upload them to cloud services. Google Docs, for example, can save all changes.

4. Make multiple backup files. When backing up files on your laptop's hard drive, you can make more than one backup. If one backup fails, others can still keep your files safe.

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