Member Avatar for steosaur(oWn)

Got a laptop here with the blue screen of death upon start up (can't do anything but turn it back off, useless) I advised a reformat but my friend said she wants to get some stuff back (i guess it's important) is it true that some places can extract data in situations like this?

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Short, practical primer for recovering files after a BSOD. First priority is to stop using the laptop and avoid any repairs that write to the disk (reformats, automatic repairs, running repair utilities). Every write can reduce the chance of recovering intact files; the standard advice is to make a bit-for-bit copy of the drive and work from that copy rather than the original. (csrc.nist.gov)

If comfortable removing the drive, attach it to another machine (or ask a tech to do so) and create a full image onto a separate disk. Use imaging tools that are designed to handle read errors and to resume interrupted sessions; those tools save a progress map so you can try again without re-reading good areas. If removing the drive isn’t an option, a technician can image it for you. (gnu.org)

Once you have a verified image, run recovery utilities against the image (not the original). There are reliable open-source utilities for repairing partition metadata and for file "carving" from images; they read images directly and avoid further damage to the original media. If the drive shows mechanical symptoms (clicking, not spinning up) stop and contact a professional lab — those labs can perform clean-room repairs but services typically run from hundreds to thousands of dollars and some firms offer free diagnostics or "no data, no charge" policies. (cgsecurity.org)

A short workflow to follow (keeps things simple):

  1. Power off and do nothing more on the laptop.
  2. Remove the drive or take the machine to a technician (do not reinstall the OS).
  3. Make a full, read-only bit-for-bit image and verify hashes.
  4. Attempt recovery on the image (partition repair or file-carving tools).
  5. If physical failure is suspected, stop and send the drive to a professional lab.

This echoes points from and about trying alternate access methods, but with one clear difference: imaging first preserves options. If malware is suspected (as reported), imaging still protects evidence before any clean reinstall. (csrc.nist.gov)

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Member Avatar for kc0arf

Hi,

Depends on what is causing the BSOD. If it is a corrupt Windoze installation, then you can try booting with a DOS disk or another CD-ROM and getting to a C: and reading the files. If it is NTFS, you may need to get a module that will allow you to read an NTFS disk.

I have done that sort of miracle with Novell networks, a DOS boot disk, and a NTFS reading module. Then again, I had a network handy to do these sort of things.

If not, you can try also booting a Linux CD-ROM, such as Knoppix, and recovering the files that way. It would again free up a floppy-disk port, or perhaps support a network card for network recovery.

You can also try to put the hard drive into another computer, and loading it up from there. You might need to do some permissions management on the device first, before it lets you read it.

If the BSOD is because the hard drive has physical faults, on the last legs, then it is pretty much toast. It is very hard to put scrambled eggs back into the shell.

This is an unfortunate, yet very profound reason that a sound backup strategy is crucial, even for the home user.

Christian

Member Avatar for steosaur(oWn)

thanks for the knowledge

Member Avatar for jenicatrivedi

I have a huge problem. My computer is stuck with the blue screen or stop message and it won't move past that. After "dumping", it restarts and goes through the cycle again and again. I'm pretty sure it's from a virus that I got from MSN because a couple of my friends are facing the same problem. The thing is, I want to reformat but I have some stuff on my computer that I really need. Is there any way for me to recover that stuff? By the way, I am not in the least bit computer literate, so if you do have a reply, could you tell me in regular English? Lol. Thank you so much.

Member Avatar for rtech123

There is a free dos program out there called NTFS4DOS that I have used to recover drives that have blue screened. boot the system with the disk and run the check disk utility If the Blue screen was caused by file errors this will sometimes fix problem and allow you back into windows.

Member Avatar for rtech123

Don't forget to run the Windows scandisk utility set to correct errors after you get back in.

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