Our computer suddenly no longer starts or Windows freezes at the startup screen "> Ways to repair Windows 10 and create recovery disk File recovery from Windows 10 or Windows 7 backup
If we have set up Windows 10 backup for files, also called File history, (in Windows 7 instead it is the normal backup option) we will have a backup copy of all the most important files (i.e. user folders) saved on the external hard drive or on any other network resource where we decided to place the backup. In the case of the external disk, we disconnect the USB socket from the locked PC and use another functioning computer to access all the backups of our files.The structure of the backup folder will be presented with two folders, Configuration and Data : we click on the latter, so as to have access to the folders with assigned the letters of the disks (C or other letters, in case we have more disks connected), then we click on one of the subfolders to access the files and thus recover all the data saved up to the last backup (before the block).
We can also transfer the entire Data folder to the new computer, so as to quickly save all the files contained in the backup.
We have not set up file backup on Windows 10 "> How to backup files on Windows 10, whose detailed descriptions of the necessary tools and the items to be activated within the Microsoft operating system.
Data recovery from the Windows recovery console
With Windows 10 and also with Windows 7 and 8 it is possible to use the recovery console to be able to access the disk and then save the data on an external drive or a USB stick.If the computer doesn't start (and you can't even get into safe mode) we saw in another article how to enter the Windows 10 recovery console. From the recovery console, go to Troubleshooting and then go to Advanced Options and then on More options to find the command prompt through which you can launch the copy commands for files and folders.
If you cannot use the recovery console in Windows 10 and Windows 7, you can use another computer to create the recovery drive or use a DVD or USB stick with the Windows installation files to recover data from the computer.
In another article we saw how to download each version of Windows 10, Windows 7 and 8.1.
By starting the PC from the USB or DVD with the Windows installation files, it is possible, after the first language selection screen, to open the troubleshooting section (without installing Windows) and access a restore that allows access to the command prompt.
From the Command Prompt, the only difficulty is to understand which is the letter that identifies the disk with documents and files to save and keep and to do this we will have to use the command: cd X: (where X is the letter of the disk) and then, for each disk, type the dir command to view the folders and recognize the disk with documents and photos (or other important files). In the same way, it is necessary to identify the letter that distinguishes the external drive where we have to copy the files (let's call it now Z :).
Once we know what the folders are, the command to use to make the copy is:
copy X: / Users / username / folder-to-save Z: / folder-where-to-save
Folder paths must be precisely written to work. If you have difficulties, let's move on to the next point which is certainly simpler.
Data and file recovery with Linux Live
If we have been so short-sighted as not to activate the Windows 10 file backup, we can try to recover our files by relying on a tool such as Live Linux, that is, an operating system capable of starting independently from a DVD or a USB stick, without disturbing the hard disk.For the recovery of the files we recommend relying on SystemRescueCd, a free Linux image that we can burn on a DVD or on an empty USB stick of at least 2GB. For the guide we will prefer the second method, but if we want to burn the image, we recommend you read our guide on How to Burn CDs and DVDs for free (Windows and Mac) .
After downloading the ISO image, we insert an empty USB stick into one of the pores of the PC (obviously we use a PC that is still working), let's get the portable program UNetbootin and start it; to create the USB stick, simply select ISO image, click on the button with the three dots ( ... ), select the ISO image of SystemRescueCd and finally click OK to start the creation process of our "disk d ' emergency".
At the end of the operation, we remove the USB stick from the computer, place it on the non-functioning PC or with Windows locked and modify the boot boot to start from the stick instead of the hard disk, as already seen in our guide How to change the boot order of the computer .
After a few seconds the SystemRescueCd welcome screen will welcome us, where we will have to press Enter on the keyboard (we avoid pressing other keys or selecting other items).
After a few minutes from startup, a terminal window will appear, in which we will have to type startx to start the graphical interface. Now we will finally see the graphical interface of the Linux operating system, with all the necessary tools to be able to recover files but also perform other administrative tasks.
To access our files, double-click on the top left on File System or on the disk name (the name of the label assigned on Windows should appear) and we navigate within the folders of the hard disk until we find our personal folders (which, if we have not made any changes in the Windows settings, we can find them in the path C: \ Users \ ).
After finding the folders with our personal files, we connect a fairly large external disk via USB port, wait for the recognition by the Linux operating system then move the folders (or only some files, if we consider it appropriate) inside the disk fixed, using the right mouse button and the Copy (to copy the folder) and Paste (to paste the folder on the new external disk) commands.
In addition to recovering files, this Linux distribution provides other useful tools such as Gparted (to edit and delete hard drives), Firefox (to quickly access the Internet), lftp (to access a remote FTP server), TigerVNC Viewer (to be able to control a device remotely via VNC), Bulk Rename (to rename a large number of files), KeepassXC (to open password archives created with KeePass) and Zenmap (to map open ports and devices connected to the network).
Conclusions
As we have seen in this guide, recovering files from a computer that does not start is simple enough: we can either use the backups generated by Windows or use a Live version of Linux, with which to access the disks without even starting the main operating system. In particular, it can be useful to use the Linux Puppy distribution to save everything if Windows does not start and does not start.In another guide we have provided the tips to follow when a PC no longer starts and if Windows does not load, in which many of the concepts that we have expressed here are also developed and where we have several alternatives and emergency boot CDs to use.
If instead of the backup we need a Windows disk, we can read our guide to the preventive creation of backup disk images, with which we can restore Windows without having to perform total formatting (which is still advisable in case of total block or virus).
Also, in another article, we saw what to do if the PC disk was broken or damaged
