When a Laptop Loses Your Data
Files vanish for a handful of reasons, and what you do in the first minutes decides how much comes back.
How it happens
- The laptop is dropped or knocked while running
- The drive wears out
- Something is deleted or a drive is formatted by mistake
- Malware or ransomware
- A liquid spill
- A failed update or a crash that corrupts the file system
What to do
- Switch the laptop off.
- Do not install recovery software on it.
- Do not keep restarting it to see if it comes back.
- Call us and say what happened.
Where to go next
See data recovery for how we work, and preventing data loss for how to avoid a repeat.
Questions
Can data be recovered from a laptop that will not turn on?
Usually. A dead laptop does not mean a dead drive.
Is it expensive?
Basic recovery is $125. See prices.
Book a visit or a pickup
Call us or book online and tell us the make, the model and what is going wrong. For IT support a technician comes to your home or office. For a repair we pick the computer up from your door, fix it at our own workshop in Burbank and bring it back. We have no storefront, so there is nowhere to drop a machine off. Outside our area, you can mail it to us.