Back Up Data From Computer That Won’t Boot

 Back Up Data From Computer That Won’t Boot

Recently I have been on a spree of fixing unbootable OS’s for friends
and family. A surprising fact that I discovered was that many of them
were ready to reformat and perform a fresh Windows install, if only they
could just backup their music, photos and the likes.


So here I am with a piece on how to back up hard drive data on your
computer when the operating system won’t boot. The easiest most
hassle-free way to achieve our objective is to use a Live CD. Period.
Forget about all other ways and all the advice you get. If you have a
functional CD drive and a Live CD or can arrange one then this is the
way to go bro. You won’t regret it.





A Live CD, if you don’t already know, allows you to run an Operating
System from your CD drive. There are lot’s of Live CD’s available on the
Internet. A large number of Linux distributions are available as Live
CD’s. Just pop them in, make a few choices and you get a complete OS on
the fly with no changes to your data on the hard disk. You can do pretty
much anything from there in, even update a status or two on
Twitter/Facebook while waiting for the file transfers to finish. Here
are a few Live CD suggestions if you care for one:

• Knoppix


• Damn Small Linux (DSL)


• Ubuntu


• A Windows Live CD –

How would you burn a disc when the freaking operating system won’t
boot? My apologies if you are reading this after the problem has
occurred. I am afraid you would have to ask a friend to create a Live CD
for you or you can use another computer if you have access to one. That
being said, it is always a nice thing to prepare a couple of them
beforehand for the rainy day. I say a couple of them because 1) most of
them are free and 2) you never know if one of them decides it doesn’t
like your video adapter (for example) and refuses to boot.


The links listed above will let you download an ISO file. Next step
is to burn the ISO file to a disc. Here is a list of our
favorite disc burning software to help you along.

• Download the one you like and run it. Look for an option that burns
  an image file or ISO file to a disc.

• Choose the said option, let the software know where the ISO file is
  that you want to burn.

• Pop in a blank CD and the software should do the rest. When the burn
  process completes you should have a Live CD in your hands.

What If The CD Drive Is Broken Or Not Available?

A very valid scenario indeed, specially with the ultra thin laptops
and netbooks these days. In such a case you can either use a USB CD
drive or what we would call a Live USB stick. We have written about how
you can create a Live
USB from an ISO file or even
from an installer CD. One thing to keep in mind is that some old
computers just cannot boot from the USB drive.

Set The Boot Device Priority

Before your computer can boot from either a CD or a Live USB drive
you might have to change the boot device priority from the computer’s
BIOS settings. This is not as scary as it sounds. Follow along:

• Power on the computer. Most computers will display a graphic
  depicting the processor or the manufacturer or some general information.
  If you look around you will also see that the computer prompts you with
  a Key combination that you can use to enter the BIOS settings page.
  Generally it is the F2 key but it can vary.


• Hit the desired key (F2 if it is) and you are in. Now look for an
  option that lets you change the boot device. Different BIOS have it
  named differently and under different menus, but if you look around it
  should not be too difficult. The setting will list devices like CD
  drive, external drive, first hard disk drive and the likes.


• You can move these devices up and down in the list. Make sure that
  CD drive (or external drive if you are using a USB key) is listed before
  the hard disk. You can change this back once have a functional
  Operating System. Save and exit.

We Are Set

Now restart the computer with the Live CD inside the tray and the
computer should pick up the contents of the CD and load the contained
operating system. You will get a fully functional system once the OS
boots up. The Live OS should automatically detect your hard disk and
list the various partitions as drives. From here on you can use the
computer just as you would use it normally and you can easily back up
the required files.

You would of course need an external media like an external USB disk
or a USB flash drive depending upon the amount of data that you want to
back up. Just copy the required files to the destination as usual. When
you are done, just shut down the computer, take out the hard disk and
now you are ready to format the computer or attempt any other fixes
without worrying about the precious data on the hard drive.


Have you been in a similar situation before? How did you recover your
important files and restore the system? We would love to hear and learn
from your experiences.