When a laptop or PC won’t start, the machine and the data are two separate questions — and the answer to the second is usually better than you fear. Very often the computer has a fault while the drive inside is perfectly intact, and your files can simply be read off it. Sometimes the drive itself has failed, or Windows won’t boot, or a laptop took a knock or a spill. Whatever it is, we recover from laptops and desktops of every make across the UK — post yours in or drop it at our Belfast lab.
A dead laptop very often has a healthy drive inside. We separate the two before assuming anything about your files.
Whether it’s a laptop that won’t turn on, a dropped machine, a broken computer after a spill, or a desktop that won’t boot, your data almost always outlives the hardware. Our laptop data recovery and PC data recovery service covers every make — Dell, HP, Lenovo, Acer, Asus, Toshiba and the rest — whether the drive inside is a hard disk or an SSD.
The key thing to know is that on most machines the drive can be removed and read on its own, so a broken laptop is rarely a dead end. Where the drive is soldered to the board — many recent ultrabooks and MacBooks — we recover at chip level instead. Either way, don’t keep power-cycling a failing computer: send it in and we’ll get the files back.
It’s the distinction that decides everything. A laptop or PC that won’t power on, won’t get past the maker’s logo, or shows a black screen can have a completely healthy drive trapped behind a dead motherboard, a failed screen, a broken power circuit or a spilled drink. In those cases recovery is often quick: we take the drive out and read it on our own equipment, entirely separately from whatever has gone wrong with the machine.
Other times the drive itself is the fault — a hard drive that’s clicking, or an SSD that’s no longer detected — and that needs the appropriate drive recovery rather than a simple copy. And sometimes the hardware is fine but Windows won’t boot, which usually means the data is safe and only the operating system is broken. Working out which of these it is, before anything is written or reinstalled, is the whole game.
‘No bootable device’, boot loops, or a spinning-dot hang. Often the drive is fine and only the boot data or Windows itself is corrupt — your files are usually intact and recoverable. Sometimes it’s the drive beginning to fail. Either way, reinstalling to ‘fix it’ is the wrong first move.
Blue screen (BSOD) or sudden crashes and freezes. Frequently a drive developing bad sectors. It’s failing but usually still readable — get it imaged before it deteriorates further.
Clicking or grinding from a laptop. A mechanical hard drive failure. Switch the machine off and stop restarting it — this is a clean-bench job and every power-on risks more damage.
Dead machine — no lights, no fans. A motherboard or power fault. The drive is almost always fine; we remove and image it.
Dropped or liquid-damaged. A knock can damage a spinning hard drive; a spill causes corrosion and shorts. Don’t power a wet machine on to test it — that’s when the harm is done (see water and fire damage).
Deleted, formatted or a reset that took your files. Logical, and very recoverable — provided you stop using the machine, because new data overwrites the old.
Most laptops and desktops use a drive we can remove and image directly: a 2.5" SATA hard drive or SSD, or an M.2 SATA or NVMe stick. Some thin-and-light laptops, Chromebooks and tablets instead solder the storage (eMMC or a soldered SSD) to the board, which needs chip-off recovery — more involved, but routine for us.
There’s one catch worth knowing about before you send a Windows machine in: BitLocker. Recent Windows laptops increasingly encrypt the drive by default, especially when set up with a Microsoft account, often without the owner realising. If your drive is BitLocker-encrypted, we can recover it — but we’ll need your BitLocker recovery key (it’s usually saved to your Microsoft account online) to make the data readable. Without it, the encryption can’t be bypassed, so it’s well worth locating before you do anything else. And if the machine held a crypto wallet now stranded on it, see crypto wallet recovery.
Don’t reinstall Windows or use ‘Reset this PC’ to try to fix a machine whose data you need — a reinstall or reset overwrites the files you’re trying to save. Don’t run Startup Repair over and over, and don’t let Windows format or ‘initialise’ a drive it can’t read. Don’t keep restarting a machine whose drive is clicking — power it off. Don’t power on a laptop that’s had a drink spilled in it to check if it survived; leave it off and unplugged. And if there’s any chance the drive is BitLocker-encrypted, find your recovery key now — it’s the difference between recoverable and not.
We recover from every major brand — Dell, HP, Lenovo, Asus, Acer, MSI, Microsoft Surface, Samsung and Chromebooks — along with custom-built and business desktops and all-in-ones. Windows and Linux machines alike, and the full range of internal drives from spinning laptop hard drives to the latest NVMe SSDs and soldered eMMC storage. If it’s a computer that stored your data, we can recover from it.
It starts with a free diagnostic: we work out whether it’s the computer, the drive or the operating system, check for BitLocker, and tell you honestly what’s recoverable — with a fixed written quote and a file listing to check before any chargeable work. On most jobs it’s no fix, no fee, and pricing is per case. It’s all done by post or drop-off, so you don’t need to be nearby — send in the whole machine, or just the drive if you’re comfortable removing it, from anywhere in the UK or Ireland.
Usually not. A machine that won’t boot often has a healthy drive inside and a fault somewhere else — the motherboard, the screen, the power, or just a corrupt Windows install. In most of those cases the data is intact and can be read off the drive separately. It’s only a problem if the drive itself has failed, and even then it’s usually recoverable. Send it in and we’ll tell you which it is.
No — not if you need the data. Reinstalling Windows, or using ‘Reset this PC’, writes over the drive and can overwrite the very files you’re trying to recover. If your files matter, stop before reinstalling and have the drive recovered first; you can always reinstall afterwards.
Yes, but you’ll need your BitLocker recovery key. Many recent Windows laptops encrypt the drive by default, often without the owner realising. We can recover the drive itself, but the key is what turns the recovered data back into readable files — it’s usually saved in your Microsoft account online. Without it, the encryption can’t be bypassed, so please locate it before sending the drive in.
Often, yes. If it has a spinning hard drive, a drop can damage it — if it’s now clicking, switch it off and leave it, as it’s a clean-bench job. If it has an SSD, the drive itself usually survives a drop and the fault is elsewhere in the machine. Either way the data is frequently recoverable; the key is not to keep powering a clicking drive.
Usually, yes. Many ultrabooks, Chromebooks and tablets solder their eMMC or SSD storage to the board, so there’s no drive to remove — we read the memory directly using chip-off techniques and reconstruct the data. It’s more specialist than a removable drive, but it’s routine work for us.
No. Our lab is in Belfast, but laptop and PC recovery is done by post or drop-off, so we work with clients right across the UK and Ireland. Send the machine or drive in with insured, tracked delivery, or drop it off in person — the service, diagnostic and pricing are the same wherever you are.
Send it in or drop it off and we’ll find out whether it’s the computer, the drive or Windows, check for encryption, and give you an honest, fixed quote before any chargeable work — no fix, no fee on most jobs.