Service tag · 6 matching pages
Determine whether files on a failing or nonworking computer are still recoverable by separating computer failure from storage failure, checking backups or cloud copies first, and choosing ordinary transfer, drive removal, imaging, or specialist recovery appropriately.
Diagnose a missing internal or external drive by finding the layer where it disappears: File Explorer, Disk Management, firmware, connection, enclosure, power, filesystem, or the storage hardware itself.
Treat new clicking, grinding, scraping, or repeated spin-up noise from a mechanical hard drive as a possible physical-failure warning and protect important data before ordinary troubleshooting.
Select the correct recovery point, preserve newer data where possible, restore the matching files and database, then verify the recovered site and investigate the original failure.
Protect irreplaceable data first when a drive shows credible failure signs by reducing unnecessary use, checking existing backups, copying the highest-value accessible files, and avoiding repair, benchmarking, or cleanup that wastes remaining readable I/O.
Diagnose an external drive that disappeared by checking data importance first, then cable, power, port, Windows detection, drive-letter state, enclosure behavior, filesystem trouble, and physical-drive failure.