![]() In the latter case, it sometimes takes a few minutes before there's enough battery power for the booting process to begin. For laptops, it's possible the battery needs to be recharged. For desktop computers, maybe the cord has come undone. Better yet, make sure the computer is receiving power. These steps can give you a better idea of whether the issue is the drive or something else.Ĭheck the power: This sounds obvious, but you should first make sure you pushed the power button. While any number of the problems listed above could be what's causing the issue, there are a few troubleshooting steps you can take before panicking. Not surprisingly, "unbooting" drives are those that don't properly come to life after pushing that power button. ![]() From there, the system's operating system loads, and you can get to work. Once this occurs, the computer's central processing unit, or CPU, sends a command to executable software to get things moving, typically through its memory. It's typically a process that begins by pushing a button on the machine. ![]() (Image credit: Image by Bruno /Germany from Pixabay ) What does “unbootable” mean and troubleshooting steps to takeīooting a computer is the successful process of starting your computer. Accidental formatting, incorrect software installations, and similar steps could also result in drive failures. Look in the mirror: Finally, perhaps you're the reason the drive is no longer working. Once you turn off the computer and let it sit for a while, the problems might be resolved. Heating issues: If you're performing too many tasks on your computer, it's possible it's overheated. Physical problems: For whatever reason, the physical hard drive could suddenly suffer from a mechanical issue, resulting in corrupted or inaccessible files. Malicious programs accidentally collected online could also cause file corruption.įirmware Faults: The system may sometimes get stuck in the middle of the booting process, making it impossible for you to access your files. However, your drive could quickly fail if something causes the boot process to stop, such as an unstable power supply. (See below.)Ĭorruption: Those power supply issues, surges, or shutdowns, could ultimately affect critical system files that become corrupt. If you fear for deleted or lost data, though, you're going to have to do a bit-by-bit image, which will take up every bit of space that your hard drive has, file compression aside.Booting problems: Starting a computer should be a smooth process. The first leaves out "free" space, and as a consequence results in a much smaller image file than the size of your disk - which is fine, if you're not trying to recover deleted data, and just trying to back it up. There are usually two ways to make an image. Instead of Ubuntu and manually copying, you could also go to the extreme of imaging your entire hard drive using something like an Acronis True Image bootable DVD, meaning that if you've forgotten to copy a file across in the backup, that image is there for you to extract it from. Still, there's one preventative measure that you should employ right now if you're running on a Windows system.Īlso positive is Ubuntu's ability to write to NTFS partitions, not just read them - important to be able to copy files larger than 4GB - and mounting a USB hard drive to back things up to is as easy as plugging the drive in, and waiting for the icon to appear on the desktop. Needless to say, this wouldn't be an issue if you backed up regularly, but, if you're reading this article, it means that you haven't. It should be said that there's an element of prevention here - if you perform some steps before the disaster ever occurs, then you'll be in a much better place. That said, if it's a simple file loss, rather than a hardware failure, then there are things that the user can do if they decide not to opt for professional recovery. If the data is really important to you, then the highest chance of a successful recovery is with a professional data-recovery company. Don't use the device or let "the IT-savvy friend" try to recover data. If you suspect data loss or a serious mechanical problem with a hard drive, the first thing to do is to turn the computer or device off. The first step of data recovery is really with the client.
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