A dead computer almost never means dead files. The part that fails is usually the power, the board, or the screen — the drive holding your data is often perfectly fine and just needs to be read by something else.
The computer dying isn't the drive dying
A laptop that won't power on, a desktop that won't post, a cracked screen — none of those touch the storage drive. We pull the drive, read it in another machine, and copy your files off. This is the common, good-news case.
When it's harder
If the drive itself is the failed part, it gets trickier. A mechanical drive that clicks or buzzes is physically failing, and every power-on risks more loss. A dead SSD, or an encrypted drive (BitLocker) without the key, is harder still — recoverable in many cases, but not all, and not as a DIY job.
What not to do
Don't keep powering on a drive that clicks — you can turn a recoverable drive into an unrecoverable one. Don't run random "recovery" tools on a failing drive; they make it work harder. And don't reinstall Windows on a drive you're trying to recover — that overwrites the very files you want back.
If you have no backup
This is exactly what data recovery is for. We assess the drive, tell you honestly what's recoverable, and pull what we can — and if we can't recover anything, you don't pay for it. Once we've got your files back, we'll help you set up a backup so it never happens again — here's how to do that right.
Lost files on a dead machine? Don’t power it on again — call us.
We're based in Dawsonville and fix computers for people across North Georgia — Woodstock, Alpharetta, and beyond — plus remote help anywhere. Our diagnostic is a flat $24.99, credited toward the repair if we fix it, and you don't pay if we can't. Call (706) 203-2563 or start a repair request.