Data Recovery From Corrupted Internal Hard Disk – How To Do

No matter you're using a desktop or a laptop, there's an internal hard disk built-in your computer when you bought it. The capacity, rotational speed, interface and service life vary from disk to disk. In addition, different computers' configuration is different and users' operations are not all the same. As a result, internal hard disk corrupted sometimes due to poor hardware quality or wrong operations.

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Once your internal hard disk is corrupted, you must be depressed, right? Sometimes, your hard drive is clicking and in some other cases, it may have no response. And we know countless cases in which users are dying to know the most effective solution to data recovery from corrupted internal hard disk.

Obviously, how to recover data from corrupted internal hard disk is a task that is more formidable than getting back data from a removable drive. But please stay calm; this isn't a problem that can't be fixed. We have provided solutions for both desktop users and laptop users to recover data from damaged internal hard drive.

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We suggest choosing MiniTool Power Data Recovery to recover data when operating system not found error appears since it is equipped with high security, wizard-style interfaces and high recovery rate. You have 2 choices to recover data from dead hard drive with this this failed hard drive data recovery software:

1. Take out the internal hard disk and connect it to another computer. Then, download the free edition of software to this computer and start crashed hard disk recovery.

2. Buy bootable edition of this software and create a boot CD/USB. Connect the boot disk you've made to computer and boot it from this disk to start broken hard drive data recovery.




After that, we'll analyze the possible reasons to explain why your internal hard disk is corrupted or crashed. And at the end of this article, we'll talk about the classification & purchasing skills of hard drive.

2 Solutions for Data Recovery from Corrupted Internal Hard Disk

After encountering internal hard disk crash, most people will choose to restart the computer to have a try. That works sometimes, and it is really the first thing you should do before considering dead hard drive recovery. However, in many cases, you may end up in failure, stuck in an infinite loop or in one stage of startup.

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Please don't worry; as long as the accident is not caused by physical damage of hard disk, you've got a great chance to regain all the lost data with MiniTool Power Data Recovery. Follow the tips given below and we believe you'll not ask how to repair corrupted internal hard disk the next time when you meet such problem.

Solution 1 – Get Free Hard Drive Data Recovery Service


We suggest you to adopt the free edition of Power Data Recovery to scan & recover your lost data in 2 cases:

Case 1: as we have said before, you can try to restart your computer right after it corrupted. In a few cases, people succeed – entered computer after restarting. But that doesn't mean your data is intact; we mean, some of your files saved in internal hard disk may disappear. So we strongly recommend you to recover lost data immediately. Then, backup all important files you need on the computer to be well prepared since hard drive crash may happen anytime.


Case 2: desktop hard disk put inside the computer case is relatively flexible – it can be taken out from computer case even by ordinary users and this will not bring damage to disk data or computer. So in this case, if it is the desktop internal hard disk that is corrupted, you can choose to take out it carefully and then connect it to another computer to recover data from damaged hard drive.


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How to recover data from crashed hard disk with free software:
Step 1: download and install the MiniTool Power Data Recovery Free Edition V7.0.

Step 2: choose to run this failed hard drive data recovery software immediately from the last window of installation wizard. Or right click on the icon from desktop.

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Step 3: choose a proper module from main interface. ("Damaged Partition Recovery" is advised if the partition containing your lost data exists; if a whole partition is lost, please resort to "Lost Partition Recovery")

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Step 4: select the target drive as suggested and scan it by pressing "Full Scan" button in the lower right corner.

Step 5: check files you need from the scan result and recover them by pressing "Save" button & setting storage location afterwards.

Note: the free edition allows recovering at most 1GB files from your internal hard disk. To recover more, you should save the scan result manually; then, buy a license to upgrade the free software and load manually saved scan result to continue data recovery.




This solution should also be adopted by users who are asking how to recover data from corrupted/dead external hard disk.

Solution 2 – Recover Files from A Hard Drive That Won't Boot


We suggest you to adopt the boot edition of Power Data Recovery to scan & recover data from internal disk without booting into Windows:

Case 1: if you can't restart the computer successfully after internal hard disk corrupted or the Windows update stuck/failed, the free edition would not be helpful since it can only work under Windows environment. At this time, you need to turn to the bootable edition.


Case 2: some desktop users refuse to take the hard disk out from computer case since they're afraid that irreversible damage would be made. Besides, if it is laptop users who run into corrupted internal hard disk, they'll find it's hard to take out the built-in disk and more importantly, once they've done this action, the laptop warranty will become invalid. At this time, how to get files off a dead laptop becomes an important thing.


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How to recover data without OS (operating system):

Step 1: burn the boot edition to your CD/DVD or USB flash drive with Bootable Media Builder.

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Step 2: insert the boot CD/DVD to computer CD driver (or connect the boot USB flash drive to computer through USB interface). Then, enter BIOS and adjust CD-ROM to be the first boot device. Now, save changes and exit to restart computer.

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Step 3: the boot edition of software in bootable disk will be launched automatically.

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Step 4: after a successful boot, you ought to recover data just like using the free edition.

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Note: the free boot edition is only free to scan the lost files, if you want to recover them, you'll need to buy a license.


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If you're a MacBook user and bothered by such problem, we also have solutions for you. Please see You're Able To Recover Data From Dead MacBook, That's Impressive to know specifically how to do.


7 Main Causes for Hard Drive Corruption

It is not a rare phenomenon that people failed to enter the system when starting computer. The reasons responsible for that disaster are multifarious. Even a slight impact on hard disk platter or a wrong operation could lead to a corrupted internal hard disk.

Here, we summarized 7 popular causes for a corrupted hard drive. Please get to know them one by one.

Reason 1 – Physical Damage


Physical damage, also known as hardware failure, includes the following types:
  • Overheating;
  • Read/write head crash;
  • Cracked or poor-contact data line;
  • Scratch on magnetic platters;
  • Short circuit in the control circuit board, etc.

The data lost due to those kinds of reasons can hardly be recovered. You have no choice but to turn to professionals for data recovery from physically damaged HDD.

Reason 2 – Hard Drive Aging

Every hard disk is built with a certain service life. The usual argument is that the theoretical life of a mechanical hard disk is probably more than 30,000 hours. If the hard disk is working continuously (for example, in Web server), then you can kiss goodbye to your industrious hard disk after about 3 years.

Note: please don't worry too much; the service life of hard disk used by ordinary computer users could last for about 6 to 10 years.


Reason 3 – File System Damage


File system is used by operating system to define the method for organizing files on storage device. To be specific, it is like a gateway to access data saved on hard disk partitions. If the file system on internal hard disk is unfortunately damaged somehow, the disk may become inaccessible and the computer may fail to start.

Reason 4 – Virus Attack

If a computer is attacked by virus, the necessary boot files stored in internal hard disk may be destroyed or deleted, leading to boot failure. Meanwhile, the useful data or the whole partition may also be deleted by the virus.

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Reason 5 – Boot Sector Corruption

Boot sector is the first sector of hard disk; it is used to load processor control and then transfer it to the operating system. Once boot sector is damaged, users will not be able to enter the computer and access any data saved in internal hard disk.

Reason 6 – Software Conflict


All kinds of programs we installed on our computer currently may not able to be fully compatible with each other, so software conflicts happen now and then to lead to unexpected computer shutdown and cause internal hard drive corruption.

Reason 7 – Human Error


Since not all users are professional in computer using and file managing (the fact is more than half of the users are not a good hard disk manager and they're not experienced), they tend to make some mistakes when computer is running, resulting in hard disk crash.

Be aware of those causes and try to stay away from them!

How to Choose a Good Hard Drive


In this part, we'll walk you through some common purchasing skills here. The following aspects could decide the overall performance of a hard disk and customer satisfaction:
  • Price;
  • Interface;
  • Capacity;
  • Speed;
  • Stability;
  • Cache;
  • After-sale service.

Skill 1 – Compare the Price


Whenever we want to buy a thing, quality and price comes first into our consideration. No matter how good the stuff is in quality, if the price is too high to afford, most of us will give up the idea of bring it home.

On the contrary, given that the quality of a thing is not so satisfactory, but as long as it has an appealing price, some people would buy it even if they don't need it currently.

Skill 2 – Pay Attention to Price

We think it's not so necessary to talk much about capacity so much since "the bigger the better" is always true in terms of this aspect. By the way, with the fast development of technology, the capacity of hard disk has been increased a lot when there's no big change in price (see picture).

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Skill 3 – Look at the Interface


In terms of the hard disk interface, the most widely used one is SATA (Serial ATA put forward by Intel). The famous IDE hard disk is out of date. As for another hard disk interface specification – SCSI, though it owns many advantages which IDE can't be compared to, it is seldom used among ordinary users due to its expensive price (which is decided by the high production cost).

Look at this page to know difference between SATA & IDE.

Skill 4 – Get to Know Cache

There's also not much to talk about when it comes to hard disk cache. Why? That is simply because most of the hard drives are built with a 2GB cache; only some advanced hard drives adopt a 4MB cache.

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In fact, large cache is a good feature for hard disk since it can improve disk performance significantly, but it has one shortcoming – the price is relatively high. Yet, you can choose an appropriate cache by following your own financial situation.

Skill 5 – Check the Speed

It is easy to understand that a 7200 rpm hard disk is better than a 5400 rpm hard disk in performance. Just because of this, two hard disks with the same capacity could have difference price. Under the condition that the price difference can be accepted, we suggest users to choose a hard drive with fast rotational speed.

Skill 6 – Take Stability into Consideration

Unquestionably, strong stability is the thing everyone wants to pursue. The stability determines how long your hard disk's service life is in a way and it reflects whether it was a right choice to buy your hard disk at your price. Therefore, it's safer to avoid the outdated or the newest hard disk.

Skill 7 – Don't Forget about After-sales Service

This is an aspect that nearly all people will take into consideration before they buy a product, especially when this product is very expensive. As you know, hard disk is always working at a fast speed as long as your computer is running.

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But it turns out that hard disk is actually very fragile and could be broken at any moment. No one would like to see his important data saved on hard disk gone, so after-sales service and quality assurance are two vital factors that would change users mind when they're selecting hard disk.

In order to avoid the troublesome and annoying data recovery from corrupted internal hard disk, users should hurry to roll up their sleeves to pick out a hard disk with high cost performance.

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Bottom Line

The fact is – you could run into corrupted internal hard disk problem at any time. But the most important thing we want to emphasize in this article is a corrupted internal hard disk is not the end of the world. We've got 2 effective solutions to help you with data recovery from corrupted internal hard disk.

Even if you can't recover data after trying them both, you should stay calm and find other ways out, like turn to professional data recovery agencies and pay for the broken hard drive data recovery. Or you can leave your problem here and our technical team will see if we can help.

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