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Any person who is really good with PC's here? Need to recover stuff...

My computer crashed, I want to recover files from it.
How do I get to just cope the files from the HDD, if I don't really need the OS to work?
It wont start up, I don't even get to the boot menu-selecton all I see is "Acer..." green text.. annoying.

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SumKindaMunster · 51-55, M

Take the hard drive out of the computer and use an external drive connector to connect it as a secondary drive to another computer you have.

It will load up the drive and the file list. If this is Windows, your stuff will be under the Users folder and your user name. Copy that folder and as long as you didnt' store stuff elsewhere, this should be the data you are seeking.

SuperScooter · 31-35, M

@SumKindaMunster Thanks yeah this was what i was about to do.. just found the price of the device in the store before you posted this, but yeah that's prolly the best idea.

FrozenWasteland · 61-69, M

Well, here are my thoughts, for whatever they are worth. I wouldn't claim to be really good with PC's but I've dealt with a LOT of issues over the years.

I'm not sure what the right key to enter the BIOS on an Acer is (F2 or DEL, most likely), but if you just hold the key down when you turn the machine on, it ought to let you in to the BIOS (at least my machines - not Acer - work that way). If it doesn't let you into the BIOS, it's likely a motherboard hardware problem.

If you can get into the BIOS, what I'd do is to change the boot device order and boot it up with a live version of Linux of some flavor - I use Ubuntu, mostly - from USB or DVD or whatever works and then copy what you need off the hard drive. That way, however badly the hard drive might be messed up it won't have any effect on what you're trying to do.

If you can't get into the BIOS, you have little choice but to remove the hard drive, stick it in an external enclosure and read it from a different computer.

Oh, and if it's a laptop, as a real long shot, remove the battery, hold down the power button for a while and let it sit until all the charge is drained out of every capacitor in the computer. Then reinstall the battery and try again. It may have just gotten HORRIBLY confused for some reason.

SuperScooter · 31-35, M

@FrozenWasteland All great advices. Going with the external enclosure since I just need to see what files are on the PC desktop.

Londonn · 36-40, M

unfortunately man, the way you explain it, I predict you can't do it yourself. I know exactly what happened, you need a restart usb, and then copy your files in command mode, or maybe you can start a backupper tool.. etc. but you better take it to the pc shop

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Londonn · 36-40, M

@SuperScooter "acer wont let me access start up boot menu" "You may be hitting the F2 key too soon or too late, F2 should be the right key. The Beeping at start sounds like it's complaining about a key being pressed in during boot. Can also try Del, on some older systems that may work. If not, check with Acer support."

Londonn · 36-40, M

@SuperScooter yeah disconnect the hard drive and so it can't jump to it and ask you to do something about it

SuperScooter · 31-35, M

@Londonn Tried F2, F5, 7 8 10 and 12, and all of them just for the cause.

PhilDeep · 51-55, M

I don't know the background to how this happened, though I've seen PCs lock in that kind of way when Windows was trying to update and failed half-way, and wasn't able to undo its changes...

SuperScooter · 31-35, M

@PhilDeep I got into repair-mode befoer, now i dont even get that.

PhilDeep · 51-55, M

@SuperScooter Presumably the key to enter BIOS/UEFI/System isn't working either. Sometimes you need to do that to change the order of boot devices so that it sees your USB first. If that doesn't work I think you need to take it to a repair shop. They might remove the drive, reconnect it to another machine and read the data off it that way.

SuperScooter · 31-35, M

@PhilDeep I'll do that last part myself. But yeah, that's prolly best solution.

smileylovesgaming · 31-35, F

Can u hold down the power button for like a 10 count.

SuperScooter · 31-35, M

@smileylovesgaming that shuts down the computer, still don't get a boot menu when i use the commands for it.

smileylovesgaming · 31-35, F

@SuperScooter u want it turned off completely. To do a master restart hold down the power button for a 10 count. Works for my tablet

Reflection2 · 36-40, M

Not me, at least.

gregloa · 61-69, M

Get a Mac. 😂

SumKindaMunster · 51-55, M

@gregloa Yeah swell, they just announced a zero day exploit yesterday.

https://threatpost.com/apple-patches-zero-days-ios-emergency-update/163374/ 🤣

uncalled4 · 56-60, M

The last time that happened with my old Windows 7 computer, I just kept pulling the plug out and resetting it and it eventually came back, at least enough to grab files off of it. I'm not saying it will work, and some people who know better than I will slap my hand for that. In my case, it wouldn't boot past DOS

SuperScooter · 31-35, M

@uncalled4 If I got to DOS i'd fix this...

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