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- Notebook Boot and Lockup
- Boot Device Not Found

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08-31-2020
09:46 PM
- last edited on
09-01-2020
07:08 AM
by
BiancaS
I'm getting "Boot Device Not Found" and "Hard Disk (3F0). I have files on my laptop that I dis not back up. Is this notebook going to be too pricey to fix? Or not worth it? It's only 3 years old. Would it be cheaper to get the data retrieved?
09-01-2020 09:43 AM
That error message nearly always indicates a failing drive -- and the only "fix" for that is to replace the drive -- which won't have any of your saved information on it from the old drive.
Since you apparently made no backups of this important information, then your focus at present should be on trying to retrieve that information and worry about getting the laptop working later.
Your best bet for recovering data now is to do the following:
1) Remove the disk drive from the old PC. If this is a SATA hard drive or a SATA SSD, this is a simple thing to do. If this is an m.2 SSD, that could be either screwed to the motherboard or soldered to the motherboard. If the second, you would need to have a techician remove it for you, or you risk seriously damaging the PC doing it yourself.
2) If you have a desktop PC with a spare hard drive connector, then connect the old drive to that. If the old drive is a SATA drive, connect both the power cable and the data cable. (This adapter is illustrated below) If the old drive is an m.2 SSD, you will need a USB-to-mSATA cable.
3) Try to retrieve the files and folders you want to save from the old drive and copy them to the new PC.
If this does not work, then you need to do the following:
1) Download and install this utility on a working PC http://www.majorgeeks.com/news/story/recover_data_in_3_steps_with_minitool_power_data_recovery_free_...
2) Run the data recovery utility to see what can be retrieved from the old drive.
If that tool does not find what you need, an alternative is Recuva http://www.piriform.com/recuva
And, if that does not work well, the best tool out there is this one, but only the demo version is free https://www.runtime.org/data-recovery-software.htm
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