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Retrieve internal hard drive data from BIOS

Kentin331 -  
Sannin_WD Posted messages 4316 Status Member -
Good evening,

I found an old computer in my things, but it crashes on startup. Specifically, I would like to know if I can recover data from the internal hard drive simply from the BIOS (which I can access with F2 at startup).

Have a good evening

K

1 answer

  1.
    Sannin_WD Posted messages 4316 Status Member 758
     
    Kentin331, hello :)

    I confirm that retrieving the data would be possible (as long as the health of the hard drive allows it). However, from the BIOS, we won’t be able to do much ;) It would be necessary either to externalize the HDD or to access it through a Linux Live CD. In both cases, we would need to get our hands dirty ;)

    By the way, Kentin331, is this old HDD a SATA type or not?

    For this reason and depending on which option you choose, we could:

    1/ remove the HDD from the machine to connect it either externally (via SATA/USB adapter or external enclosure) or internally, directly to the motherboard (as a secondary storage HDD) of a PC with multiple SATA ports.

    2/ leave the HDD in the machine it came from and use a Linux Live CD to try to access it without dismantling it.

    Just for a little backstory (sorry if I'm stating the obvious ;) ): Linux is an operating system that has various distributions. A Linux Live CD is either a CD or USB drive that allows you to run this operating system directly from the medium, without installing it on the machine's hard drive. You just need to create a bootable USB drive where the .ISO file of the Linux distribution will be placed. Then, you start this OS directly from the USB drive… There you go :)

    Looking forward to hearing from you for the next steps :)

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