Keep important data safe after system crush or hard drive failure

Storing personal files with system programs is risky because once system breakdown you’ll lose everything. That’s why hard drive partition is of much concern. However, you still are likely to lose data if storing personal data on different partitions of the same hard disk drive because hard drive fails eventually. That’s why backup is of great importance as well. You won’t at a loss if regular backups are created to safe place like external hard drive or NAS. But also no need to worry too much if you didn’t realize the significance of backup before. This passage discusses how to access to vital data without booting Windows OS. In that case, all contents are backed up to another device and you can even delete them on current disk before sending to repair store. As a result, you can keep your confidential data secure during hardware repair.

How to protect sensitive data during a hardware repair?

To protect the data, you need to first find a way to access it. Since you have encountered system crush or hard drive failure, the snap-in Windows backup and restore utility is not applicable in most cases. Even if it is workable, if the operating system refuses to boot, it is powerless. Thus, turning to professional backup solution is another good choice.

AOMEI Backupper Professional is a reliable backup tool for Windows and now has thousands of users all over the world. It is famous for the easy-to-use interface as well as technology. It allows you to backup files before attempting to repair them. Create a bootable media, USB flash drive or CD/DVD, with one another well-function computer if your system cannot boot. Boot this computer with the created bootable media and connect an external hard drive at the same time. If you plan to backup data to network or NAS, forget the external device. After login, this AOMEI Backupper will pop up and you can start backing up then. After successfully backup, you may want to close AOMEI Backupper and delete all sensitive data before shutdown. Free download this software and have a try.

Steps to safeguard your PC data with AOMEI Backupper

Preparations:

  • A well-functioned computer.
  • An USB flash drive.
  • An external device or NAS or network share path.

1. Download, install and start this software on the well-performed PC and plug in the USB drive. Go Utilities > Create Bootable Media.

2. It is advised to select Windows PE option at this window. Follow the wizard to complete this process.

3. Remove the bootable device from this workable PC. Insert it to the computer you want to repair. Meanwhile connect the external device if the need ever arises. If you see AOMEI Backupper at the desktop, run it and go Backup this time. You can perform different operations depending on your situation. Here will take Disk Backup for example.

4. Follow to select the source disk and destination path.

6. After all works done, delete all confidential and sensitive data manually. If you know their specific location, say you store all of them on partition D, you can delete partition completely. If storing with system drive, try free bootable hard drive eraser to wipe all data thoroughly. No longer to worry about information leakage when the PC is out for repair. Restore all of the backup images after it is fixed.

Tips:

  • The USB drive used as bootable device could be replaced by a CD/DVD disc.
  • If you have installer disc at hand, you can backup hard drive with that disc. Please refer to backup hard drive without OS for more information.
  • If the OS is workable, you can skip the “create bootable media” step and backup crucial data directly.

There are many methods to protect sensitive data from unauthorized access and backing up hard drive before repair is definitely not a bad choice. After this one-off data protection, you can keep AOMEI Backupper with your computer and create regular backups just in case. If upgrade Windows 7 to 10, you can use it to backup Windows 7 for Windows 10 upgrade. Cloning OS to SSD is also available in disk replacing.