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How to Remove Data From Broken Laptop? Top Guide

Overview: If you have a broken laptop with you and it holds sensitive data of yours. Then, you are in trouble. It means whether you have a damaged screen, motherboard failure, or refusing to turn on, someone can still retrieve your data from here. But, don’t worry! In this guide, you will explore numerous methods and manual techniques to remove data from broken laptop.

Reasons Why Remove Data From Broken Computer

There are several security factors involved to remove data from broken laptop. Let’s look into it:

• By removing you can retrieve your important files, documents, and photos.
• This can prevent you from unauthorized access to protect your sensitive data.
• Extract data before you plan to recycle your laptop.
• Take backup of your data to avoid loss.
• Tackle any software or hardware issues by accessing the hard drive.

Remove Data From Broken Laptop – Top 5 Methods

In this section, we are gonna discuss five methods to remove your data from a broken computer. Go through the solution one by one.

#1. Use an External Hard Drive

If your laptop is not  turning on but the hard drive is fine, remove it using an external drive to remove data from broken laptop.

1. Turn off the laptop and remove the battery (if removable).
2. Open the back panel of it and take out the hard drive carefully.
3. Next, place the drive in an external enclosure.
4. Now, connect it to another computer via USB cable.
5. Just, you need to copy your data to a safe location from where you can have access.

#2. Connect the Hard Drive to Another Laptop/PC

In case you do not have a container for the drive, you may make use of the SATA-to-USB adapter to connect the drive, or you may install the hard drive as a secondary drive in another system or PC.

1. Firstly, you need to remove the hard drive from the broken laptop.
2. Then, connect it to a working PC using a SATA-to-USB adapter.
3. The PC should detect it as an external drive.
4. Now, copy your data to a desired location for your own use.

Also Read: How do I remove all traces from deleted files?

#3. Remove Data From Broken Laptop Using a Live USB Drive

Use a bootable USB to gain access to your files if your laptop powers on but does not boot.

1. Create a bootable USB drive containing either Linux or Windows
2. Insert the newly minted bootable USB to the laptop and turn the power on.
3. Enter the BIOS by pressing F2, F12, DEL, or ESC to set the USB device as the primary boot option.
4.  Boot from your USB and access the file manager.
5. Copy your important files into an external storage device.

#4. Use Cloud Backup or Remote Access

You can use this method to retrieve your data from a broken laptop. Here are the steps of doing this.

1. If the laptop is damaged but the monitor is intact, connect it to an external display.
2. Use file remote control using Any Desk or TeamViewer to work on the laptop from another computer.
3. Transfer important personal files to online storage places like your Google Drive, OneDrive, and Dropbox.
4. Then download your files on any other device.

Professional Way to Remove Data From Broken Laptop

If your laptop is broken and not in working condition and you want to securely wipe your data before disposal or repair it to protect your sensitive information. Then, go for PCVITA File Shredder Software to ensures complete and permanent data removal, even if the laptop is partially damaged but the drive is still accessible.

Conclusion

As we have understood, even after your laptop is broken, your data still can be accessed from outside attackers. Provided manual methods can also be sometimes breached. So, you can use our professional tool to remove your important files without any recovery possible. To understand more about residual data issues, check out why is my hard drive still full after deleting files?