Whether you're a student cramming for your term paper or an employee who is drafting a report for work, the last thing that you want to come out of your mouth are the words "My PC crashed!". For laptop users, this is the equivalent of the dreaded blue screen while desktop computer users may hear an unusual sound from their hard drives as soon as it crashes.

Learning the Cause behind Computer Crashes

If your PC crashed, two possible things could have happened. First, the crash could be caused by a physical hard drive failure. As mentioned earlier, desktop computer users might hear a grinding, whirring or clicking noise and when this occurs - it is most probably a physical hard drive failure.

Second, the crash could be caused by a logical failure. Instead of a physical computer part being the reason for your computer crashing, it could be due to a virus, a software malfunction or a human error.

The good news is that even if your PC crashed, there is a very high probability that your precious data is still present on the drive - it is merely inaccessible in the meantime.

The First Thing to Do for Data Recovery

Just like in any kind of emergency, the golden rule for data recovery if your computer crashes or gives you the blue screen of death is: don't panic. Remember what happened prior to the crash, and take note of any error messages if any.

Now, your concern is recovering the data that you lost - especially if you are not the type who backs up files regularly. If the computer experiences a serious crash, you might need to get the help of an expert at data recovery. Their services do not come cheap, though, so you may opt for do-it-yourself data recovery using one of the software available on the Internet. Those who do not have a technical background may want to seek the help of an expert when using a data recovery software, otherwise your data might be further damaged instead of recovered.

At the end of the day, deciding whether or not to get the services of a data recovery expert depends on just how important your data is, whether you have a backup of the data that was lost during the crash, and if you would rather use a data recovery program. So before your hard drive even has a 'chance' to crash, make sure to regularly backup all your data in case it does happen.

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