windows 10 blue screen of death

[Napalm Bulldog]

Yesterday I got the awesome gift of windows 10 blue screen of death. The upgrade to windows was done automatically, I saw a prompt the day before the change saying it was going to upgrade to windows 10. So long story short, HP is sending me a recovery disc so I can use my fomputer again. BAD news is I was told I'm going to loose all my pictures and files. Does anyone know if there is a way to salvage them? I cant system restore etc. Just dont want to loose family photos. Any help would be appreciated. My computer is a HP touch smart 610.

[lazyworm]

I don't deal with windows anymore, but here's a generic answer -- Leave your existing drive alone. Do not format/wipe/reinstall -- as long as you don't modify anything, your data should be relatively safe. Reinstall on a different drive and then re-attach the old drive to retrieve your pictures/files.

If you're not computer savvy, best to get help from a trusted friend/relative.

Also, backup your data, keep at least 1 extra copy of anything important.

[SkyHawk]

Does your computer still boot right now?

If so, before you use the recovery disk - boot your system and copy all your important files to another media like burn to DVD, external HDD, large thumb drive, etc.

Also consider buying a new disk drive - if you do not have Solid State disk now is a great time to get one. And install it as your new system disk BEFORE you use the recovery disks. Then everything on your old drive will not be erased, and you can connect it to your refreshed system as a second drive or external drive, after it completes recovery.

Is this a desktop or laptop?


EDIT - lazyworm beat me to it - do not reinstall on your old drive, preserve it. Leave your old drive DISCONNECTED before you use the recovery disks.

[Napalm Bulldog]

Does your computer still boot right now?

If so, before you use the recovery disk - boot your system and copy all your important files to another media like burn to DVD, external HDD, large thumb drive, etc.

Also consider buying a new disk drive - if you do not have Solid State disk now is a great time to get one. And install it as your new system disk BEFORE you use the recovery disks. Then everything on your old drive will not be erased, and you can connect it to your refreshed system as a second drive or external drive, after it completes recovery.

Is this a desktop or laptop?


EDIT - lazyworm beat me to it - do not reinstall on your old drive, preserve it. Leave your old drive DISCONNECTED before you use the recovery disks.

Its a desk top and im not real computer savy. What it does when i turn it on says there was fatal error or something along those lines. Tries to self diagnose and fix wich fails. Then gives me the
Option to restart or advance options. In advance options everything i select triggers thar error except a file option, its the one you click that takes it to a black screen. I tried going in and opening pictures and it says no file can be found.. I cannot save my files and reset, it will error again.

[Bobby Ricigliano]

I don't deal with windows anymore, but here's a generic answer -- Leave your existing drive alone. Do not format/wipe/reinstall -- as long as you don't modify anything, your data should be relatively safe. Reinstall on a different drive and then re-attach the old drive to retrieve your pictures/files.

If you're not computer savvy, best to get help from a trusted friend/relative.

Also, backup your data, keep at least 1 extra copy of anything important.

This is your best option. And for Pete's sake, back your important files up next time.

[The War Wagon]

I upgraded my office computer. It was enough to convince me to stay with 8.1 Pro at home...

[Peter.Steele]

Use a Linux live CD to at least access the computer, then make copies of your stuff. Once that's done, you can feel free to use the restore CD.

[high_revs]

easiest solution....

pull out the drive. best to have an enclosure that can connect power and usb. attach to another machine and extract everything. before acronis and bookmark sync (xmarks) i used to copy:

* my documents/pictures/videos/music
* profile/my desktop if you save files on desktop.
* c:\temp if you use it
* /your account/downloads (p.s. i hate using that as it disappeared on me and i couldn't bring it back. so i create a "_downloads" either under my profile as a directory or c:\temp\)
your bookmark files. if you use chrome, it'll automatically pull them from their sever and your extensions, which also menas they know all your bookmarks though
most apps these days save on your /profile/my documents vs. in the winxp/win2000 the default location for where file are stores are c:\program files\app etc (adobe used to do that eons ago).
* any other special directory you may use.

if you have a partition and keep files there, go there and copy too.

if you have another machine, just plug it there and look at the drive. do not boot off it obviously.

hp support sucks (but a lot of them sucks too, hence we have CG right?) for them to tell you you will lose all your files only shows they even simplified their scope and don't even want to mention that for fear they'll get sucked into helping you.

[Section 101]

Do you have access to another PC? Download and create a boot CD/usb called Hirens. You can boot off the cd\usb and copy your files.

[Napalm Bulldog]

Do you have access to another PC? Download and create a boot CD/usb called Hirens. You can boot off the cd\usb and copy your files.

I only have a tablet. I appreciate all the info guys. Unfortunately I dont think i backed up my photos and i just dont want to loose the photos of my kids with my father before he passed away. I have a friend who is going to try and help me and mentioned removing the hard drive and connecting it to another set up he has, if i heard him correctly.

[yellowsulphur]

I only have a tablet. I appreciate all the info guys. Unfortunately I dont think i backed up my photos and i just dont want to loose the photos of my kids with my father before he passed away. I have a friend who is going to try and help me and mentioned removing the hard drive and connecting it to another set up he has, if i heard him correctly.

With data this important I would set the drive aside until I could afford a professional recovery service. It could be something like a bad master boot record which the tools recommended should be able to recover your data, but it might be a more serious problem.

[gorn5150]

I only have a tablet. I appreciate all the info guys. Unfortunately I dont think i backed up my photos and i just dont want to loose the photos of my kids with my father before he passed away. I have a friend who is going to try and help me and mentioned removing the hard drive and connecting it to another set up he has, if i heard him correctly.

Don't do anything with the bad drive other then take it out of the computer. Put a new hard drive in the computer then run the recovery disc. Your pictures and other files are not gone unless you over write them. Once your computer is running with a new drive get a $9 USB hard drive cable from Amazon and plug the old drive in. Then copy the files you want to keep to the new drive.

http://www.amazon.com/SANOXY%C2%AE-Adapter-Converter-Optical-External/dp/B001OORMVQ/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1443132818&sr=8-2&keywords=usb+hard+drive+cable

Then go to Costco and buy a USB hard drive to back up all of your important cables. Or you can get some company to recover the files at a huge expense to you.

[Napalm Bulldog]

Thank you again for the info .