You don’t have to be a business owner or a university student to have a lot of important files stored on your laptop. Today, we are relying on our gadgets more than ever before; paper files are quickly becoming a thing of the past since it’s so much easier to simply access everything that we need electronically.

But, what happens if your old laptop suddenly isn’t so reliable anymore? If your laptop has given up and come to the end of its life taking your files with it, then you might be feeling a little bit desperate. Thankfully all is not lost; here are some top tips to help you get everything back and prevent it from happening again in the future.

#1. Speak to the Experts:

In some cases, you might be able to retrieve files yourself from a laptop that hasn’t quite given up just yet. But, if your computer is completely dead and won’t even start up, you’d need to know your way around the inside to successfully recover your data.

So, the first thing you should do if you’ve lost your laptop data, is contact a good data recovery company. The professionals will know exactly what to do to get into your hard drive, unless there’s been an irreparable issue with it, you’ll usually be able to quickly get everything back.

#2. Check for Other Issues:

Sometimes, your laptop hard drive may well be perfectly intact; it’s something else that’s broken, such as the battery or the screen. So, it’s a good idea to check this out before you pay anybody to recover the data.

If you haven’t damaged your laptop accidentally, then you might even be able to get it repaired under your warranty. You’ll probably need to pay for breakages or water damage caused by an accident, although if you’ve been forward thinking and insured your gadgets, this will usually cover the cost.

#3. Check for Software Problems:

If you are using a Windows device, you can re-boot your computer in Safe Mode, which will only load up the minimum requirements to get your device back up and running. If this is successful, you’ll then be able to locate your lost files and run anti-virus software to deal with the problem.

#4. Move to the Cloud:

Whether you’ve been lucky enough to get your files back from your damaged device or not, it’s a good idea to let the situation be a learning curve. Storing all your files on your laptop hard drive might be convenient – but this is only the case if it’s working!

Today, there’s no need to store anything physically; cloud services such as iCloud or Google Drive offer plenty of space for all your important files and documents. What’s even better is that you’ll never lose them, no matter how many times you replace or break your laptop.