I know this, as I have been a computer technician for twenty years, and we would accept this fact with a bit more grace if we didn't have to lose all of our data in the process. After all, we can buy a new PC tomorrow, but we can't replace the data just as quickly - and sometimes not as all.

Yeah ... yeah ... should of had a backup. We all know this, but the fact is few of us do, and we never grow to realize the importance until it's too late. So, before you go and beat up on that PC with the mallet, let's see about getting your data back first. After all, starting all over again is rough enough, we need not lose all that we worked for the past few years in the process, right?

Take your computer to a well-known computer shop to see how much it would cost to have it repaired. If the price seems reasonable, then have it repaired. However, if the price is steep ask the most important question ... 'Can the data be recovered?'

If the answer is yes, then you can go onto looking for a new PC and then ask 'How much will you charge me to recover my data?'. If the price seems too salty, then read through this article where we will teach you to do it yourself.

After all, if you can turn a screw, plug in a device, and follow directions ... then you can do it yourself. Honest!

To start your road to recovery, you will need to remove the hard drive from the system. Every PC and notebook is different, but the basics are the same.

First, you must get to the hard drive. For desktop PCs, this typically involves removing a few screws to slide of the side(s) of the case, or a complete removal of the case cover. With notebooks, it usually involves removing a back cover plate or taking off the keyboard. 

With that done, you will remove any screws holding in the hard drive and carefully remove it. It's not incredibly fragile, so you can bend it and tip it as needed - just don;t go banging it hard into anything or dropping it. There will be two cables you will remove from the end of the hard drive ... remember what these look like as this will be important in a moment.

Take the hard drive with you and tell the clerk at the counter you need an external hard drive enclosure for it. Also, ask if they will install the drive inside of it for you. The fee for this service should be nominal, as it takes less than five minutes to do it).

With that done, take your external hard drive enclosure home so you can connect it to your PC.

Now, some enclosures use a power plug that plugs into the wall. If this is the type you bought, then plug the one end into the wall socket and the other into the enclosure. Next, get out the other cable (the USB cable) and connect one end to the enclosure and the other to your PC. Switch on the drive if it doesn't turn on automatically.

Of course, if your drive doesn't have a power plug, then it must get its power from the PC. In that case, there is typically two leads on one end the USB cable. Plug both of those into the USB ports on your PC and the other end into your enclosure. Turn the drive on if necessary.

Your PC should automatically recognize the drive in minutes and you'll be ready to roll.

Ah, yes ... a good question.

Click 'Start', then 'My Computer' (in Windows XP) or 'Computer' (in Vista). Double-click on 'Local Disk D:' (or whatever drive letter your PC assigned to the external hard drive) then click on 'Documents and Settings' (in Windows XP) or 'Users' (in Windows Vista).

Next, click on your profile name. You should see many folders ... this is your data!

Or is it?

You might have been told you can't access the files. Great! Now what?

Considering this is a new PC and Windows Vista is installed, a prompt will come up asking if you want to bypass security and you will be allowed in. Great!

But what if you are moving your data to a Windows XP system? Well, things get a bit complex here, but not too bad. Here'a what you need to do.

Turn off the PC and turn it back on. Tap away at the F8 key while the system is booting, all the while looking for a black screen prompt to pop up, asking you how you want to start your PC. If you see Windows pop up, your timing was all wrong, and you need to shut down and try it again.

Next, use the arrow keys on the keyboard to select Safe Mode and press the Enter key. Windows will boot and things will look *very* different. That's okay, we won't endure this painful version of Windows for very long.

Click 'Start', then 'My Computer'. Double-click on 'Local Disk D:' (or whatever drive letter your PC assigned to the external hard drive) then click on 'Documents and Settings' (in Windows XP).

Next, right-click your user name and left-click 'properties'. left-click 'security', left-click 'add', left-click 'advanced', left-click 'find now', left-click 'administrators', left-click the OK button , left click the next OK button that pops up, left-click 'administrators', left-click the 'full control' checkbox, then left-click OK.

Now, that seems like a lot of clicks (and it is), but I took you step-by-step through it all in a matter of seconds, and it will take you about as long to do all that as it just did to read it.

So, what next? Left-click 'Start', left-click 'shutdown', then left-click 'restart'. This will take you back to the Windows XP you already know and love.

So, did it work? Lets' see!

Click 'Start', then 'My Computer'. Double-click on 'Local Disk D:' (or whatever drive letter your PC assigned to the external hard drive) then click on 'Documents and Settings'. Next, click on your profile name. You should now be able to get to your data!

You should now see many folder names, including the import ones ... My Documents, Favorites, Desktop, (and in Windows Vista ... My Pictures).

Hold down the control key on your keyboard as you left-click on each of these folders. This will highlight them. Then, left-click on Edit (on the menu) and left-click on copy.

Left-click the back button until you get back to the screen that shows all of the drive then left-click on 'local disk c:', this is where we want to place your data.

Go to your current data folder by left-clicking 'Documents and settings' (for Windows XP) or 'Users' for Windows Vista. Next, double-click your profile name. Then, left-click 'edit' and then left-click 'paste'. Your documents will be moved over to your main hard drive and placed back where they once were. You might be asked if you want to overwrite certain things ... go ahead and say yes. (trust me - I do this everyday for a living).

With that done, left click 'start' then left-click 'my documents'. You should see your old documents. Cool, eh? Now open Internet Explorer and check your favorites ... we got those back too. Even better, your old icons are back on the desktop, through it's possible some don't work anymore, as they might point to things that no longer exist.

So, your back in business! Of course, we could have went the full route and restored your email as well, but I will save that for another time as that's a bit more complex. Suffice it to say, it probably feels good to get back to all of your documents again and at only a fraction of the cost a technician would have charged to do the same thing.

Pat yourself on the back and consider yourself lucky for getting past this episode,

You escaped disaster by the hair of your chin, but the next time you might not be so lucky. Fortunately, you can prevent the same thing from occurring again by performing weekly backups. After all, you now have a spare drive to save your data, so what's the excuse? As such, I recommend driving down to the computer store one last time. 

Why the computer store? Well, you will need one final tool ... a backup program. My recommendation is a program called Acronis as you can set it to do automated backups of anything you want on your PC, and it's very reliable. 

One you have your backup program back home, install it, erase the contents of your external hard drive (once you confirm you have recovered all of your meaningful data), then set the system to backup daily to that drive. 

Then, the next time you experience a total system crash, you'll just need to install the backup software onto the new PC and restore your data from the backup, which is far easier than going through everything I wrote here. However, if you had possessed a backup in the first place, you wouldn't find yourself at this article in the first place, now would you. Haha!

So, relax, as it's all behind you now, and be certain to tell all of your friends how you managed to save your data ... with a little help from ole Yoshi. ;)