Methods to Recover Data Lost Due to BSoD on a Windows Computer

Blue Screen of Death or BSoD is a critical Windows system error that pop-up when there is either a serious error with system files or the system, encounters an operational error. BSoD errors are sudden and annoying and cause the computer to unexpectedly crash or become unresponsive. In some rare cases, BSoDs could also lead to data loss and other related issues.

BSoDs are generally caused due to incompatible drivers, corrupt system files, malware infection, etc. If your Windows computer is stuck at a boot loop after a Blue Screen of Death, then it will not let you go past it and thus will make the data stored on your system inaccessible. In such a case, you should not panic as the data is not lost. It can be recovered by certain methods explained in this post.

We have divided this guide into 3 main sections for you to better understand the error and act accordingly.

Section 1 — Causes behind BSoD errors
Section 2 — Working of Data Recovery Software
Section 3 — Methods to recover lost data from a crashed computer

Let’s look at each section one by one.

Section 1: Causes Behind Blue Screen of Death Errors

BSoD errors or blue screen of death errors are critical system errors that get generated unexpectedly due to many reasons. They are known by many names like stop errors, blue screen errors, and more. A BSoD is generated with a stop code or dump value that can be used by the affected users to look for possible fixes. Here are some possible reasons that cause BSoD errors to occur.

• Incompatible Windows update
• Malware/virus attack
• Low disk space in system drive (C:)
• Power supply issue
• Overheating
• Corrupted system files
• Hardware issue
• Software compatibility issues

While the generation of BSoD errors doesn’t really damage the computer, they can, however, lead to data loss in certain cases. This usually happens where the issue causing the blue screen error is related to missing/damaged system files or malfunctioning hardware. However, in most cases, BSoD errors crash the system or stuck the computer in an endless boot cycle, which makes the data inaccessible as the system doesn’t move past the Blue Screen of Death.

Section 2: How Does Data Recovery Software Work?

Before moving further onto the methods of data recovery, let’s understand how data recovery software deals with such a situation and help us recover our lost data back.

Data recovery software is designed with keeping various data loss scenarios like accidental deletion, system/drive crash, malware attack, etc. in mind. Each such software comes with advanced data recovery algorithms that look for recoverable data using pointers and header files.
Any data recovery software uses deterministic and heuristic algorithms to look for the exact location of the deleted files. Once they are found, it tries to recover as much data as it can. However, one should also remember that data recovery also depends upon the type of file system. Deleted files on NTFS and APFS file systems have a fairly higher chance of getting recovered.

With the basics of data recovery cleared, let’s move on to the methods that could be employed to recover data from a BSoD-affected crashed system.

Section 3: Methods to Recover Lost Data After a Blue Screen Error

Once you have encountered a blue screen of death, the first thing you should do is recover your data onto an external drive. While the BSoD error will not let you pass itself into the system to access your data, you can use professional data recovery software for recovering your data.

Data recovery software is a versatile tool that allows users to recover data from crashed Windows 10/11 computers, corrupted drives, drive partitions, and more. It can easily recover lost data from various storage devices like HDDs, SSDs, SD cards, and more, lost in various data loss scenarios. Some data recovery software even allows you to create a bootable media or disk image to recover your data from a BSoD-affected system.

There are two ways you can use data recovery software to restore lost data from the affected system. Let’s look at both of these methods one-by-one:

Method 1: Recovering Data Using Disk Image

Prerequisite — You need to remove the storage drive from the affected computer and connect it to a working computer and ensure it is recognizable in the working computer.

Once the drive is recognized by the working computer, you need to create a disk image of that file for data recovery using a professional data recovery software of your choice. The steps for each software are different but the general sequence remains the same.

Method 2: Recovering Data Using Bootable Media Drive

Prerequisite — You need a working computer with a data recovery professional downloaded and installed. You would also require an empty USB thumb drive of at least 1 GB capacity. Plug it in and follow the instructions prompted by the wizard to create the bootable media drive.

Once you have successfully created the bootable media drive, it is time for you to plug it into the affected computer and follow the steps below. These steps are quite general and can be followed.

Note — Terminology could differ from system to system so be careful before doing so. You can also refer to the motherboard’s manual for more information.

• Power ON your computer and enter the boot menu.
• Select the bootable data recovery media and press Enter to boot with it.
• The system will boot up and will display the data recovery software’s interface.
• Follow the instructions as prompted by the data recovery wizard and recover your data from the crashed computer.

Note — Some data recovery software also provides an option to perform a Deep Scan, which allows the software to perform an in-depth search in all the volumes and sectors of the drive for recoverable data.

Once you have successfully recovered your data from your crashed system due to the occurrence of an unexpected blue screen of death, you can read further here for methods to effectively fix the BSoD on the affected computer and get rid of it in no time.

Conclusion

BSoD or blue screen of death is quite annoying as it is an unexpected error and could affect the flow of our work. This not only hampers our work but also can make us lose our data if the severity of the error is high.

If your system crashed due to a BSoD and is stuck in the boot loop, you can try the above-mentioned methods to recover your data and continue working on another system using a professional data recovery tool. We hope this guide will aid you in your data recovery journey. Good Luck.