The short answer: A laptop that will not turn on does not necessarily have a faulty drive—in the vast majority of cases, the problem lies somewhere other than where your data is stored. The first step is therefore to determine whether the fault is with the power supply and motherboard, the operating system, or the drive itself; each of these three answers leads to a different course of action. If it is a removable 2.5″ SATA or M.2 drive, the fastest option is often to read it on another computer using a USB adapter. Bear in mind, however, that storage in modern Windows 11 devices may be encrypted even if you never enabled encryption yourself—and without the 48-digit BitLocker recovery key from your Microsoft account or organisation account, nobody will be able to read the data, not even a recovery laboratory. Look for the key before reaching for a screwdriver.
This article is about Windows computers. The decision tree for Macs is fundamentally different—what can and cannot be recovered from a failed MacBook is covered in a separate article about data from a non-working MacBook. If you are dealing with a Mac, go straight to that article; the steps below do not apply.
First determine what is actually not working
The phrase „the laptop will not turn on" covers four entirely different situations. Before taking anything apart, observe what the computer does when you press the power button:
| What the computer does | Most likely source of the fault | What it means for your data |
|---|---|---|
| No lights come on, the fan does not move, and the charger shows no power draw | power circuitry, charger, connector, motherboard | The drive is usually unaffected—the data is normally accessible |
| The lights come on and the fan starts, but the screen remains black | motherboard, memory, graphics—or simply the display or backlight | Try an external monitor; the drive is usually fine |
| The manufacturer’s logo appears, followed by a blue screen or an „Automatic Repair" loop | operating system, file system, drivers, or an emerging drive fault | The data usually still exists, but automatic repairs may damage it |
| The drive is not listed in the UEFI/BIOS setup | drive, drive connector, or drive power supply | High-risk condition—do not keep trying |
| Clicking or squealing sounds, or the drive disappears while being read | drive mechanics or electronics | Shut it down immediately; proceed only through a laboratory |
The last row is the most important. If the drive is making sounds that it did not make before, the goal is no longer to „get the laptop running"—every further startup attempt reduces the chances of recovery. What happens inside the drive in this situation is explained in what to do when a drive clicks.
Two minutes that may pay off: try another charger, then hold the power button for 15 seconds with both the battery and power supply disconnected (on computers with a removable battery). If the screen is black, connect an external monitor. If the computer starts, do nothing else and make a backup. A backup made today is the least expensive form of data recovery there is.
Before the screwdriver: find your key
People often skip this step and are then surprised when they connect the drive to another computer. Windows can enable encryption automatically.
Microsoft states this clearly: Device Encryption automatically enables BitLocker encryption for the operating-system drive and fixed drives, and it is activated when the device is first signed in to or set up using a Microsoft account or a work or school account—the recovery key is then attached to that account. If you use a local account, it is not enabled automatically. Unlike BitLocker Drive Encryption, which is available in the Pro, Enterprise, and Education editions, Device Encryption is also available on devices running Windows Home.
In practice, this means that an ordinary home laptop bought with Windows 11 and set up using a Microsoft account is often encrypted without its owner realising it. This is even more likely with business computers using a work or school account.
The recovery key is a 48-digit number identified by its key ID (the first eight digits). According to Microsoft, it may be stored in four places:
- Microsoft account—sign in on another device at
aka.ms/myrecoverykey, - work or school account—
aka.ms/aadrecoverykey, or contact the organisation’s IT department, - a printout stored with the computer’s documents,
- a USB flash drive where the key was saved as a text file.
One sentence is better read now than later: Microsoft Support cannot retrieve, provide, or recreate a lost recovery key. This is not a business policy; it is a consequence of how the encryption is designed. No recovery laboratory can change that.
If the computer still starts occasionally, you can check the encryption status in System Information, opened as an administrator—look for Automatic Device Encryption Support or Device Encryption Support. It will also tell you why encryption is not enabled, such as a missing or disabled TPM, an unconfigured Windows RE environment, or unsupported PCR7 binding caused by disabled Secure Boot or peripherals connected during startup.
Scenario A: the drive is removable
This is the most common and most straightforward situation. The laptop is opened, the drive is placed in a USB enclosure or adapter, and then connected to another computer.
| Storage type | What it looks like | What you need |
|---|---|---|
| 2.5″ SATA, 7 or 9.5 mm high | flat metal rectangle with a conventional wide SATA connector | USB-to-SATA enclosure or adapter |
| M.2 2280 or 2242, SATA interface (B+M key—two notches) | a finger-width circuit board held by one screw | M.2 SATA adapter |
| M.2 2280 or 2242, NVMe interface (M key—one notch) | looks like the previous type but has a different notch | NVMe adapter (USB 3.2 or USB4) |
| eMMC or UFS soldered to the motherboard | no connector; a chip next to the processor, typically in inexpensive 11–14″ devices with 64 or 128 GB | cannot be removed; see Scenario B |
M.2 SATA and M.2 NVMe drives can be distinguished by the notches in their connectors, and the difference determines which adapter you need—a SATA module will not work in an NVMe adapter, and vice versa. Before removing the drive, write down the complete model number and capacity from its label; this can save half an hour of uncertainty if you later request professional assistance.
There are three essential rules:
- Disconnect the power supply and battery (for an internal battery, disconnect its connector from the motherboard; unplugging the charger alone is not enough). An electrical discharge while handling the M.2 slot can destroy both the motherboard and the drive.
- Do not use force. An M.2 module is held by one screw and rises by itself when the screw is removed; a 2.5″ drive slides straight out of the SATA connector, not at an angle.
- Do not confirm any prompts after connecting it to another computer. If Windows offers to Initialize disk, Create volume, or Format, click Cancel. Microsoft states this directly: the initialisation process erases all data on the drive.
If the drive asks for a BitLocker recovery key, that is good news—it means the second computer can detect and read it. With the key, you can unlock the volume and copy the data. Without it, you cannot proceed and must return to the previous section.
One special case: some business laptops have an HDD/SSD password configured in UEFI. Such a drive remains locked outside the original computer and cannot be unlocked by another computer without the password.
Scenario B: the storage is soldered in place
In thin laptops and inexpensive devices, there may be nothing to remove. eMMC and UFS memory packages are soldered directly to the motherboard—by definition, they cannot be removed, so recovering the data requires repairing or at least temporarily reviving the motherboard.
This is not true of every thin computer, however, and broad assumptions such as „ultrabook means soldered storage" are incorrect. Microsoft itself documents removable SSDs in a range of Surface devices: Surface Pro 7+, Pro 8, Pro 9 (including the 5G version), Pro 10, and Pro 11th Edition, Surface Pro X, Surface Laptop 3, 4, 5, 6, and Laptop 7th Edition, all generations of Surface Laptop Go, all generations of Surface Laptop Studio, and Surface Studio 2+. Microsoft also states that replacement should be performed by an experienced technician following the service guide—and that BitLocker must be dealt with before removing the drive. The older Surface Laptop 1 and 2 are not included in the list.
The same rule applies to other brands: the exact model and its service documentation matter, not how thin the lid appears. Manufacturers publish this documentation—Dell calls it a Service Manual, Lenovo a Hardware Maintenance Manual, and HP a Maintenance and Service Guide—and it normally includes an exploded view showing whether the storage uses a connector or is soldered to the motherboard.
With soldered storage, the goal is not to restore the laptop to a condition in which it can continue to be used. It only needs to reach a state where it can boot once and allow the data to be copied out. This is often a different scope of work from a complete repair, and it is worth understanding that in advance.
Scenario C: the drive itself has failed
Typical signs are that the drive is not detected even in the UEFI setup, reports an implausible capacity, or connects to another computer and then disappears again. A conventional hard disk may also make unusual sounds.
In this situation, the correct response is counterintuitive: do not try again. Repeatedly reconnecting the drive—and especially repeatedly trying to copy an entire folder—provides no new information; it only changes the chances of successful recovery. CHKDSK and „repair disk" utilities do not help either. They write changes to the file system on the potentially faulty original and may remove references to files that could otherwise still be reconstructed from a sector-by-sector image.
A recovery laboratory works in the opposite order: it first creates a sector-by-sector image on another storage device. Everything else—locating partitions, reconstructing the file system, and copying files—is then performed on that image, never on the original.
A live USB system as a read-only route—and nothing more
If the drive is healthy and only the operating system is broken, the simplest option may be to boot the laptop from a USB flash drive containing a live Linux distribution and copy the data to an external drive. This also works where opening the laptop could affect the warranty.
The rules are strict:
- Read only. Do not install anything, run file-system repairs, or mount the volume for writing. Select „Try„ or „Live" from the boot-media menu, never „Install."
- Copy to a separate destination—an external drive, not back onto the computer’s internal storage.
- An encrypted volume cannot be mounted without the key. A live system does not bypass BitLocker.
- If Windows is „sleeping," the NTFS volume is marked as being in use because of hibernation or Fast Startup. The live system will mount it as read-only or refuse to mount it. This is a safety feature, not a fault—do not force write access.
- None of this applies to an unhealthy drive. Do not use a live system to read a clicking or disappearing drive; every read operation places it under further strain.
When to contact a recovery laboratory
- The drive clicks, squeals, spins up, and then stops again.
- The laptop has suffered liquid damage or a power surge.
- The drive has disappeared from the setup completely.
- A previous repair or software-recovery attempt left the situation worse than before.
- The data is irreplaceable and the computer is the only place where it exists.
We perform diagnostics and recovery in our own laboratory in Brno. Contact us through the contact page or call 775 556 063; we have separately explained when it makes sense to bring the device in person and when shipping it is sufficient. An indicative price range by fault type is available in our overview of how much drive data recovery costs—but nobody can provide an exact price before completing a diagnosis.
What to prepare when requesting assistance
- The complete laptop, including its charger, not just the removed drive—the motherboard often needs to be diagnosed when a computer will not start.
- The exact model from the label on the underside, plus the drive’s model number if you have already removed it.
- The BitLocker recovery key or access to the Microsoft account, or contact details for the organisation’s IT department.
- The Windows account password and information about whether a drive password is configured in UEFI.
- A description of what happened before the fault—a fall, liquid, an update, a power outage, or work performed by someone else.
- A list of priority data. Success does not mean finding arbitrary old files; it means recovering what matters.
Frequently asked questions
My Windows 11 laptop will not turn on—can the drive be read in another computer?
Yes, provided the storage is installed in a connector (2.5″ SATA or M.2) and is healthy. Encryption may be an obstacle, however: devices set up using a Microsoft account or work account often have Device Encryption enabled, and the volume will require a 48-digit recovery key. With the key, you can copy the data; without it, you cannot.
Where can I find the BitLocker recovery key if the computer will not start?
Use another device to access your Microsoft account at aka.ms/myrecoverykey. For a business computer, check the work or school account at aka.ms/aadrecoverykey or contact your IT department. Other possibilities include a printout stored with the computer’s documents or a USB flash drive containing the saved text file. Microsoft cannot recreate a lost key.
Can you remove the drive from a Surface Pro 9 or Surface Laptop 5?
According to Microsoft’s documentation, these models have removable SSDs, so it is technically possible, and Microsoft publishes service guides for the procedure. The order of operations is the opposite of what you might expect, however: deal with the BitLocker recovery key first and reach for the screwdriver only afterwards. The exact procedure for your particular device can only be confirmed after diagnosis.
Can I try recovering the data using Linux from a flash drive?
Yes, if the drive is healthy and only the operating system fails to boot. Start the bootable medium in „Try/Live" mode, install nothing, run no repairs, and copy the data to an external drive. If the drive clicks, disappears, or reports an implausible capacity, do not use this method at all.
Windows offers to initialise or format the drive after I connect it. Should I confirm?
No. Initialisation erases all data on the drive—Microsoft’s documentation says so explicitly. Cancel the prompt, disconnect the drive, and perform any further work only on a sector-by-sector copy. Likewise, do not run CHKDSK „just in case."
Do you also handle MacBooks?
Yes, but the procedure is different and depends on the device generation. The differences are explained in our article about data from a non-working MacBook.
Sources
- Microsoft: Device Encryption in Windows
- Microsoft: Find your BitLocker recovery key
- Microsoft: Back up your BitLocker recovery key
- Microsoft Learn: SSD removal in compatible Surface devices
- Microsoft Learn: Initialise new disks
Where to find us
ITHOPE is a company based in Brno, Czechia: we do data recovery from disks, RAID and NAS, PC and laptop service and IT for business, all in our own lab at Viniční 3587/216, 615 00 Brno.
Phone +420 775 556 063 (24/7 line). You can bring the device in person, or send it by courier (Zásilkovna, PPL).