It may have happened to you that after using for a reasonable period your computer deteriorates, since each of its parts has an approximate useful life. One of the most common damages happens to the hard disk, and it is usually the one that brings the most headaches, because this is where the information on your computer or laptop is stored.
Losing your hard drive would mean saying goodbye to important data, but this shouldn’t make you lose hope, as there is a way to get that information back. In some cases this problem occurs because Windows is set to boot from an external hard drive.
What is Xcopy?
Xcopy also known as extended copy is a command or command originating from the DOS operating system that you can also find in Windows.
The Xcopy command was originally used to move multiple files from one directory to another or to move files across a network. However, one of the highlights of this command is that it can be used to copy information from a hard drive completely if you ever need to backup or recover information.
Now if you have used it to operate your operating system, what happens if you put the hard disk with the Windows system in another PC? If you want to do the test, everything is very simple and it will not take almost any time.
How to make a copy of my files from a damaged hard drive with Xcopy?
Making a copy of your files from a hard drive that has deteriorated to the point of being damaged is a process that will be easier, remember that you can search and find your files by its extension.
Step 1
The first thing you should do is access the command interface of your computer. To do this you must turn off the computer, then insert the boot device, being possible to use a USB drive or a recovery disk.
Then restart your computer and press the button that will allow you to start from this device, you may be required to enter the options menu that is shown at the beginning to be able to activate the boot device.
Step 2
Then select the language of your preference by clicking ‘Next’ when finished. Select the option ‘Repair your computer’ and in the list that appears choose the installation by clicking ‘Next’.
Locate yourself in the list of ‘System Recovery Options’ and go to the corresponding ‘Command Interface’ option known as ‘Command Prompt’.
Step 3
The third step is to connect the new hard drive to your computer . You must realize that it is in optimal condition, because from now on it will be the one that will contain your information. Know the name of your drive using the ‘cd’ command.
Using Xcopy you will be able to copy and move your information from the damaged disk to the new one, you will only have to go to the command prompt window that you already opened, write: ‘cd e:’ then press ‘Enter’. If the unit you are using is available, you will see that in the command interface it will change to ‘e: /’.
Continuing the process write the command ‘dir’ and click on ‘Enter ‘. Using this command you will be shown the directories of your hard drive, if you notice that the existence of a secondary hard drive you can be sure that you are on the desired drive.
Step 4
Later you will need to return to your damaged hard disk so you will have to write the command ‘cd c:’ confirming its execution by pressing ‘Enter’.
Then type the following at the command prompt ‘xcopy c: e:\backup\/c/s/e/h/z’ pressing ‘Enter’ as usual to continue. Keep in mind that you must change the term ‘e: \ backup \’ to the drive and directories corresponding to the data on your damaged hard drive that you hope to copy.
Step 5
Once you finish passing all the information you can through xcopy, you can finish the process by running the ‘Exit’ command and then clicking on ‘Enter’. You can then use your hard drive for various functions, such as installing an operating system on an external hard drive.