The PC industry sales figures show that the fastest-selling computers are the mobile ones, especially laptops. Computer owners have always waited anxiously for new models to come out with more RAM, better hard drive capacity, better video, etc. so the electronics running the miniature parts are highly specialized. Dust or moisture on the internal parts will interfere with heat dissipation and lose efficiency. This could result in a crash when the next attempt is made to boot up.

Because of the need to keep out moisture and dust laptops are sealed. The computer owner shouldn't try to extract a hard disk from a laptop or a notebook on his own - more crashes could be the result if bits of dust get between the platter and the read/write head. A sterile lab is used by data recovery companies to preserve the integrity of the hard drive if the solution involves opening up the laptop.

Damage can happen at any time if the laptop is on the road a lot getting bumped against hard surfaces, or worse - dropped on a floor. They get carried around at all angles in different temperatures and humidity. There are other causes of laptop crashes and conditions that cause data loss besides human clumsiness or natural disasters. Among these are power fluctuation, a corrupted master file table, a corrupted file allocation table, formatted drives, accidental deletion of files and directories, and of course virus attacks that can foul up the hard drive.

There could be a BIOS (Basic Input/Output System) failure - the Bios is software, sometime called firmware because it's stored in hardware. It performs the very first function of the boot process, the Power-On Self Test (POST). It also provides the interface to a lot of the hardware. If this fails totally after trying to update or replace it by a software process called "flashing", the chip on the motherboard may have to go back the manufacturer for repair.

In most cases where data is stored but inaccessible due to operation system failure a technician can simply mount the system drives using a live CD and burn a copy. There are dozens of different scenarios, some of which can be solved with data recovery software where physically opening the laptop isn't necessary. However, when motor parts break, when the printed circuit board has failed parts, or when the hard disk has to be removed the work must be done in a sterile IT clean room.

Some of the methods used may void the manufacturer's warranty but the data is more important than the media if the laptops are used for business or academic work. Interestingly, figures indicate that laptop users back up their data less frequently than desktop users. One good habit is to do a back-up daily. If you experience a serious malfunction that creates a need for data file recovery it will be apparent after calling a data retrieval company if the problem is hardware or software related.

There are a number of symptoms to indicate which particular cataclysm has graced your doorstep; when the laptop has to be sent in for computer file recovery then the troubleshooters can find the main problem and any related problems with misaligned parts or melted material. When your laptop goes all Frankenstein the safest place to be is in the laboratory where they can get a good look inside the brain.