Using the command prompt to copy or recover files from your failing hard drive 

3:12 c:\>wmic logicaldisk get name (which drives are on the PC) 3:38 c:\>wmic logicaldisk list brief (more details on each drive) 8:32 x:\sources>xcopy "c:\users ick\desktop\photos\*" j:\ /s /i (template to copy from source to destination) Thank you for the video. This comment is just for reference.

Dude! So simple, no nonsense....AND IT WORKED! Thank you.

Dude you've just saved the entirety of my remaining uni year. Holy shit I was freaking out the entire day until I found your video. I wanna hug you so bad man, you´re an absolute legend

I was able to copy all my important personal/work files before doing a clean install of Windows. This tutorial is mind blowing! Thank you so much, Nick! 🥰

Very helpful and just wanted to say thanks for the vid!

I can't thank you enough... This saved my ass🤗 After watching several videos on youtube, yours solved the problem easily.

Thank you so much! I was able to get 90% of my wife's files off her crashed computer before doing a factory reset. Life Saver!

Thank you so much for your insight! Helped me tremendously

Thank you so much , Nick . After hours of trying to recover data from my laptop I was able to recover it only because of you. Thank you so much 😊

Thank you very much. Because of you I was able to recover all my files safely, thank you very much!! I also subbed.

This just saved me from losing a photoshoot I did last Saturday you're a hero bro.

I've been working two days straight trying to find a solution and your video helped tremendously! I'm in the middle of transferring ALL of my files to an external hard drive. (Wish me luck)

Thank you. I just used the commands today :-)

Holy crap you are a hero! Thank you soooo much.

Thank you for this. Saved me.

AMAZING! I am a technology specialist at a college, and this quick well made video saved my day.

Great video! made a dad look super human in front of his son. I was able to save his Minecraft files.

Great job! It's a great video.Hope to see more videos from you that save us a couple of bucks 😊🎉🎉

Thanks buddy.. you are a life saver. ❤️

It was very helpful. Thanks man

Thanks so much, you really helped me out with this

Oh my God you are a living god I tried for days and days until I found your vid thanks so much man God bless you

Thanks a lot bro It helped a lot

Appreciate this. You the GOAT.

Thanks, really helped me

Thanks so much, you really helped me

Thank you very much. Ill been searching how to copy my files on documents thru cmd prompt.

your the best man alive!

You save me from killing myself it was just as I lost my all research work. Thank you so much ❤️

😅this video just saved my ass. Bad sectors on the HD and can't boot to safe mode but was able to salvage the important stuff. Soooooooo glad I found this almost lost months of work.

Bro I’m a music producer & trying to fix an HD with session files to a few major artist!! This video is GOLD omg thank you bruh 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭💯💯💯💯💯💯💯

You are the real MVP! I accidentally dropped my laptop like 2 ft on the floor and it hasn't been able to log on to my desktop since. Been looking for a way to keep my files and thank god I found your video. Now if you can just do a video for log file c windows system32 logfiles srt srttrail.txt that would be perfect lol

Working like a charm. 👍👍

Thank you so much man you saved me

Thank you so much my brother ☺️

Actually, yes one does recovery better than him; He’s a legend.

I love that you speak like a friend. You don't add in a bunch of unnecessary things to get attention, you just share what needs to be shared. And adding in other information about what the commands actually do along the way and why we type them the way we do is super appreciated. I'll look later, but I hope you have more videos on using cmd and things.

Thanks, it's help alot. I thought I m going to loose all my data.

Awesome!!!

Hey Nick, I just wanted to thank you for a nice video. My laptop crashed during a Windows Update last night and it's doing a Loop Repair. Before I try and repair that, I wanted to backup my C Drive. I do backup online each day, but I just wanted the raw files off my laptop. A good refresher in using the Command Prompt, bravo from the UK!!

I can't thank you enough ❤❤❤ it works 100%

Dude you a lifer saver. I had to convert back to the DOS days to figure what to search for. I know the young kids know nothing about DOS. You got me in the right direction. Thank you!!!

Saved from a disaster thanks a lot buddy

I am a graphic artist with years of artwork on my computer. I thought all my hardwork was gone forever after a catastrophic hd failure. No other video was as comprehensive as yours in recovering my files. I am eternally greatful. Like, subscriber here.

Great video thanks saver

This is a quality content. Tutorials on youtube must be like this. Great job sir!

Good job .. Is it possible to restore compressed files in the same way that were erased from about 20 days ago on the same basic hard drive

thank you! thank you for help

Thank you, Sir, 🙏🌺😇

This was exactly what I needed and it was surprisingly difficult to find for my circumstances. I have/had a Samsung 980 EVO that just crapped out because of the firmware issue and was firmware locked to read-only to protect the drive. My issue was that Windows wouldn't copy the files without changing the permissions but it couldn't change them because it couldn't write new ones to the drive. I thought CMD would honor read/write permissions but I'm very thankful it doesn't. I was close to buying an expensive recovery tool but I just refused to believe that I couldn't get the files out without it, since Windows would happily access the files if it could change the permissions.

Very helpful video

Thank you!

Thanks so much for the directions, your help saved me a LOT. This content is better than nearly all the people that specialize in it.

Hello brother i salute you U have saved me alot of money

I love you bro❤❤❤❤ You saved my life❤

Big thanks

Thanks bro so mush 👍

Would I be able to copy the entire users folder to an external HD in one shot?

nice tuto

Bro you just saved my life with a video you made years ago. 😊. i now feel like am a hacker thanks a lot

Thanks a great deal for the help! How do I safely eject my external drive via the command prompt after safely copying the files over?

TYSM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

god bless sir... or flying spaghetti monster bless which ever you fancy

como complemento de tu información, simplemente puedes ejecutar: notepad, abrir archivo, mostrar todos los tipos de archivos (no solo txt) y utilizarlo como explorador y hasta ejecutar algunas aplicaciones de 64bits como bootice, winntsetup, etc. ademas de copiar tus archivos y visualizar un poco mas comodo las unidades

Thank you for your video. But the files are copied individually into the external drive but not as a folder with the same folder name. Do we need to create a same folder name in the external drive and give the same folder name in the command prompt as well?

I don’t know why, but it’s telling me there’s nothing in my documents folder under my username, even though that’s where I keep pretty much everything. Is there anything that can be done or does the fact that cmd can’t find them mean that those files are truly gone?

Please type in detail the last commands for coping files

Thank you po🥺

I have an external hard drive (internal hdd in an enclosure). I dropped it while it was switched off and unplugged the other week. Since then it has been working OK. Now, today, it isn't working. When I plug it in and go to My Computer, the green loading bar at the top is continuously there. If I right click on the hard drive (now called "Local Disk" then Windows Explorer will crash. It is like the hard drive is making everything hang. I try and run SeaTools or HDTune whilst HDD plugged in but nothing happens (something is blocking??) but when I unplug the hdd immediately both programs will open. I can't use these programs because of this problem, as when I plug it back in it wont find it. When I go into Computer Management and click Disk Management, It does nothing and just says Connecting to virtual Disk Service at the bottom.. But when I unplug it then it opens and shows me my C drive. I cannot also use chdisk because when I am in cmd and i type T: to change to that hard drive, it will hang (nothing happens). Please help mee

Can i do it using usb chord to phone

thaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaank you♥️♥️♥️

when i go to c and write dir i got this message Volume in driver c is system Reserved Pls help

can i copy my whole user folder using this method?

If my external hard drive showing no media ,then can this process going to be workable beca in my case my external hard drive in device manager showing "No Media" and I can't get my files away from that,can you guide me?

Can i use this Trick on in Windows XP home ? ... i have a bsod .. &/ but i cant not with cmd neither by safe mode !... & i dunno but .. unless the seller has "deleted"??? the Recovery/Repair mode on my machine ?!.. or win Xp doesnt have One? Then ill have to Pray it will Just Let Me In ONE More Time .. Just so I can Save my files .. then ill be HAPPY!!

Can i recover data from a formatted hard drive using this method?

Can I copy decrypted files on this my bro?

how do i copy all the folders from Desk top ?

This has honestly been so very helpful, THANK YOU SO MUCH! I got the BSoD and couldn't get past start-up. So far I have managed to copy folders that are smaller in size; and noticed that the folders that are larger in size give me the error "file creation error - the system cannot find the path specified" and it is like all the drives including the internal one disappear and I have to restart the computer for them to be visible again. Is there a workaround for larger folder sizes (I am not able to copy individual files as there are tons). Thank you in advance if you see this and respond.

Can you do this for deleted files?

Currently stuck on 05:16. When I type “cd sources” I am met with “the system cannot find the path specified”. I am trying to copy my files to a USB and then install windows from another USB but everything I try to do fails 😭

I tried this and all files were copied but the documents files is not being able to be copied it's saying access denied

So is there a way I could just copy my c drive to another drive

I get an error and only a couple of files go to the drive

👆👆👆👆 All thanks to him, he helped me to recover my files all.

xcopy is useless, only works in specific cases

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Can't thank you enough. You're a lifesaver and a superhero! I was in a boot loop like you described. Even using notepad.exe in Command Prompt to access This PC didn't work. I got error 0x80004005. Your method worked perfectly, like a miraculous charm. :-) Am forever indebted to you. Many blessings to you!

Thanks man 🫡

accidently full formatted my d volume but not able to recover my data

👆👆👆👆 All thanks to him, he helped me to recover my files all.

👆👆👆👆 All thanks to him, he helped me to recover my files all.