Say you can’t access Windows (“You can’t access Windows!”). Shut up.

Now, IMAGINE you can’t access Windows. Suddenly, all your files are out of reach, and you need a particular few RIGHT THE EFF NOW. You might want to panic in this situation, thinking that the fix necessary to get your Windows up and running will take far too much time, not to mention a tech to help you out since you obviously can’t fix it, you moron. But, hey, chill out. Who says you need Windows to get those files?

Here’s how to recover files from a computer using Ubuntu. You will need an external hard drive, a CD- or DVD-ROM drive on the PC you are getting information from and a bootable copy of Ubuntu on disk or USB (though any distro will work, I just like Ubuntu).

Now, let’s get started. Put the disk or USB in the PC, press F12 as it is booting up, select your Ubuntu boot device and then boot into the OS. Once you are in the OS, plug in your external hard drive. Ubuntu should automatically detect it and put an icon on the desktop. Next, click on Places, find the drive your Windows OS is installed on, open it up and navigate to the data you want to recover. Finally, open the folder for the external hard drive on the desktop, then drag and drop the data from Windows to the external and you’re done.

See? Simple.