How do i do a Windows recovery without losing my hard drive data?

Hi all,

I have a Lenovo Thinkpad E540 with Windows 7 pre installed by reseller instead of the windows 8 pro and since today i can no longer access windows. I boot and it goes to black screen with flashing cursor in top left hand corner. My first thought was to tap F8 and go to advanced start up and select safe mode, however, it seems this function is no longer available, I assume this is because the system was originally built for windows 8 pro.

So my first question is, is there a way to access ASO via a cold reboot?

I have spoken to customer services and Lenovo and they said it may be hard drive issue. I explained i had ran diagnostic test and that came back passed and clear, he then said it sounds like a major corruption of the OS!! His solution is to send me Windows 8 recovery discs and reload win 8 and then downgrad to WIn 7 again if thats what i prefer. To be fair i just want a working computer!!

My second question is, Can i do a Win 8 recovery on the Win 7 system and keep all the existing data on my Hard drive? Looking at the recovery process it would wipe my hard drive.

Unfortunately this is my bosses computer and he hasnt done a back up of his files (massive school boy error on his part)

Any advice/help you can offer will be greatly appreciated

Thanks

Rich

So my first question is, is there a way to access ASO via a cold reboot?

Not all computers work the same, what is ASO? It's always best to spell out a name at the first mention then use the acronym for it later on so folks know what it means.

No, the process will usually not save any data. Two choices come to mind, one is to boot to a Linux LiveCD or LiveDVD and try to copy the data to a USB device and the other is to pull the HDD, put it in a USB HDD Case and plug into a different computer to save the data.

I've had a similar issue with a laptop that was actually keyboard related. Are you sure you don't have any sticking keys? Tried booting via Partition Wizard?