Hard Drive is Kapput

[RBW]

The hard drive in my desktop has passed away and now I have no idea how to save my pc. I thought this would be a common problem and google would be my saviour but no luck so far.

I bought a new hard drive just before the original hard drive failed but was unable to image/back up the drive.

Is there anyway I can buy a hardrive with windows already installed?
Maybe download windows and the boot up programs to my new hard drive connect to a laptop?

Any advice would be appreciated as this is driving me crazy and I would rather keep my desktop pic than bin it.

Thank you.

 

[fenderman]

What version of Windows did you have installed?

 

[RBW]

Not sure originally but have since upgraded to Windows 10.

 

[alastairstevenson]

The hard drive in my desktop has passed away and now I have no idea how to save my pc.

So the hard drive had a recovery partition and you don't have any media?
Usually the supplier has an option where you can request the media, for a small fee.
And with the product code on the PC label you can install Windows again.

 

[fenderman]

Not sure originally but have since upgraded to Windows 10.

Then you are in luck. You dont need a key ..windows 10 activates automatically (microsoft has your pc info)...
All you need to do, is buy a new drive, download the windows media creation tool and install to USB...then boot from usb and install to drive...easy..
Download Windows 10
If your pc has room for two drives, i suggest an ssd for the OS an a large drive for storage.

 

[tigerwillow1]

The first thing I'd try is to connect the disk to a working machine and see if any files can be salvaged. A USB hard disk enclosure is the easiest way to do this. If you can't read anything from the disk, the outlook isn't good, but the next step is to note is if the disk spins up or not, and if it makes any noises it shouldn't. If the situation is that the disk works but Windows is damaged, some PC vendors have a hidden recovery partition on the disk that maybe could be useful. You can also try a repair installation. I'm not aware of bare drives with pre-installed Windows. If you have to install from scratch, I assume your COA would allow you to activate Windows without having to buy it. If it's a mainstream brand like Dell, HP, etc., you might want to get the installation media from the PC vendor.

 

[fenderman]

The first thing I'd try is to connect the disk to a working machine and see if any files can be salvaged. A USB hard disk enclosure is the easiest way to do this. If you can't read anything from the disk, the outlook isn't good, but the next step is to note is if the disk spins up or not, and if it makes any noises it shouldn't. If the situation is that the disk works but Windows is damaged, some PC vendors have a hidden recovery partition on the disk that maybe could be useful. You can also try a repair installation. I'm not aware of bare drives with pre-installed Windows. If you have to install from scratch, I assume your COA would allow you to activate Windows without having to buy it. If it's a mainstream brand like Dell, HP, etc., you might want to get the installation media from the PC vendor.

See above, this is a windows 10 machine..it auto activates...media is available free from MS and its not full of crapware..

 

[RBW]

Then you are in luck. You dont need a key ..windows 10 activates automatically (microsoft has your pc info)...
All you need to do, is buy a new drive, download the windows media creation tool and install to USB...then boot from usb and install to drive...easy..
Download Windows 10
If your pc has room for two drives, i suggest an ssd for the OS an a large drive for storage.

Ok I'll give this a try tomorrow thank you.

Another question. The pic is a Hewlett Packard. If all the data/boot up menus are on the HD what does the motherboard do?

 

[fenderman]

Ok I'll give this a try tomorrow thank you.

Another question. The pic is a Hewlett Packard. If all the data/boot up menus are on the HD what does the motherboard do?

Boot menus are stored in the motherboard bios...install new drive..boot using USB you will get the option to install to the new drive..

 

[RBW]

This is driving me nuts. I have downloaded windows 10 to a USB but can get no further than shown in the two images.

I remove the USB, depower as I cannot restart and then power back up but the USB is not found!

How hard can this be!

Arrrrrrgggghhhhhhhh

 

[fenderman]

View attachment 16914 View attachment 16915

This is driving me nuts. I have downloaded windows 10 to a USB but can get no further than shown in the two images.

I remove the USB, depower as I cannot restart and then power back up but the USB is not found!

How hard can this be!

Arrrrrrgggghhhhhhhh

click on custom install, install windows only - this is not an upgrade..delete any partitions there and install...its really easy. probably a million videos and webpages showing you step by step..

 

[RBW]

fenderman you are a star. With your help and YouTube my pic is back up and running better and faster than new, thank you

One minor problem is that my keyboard no longer types the @ symbol. I believe this is due to wrong language/region setting.

I have change this from US to UK but it is still the same. Any recommendation?

 

[RBW]

Ok sorted now. Just need to change the default language back to UK

Am delighted