My hard drive crashed earlier this week. Came home to a screen that says cannot boot, and no hard drive found. It's only a couple of years old and I figure it's worth repairing. My brother used to work on computers and said I need to get a hold of HP to get a copy of Windows 10 to put on the new hard drive. I have one on order. I called and when I finally got off of hold, all they want to do is sell me a subscription to there Tech support (which I'm not too impressed with so far) for a year at $15 a month. By the time I pay that and buy the hard drive I'm a good way to buying a new computer. Does anyone know if there is a way to get windows back without buying their tech support? Or should I think harder about returning the drive and getting a new computer? Black Friday is just around the corner. Thanks for any help!
Help with laptop hard drive (or laptop) replacement
- Thread starter troy
- Start date
A two year old computer should have the Windows key on the motherboard. You can download Win 10 from Microsoft and just install it. It's much easer to put in a new drive these days. Download to a USB drive, that's faster than a DVD. If your motherboard can use an M.2 SSD (Solid State Drive), use that instead of a rotating disk drive, a little more expensive but five or ten times faster.
First of all, are you sure the hard drive is broken.
I had a similar issue with my parents' laptop, but it turned out, the controller had broken down. That screwed up windows, so it didn't want to reboot by USB, but it booted and the data was recoverable.
Secondly, there are programs to retrieve the windows key from a windows install, if you lost the key or if it's worn off the sticker on the laptop
I would recommend an SSD, it boots much much faster, if storage isn't your biggest issue. (depending on your budget, 256Gb-500Gb have become affordable but 1Tb SSD's are coming down in price as well)
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I had a similar issue with my parents' laptop, but it turned out, the controller had broken down. That screwed up windows, so it didn't want to reboot by USB, but it booted and the data was recoverable.
Secondly, there are programs to retrieve the windows key from a windows install, if you lost the key or if it's worn off the sticker on the laptop
I would recommend an SSD, it boots much much faster, if storage isn't your biggest issue. (depending on your budget, 256Gb-500Gb have become affordable but 1Tb SSD's are coming down in price as well)
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Booting by USB is more of a pain than it once was. These days, even a properly functioning computer won't if you don't tweak the UEFI settings, and that gets into another pain. The problem is getting the computer to recognize it as bootable. You can tweak a USB drive where it will so you don't have to monkey with the UEFI, but I've never have - yet.
How did you diagnose the controller issue?
Um....not sure if the Product Key is in the motherboard. Window has long checked hardware to prevent duplicate use on different machines. That's something a bit different. If they tie Windows to the hardware, changing the drive might cause it to balk.
FWIW, Disk Image backups take a while, but make a complete image of the disk. You have to replace a disk with the same size and type, but you can restore it with everything, including the OS. OTOH, made one once in the XP days that failed, and ended up tweaking and transferring everything over with Linux.
A word on this: Had this fail once, too. The problem was that the computer used a slightly proprietary boot set up on the hard drive. Just another "gotcha."
You can probably download a copy of Windows 10 to a jump drive and boot from it. You will have to Google how to boot your computer in safe mode.
In safe mode, you may be able to recover your computer to factory settings without losing any files.
I used a SATA/USB converter to test the hard drive .
The laptop didn't do much with the hard drive installed. No lights that it tried to access.
When I connected the hard drive via USB to my laptop, I could access the data.
When connected it to the laptop it came from, by USB, the display switched on and it tried to boot windows. But it only ended up in the repair mode.
I'm assuming that when the controller failed, it corrupted the windows installation.
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- Thread starter
- #10
Thanks for the replies, everyone. The computer originally came with a WD 1TB hard drive. The one I ordered is a Seagate 2TB FireCuda hybrid drive. I don't do any gaming, but do have lots of pics, and like to keep both Raw and Jpeg files, so storage is more important than speed so I thought the hybrid seemed a good fit.
- Thread starter
- #11
Are you saying I can get a cable to check the original drive with my working computer? It sounds like a good idea. If it is a controller problem, is that a different part that needs to be replaced?
Many employers offer free copies of OS's like Windows 10 for their employees. Mine does, but I wouldn't have known had I not asked. It never hurts. Mine also had free antivirus.
If you do need a new computer I would suggest a refurbished one from Amazon. They are much more inexpensive than new and mine has been kicking like a champ for several years now.
Best of luck! I'm not super tech savvy so that's about the extent of the help I could provide.
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If you do need a new computer I would suggest a refurbished one from Amazon. They are much more inexpensive than new and mine has been kicking like a champ for several years now.
Best of luck! I'm not super tech savvy so that's about the extent of the help I could provide.
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The hybrids are definitely a good combination ofsrart up speed and storage size! [emoji1303]
I had a 8/500Gb and a 12/750Gb from the Momentus XL. Series.
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I had a 8/500Gb and a 12/750Gb from the Momentus XL. Series.
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- Thread starter
- #14
Thanks for the reply! My work computer is a Vista machine, and I think the secretary is still using an XP machine, So I doubt I can get Windows 10 from them. 
If I do go new I'll probably just get it from Walmart. My Wife is an employee, so I would get a 10% discount. May wind up buying at least one new one anyway as my wife's computer (what I'm on now) is even older. and it dumped a bunch of stuff off the hard drive a month or two ago for some unknown reason.
If I do go new I'll probably just get it from Walmart. My Wife is an employee, so I would get a 10% discount. May wind up buying at least one new one anyway as my wife's computer (what I'm on now) is even older. and it dumped a bunch of stuff off the hard drive a month or two ago for some unknown reason.
I don't think the controller is easily replaced, I believe it's an on-board device
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- #16
So if it's the controller I will need new laptop, but the info from old hard drive could be saved?
Jup,if it's the controller and the hard drive is accessible, there's a big chance the data is still retrievable.
Did that with my parents' laptop drive.
Had to download and install a program to take ownership of the user files on the laptop, as everything was stored under "/users/user-name/desktop" and "/users/user-name/documents" etc.
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That is correct. It's worth investigating. A techie friend could hook it up to a computer and see if it shows up, or a neighborhood computer repair shop could do the same. That will also tell you if it is the hard drive or controller. JM
If the laptop isn't seeing the boot drive at all, (Check if it shows up in the BIOS) It's either the drive or the SATA controller. The drive is self-explanatory. the controller is part of the motherboard.
To test the drive, you can pull the drive and connect it via a USB to another computer. You don't need to try to boot from it for this test, just find out if it's readable. To do this you need either an adapter cable, drive enclosure, or other device that mounts a hard drive as USB storage. There are LOTS of options for this so take your pick.
Some examples...
Cable:
Toaster-type:
Enclosure:
Mounting the drive via one of these options will tell you whether the drive is readable.
If it is NOT, then the problem is the drive (obviously). If it IS readable, then it's likely the controller on your motherboard.
You cannot replace the controller by itself. It is integrated into the board. Depending on how expensive your computer was and how much you like it, it MAY be worth replacing the board. Sounds like it's not under warranty, so you'd need to do it yourself or pay someone. Likely not worth it.
If it's the drive, then replace it and reinstall Windows. Get an SSD, as mentioned. Don't put a mechanical drive in a laptop. Hybrids are no more reliable, just a little faster. All they are is a mechanical drive with a small SSD for staging commonly-accesses data. They are NOT worthwhile anymore now that SSDs are so cheap. If you had a mechanical drive in there, then you likely won't have an M.2 bus for the drive, so SATA it is.
Something like this:
Once the new drive is installed, download Windows 10 from here:
Create install media with the method of your choice and go to town. Windows 10, when activated, activated the hardware profile of the machine so no key is needed. It should register fine. A drive replacement should not be enough to break activation.
If it does NOT activate, then it's very simple to call the phone number provided by Microsoft and simply tell them you had to replace the hard drive. They will give you steps to activate it. It's simple and painless.
The old hard drive, if dead, can possibly be recovered but the options to do so are either 'this might work if you're lucky', or 'this is effing expensive'. You can try freezing the drive or other old-school methods. Or you can send it to Kroll Ontrack and pay them a lot of money to recover the data.Depends on how much your data is worth to you.
Going forward, what's important is that you BACK UP YOUR DATA. Never let any drive be a single point of loss. Always have redundant copies whether that's a burned DVD or external drive in your safe deposit box or a subscription to a backup service like Backblaze (my preference).
If the drive is good, then the MOBO is bad. Get a new laptop. With an SSD. Back it up. If you need advice on a machine that will serve you well, let me know.
I think that covers it. If you have questions, ask away.
*edit*
Forgot one scenario. IF the drive is readable AND it shows up in the BIOS, then the install of Windows has boot issues. There are steps I can give you to troubleshoot and attempt to fix this. You can try to fix the existing installation, or simply format and reinstall (after getting your data off via one of the USB methods above). But this would only be the route if it both IS a good drive AND the BIOS sees it. There are usually good reasons why the MBR gets corrupted. Usually because of a failing drive. In that case, replacing the drive is probably the road you'd end up taking anyway. But I'd need to see the results of some error checks, an SFC scan, and the logs in the Event Viewer to get an idea whether this is the case.
But, since you said it couldn't find a boot drive, most likely scenario is a dead HDD.
To test the drive, you can pull the drive and connect it via a USB to another computer. You don't need to try to boot from it for this test, just find out if it's readable. To do this you need either an adapter cable, drive enclosure, or other device that mounts a hard drive as USB storage. There are LOTS of options for this so take your pick.
Some examples...
Cable:
Toaster-type:
Enclosure:
Mounting the drive via one of these options will tell you whether the drive is readable.
If it is NOT, then the problem is the drive (obviously). If it IS readable, then it's likely the controller on your motherboard.
You cannot replace the controller by itself. It is integrated into the board. Depending on how expensive your computer was and how much you like it, it MAY be worth replacing the board. Sounds like it's not under warranty, so you'd need to do it yourself or pay someone. Likely not worth it.
If it's the drive, then replace it and reinstall Windows. Get an SSD, as mentioned. Don't put a mechanical drive in a laptop. Hybrids are no more reliable, just a little faster. All they are is a mechanical drive with a small SSD for staging commonly-accesses data. They are NOT worthwhile anymore now that SSDs are so cheap. If you had a mechanical drive in there, then you likely won't have an M.2 bus for the drive, so SATA it is.
Something like this:
Once the new drive is installed, download Windows 10 from here:
Create install media with the method of your choice and go to town. Windows 10, when activated, activated the hardware profile of the machine so no key is needed. It should register fine. A drive replacement should not be enough to break activation.
If it does NOT activate, then it's very simple to call the phone number provided by Microsoft and simply tell them you had to replace the hard drive. They will give you steps to activate it. It's simple and painless.
The old hard drive, if dead, can possibly be recovered but the options to do so are either 'this might work if you're lucky', or 'this is effing expensive'. You can try freezing the drive or other old-school methods. Or you can send it to Kroll Ontrack and pay them a lot of money to recover the data.Depends on how much your data is worth to you.
Going forward, what's important is that you BACK UP YOUR DATA. Never let any drive be a single point of loss. Always have redundant copies whether that's a burned DVD or external drive in your safe deposit box or a subscription to a backup service like Backblaze (my preference).
If the drive is good, then the MOBO is bad. Get a new laptop. With an SSD. Back it up. If you need advice on a machine that will serve you well, let me know.
I think that covers it. If you have questions, ask away.
*edit*
Forgot one scenario. IF the drive is readable AND it shows up in the BIOS, then the install of Windows has boot issues. There are steps I can give you to troubleshoot and attempt to fix this. You can try to fix the existing installation, or simply format and reinstall (after getting your data off via one of the USB methods above). But this would only be the route if it both IS a good drive AND the BIOS sees it. There are usually good reasons why the MBR gets corrupted. Usually because of a failing drive. In that case, replacing the drive is probably the road you'd end up taking anyway. But I'd need to see the results of some error checks, an SFC scan, and the logs in the Event Viewer to get an idea whether this is the case.
But, since you said it couldn't find a boot drive, most likely scenario is a dead HDD.
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I'm not a tech guy, but I have used pc's since the 80's, owned them since 1994, and been building and rebuilding my desktop since 2007. With any pre-built, Dell & HP desktops and any laptop, I wouldn't waste money on repair. If I were you, I'd buy a new Win10 pc/laptop with SSD, pull the old laptop hard drive and get cables to try to pull the data off onto the new one. I've had many pc's & laptops fail over the years, but I've only had one hard drive (fried by a surge) where I was unable to cable the drive up to a new pc and recover data. If you're a Costco member, check them out. They offer good prices, have a pretty liberal return policy and may even offer support.
ps: Food for thought. I've heard tech guys say HP stands for "Huge Problems". My wife and I still own a (5yo) HP laptop and we hate it, but I think that is due more to Windows 8 than the laptop itself. My wife recently bought a Lenovo Flex (at the Microsoft Store in a mall-she's happy, so I'm happy) with Win10 to replace both her old Dell desktop and HP laptop. Her Win10 on SSD loads so quick, I set up my old beast of a desktop to dual boot to Win10 on SSD or Win7 on the HDD.
ps: Food for thought. I've heard tech guys say HP stands for "Huge Problems". My wife and I still own a (5yo) HP laptop and we hate it, but I think that is due more to Windows 8 than the laptop itself. My wife recently bought a Lenovo Flex (at the Microsoft Store in a mall-she's happy, so I'm happy) with Win10 to replace both her old Dell desktop and HP laptop. Her Win10 on SSD loads so quick, I set up my old beast of a desktop to dual boot to Win10 on SSD or Win7 on the HDD.
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