Hard disk

Annie1960

I've just got a message saying 'no boot disk has been detected or the disk has failed'. I pressed ctrl+alt+del and the screen then started loading in the normal way.

I'm using a 5 year old HP desktop, which updated itself with Win10 last year.

What should I do, if anything, other than making sure I back up everything today while I'm logged on?

AndyPix

Unless you have changed any settings in the BIOS (Which sounds unlikely but you never know)
Then your hard drive is about to fail.
(Or at the very least the connection to it has wriggled loose, which again, is unlikely)

Backup your data quickly while you can and perhaps take this oppertunity to upgrade it to an SSD ?

Annie1960

AndyPix wrote: »

Unless you have changed any settings in the BIOS (Which sounds unlikely but you never know)
Then your hard drive is about to fail.
(Or at the very least the connection to it has wriggled loose, which again, is unlikely)

Backup your data quickly while you can and perhaps take this oppertunity to upgrade it to an SSD ?

I confirm that I have not been tampering with the BIOS.

I have just backed up.

What's an SSD?

Annie1960

How do I check my connection to the hard drive? It is possible something has come loose as I have moved the computer due to decorating work.

AndyPix

An SSD stands for "Solid State Disk" - It is basically a bunch of memory chips instead of a spinning disk of metal and offers big performance improvements. Especially boot times ..

Scan your current hard drive using chkdsk ( Instructions : https://neosmart.net/wiki/chkdsk/ )

What is the make and model of your computer ?

keith969

Open the case and locate the hard disk. Its like a small rectangular brick, it will have 2 connectors, one for power the other for data, try reseating them. But as AndyPix says, back up the disk first, it might not boot again...

Annie1960

All backed up - I was in the process of doing this when I posted the OP.

HP desktop - I'm on my laptop now so don't have the model to hand. How do I find the model?

DoaM

From a sticker on it? (Most PCs have a model number printed on a label/sticker).

Neil_Jones

Most HP laptops you'll find the model number under the battery if its not already printed on a label.

were

I would start
http://www.intowindows.com/create-uefi-bootable-usb-of-windows-10/

then if you run word of office http://nirsoft.net/utils/product_cd_key_viewer.html

backup chrome
http://juan2geek.com/how-to-backup-and-restore-entire-google-chrome-setting/ .. think it is chrome sync?

backup firefox http://mozbackup.jasnapaka.com/

Copy off you documents and photos etc. Yes, they are on a backup, but sometime you have to restore everything and are not able to do a partial restore, plus it is better to have many copies, than too few.


Test the hard disk
https://www.lifewire.com/free-hard-drive-testing-programs-2626183

Annie1960

Neil_Jones wrote: »

Most HP laptops you'll find the model number under the battery if its not already printed on a label.

Desktop, not laptop.