HP Desktop hard drive failure UPDATE

Annie1960

SEE POST NO. 24 FOR UPDATED POSITION.




I have an HP desktop, which is now 6 years old. Windows 10.


When I tried to turn it on a couple of days ago, I got the black screen with writing, telling me the hard drive had failed.


Fortunately, I had backed up my stuff, so I'm not concerned about that.


However, I'm not sure if there is anything I can or should do to erase the hard drive before I dispose of the computer.


Any ideas?

mksysb

Why dispose of the computer, just put a new ssd disk in and install linux on it.

grumpycrab

Annie1960 wrote: »

Any ideas?

Don't dispose of the computer. Buy a £15 solid state drive**, swap old for new, reinstall Windows10.

Regarding old hard drive - bash with hammer?

(**). How much stuff do you have? If lots then you may need a bigger ssd.

Annie1960

mksysb wrote: »

Why dispose of the computer, just put a new ssd disk in and install linux on it.

I have no idea how to do this!


Is there a step-by-step guide anywhere showing how to do this? Also where would I get a new drive from?

Annie1960

grumpycrab wrote: »

Don't dispose of the computer. Buy a £15 solid state drive**, swap old for new, reinstall Windows10.

Regarding old hard drive - bash with hammer?

(**). How much stuff do you have? If lots then you may need a bigger ssd.

The drive is 1.5TB. I'm not sure how much of the drive is full, but I would guess that there's a lot of free space on it. I don't have any games, videos etc.

grumpycrab

A good (easy) project for a family friend or relative to do?

Frozen_up_north

Installing an SSD is quite straightforward. Crucial will supply one “guaranteed to fit”, although you might need a mounting cradle. As the SSD drives are quite light, you could fix one with Ty-Raps or similar. Enter your computer model at:

https://uk.crucial.com/

And see what is suggested. 256GB is large enough, 1.5TB was a marketing thing...

Installation of Windows 10 is straightforward, see elsewhere on this forum.

that

I have stolen this below, but the 128 gb drive mentioned here is not for you, you want larger, as already said a minimum of 250-ish meg, but still larger is good too.

EveryWhere wrote: »

If it does not already have an SSD fitted, take this opportunity to fit one; https://www.7dayshop.com/products/patriot-memory-burst-ssd-solid-state-drive-2-5-sata-iii-internal-120gb-pbu120gs25ssdr £14.99 delivered.

You'll need a USB Flash drive of at least 8 GB in capacity.
Then;

Creating the Windows 10 USB flash drive
Visit the Microsoft Media Creation Tool website; https://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/software-download/windows10
Click Download Tool Now.
Save the Application.
Plug your USB Flash Drive into the PC where you saved the application.
Run the Application.
Accept the EULA
Select Create installation media for another PC and click Next.
Choose the correct settings for your version of Windows 10
Language (Country)
Windows 10
64-bit (x64) or 32-bit (x86) dependent on model of laptop.
Click Next.
Select USB Flash Drive and click Next.
Select the Flash Drive and click Next.

Allow the application to complete. You will be prompted when it is finished and has successfully created the bootable drive.

Once you have created this you boot off the usb stick and install windows onto your new drive.

Annie1960

that wrote: »

I have stolen this below, but the 128 gb drive mentioned here is not for you, you want larger, as already said a minimum of 250-ish meg, but still larger is good too.



Once you have created this you boot off the usb stick and install windows onto your new drive.

So are you saying I would need to have access to another Windows 10 computer to do this? I have access to a mac, but not another Win10.

Annie1960

By the way, my laptop is 250GB and running out of space, so I definitely need more than that.

Frozen_up_north

A Windows 10 installation with a few programs, Libre Office, photo editor, etc. typically uses around 50GB. Add a few files, pictures, etc... you might reach 60GB, but close to 200GB is an awful lot of space to fill. You really need to look to economise on space, if for no other reason than backups are quicker and take up less space. 250GB of space used is either a lot of video footage or you have never cleared temporary files...

You can download the Windows “iso” file on a Mac or Linux machine.