hard disk failure is imminent

[drae0208]

When I Turned on my computer I get a black screen. At the bottom it says: hard disk failure is eminent. Please back up your hard disk and have it replaced.

When I hit F2 to continue I get a black screen that says BOOTMGR image is corrupt. The system cannot boot.

When I hit F10 I get a BIOS Setup utility screens

What do I do??? Please tell me it can be saved! I just need to get my pictures and a few docs off before I get a new computer.

[TheOldMan]

If the hard drive has failed, it is not likely that the data is safe.  If the warning is accurate, then perhaps it is possible to move the data to a safe media.  First plan on replacing the hard drive, if there is intent to keep this PC running.  Since this PC has been upgraded to Windows 10, then reinstalling the Windows 10 is relatively good, but with a clean install.

If if was me and I was trying to save the data, stop using the PC immediately.  On a working PC, make a Linux Live CD/DVD/flash to try data recovery.  I like Ubuntu but Knoppix will do nicely, also.  Assuming the DVD writer still works or you wish to save the data to another hard drive, that would be your choice.  Make sure you have the needed media of your choice handy.  I prefer to use a hard drive in an external enclosure to save data from the old drive.  If this is just a temporary situation, a device similar to this will work nicley.

https://www.amazon.com/SANOXY-A12940-Drive-Adapter-Converter/dp/B001OORMVQ

it is not expensive, will do the job and is easy to store until the next time.  It might be possible to clone the failing drive to the new hard drive with this device, too.

Boot to the new Linux Live media with the new drive installed in the computer.  Make sure to change the boot setup in the BIOS to boot to the Linux distro.  With thold drive connected to the external device, either make a folder on the new drive to store the data or use the DVD writer for the media.  Then look at the old drive and verify if the data you wish to save is viewable.  Move the data to the media of your choice.

Come back to let me know how this went and for the next steps.

[mdklassen]

Your desktop computer: https://support.hp.com/us-en/document/c02174835 was first manufactured in 2010.

> What do I do??? Please tell me it can be saved!

> I just need to get my pictures and a few docs off before I get a new computer. 

After 7 years, your computer has served you well.

A new desktop computer will be able to attach a new disk-drive, a new CD/DVD device, and a SECOND disk-drive.

So, remove the disk-drive from your current computer, and connect it as a secondary disk-drive inside the new desktop computer.

Even though you cannot successfully "boot" from the disk-drive, you may still be able to read all the files from the old disk-drive, and copy them onto the new disk-drive.  Hopefully!

Note that you can "harvest" the CD/DVD device, the power-supply, and the sticks of RAM, to try to sell them, for a few dollars, on a web-site like "Craig's List".  Keep the keyboard & mouse as "spare" parts, in case that the keyboard & mouse that will be part of a new purchase may not be "better".