Touchsmart 600-1350 BT554AA - need system recovery discs

[usaveteran]

I had a hard drive fail and cannot recover anything from it - totally destroyed. Ok, so I purchased a new hard drive, installed it, but cannot set up due to missing original recovery discs. I have searched thru HP site and, of course, this is an old unit from 2010 so nothing seems to be available. I'd hate to trash this computer due to it's in great shape minus the recovery. It originally came with Win 7 but have since upgraded to Win10/64. The system recognizes the hard drive so I know it's good to go. I can access the bios screen (since I also replace the battery) and the correct date/time is set. 

Can anyone provide me a solution (other than tossing this computer)? Anyone out there have the recovery discs? Please advise. Thanks.

[wb2001]

@usaveteran,

What do you mean by totally destroyed/non-recoverable data. Surely an external HD enclosure would allow access to the file folders. That is what I would attempt.

As for the OS, your unit is n ow embedded with WIN 10, so you could download the WIN 10 file and freely install it.

1) Computer, keyboard, and mouse. No extra's.

2) Wi-fi connection available.

3) If you prepped/formatted the hard drive, go back and delete all partitions.

"Create installation media option" to a USB thumb drive. I do it all the time. Do not prep the new hard drive, let the computer format the drive.  When prompted to enter a Product Key, skip that.

[usaveteran]

The original hard drive is just clicking - Cannot retrieve any data - opened the drive to reset the arm but still not working. That’s what I mean, “destroyed “. 

[Paul_Tikkanen · Accepted solution]

Hi, @usaveteran 

You don't need to reinstall W7 to reinstall W10 since you had already upgraded to W10.

Create the bootable W10 installation media using the media creation tool at the link below.

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10

When you get to the part of the installation that asks you to enter a product key, select the 'I don't have a product key' option, and W10 will install and automatically activate once you are connected to the internet.

If you would rather do an in-place upgrade to W10 from W7, then you can purchase recovery media from this vendor since HP quit selling it directly several years ago.

http://www.computersurgeons.com/p-22409-windows-7-64-bit-recovery-kit-bt706av-for-hp-touchsmart-desk...

If you used the W7 recovery media, to upgrade back to W10 for free, click on the blue 'Update Now' button on the Microsoft link I posted above.

[usaveteran]

Thanks very much for your reply. I will try your suggestions and see if it works. 

[usaveteran]

I will try your suggestions and see what develops. Thanks for your reply.

[Paul_Tikkanen]

You're very welcome.