Any solutions for HDD problem?

[CraigBinFL]

I've recently received notifications that errors have been detected with my drive and need to restart to have the disk checked. Each time it has taken hours but the notebook reboots without indicating any problems. Last night I received the notification again, as well as one advising a Windows update needed to be installed. I restarted the computer to initiate both the disk check and the update. The display appeared as it typically has during the disk check and we left with about 3hrs indicated as needed processing time. When we returned, the notebook it could not boot as there was no OS! I rebooted into F2 - disgnostics. Memory test passed. Hard drive quick and extensive checks both stated SMART check passed, but short DST and long DST both failed, generating failure IDs: MCV5UW-8BBC1D-GXGK6-60XK03 and MCV5UW-8BBC1D-GXGK6K-61ET03 respectively.

Is there a way to get my notebook to successfully boot? Should I be able to recover my data from the hard drive?

I realize this is an ancient notebook and probably really needs to be replaced. It is primarily used by my wife who is very adverse to change. May need to upgrade now. Just hoping I can recover all her data.

[Paul_Tikkanen · Accepted solution]

It is highly unlikely that you will be able to recover any data from the drive.

The more you ran the drive in that condition, the lower the probability of recovering data.

But you don't have anything to lose by giving it a try.

You can remove the drive, purchase a SATA to USB cable.

Amazon.com: BENFEI SATA to USB Cable, USB 3.0 to SATA III Hard Driver Adapter Compatible for 2.5 inc...

Plug one end into the failed hard drive and the other end into a working PC's USB port and see if you can read/copy any data from the failed drive to the PC.

If your wife likes the notebook and it is in otherwise good condition, you can replace the mechanical hard drive with a better performing 2.5" SATA solid state drive (SSD).

Amazon.com: Western Digital 1TB WD Blue SA510 SATA Internal Solid State Drive SSD - SATA III 6 Gb/s,...

Below is the link to the service manual where you can find the hard drive removal and replacement procedure:

c05122688.pdf (hp.com)

After you replace the drive, you can use the HP cloud recovery tool to create a bootable USB recovery drive that will reinstall Windows, the drivers and the software that originally came with the PC.

Here is an info link for how to use the utility.  You will need a 32 GB USB flash drive to create the recovery media with.

HP Consumer PCs - Using the HP Cloud Recovery Tool in Windows 11 and 10 | HP® Customer Support

You can download the software from the Microsoft Store.

HP Cloud Recovery Tool - Microsoft Store Apps

Since you have to use the utility on another PC, you will need to enter the notebook's product number in the tool's search window in order to proceed to make the recovery media. 

The PC's product number is:  Z4P14UA#ABA