Hard Drive smart check failure - advise needed

[Lili9]

Hi, I need some help please... My Son punched his laptop screen :o(  (he is 14, autistic and not having a good time at the mo) he's so upset. He's using his Christmas money to pay for the parts in the hope of fixing it (he can't afford to take it to a shop), I'm hoping this will teach him a lesson. He has an interest in computers and has taken computer science as a subject at school and so wants to try and fix it himself. He ordered and fitted a replacement screen and lid. But upon putting it all back together the laptop has an error message:

The SMART hard disc check has detected an imminent failure. To ensure not data loss, please backup the content immediately and run the Hard Disk Test in system diagnostics. Failure ID: M885WF-8SEA0K-XD7URF-609303 Product ID: 2PW32EA#ABU.  Hard Drive 1- Primary HDD Bay*. System Extensive Test - FAILED.

So assuming he does need a new Hard Drive? (he'll get like-for-like 1TB) he'll order one in the hope that it'll fix it. We'd like to back up the existing Hard Drive ourselves first, how would we do this? assuming we cant use the laptop with this error message. If he can't back it up, it's fine, as he has no important school work on there. Thank you for any help or advise. 

[Paul_Tikkanen · Accepted solution]

Hi:

The error code reported, Hard Disk 1 SMART Hard Drive Detects Imminent Failure, means the hard drive is about to fail or has failed, needs to be replaced and the operating system reinstalled.

If you can still get into Windows, back up any files that need to be saved onto a portable hard drive.

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

http://h10032.www1.hp.com/ctg/Manual/c05493257

After the hard drive is replaced, using another Windows PC, you can reinstall W10 for free by using the HP cloud recovery client utility to create a bootable recovery USB flash drive.

Here is an info link for how to use the cloud recovery tool...

https://support.hp.com/us-en/document/c06162205

There is a trick to getting the tool to accept the product number.

Immediately after entering the product number in the window, press the Enter key.

If you click off that window, it will report an invalid product number.

[Lili9]

Thank you.

I'm currently in the process of recovering the system from the USB. I'm at question 8:  "When prompted to run Recovery Manager from the hard drive or from media, select Run program from media, and then click Next".

But I don't have this option to select run from the media. Shall I just click next through the following three windows?First windowSecond windowThird window

[Paul_Tikkanen]

You're very welcome.

Assuming that you have replaced the hard drive, I would click on the OK button and let it run.

First screen, select Next.

Second screen. select Yes.

Third screen, select OK.

[Lili9]

Yes he replaced the hard drive and followed  the link to install windows, which is all working fine. Thank you.

A few things to query:

Twice he put the laptop back together but still it appears to have a slight bulge in the upper left side under the keys of the keyboard – it doesn't affect its use however but we were concerned by this. He’s reluctant to take it apart to check for a third time in case something breaks. My son mentioned the components inside seem to be missing quite a few screws here and there.

The laptop now only seems to be working with the AC power adapter plugged in. He may need to get a new battery.

Now it’s all working and usable he wanted to see if he could save any files from the old hard drive. He has purchased a USB to SATA adapter cable which fits correctly. Assuming he just needs to plug this in to his laptop and follow any prompts to move over files (I’m wondering if a simple drag and drop would work).

many thanks,

[Paul_Tikkanen]

You're very welcome.

Unfortunately, I wouldn't be able to help you with any reassembly questions.

You may be able to read the files from the bad hard drive, but there are no guarantees it will work.

You may also get an access denied message if you can read the hard drive.

Here is a video that may help get around that issue.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=1&v=EMOvnNpWeGs&feature=emb_logo