"Hard disk failure imminent". Not sure what to do.

[Searyu]

Hello all, recently, my laptop started giving me a popup saying "Hard disk failure imminent" and I'm not entirely sure how to go about fixing this. I need to buy a new hard drive right? I have already moved over all of my personal files to a USB drive so I have nothing I'm worried about losing on the laptop anymore.

I also believe I need to download Windows again after installing the new hard drive. I tried entering my product key on the Microsoft website to do so but was told I would need to contact HP since my product key is for a version of Windows that was pre-installed on my device. I tried contacting HP but I can find no way to do so on the support website. I just get a message telling me to come back during the hours of operation but I am not sure what those are.

Do I have everything right so far? Am I missing anything? Are there any problems I should be aware of running into once I start doing this? Any help is appreciated since I am pretty much walking blindly here. I don't know much about things of this sort and it's tricky to decipher the jargon that comes up whenever I try googling how to fix this. Thanks!

[CherylG · Accepted solution]

All you need is your Recovery Media to reinstall Windows. Have you made it?

Creating Recovery Media>>Windows 7

[Searyu]

I have not. Thank you for letting me know about that. So let me know if I got this right.

1: Create Recovery Media
2: Install new hard drive
3: Reinstall Windows using Recovery Media

Is that all I need to do to be good to go? Do I need to get an empty USB drive with a certain amount of space to create the Recovery Media on?

[CherylG]

Yes to all three. If you are using USB flash drive I would get 32gb to be safe. If you already have one of that size with nothing on it you need to keep ,you can use it. If using DVD's you will need at least 4 single layer- less if using DL. Good quality such as Sony, Verbatim- no Memorex. Discs supported- DVD-R, DVD+R, DVD-R DL, or DVD+R DL discs.

[CherylG]

Your Maintenance Manual in case you need it:

http://h10032.www1.hp.com/ctg/Manual/c02842252

[Searyu]

Thanks! I really appreciate the advice. This turned out to be easier than I expected.

[Searyu]

One more question actually, any hard drive will work as long as it is SATA and 2.5" right?

[CherylG]

Any retail 2.5" laptop SATA hard drive can be used. Western Digital, Toshiba, Seagate, etc. Just be sure to get one of at least equal capacity as the original in order to use HP Recovery Media to install Windows. It can be larger, but not smaller capacity.For instance if you have a 500GB hdd you could use a 750GB hdd but not a 320GB hdd.

[Searyu]

Does the mm height matter? I found this hard drive on amazon but it says that it's 7mm and according to my manual, the one in my laptop is 9.5mm. Will this affect anything?

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B01LWRTRZU/ref=mp_s_a_1_10?ie=UTF8&qid=1495447104&sr=8-10&pi=AC_SX236...

[CherylG]

Your manual states in specs section that it can use a 7.0mm or 9.5mm.