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Hard drive issue

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nigel cook

PCHF Member
Nov 4, 2016
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#1
Hi. I have a Dell desktop pc which did have windows 7 before I upgraded to 10
The hard drive is currently telling me it's failed

Dell at the time were not supplying windows recovery media it was all built in

If I replace the hard drive what do I do about windows ?
 
#4
This is unfortunately a problem I have seen a lot near the end of my last job. Most makers are no longer providing recovery discs for their older computers (Pre Windows 8). I have had quite a few clients get frustrated due to it. You can try contacting Dell and explain the situation, but if they say no recovery disc, the only other option would be to purchase an OEM copy of Windows 7. If you really want Windows 7 back that is.

If you had Windows 10 installed, you should be able to simply download the Windows 10 image file and reinstall due to the way Windows 10 activation works with the Digital license.
 
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#5
thanks for the responses. SO Ive managed to get back into Windows - Does that mean I could take a windows 10 media copy onto a usb before it crashes again if so how do i do that
 
#6
Hello nigel cook,

nigel cook said:
I have a Dell desktop pc which did have windows 7 before I upgraded to 10
Click to expand...
As you have previously upgraded to Windows 10 from Windows 7 you can download Windows 10 direct from Microsoft, see option two here when the Dell was upgraded to Windows 10 the motherboard and Windows 7 product key were stored on the MS database and will be automatically detected when you first go online after the clean install.

I would suggest that before you start you download and save to a USB thumb drive the drivers for the Dell ready to install once Windows is up and running, please note that you must install the drivers in a set order else you are likely to encounter problems, see Dell guide here

Is there any data on the drive that you would like to try and recover.
 
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