Restore Factory Image Hangs, Pre-Boot System Assesment DST Test returns 2000-0146

From what I can read from previous posts, I think my hard drive is failing, but confirmation would be greatly appreciated, before buying a new one.

 

Here is what had happened:

-          OS would hang and freeze within 10 minutes after boot  (did not happen in Safe Mode). Suddenly started happening after a Windows Update.

-          I restored from a previous Restore Point taken at a time when everything worked

-          This did not resolve the problem

 

So, I did the following:

-          In Safe Mode, I backed up all my data to an external drive

-          Booted into Startup Repair

-          Started a command prompt

-          Changed from X: to  C: drive and did a full (not quick) format of C:, to map any possible bad sectors

-          Went into System Recovery Options and selected Dell Factory Image Restore

-          “Reformatting Hard Drive” Quick Format stage completes successfully

-          “Restoring Factory Image” stage hangs indefinitely… Hard drive light on laptop stops flashing after about 3-5 minutes..Longest I let run was 10 hours

-          This happens every time I try to restore to factory image.

 

When I re-boot after failed attempt to restore factory image:

-          The OS does not boot

-          The Laptop automatically boots into Startup Repair Mode.

 

Startup Repair returns the following:

-          All diagnostics (including disk checks) return success (no errors)

-          Root Cause for Failure: The operating system version is incompatible with Startup Repair

-          If I open a command prompt, the C: drive with all directories (Windows etc) is present, but OS will not boot

 

When I run the Pre-Boot System Assessment (Power on holding “Fn” key) , I receive the following:

Device: Hard Drive

Test: DST Short Test

Status: Attempting to start DST

Error Code : 2000-0146

Message: Hard Drive 1 – Self Test log contains previous errors

 

 

Guidance greatly appreciated.