Solved!
Go to SolutionHelp needed - restore and new HDD formatting
Dear Dell Community Forum Members,
My request for guidance may be simple to resolve for someone with experience of post Windows 98 SE in relation to formatting/initialising a new internal 2.5” hard drive and using (hopefully) backup disks 1-3 to restore my system. I should have been capable of fixing a hard disk crash without help, but I know when I’m beaten!!
Just to note - I'm a business user and I’ve had to attempt to resolve this myself in isolation due to the coronavirus pandemic and I accept I will have made errors along the way.
System info:
Dell Latitude E6520 purchased ca.2012. (Computer A)
Windows 7 Pro
Seagate 750Gb SATA 7200rpm (which died)
8Gb system RAM
Dell Service tag and Win 7Pro Product key available
Backup Disks 1-3 available (ca.2012)
Summary of problem: (a detailed history of actions taken so far are detailed further below)
Internal hard disk failed. Attempts to fix bad sectors unsuccessful.
Restore attempted with brand new unformatted hard drive installed. Restore appears to have failed despite a “success” message displayed.
What help do I think I need?
I expected Windows 7 (once restored) to sort out formatting/initialising the new hard disk but, as mentioned below, no option to proceed was offered after the restore completed.
Should I use a formatting program like EaseUS to do this via a different computer? (When building computers myself in the distant past I have always booted to a floppy drive, run Config.sys and Autoexec.bat files and formatted the hard drives from there….but I’m guessing this is old hat now!!)
Also:
- Should I have formatted/initialised the new hard drive before attempting the restore?
- If I have lost the option to restore to the 2012 date of my backup/restore disks, what other options do I have? (My original Dell system disks are at my company offices which are closed during the coronavirus lockdown). I’d settle for a factory reset but I won’t proceed until I have guidance on the new hard drive: Q1 and Q2.
- Any other hints and tips relating to my problem?
History of problem /actions to date in detail:
System reported bad sectors and refused to boot.
Removed HDD and connected to separate laptop (Computer B) via Winstars Hard Drive Docking Hub. Able to retrieve important files created since the last normal file backup.
Ran CHKDSK on failed HDD from Computer B. Allowed fixes to be done.
Returned failed HDD to Computer A and attempted reboot. System reported CHKDSK needed which ran but still failed to boot.
Purchased new Seagate Barracuda 1Tb internal 2.5” 7200 rpm hard disk and installed into Computer A.
Set BIOS to read CD/DVD drive first and ran system with 2012 Backup/restore disk #1 in CD/DVD drive.
System message reported that the correct files were not on the Backup Disk. I can’t remember exactly what it said was missing, (Setup Information perhaps?) but whatever it was prompted me to attach the old failed drive via the hard drive docking hub hoping that the missing file needed to launch the Backup Disk#1 would be found.
I restarted the restore process with Disk #1 and this time it started to work,
I followed instructions to restore to the correct Dell Backup Date as per corresponding option from drop-down list (which I noted also included Restore to Factory Settings).
I accepted “erase partition” notice and continued though disks #2 and #3.
When completed there was a message saying that the system restore was successful. I was returned to the list of advanced trouble-shooting options….but no instruction to restart or to start formatting the new hard drive.
I restarted and the boot page said there was no bootable drive.
I decided to try the restore again incase I missed an important message….but now the option to restore to the original 2012 backup date has gone and only the Dell Factory Settings option is available.
Clearly, I presumed that the restore process was doing things to the new hard drive, but the partition erasing etc was being done to the old failed hard drive (which can be read, but not booted from).
I’m not too worried about the old failed hard drive.
I’ve checked the state of the new hard drive using my docking hub and no drive-letter is assigned although the bridge was detected showing that it contained hardware with the correct part number and Seagate reference for this new drive….so hopefully no damage from what I attempted with the restore.
I'm grateful for any suggestions. I'm sure I've just made a schoolboy error somewhere as I've never done a restore before.
Randolfus
Hi nyc10036
Thanks for your reply,
Yep, exactly what I tried....(glad I was on the right track)
Hit the brick wall after the restore confirmed it had worked...as I was just returned to the advanced restore options page...
Is it worth trying the whole thing again?
R.
@Randolfus what exactly are these "Backup Disks" you are trying to restore from? And if they're from 2012, why are you even trying to use them? If you just want to perform a clean installation of Windows 7, download it straight from Microsoft here. You'll be able to use that to either burn a DVD or create a bootable flash drive. Then as mentioned above, boot your system from one of those devices by pressing F12 during initial boot to access the one-time boot menu option. Step through Windows Setup, and when you get to the point asking whether you want an Upgrade or Custom install, choose Custom. And at the next step asking where you want to install it, delete any existing partitions on your new disk until the entire disk shows as a single "Unallocated Space" entry, then select that and click Next. Windows Setup will create the partitions it needs. (Make sure you do NOT accidentally delete partitions on completely separate DISKS during this step, by the way. To minimize the chances of that, make sure you don't have any additional hard drives attached during Windows Setup.)
Or if you intend to keep using this system for a while, consider downloading Windows 10 from Microsoft instead here. The process would work the same way as I just described, except at the end you might have to purchase a Windows 10 license through the Windows Store -- or it might activate automatically using your Windows 7 key. The "free upgrade" program is officially over, but it seems some are still having luck there. But either way, Windows 7 is no longer receiving security updates, so it's not a great idea to keep using it.I recall reading from others that the product key on the sticker of OEM laptops will not work for the Microsoft Windows 7 download link you provided and Microsoft will redirect the user to download from the OEM.
See if you can use your Service Tag # and download Windows 7 image from https://www.dell.com/support/home/us/en/19/drivers/osiso/win
.
Hi guys,
Many thanks for your helpful replies.
I was working on the assumption that if I restore my original Windows 7, then upgrade to Windows 10, it would allow me to retain the Pro version, rather than to go for a Windows 7 download (which I presume limits me to a Home version).
The service tag restore option would have been my next attempt.
I'll keep you posted...but the general consensus seems to be that a formatting program for the new HDD isn't needed. Thanks for that too and for the tip about disconnecting other drives!
Best regards and sincere thanks,
R.
@Randolfus one other note: A Windows 7 download would not limit you to Home at all. Windows installers since Vista actually support packaging multiple editions of the OS within the same install file. And nowadays when you download Windows 10 from Microsoft, it includes a variety of versions and asks you which one you want to install -- unless it finds a product key for a specific edition of Windows 10 embedded into your system firmware, in which case it will automatically install the edition appropriate for that key. My memory is that even Windows 7 by default allowed this edition choice during Windows Setup, although it was possible for installation media to be customized to force a specific edition to be used, so that might have happened in your case at some point. But if you have a Pro key, then even if you did try to install Windows 7, it should either detect that key in your system and automatically install Pro, or prompt you for the key and then choose to install Pro based on that. If the media was actually locked to install only Home no matter what, then you'd see an error that your product key wasn't valid for the editions available on the install media. In any case, there's absolutely nothing inherent about Pro that means you can't reinstall it via download.
@Randolfus if you plan to go to Windows 10 anyway, then forget about Windows 7. Just download the Windows 10 installer I mentioned. The reason is that if Microsoft will give you a free upgrade from Windows 7 to 10, they will do so simply by you entering your Windows 7 key into Windows 10. And if they will NOT do that, then it won't make any difference if you installed Windows 7 first and performed an in-place upgrade or started with a clean install of Windows 10. Either way, whenever you get your system activated, going forward you can perform clean installs of Windows 10 right from the start if ever needed again. Good luck!
And by the way, if you intend to try to upgrade from Windows 7 Pro, then choose to install Windows 10 Pro when Windows Setup asks. And just use regular Pro, not Pro Education or the "N" editions of Pro.Forgot to say....
Got this message when I entered my Product Key when trying to download the Win7 ISO:
Error
The product key you entered appears to be for software pre-installed by the device manufacturer. Please contact the device manufacturer for software recovery options.
I didn't want you to think I had ignored your suggestion to try this...:-)
Maybe Dell knew I'd try this because a Dell virtual assistant has sent me a private message about my post!
R.
jphughan
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Posted April 22nd, 2020 13:00
@Randolfus I have very mixed feelings about Windows 10 myself, but whether due to actual improvements or just my resignation to using it, I've found that I do like it more than Windows 7 overall, and when I've gone back to Windows 7, there are definitely some things that I miss and consider simpler, but there are far MORE irritations that I encounter in the form of missing capabilities. I would also consider removing Classic Shell to see what you think now. Newer releases of Windows 10 have actually done a good job of cleaning up the native Start menu experience to the point that I think it actually works better than Win7 (and looks better too). The only caveat is that in exchange for making Windows 10 updates free forever, Microsoft has essentially turned the Start menu into ad space by pushing tiles for apps like Candy Crush to people's systems. So you have to remove/uninstall those, but once you do that, it's actually pretty clean.
I can't see your uploaded photos yet, but if System Information doesn't show an HDD, then there was no hope that diskpart would either. 2.5" drives are available in a variety of thicknesses, the most common being 7 mm and 9.5 mm (why hard drive manufacturers opted to mix SAE and metric units is beyond me), and in some cases when installing a thinner drive it can be useful to have some foam padding in order to prevent the drive from sitting at an angle within its designated space, since that can place strain on the SATA connector depending on the design of the enclosure.
In any case, if this isn't resolved by simply removing and reseating the drive internally, then testing the drive in the drive dock might still be worthwhile to see if it works in that setup, in which case you may have a fault with something on the laptop side, or possibly a situation where both pieces work in isolation but that drive can't maintain a stable connection in that laptop's enclosure, at least not without padding or something. But whatever the end result, at least you now know how a clean Windows install is SUPPOSED to work, so best of luck going forward!