Windows 10: Hard drive failed on an Acer system

I bought an Acer PC a year ago just past the warranty period with windows pre-installed and it seems like the hard drive has failed. I am planning on getting a new hard drive, but am not sure if I can reinstall windows as I don’t know how to authenticate it. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Sorry if this is a duplicate thread, I searched for a long time and couldn’t find the answer. Thanks very much for any assistance!Ps - if I can authenticate, is there an easy way to install windows from a USB drive?

:)

 

Recovery from failed hard drive

Hi,

To assist you better, please answer the following questions;

• 
  What is the make and model of the hard drive?
  
• 
  Did you get any error messages while using the failed hard drive?
  
• 
  When you say failed hard drive, are you referring to external hard drive or internal hard drive?
  

I suggest you to refer to the below Microsoft help article, which explains about the recovery option in Windows 10 and check if it help.

Recovery options in Windows

Get back to us for further assistance, we will be glad to help you.

 

Lost data from hard drive, what to do now?

Well, I'm sorry to hear that it's a WD My Passport that failed on you, @tomhenry ! *Frown
I'd recommend you to try using a different USB cable with it and see if that will help your system to detect it without it disconnecting.
I'd also suggest you to go to Disk Management and see how the drive is listed there. It won't hurt to check up on the health and SMART status of the HDD by running the QUICK and EXTENDED tests from the WD's Data LifeGuard Diagnostics. Here's a link to the available software: http://products.wdc.com/support/kb.ashx?id=11ZOpD

Give these troubleshooting steps a try and keep us posted with the results!
SuperSoph_WD

 

Overclock your hard drive!!!

Heres a much easier hack that I realized quite a few years ago that really does work!

REQUIREMENTS:

• Hard drive with molex power connection.
• PSU with more than 1 strand that has molex plugs on it.
• Wire strippers, soldering iron if you're fancy, electrical tape if you're not.

STEPS:

• Take the strand of connectors from your PSU, and decide which one will be the donator for this overclocking adventure.
• Cut the yellow and orange cables, then twist them together.
• Find the power connector you've chosen as the overclocking connector, and release the orange cable from the connector. Now use your preferred method to bind them together, then place it back together.
• Plug in a drive and feel the speed!

Congratulations! You've just overclocked your hard drive!