Windows 10: Malware or drive failure? Machine is crippled

That's why I assumed- apparently WD no longer has an iso available, unfortunately.

It seemed to just say that the long test failed, at the end of yeh test. There were many strings of numbers (I took pictures if them, maybe 50 or more?)
but I don't know what they were.

 

Ya, that fix menu doesn't exist for me. I just have basic, advanced, etc...

I also saw no way to fix or repair after, it just gave me a window with all those numbers (the error codes?) and that it failed. I was back at the main menu after that.

 

Without any information other than it failed ... no error codes, no thing else, all I can say is that it failed and is, according to the manual, a faulty drive.

You could run WD Lifeguard
How to test a drive for problems using Data Lifeguard Diagnostics for Windows | WD Support


but my experience is that it isn't as good as Seagate Tools.

Your experience might be different, so give it a shot.

What if WD LG also says it's bad?

Then you're going to try and save your data off that drive and replace it.

There are any number of Linux distros or REscue discs, but I like Linux Mint (Mate edition)
Download - Linux Mint
Choose 32-bit or 64-bit (Mate or Cinnamon)

Documentqation: install and use
Documentation - Linux Mint

You can put it on a USB or DVD, then boot from it and copy your files to another external drive

If any of that is necessary - I would do it anyway.

 

Time to buy a new drive and hopefully still be able to copy your important data off the old one. *Sad

 

Here is an imgur album to show what I mean, perhaps these are the error codes?

You can see I have no fix option - however, it didn't exist when I scanned my other hd, which is a Seagate, either. Perhaps there's a little hope if I can figure out why I don't have that functionality?

Hd - Album on Imgur

 

I don't know, but I guess I wouldn't want a Seagate product fixing my WD drive anyway.

Once you get a new HDD installed and the OS up and running again, you can plug in the failed drive and evaluate it with Passmark Disk Checkup. That will give you the failure modes of each SMART attribute.

 

Those options might only be on the Windows version - just a guess.

I thought you said that you saw a repair dialog - that isn't showing in subsequent tests?

Unfortunately I see no error codes, just failed as you said.

Anything important on that drive?
Now's the time to stop accessing the disk to test it and get any data off of the drive that you can before things are overwritten. Once the data is copied, you might want to play around with the drive ... but that's after you salvage the data.

 

Ok, thanks all.

At the moment I'll need to by a HD and windows again, so the whole thing is probably being packed away for now. I am copying stuff through a rescue media to the HD that has no OS on it.

Thanks again!!

 

You won't need to buy Windows - you have a digital license (from an upgrade) or you have a retail key (I'm too lazy to backtrack)

Ok, good on copying your data!

 

I had one - apparently the place that built the PC didn't put the sticker on, so I'm out windows as well. *Sad

 

Two choices - contact the PC builder and get them to pony up a key for your machine

You might be able to salvage the key from the old drive - not sure though.
Don't erase that drive just yet.

 

Ive already tried the builder unsuccessfully - I never considered that the key may be salvageable...

 

If the machine can still limp along - (you can boot it), then after your data is safe, try
Showkey - Windows 10 Forums

If you cannot boot the machine with the old drive, there is another way:
Windows 10 Recovery Tools - Bootable Rescue Disk - Windows 10 Forums

but ... there's a trick to using Showkey on that PEboot - I'll have to look around or ask the authors to chime in.
The issue, as I understand it, is that the key shown in PEboot is not the one on your machine -it comes from the PEboot.

I think you have to use the Retrieve key from backup option in Showkey when using it in the PEboot

Try it whichever way works for you ... but do NOT post any key found.
Always blank or erase the key info if you post any screenshots.

 

Considering you already installed Windows 10 on this machine, reinstalling on the same hardware should not ask you for a product key as long as you have internet access. MS' license servers should be able to track your license without further reference. I suppose it would still apply with a new HD (considered a minor hardware change). Anyway, it's still better to get the product key just in case, this is a new feature after all, and who knows to what extent it works...

 

If the thing had W10 on it, and was activated, you just need to reinstall W10 and skip entering the key, if it asks for one. The MS servers will apply the Digital Entitlement. Changing a drive does not affect activation. Simply download the W10 ISO from MSTechBench - it will have both Home + Pro versions on it (just select the proper bitness). Install the version you had and it will auto-activate, if not immediately, after a couple of boots.

That's the great thing about W10: once it has been activated on a system, the Digital Entitlement allows you to reinstall as many times as you want/need.