Broken/Corrupt HDD, will an SSD recognize windows?

Drewski71 · June 10, 2020

So I have an old Optiplex 990 with a Core i7 and a 1050 ti with 12 gb of ram, got the computer for college in 2017 and have loved it ever since. I was playing Terraria since it updated, i played on a old save file with the new updates, bad choice I know. Everything went great and then I hit my home base and was hit with 3 freezes that lasted for about a minute each time I'd get farther in and then my computer blue screened. I reset it and when I did it said no boot drive found, I ran a diagnostic and it said everything was great except for the HDD, it couldn't find it. I switched the boot from legacy to UEFI, and back again to see if that did anything nothing. So I think I corrupted or broke my HDD good thing is I didn't have anything that important on it except some old school files and maybe some pictures.

I had been thinking about getting an SSD, and now I'm pretty much decided on it, I bought one this morning and am planning on getting it put in on Friday. I guess my question is, I don't know if I'm going to have to rebuy a windows key or if it will recognize it with the system? I have a 2 TB external HDD that I used to store a bunch of big games and other stuff that I didn't want bogging down the systems 500 GB HDD so I don't know if that will have a copy of Windows on it or if I will have to completely reset up my computer.

Just wondering if anyone would have information on how to fix a HDD or if I'll need to rebuy Windows to put on my new SSD.

Thank you

wall03 · June 10, 2020

3 minutes ago, Drewski71 said:

snip

Linus recently dd something on this with getting companies it get the data from it, but you can always use a windows key that is 7 or newer and the computer that is using it is not active (ie your situation)

Kedohawyr · June 11, 2020

It's a Dell, which means that like most big OEMs the Windows 10 key is normally tied to that specific motherboard (the key is saved in the UEFI BIOS which is why Windows 10 machines usually don't have those licence stickers on the side anymore). Create a Windows 10 installer on a USB stick, install on the new SSD (maybe unplug all other HDDs to be sure you don't accidentally format over anything) and Windows should automatically pickup the key and once it does an internet check you should have an activated copy of Windows again.