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Question

How can i recover my windows from old hard drive?

May 16, 2016 7:18AM PDT

Recently my hard drive failed to operate and had it replaced but i forgot to make a recovery drive so it was replaced with pirated windows 8.1 pro. But then the failed hard drive can be readed by the computer again after that. Is there a way to recover the previous windows i had because i would like the original windows back. Laptop Model : Acer Aspire V5 471 Series.

Discussion is locked

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Answer
In this case you order recovery media.
May 16, 2016 8:06AM PDT

The recovery media for your laptop runs from 35 to 60USD. I see a lot of folk forget or ignore the need to create this media.

If you ran Windows 10, you can use the Windows 10 Media Creation Kit.

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Answer
Here's the thing,
May 16, 2016 11:01AM PDT

there was no need for the pirated 8.1 if the laptop was previously activated with windows 10. You could have just install windows 10 with no problem. At this point, can you install the old Hdd. and have it operate the computer or are you just saying it can be read? If the operating system is ok then put it back in.

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That's the thing.
May 16, 2016 12:20PM PDT

I've recovered 2 Windows 10 laptops that booted to a blinking cursor or BSOD on boot due to what appears to be a damaged OS.

I used Microsoft's FREE Windows 10 Media Creation Kit, 16GB USB sticks and when asked, answer this is for another PC.

I booted said stick and selected the OS reinstall. It worked both times. I expect to use this more as time passes.

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Upgraded
May 17, 2016 3:54AM PDT

It was previously wondows 8 then 8.1 and the windows 10 update came so upgraded it is it still posibble?

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It does for me.
May 17, 2016 8:51AM PDT

You won't know till you try.

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Boot Old HDD from usb hdd
May 20, 2016 4:19AM PDT

Can i reboot it from there since i had the new one inside and it would a pain to reopen the laptop again. If so how?

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No. Here's why.
May 20, 2016 8:03AM PDT

Windows when installed tunes itself to the hardware and the only way to reuse the OS (and that's still iffy) is to find the exact make/model/version laptop and move the drive over.

Second issue. No version of Windows on machines supplied support USB booting of Windows. There is a special version but it's not used in laptops or desktops.

You should be good to go to getting your files out.