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**Partha** · (This post was last modified: 11-16-2017, 07:05 AM by Partha.)

It looks like the drive which was supposed to have all your data, is clean because all the space is marked free. Maybe the drive was formatted accidentally which led to the startup problems to begin with

**Herbal meds** · 11-16-2017, 07:11 AM

So would the OEM be where the bios is. That's the only place w/o free space. I think the hard drive has failed. Just now the screen was flickering. I was unable to really do a check disk on the hard drive. I realized later that I had done it on K Drive which was the CD-ROM. When I tried to do the check disk on the hard drive which was listed as X. I got an error message that said cannot lock current Drive. Windows cannot run disk checking on this volume because it is write protected.
I saw from the BIOS main menu that I could do a smart test on the hard drive. Pretty sure it's going to have errors.

**Partha** · (This post was last modified: 11-16-2017, 07:20 AM by Partha.)

No, the bios is installed on a chip unlike the OEM which is saved on the hard drive. I would suggest that you install Windows 10 on the Drive 0 Partition 2

But before you begin with the install, select that partition (Drive 0 Partition 2 ) and click on "Format" just to make sure that it's formatted properly

It turns out that for installing Windows 10 on a USB flash drive, a specific software is required but that's beside the point now

**Herbal meds** · (This post was last modified: 11-16-2017, 07:22 AM by Herbal meds.)

If I understood what Compton said when I was trying to run the check disk. I believe he said that the xDrive was the hard drive. But when I look at the dates for the files on the X Drive, they are all dated 9-29-2017.
So I don't think that would have been the hard drive. That would be the DVD.

Now I can run the Smart short test from BIOS setup main screen. I think the data is gone.

**Partha** · (This post was last modified: 11-16-2017, 03:21 PM by Partha.)

I don't think that date corresponds to the date when files were created on that drive but, if you could take a snapshot of that screen and share it with me, that would be nice

(11-16-2017, 07:21 AM)Herbal meds Wrote: I think the data is gone.

Sadly, yes and that also explains the issue with the startup, but with that said, we can still attempt to recover the lost data with certain recovery software

**Herbal meds** · 11-16-2017, 08:07 AM

(11-16-2017, 07:17 AM)Partha Wrote: No, the bios is installed on a chip unlike the OEM which is saved on the hard drive. I would suggest that you install Windows 10 on the Drive 0 Partition 2

But before you begin with the install, select that partition (Drive 0 Partition 2 ) and click on "Format" just to make sure that it's formatted properly

It turns out that for installing Windows 10 on a USB flash drive, a specific software is required but that's beside the point now

Wouldn't have been able to download the other program anyway.
I ran the short Smart test. The drive failed the read test. Almost 2am. I'll do the Smart long test tomorrow. It takes 235 min.
Then will see if I can format the 2nd partition.
What were the other 2 partitions used for? Can or should I get rid of them. Were they used for system restore or the program files?
Thank you Partha for being so patient, helping me with the computer and answering all my questions!

**Partha** · (This post was last modified: 11-16-2017, 12:51 PM by Partha.)

You are welcome. I am not sure about the partition 4 but the OEM reserved partition is a partition created by the manufacturer, usually for their software, and the system partition is where the boot files are saved; boot files are required for the operating system to load

We can get rid of the OEM and the system partitions; the system partition would be created automatically as we install Windows

**Herbal meds** · (This post was last modified: 11-16-2017, 01:55 PM by Herbal meds.)

I have one more question. Our WiFi and router are set up through through this computer. If the other 3 partitions other than the OEM, are empty, why would our WiFi and router still be working?

**Compton** · 11-16-2017, 03:05 PM

yes it would still because all router configuration are save on the router not the computer

**Partha** · (This post was last modified: 11-16-2017, 03:39 PM by Partha.)

(11-16-2017, 01:49 PM)Herbal meds Wrote: I have one more question. Our WiFi and router are set up through through this computer. If the other 3 partitions other than the OEM, are empty, why would our WiFi and router still be working?

It's a very nice question. Like Compton pointed out, the router configurations are saved on the router's memory and so regardless of what we do with the drive partitions, your WiFi setup would be as is