Ripping Apart a Computer - To fix the Hard Disk

One of my family's friends had an issue with his DELL computer in which the Hard Drive had been corrupted and so had asked my dad for help to fix it. And today, we managed to fix it!

The problem with the Hard Drive was that it was corrupted - however not all of it - just the part needed to boot the Windows Operating System. And so we wanted to backup his files which were still fine. Because the Windows Operating System was corrupted we bypassed the corrupted Windows OS through BIOS (installed directly in the computer) and then used a Ubuntu Live OS (which we had on a USB) to retrieve the files (which we uploaded onto a USB). Then initially we tried to fix the Windows OS with CHKDSK, but that unfortunately didn't work.

So ten we had to buy a new Hard Drive and replace the corrupted one with his fresh one. When doing this, I got to open up the computer and see all the parts that were inside which was really cool. I got to see the Bus, A fan etc. However since it was a DELL computer it was very well protected meaning we couldn't see the motherboard and other such parts. I wanted to pen up the metal casing an look at the well protected parts too, but decided I probably should unnecessarily mess with someone else's computer :)

After a bit of screwing and plying, we got the fresh Hard Drive in place. Then we installed the Windows OS onto the Hard Drive using our product key. I learned how the Windows Operating system must be downloaded onto the Hard Drive in order to use, in contrast to the Ubuntu which we simple had on a USB. After this we had to 'partition' the Hard Drive into the C Drive and the D Drive. I found it really cool how all these manual setup things I did in this very basic system on this old computer could also be done on my modern laptop as well, however most is automated and they aren't common features you would be looking to use in the Settings App. After partitioning the computer, I wondered what my laptop's partitioning would look like, and eventually found the place to view it, hidden deep in the Settings App.

Finally we downloaded the Windows OS, and after a few hours of updating we had fixed it and it was ready to be returned to our family friend.