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I believe my hard drive (let's call it C1) is dying: chkdsk /f on my C drive freezes/locks the process at a certain %. A few months ago I ran this process successfully and it found and fixed errors. FWIW, I have an SSD.

Fortunately, I can skip the process and still use my OS, but every other day it randomly locks up and I have to restart the computer by holding down the power button.

I plan to replace the hard drive (let's call the replacement drive C2), but is it safe to restore a Windows 10 recovery drive/system repair drive/system image that was created from C1's OS? If not, what's the proper way to get Windows 10 installed on this new SSD? I don't have physical access to another computer I can trust.

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    Do you have backups and backups of those backups?
    – Gantendo
    Commented Aug 16, 2023 at 19:07
  • The best thing to do, IMHO, is to create a bootable USB rescue environment to make a full disk image of the SSD. Booting from the SSD inevitably also writes to the SSD, bringing its demise closer. There are many tools to do this, such as AOMEI's, ubackup.com/features/create-bootable-disc.html and Macrium's, blog.macrium.com/the-macrium-rescue-environment-cca57a4ebc61 . Yes, there might be some corrupted files copied, but you can sort through the image after replacing the SSD.
    – DrMoishe Pippik
    Commented Aug 16, 2023 at 19:19
  • @DrMoishePippik "you can sort through the image after replacing the SSD" How do I go about doing this?
    – Daniel Kaplan
    Commented Aug 16, 2023 at 20:51
  • You create a drive image on another device. You use the software that created the image to open it and mount it as a drive. Some images, e.g., from dd, may be mountable as-is. Now sort through the mounted image for whatever you could salvage before the drive, z''l, passed on.
    – DrMoishe Pippik
    Commented Aug 16, 2023 at 22:11

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is it safe to create a Windows 10 recovery drive/system repair drive/system image from it?

What's the point if the disk is almost dead ?

Even if I'm able to use it, wouldn't the result be corrupted? How would I know?

You can't know, so there is no point in even trying.

what's the best way to proceed?

Take a backup of your data asap. You might also take a backup image of the whole disk, just in case in the future you'll find that you forgot something (abandon if that backup will crash).

Get a new SSD, install Windows and all your applications and restore your data. Windows will be automatically enabled by digital entitlement (the fingerprint of your remaining hardware).

In short, do not trust what's on this disk, because a hidden corruption can become a time-bomb in the future. If you have a prior backup of your data, this is preferable to trusting this disk.

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  • "What's the point if the disk is almost dead ?" I may be misunderstanding or my question might be unclear. I'm not asking if I should put the backup on the dying hard drive. I'm asking if it's okay to use a backup on a working drive/USB when the backup was created from an OS running on a dying hard drive. "Get a new SSD, install Windows..." Part of my question is asking how to get the Windows 10 to install on the new SSD. I don't have a backup at this time.
    – Daniel Kaplan
    Commented Aug 16, 2023 at 20:55
  • @DanielKaplan - If you believe we might have misunderstood your question you should edit your question instead of submitting a temporary comment.
    – Ramhound
    Commented Aug 16, 2023 at 21:36
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    @DanielKaplan: I did understand your question this way, and my answer is No. Use your barely functional Windows to create a Windows installation USB and use it.
    – harrymc
    Commented Aug 16, 2023 at 21:44
  • @Ramhound way ahead of you. Well, not "way ahead": 22 minutes ahead of you :)
    – Daniel Kaplan
    Commented Aug 16, 2023 at 22:07
  • Thanks for clarifying. Although I think I understand the gist of your answer, I'm embarrassed to say I'm still confused about some details. When I asked, "Even if I'm able to use [the backup], [c]ouldn't the result be corrupted? How would I know?" Your reply to that was: You can't know, so there is no point in even trying. Whereas your latest comment says, Use your barely functional Windows to create a Windows installation USB and use it. I'm missing something because these two statements seem to contradict.
    – Daniel Kaplan
    Commented Aug 16, 2023 at 22:54

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