Solved! What are my options?

[Node Enoch]

Hi have a Toshiba 50D-C Skullcandy (purchased 2015).
I think the laptop had Win8.1 originally and once started it suggested you upgrade to Win10. There is no stickers with windows license details etc.

The HDD started with bad sectors right after warranty expired, so I 'repaired' it a couple of times.
Now the HDD is completely corrupt and doesn't load anymore, starts up but hangs on the windows circle thingy.... when loading.
I have tried to repair/recover the bad sectors, it keeps saying it's repaired then after restart still nothing. Hangs.
Also tried the image Recover by pressing '0' and trying ALL options available, no recovery available....
FRUSTRATING.... to say the least.

My question is this:
If I get hold of a new or 'replacement' HDD, is there a way I can 'reload' or 'reinstall' a working operating system?
Is there a standard image available to download etc.

WHAT are my options?

 

[Saga Lout]

It's a good time to upgrade to a Solid State drive. It doesn't have to spin at 5,400 rpm all the time the machine is active so it won't wear as the old spinning disks did.

You can download an ISO from Microsoft's website, put it on a USB stick and convert that into a bootable drive using a utility called Rufus. That way, you can get the system into the new disk. Another method would be to buy a USB optical drive and make the system bootable on to a DVD but Rufus would still be necessary.

Microsoft will charge you about $110 if you buy from them but there are legitimate sellers of Product Keys. I've bought dozens from www.sofwarefair.de and haven't had a failure yet. They ship the Key in an e- mail a few hours of receiving payment. I think their current price is €27.50.