I recently pulled out my old laptop, which I had cleared the drive on a few years back. When I turn it on now, I get a message saying 'Default Boot Device Missing or Boot Failed.' What steps can I take to recover it or get it working again?
2 Answers
It sounds like when you cleared the drive, you also removed the operating system. Without it, your laptop can't boot up. You’ll need to reinstall an OS—like Windows or Linux—through installation media.
You should probably check if the hard drive is functioning. If the drive was wiped, it’s possible it needs to be replaced. Consider getting a new SSD and install Windows on it. After that, you could connect the old drive via a USB case to recover any files you can still access.
Absolutely! That way, you might get a chance to recover some of your old files.
Trying to access your old drive as an external one is a great idea! Just make sure the connections are good.