Question Verifying if their are other hardware that is Bad

[MAOP77]

Hi, i'm trying to figure out if the hardware on an old laptop still works. When I did a fresh install of Windows 8.1 it was running a bit slow, but I believe that it was because the hard drive was failing. I managed to get into to Disk Management it had a red X on the hard drive.
To make sure it is the Hard drive, i wanted to install an OS on a USB and make the laptop boot off from that USB. But whenever the Installation menu appears and I click "Install Now" and it freezes. You can move the loading mouse but it does not go past the "Install Now" screen.

Note: Im installing Win 8.1 via a Bootable USB to another USB both same models 16 GB 3.0 USB

Is the freezing of the Installation because of another hardware failure or because the compatibility of the USB or Operating System?

Toshiba Satellite U845W-S400 Specs:
https://support.dynabook.com/support/staticContentDetail?contentId=3431930&isFromTOCLink=false

 

[Grobe]

There is a couple of things to do to verify bad hdd (but from what you write, it seems indeed that the hdd is the cause):

1: UBCD. A bootable DVD packed with software for testing various hardware. It may include a tool from the HDD manufactor.

2: Same DVD/Toolkit : Look for Memtest86+ included on the same toolkit. Let it run overnight to ensure there is no faulty RAM.

3: Get Ubuntu (personally I like the Ubuntu Mate flavour - other distro may or may not contain the same tool) and make it a bootable DVD or usb stick. Ubuntu have included a tool that reads the HDD S.M.A.R.T. data and then it will tell if the HDD is about to die (if it hasn't already).

[edit]
Do nr. 2 first. If RAM is bad, it doesn't help testing the HDD and you can potentially mis-interpret the outputs from any test tool as it was any other faulty hw.