dead hard drive

[numnutz]

I have a dead hard drive from a customer that will not boot. I am going to try to slave it to my laptop to get the data off of it. However the bigger problem is for some reason the XP code is missing on the side of the tower. Is there a way to get the code of a hard drive your slaving. I do have a tool that gets it off the master drive but no way to change the drive its scanning. Thanks for any help if possible!
Eric

 

[Alan22]

http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/product_cd_key_viewer.html
Supports command line options which should allow retrieveal of license keys from a slaved drive.

 

[studiot]

I have a dead hard drive from a customer that will not boot. I am going to try to slave it to my laptop to get the data off of it.

More important than getting data off the drive, How are you going to get cash from a customer that will not boot?

 

[NickCat11]

more important than getting data off the drive, how are you going to get cash from a customer that will not boot?

:d

lol


__________________

 

[xxsilk109xx]

I have heard that if you use a keyfinder like that, it will not give you the actual code that is on the case and that sometimes the key that it gives you will not actually activate.

something about OEM and a universal code or something.

can someone clarify? I had this exact issue yesterday!

 

[wimwauters]

I have heard that if you use a keyfinder like that, it will not give you the actual code that is on the case and that sometimes the key that it gives you will not actually activate.

something about OEM and a universal code or something.

can someone clarify? I had this exact issue yesterday!

There's a lot of junk out there.

Try ProduKey from good old NirSoft

 

[zfrogz]

Magic Jelly Bean Finder can get a product key from a remote drive. In one of the menus, you can point in to the windows directory on a network/secondary drive and it will load those registry hives (by default it loads the currently active hives). Also, you can check if it's xp home or pro by opening the c:\boot.ini.

 

[Alan22]

I have heard that if you use a keyfinder like that, it will not give you the actual code that is on the case and that sometimes the key that it gives you will not actually activate.

something about OEM and a universal code or something.

can someone clarify? I had this exact issue yesterday!

You are correct. Take a Dell system for example. The license key you'll see using any license key viewer app will not be the same key seen on the COA sticker and the key cannot be used for activation. However, if the Dell OEM recovery disc is used to install the OS activation isn't needed anyway.

If a license key from a system builder OEM pack, upgrade or full version was used the license key should be the same as what is on the COA sticker. Keep in mind that in the case where an OEM version was used it is illegal to transfer the license to a different system.

 

[PcTek9]

This is exactly why I despise companies that don't give you the windows cd's...

 

[studiot]

You are correct. Take a Dell system for example. The license key you'll see using any license key viewer app will not be the same key seen on the COA sticker and the key cannot be used for activation. However, if the Dell OEM recovery disc is used to install the OS activation isn't needed anyway.

No you don't need activation for a Dell to work, the original machine as supplied by Dell comes with imaged software and (if you ordered them) the Windows cds come still sealed, so clearly haven't been used for install.
However if you need to reinstall from these disks sooner or later you will come across validation on the internet.

If you do reinstalls from a 'generic' Dell disk in your servicing it is a very simple matter to use Microsoft key changer to insert the key form the COA and validate it -I have never seen that fail.

 

[PraiseJeebus]

Thanks for the link for produkey it'll come in handy as there is nothing worse than a machine with the COA worn off or picked off