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Hard drive failing in laptop



 
 
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  #1  
Old January 12th 15, 02:09 PM posted to alt.windows7.general
Seymore4Head
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Posts: 88
Default Hard drive failing in laptop

My sister has a Toshiba laptop. She is getting a message saying that
the hard is detecting problems. Is there a place on the hard drive
that shows the Win 7 key? If she takes it into a shop, can they
replace the hard drive where it will be able restore the OS like you
can with the original hard drive?
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  #2  
Old January 12th 15, 04:08 PM posted to alt.windows7.general
philo [_3_]
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Posts: 984
Default Hard drive failing in laptop

On 01/12/2015 07:09 AM, Seymore4Head wrote:
My sister has a Toshiba laptop. She is getting a message saying that
the hard is detecting problems. Is there a place on the hard drive
that shows the Win 7 key? If she takes it into a shop, can they
replace the hard drive where it will be able restore the OS like you
can with the original hard drive?




To find the "key" you can use this

https://www.magicaljellybean.com/keyfinder/


If the drive has not entirely failed the best thing to do would be to
stop using it and have the shop clone the old drive to a new one
  #3  
Old January 12th 15, 08:19 PM posted to alt.windows7.general
GlowingBlueMist[_6_]
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Posts: 378
Default Hard drive failing in laptop

On 1/12/2015 9:08 AM, philo wrote:
On 01/12/2015 07:09 AM, Seymore4Head wrote:
My sister has a Toshiba laptop. She is getting a message saying that
the hard is detecting problems. Is there a place on the hard drive
that shows the Win 7 key? If she takes it into a shop, can they
replace the hard drive where it will be able restore the OS like you
can with the original hard drive?




To find the "key" you can use this

https://www.magicaljellybean.com/keyfinder/


If the drive has not entirely failed the best thing to do would be to
stop using it and have the shop clone the old drive to a new one


Being that it is a laptop, have you checked the bottom of the beast or
inside the drive door (hatch) for the license.

Might even be time to consider replacing the drive with a SSD. No more
worries about minor bumps while using it as long as they are not hard
enough to break the case or screen.
  #4  
Old January 12th 15, 09:48 PM posted to alt.windows7.general
s|b
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Posts: 1,496
Default Hard drive failing in laptop

On Mon, 12 Jan 2015 08:09:39 -0500, Seymore4Head wrote:

My sister has a Toshiba laptop. She is getting a message saying that
the hard is detecting problems. Is there a place on the hard drive
that shows the Win 7 key?


Check on the back of the laptop. It should have a sticker.

--
s|b
  #5  
Old January 12th 15, 10:29 PM posted to alt.windows7.general
MrTsquare
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Posts: 21
Default Hard drive failing in laptop

In article , says...

On 01/12/2015 07:09 AM, Seymore4Head wrote:
My sister has a Toshiba laptop. She is getting a message saying that
the hard is detecting problems. Is there a place on the hard drive
that shows the Win 7 key? If she takes it into a shop, can they
replace the hard drive where it will be able restore the OS like you
can with the original hard drive?




To find the "key" you can use this

https://www.magicaljellybean.com/keyfinder/


If the drive has not entirely failed the best thing to do would be to
stop using it and have the shop clone the old drive to a new one


Here is another info program to see just about everything in your
computer.

Belarc Advisor http://www.belarc.com/free_download.html

T2
  #6  
Old January 12th 15, 11:08 PM posted to alt.windows7.general
Paul
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Posts: 18,275
Default Hard drive failing in laptop

Seymore4Head wrote:
My sister has a Toshiba laptop. She is getting a message saying that
the hard is detecting problems. Is there a place on the hard drive
that shows the Win 7 key? If she takes it into a shop, can they
replace the hard drive where it will be able restore the OS like you
can with the original hard drive?


There are two license keys.

Toshiba is an OEM. They use a bulk license key (same key) on
each laptop. In Windows 7, a SLIC table in the BIOS ACPI tables
passed to the OS, contains the "I'm a Toshiba" information to
match the "I'm a Toshiba" OS information. That automatically
activates the bulk license key.

But the machine will also contain a COA sticker. My Acer
has the sticker on the bottom of the machine, where it can
get scratched up. Or the sticker can even be inside the
battery bay. That sticker is intended for retail DVD
re-installations of the OS. So if the hard drive was
destroyed this very instant, and you had no copy
of the Toshiba-branded OS, you could use a regular DVD
installer (matching version level). The COA sticker
would provide the necessary license key. The COA sticker
license key value is unique per machine.

If your daughter burned her recovery DVD set as instructed
by the computer when it was new, then the Toshiba-branded
OS is ready to be put back on a bare new hard drive.

If she didn't burn the discs, then you need to clone that
drive *soon*, before it is toast.

If the drive dies 5 minutes from now, you can try to
contact Toshiba support and get the disc set from them.
Charges for disc sets range from $0 to $50 or so.

If the machine is over 3 years old, no more disc sets
are avaiable, then you get them off Ebay for $50.

I used a Windows 7 retail disc, the COA sticker, and
reinstalled a cruft-free Windows 7 OS, using that COA
sticker key. I had to use the phone method for
activation. So while you're provided with a COA
sticker, the activation server still sees the mismatch
between an OEM machine using a retail DVD. And the
extra step is your "punishment" :-)

Let's hope your daughter had a clue, and burned the
three or four DVDs needed for this repair job. As otherwise,
cloning the drive could be a hair-raising experience,
depending on how sick it is. Macrium Reflect Free can
clone a drive, if you need software. I would do the
cloning on another computer (run SATA cables to the
old laptop drive and the new laptop drive). For me,
that's the easiest way to do such things.

Paul
  #7  
Old January 13th 15, 01:32 AM posted to alt.windows7.general
...winston‫
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Posts: 1,128
Default Hard drive failing in laptop

Seymore4Head wrote:
My sister has a Toshiba laptop. She is getting a message saying that
the hard is detecting problems. Is there a place on the hard drive
that shows the Win 7 key? If she takes it into a shop, can they
replace the hard drive where it will be able restore the OS like you
can with the original hard drive?


There are key finder utilities available by searching on the Internet.

But....it is very important to note...that if her laptop was provided by
Toshiba, her product key is either on the bottom of the laptop, inside
the memory or battery or hard drive access panel, or on package
information that was provided with the computer upon delivery.

Using key finding software will return whatever value is in the registry.
- If the machine has never been reformatted with Windows reinstalled
using the Toshiba provided key (on the bottom, inside unit, etc.), the
value found in the registry will not be useable....it is the key that
Toshiba used to burn multiple machines and only valid for their (but not
your) use.

If you need to replace the hard drive and reinstall Windows you will
need to find the valid product key (not necessarily the one in the
registry with key finding sofware)

--
....winston
msft mvp consumer apps
  #8  
Old January 13th 15, 03:16 AM posted to alt.windows7.general
Seymore4Head
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 88
Default Hard drive failing in laptop

On Mon, 12 Jan 2015 08:09:39 -0500, Seymore4Head
wrote:

My sister has a Toshiba laptop. She is getting a message saying that
the hard is detecting problems. Is there a place on the hard drive
that shows the Win 7 key? If she takes it into a shop, can they
replace the hard drive where it will be able restore the OS like you
can with the original hard drive?


Thanks everyone for the suggestions.
I will pass the info on to her.

 




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