windows coa damaged

ste-sim2x9 · 7 Apr 2011 at 15:56

My friends toshiba notbook hard drive has failed and taken her recovery partition with it. I have downloaded a legal version of windows 7 that the notbook had on but the coa sticker has faded and i can't make out some of the key. Anyone got a idea what this part could be or have another idea.

]

nuttyprot · 7 Apr 2011 at 16:01

This maybe a long shot but have you tried rubbing? Get a really thin sheet of paper place over and use crayon on the paper you maybe able to get some sort of print.

You could also use ground chalk sprinkle it over the bit you are trying to read then give it a very very gentle blow may help uncover the letters/numbers.

I know its a long shot but it may work.

There is also another way using candle. Rub the area with the candle then get some ink pour that onto the area. (risky and a chance of damage is get ink stains could be worse of than when began)

Finger printing kit may work also but not likely to have one handly.

Philtor · 7 Apr 2011 at 16:05

Is the HDD completely borked or is it even being detected? If it's being seen in the BIOS then you could try the method here which should work for Windows 7 as well.

ste-sim2x9 · 7 Apr 2011 at 16:12

The drive picks up in the bios but won't boot in windows. Just makes ticking noise and i've put it in my akasa external hd dock and it don't pick up.A keyfinder don't work as before it went completly faulty we wen't to install from recovery partition and it got to the part where it formated and froze so there is no windows on c:.

nuttyprot · 7 Apr 2011 at 16:20

ste-sim2x9 said:
The drive picks up in the bios but won't boot in windows. Just makes ticking noise and i've put it in my akasa external hd dock and it don't pick up.A keyfinder don't work as before it went completly faulty we wen't to install from recovery partition and it got to the part where it formated and froze so there is no windows on c:.

May sound stupid have you tried putting the hard drive in a freezer sealed in a ziplock bag to prevent condensation for 1 hour.

It may make it run before trying philtorrens method of recovering the key.

(Yes the freezer method can work its rare but sometimes works)

http://geeksaresexy.blogspot.com/2006/01/freeze-your-hard-drive-to-recover-data.html

SiriusB · 7 Apr 2011 at 16:33

You will also need to doctor the Windows 7 ISO you downloaded to match the COA key too. Odds are you have a Retail ISO. The COA key will be OEM.