System drive crashed...

My system drive crashed earlier this week but thank God I had a Time Machine back up to refer to when I installed a clean version of Leopard on the brand new drive. What I am slowly learning is that some of my apps are not working now. For example Aperture keeps force closing on start up other apps are requiring me to re-register or I have to download a certain item for it to run again! What purpose is the TM backup if you have to go through that hassle? Also my screen seems to have dead pixels which are annoying me big time! I never had those issues prior to the HD crashing. Everytime I click on something on screen, it leaves a small square mark on the screen until I scroll or refresh the screen it will leave. I unplugged the monitor and plugged it back in. I checked the display settings and that all checked out fine. I just want my computer back to how I had it and was hoping that was the whole reason for the Time Machine backups but I guess wrong.

DVX100Shooter wrote:
Maybe there is a way to set up Time Machine to do what I want but I never could figure it out. When I set up it originally, it was constantly backing my system up which is what we all want it to do. My issue with that is I noticed when I was not using my computer, it would not sleep because of the TM doing its job. So that is why I stopped the backups in early October. I was hoping to do backups once or twice a week but it seems like its constantly backing up.
It sounds like you have problems with your system.
Time Machine backups shouldn't run constantly, or for very long (after the first full backup). If they do, it's an indication of a problem.
And the problem with your screen is another indication, likely of hardware problems.
I did install Leopard from the disc but can't remember if I ran repair permissions after it was installed. I couldn't see my screen during the install process for some reason. I could see it but it was hard to read. Once the install was complete, then the Leopard animated video played crystal clear. There's a chance I clicked on something I shouldn't have due to not being able to read the screen good.
The fact that the welcome video played means you did an +Erase and Install.+ That did just what it says: it erased the entire contents of your system, and installed Leopard.
If you then transferred/copied/restored things from your backups, that's why you now have the 2009 version of everything.
So with all that said, what is the best option right now?
First, what version of Leopard are you now on? If your Install disc wasn't 10.5.8, and you haven't run Software Update, download and instal the "combo" update. That's the cleverly-named combination of all the updates to Leopard since it was first released, so installing it should fix anything that's gone wrong since then, such as with one of the normal "point" updates. Info and download available at: http://support.apple.com/downloads/MacOS_X_10_5_8_ComboUpdate
Whether you do that or not, run a +Repair Permissions+ via Disk Utility (in your Applications/Utilities folder).
Then run the +Apple Hardware Test,+ either:
[Intel-based Macs: Using Apple Hardware Test|http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1509].
or if it's a PPC Mac, it's on one of the disc(s) that came with your Mac, and is tailored to it's particular hardware. The disk should have +Apple Hardware Test+ and instructions for running it printed in very tiny type.
If that shows hardware problems, take it to Apple.
And do regular backups. If they run for very long when you haven't changed much, see #D4 in [Time Machine - Troubleshooting|http://web.me.com/pondini/Time_Machine/Troubleshooting.html] (or use the link in *User Tips* at the top of this forum). If they seem too slow, see #D2 there.

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"Verify Disk" on system drive crashes system

When I run Disk Utility's "Verify Disk" function on my system drive, it runs for about twenty seconds then my system locks up entirely. My system drive is a pair of mirrored 250Gig drives. I haven't received any warnings from the OS that either drive is malfunctioning.
Any idea what I can do to diagnose this problem?
Thanks.

GregM,
You're welcome. The beauty of the Discussions is that everybody gets to see what the issue is, with someone here being likely to have seen and successfully dealt with it before.
Regarding DiskWarrior not seeing the RAIDed drives, you might check to insure that you're using a DW version 3.0.3 (release 39) disc. Previous versions had a RAID issue, which was supposedly corrected with the latest build. Alsoft has a free updater to make a new startup disc, if this applies to you. If you're already using the version 3.0.3 disc, you might send an email to Alsoft Tech Support about it. The folks there are very knowledgeable, helpful, and responsive, typically answering within 24 hours or so.
We're glad the drive directory issue is fixed and the troublesome file is gone, especially since it is also linked to crashing issues when using CS2.
Gary
1GHz DP G4 Quicksilver 2002, 400MHz B&W rev.2 G3, Mac SE30 Mac OS X (10.4.5) 5G iPod, Epson 2200 & R300 & LW Select 360 Printers, Epson 3200 Scanner

H8-1040 Video Driver Crashing, System Restore then no longer boots properly

I previously had some issues with my graphics card driver crashing. After moving, I took the card out and cleaned out all the dust. The issue somehow got worse. (As you would imagine, the issue never presented itself in Safe Mode). Regardless, I decided to do a system restore. After completing the system recovery, the computer never went to the OS setup screen. In fact, it simply shows a blank screen now when it boots. There are no error beeps and the system diagnostic checks out. I'm not entirely sure what to do. I've tried booting in safe mode, but the computer says it can not complete the installation in safe mode.
So has my card died?
(The issue seems to be similar to what is experienced here: http://forums.evga.com/GTX-550-ti-issue-black-screen-after-loading-windows-m1303862.aspx)
If this card had to be replaced, anyone have any suggestions?
Thanks
This question was solved.
View Solution.

Hi,
Manufacturers will tweak their cards differently. This EVGA 660 is rated for a 450 watt power supply. The 460 watt PSU in your PC has sufficient amperage on the two 12v rails.
HP DV9700, t9300, Nvidia 8600, 4GB, Crucial C300 128GB SSD
HP Photosmart Premium C309G, HP Photosmart 6520
HP Touchpad, HP Chromebook 11
Custom i7-4770k,Z-87, 8GB, Vertex 3 SSD, Samsung EVO SSD, Corsair HX650,GTX 760
Custom i7-4790k,Z-97, 16GB, Vertex 3 SSD, Plextor M.2 SSD, Samsung EVO SSD, Corsair HX650, GTX 660TI
Windows 7/8 UEFI/Legacy mode, MBR/GPT

Can't recover my system after a hard drive crash.

Hello
My hp DV6-3123tx's hard drive crashed because of a collision
Steps i did:
Got a new hard drive and fit it in.
Using recovery DVDs tried to format it.
Everything was good but when the system reboots to install drivers it just gets stuck at the starting page (on which hp is written). I waited for hours together but it doesn't recover from that state
P.S: I had removed CMOS too after my hard drive crashed but restored and saved it's default settings in BIOS before the above mentioned steps.
This question was solved.
View Solution.

Hi,
Assuming this is just a problem with the recovery media, here's an alternative option you could try.
Before trying the following, make sure you can still read the 25 Character Product Activation key on your Windows COA label ( 5 blocks of 5 alpha/numeric sets ).
An example of a COA Label can be seen Here.
You can create an installation disc yourself using another PC - just download the correct Disc Image ( this must be the exact same version that originally came with your notebook ) from the link below and use an application such as ImgBurn to burn the ISO correctly to a blank DVD - a guide on using ImgBurn to write an ISO to a disc is Here. These Images are clean and from a well-respected source, however there are only limited versions available.
Windows-7 sp1-iso-official-32-bit-and-64-bit
Use the disc to perform the installation, enter the Windows activation key found on the COA Label when requested and when the installation has completed, use the 'Phone Method' detailed in the link below to activate the OS - this method supported by Microsoft and is popular with people who just want a clean installation of Windows 7 without the additional software load normally bundled with OEM installations.
http://www.kodyaz.com/articles/how-to-activate-windows-7-by-phone.aspx
Any additional drivers and software you may need can be found starting Here.
Regards,
DP-K
****Click the White thumb to say thanks****
****Please mark Accept As Solution if it solves your problem****
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Microsoft MVP - Windows Experience

Logic crashing when booting from system drive clone

Hi,
So I've been copying system drive clones to another drive for backup, but I find when booting from the (internal HD) clone, Logic 9 will consistently crash on me when trying to open various brands/types of plug-ins.
For cloning I've tried SuperDuper, which I own, and Carbon Copy Cloner, which I'm running the 30 day trial of, and had identical results.
Yeah I know it's lame to be using Logic 9, but I have several important projects originally started on 9 that I need to be finishing up now, and those projects don't play nicely with Logic X.
I'd like to update my OS and Logic X versions, but want to have a working system clone before risking it.
Suggestions?
Thanks.

Um right after posting the query I remembered what I had learned probably right here back in yesteryear, and that is there is one thing that doesn't translate in the clone.
When doing Get Info on the Logic 9 app, there is a check box for "Open in 32-bit mode". I need to have that unchecked, so I can run in 64-bit mode, but for the "clone", that box gets automatically checked, it is NOT actually a clone, hence the issue I was having with plug-ins causing crashes.
Un-checking that box on the clone solved my issue.

My hard drive crashed and I need system discs for 20" iMac early 2006

My iMac hard drive crashed. I need original start up discs. When turned on it shows a folder with a question mark on it. I had upgraded it to 10.6 Snow Leopard.

Hi
You can get Snow Leopard start up disc via Amazon, if you want to chance it ( link below for Amazon page. ) Personally I would phone the Apple help line to see if they can provide you with a set of disc's it much safer.
snow leopard disc amazon

MSI 660 TI PE Display Driver crashes

First, here is my system.
i5-2500k Processor (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115072) (Processor is overclocked to 4.3ghz, temp on it never goes over 45-50°C though)
MSI Geforce GTX 660TI PE Video card (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127696)
Asus P8Z68-V Pro\Gen 3 Motherboard (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131790)
Corsair HX series HX650 Power Supply (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139012)
4x4GB of G.Skill Ram (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231314)
When my old MSI P67A-GD55 Motherboard bricked a month ago, instead of waiting on RMA I went ahead and got the Asus board, at the same time I went ahead and upgraded my old Asus GTX 560TI card to the MSI GTX 660TI card. Since the upgrade, I am constantly getting display driver crashes "Display driver nvlddmkm stopped responding and has successfully recovered." when playing games. Guild Wars 2 and Starcraft 2 are the only ones I've had time to try, but both consistently give driver crashes after awhile (sometimes as soon as 15-20 mins, sometimes takes several hours of gameplay).
Here is the list of things I've already tried:
-First, I tried the most recent Nvidia drivers. Still crashes.
-Second, I tried running driver sweeper, removing all old drivers and reinstalling. Still crashes.
-Third, I tried disabling TDR in the Win7 registry. Still crashes.
-Fourth, I really ramped up the auto fan speeds. So far it hasn't crashed while doing this, but I can't do it for too long because the fans get so loud that it annoys me greatly.
-Fifth, I thought it might be an old Motherboard driver conflict of some sort, so I completely formated my OS hard drive and reinstalled Windows 7. Still getting crashes.
-Sixth, I used driver sweeper again and rolled back to the last official MSI drivers (the ones from October). Still getting crashes.
I really don't think the card is overheating. The most recent crash happened tonight after playing Starcraft 2 for about 20 minutes, and the temperature of the card never got over 60°C. That's why even with the extremely ramped up fan speeds I tried, I think if I used them long enough, the driver would still crash.
The power supply is the same as what I used with the 560TI and it didn't have these issues. And from my understanding, the 560TI consumed more power than the 660TI.
At this point, I'm at my wits end. The only thing else I know to try is swapping out the old 560TI in with the new motherboard or waiting for my old motherboard to come back from RMA and trying the 660TI in it. Though that means rebuilding the case, uninstalling the new mobo drivers and installing the old mobo drivers and authenticating Windows. Doing all of that is going to kill most of a day and I really only want to do that if I absolutely have to.
I've had such limited time for troubleshooting the card, that I'm regrettably past the 30day limit on RMA replacements to Newegg. So unfortunately that means I'm looking at an RMA directly to MSI and that takes about a month. Before I do that, does anyone have any advice on something to try that might be the cuplrit or can help determine the culprit? I can't find any details in the Event Viewer as to what caused the driver crash. Just that it has stopped responding and has recovered. I wish it could tell me if there was a loss of power, or anything. Power Management Mode is set to prefer maximum performance btw.
Btw, as a brief description of what happens. The screen goes black, and then comes back and the game is running very slowly. There will also usually be a popup above the taskbar saying that the driver had crashed. I keep the MSI Afterburner info window open in my second monitor and Power usage never goes over 80%, GPU Usage is usually around 95-99%. Core Clock and Memory clock drop to about 324mhz (which is what it idles at) temporarily during the crash. GPU Usage of course dips to very low levels while the driver is crashing, as well.
Oh and in an added twist, I've run Kombuster several times. Burn-in test DirectX 11 1920x1600 8xMSAA as long as five hours, and the display driver has never crashed. I'll probably turn it on, and disable the computer's sleep and display off tonight and let it run for about 8-9 hours and see what happens. That's one thing that throws me off, if it's a hardware defect, wouldn't Kombuster cause it to crash?
edit-Here is a screenshot of the Afterburner monitor during a crash while playing Starcraft 2. The huge dip in the bars that I have the cursor over is when the crash occured.

Well with the Power% limited to 75%, I just had another crash in Starcraft 2. Temp was only at 56°C just before the crash.
Here is a shot of the Afterburner Hardware Monitor when it crashed:
Unfortunately I do not have another PC to test the card in. And I don't know anyone around here with a system that the card could work in.
If I swapped out the 660TI with my old 560TI and I do not get any crashes, wouldn't that indicate it's the 660TI's fault and I'd need to RMA since the 560TI is a more power hungry card?

GT70 0nc GTX 670MX Driver Crashes, and BAD performance.

I purchased a gt70 ONC 494US and at first I updated all drivers and software on win 8 x64, I tried running multiple games off of steam and none of them were running smoothly, some of them not at all, (borderlands 2, arma II, fallout 3.....) I installed an SSD and a fresh version of win 7 64 ultimate, used only drivers from MSI, and still had crashes and couldn't even run a benchmark.
The only solution I have found to run a select few games, is by uninstalling ALL nvidia software and drivers, using windows default VGA drivers for the 670mx, however, this only works for a few games, and some others won't start because they don't find a capable GPU.
I have read MANY forums, most of them go through the typical, use the nvidia control panel to change the power settings, global settings, and roll back drivers to the originals. NONE of this made any difference.
I have read that there is a firmware beta ec flash? But, even the tech forum from MSI the link didn't go anywhere. I know this is a common problem, and especially with steam games. Yes, the power light turns orange, and i turn on turbo mode, I also turned on the indicator showing the nvidia gpu is being used, but games will not get past the title screen if they start at all, and the nvidia driver crashes.
Help?

Quote from: t.s.girdwood;111417
Currently I am trying the new 340.52, before this I had reset to FACTORY image with the original OEM drivers, 306.14 (I believe). For the intel, again I started with the OEM hd 4000 drivers, currently I have the may 2014 drivers, 10.18.10.3621. Before hand, no there was no error, just a frozen game I had to kill with task manager, now I am getting the error that the vram is full. Using GPU-z I see that the dedicated vram isn't even being used. Ideas?
For the BIOS, EC firmware update, you can find them under the download page of MSI.
Win8 BIOS:http://www.msi.com/support/nb/GT70_0NC.html#down-bios&Win8 64
Win7 BIOS:http://www.msi.com/support/nb/GT70_0NC.html#down-bios&Win7 64
update guide:http://www.msi.com/files/pdf/Flash_BIOS_by_UEFI_BIOS_Setup_Utility_en.pdf
Win8 EC:http://www.msi.com/support/nb/GT70_0NC.html#down-firmware&Win8 64
Win7 EC:http://www.msi.com/support/nb/GT70_0NC.html#down-firmware&Win7 64
update guide:http://www.msi.com/files/pdf/Win8_EC_Update_Step_by_Step_Guide.pdf
For the game settings GeForce Experience provides, I wouldn't say it's an optimized setting but the settings only for your references.
Since the tested game environment and system configurations might be different, I'd go for my own settings in order to find the best gaming experience.
Like BlueAlexFPS said, the GTX670M has similar performance as GTX765M, it would be ridiculous to have the same performance like GTX780M. If what you said is true, then why they are they putting 780M out on the market?
I'd keep the graphics driver from MSI website, since a windows generic driver could gives you only the basic level graphics performance and not to mention without the Optimus, you wouldn't know if which graphics it's running.
*Make sure you're having battery and AC adapter both plugged while running the games.

My hard drive crashed while backing up!

How's this for luck: I finally bought an external drive and was in the process of making a bootable backup to a Maxtor One Touch Firewire 800 drive when my G5's internal drive crashed! I was able to insert the OSX startup disc which opens the installer, and then allows me to open Disk Utility. After several seconds of gathering disk information, I finally get two hard drive icons on the left side of the window. The top one gives me generic info about the drive (74.5GB and the model number). Under that is another hard drive icon followed by "Disk1s9", and that is greyed out. (I do not see the actual name that I gave the drive.) When I select it, Disk Utility tells me that the drive is not mounted, and the 'mount' button on the toolbar becomes active.
I placed a call to Apple Care. He had me unplug and then replug the drive. After that my drive was named Disk0s9 in Disk Utility, but was still not mounted. They told me I needed to go to a repair center. The tech at the Genius Bar of a local Apple Store used one of their drives to try to run Disk Warrior on my drive. At one point I saw my name for the drive on the screen, but Disk Warrior did not seem to start when prompted, and I was told that I was in possession of a dead drive and given the business card for a data recovery service.
Of course, I would like to save the contents of my drive. I'm just wondering if there is anything that I can try before shelling out for data recovery? I'm assuming that clicking the 'mount' button in Disk Utility is not the answer or the people at Apple would have suggested it? Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated!
Next time I'm going to back up individual files first and worry about bootable copies later.

You are going to need another SATA drive anyway at this point. And surprised you went this long probably on just one?
Install 10.4.6 on the new drive (assuming you don't want to install on the Maxtor) - later versions of Tiger have improved on Disk Utility than what 10.4.0 had. Apple sells 10.4.6 DVDs now also.
DW can take a long time. But it is possible it is salvageable. Even put SATA drive in a universal SATA/FW case and deal with it there.
DiskJockey and Data Rescue are two good options. Disk Utility can also has a Restore tab to allow copying one drive to another. A sector copy might be of use, too.
TechTool Pro (4.1.2) might even be of help (DW has not been updated and there IS a need for it, but it has been over a year they've been working on that update).
People have even put hard drives in the freezer (sealed and moisture proof) to get access to a drive.
Heat kills drives. And it could be your system and the drive got too warm.

Hard Drive Crash-round 2

Last night, I'm pretty sure my Macbook hard drive crashed. AGAIN. I first ordered it online on July 5th of 2007 brand new right from the Apple Store. On January 11th of 2008, my first hard drive crashed. System locked up, heard clicking under the keyboard, blinking folder with a question mark inside of it whenever it was powered on. I took it to the Apple store, the Genius Bar guy took the HD out and checked it-dead. It was replaced on the 17th-I kept the receipt just incase. Last night I was typing a paper up for my Child Psych class when iTunes stopped responding. When I tried to quit it (command+q), nothing happened. I clicked the Apple in the top left hand corner to force quit it, and the whole system locked up. I heard clicking under the keyboard again, so I manually shut it off. And now I have the same blinking folder with the question mark again, and this time it even makes a beeping sound for me sometimes.
I called Apple this afternoon, and they keep wanting me to reset this, reset that, try this and try that. I've tried everything just as I did in January when this first happened, and no luck again. I was told to make an appointment at the nearest store (which is 65 miles away, 130 round trip) so they could tell me it was dead and give me a new one just to crash again in a few months and I lose everything all over again.
Anyway, the whole point of this is to find out what could be causing me to lose HD after HD? I really know nothing about Macs as a whole except for hard drive crashing issue; I've only used the OS for a little over a year so I'm putting this out there to anyone who knows more about them than I do. The machine mainly stays on my computer desk, but sometimes it ventures over to my bed. I charge it as needed, it doesn't leave the house (been too scared to do a lot with it since the first crash) so isn't slammed around in a backpack or dropped. Could it be actual hardware inside that is causing the failures, and if so, is that something that Apple could potentially check out and diagnose?
Thanks!

Same for me, MacBook bought in December 2006 in Germany with 2 GHz Processor, 2 GB of RAM and 160 GB hard drive,
first drive crashed in december 2007, second drive just crashed in november 2008,
both drives were the Hitachi HTS541616J9SA00
now the replaced drive is again a Hitachi HTS541616J9SA00
I asked the Apple Service Center to put in a drive of another brand (I would pay the difference to the drive covered by the Apple Warranty Program) but Apple said they could only put in the HTS541616J9SA00 drive, otherwise I would need to pay the entire price of a different hard drive of my choice.
After doing some research on the internet, the Hitachi HTS541616J9SA00 seems to be a good hard drive, no known issues of premature breakdowns.
I have used many Apple and Windows notebooks since 1995 and never experienced a drive crashing after less than one year. Now I have repeated drive crashs in the same Apple notebook.
Since the drive model seems to be OK, I really have a suspicion of a hardware bug in the MacBook.

Hard drive crash in G4 - won't boot from 2nd hard drive

Hi,
My G4 has 3 internal hard drives: 2 on the ATA bus and one on a SCSI card. The main drive crashed yesterday. At least I assume it crashed: the first error was not being able to store a CD imported into iTunes, followed by a system crash and a request to restart. On restart it failed to boot, showing a floppy icon with a ? and repeatedly beeps twice. In an attempt to fix this I booted from my OS X software install CD and installed OS X on other ATA hard drive, however it refuses to boot from the second drive and shows a broken folder icon and is still doing the double beep thing. All suggestions gratefully received!
Thanks,
Andy

I do indeed. Here's what happened when I ran the extended test:
No Airport present. Logic board, mass storage and RAM all passed. I couldn't see if the modem test completed, but somewhere between the end of that and the video RAM test the screen was filled with a multi-coloured grid. Eventually there was a default catch:
code=300, %SRR0: 00000020, %SRR1:00081010
with the option of mac-boot or shut-down.
mac-boot also caused a default catch:
code=900, %SRR0: 01c10ffc, %SRR1:00003030
mac-boot then brought an alternate happy mac / folder with a ?
A reboot from there finally brings up the broken folder. All of these icons are very small OS9 style icons in the centre of the screen.
Phew!
Bearing in mind your suggestion about a blown stick, I have tried a swapping out each stick (1x512, 1x256) and rebooting with the same results. I also tried them in different slots and that made no difference either.
Blown video RAM perhaps?

Hard drive crash

hard drive crashed, have back up recovery but usb ports dont work or cannot recognize them but was told that i need disks. Called HP and was told that I had to buy them. Pretty sure that when I bought the computer that I had the right to have all copies of my operating system. So now I am having issues getting my computer running again, without the disk from HP I am screwed, what to do? Any suggestions

@rovare,
Hello and thank you for posting on the HP support forums. Here is a link that will help you in getting your recovery media.
HP PCs - Obtaining HP Recovery Discs or an HP USB Recovery Drive | HP® Support
HP PCs - Obtaining HP Recovery Discs or an HP USB Recovery Drive
You may have to pay for recovery disks. The systems come with a recovery partition and in most cases even when new if you want the disks separate you need to pay for them.
Thank you again for posting and have a great day.
Please click the "Thumbs Up" on the bottom right of this post to say thank you if you appreciate the support I provide!
Also be sure to mark my post as “Accept as Solution" if you feel my post solved your issue, it will help others who face the same challenge find the same solution.
D5GR
I work on behalf of HP

My hard drive crashed on my apple computer recently. I have a new one, but it won't sync with apple tv1, and I want to retrieve my photos from teh appletv1. It appears in devices now, but won't let me go any further with it. Help

The hard drive crashed on my apple computer and I lost a lot of photos. I want to recover them from my apple tv1, but the computer won't seem to pair up with the apple tv. The Apple tv does appear in devices, but it won't let me go any further. The 'apply' button is a pale grey colour and you can't click on it. Help!!

there is no facility to recover your photos from the appletv.
the only way to link the appletv to your new "system" is to remove the existing itunes link and then link it to the new itunes - this will delete all content from the appletv though.

2009 macbook pro does not boot, restarts half way through boot. Has hard drive crashed?

My macbook pro 2009 froze and shut off. I restarted it and only boots half way then it restarts on its own. I have tried entering cmd R to verify disk and permissions. My disk in unmounted and the SMART status says not supported. Error was found but while trying to repair it said: Disk utility stopped repairing. Disk utility can't repair this disk. Back up as many of your files as possible , reformat disk, and restoer your backed up files. I have tried to restore from time machine and it wont let me do that either. Has my hard drive crashed?
Also, About 2 months ago i installed new RAM so I now have 8GB instead of 2GB and everything was working well up to that point.

I am having the exact same issue. I can only log into the system in safe mode. Holding down the Shift key when turning the machine on, until the log window appears.

Activation: how can I recover from a hard drive crash?

My hard drive crashed on me... All my data is safe, but now I have to figure out how to reactivate both Lightroom 3 and CS3.
I have rebuilt the failed machine with a new hard drive, but it was getting rather old so I also took the opportunity to purchase a new machine. My intention is to get Lightroom and CS3 installed and registered on the new machine. I understand that under normal circumstances I could deactivate Adobe products on the old machine, install and reactivate on the new machine. But since I rebuilt it, the old machine doesn't actually have Lightroom and CS3 installed and activated -- no activation, so no chance to deactivate.
I see two options. Which is easier?
I could reinstall both Lightroom and CS3 on the old machine, activate them, then deactivate them, then install and activate on the new machine. If I reinstall and reactivate on the old machine, will Adobe's activation service recognize that I'm reactivating on a machine that already had Lightroom and CS3 installed (everything is the same except the hard drive)? If not, will I be able to activate since I will be trying to activate an already-activated license?
Alternately, I could just install on the new machine and attempt to activate there. I expect I'll run into problems, again because I'm trying to activate with a key that was used to activate on a different system. I expect I'll have to phone into Adobe to clear this up.
I'm concerned that if I take the wrong path it will make it more difficult to get everything working in the end, possibly to the point where Adobe will refuse to allow me to activate my licences on my new machine. Does anybody have any advice?
Thanks.

Since CS3 is not a shipping version there is NO activation needed, only the current shipping version. Install CS3 and insert the serial number.
Do the same with LR. No install, uninstall, gymnastics needed nor phone calls to Adobe Tech Support.
I did this when my power supply shorted and took the whole machine up in smoke, all four hard drives worth. When I got the new computer I just installed CS2 with the license and no activation needed.
Rich

System drive crashed...

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