HP bought the distribution rights to Elements, so you should contact them. Adobe won’t have a copy of the serial number. Well, now that I think about it – did you have to register the software with Adobe the first time you used it? (I’ve never had any software bundled with my computers, so I don’t know.) If you did, you ought to be able to be able to check your registration information.
Niel,
Look in the HP utility "Application Recovery" and see if Photoshop Elements is in the list. You might be able to do a "recovery" installation instead of a new installation. It should be listed in the program list under HP Tools.
When the Hard drive crashed did you/they do a "system recovery"?
Or did they replace the hard drive? If the hard drive has not been replaced have you tried "System Restore" that restores the hard drive to an earlier date when it was working OK.
If you don’t know the System Recovery is a Destructive method of restoring the hard drive, meaning you WILL loose all saved documents and added programs as well as any updates added since the computer was new.
System Restore will not overwrite any documents saved or programs added before the selected restore date. This is the preferred method of restoring a hard drive.
Pete
Just curious … I’ve had a computer for 25 years and never had a harddrive "crash". I am now using downloads more so am more intent on backing up. What causes "crashes" besides perhaps viruses?
Marty
Can be mechanical…HD’s have a MTBF (Mean Time Between Failure) rating. Which has gotten longer through the years. Eventually though, the thing has to give up, after all it’s several high speed moving parts.
Or can be just a few bad sectors develop. Which you might not even notice unless those are home to some critical system files.
But more often, is sofware. Master Boot Record gets trashed. Or the OS just develops some glitch that you can’t fix. Virii. SpyWare. Deleting things without uninstalling, registry errors. Whatever.
Mac
Mac, Thanks. Now, at least, I know it’s mostly out of my control. I also know that I want to get all this "backing up" right. On my old computer I had "Fastback" and it was so easy to do regular backups.
Like everything I learn, it’s always easier ‘after’ you have learned it.
