"Click of Death" HDD: can I re-install Windows 10 Pro and activate

For NavyLCDR/
Thanks,old notes of mine.The ---rearm---key is still effective in slmgr,last time I checked.
No personal need or use for that particular key,so it was given as a "perhaps useful" look at.

Thanks again Bree, joeandmargo and NavyLCDR for your continued interest.

i have only heard tell of the "Freezing" trick; I'm not sure how long to freeze the poor drive for or how fleeting the window of opportunity to communicate would be, if indeed there would be one at all, but since I only have PATA housings and USB adapters, I would need to re fit the drive into the Toshiba laptop to have any chance of accessing it.
Not sure if that would be OK and to be honest, from the sound it was making, I'm seriously dubious about establishing a link.
I'll update when I have tried it!

joeandmarg0 said:

For NavyLCDR/
Thanks,old notes of mine.The ---rearm---key is still effective in slmgr,last time I checked.
No personal need or use for that particular key,so it was given as a "perhaps useful" look at.

slmgr /rearm does nothing in Windows 10 or 11.....Windows 10 or 11 does not have a trial period. It does not expire because it is not activated. Personalization functions are crippled in inactivated installs of Windows 10/11, but there is no expiration that will lock you out of the OS that slmgr /rearm would prevent.

If your HDD is SATA, a SSD worth any penny you spend on it, even on an old laptop.

Follow Bree instructions on post #4.
I agree with NavyLCDR, whomever you talked to at Microsoft should be fired.