Old HP computer crashed before I could deactivate and move Scrivener files to new Dell?

Scrivener
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I’ve just learned that the older Scrivener versions had to be deactivated before my files could be moved to a new Dell computer, but my old HP died suddenly before I could deactivate, so now what? I’ve read that I have to submit a request for transfers, but not sure how to do this. I kept all my old purchase orders, so I have the license key #'s, but not sure what to do now. I think I need a support team assist Thanks, Nat

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It’s not a problem. You can just install Scrivener on the new Dell and activate it there.

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That’s already been done, but none of my files transferred over from my old HP. Evan had a tech guy over to do it, but nothing!!

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Is the HP really dead? Or has only the battery died?

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It was an old (10 years old) HP tower, not a laptop, and he checked everything. Then he opened the metal case, removed the hard drive so I know is really dead.

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Hi.
Your project files are not part of the Scrivener installation. Nor are they online (unless you’ve voluntarily put them there – on a cloud, none specific ; again, Scrivener doesn’t handle that for you by default).
They (your projects’ files) are files like any other files on your computer.
If your old computer is dead (and you don’t have backups elsewhere), salvage the hard-drive and have a technician (or you, if you have the knowledge of how, or the wits) extract its content.

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Do you have backups in Dropbox?

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It was a technician who did this for me. I do have the file names show up but that’s all, empty files.
I read on the L&L forum that you had to have had the original Scrivener deactivated on your old computer before you could then reinstall it on your new computer which would then allow the files to transfer. Couldn’t do that because the old HP died suddenly.

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Nope.

Only if it poses a problem as regard to licensing. (Say, you intend to sell the old computer.)
You are allowed multiple installations, as long as you own the computers and are the user. (Or within the household.)

To anyone else reading this: Refer to the real EULA if the situation calls for it. I am just a user, and this above is only an approximate summary.

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I do with some of my files but they’re all in numbers and I’ve got to find a better way of retrieving them.

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You need to recover the .scriv folder as it is. With all of its content, hierarchy preserved.
Grab the .scriv folder and handle that only, you shouldn’t have to handle its content.

If your new computer is also a tower, you could simply install the old HD in it as d: (Or e: or whatever – anything but c: )
Then you could have Scrivener open the project(s) from it.
(Although I would highly recommend that you move the files (YourProjectName.scriv) to the new HD asap.)

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Thanks for the advice. I decided to go back into my files, looked up the backup locations and used that to see what happened. One of my short stories came up (85%), so now I have a starting point. Thanks for the advice and I’ll spend the afternoon doing the same with my other files.

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I have no idea what that may mean, but if you’re good :+1:

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If the old hard drive is fully functional, the best way to handle this would be to mount it in an external enclosure and plug it in to the new computer. From there, all the data will be exactly where you left it.

As @Vincent_Vincent said, you need the entire .scriv folder, including all subfolders. But once you have that, you should be able to open it as usual, by double-clicking on the .scrivx file.

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My old hard drive isn’t functional anymore and I have an old Scrivener 2014 version for one of my stories that I still need to transfer so I think I’ll try to contact L&L help line, but thanks for addressing my issue.