Hard Drive death and Windows

I have an older Toshiba with a dead hard drive that no longer boots (no bootable device even). I didnt get a Windows disk with this laptop and its not under warranty. If I install a new hard drive will there be any way for me to recover my copy of Windows?? Or am I screwed? Thanks!

You aren't buying a copy of Windows when you buy a computer - basically, you're just licensing the right to use Windows on a specific machine under certain conditions. In fact, even if you go out and pay $100 for an "OEM" copy yourself, you're getting the same deal.

If you want to be able to reinstall Windows legally on a different machine (though only one at a time), you'll have to pay for a retail edition which could cost around two hundred bucks or so.

You can buy OEM and install it legally on a new hard drive in your old laptop; just don't install that OEM copy on multiple computers and you are fine. If that laptop dies completely down the road or if you format the hard drive then you may install Windows again on a different computer. You may only have 1 copy of Windows installed on 1 computer at a time.

What are the conditions? I still have the machine... Why would I lose the right to use it?

I'm sorry, but unless you have an actual Windows installation disc that came with the laptop when you purchased it, there's nothing you can do. It's just one of the reasons why it's best to build your own systems.

Meh, Linux Mint here I come...

BTW, what happens if someone installs an OEM copy of windows on more than one machine?

The laptop should have a sticker on it (on the bottom usually) with your Windows license key on it. That is really all you need.
The laptop may have come witrh a "recovery" disk too. Although the recovery disk is not a Windows OS disk, it should reinstall the entire system, including windows.
Barring that, if you have the license key off the laptop you can reinstall Windows (legally), even from a burned/downloaded copy. The only thing that may be a problem is that you will need the same "model" of Windows as was originally installed. This not only means, say WinXP Home, but you may need a copy of the OEM version and/or the same SP, for the license key to work.

If there is no Windows sticker on the machine, there is also a chance (I've run into this on some laptops) that either the "recovery disk" has the key built in, or the key is in ROM/flashRAM in the machine itself.

Building your own laptop is difficult.

It's got Vista on it... I have XP and Windows 7 recovery disks only...

So a recovery disk is going to let me reinstall Vista on a blank hard drive? As long as I have the key on the bottom? Or it's merely going to let me reinstall Vista if I have a recovery image/backup? From what I'm reading online it looks like a Vista recovery disk is mostly just repair tools and not capable of doing an installation.

There is a way to get the hard drive bootable again, though you'll need a utility. I've been able rewrite the MBR and MFT with this utility and make the the device bootable again. It CAN be difficult to "build" the CD, but the directions should help out a ton. If you can get the thing built correctly, this disk can fix anything that isn't "physically" wrong with the disk.
http://www.ubcd4win.com/

BTW, you could just replace the harddrive with one that works and reinstall Windows using the code on the laptop... if it gives you any issues just call Microsoft and tell them your harddrive crashed and you've replaced the harddrive, they will give you a new code. (As long as the rest of your hardware is the same as it was before). If you need to get data off the old HD, use the first option.