ilok licenses on a dead hard drive?

[T-CM11]

Well, but you would have to know in advance that your computer is going to break, and which component.

That's why I said "As long as your computer still works". PC breakdown is the risk that's inherent of PC hardware based copy protections (like C/R).

[fluffy_little_something]

I wonder if it is even legal, after all a breaking hard drive is usually not the customer's fault, and when the customer can't use the license anymore he has paid for, that seems a bit shady to me.

[T-CM11]

I wonder if it is even legal, after all a breaking hard drive is usually not the customer's fault, and when the customer can't use the license anymore he has paid for, that seems a bit shady to me.

Depends on the country you're in. And if it's not, as long as the company that sells the software doesn't have an office there, there's not much to be done about it.
There are far more draconic forms of copy protection around than this... ((triple A PC Games e.g.)

Most of my (music) software is serial only. Just a few things are dongle based, and even less C/R or account based (because they switched ) .
And I only buy DRM free games (GOG).

[samsam]

Both Soundtoys and AIR gave me an extra activation when my HD crashed.

As I'm more worried about preserving Soundtoys stuff long term I wrote and mentioned Waves to them (who also gave me another activation but limit this to once every 12 months) and ST were very reassuring about possible future scenarios, great company to do business with. (won't bother buying any more Waves stuff as it's not sustainable for me).

[squibs]

I can't believe in this day and age, with mature blockchain technology, that iLok is the best we can do. Just discovered I have some soundtoys stuff I can't activate cos the licenses got wiped when I reinstalled Windows.

If you declare the license irretrievable or better yet - the machine, then they could watch for dial homes from the machine. If they see one, they know you lied and you're busted.

[cron]

Well, but you would have to know in advance that your computer is going to break, and which component.
Turns out the second activation of my Air plugins was no problem thanks to the spare activation, but the installation of the plugins is, especially of Xpand2...

This is why I call on-disk iLok unfit for purpose. It fails to take into account a basic truth about computers - components die without rhyme or reason and it can happen at any time. Especially HDDs. In effect, you're renting your licenses for an indeterminate period of time.

I've already lost one of my two AIR licenses due to a Windows Update I wasn't adequately prepared for, and it's not as if the Windows Insider program doesn't exist for developers. Not proofing it against breakage is one thing, not proofing it against basic maintenance tasks is another.

It amazes me they offer it with a straight face. If you're not prepared to ensure it's fit for purpose, just kill it off.

[jdnz]

It amazes me they offer it with a straight face. If you're not prepared to ensure it's fit for purpose, just kill it off.

Ilok in the cloud should have made the old (and chronically unreliable) soft ilok redundant - eliminates all the risks of losing licenses due to update/drive failure. Trouble is very few developers want to enable it - because iLok is charging them too much to use it

[waltercruz]

Just for the record, something similar happened to me this week.

I tried to turn on my old computer and it's dead. Tried to boot from the old harddrive in new computer to deactivate licenses, but iLok sees the frankestein as a new computer. So, I tried to contact the companies (Eventide, AIR, XILS, and UVI).

The only company that seems to have the process documented is UVI (https://support.uvi.net/hc/en-us/articl ... trieve-it-)

All companies answered fas (1 day). AIR was the fastest, reseted the activation some minutes after I sent the e-mail requesting.

It's not painful at all, but it would be nice if I could just make this on iLok license manager, just marking my dead computer as... dead.

[squibs]

Just for the record, something similar happened to me this week.

I tried to turn on my old computer and it's dead. Tried to boot from the old harddrive in new computer to deactivate licenses, but iLok sees the frankestein as a new computer. So, I tried to contact the companies (Eventide, AIR, XILS, and UVI).

The only company that seems to have the process documented is UVI (https://support.uvi.net/hc/en-us/articl ... trieve-it-)

All companies answered fas (1 day). AIR was the fastest, reseted the activation some minutes after I sent the e-mail requesting.

It's not painful at all, but it would be nice if I could just make this on iLok license manager, just marking my dead computer as... dead.

Absolutely. it has to be a drain on company support resources. Ir would be simple to identify anyone declaring a dead computer but continuing to use the ilok apps on it. Dunno if it is ilok incompetence or software companies getting extra revenue from people who lose licenses like this and don't think to ask vendors for replacement licenses.

Enough people voted with their pockets that ilok introduced the cloud as an alternative to dongles. I urge everyone who chooses not to buy software because of unfair DRM software to email the vendor and let them know that they just lost a sale, and why.

[Max369]

I think adding a simple option to activate the "Theft & Loss Coverage" for all kind of activations without the enabled ZDT would be very helpful. Also, you could choose the sync period. For me, who has no dedicated computer for music, being online is a normal state, so 10 days would be enough.

[hjveenstra]

Resurrecting an old thread... probably an easy question, but: I installed a new system disk (ssd) and want to eventually erase the old one (hd) but it contains all my iLok licenses (which are still recognised when booting from the new disk). The iLok License Manager doesn't seem to have an option to move existing licenses to another internal drive.
What's the best way to deal with this? Deactive all licenses, remove the old HD, re-activate all licenses? Something silly like that? Or is there an easier, more straightforward way? Thanks for your wisdom in advance.

[chk071]

Deactivate all licences, re-activate on the new computer. Or, move them all to a iLok dongle.

[Kalamata Kid]

If the Ilok Licence Manager is on the OS drive for the sake of protection why not just clone the drive?
I suppose that should work?

[chk071]

I wouldn't clone the drive. You're asking for issues on the new computer that way.

[Kalamata Kid]

^^^
If you tell me the issues I would appreciate it.