My hard drive failed last week, and is not under warranty. I purchased a new hard drive and thought I could use the "Dell- Windows 8 Recovery Media" disc I was given at purchase, to re-install the OS on my machine. The disc and computer did not come with a Windows product key, however, so I cannot complete installation.
After contacting Dell's tech support, they told me they "pre-inject the product key into the motherboard" and my only options at this point are to purchase a new motherboard from them or purchase a new copy of Windows from them.
I can still access the data on my old hard drive through a usb connection to a different computer. Is there any way to access my Product key this way, or anything else I can do to get back up and running without purchasing a new OS?