How can I get my Content ID back?

[Yamato EXE]

Okay I have a question about my Content ID.My PC,about 2 months back caught a worm and rendered my PC a vegetable in terms of memory.My only solution was to reformat the hard drive and delete everything and reinstall the operating system.And by slip of mind I forgot to take down my Content ID info.Now here's the question....is there any way to get back my Content ID data?

[Feba]

your content ID info is linked to your account, there's no need to remember it. Just click the Content ID button in POL viewer if you need to change it.

[kiity]

Hello and talk about content ID. My bf and I shared a FFXI account with a character each for us with our shared Xbox 360. Recently we bought the PS2 2008 Vana'diel collection game for our PS3 and was wondering if one of us could transfer our character ( content ID ) from our Xbox to our PS3 new account so that we can FINALLY play the game together for the first time ??? If we have known we could be so addicted to this game in the beginning, we would have set up 2 separate FFXI accounts then. Please Assist us...... thanks heaps

[Yamato EXE]

your content ID info is linked to your account, there's no need to remember it. Just click the Content ID button in POL viewer if you need to change it.

No,you misunderstood.I had to reinstall FFXI back on the PC and when I did,there was no Content ID information.Just the usual things and in a box saying "Please add member." What is that all about?

[IfritnoItazura]

Yamato:

Do you have your PlayOnline ID and password? (Content ID and PlayOnline ID are not the same thing.) You should have written those down somewhere safe, I hope.

* * *

kiity:

Content ID is not transferable presently; it cannot be moved from one PlayOnline account to another.

If you want to play together at the same time, at least one of you will have to to start a new account and a new character. (If your BF loves you, he'll re-level from scratch. )

[Brielle]

(If your BF loves you, he'll re-level from scratch. )

You have no idea how many times I told that to my husband when I got bored of trying to level an alt in World of Warcraft. "If you really loved me, you would make sure my mage was level 45 before I got home from work.."

For Yamato: I bought the 2008 Vana'diel collection for my computer and it was only $29.99. If you are unable to find your content identification/password and you need a cheaper solution, I would recommend going with that. You get all of the expansion packs and the original Final Fantasy XI.

Here is the link for the online store, I know that many of the Gamestop locations have them in the store. Otherwise you can easily order it online.
FINAL FANTASY XI Official Web Site

Best of luck.

[Yamato EXE]

[quote=IfritnoItazura;776524]Yamato:

Do you have your PlayOnline ID and password? (Content ID and PlayOnline ID are not the same thing.) You should have written those down somewhere safe, I hope.

No I don't...I never thought I'd end up in a situation like I did....

[IfritnoItazura]

No I don't...I never thought I'd end up in a situation like I did....

You need to contact PlayOnline's support desk:
https://secure.playonline.com/supportus/index.html

Gather as much info as you can beforehand; address, credit card number, etc. last entered into PlayOnline system, plus the original ones if they differ.

If you can come up with enough information to satisfy security requirements, the POL support staff should be able to give you your POL ID and reset the password for you. Probably.

* * *

If you get your account info back, write them down somewhere you won't lose again. A computer's hard drive is a very fragile and unreliable place to store important information. >_>b

[Feba]

A computer's hard drive is a very fragile and unreliable place to store important information.

The hard drive is almost never a problem. If you read the OP, it was very clearly his OS, not a hard disk failure. More than that, the OS didn't fail, it was infected with a virus that the OP didn't have the will or ability to remove. And more than that, the OP could've almost certainly recovered said files, very easily, if his OS had become inaccessible. Even when the hard drive is at fault, having a backup drive will almost always suffice. About the only exceptions to this would be some catastrophic event (such as a house fire, or intentional destruction) happening to the drive (which would definitely screw over your postit just as badly); and even then if you want to get the drive professionally recovered, it is an option (albeit an expensive one)

[IfritnoItazura]

Yes, yes, I skipped over a few details. (Though, I've lost hard drives before--as in "hey, it makes a funny noise when it spins..." kind of lost.) The point is that there is no true safety.

If it's info you can't afford to lose, make backups. How well you prepare your backups determines how severe of a disaster you can recover from. That's all.

[Kitalrez]

I've always been surprised in the past how much information I could get from a "dead" hard drive just by pulling it out of the machine, changing the jumper from "Master" to "Slave" and hooking it up to a backup hard drive with an OS on it. "Windows has found Drive Q!" Lift all relevant files from Drive Q, virus scan them all and delete any corrupted .exes, reinstall just the main programs, boot up PoL on the new drive.

I made $40 and a case of beer the last time, guy thought I was magic. Strange the things you learn building your own machine and being too stubborn to buy cloning software or hard drive transfer kits. Kind of makes me wonder how well I could be doing if I'd gotten a CS degree instead of Comm.

[Feba]

You could probably do it even quicker with a USB drive and a liveCD, but yeah.