Don't know Adobe about these days (the last Premiere I used regularly was 6.5), but many if not most vendors will work with you via live phone (once you get to a real person) to recover from a HDD crash if you have a valid and registered copy with serial number. Some products give you two activations out of the box (e.g., laptop and desktop). I believe Adobe does. The last activation-free Premiere may well have been Premiere Pro v1.0
The reason for on-line activation (like it or not) is to ensure the same licensed copy is not being installed more often than the license permits. The live phone person-in-the-middle process limits automated license violation processes.
Adobe may also have an on-line process to request it:
https://helpx.adobe.com/x-productkb/...-starting.html