All right...different approach from my angle.....I am loading 8.1 onto a "spare" drive.(disconnected all other drives....). When that is up and running, I intend to upgrade it to 10, then transfer my files, as best I can.......THEN, when that is all done...my thought is to transfer everything back onto the SSD. Sound plausible? I just wont transfer windows system files....
If I were you I would install windows 8.1 on your spare drive make sure your windows 8.1 is activated . Then upgrade to 10 afterwards again make sure that the 10 is activated . Then load you data / files what ever you need on your spare drive from the SSD . Then afterwards create a Windows 10 disk . Once you have removed everything off the SSD drive formated so its a clean drive . Then remove your spare drive and have just the SSD drive and use your windows 10 disk and do a clean installation . Once that is good transfer back your data or files or what ever you want to do with the spare drive . Then create a back up image of your SSD drive onto your spare drive by using the Macrium Reflect back up image software .... Does it sound confusing ? It really isn't ... Thats what I would do if I were you
I would do a combination of both olblindman and sn00ker 's suggestions.
Remove SSD. Install 8.1 onto the spare drive, with only it installed. Check for activation. Upgrade that to Windows 10. Check for activation. Install Macrium Reflect Free. Attach SSD and make an image file from the SSD to the spare drive.
Disconnect the spare drive and make the SSD the primary drive. Do clean install of Windows 10 onto SSD, check for activation. Install Macrium Reflect Free. Attach spare drive and mount the previously saved image to retrieve the files you want.
That way if something goes wrong you have two backups - the OS still installed on the spare drive and the image file with the data on it as well.
or if you have an operating computer you can install Macrium Reflect on it, create a rescue disk/USB. Boot the broken computer with the Macrium Rescue Disk/USB and image the SSD to the spare drive, then remove the spare drive and install Win 8.1 to the SSD then upgrade to Windows 10.
That is, more or less the plan at this time. NOW, I am waiting for verification code from MS on my account....... it is taking way too long. I am wondering if my PC is being seen by my internet...... I have had an awful day....seem everything I have touched today has been a disaster! Some days, it is better to just stay in bed............
OK...I THINK ..... after all feckin day, I have uncovered the culprit.....a bad video card! I reinstalled 8.1 on a 'spare drive' but was continuing to have freezes, restarts, error messages, looping, etc. First, I thought it might be memory issues, so I pulled half the ram out...with no change in much of anything.Then I decided to remove one of my 2 video cards....and it is starting to act a bit more normal. That was a "reconditioned card" and I was always a bit suspicious of its behavior. 8.1 opened all the way without freezing or rebooting or anything. I am in the process of downloading 10 now. After a while, I will reconnect one hard drive at a time. My SSD is untouched atm, so I should be able to extract my junk from there.....
I had totally forgot about the warp drive 33.6 modems. We were moving down the road fast and furious with those things ... we thought. Mama!!!
I am still having some problems.....while downloading 10, it froze.
Some gremlins in there somewhere........
The chances of 2000 floppy disks all working fine are slim to none, with my money on "none". You don't need a magnet; just look at the stack of them wrong and half will die on the spot. At one time, floppy disks and drives were high quality and quite dependable. As they neared the end of their era in the early '00s, new floppy disks became junk, no matter what brand you bought. I had them fail left and right during that time period. It was practically a miracle to have one work more than a few times; many of them wouldn't even format when brand new. On the other hand, I had MS Works on a set of 7 floppy disks from my high school computer class ('92), and those all still worked perfectly last time I checked (in the mid-'00s; I created .IMA image files of them at the time for posterity), and I wouldn't be surprised if they still do.
Quote