Question About Going From Windows 10 Back to Windows 7

Use windows backup to create a system image

jimbo45 said:

Hi there

Just IMAGE your system (Acronis etc) - BEFORE applying for the W10 update.

Then You've no problems in ANY scenario on RESTORE -- as your W7 installation would be exactly as before you wanted the upgrade -- no probs.

Cheers
jimbo

That's what I'd do as well if I decide to go with the free upgrade.

I have a couple of questions about this, to see if I have this understood correctly.

I have a WIn 7x64 OEM version Desktop tower built (2010, genuine/activated) with an Asus BIOS (not UEFI) MoBo.

I Clone periodically as well as Image. I use Cloning for my short-term HDD backups since I have spare HDD's and SATA Hot-Swap Racks installed in the Desktop tower.

If I Clone my Win 7 Source/OS HDD (referred to as "Win 7 HDD" here) to a target HDD, referred to as "HDD #2" (identical mfg and size HDD as my Source HDD) before upgrading to the free Win 10 OS and then install HDD #2 into my PC and run the free upgrade tool installing Win 10 over Win 7 (now referred to as my Win 10 HDD), will I be able to swap back and forth from Win 7 and 10 on my Desktop PC?

For example, if I want to run Win 10 for a couple of days on my "Win 10 HDD", can I then shut down the tower, remove my Win 10 HDD and install my Win 7 HDD and run Win 7 as normal?

Can I then swap back in a couple of days to my Win 10 HDD? If so, is there a limit to how often this could be done?

I guess I'm wanting to verify that the OEM "married to the MoBo" part of OEM versions won't be an issue with switching between Win 7 & Win 10 on 2 separate HDD's.


The other question I have is this:

If I understand it correctly, with Win 7, the "marriage" check is looking at the MoBo Serial # as the Win 7 HDD boots up, and not looking at a hard-coded CMOS chip/BIOS Windows activation code.

With UEFI Secure Boot, the Win activation key is stored in the UEFI MoBo firmware (CMOS/BIOS chip, etc).

Is that correct?

As I post this, I think member TechnoMage may have answered my first question in this thread in post #10:

Exactly what is MS trying to say when they offer me Win 10?

I just read TechnoMage's post #12 in this thread as I post this one. It sounds like I'll have the "swap" option with my Desktop PC.

I plan on doing the same thing as Voyager1 with just a slight modification.
I have posted this question elsewhere as well, so sorry for the duplication.

Currently I dual-boot - Win7 Pro 64-bit (OEM) on one drive and WinXP Pro on another drive (using EasyBCD)
I have a spare drive and what I was planning on doing was clone my Win7 to it and then do a free Win10 upgrade on that cloned drive.
I would "test out" Win10 to see if I liked it while still using the Win7 on the other drive.
Because the cloned Win7 would have its license upgraded to a Win10 license, would I have any problems using the Win7 on the original drive?
More importantly, can I leave all 3 drives active in the machine while I do all of this?
Thanks.

TechnoMage said:

Jumping right to the head of the line......

Haven't you ever heard of doing backups? The number of FREE backup programs floating around out there just goes on and on.

Of course I have. I've used Acronis, EaseUS, and Macrium throughout the years, and now I use CrashPlan and SOS, two online solutions. However, a full system backup wouldn't have helped if it had been correct that taking advantage of the free Windows 10 upgrade offer invalidated the Windows 7 key, as per the speculation at the time. Now, of course, we know that not to be true, and a full system backup is a good way back to 7 since the 7 key will remain valid.

By the way, I tried Windows 10, and it's a pile of garbage. I don't like their forced Windows updates.

Lastly, regarding your "Backup! Backup! Backup! You'll be glad you did." signature, it should read "Back up! Back up! Back up!" A "backup" is what results from backing up your data. You want the verb form here (back up), not the noun (backup). Even online backup programs like SOS and CrashPlan can't get it right, so it's not surprising you cannot, either.