Which SSD to buy?

[Ink stained Fingers]

There are so many variations to the upgrade/(fresh ) install process , and lots of guidelines and reports have been published since since the arrival of Win 10 , we cannot cover all of them . Just be aware that a Windows XP key is not valid for a Win10 upgrade, I had one system disk with XP and Win 7 with a boot manager, that's a configuration you can upgrade to a Win10/XP configuration. I'm still using XP just for the Monaco Gamutworks Gamut viewer which did not get any upgrade since they were taken over by Gretag-McBeth taken over by X-Rite.
Monaco does not run on a virtual XP installation under W10, the dongle software is missing some real hardware port.

 

[stratman]

I'm running Win10 as I submit this post.
If I shut down, swap to the Win7 drive and power on, I have a fully activated, installed,
Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit system to use.

Do you mean the two hard drives are in different computer cases or are the two drives connected to the same motherboard or is one drive internal and another drive externally connected to the same motherboard?

Caution:

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us...56-4659-abe8-d24b665b4a7d?tab=AllReplies#tabs

 

[stratman]

virtual XP installation under W10

What do you specifically mean by this?

 

[PeterBJ]

I created the Win 10 install DVD on a Win 8.1 computer. But even if the Win 10 install disk was created on another computer and installed on a new and empty SSD disk on my laptop, no activation was necessary. Microsoft recognised the computer, I think from serial numbers on the motherboard and other devices.

If you could only use install media created on the computer you wanted to upgrade or reinstall, then what to do if the reason for the reinstall is that the harddisk has failed?

 

[Ink stained Fingers]

you can run software which emulates another operating system, you run a virtual XP version on Win 7, there was and is quite some software for that on the market, e.g. running Windows or Linux on a Mac, or Linux in a kind of virtual system window under W7 or W10 whatever. There is software like VMWare, Hyper V, Parallels and more.
This allows you to run several virtual computers - even different ones - at the same time, you won't need to reboot to Linux, you just start Linux in a virtual machine. I think that the latest 1903 W10 upgrade offers some optional Linux subsystem. It is obvious that such approach would require more memory on your system and a capable processor to handle several operating systems at the same time. I don't do that anymore , it just was a try to get rid of the physical XP installation.

 

[SkedAddled]

Do you mean the two hard drives are in different computer cases or are the two drives connected to the same motherboard or is one drive internal and another drive externally connected to the same motherboard?

The drives are physically separate, and only one connects to my computer as I choose.
I use a chassis-mounted dock which accepts one 2.5" drive and one 3.5" drive simultaneously.
My two 2.5" SSDs contain each operating system, respectively.
I simply shut down to swap drives as desired.
Product can be seen here: ICYDOCK MB795SP-B.

Caution:

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us...56-4659-abe8-d24b665b4a7d?tab=AllReplies#tabs

Does not really apply in my situation due to separate drives
not coming into use together.
I've had similar crap spring up with file 'permissions' in the past, going back to Windows XP.
I found an excellent utility to get around those pesky & pointless 'restrictions' with the
registry script called Add Take Ownership to Right-Click menu.
It still works flawlessly in Windows 10.

 

[Artur5]

In early 2018 I upgraded from Win7 to Win10 buying one of these cheap keys. I didn’t opt for a clean Win10 install because it was paramount for me to keep all my programs and configurations. Luckily everything went smoothly. Only a couple of my Win7 programs didn’t work directly on Win10. One of them I upgraded to a newer version compatible with Win10 and the other was my antediluvian MS Office XP from 2001. In fact, the only application of the suite that wouldn’t work was Excel. MS Word and the others were fine, Although Microsoft warns that only the Office versions from 2010 and newer are compatible with Win10, I downgraded my Excel XP to the even older 2000 version and it’s performing like a charm.

What it’s true is that those cheap keys are linked to a specific hardware configuration when you install the OS. After I changed my motherboard I had to buy another Win10 key because the older one wasn’t accepted anymore.

 

[stratman]

Microsoft recognised the computer, I think from serial numbers on the motherboard and other devices.

Was that computer previously run with Win 10 before the new SSD? If so, then there already was a Digital License (the new form of the old Product Key) assigned to that computer's hardware combination and the MS activation server, queued during Windows 10 Os's installation process, recognized the components and activated the OS reinstalled on a new drive.

As far as I know, making the installation DVD or USB does not transfer the Product Key from the OS that made the DVD or USB installation media. Windows 10 activates during installation using either the Product Key of the OS on the current hard drive / SSD being updated OR manually entering in the old Product Key. Once either of these things occur then the old Product Key is no longer viable for use with another installation as it has been turned into a Digital License compatible with only Windows 10.

But what happens if you use the Product Key from a Windows 7 / 8 installation but do a clean install of Windows 10 on a different drive instead of updating on the same drive as the old installed OS? In this way, you do not delete anything from the original old Windows 7 /8 drive and ostensibly could still use it in a a different computer than the new Windows 10 is in. This appears to be the situation with @SkedAddled . Microsoft did not intend for people to use their old Windows 7 / 8 Product Key to get two working OS (Windows 10 AND Windows 7 / 8) at the same time.

If this does occur then it is only by the grace of Microsoft not deactivating one or other copy of Windows being run directly or derived (the new Digital License) off the original Product Key. Yes, MS can do this and has been doing it with illicit Product Keys and Digital License.

 

[stratman]

software which emulates another operating system...

I have used virtual OS like VMWare. Your wording was murky and is why I asked what you meant specifically. You might have meant Windows built in emulation capabilities to fake running an app as if in an earlier version of Windows.

And, yes, certain apps that use a dongle will not play well with virtual OS's. An older version of a CAD/CAM app requires an older Windows version, not a virtual OS. Sometimes though, an older app, even without a dongle, will not fully function on newer versions of Windows. My brother's business software is like the latter. If you want to upgrade your OS then you will have to buy the new version of the proprietary business software AND service contract!

 

[stratman]

found an excellent utility to get around those pesky & pointless 'restrictions' with the
registry script called Add Take Ownership to Right-Click menu.

Funny you should mention this app. I just recommended it to my brother last weekend for an issue he was having with MS Edge (crashing after several seconds).