I have carried out hard drive cloning for a lot of people who wanted more primary storage with no problems.

As long as the motherboard is the original one (or matching) you should be fine.

On my old PC I changed everything short of motherboard (hard drive, dvd drive, psu, chipset, ram) and no dramas.

Now I have a new gaming rig I'll hold off on the W10 upgrade until I have verified stability (and even if I actually like W10) on an older laptop I have before I try it on my PC or Gaming laptop.

There is a FULL ISO of windows 10 available from Microsoft! You are advised by various websites to 'upgrade' to windows 10 through windows update so your version of windows 10 is validated. Once validated there is also an authorised tool you can download which when run will bring up your windows 10 reg code so you can do a fresh install from either a DVD or USB drive but you won't be able to install it onto another PC.

Interesting reading,

http://hexus.net/tech/features/software/85085-how-clean-install-windows-10-usb-drive/

explains alot of things we are discussing.

Things are about to get counter-intuitive, but bear with us. In order to take advantage of the free upgrade offer and clean install Windows 10,

you first need to carry out an in-place upgrade to Windows 10 from a genuine copy of Windows 7 or Windows 8.1.

For better or for worse, this is how Microsoft has chosen to verify the free upgrade - you will only be able to activate the new OS if you perform an in-place

upgrade to Windows 10 from Windows 7 or Windows 8.1. You can not clean install Windows 10 using a Windows 7 or Windows 8.1 product key.

Are you running a Genuine Windows?

Just go with the flow and 'Update' to Windows 10, from there you create your own media,

then you can install a clean one with no keys if you wanted to.

End of the day you still own your old OS, and can put that back on with your key.

Yes of course genuine, pirating something as important as your OS is a huge risk/gamble IMO. I have two laptops, both running Windows 8.1, with keys. Reformatted both of them countless times, and always done clean install via USB containing ISO.

So I guess the only major change for those users 'upgrading' from Windows 8/8.1 is that they can no longer download a standalone ISO off the internet, and activate that, they have to use the 'upgrade path' that the Hexus link mentioned, and then create their own media/ISO as you said in an earlier post.

As a side note, I actually obtained a genuine Windows 10 license key today, so it seems they (MS) aren't completely done away with license keys...

So I guess the only major change for those users 'upgrading' from Windows 8/8.1 is that they can no longer download a standalone ISO off the internet, and activate that, they have to use the 'upgrade path' that the Hexus link mentioned, and then create their own media/ISO as you said in an earlier post.

As a side note, I actually obtained a genuine Windows 10 license key today, so it seems they (MS) aren't completely done away with license keys...

You can download your Windows 10 ISO now if you wanted to, but you have to Upgrade once to ensure everything is legit.

Took an hour to download and another hour to update lastnight, no problems.

You have a month to 'Roll-Back' to previous OS or just install your old one from scratch.

They obviously still sell Windows, so a Key would be the only realistic thing they could sell you,

But I'd imagine the same thing will happen, once you 'activate' your Windows 10 to 'a device' then a Key is no longer required.

I might give this a go soon, on a new partition just to try everything out. The only think that worries me is driver support, but if we're lucky everything will just work with Win 8 drivers because I'm assuming Win 10 is mostly a visual / UI change.

As long as my sound card works properly I'll be happy to switch to Win 10, but if it doesn't that will hold me back. Or it will persuade me to replace my 10 year old 7.1 speakers, even though there's nothing similar to replace them with these days.

Just got an update available notice on my larger laptop. I'll probably keep this one on Windows 8.1 for now, and upgrade my ultrabook first. Anyone else received the notice yet?

Just got an update available notice on my larger laptop. I'll probably keep this one on Windows 8.1 for now, and upgrade my ultrabook first. Anyone else received the notice yet?

Do you mean the "Get Windows 10" notice? I've had that for quite a while but haven't accepted it yet.

Do you mean the "Get Windows 10" notice? I've had that for quite a while but haven't accepted it yet.

That's just to 'reserve' your copy in advance, I have also had that for ages. Today I finally got a notice saying 'Upgrade Available'.

^ Ah I see what you mean. I accepted the upgrade on my dad's laptop so I bet he'll be a bit confused when it tells him an upgrade is available. He'll probably think it's spyware or something (he's not that good with computers).

^ Ah I see what you mean. I accepted the upgrade on my dad's laptop so I bet he'll be a bit confused when it tells him an upgrade is available. He'll probably think it's spyware or something (he's not that good with computers).

Haha, I know that feeling.

I had a hard time explaining to my grandparents that an update available on their android tablet (used only for skype, and reading the news) would actually improve the speed of their tablet, and possibly solve the random freezes and crashes that they were having.

I upgraded when it came out, froze numerous times and wiped my internet security off, sorted it ,but slow on my 6month old laptop, im away now so will have a play when home next week and see how it goes

I reserved a while ago but still waiting for the update! :(

I reserved a while ago but still waiting for the update! :(

You can update manually using the media creation tool, there's an option to update the computer directly as opposed to creating a disc. That's what I did and it took about an hour.

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-gb/windows-10/media-creation-tool-install

I updated my Laptop i think its good have no issues with it so far. Its different from the windows 8.1 has a proper start menu rather than the old place the apps was no more side bar either where the settings and devices where these are now located in the start menu you know bottom left side of screen so its much better back to normal.

since when have American company's given away anything for free there could be a possible catch to this upgrade

paul

I think they are trying to be more like google.

Give you platforms for free or low cost and try and make up for it by selling advertising and services.

Yeah they are taking the android model. Go for sales elsewhere, but they can also lock licensing down by giving it away free now. Get everyone on it and then lock them in.

since when have American company's given away anything for free there could be a possible catch to this upgrade

paul

That sounds a tad paranoid lol,

Modern computing is becoming cross platform, and there needs to be a big (Windows 10) movement to create a unified system,

there is a growing majority of people who have a smartphone, tablet and a PC/Laptop, these devices are all coded differently,

PC's are full fat operating systems, tablet's are either cut down laptops or big phones and phones are just app platforms.

Developers previously couldn't create one program or app to seamlessly work across multiple devices, the only way to do that is one Code.

Today's hardware has got to the point, that smart phones have more potential and power than an owners PC does, but only runs cut down apps,

The massive problem being different devices all run on different CPU's and coded to different systems.

The goal is to unify all Windows devices to run on one eco-system, making modern life easier (and yes, make marketing easier),

Windows will never get their new cross platform system rolling if people had to spend £100 on another copy of Windows for their PC,

yet any system update on a tablet or phone would be free, but now with Windows 10 even future PC updates are free.

Unless you move to Apple next time, you are going to be on the new Windows at some point,

and if you try it now and don't like it, you can put your old version back on, it's not the end of the world lol.

Well said Ian, and I think you're right about the whole cross-platform thing. I bet the average phone these days would exceed the requirements for Windows 10 in terms of processing power, so now is a good time to get the OS working across all types of devices. It would be great to have a phone running full Windows 10, it wouldn't matter so much that there aren't that many apps because you have millions of actual "applications" that have been used on PCs for decades. Not to mention PC gaming on a phone lol.

I heard the next Gen Windows Phones would be literally pocket PC's,

the power & memory you can stick in a phone now means you could do that,

all you really need is the right (x86-x64) CPU to run the Operating System, and we have Intel Atom chips for that job.

I've read that someone hacked their Intel Atom powered Asus Zenfone 2 to run Windows 7 lol.

I'd love to see a phone plugged into a monitor, keyboard and mouse running Windows 10 lol, I wouldn't be surprised if it's already been done.

With the hugely impressive USB Type-C becoming available,

I'd imagine you could just dock your phone and it could connect to a TV/Monitor and connect to Bluetooth Mice & Keyboards.

It's already making those HDMI Intel PC's look obsolete lol.

I've just got an Android powered LG G4 phone,

maybe in 3-4 years my next phone will be a Intel powered Windows phone that replaces my Surface Pro 3 and PC!! :D

True though the competition laws state phones need a universal power input which is why micro usb is around. And you can for all intents and purposes take any phone and connect it up as a computer. Using otg, a usb hub and casting I have done this with my n4 just recently got a win 8 phone from work so just got to get a chance and hook that up too

I heard the next Gen Windows Phones would be literally pocket PC's,

the power & memory you can stick in a phone now means you could do that,

all you really need is the right (x86-x64) CPU to run the Operating System, and we have Intel Atom chips for that job.

I've read that someone hacked their Intel Atom powered Asus Zenfone 2 to run Windows 7 lol.

The problem there would be making a battery good enough... We already have 'mobile' phones that are anchored to the wall or lighter socket half the time!!