Windows 10: If clean install is needed

Hi I bought a windows 10 laptop removed the drive and fitted SSD drive cloned the original drive,what would happen if for any reason I had to reinstall windows 10 i dont have a product key! Would I need a product key?do i need to keep the original drive with the operating system on it?cheers

:)

 

Is clean install necessary if using used hard drive with data on it?

Thanks for the reply Andre! But i am still a little confused. I am putting my files on the flash drive as my backup. Will using my old hard drive on the new computer erase all of the data on it and force me to upload it back from the flash drive or will
it stay on there and no need for using the backup?

and will i be able to install windows 10 on the new computer from the flash drive if it has my backup folders on it as well as the windows installation? I am using the flashdrive instead of an external hard drive as my backup. My plan is to use the flash
drive as my hard drive info back up as well as installing windows at the same time.

Alex

 

Is clean install necessary if using used hard drive with data on it?

Before you can install Windows 10 from that thumb drive, what ever method you use to make it bootable, the drive will be formatted. So, make sure you backup the data on the thumb drive somewhere else safe.

• How
  to download official Windows 10 ISO files Updated
• How
  to Prepare Bootable Install Media for Windows 10 - DVD, USB or SD Card

You can install Windows 10 on the drive without formatting it, but just like the thumb drive, you should also backup any important data on it.

• How to: Perform a custom installation of Windows

 

Use showkey plus in this forum:
ShowKeyPlus

It should show you a Windows 10 product key in UEFI (OEM key). If it does when you run Windows setup it will automatically read that product key and not ask you to enter one and will automatically install the same version of Windows 10 the product key is for - assuming you download the correct version of Windows 10 from Microsoft.

 

Thanks for the info I can format the original 2tb drive and use for storage.thanks again for your advice.