Windows 10: Possible to physically swap betw Win7 & Win10 SSDs?

I have a standalone offline homemade system with a dual-socket mobo with two 16-core Xeons, and a dozen SSDs internally. It has been running Windows 7 Pro 64 flawlessly since W7 came out. My Adobe CS6 Production Suite is installed on this Win7 system (and won't run on Win10), and I don't want to upgrade to Adobe's yearly subscription or cloud versions which necessitates internet connectivity.

My first question: Can I install Windows 10 Pro on a new C-drive, while keeping the old C-drive with Win7 --- and simply physically swap out the C-drive depending on what specific software I want to use. In other words, Adobe Suite runs on Win7 C-drive, and other newer software runs on Win10 C-drive. But will physically swapping out these two O/S C-drives cause problems with the SSDs in the system. Will certain files, protocols, etc on internal SSDs not be recognized or properly updated if created under Win7 OS and then later updated under the Win10 OS? I'm concerned about contaminating the user files on numerous internal drives by swapping between two difference OSs.

One example, if I create a WORD document under Win7 OS drive, then later swap to Win10 drive, will the updated WORD be compatible and accurate. Same question for all other software on system. Obviously all programs compatible with Win7 will be on Win7 drive, same with Win10 software. But all the other data file drives will be shared with both OS drives.
I'm trying to anticipate any problems (corrupted user data files) by frequently switching OS drives. You may be thinking, "Why bother with two OS drives?" Because I contend that the reason the Win7 workstation has been flawless for many years, is because it has never been connected to the internet. And with this standalone system, I can used the older boxed software; while the newer subscription and cloud software requires internet connectivity. I'm trying to keep one computer safe and sound, and it's worked so far.

Question#2: Amazon sells a Win10 Pro OEM DVD and a Win10 Pro USB Flashdrive. Which is better? When adding the Win10 to the mix, should I clone a copy of the Win7 drive and install the W10 over it; or, should I install Win10 Pro on an empty SSD. What do you recommend?

Question#3: Does Win10 Pro have to be authenticated or activated by Microsoft by connecting to internet? Can it be activated offline? Thanks.

:)

 

Cannot boot on a Win10 SSD if Win7 SSD is not connected

Long time ago, I had a Windows 7 installation on a 128Gb SSD.

I then upgraded to Windows 10 on a brand new 256Gb SSD.

I kept it as this for a while, but now I need my SATA socket to connect a new HDD.

But if I disconnect my Win7 SSD, the computer won't boot : I get to the UEFI BIOS screen, then I have either a black screen with the white cursor blinking, or the message telling me to insert a bootable drive. This happen if I don't touch the BIOS, but also if I select manually the win10 SSD.

Then, whenever I connect my win7 SSD, the computer will boot normally, whether I connect it by SATA or by USB 3.0 with an external box (which is totally weird to me).

In the BIOS, the boot order is : Win10 SSD only (the Win7 is not even mentionned)

In the partition manager, there are :

• Disk 1 : Win10 (healthy: exchange file, empty if trouble, main partition) and Unnamed (healthy: recuperation partition)
  
• Disk 2 : System reserved (healthy: System, active, main partition) ans Win7 (healthy: main partition)
  

How can I get rid of my win 7 SSD ?

(If you can explain what's going on this would be very interesting !)

 

Swap HDD between PCs with Win10

Hi,

I just bought a ASUG G20 gaming PC that comes with a 1TB HDD and a OEM Win10 installed with a digital key. I have a custom built Win10 PC with a 500GB SSD and a Win10 digital license (from a Win8 upgrade) linked to my account.

Can I from a Win10 license point-of-view simply swap the HDD over and expect the licenses to function correctly?

My worry is that the OEM license will not work on my custom built PC and that I cannot swap the licenses "around" - any suggestions on how this functions?

Regards

Jeppe

 

homegroup win10 not recognize printer & scanner on win7 computer

Thank you so much for the quick response to my problem.

my devices I am trying to access on the win7 computer are:

Printer: Stylus Photo R200

Scanner: Perfection 4180

I had these originally on my computer B4 win10 install. After the install they did not work. That is why I connected to my other win7 computer. The win7 is within my Homegroup and when I access thru win10 I get access to docs, picts, videos, etc but not
the above devices. Reversing this, accessing my win10 computer from the win7, I get the icon my Epson Workforce 310 printer which I set up on the win7 computer for printing as well as the above devices.

Went to Epson website on the win7 comp & found the recommended driver for win7. Did the same on the win10 comp to find drivers for win10. (Did not update these drivers yet.) Apparently they have 2 different drivers dependent on WIN version. Both drivers
are up to date.

Is it possible the drivers are not compatible and this accounts for these devices not showing up on the win10 machine? Don't know if win10 driver will work on win7. I may try to set these up on win10 machine. If work can upgrade win7 to win10.

I tried steps 1 & 2. Step 3, I know I have devices set to show on the network.

Any other suggestions/comments??