Windows 10: Rollback via Cloned HDD or Image Restore after 30 days - Experiences?

I read this at another forum and wanted to ask members here if they have rolled back to Win 7 (or 8.1) via a Cloned HDD or a full-HDD Image Restoration after their 30-day time period has expired.

"I found a link where a poster said after 30 days you could not revert back even if you had an image as Microsoft essentially blacklists the previous OS key."

Has anyone either reverted back, after their 30-day time period expired, to Win 7 or 8.1 using another HDD (or restored an Image to a spare HDD) or is currently running their previous Win version with one HDD and Win 10 with their upgraded HDD?

To clarify, my question excludes dual-booting on one HDD and/or running Win 10 and their previous Win version simultaneously. The question assumes that only one OS HDD is booted on the PC while the other HDD is not connected to the PC.

:)

 

Restore Image or Clone from HDD to new SSD?

I have a single, non-partitioned (C:\ drive only) 500GB HDD in a desktop PC, using approx. 80 percent of it. I want to install a 500GB SSD, and clone or restore an image of the HDD to it. Once that's complete and successful, I plan to wipe the 500GB HDD
and then move my large libraries of media from the newly installed SSD to it. My future holds lots of video editing and compiling, so the extra storage will help, along with the better performance via the SSD (and upgraded RAM as well).

I'm unable to find after much research a definitive answer as to whether cloning the HDD to the SSD is better than restoring an image of the HDD to the SSD. I've read where cloning will carry over bad sectors and such where imaging will not. I think I'm
leaning toward image restore, keeping a copy of it on an external 1TB drive I have, to which I can periodically do image backups of the new, separate drives.

I'd also like to find a tutorial re: the same. Thanks in advance for any help.

 

Upgrading to Windows 10 now or later?

When it said I can only restore back to Windows 8.1 within 30 days does that mean after that there is NO way to restore it back to the OEM OS after 30 days using Win 10? Will it delete the OEM partition on the HDD after using Win 10 for more than 30 days?

 

Hello Voyager, *Smile

That was in reference to being able to use the "go back to previous version of Windows" feature as long as you didn't delete the Windows.old folder or wait more than 30 days after upgrading to Windows 10.

https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/4...s-windows.html

You will always be able to restore a system image or a cloned image.

 

Shawn,

Thanks for the reply *Smile. This clears (for me) a major hurdle in my consideration to possibly accept the free upgrade path before next July.

Will a post-30-day rollback HDD (or switching between my Win 7 and 10 HDD's at any time going forward) work the same with a legacy/BIOS Motherboard PC and a UEFI Motherboard PC and will it work with an OEM version PC?

For example, I have a built Win 7 Home Premium OEM Desktop PC with an MBR HDD and a legacy/BIOS Motherboard so the Product Key isn't inbedded in the firmware. The future-upgraded Win 10 Key also won't be stored in the firmware from what I understand as it's not a UEFI firmware Motherboard.

Would the rollback HDD approach work with, say, both a typical Win 7 OEM PC and a UEFI Win 8.1 PC?

 

Yes, with no problems at all. The references to Microsoft somehow deactivating the previous operating system's licenses and/or product keys is pure nonsense.

 

NavyLCDR

Thanks for the info *Smile.

I'd also read at another forum about there being a question about whether Win 10 allows the PC user to replace the OS HDD (in the event of a HDD failure, or to test a Clone, or restore a full Image to a spare HDD, etc).

When I've read posts that suggest or question whether Win 10 has a restriction regarding HDD replacement, I wondered if Win 10 instituted a change that was unique to previous Win OS versions which would prohibit OS HDD replacements on the same PC (same Motherboard).

I'm assuming that the answer to this is "no", there's nothing about Win 10 that prohibits any licensed Win 10 PC user from replacing their own OS HDD and also they would not encounter an activation issue with the replaced HDD.

 

You wouldn't have any issue with doing a clean install to a new HDD or SSD after you had already upgraded to the free Windows 10 from an activated Windows 7/8.1 on the same PC.

If you changed the motherboard, then it wouldn't activate, but you would just need to contact Microsoft customer support to activate.

Activate Windows 10

 

Shawn,

Thanks for the info regarding clean install's *Smile. Am I correct in assuming that Win 10 operates the same as previous Win OS'es regarding installing a Cloned HDD?

For example, I clone my Win 7 OS HDD periodically to compliment occasional (full-HDD) Images but prefer Cloning for my short-term HDD backup as I have SATA hot-swap Trays installed in my tower.

With Win 10, will I be able to swap out my original HDD with a recently-cloned HDD and encounter no Win 10-specific issues (ie, not booting up due to activation required, Prod Key issues, etc)?

 

As long as you use the clone on the same PC that the Windows 10 was originally activated on, you shouldn't have any issues with activation.

 

10-4, thanks *Smile. Sorry for all the questions. It sometimes takes some time to filter out misinformation that I read elsewhere about this topic.

 

The future-upgraded Win 10 Key won't be stored in firmware on ANY motherboard. All Windows 10 upgrades from Windows 7/8/8.1 get the same product keys (depending on the version; home, pro, etc.). No version of Windows has ever stored Product Keys to motherboard firmware. Manufacturers with OEM licenses started storing product keys in bios beginning with Windows 8 - but the Windows operating system never has, and still doesn't.

 

Glad we could help Jeff. *Smile

When you upgrade to the free Windows 10 on an activated Windows 7/8.1 PC, the Windows 10 activation for your PC is stored on Microsoft's activation servers as a digital entitlement license.

Activate Windows 10

 

Thanks again for the info *Smile

Thanks as always, Shawn *Smile.

 

Glad we could help. *Smile