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3 hours ago, Harry Harrison said:

I considered buying a used desktop with that sticker on but actually decided that I didn't need to buy anything just yet, I was a bit dubious though as I don't thinkl it would have come with W10 originally. This thread suggests that it might be OK though I must admit I didn't read it all in its entirety:

 

https://superuser.com/questions/1208051/how-to-activate-windows-10-pro-with-a-refurb-license

 

Thanks for the link. Fortunately, the computer came with some instructions on how to activate W10. Looks easy on paper...

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It doesn't really fit the title of this thread but is maybe relevant anyway. I'm pleasantly surprised to see that I'm still getting Microsoft Security Essentials Updates on Windows 7,  I've had about 10 since the 14th January. I had thought that I would be left in the wilderness after support officially ended.

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I installed Win10 on my 8-year-old desktop pc last night, a fresh install on a new 1tb ssd, with the Win7 drives disconnected. I first installed a new pci-e dIsk controller card for the new ssd, since the common internet wisdom (oxymoron?) seems to be that Win10 can have problems with the Marvell sata controller on my motherboard.

 

Now that I'm reasonably certain Win10 will work on this machine, I'll disconnect the Win10 drive, reconnect the Win7 drives, and do the harder, more time-consuming part: figuring out what programs I need to uninstall from Win7 so as not to lose any software licenses, deciding what I don't need anymore, etc.

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So far the switch to my new W10 machine is going very smoothly -- no glitches or developing ulcers to report (touch wood). All my ancient software is running fine on W10, with one exception that I'm working on. I really like the SSD. It's so much faster than a conventional HD. Next step will be popping in a 1TB HDD for storing images, etc. More to follow...

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2 hours ago, Bill Kuta said:

I installed Win10 on my 8-year-old desktop pc last night, a fresh install on a new 1tb ssd, with the Win7 drives disconnected. I first installed a new pci-e dIsk controller card for the new ssd, since the common internet wisdom (oxymoron?) seems to be that Win10 can have problems with the Marvell sata controller on my motherboard.

 

Now that I'm reasonably certain Win10 will work on this machine, I'll disconnect the Win10 drive, reconnect the Win7 drives, and do the harder, more time-consuming part: figuring out what programs I need to uninstall from Win7 so as not to lose any software licenses, deciding what I don't need anymore, etc.

 

I stored most of my software licenses on my HD, and have been able to get any that I've lost from the software developers. So far, so good...

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Yeah, I have all the keys in documents on my hard drive (possible a couple of new ones are just in emails). Gotta get them all on paper to be safe.

 

We just disconnected the W10 drive and reconnected the W7 drives, but the computer didn't recognize the W7 drives. We had to go into advanced BIOS settings. It seemed that W10 had made the Marvell controller not bootable--I guess it really does have a problem with that controller. We were able to make it bootable again, so all good. But Win10 has a long arm.

 

Fortunately our math/computer double major, software entrepreneur son was here 😊

Edited by Bill Kuta
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4 hours ago, Bill Kuta said:

Yeah, I have all the keys in documents on my hard drive (possible a couple of new ones are just in emails). Gotta get them all on paper to be safe.

 

We just disconnected the W10 drive and reconnected the W7 drives, but the computer didn't recognize the W7 drives. We had to go into advanced BIOS settings. It seemed that W10 had made the Marvell controller not bootable--I guess it really does have a problem with that controller. We were able to make it bootable again, so all good. But Win10 has a long arm.

 

Fortunately our math/computer double major, software entrepreneur son was here 😊

 

Afraid you lost me there. Good luck.

 

It looks as if I have only one program that I can't run on W10, an old (2012) version of Photo Mechanic that worked fine with W7.

 

I found some useful W10 suggestions here.

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Are these the same, John?
 

https://www.cnet.com/how-to/11-best-hidden-windows-10-tricks-to-know-now-that-youve-upgraded-from-windows-7/?ftag=CAD-04-10aac3a&bhid=22192089406943586061747728902091
Ahh, I see my link is embedded in yours, down a bit.

Edited by Betty LaRue
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6 hours ago, Betty LaRue said:

 

No, those look different. Thanks. By the time I get rid of all the unnecessary stuff, there may be nothing left.

Edited by John Mitchell
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All good now. Win10 boot drive and the 2tb hard drive with all my data are working. Lightroom installed, catalog copied over, everything linked up. My PC should be good for another 8 years 😄

It all went pretty smoothly and easily, except for a couple of days of boot-up confusion owing to Win10's allergy to my motherboard's Marvell disk controller. Ultimately, a look at my motherboard manual showed that two of the SATA3 ports went to an Intel controller; they worked with no problem. So I didn't need to install that PCI-E disk controller card (which turned out to have its own Marvell controller 😱). But overall a cheap alternative to a new pc.

When I buy new computers, I try to get fairly high-spec'd ones (basically, lower-end gaming machines) so that they'll not get outdated quickly.

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4 hours ago, Bill Kuta said:

All good now. Win10 boot drive and the 2tb hard drive with all my data are working. Lightroom installed, catalog copied over, everything linked up. My PC should be good for another 8 years 😄

 

I recently rejuvenated my mid-2011 vintage Apple iMac in a effort to extend it's life as well as my LR6/PS5 perpetual licenses.

 

The iMac's internal boot HDD was the original and showing it's age - frequent system crashes.

I wanted a path forward different from buying a newer MacOS system or having Apple or an independent repair shop remove & replace the iMac's display panel and the old internal HDD.

 

So I purchased an external 2-bay Thunderbolt dock and a 1TB SSD.   Plugged the SSD into one dock bay alongside my 1TB external HDD in the 2nd dock bay that contained my userdata. Installed bootable MacOs on the SSD and migrated all applications and data off the old internal HDD to the new bootable SSD. 

 

System is much faster now with more storage capacity. The old iMac even runs cooler now with the internal HDD's volume unmounted.

 

Should be good for several more years hopefully.

 

 

Edited by Phil
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On 27/01/2020 at 07:17, Bill Kuta said:

All good now. Win10 boot drive and the 2tb hard drive with all my data are working. Lightroom installed, catalog copied over, everything linked up. My PC should be good for another 8 years 😄

It all went pretty smoothly and easily, except for a couple of days of boot-up confusion owing to Win10's allergy to my motherboard's Marvell disk controller. Ultimately, a look at my motherboard manual showed that two of the SATA3 ports went to an Intel controller; they worked with no problem. So I didn't need to install that PCI-E disk controller card (which turned out to have its own Marvell controller 😱). But overall a cheap alternative to a new pc.

When I buy new computers, I try to get fairly high-spec'd ones (basically, lower-end gaming machines) so that they'll not get outdated quickly.

 

That's good to hear. I too have now got everything up and running on the new Windows 10 machine. The transition went more smoothly than expected. Windows 10 seems fairly easy to get along with so far. All I have left to do now is pop in a conventional HD for storage, and I should be good until the next upheaval. 🤪

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  • 1 month later...

Buoyed by success at switching my 8-year-old desktop to Win10, I did the same thing with my 8-year-old HP laptop yesterday. Same process--remove HD and replace with SSD; clean install of Win10 from OEM disc. It runs better than ever, without all the HP crapware (but that's usually the result if you do any fresh install).

 

Googling my Win10 prospects beforehand, I found lots of discouraging links for my particular old laptop, but it seems that over the years Win10 has gotten better at coping with older hardware.

 

It does have a slow wifi card, and prospects to replace it do sound dicy. Maybe I'll try a USB wireless adapter.

 

This laptop is now computer #3, and might be destined for our daughter's family. I've been doing most photo processing lately on a new Alienware 17" laptop.

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