Upgrading to Win10 from 7 for free

[Joe Kuhn]

I've been doing this quite a bit in the last 6 months. Did 3 laptops at home and am working through the machines in my wife's office. In each case I first installed a 500 gb solid state drive from Western Digital. Cost me $65 each. They are WD 500 GB SSD Blues. Amazon pulls them right up, You also need a $15 SATA cable and if you have a desk top machine you'll need a $7 mounting bracket.

You hook up the new drive externally to your machine and then download Acronis True Image WD Edition

Here are more detailed instructions:

WD SSD - Installation Instructions

Acronis is weird because you download it, run it from the 'application' which unzips it, then run it again, but it finally does work and you can then Clone your drive after ADD NEW DISK and selecting the first option so there can be a boot partition - MBR. Sometimes the Acronis software will refer you to a version that you have to pay for because it can't see the SSD. In this case you have to set it up with the Windows Disk Management.

Cloning takes a while and when it's done it will shut your machine down. That's when you install the new drive physically. I usually leave the old hard drive right where it is and move the cables to the new ssd.

Then you can upgrade to Win 10 which requires you to keep checking because there are 4 or 5 clicks during the process to continue. Here's the link for the free Win 10 upgrade if you've got a valid license for 7 or 8:

Download Windows 10

Machines will boot in 15 or so seconds instead of 15 minutes which was the case with my laptops.

 

[jeb35]

Its always been free to upgrade from 7 or 8 to 10 for free. They just quit advertising it after a year had passed. I always thought there would be some end game by MS to make us pay for future use if we upgraded. Why else would they offer it for free?

 

[m1ne]

Why else would they offer it for free?

Your data is more valuable than the $100 it would typically cost.

 

[Joe Kuhn]

Its always been free to upgrade from 7 or 8 to 10 for free. They just quit advertising it after a year had passed. I always thought there would be some end game by MS to make us pay for future use if we upgraded. Why else would they offer it for free?

I heard the free period was going to end, but it hasn't. I did another machine today w no problems.

 

[PaulK]

The best/smartest thing you could do is upgrade to a Mac.

 

[Jay™]

Mac.

now that's funny

 

[Joe Kuhn]

The best/smartest thing you could do is upgrade to a Mac.

You trying to start a fight? (I'm kidding)

 

[PaulK]

You trying to start a fight? (I'm kidding)

I was half kidding with my post. My wife and one of my coworkers have been having nothing but problems with their work computers since being forced to upgrade to Windows 10 recently. I switched from Windows 10 to a Mac just over a year ago and couldn't be happier, there's no way I could ever go back.

 

[jmurrayhead]

I was half kidding with my post. My wife and one of my coworkers have been having nothing but problems with their work computers since being forced to upgrade to Windows 10 recently. I switched from Windows 10 to a Mac just over a year ago and couldn't be happier, there's no way I could ever go back.

I love seeing this 90% of the time when using a Mac.

 

[Joe Kuhn]

I was half kidding with my post. My wife and one of my coworkers have been having nothing but problems with their work computers since being forced to upgrade to Windows 10 recently. I switched from Windows 10 to a Mac just over a year ago and couldn't be happier, there's no way I could ever go back.

I had a problem with a Win 10 upgrade whereby my laptop slowed way down in numerous areas. The issue made the news the next day. I reverted to the prior level, installed an SSD and upgraded again and have not had a problem since.

What specifically do you like about your Mac?

 

[Joe Kuhn]

I love seeing this 90% of the time when using a Mac.
View attachment 219613

Is that like the hour glass or the spinning circle?

 

[jmurrayhead]

Is that like the hour glass or the spinning circle?

Yeah, but I haven't seen an hour glass or spinning circle in years.

 

[PaulK]

I love seeing this 90% of the time when using a Mac.
View attachment 219613

I only ever see that when I'm on Facebook, nowhere else.

 

[PaulK]

What specifically do you like about your Mac?

I couldn't single out one or just a few things, I love just about everything. It's easier to say what I don't like and that's not being able to right click on things, lol, which is very easy to live without.

 

[m1ne]

I love seeing this 90% of the time when using a Mac.
View attachment 219613

I use something similar.

 

[Joe Kuhn]

Second machine is done. Added to original note:

... Sometimes the Acronis software will refer you to a version that you have to pay for because it can't see the SSD. In this case you have to set it up with the Windows Disk Management.

 

[Joe Kuhn]

Upgrading an HP Pavilion Elite HPE for a gamer friend. I purchased a 2 TB SSD for $235 and an additional $60 for 16 g of memory which will be quite an upgrade from 6 gig.

Made the mistake of trying to replace some mashed USB ports on the front and using one of them to hook up the new SSD. Windows couldn't see it and neither could the software for the SSD. Moved the cable to the back of the machine and Disk Management then saw it and set up a partition. WD SSD Cloning software took right off. This will take a while. The old 1 TB drive was nearly full.

 

[Joe Kuhn]

Also discovered the WD clone software made the C drive partition the same size as the old one making for an unused partition that was huge. MiniTool Partition Wizard made the correction a snap.

 

[Joe Kuhn]

Did another for a gal from church just before the stay at home order. Slow desk top w a hard drive that appeared to be failing once in a while.

Fixed for $75 actual cost. 500 gig drive plus mounting bracket. Upgrade to Win 10 for free. Fixed just in time before drive failure, I believe. She loves it.

Also had a guy drop a machine off cause it wouldn't connect to internet via usb wifi adapter. Couldn't find anything wrong w it. They got a wifi booster in time for their son's e-school startup. He probably doesn't love it.