Upgrade to Win 10 someday far away

[Bewildered Bob]

Win 7 runs well on my Dell desktop but i plan to prepare for the EVENTUAL upgrade to Win 10 some day. Since the cutoff for freebie upgrade/install is in July my strategy is to download/install/activate Win 10 but continue to run Win 7 as long as possible. A DVD containing Win 10 has been created by "Media Creation Tool" but my concern is how best to install it -

(1) dual-boot Win 7 and Win 10 (installed using DVD ??) from a single HD (if possible).
(2) install a second "reserve" (unused) HD with only Win 10 on it and continue to run Win 7 using "primary" (bootable) HD. Win 10 will already have been activated so there shd be no charge if and when it becomes the "active" OS someday.
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(a) Will both of these approaches work using the DVD created by Media Creation Tool ?

(b) Is one better than the other ?

(c) Are there other upgrade strategies that would work better than either of these 2 given that Win 10 will remain dormant for some undetermined period ?
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Thanx.
Bewildered Bob

 

[Trouble]

Hello and welcome to the forum.

i plan to prepare for the EVENTUAL upgrade to Win 10 some day

The "free" upgrade requires a legitimate license / product key from your previous version of Windows be used and as a consequence (at least as far as I know) does not allow or support under that circumstance, you using that product key to support your running or continuing to run Windows 7 with that product key any longer, so....
I think you're going to have to acquire a second Windows 7 license or Windows 10 license in order to do what you've outlined above, IF I understand your post correctly.

 

[Bewildered Bob]

Hi Trouble: thanx for the quick response. Obviously i have a legitimate key for installed Win 7 which i believe allows upgrade to Win 10 without any charge. But are you saying that after upgrading the key is no longer valid for Win 7 ? If true how do folks reinstall Win 7 after upgrading to Win 10 ? In my humble opinion the key shd still be allowed for either OS - do you agree ?

Bewildered Bob

 

[Trouble]

In my humble opinion the key shd still be allowed for either OS - do you agree ?

I agree..... either but not both

 

[MrEd]

Bob, just do the upgrade now, you won't regret it. Thoroughly test the upgrade in the 30 days allowed and if dissatisfied, revert back to W7. You have nothing to lose.

 

[Trouble]

After making sure you have all your critical data backed up and additionally considered creating a disk image so you have a stronger fall back option in the event things don't go as planned.
https://www.windows10forums.com/threads/please-for-your-own-peace-of-mind.794/

 

[Bewildered Bob]

I agree..... either but not both

Rotten thing to do to anyone !! Also illogical since we are almost FORCED into upgrading to W10 while it appears to be less than "good-to-go".