I am currently using hp touchsmart 15 laptop which is about 2.5 year old. Recently i would like to upgrade the hdd to 256ssd.

The laptop originally came with oem windows 8 basic. And i upgraded to pro version with valid key purchased after that. When Microsoft offered free Windows 10 upgrade, i upgraded to win10 pro now and using it now.

After reading so many posts i am getting confused with the licensing issue.

I used microsoft media creation tool to downlod the win10 iso file and burn it to dvd already. I am intended to do clean installation on the new ssd instead of cloning.

If i do clean installation with the dvd i created, do i still need to purchase new win10 license or it will activated automatically or i can use back my win8 pro key?

I am quite familiar with old win installation method via bios. With new uefi system, i am not so familiar. Can i still use bios to boot with the dvd i created and install win10?

Lastly, is it advisable to create multiple partitions on ssd? Would it shorten the lifespan of ssd?

Hope sifus here can help. Thank you very much.

1) No. Win10 stores the key in the BIOS (provided you have the newer UEFI BIOS). Just re-install, no need to key in activation code. Later just go to control panel->system to activate the windows if it's not already activated.

2) Yes, you can boot from DVD/USB Thumbdrive/USB External drives etc.

3) Not advised to create partition. SSD so small...unless your SSD is >= 500GB, maybe can create 2 partitions.

i replaced my SSD and did a clean reinstall Win 10 pro on the new SSD .
just skip the product key option and opt for "I do not have product key" it will auto activate based on your windows account once the installation is done

win 10 still free to dload or not?

afaik, that' the only way to get Windows 10 .......
You need a pirated or genuine Windows 7 or 8(.1) to upgrade to 10 and you can directly install Win10 with some magical CD key.......

Download clonezilla and burn in USB drive.boot from USB drive and clone original drive to ssd. Replace hdd with clone ssd and boot as normal (as long as hhd and your have same capacity). The only thing that you need to change if you doing this step is to setup back boot order correctly in uefi bios

Partition ssd = not suitable since read write life span will be reduce by half (causing ssd to fail) - based on my experience.

What is uefi bios? When i press f10 or f12, it comes out with normal bios screen which i familiar with. I saw something uefi in the bios setting page but dare not press the button to access further.

No need to worry lah.

Nothing special about UEFI except that it works with a mouse and works in Graphical mode instead of character/text based mode.

Just follow instruction as i posted earliar. If need to just key in the activation code, if activation code is detected, it won't even ask you (or you can SKIP and activate later).

I will try this weekend. Hope everything goes smooth

That's not what UEFI is all about
Go do your own research before you mislead other people even further

I know what is it, there is no need to complicate matters and scare off people doing a simple installation.

Don't act like only you know the stuff. Duh.

cloning will work but a clean install is better.

one thing to note if you go for clean install route: since your laptop has a w8 basic, that means there is a w8 key stored in bios. this usually created a problem. if you just run the w10 install dvd (created from the stock w10 iso), which consists of home and pro editions, the installer will automatically pick up the w8 key in bios and proceed to install w10 home, instead of w10 pro.

the remedy is as follows. the easiest way to do this is to create a usb installer:

1. format a usb stick 8gb with fat32 (this is for uefi mode install, so make sure the bios settings is set to uefi, eg. secureboot enabled; csm disabled; you can also enable fastboot);
2. extract the contents of w10 iso directly into your usb stick (meaning open the iso file with 7zip or winrar, and then use the extract button and point the destination to your usb stick);
3. put the following into a .txt file (notepad) and rename it to ei.cfg (make sure the extension is .cfg instead of .txt);

4. navigate to your usb installer, and put ei.cfg into the 'sources' folder;
5. use the usb stick to boot and install w10 pro. you will be asked to choose which edition to install.

there will be 2 places that ask for keys. just skip them. once the installation is complete, connect your laptop to the internet, and it will be automatically activated.

all free and successful w10 upgrade from old os will get digital entitlement, meaning a unique hardware id of your laptop has been registered to ms server, and that id will be used to activate w10 on that particular device. that's why there is no need for a new product key with the w10 upgrade route. just make sure your laptop is connected to the internet after a clean install. the rest will be done automatically.

Look like very complicated to me already.

If windows installation detects the old win8 basic or home edition key and install the win10 home or basic edition, can i later key in win8 pro key to convert to win10 pro edition?

Change your attitude, I didn't say anything that implies only I know what the UEFI is, I'm only asking you to stop misleading people that UEFI is only about using a mouse & having a graphical interface to change BIOS options
UEFI is much more than that

you know, a lot of things when we just look at them, they do look hard and complicated. it's when you do it that you can find out that it's simple. it's up to you that whether you wanna get past that mind hurdle or not. i can only share with you how i did it, the rest you decide.

i'm not sure if you can use w8 pro key to perform w10 pro upgrade from w10 home. all i know is that you can use the old key to install w10 1511, if your device hasn't gone through w10 free upgrade. (after successful upgrades, with w10 activated online, it's considered that you device has been given digital entitlement by ms. subsequent clean installs will not require key anymore)

This post has been edited by horns: Feb 19 2016, 11:39 AM

how much ram your laptop has ? mine laptop is 4yrs old, i5,4gb ram, samsung ssd pro 250gb. Fresh install Windows 10 built 11586, startup fast but notice some lagging! windows startup already occupied at least 60% of ram.

I have 8gb ram i7 cpu. Is it sufficient to support ssd?

Dude. My i3 4g ram also can support ssd alrd. Jus might not load up as fast as others.

ram depends on usage. if you wanna have a better user experience, go for 8gb for today's common use.

the more significant upgrade is still ssd in place of hdd as os drive. even an entry-level ssd is good for overall system responsiveness. hdd is an apparent bottle neck for the same purpose.

So you know the stuff, mind to teach me or us?