Have new hardware but should I wait to use?

[Dulak]

Have a old system (q6600 etc) ...
but have a upgrade copy on windows 7 pro and just bought a new ssd ...

as soon as I get some solid info on bulldozer (hum de dum). Ill decide if I will buy this or upgrade to a intel i(something).

My questions are these:

- Id like to test out my ssd (make sure it works etc since bought on ebay) and my copy of windows; its an upgrade version but heard you can use this without using your win xp key.
Can I install windows 7 on my ssd and use the system using win 7/ssd until I upgrade?
and when I upgrade to either bulldozer or i(something) will win 7 still activate again? (assuming I will need to reactivate and reinstall windows again?)

- If I can only activate once I assume I should wait till I get said motherboard amd/intel and go from there ...?

- When installing windows 7 upgrade should I have all my other HDs unplugged (want to keep my win xp as a backup on another drive without disabling that key)?

thanks

 

[Lunas]

you can dual boot xp and 7 just choose to install to a new partition on your ssd when you do the setup you should be greeted by a boot menu each time you boot up asking if you want to boot windows 7 or xp. So no just plug the ssd in and then boot into the setup one of the steps will be choose the destination partition to install on...
and with windows 7 and windows xp you get 5 activations when you change motherboards it will use up an activation. I believe when upgrading motherboard and cpu are the only 2 pieces of hardware that trigger this hard drives if it is the boot drive it is installed on would probably use one up as well but adding or subtracting secondary drives wont trigger a reactivation...

However that said install windows 7 and dont put your key in you can run it with out a cd key in it fully featured for 30 days then you have to run a command to reset the timer and you can do that 3 times for a total of 120 days with out putting your key in or activating...

 

[Ur_Mom]

slmgr -rearm to extend the timer. Play with it for a while, then if you upgrade, reinstall then activate.