On 11/11/2017 19:09, Ken wrote:
I downloaded Win 10 and burned DVD's when new versions (updates) were
available since I had several computers running Win 10. Although I
hope I never need to use any of them to restore Win 10, I did use one
for a friends computer that crashed. My question is: Are the oldest
versions no longer usable for such a purpose, or can they be used and
brought up to date in spite of being old versions?

What do you mean "Are the oldest versions no longer usable for such a
purpose"? are you asking whether they can be used to install on a new
HD? If this is what you are asking then I would say yes you can use
them but as you may know, Microsoft has streamlined its patches and now
after certain time old versions won't receive any new updates but any
updates released in the past are still available as "Cumulative updates".

I keep all the old versions on DVDs just in case they are needed for
something I need to test in virtual box. It is just me but there are
people who thing their time is better spent doing backups and backups of
backups and all that nonsense. Some of them have up to 8TB of useless
apps that they are not likely to use ever but they like to keep
themselves busy looking after them and making sure the backups work for
them. It is their another hobby.

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With over 500 million devices now running Windows 10, customer
satisfaction is higher than any previous version of windows.