Robert in CA wrote:
Although we've fixed the 780 boot menu problem, Sea Monkey
and got the side bar back, and resolved the mice problems with
a new mouse for each computer and F-lock gave me back my
Function keys. The backspace problem still remains and we've
tested everything.

I've got no traction on the Backspace issue, and I don't
know how to deal with it. The tracer I was playing with,
didn't pan out (too buggy).

Since were at this point it makes since to clone the hd's so we don't
loose any of our hard work and they are about as clean as we can get
them unless you can think of something to bring back the backspace
key function.

You can make exact clones if you want.

Speaking of cloning; can you explain why you want to split the C: partition
in half and have a D: partition? I'm not understanding the reasoning behind
it?

I split C: and D: type partitions, to aid in backups. I only
try to keep in C:, what must be kept in there. For example,
if I had a movie collection in my Downloads folder on C: , then
I'd move that to another partition or another disk drive.

Sometimes I need to do temporary backups of C: , because
something I'm doing is dangerous. Well, I don't want to be
transferring 800GB of MRIMG files from one disk to another,
to do that. I only want to back up 30GB of OS files and materials.
Then, if I screw up (which happens), I have a 30GB MRIMG to restore.

But you don't have to do anything you don't want to. As
long as your drives are properly labeled with the Sharpie,
there is nothing to fear.

Mine all have numbers on them, and, I keep an "inventory" folder,
with rough lists of what is on the disks. Then, if there's a
particular MRIMG I need, I would know it is on "12". Then I
search through the pile of disks and look for "12". And so on.


In passing, the 8500 power on switch is acting allot better. However,
if I had a motherboard failure could I buy a new or refurbished Win 10
computer(since they don't sell any Win 7 computers anymore that I see)
and put a Win 7 hd inside? Would it work?

I don't think the refurbisher removes the SLIC table in the
BIOS, so in theory, you could put a Dell Windows 7 OS in there.
Whereas your 780, has a "Refurbisher Windows 7", and it
has a discrete license key (the kind that really belongs
printed on a COA sticker). The 780 doesn't happen to be
activated via SLIC, so you could not move the 780 disk
to a new refurbisher machine. The refurbisher machine
will have a unique (COA-like) Windows 10 key on it. It
isn't SLIC activated either.

The 8500 disk on the other hand, is SLIC activated.
Moving the 8500 disk drive to a new machine,
some drivers would be missing. But if, say, both
motherboards used Intel chipsets, it would probably
boot. And then you could spend many joyous hours
adding drivers for Windows 7 on the new refurb.

If the 8500 failed then, you might cook up such
an idea, but it's not guaranteed to work, because
we don't know if the refurbishers modify the BIOS
or not. Normally, people like that do as little
work as they have to (meet terms of MSFT agreement
and that's it).
can
780 ----X +- NewRefurb ----X
/ go SLIC
8500 ------------+
SLIC

It the refurb was "HP" and the 8500 was "Dell",
the SLIC doesn't work then on the moved disk drive.
Both machines would need to have Dell SLIC.

Ships Refurb
with...

WinXP SLIC SLIC+win10key
Vista SLIC SLIC+win10key
Win7 (8500) SLIC SLIC+win10key
Win8 MSDM MSDM+win10key
Win10 MSDM MSDM+win10key

The Win7 machines go up to "Skylake" CPU or so.

If you had a Win10 Kaby Lake machine that was
refurbed, the Win10-only MSDM table in the BIOS
would only activate more Windows 10 disk drives.
It would not activate Windows 7, and the 8500
disk would likely say "Not Genuine" if it was
plugged into a Kaby Lake refurb.

*******

If you spot a machine that you want to buy,
post back and I'll try to do a quick check
of how it fits into the table. While the 780
works, Microsoft is rapidly outpacing our ability
to keep up. The Win10 21H1 uses virtualization
and that makes some of the older refurb machines
less desirable. I still don't really have info
on what hardware won't take the 21H1 release
(which was just released). I have one virtual
machine, that is not getting offered 21H1 Win10
and I suspect it's not going to receive any
more upgrades.

I think I'm approaching the point, I only have
one machine that is any good for future Win10 work.

Paul