Ok, I admit it, I was stupid.  My last backup was on 11/5/2015.
 
Last weekend, my 1TB Mushkin SSD went up in smoke (no idea why).  I have no excuse for not doing another backup other then it was a super hassle because my system didn't support usb3 that my backup drive uses and I would often uninstall the usb3 card because it caused some conflicts in my system.
 
Because I was on windows 8.1 (and no longer have a product key) and WILL NOT upgrade to Windows 10 I'm considering actually restarting with windows 7 64. Anyone know of any compatibility issues going back to windows 7 64? I hear over 40% of windows users are still on 7 and sounds like an upgrade after using 8.x for the last couple years.
 
Oh and what did I lose? A few songs that were in process and all my settings/libraries/vsts.
 
Thanks!

There are utilities that will get the win 8.1 key off the PC.
I assume you mean you have a legal key but don't know what it is.
Out of curiosity why do you hate Win 10 ?
You only have a little over 3 years of secuirty updates for win 7.

Ouch, sorry to hear that. I am still on Win7 here and no issues. After you get the system up to its first stable condition with basics loaded, I highly recommend a disk image. I also did another image after the bulk of all programs were installed/re-authorized... Both in preps for the (inevitable) days that Win7 goes offline and my SSD lets its smoke out.

Since June 2015, W7's market share has declined from 60.98% to 48.81%. W10 has advanced from 0.16% to 14.36%. January was the first month where W10 had a greater market share than XP or 8.1, both of which continue to decline and are now under 10%.
 
The reality is that W7 is 7 years old. While it was a rock-solid operating system that, like XP, became a "don't have to worry about it" OS, it is on the decline and that decline will accelerate. Meanwhile, W10 continues its steady increase, with a major update due for July 2016 that will integrate it more devices. That may be the tipping point for some people to switch.
 
W7 is still viable. Mainstream support ended in January so there will be no new fixes or features, although you'll still get security updates for another 3.66 years. Also, while W7 doesn't have native USB 3.0 support, appropriate chipset drivers from your motherboard's manufacturer will accommodate USB 3.0 devices (if not, most will work as USB 2.0 devices).
 
I was very happy with Windows 7, and approached upgrading to W10 with trepidation. However, it is not necessary to wipe everything and start over; you can do an in-place install. Also, perhaps someone with more computer savvy can chime in, but the much-reviled Vista essentially became W7 after the last of its updates, so I suspect W10 is not that different from W8.1.
 
SONAR seems to perform better with W10. I may just be lucky that crashes are virtually non-existent for me, and I use SONAR almost every day in one capacity or another. Or, it may be the W10 is that much more reliable.
 
I upgraded my laptop to W10 as an experiment and within two days, took the plunge on my desktop. The bottom line is I would not go back to W7 after experiencing W10. W7's days are numbered, and I don't think this is a good time to jump on to an operating system that's in its twilight years. 
 
 
 
 

There is absolutely nothing wrong with Windows 10 here. I can't imagine a good reason not to upgrade. It actually brought new pep to my old Asus i5 laptop.

mettelus
Ouch, sorry to hear that. I am still on Win7 here and no issues. After you get the system up to its first stable condition with basics loaded, I highly recommend a disk image. I also did another image after the bulk of all programs were installed/re-authorized... Both in preps for the (inevitable) days that Win7 goes offline and my SSD lets its smoke out.

+1 For what mettelus said, including the disk image. I have upgraded one  of my pc's to windows 10 and there seems to be a slight performance increase, but that may just be my own confirmational bias. I personally am not a fan of the compulsory and very frequent automatic updates as they have caused a couple of issues on my system. Happy to keep my ain studio PC on Win 7 as long as I can - it is rock solid, and I know when I turn it on that nothing will change.

In my experience usb3 drives are backward compatible with usb2 ports.
 
Sorry to add insult to injury.

Thanks for all the helpful and thoughtful replies.
 
The reason I'm anti-windows 10:
 
I actually like my privacy and do not want a company, such as MS, access to my data. My art is my own to decide to share or not and I don't want my OS to be "cloud" connected or anything else. I want it to be fast, intuitive, and transparent to the user. Something MS has failed at since win 7 since they are pushing their whole 1984 panopticon
**** instead of concentrating on bringing a solid futuristic OS to the masses.
 
As for lack of future support.  I can barely keep a PC running for a year before I'm reformatting, so 3 years would be a long time for one install for me.
 
But who knows, if windows 10 will give me a solid experience cheap, then fine, I'll use it, but just take out the damn network card (cable).
 
 

I would not personally go back to Windows 7. Too many improvements to the core OS have made it into 8.1 and 10 for me to contemplate reverting. That, coupled with the support life cycle coming to an end makes the case for me. There's just too much scary innovation in new malware for me to consider downgrading my OS. It may be that MS support can help with the product key issue.
 
As for the decision on embracing an OS upgrade, for average users I usually advocate upgrades only when there's a compelling reason to do it, like if you need newer device support or want to run a software package that isn't supported on older OS's or if there is a feature (like more security) that you must have. And if they need the stability for business continuity, I also tend to link major OS upgrades to major hardware events or upgrades to minimize disruptions. Ideally that would involve the procurement of a completely new system so that you can run systems in parallel to be sure that things don't go south on you. 
 
Of course if you have the mental disorder I suffer from that drives you to upgrade for no damned reason whatsoever other than to have the shiniest and newest thing, I'd tell you to forget Windows 7 and jump on 10 right now. Back up your stuff and just do it.
 

slumbermachine
I actually like my privacy and do not want a company, such as MS, access to my data. My art is my own to decide to share or not and I don't want my OS to be "cloud" connected or anything else. I want it to be fast, intuitive, and transparent to the user. Something MS has failed at since win 7 since they are pushing their whole 1984 panopticon
**** instead of concentrating on bringing a solid futuristic OS to the masses.

 
For better or for worse, Microsoft couldn't care less about your art. There are two elements at play. One is using the Cortana personal assistant, which indeed keeps track of contacts, calendar appointments, etc. But, that's the point. By keeping it in the cloud, as long as I'm on a PC and logged into my account, it doesn't matter if I'm at home, at Gibson, or on the road. However if you want, you can turn all of this off and disable Cortana completely.
 
The other element is data on how you use the computer, system health, etc. and depending on your version of Windows 10, you can disable most and I believe it's also possible to disable all of it.  Search "Privacy on Windows 10" and you'll find useful articles such as this one on how to turn off these features. It's particularly easy to turn them off during installation; it takes a bit more effort to turn it off after installation, but not much. If you've messed with the privacy settings on an iPhone, this is the same basic deal.
 
However, note that this is not personalized data. Using the art comparison, this isn't Microsoft breaking into your home and looking over your shoulder while you paint. It's more like Microsoft going to an art supply store and asking how many people bought watercolors, how many bought oils, and how many are into gouache. It doesn't really matter who bought what, just the numbers.
 
There was a big controversy awhile ago about Cakewalk letting users opt in to provide analytics. Fortunately, logic seems to have prevailed as participation is very good. But I got a chance to look at some of the analytics the other day, and it turns out that Cakewalk actually pulls all your songs from your hard drives, automatically masters them with LANDR, and then offers them to Beyonce for use on her next album if she wants them. Cakewalk then deletes any of the ones she does want from your system; that way you can't claim ownership and sue her.
 
Okay, not really. The analytics show, for example, which plug-ins are inserted most often in projects. I'm even thinking of including some "Top 10" charts in the eZine - like the Top 10 most-used Sonitus effects, the Top 10 EQs, Top 10 Reverbs, Top 10 Non-Cakewalk Virtual Instruments, etc. I think it would be fun.