System upgrade

[bill vann]

Have an XP Pro system and trying to extend the life E6750 Core 2 duo system for Photoshop CS5 and easy gaming (WOW).

Have System disk C 160GB mirror raid on a Gigabyte MB, 4 gig ram, 2 500GB HDDs

If I upgrade, backing up per MS instructions, break the raid pull the c Drives and replace with 1TB drives pull the 4GB memory and upgrade to 8 GB when I restart with the DVD will it do a clean install and ask for my key # or look at the C drive which is now blank, and will it see the memory.

I could break the raid and install on an existing drive but it is small 160GB WD that has been running virtually 24x7 for almost 5 years. Then Back it uo or image it onto one of the new drives?

bill

 

[COLGeek]

There is no upgrade path from XP to Windows 7, so by default, you will be doing a clean install. Up to you on how you configure your RAID.

 

[bill vann]

There is no upgrade path from XP to Windows 7, so by default, you will be doing a clean install. Up to you on how you configure your RAID.

got that, but if if strip out the drives and replace with clean drives will it boot/load from the dvd. As an upgrade it must look for a key or ask for the old key??

 

[COLGeek]

It will boot from the DVD just fine. I assume you have "upgrade" disks, correct?

If so, do the install and enter your key when asked, if it accepts and finishes you are good to go as it will likely activate automatically. If it fails to activate automatically, you may just need to call MS (for manual authentication) per the prompts you will receive when you try to activate.

Not a big deal and only takes a couple minutes. However, in all likelihood, you will be fine with the automatic process.