Upgrading Questions

[trickynick]

I currently have a Dell Inspiron 531s. I'm going to be moving the guts from my current tower to a new ATX tower, and in the process upgrade the PSU and Video Card.

I currently have Vista 32-bit.

Am I able to order the Win 7 Upgrade? (64 bit)

What is the process of upgrading? Note: I know it will need to be a clean install

What other tip/suggestions do you have in the upgrade process?

 

[isamuelson]

First, yes. You can get the upgrade edition to save money. It will work. But as you've stated, you'll have to do a clean install.

Your best bet is to probably install it on a different partition so you can "test" the waters with it. That way, if you run into any problems, you can boot back into Vista until you get your issues resolved.

Second, use the Easy Windows Transfer program to backup your user profile data and documents from Vista and then import them into Windows 7.

Then, test away and ensure everything works well. Going to 64-bit won't necessarily improve the execution time of your 32-bit programs (including games), but for most, the decrease in performance is negligible.

One of the main reasons of going 64-bit is accessing more memory as well as better stability and protection.

Also, ensure that any hardware you currently have has 64-bit drivers. If you can't find them for Windows 7, then see if they have 64-bit Vista drivers as those will work just as well. However, if they do not have ANY 64-bit drivers, your hardware is out of luck until/if they release 64-bit drivers for them.

Good luck!

 

[trickynick]

First, yes. You can get the upgrade edition to save money. It will work. But as you've stated, you'll have to do a clean install.

Your best bet is to probably install it on a different partition so you can "test" the waters with it. That way, if you run into any problems, you can boot back into Vista until you get your issues resolved.

Second, use the Easy Windows Transfer program to backup your user profile data and documents from Vista and then import them into Windows 7.

Then, test away and ensure everything works well. Going to 64-bit won't necessarily improve the execution time of your 32-bit programs (including games), but for most, the decrease in performance is negligible.

One of the main reasons of going 64-bit is accessing more memory as well as better stability and protection.

Also, ensure that any hardware you currently have has 64-bit drivers. If you can't find them for Windows 7, then see if they have 64-bit Vista drivers as those will work just as well. However, if they do not have ANY 64-bit drivers, your hardware is out of luck until/if they release 64-bit drivers for them.

Good luck!

User Profile? For Vista? or Programs?
how would I use the Easy Windows Transfer program when I don't have access to any external HDs?

 

[isamuelson]

User Profile? For Vista? or Programs?
how would I use the Easy Windows Transfer program when I don't have access to any external HDs?

Sorry, I was under the impression that you wanted to keep the current users accounts on your old machine and migrate them.

If not, you should still be good to go with an upgrade disk.

 

[aford10]

Yes, you can upgrade.

When you do a custom install of the upgrade, it will move your data to a windows.old folder.