Windows 8 Upgrade with SSD

Hello,

The best way to test out Win-8, without messing up your perfectly setup and configured Win-7, is to place the Retail Preview on a separate HHD (size > 50GB) and evaluate it there.

That way you don't have to worry about installng it over Win-7 and not being able to go back, or trying to figure out how to remove it from a dual boot config when done. And there is no chance of messing up your finely tuned config setup of Win-7.

If you want to use your regular Win-7, just unplug the Win-8 data cable, and plug it into the Win-7 HDD, no BIOS changes needed.

And when done, just delete the partitions on the Win-8 HDD, and you are back to square one, Windows 7 perfectly intack.

I have tested both the developer and consumer previews. I am more wondering how it will turn out if I upgrade permanently.
I appreciate the idea though.
Basically, I'm trying to find out if all of my folder relations and whatnot will remain intact. For instance, I have documents and temp files store on my hard drive. I also have some settings tuned for the SSD/HDD combination.
I want to ensure that these will not be lost if I upgrade.
Thanks!

As far as upgrading to Win-8, the file structure is pretty much unchanged, so things in Documents, Videos, Photos, Music will still be there. You might have to repoint your secondary file folders to the libraries in Win-8, since the best way to upgrade is to have just the system disk online when upgrading.

When you upgrade from the PReview version of Win-8 to full RTM version, I don't know what the cost is, but it is like buying a new full retail version, & will be a lot more than the <$40 when you upgrade from Win-7 to Win-8. Price structure hasn't been released yet.

And for the best clean installation, you should consider Win-8, not an upgrade. Then associate your secondary HDD files to the Win-8 libraries where you want them.

Someone else may be on the cutting edge of price structure MS plans to use.

I found a couple articles which seem to indicate Windows 8 Pro will have a promotional price of $69.99 from release until January 31st and afterwards will cost $199 for the full version.

I have a full version of the software. I'm not worried about the price. I'm just unsure of how it will handle the upgrade, and I don't really want to start over with a clean install. I have a ton of programs and a lot of customization. I don't want my PC to freak out when I try to upgrade.
I am upgrading from Windows 7, not from Release Preview. I only used that for testing.

Hi  

Umm how do you have a full version a month before release ?

All the best Brett  

As far as I know MS said no upgrades from RTM and CP to the final version of Win8.

I personally used Junction Link Magic(for it ease of use, you can also use mklink /j in the command prompt as well) to link several key programs from Win8 to my win 7 folder. Steam being the big one because why have it 2 times.

My desktop/documents and whatnot are kept on a nice slow quiet hard drive so it was just a matter of telling windows to move the folders and not copy what was in them. Please note custom folders can mess with some Unreal based games if you are a gamer.

As for reducing space.

Reduce the page file size. I chose 4gigs as enough for myself. I also turned off hibernation because it takes more space as well. With hibernate off, you DO loose windows 8's fast boot feature, but SSD's are fast so that seems like a acceptable tradeoff to me.

Please use this with care, it is easy to mess something up with you remove Junctions windows uses.
http://www.rekenwonder.com/linkmagic.htm

To use this, the folder on the local drive must be empty. Then you link to another folder containing the contents of the original folder. For example, If c: is win8 and Win7 was f: you can have windows 8 see c:\program files(x86)\steam\ when in reality the data is all on F:\program files(x86)\steam\

This saves space by avoiding duplicate files.

Again, take care trying to move anything windows uses as NTFS permissions may get messed up(you can use robocopy to keep those permissions, but that is another story).

Look at all the space Win8 was taking with page file. It was a small 64gig SSD, but you get the point. With some cleanup, its down to 16gigs used and not 33.
http://imageshack.us/a/img7/3439/ssdpagefile.png

Quite possibly the same way I do. The RTM build is available to all MSDN and TechNet subscribers, as well as volume license customers. The OS won't hit retail store shelves until October 26th.

RTM is the final version. I believe you are correct about no upgrade from CP though. That's what I've been hearing as well.

I have the developer preview. I know that sucker will expire and not be upgradable. They warned me too so I know what to expect.

I have it through Microsoft, from Dreamspark (college).
Thanks for the software idea. I will check that one out.
I know how to set up the page file and everything. I'm really more worried about it ruining my folder relations. I'll check out Junction Link Magic. Thanks!

For basic windows folders like documents and whatnot windows has a built in way to direct then to another drive/folder as well. It is right in the properties for each one in the users files(library).

I did a clean install of win8, so I'm not sure how an upgrade is handled, but I used this tutorial to keep user data off the SSD:
http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials/4275-user-profiles...

Sad news guys, there is no such thing as a Windows 8 upgrade. There is just this evaluation style edition really designed for tablets where they disabled the start button in an attempt to get you to upgrade to the full version (Windows 7).