upgrading windows OS

[camochase]

when i upgrade my windows Os from Windows xp to vista does it erase everything because if it does i need to know what i should copy to a flash drive for my personal stuff like papers for school and stuff and thanks in advance

 

[doyama]

"Technically" a Vista to Win7 upgrade will preserve your files and such. So you can do an upgrade and have it preserve your applications and files

However I normally take this opportunity to take the time to identify WHAT stuff is really critical, and to take stock of my applications. What applications do I really need? Where am I storing files that I truly feel are useful. Do I have backups of my critical files?

Once I do that, I do a clean install of the OS. If you want to be 'safe' you can build Windows 7 on a second hard drive and then begin migrating your data from the old Vista hard drive. Or if you want to do an in-place clean install, you can first take a Ghost copy of your OS hard drive onto an external HD, so you have a backup of the data. In any case having a backup of whatever data you think is 'critical' is something you want to do regardless. Upgrades can go horribly wrong and you don't wan to be in the situation where you lose everything because of that.

 

[camochase]

thanks but all i realy need it my .blend files and my text files anything else i can install as i need it

 

[Mazor]

Do you have a reason for switching from XP?

Also, do you have a reason for switching to Vista rather than to 7?

 

[doyama]

thanks but all i realy need it my .blend files and my text files anything else i can install as i need it

If that's the case I'd do a clean install. All OS get 'crusty' as time goes on and doing a clean install will just make things nicer for you in the long run.

The way I usually do my OS refreshes is this:

Find all the user data I want on the OS drive and make a backup to another drive

Ahead of time I look for install media or exe for any applications I know I will want on the new install. Make sure you have the installer as well as any install keys necessary. Put these in their own directory on some backup drive. Get the latest versions of stuff if necessary, the latest Firefox/Chrome/Opera install, any drivers you might need (though with Win7 this is largely unnecessary except for video drivers), etc. Having these prepped ahead of time means less searching for junk later. Again gives you a time to think about 'yeah what applications do I really need? Do I need 10 different photo editors/viewers?' It'll also get you up and running much faster as you knock out each installer quickly.

If you have Steam do a backup of your games so you don't need to download all of them again

Also I agree with Mazor, I would highly recommend you go to Win7 if at all possible. It's a huge improvement over Vista and is well worth the upgrade if you're going away from XP. An upgrade from XP to Win7 is not possible and requires a clean install.

 

[camochase]

thanks but the reason why i am goin to vista is because i cant afford windows 7 at the moment so im just upgrading to vista for now

 

[doyama]

thanks but the reason why i am goin to vista is because i cant afford windows 7 at the moment so im just upgrading to vista for now

To be honest you'll probably be spending the exact same. You can pretty much get Windows 7 Home Premium which is pretty cheap and get all the actual useful functionality that a user would need. Where as in Vista you pretty much have to get the Ultimate version since all the others are really crippled by comparison.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_7_editions

For 99% of home users they don't need anything in the Professional/Ultimate stream of Windows 7.

If cost is a really huge issue you can get the student windows 7 pro upgrade for $30. On XP it does a clean install anyways, so you're not really losing anything. The "Upgrade" version of Windows 7 does work on XP, despite the fact that it does a clean install.

http://www.microsoftstore.com/store/msstor...200/flyout.true

If you need to do a clean install in the future there are ways to 'trick' the upgrade install to do a fresh install

 

[EJames2100]

This might help if you have big enough storage.

http://www.blogsdna.com/3217/step-by-step-...o-windows-7.htm

 

[Zetta_x]

I'm going to vouch for the others who say to save up for 7. Home version of vista is pretty much a downgrade.

Also, if you bought a computer with XP, you better make sure it can handle an upgrade.