Windows 7 upgrade question

[Max]

Currently have Vista Home Premium on a new laptop that's qualified for Win7 Home Premium. At which point I receive my upgrade software will it install a clean version of Win7 and wipe the HD of all my data files? Queries I've done via Google give conflicting answers...some say Win7 only upgrades the OS and preserves current data; others say it will wipe all data.

Anyone here know for sure?

Thanks!

[BaldEagl]

It can do either.  You'll want to select an in-place install preserving your applications and data.

I just helped my brother upgrade his Toshiba laptop from Vista to Windows 7.  It did an in-place install retaining his applications and data but several (I mean 6-12) of the pre-installed Toshiba drivers and applications had to be uninstalled prior to the update, then new versions re-installed afterward.  I was on the phone with him for probably 5 hours over a 2-3 day span as he's a computer newbie.

I suggest you go to your laptop manufacturer's web-site, help and support area, and download their Windows 7 upgrade instructions for your specific model.

[MrRiplEy[H]]

I have read several accounts and have personal experience: Do not upgrade Vista to windows 7. Choose advanced install option and install without upgrade.

It will lead to all sorts of problems like bad performance. My wife's laptop was even slower than with Vista after installation untill I installed W7 fresh again.

It's a hassle of course to reinstall programs etc. but it's worth the trouble.

[BaldEagl]

I have read several accounts and have personal experience: Do not upgrade Vista to windows 7. Choose advanced install option and install without upgrade.

It will lead to all sorts of problems like bad performance. My wife's laptop was even slower than with Vista after installation untill I installed W7 fresh again.

It's a hassle of course to reinstall programs etc. but it's worth the trouble.

Hmm.  My brother says his computer is running faster and smoother than it ever did with Vista.  I guess that just shows that not all systems are equal.  There was a bug with a driver that was of little consequence.  I just had him uninstall it for now and told him to check back in a month or two for an updated driver.  I'm sure there's still some driver bugs being worked out for Win 7.

Given that I'd probably still try the in-place install first.  If the system is slow afterward then you can always go the fresh install route.

Oh.  I forgot to mention it in my first post but I'd also go run the Windows 7 upgrade advisor at the MS web-site as it may pick up a few more non laptop specific items that will need to be uninstalled prior to the upgrade.  You can cross reference that list against the laptop manufacturers instructions to get a clean prep for the upgrade.

[TilDeath]

Be warned with Windows 7 and some software conflicts (even using compatibility mode).

[Max]

Be warned with Windows 7 and some software conflicts (even using compatibility mode).

Versus Vista?

[Irwink!]

I have read several accounts and have personal experience: Do not upgrade Vista to windows 7. Choose advanced install option and install without upgrade.

It will lead to all sorts of problems like bad performance. My wife's laptop was even slower than with Vista after installation untill I installed W7 fresh again.

It's a hassle of course to reinstall programs etc. but it's worth the trouble.

Based on experience with previous versions of Windows I generally agree. However, with nothing to lose, I decided to experiment with in-place upgrades on two machines - an HP dv6000 series laptop running Vista Home Premium and a homebuilt desktop (MSI P7N, E8500, GTX260) running Vista Business. Both upgrades went off without a hitch. All hardware was properly detected and drivers installed. Performance improvement was noticeable, most especially on the laptop. On the desktop machine I can run Crysis at max with all default processes running. On either machine all I had to uninstall was ESET av software and reinstall after upgrade. I may have been able to just disable it but uninstalling/reinstalling is quick so that's the way I went.

I can't say that everyone will have the same results. In my own case I figured the worst that could happen was a need to do a clean reinstall on one or both of the machines. That hasn't been the case though.

[BaldEagl]

That was another thing I forgot.  You're AV software suite needs to be uninstalled and reinstalled after the update and don't forget to do a disc clean-up and defrag afterwards.

[MrRiplEy[H]]

Based on experience with previous versions of Windows I generally agree. However, with nothing to lose, I decided to experiment with in-place upgrades on two machines - an HP dv6000 series laptop running Vista Home Premium and a homebuilt desktop (MSI P7N, E8500, GTX260) running Vista Business. Both upgrades went off without a hitch. All hardware was properly detected and drivers installed. Performance improvement was noticeable, most especially on the laptop. On the desktop machine I can run Crysis at max with all default processes running. On either machine all I had to uninstall was ESET av software and reinstall after upgrade. I may have been able to just disable it but uninstalling/reinstalling is quick so that's the way I went.

I can't say that everyone will have the same results. In my own case I figured the worst that could happen was a need to do a clean reinstall on one or both of the machines. That hasn't been the case though.

Some installs may work. Then again you cant know if your current install runs still as fast as a clean install would have

[Irwink!]

Some installs may work. Then again you cant know if your current install runs still as fast as a clean install would have

I gotcha. But in my limited case in-place upgrades worked very well. I know that not everyone will have the same experience. In my case, without going back and doing a clean reinstall to compare I'll never know for sure if a clean install vs. upgrade in-place would have worked better and yielded beter performance. All I know at this point is that my own upgrrades worked very well. At this point I see no reason in going back to a clean install to see what, if any difference ther might be.

I have done a clean install on an XP partiton on a different machine. In every case performance is comparable whether the upgrade was in-place or clean. Again, this is only my experience.

[Max]

Thanks for all the info folks.

To be on the safe side of heaven, I'm planning to do a clean installation of Win7.

A follow up question:
Am I good to go by hacking up my C drive onto an external HD and recopying that back to the internal HD after my clean install of Win7?
Or, do I need to actually re-install all of my application software?

Thanks!

[cattb]

anytime peforming a clean install,reinstalling your application software is needed.
(once new install is done)
A suggestion on mine is that you use a mirror image software and back up your OS. In case of future HD failure, malware, etc, this will save you your time from another install. Should really have 2 HDs for this.
Acronis I understand is real good software, I use norton ghost, I have been using this for many years now.It has saved me many times countless hours of a reinstall.
Personaly I hate reinstalling

[Ghastly]

I might suggest Clonezilla (Open Source) - I find it to be every bit as good as Ghost for mirroring partitions/drives.   

<S>

[BaldEagl]

You have to reinstall everything to get the registry entries in place unless you have some stand-alone apps that don't actually "install".  Those you can just drag back over.