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Author Topic: Ok so if I upgrade windows?  (Read 538 times)

Offline DREDIOCK

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Ok so if I upgrade windows?
« on: July 26, 2015, 04:09:47 PM »
To say Windows 7 which seems to be the version with the most public positive support.

I have my current hard drive partitioned to C:.D:, and E:,

Can I just format C and install the new windows version there and still be able to access the files on D and E?

 Yes I know I wont be able to run any programs installed on D and E. I'm talking about the files
Or do I eather have to get another hard drive and install windows there. Orrr do I have to save the files I want to keep elswhere, format the entire drive, re partition and start off fresh?
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Offline Chalenge

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Re: Ok so if I upgrade windows?
« Reply #1 on: July 26, 2015, 04:26:30 PM »
Safest bet, if your data is important to you, would be to multi-boot. So, a second hard drive with Windows 7 installed fresh is probably going to introduce the fewest headaches.

EDIT: Windows forums have the process already drawn out:

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/8057-dual-boot-installation-windows-7-xp.html
« Last Edit: July 26, 2015, 04:30:48 PM by Chalenge »
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Offline Dragon Tamer

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Re: Ok so if I upgrade windows?
« Reply #2 on: July 27, 2015, 09:22:57 AM »
Quote from: DREDIOCK on July 26, 2015, 04:09:47 PM
To say Windows 7 which seems to be the version with the most public positive support.

I have my current hard drive partitioned to C:.D:, and E:,

Can I just format C and install the new windows version there and still be able to access the files on D and E?

 Yes I know I wont be able to run any programs installed on D and E. I'm talking about the files
Or do I eather have to get another hard drive and install windows there. Orrr do I have to save the files I want to keep elswhere, format the entire drive, re partition and start off fresh?

You can run windows on a partitioned hard drive, but there are a few things to remember.

From my experience, if something goes wrong with one of the operating systems, it's going to be a pain to repair it (though my only experience with dual boot is windows XP/ 10).

You can still access all your files and programs, you will just need to reinstall the programs with a directory leading back to the original location. Most programs shouldn't overwrite the existing files as long as the directory matches.

Consider how much data you go through. I just put a new OS on this computer a few weeks ago and I've already used up over half of the 500GB hard drive.

I would do what challenge suggested and use two separate HDD. It will work in a similar way but will be easier to maintain if something goes wrong.
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Offline Bizman

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Re: Ok so if I upgrade windows?
« Reply #3 on: July 27, 2015, 09:40:16 AM »
Simple answers to your simple questions:

Yes, you can just format C: and install the new windows version there. And yes, you'll be able to access the files on D and E. And you're right about not being able to run programs installed with the old OS.

But: What if something goes wrong and you end up formatting the entire hard disk instead of just C:?

So yes, rather get another hard drive and install windows there. Unplug the old drive during the installation just in case. Re-plug it. You should be able to do the installing with the old drive connected, but you may end in the situation I'm in after following the instructions referred by Chalenge: The XP disk won't boot any more. I still can access all of the files in it, though, so nothing got lost.

Or you can save the files you want to keep elsewhere and start off fresh.

Depending on your budget, I'd suggest the last two alternatives. Dual boot would also work, but honestly you'd soon be using the new OS only. When I did that to a customer, there was some trick to be done in order to be able to save some settings, can't remember what it was any more...
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Offline DREDIOCK

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Re: Ok so if I upgrade windows?
« Reply #4 on: July 27, 2015, 08:22:38 PM »
Quote from: Bizman on July 27, 2015, 09:40:16 AM
Simple answers to your simple questions:

Yes, you can just format C: and install the new windows version there. And yes, you'll be able to access the files on D and E. And you're right about not being able to run programs installed with the old OS.

But: What if something goes wrong and you end up formatting the entire hard disk instead of just C:?

So yes, rather get another hard drive and install windows there. Unplug the old drive during the installation just in case. Re-plug it. You should be able to do the installing with the old drive connected, but you may end in the situation I'm in after following the instructions referred by Chalenge: The XP disk won't boot any more. I still can access all of the files in it, though, so nothing got lost.

Or you can save the files you want to keep elsewhere and start off fresh.

Depending on your budget, I'd suggest the last two alternatives. Dual boot would also work, but honestly you'd soon be using the new OS only. When I did that to a customer, there was some trick to be done in order to be able to save some settings, can't remember what it was any more...

All Im really interested in doing is being able to access some files. Mostly work related.

Worst comes to worse I'll just do what I did when I built this system and copy my desired files onto a flash drive and then just reformat and repartition this drive and simply move them over once Im all set up.
I was just hoping to be able to avoid all that
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Offline TequilaChaser

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Re: Ok so if I upgrade windows?
« Reply #5 on: July 27, 2015, 10:31:52 PM »
Just a reminder, to utilize a dual or multi boot OS computer properly, to be able to use each OS...the person must install/setup each OS from oldest to newest (is... WinXP 1st then next newest and so on)

If you try to make a multi boot system and try to add an older OS , it is doable, but can be extremely complicated

Hope this helps

TC
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Offline Chalenge

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Re: Ok so if I upgrade windows?
« Reply #6 on: July 27, 2015, 11:05:25 PM »
It's about time I did a fresh install too. Well, maybe Windows 10 will take care of that for me.
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Offline GSakis

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Re: Ok so if I upgrade windows?
« Reply #7 on: July 28, 2015, 02:45:07 AM »
Quote from: Chalenge on July 27, 2015, 11:05:25 PM
It's about time I did a fresh install too. Well, maybe Windows 10 will take care of that for me.

You'll have to buy a copy then. The upgrade licenses no longer allow a clean install. Only upgrade.
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