Upgrading to Windows 7 question..

[Spider-Man]

I've still been running XP now on my PC but thinking about upgrading to Windows 7. I'm thinking about doing a clean install if I decide to ugrade. If I do this clean install will it reformat my harddrive and I lose everything? This is the main reason why I still haven't upgraded to Windows 7 yet.

Or do I need to get the XP upgrade version of Windows 7?

[anon]

If I do this clean install will it reformat my harddrive and I lose everything?

No, the Windows 98 and fdisk days are long gone. Installing Windows won't destroy anything unless you tell it to.

The way I use to keep my files in this situation is copying all of them to a new folder in the partition, deleting everything else, and telling setup to install there. There may be a better one, but that works.

[sirftw]

yeah you should be fine unless you wipe your hard drive during the installation process

[Artemis]

I've still been running XP now on my PC but thinking about upgrading to Windows 7. I'm thinking about doing a clean install if I decide to ugrade. If I do this clean install will it reformat my harddrive and I lose everything? This is the main reason why I still haven't upgraded to Windows 7 yet.

Or do I need to get the XP upgrade version of Windows 7?

Although you can purchase the upgrade version of Windows 7 if you have an existing Windows XP licence, when you run the installation from any disc (upgrade or full) the installation guide will inform you that you have to do a clean installation anyway. This is because XP is a very different operating system to 7, you can upgrade a Vista installation, since the two O/Ses are similar but not XP.
It is important that you back up all the user data that you wish to keep before the upgrade/new installation since your user files are going to be stored in a different location and things like your favorites if you use IE will be lost during the install too.
Since this will be a clean installation be aware that not only will you have to reinstall the OS, but also your applications as well.

[Spider-Man]

I've still been running XP now on my PC but thinking about upgrading to Windows 7. I'm thinking about doing a clean install if I decide to ugrade. If I do this clean install will it reformat my harddrive and I lose everything? This is the main reason why I still haven't upgraded to Windows 7 yet.

Or do I need to get the XP upgrade version of Windows 7?

Although you can purchase the upgrade version of Windows 7 if you have an existing Windows XP licence, when you run the installation from any disc (upgrade or full) the installation guide will inform you that you have to do a clean installation anyway. This is because XP is a very different operating system to 7, you can upgrade a Vista installation, since the two O/Ses are similar but not XP.
It is important that you back up all the user data that you wish to keep before the upgrade/new installation since your user files are going to be stored in a different location and things like your favorites if you use IE will be lost during the install too.
Since this will be a clean installation be aware that not only will you have to reinstall the OS, but also your applications as well.

Applications I'm not worry about. But I don't want to lose all my favorites and my mailbox from Outlook Express that I use and addresses from various people. I want to be able to keep all my emails and stuff and mail accounts.

[anon]

Applications I'm not worry about. But I don't want to lose all my favorites

IE favorites are tiny .url files, you can copy all of them elsewhere and then move them back after the reinstall.


and my mailbox from Outlook Express that I use and addresses from various people. I want to be able to keep all my emails and stuff and mail accounts.

Accounts and e-mail messages can be exported. Windows 7 ditches Outlook Express in favor of Windows Mail, but you can still import your data back.

[Spider-Man]

I have to Hard drive on my PC. The local drive (C) which is the main one and a secondary drive (E) that I use to dump all my download and stuff instead of using an external hard drive. If I back up my local drive stuff and dump them into the secondary drive, would that work instead of backing them up on an external drive?

[anon]

If I back up my local drive stuff and dump them into the secondary drive, would that work instead of backing them up on an external drive?

Sure. Just tell the setup program to format, and install to, the C: drive. Your files on the E: one will be safe. Make sure you pick the right disk, as the letters won't be shown.