win 7 install question

[ozchips]

I am running xp pro right now , and am about to upgrade to win 7 ulimate . now the thing is i do not want to find all the shit i do not need any more and back up everything else .
What is the easiest way to go about updating to win7 but keep all files/settings from xp pro ?
should i use a vist upgrade disk and go to vista and then upgrade agins to win 7 ? if this is the only way will any version of vista be ok . or better still is there an easier foolproof way to dp it woithout losing data and settings ?

[ozchips]

oh yeah if I use the Windows Easy Transfer utility will that just do setting or can i have the option of all data ie everthing in my documents , I know that you cannot migrate 3rd party software so i will have to reinstall all that gear , like i say I am more interested in just my documents and all system setting like bookmarks , cookies , passwords , email settings , modem/network settings drivers etc , i do not mind installing third party stuff again , but I will be damned if i have to set up hardware all over again with the odd acception (i cannot for the life of me remeber my internet log in details and stuff lol)

[pieces]

I always buy another drive for a new install then I can still use the old o/S drive till I get the new drive and operating system the way I want .

Using this method you can always go to the old o/s and see what drivers and program versions are required .


Another trick is to point your documents and E-mails to another storage drive .
Saves trying to find them buried in the windows jungle.

[alishere]

I agree with Pieces, then when you add the new drive, partition it keeping about 30 gig for your operating system and software and save everything else, eg my docs, photos,email store folder etc on the other partition.

So when you have to reinstall windows again, (which you will) you lost little.

[ozchips]

got plenty of drive in the system and one of them started out with justt hat in mind , ie OS only , however of the past it got chocka full of stuff as well .

now if I do an upgrade to Vista and then an upgrade to Win7 ulimate straight away , will that work ? and will it achieve what i want ?

[mandc]

got plenty of drive in the system and one of them started out with justt hat in mind , ie OS only , however of the past it got chocka full of stuff as well .

now if I do an upgrade to Vista and then an upgrade to Win7 ulimate straight away , will that work ? and will it achieve what i want ?

It probably will but will be very messy and leave a lot of unwanted crap through your c drive
Most of the articles I have read tend to advise a clean install using windows easy transfer eg


As I tend to require a full re-install of XP about 3 times a year ( I install a LOT of dodgy stuff) I have pretty much got it down pat as to what to keep and where it is found
my documents
bookmarks
address book
emails
passwords
basic internet settings etc
copy of desktop
drivers
This also helped when I got a new lappy with windows 7. Only took a few hours until all was back to a familiar feel.

I know you don't have stuff like internet settings but it would be better in the long run to figure them out in case of a install problem or a future hard drive failure.
Good luck!

[ssrattus]

You need to upgrade to Vista and then to Win 7 to upgrade or clean install for Xp to Win 7. Also if you are going 32bit to 64bit a clean install is the only option.

I have heard bad things about the Upgrade....

Endless reboot with Vista to Win 7 upgrades.
Stuck at 62% for Vista to Win 7 upgrades.
Depending on what you have installed and your PC's performance it could take 20+ hours to upgrade.

So whatever you do BACKUP everything you need!

An alternative would be to perform a clean install in a new drive and use the Windows Easy Transfer tool to transfer user settings and files to the new operating system from the old drive.

[adams]

oh yeah if I use the Windows Easy Transfer utility will that just do setting or can i have the option of all data ie everthing in my documents , I know that you cannot migrate 3rd party software so i will have to reinstall all that gear , like i say I am more interested in just my documents and all system setting like bookmarks , cookies , passwords , email settings , modem/network settings drivers etc , i do not mind installing third party stuff again , but I will be damned if i have to set up hardware all over again with the odd acception (i cannot for the life of me remeber my internet log in details and stuff lol)

I used windows easy tranfer and it worked great for me. It will tranfer all documents and folders, e-mail account address book and folders, internet favourites. It will give you a report on the programs to reistall.
Drivers should update if everthing is conected and you are online when you do the upgrade. For some that havn't got win 7 drivers yet I found the xp driver worked anyhow.

[ozchips]

ok , just to get this right , i have my c: drive and I have my e: drive
now i can use win easy transfer to move my shite onto e: for the time being , then format and do a new installation of win7 ultimate onto c and then put the stuff from e: back to c: ??

this would mean I would need to install the easy transfer software to e: so I can access it after the format/installation of c:

is that correct ? i must be getting old , i used to just go and do it and figure out later lol

[adams]

It doesn't matter where you install easy transter, c is the default.
You save the old computer file to e drive or external hdd. After windows 7 install just open the saved file and the rest is will all come easy.
There is a how to in windows web site. Good idea to run the windows 7 upgrade advisor to see if your gear is compatable.

[ozchips]

ok am about to do it
I have installed windows easy transfer to my c: drive which has xp on it . I transferred everything i wanted on to my e: drive which is data and stuff .

so now when i install win7 it already has the easy transfer stufff on it ? so all i need to do is select the migrate setting or whatever it is and then choose my savedata.mig file on the e: drive and all should be sweet ???? is that correct ???

[forbirun]

yes that is it. Btw i also highly recommend not doing an upgrade from vista 2 win7 as another problem you will come across will be performance issues

[forbirun]

just a thought, before you run off and do all this ozchip. A lesson learn't many years ago, always give that second drive a name so when you go through with the install, when it asks you which drive you want to install your new windows on, You know which drive your looking for.

[ozchips]

cool will do

[adams]

ok am about to do it
I have installed windows easy transfer to my c: drive which has xp on it . I transferred everything i wanted on to my e: drive which is data and stuff .

so now when i install win7 it already has the easy transfer stufff on it ? so all i need to do is select the migrate setting or whatever it is and then choose my savedata.mig file on the e: drive and all should be sweet ???? is that correct ???

Once you have installed windows 7 all you have to do is open the file backed up on your e drive and it will run itself asking you a couple of questions. So you wont find easy tranfer in windows7 just open the file made by xp and let it run.

[ozchips]

ok still have not done it , ran out of time yesterday
adams , what software opens the .mig file , i clicked on it yesterday on the e: drive and it gave me the 'open with what software' window

[Mokilok]

a thing to be weary off when installing windows vista or 7 onto a second hard drive. and please correct me anyone if im wrong as im not entirely sure. but what seemed to happen with mine was that i had windows vista on hdd a setup as the primary drive in bios. then wanted windows 7 on a second drive later on. the drive windows 7 was put onto was NOT the primary hdd in bios. what this seemed to do was install the mbr onto the primary default hdd so when that hard drive eventually died of old age my mbr was gone and i had to perform a win 7 repair. perhaps im wrong but just be weary of bios settings is what im saying.

[forbirun]

Hey Mokilok. I would say thats a problem caused by you not setting the partition as active when you have switched ur hdd's from primary to secondary hdd in bios rather then being this case. Correct me if i'm wrong?

[adams]

ok still have not done it , ran out of time yesterday
adams , what software opens the .mig file , i clicked on it yesterday on the e: drive and it gave me the 'open with what software' window

I would think that you need to have windows 7 installed for it to run.

[ozchips]

thanks for all the advice everyone , I fianlly got around to doing it yesterday...and well I am still here .
just have to get it to work how I want it to now