Windows 7 Upgrade questions

[cdanik]

I am currently running windows vista, and I just bought a copy of windows 7. I have a few questions.

1) I am currently running on two partitions, one for my OS and one for documents. When I upgrade, I plan on installing on my OS partition. All of my precious and very important documents, pictures, video, etc. that I would be devastated to loose is on my D drive; when I upgrade, will all of this remain intact, so that when I upgrade, I can just open the drive and all my documents will still be there? I don't want to reformat and loose all of my documents.

2) I am running XP on another system in my house, and I want to upgrade that at some point. The problem with that system is that i made the OS partition only 30 gigs. Is there any way to make that partition bigger by taking some of the space from the other partition, without loosing any files?

 

[Bodaggit23]

1) when I upgrade, will all of this remain intact

Yes, as long as you make sure to install over your current OS.
Make note of the exact size of the drives and free space on each
before installing. That way you'll know for sure which to install to.

2) Is there any way to make that partition bigger by taking some of the space from the other partition, without loosing any files?

Yes. Download and burn Ubuntu or GParted Live to a disc. Boot from the live disc and it will let you resize your partition(s) any way you like.

CAUTION: It will let you completely delete any or every partition you have on your hard drive, so be careful!

 

[cdanik]

CAUTION: It will let you completely delete any or every partition you have on your hard drive, so be careful!

I was looking for something where I wouldn't loose my partitions. If I have to loose my partitions, then I would make the change during my windows 7 installation.

Is there any software out there that you can modify partitions, and not loose the data on them? I don't even know if this is possible because of the way NTFS scatters things on the drive.

 

[Bodaggit23]

You misunderstand what I said.

GParted Live is a very powerful tool, and will keep your partition in tact.

Just be careful, as you could wipe the whole drive, if you choose to.

You would have to tell it to do it. Know what I mean?

Just be careful.

 

[bomberboysk]

You misunderstand what I said.

GParted Live is a very powerful tool, and will keep your partition in tact.

Just be careful, as you could wipe the whole drive, if you choose to.

You would have to tell it to do it. Know what I mean?

Just be careful.

Gparted also can damage windows installs too, because even defragmenters cant move alot of system files that reside near the end of partitions.

 

[Bodaggit23]

Gparted also can damage windows installs too, because even defragmenters cant move alot of system files that reside near the end of partitions.

Thanks for the useful suggestion.

I've never had an issue using GParted Live, except that one time I deleted my partition by accident.

 

[Hsv_Man]

To answer your first question yes you can "upgrade" your windows vista installation on your OS partitioned drive and keep your files on the other partition that is guarranteed. On your second question "resizing a partition" i use a program for windows Partition Magic it is very easy to use there may be a trial out there so have a look good luck on finding what you need.

 

[DaveSi677]

I also vouche for Partition Magic! It is so easy to use and never have I experienced any problems with it!

 

[smoothforprez]

2) I am running XP on another system in my house, and I want to upgrade that at some point. The problem with that system is that i made the OS partition only 30 gigs. Is there any way to make that partition bigger by taking some of the space from the other partition, without loosing any files?

Someone correct me if i'm wrong but i thought that you couldn't do an upgrade from xp to 7 without having to wipe all your drives and lose all your data. Thats the only reason i haven't upgraded my other computer that's running xp.

 

[linkin]

Stick in the dvd in windows xp and see if you can upgrade. best way to find out

 

[russb]

Cant you back all your precious and very important documents, pictures, video, etc. that you would be devastated to loose on your D drive.

 

[Aastii]

Stick in the dvd in windows xp and see if you can upgrade. best way to find out

You can't. The reason that you can upgrade from vista>7 is because 7 is a refined version of Vista, XP is a completely different OS.

MS have said that rather than making completely new systems, like XP to Vista, they plan on improving their current OS to fix any problems they find and streamline it, so basically 7 is a reskinned, slightly reprogrammed Vista, wher as XP is a completely different piece of software altogether

Cant you back all your precious and very important documents, pictures, video, etc. that you would be devastated to loose on your D drive.

+1, better to be safe than sorry. It is all well and good knowing that it shouldn't affect the partition, but knowing it has and you have no backup, that isn't worth saving the few dollars/pounds/euro (whatever your currency) it would have cost you for a pack of DVDs or an external hard drive.

 

[Bodaggit23]

Someone correct me if i'm wrong but i thought that you couldn't do an upgrade from xp to 7 without having to wipe all your drives and lose all your data. Thats the only reason i haven't upgraded my other computer that's running xp.

It doesn't wipe all your drives, only the partition you're installing to.

If you back up your data to a separate partition, that data will be preserved.

You can upgrade from XP, but it will completely overwrite the existing OS.

 

[russb]

As this is a windows 7 questions thread i thought i would be cheeky and ask if you can increase your ram as i was told on vista you could only have 4gb,cheers.

 

[Matthew1990]

Nope, Any 32bit OS can only use about 3.2GB
However, 64Bit OS will support up to about 128GB, is it?
Make sure your CPU is 64Bit Capable, any Dual-Core or Core2Duo are.

 

[russb]

What are the benefits of 64bit compared with 32bits,will playing games be better,cheers.Sorry if i have hijacked the post but it did say windows 7 questions.

 

[Matthew1990]

Some applications run faster, not sure about the games. I heard 64Bit is good for heavy computing, 3d and stuff. I am running 64 and it's allright. Older applications may not be supported.