[H]Upgrading to Win7

decafchicken

United States20132 Posts

August 27 2009 18:27 GMT

So i just dl'd my copy of windows 7 from my school. I got the 32bit version since i have 2gig ram, but if i get 4 gigs of ram in the future will it be easy for me to switch from the 32 bit to the 64 bit?

I'm pretty sure i'm going to have to back all my stuff up onto an external HD cuz i'm upgrading from winxp and i'll have to do a clean install. Or should i dual boot win7?

Oh and wtf do i do with the .iso? Burn it to a DVD with a program? (daemon tools, nero, etc? any free ones?)

niteReloaded

Croatia5282 Posts

August 27 2009 18:30 GMT

dude you can burn iso with million different programs. I wouldn't be suprised you could do it using minesweeper.

Also, I'm not a big fan of dual boots.
Unless you have a good reason to do it, just go the normal way: backup data to external medium, format everything and then go.

I like the feeling of all garbage getting deleted and having a young and fresh computer again.

decafchicken

United States20132 Posts

August 27 2009 18:36 GMT

When i back up all my shit it wont back up my programs will it? I'll have to reinstall sc/aim/browsers/etc?

epicdoom

United States489 Posts

August 27 2009 18:39 GMT

I dunno if it would be easy, x64 is like a whole new OS. And also depends on ur processor, dual core, single core, quad core.

Like night said there's no reason to dual boot xp. Just clean install and yeah

On August 28 2009 03:30 niteReloaded wrote:
I like the feeling of all garbage getting deleted and having a young and fresh computer again.

With the .iso file, a good free program to use is Active ISO burne r[http://download.cnet.com/Active-ISO-Burner/3000-2646_4-10602452.html]. Burn it to a DVD and then shutdown computer, reset, and you're good to go!

epicdoom

United States489 Posts

August 27 2009 18:39 GMT

On August 28 2009 03:36 decafchicken wrote:
When i back up all my shit it wont back up my programs will it? I'll have to reinstall sc/aim/browsers/etc?

Yes

Grobyc

Canada18410 Posts

August 27 2009 18:45 GMT

I had to downgrade from the Windows 7 Beta back to Windows Vista a couple weeks ago, so I'll tell you what happened for me.

I don't actually know anything about switching from the 32-bit to the 64-bit or vice versa, but I would imagine it's just like installing a whole new OS. In other words, I think you'd have to go through the whole install process all over again.

I thought I had to backup all my stuff when I reinstalled Vista(I got the .iso off a torrent, it wasn't original) so I did, but it turns out afterwards I could still access all the files I had with Windows 7 even though I was only running Vista. Under my C drive there was a folder or something that had EVERYTHING I had before reformatting. I didn't even have to transfer stuff through an external harddrive. I don't know if this will happen for you, but I'm just saying my experience in it.

Using the .iso I torrented, I just mounted it as a CD image and installed it while running Windows 7. I didn't even have to burn it to a CD and run it that way(although I'm sure I could have). Once again, I don't know if it is possible for you to do this, but it worked for me.

tec27

United States3702 Posts

August 27 2009 18:48 GMT

Why don't you just install the 64-bit version now and save yourself the hassle of reinstalling if/when you get more ram?

udgnim

United States8024 Posts

August 27 2009 19:03 GMT

DL and install the 64 bit version

not sure why you think 2 GB RAM and 64 bit OS don't mix

decafchicken

United States20132 Posts

August 27 2009 19:58 GMT

lol okay, dling the 64 bit version now then ^_^

And grobyc, windows vista to win 7 is real ez upgrade, but xp to 7 is a clean install

mahnini

United States6862 Posts

August 27 2009 20:02 GMT

#10

use imgburn. good, light program.

coltrane

Chile988 Posts

August 27 2009 20:03 GMT

#11

You can backup your SC instalation, usually is the same with some old games, but newer programs are registry dependant, so you will need to install every single program again.

ramen247

United States1256 Posts

August 27 2009 22:32 GMT

#12

Please don't use 64 bit. The only advantage is extra Ram, but you can suffer so much for that.

64 bit's compatibility is not as wide spread as 32 bit. you may run into more compat. issues with it than with 32.