Upgrading from Win Vista to Win 7

[Evil_T0NY {CLR}]

My parents are wanting to upgrade from Win vista to 7, but apparently a tech guy is suppose to do it, but it'll involve probably erasing pictures and other data to do so.

But isn't there away to just upgrade to the OS without having to back up wanted data, and just upgrade AROUND everything?

Thanks

ET

[Duke{CLR}]

I don't think so, even if it were possible then a backup should be done in case anything goes wrong. Save everything that has value and start from scratch.

[Evil_T0NY {CLR}]

I don't think so, even if it were possible then a backup should be done in case anything goes wrong. Save everything that has value and start from scratch.

Also, when I do this...the back up, and when its upgraded to Win 7, when I bring back the data that's back up, will there be any compatiblity issues with opening up the saved data in the NEW OS?

Will be saving my data to an External Seagate HD

[mapes]

I don't think so, even if it were possible then a backup should be done in case anything goes wrong. Save everything that has value and start from scratch.

Actually there is. Buy another drive. Install it. Install Win 7. Re install the old drive and copy the data off. The old drive acts as a backup

[Duke{CLR}]

A second drive would definitely be a nice option. That other drive is probably old anyway so this would be an excellent time to add a new one. It's just too bad that HDD prices are high theses days.

[Evil_T0NY {CLR}]

A second drive would definitely be a nice option. That other drive is probably old anyway so this would be an excellent time to add a new one. It's just too bad that HDD prices are high theses days.

I hear this is because of the Flood in Taiwan, correct? Because this is a setback in manufacturing electronics.

[Evil_T0NY {CLR}]

Actually there is. Buy another drive. Install it. Install Win 7. Re install the old drive and copy the data off. The old drive acts as a backup

FYI, this is a laptop.

[Dead...Again]

The easiest thing is to use Windows Easy Transfer.
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/w...-easy-transfer
You install an app on the system, then it will copy all user data, documents, pictures, etc. to the external drive. After the Win 7 install, run Windows Easy Transfer and it will restore the user info.

[DougBob]

Tony, definetely backup the data and do a fresh install. If you can get the vista migrate off to work, go for it.

Remind them as a good rule of thumb never keep any data that is needed solely on the drive. If they don't have one, get them an external 3TB drive for them to periodically copy their data off. This is a lot easier if all their pictures, document, etc is in sub-directories under ONE directory.

Once they get Win 7 installed they can use the backup and restore to the external drive to create a system image and schedule it to routinely backup deltas. daily or weekly. A minimum backup is a monthly image and weekly deltas.

[DougBob]

I forgot to mention what I do. I bought 3 copies of Acronis for $75 bucks so I have enough license and use it to image all the wifeys and I's PCs.

[mapes]

FYI, this is a laptop.

There are ways around that too.