Okay to Install Windows 8 on HP Laptop w/o Removing Win 7 Partition?

neanders2 · 12 Jul 2014

Hello all, my first post, thanks for reading.

I have a new HP laptop, ProBook 450 G1. It seems like a solid laptop. I bought it from Tiger Direct and it came with Win 8 Pro, so I can load that if I want to. In looking at the directions, it says to delete "ALL" partitions prior to upgrading to Win 8. That would mean deleting the Win 7 Pro factory image...but why would I do that? What if I have serious problems with Win 8? What if I want to sell this computer down the road? Seems like I could load Win 8, but keep the factory image of Win 7 in case I want to later restore the computer to its factory state.

Thoughts or advice?

A side question...what's the advantage of going to Win 8 / 8.1 Pro, if any? I hear it's faster, restarts and shuts down faster, has a faster overall UI, etc. I've used Win 8 some...it's okay, but seems more geared towards having fun rather than getting work done, and this is primarily a work laptop.

ignatzatsonic · 12 Jul 2014

Win 8 versus Win 7 is personal preference. I wouldn't get wound up in their differences. Use the one you can use most efficiently and are most familiar with.

I gather the laptop now has Win 7. Is there any over-riding reason why you would need to put 8 on it at all if satisfied with 7? You can dual boot and have both if you need both, but it's a complication.

You should be able to make a set of "recovery disks" via software menus that would replicate what that recovery partition would do. Assuming it works, you could then delete that partition after the disks were made and later use the disks to restore to factory state if needed.

I'd think you could install 8 and tell the installer to install to the partition where 7 now is, without deleting all partitions, leaving that recovery partition intact. May work fine, but I'm not sure if that recovery partition would then still be usable to return you to 7.

Or I'd guess you could use a program like Macrium to make an image file of your current partitions and store them on some external drive. Then install 8, deleting all partitions. If you then later want to go back to 7, you'd restore those partitions you made with Macrium.

But again--why do any of that if you like 7? If you want to sell the laptop, the Win 8 disk you have would certainly be an attraction to a buyer if they want to use 8 rather than 7.

whs · 12 Jul 2014

The easiest would be to install Windows 8 with VMware Player. That does not disrupt anything because the virtual system is only a folder in Documents - easy to backup, copy and delete.

I run my 8.1 like that since day one of 8. Runs beautifully and I cannot tell the difference versus running in native mode. I copied mine to an external SSD which I attach via eSata or USB3 to several of my PCs. That way I have to maintain only 1 copy. A really portable system.

Here is how:

VMware Player - Install Windows 8

neanders2 · 12 Jul 2014

Thanks both for your replies. I wouldn't say there is an over-riding reason to switch to Windows 8, other than I hear it has some built-in security enhancements, and that it's faster. I was just wondering what would happen--if it'd be a problem--to install Windows 8 yet leave the Windows 7 factory partition in place. I don't see why this would be a problem, and my guess is that the factory partition would still work should I ever want to fully restore the PC.

I've heard many say they always do a fresh "vanilla" install of Windows after they purchase a new PC. Well, that's not me, I don't tend to go that far. But I do, probably once a year, tend to "nuke" my PC. I always find it runs faster and it clears out the junk.

whs · 13 Jul 2014

If you just want to make sure that you can rebuild your system the way it is today, I would recommend you make an image of the C partition and the system partition. There is no need to start from scratch with the recovery partition.

Imaging with free Macrium