32 bit Vista to 32 bit Win7, Clean or dirty?

[returnofsid]

Hi all,
Glad I found you!! Now I'm hoping for some quick advice. I currently am running 2 computers, a desktop and laptop, both with 32 bit Vista. I purchased Win7 Family Pk today and am preparing to install. However, I've a couple questions. I wanna "Wipe the slate clean." With my kids on my systems all the time, I'm sure I've got some bugs somewhere...lol, even with all the security I run. So, I am wanting to do an install that will wipe the hard drive clean. I guess Win7 refers to this as a "custom install," though I've always referred to it as a "clean install." I plan to back up everything I want to save onto an external hard drive.
I'm wanting to make sure I'm doing it correctly and am a little confused about how to go about partitioning the hard drive. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!!!

 

[Brink]

Hello Sid, and welcome to Seven Forums.

Depending on what type (Full or Upgrade) od Windows 7 you have, these should help. You would just format the drive during the installation of Windows 7 at boot.

Full:
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/1649-clean-install-windows-7-a.html

Upgrade:
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/31402-clean-install-upgrade-windows-7-version.html

Hope this helps,
Shawn

 

[returnofsid]

ok, my version is a family pk of Win7 upgrade, designed for Vista. My desktop is an EMachine, laptop is an HP Pavillion, both pre-installed with Vista. After upgrading to Win7, in the future, if I want to do another "clean install," will I have to first re-install Vista? Or will option 3 allow me to do a future clean install of just Win 7?

 

[Brink]

You should be able to do a clean install directly from your Upgrade Windows 7.

 

[returnofsid]

Okay, I just need to make sure I've got this right, before diving in. So, I'm in the process of backing up anything important, to an external HD. Then I'll start the clean install of Win7.

You're saying that, no matter which of the 3 options I go with, in the future, if I decide to do another clean install of Win7, I shouldn't need to re-install Vista first? I only ask because I typically do a clean install about once a year, just to get rid of all the garbage my kids tend to add...lol.

Thanks for all the great help and advice. Your tutorial was very detailed and easily understood!!

 

[Brink]

You most welcome Sid.

Correct. If it's a retail copy, you will be able to do a clean install from your Upgrade Windows 7 without having to install Vista first.

 

[returnofsid]

Awesome!!! Thanks so much!! I'll report back when done, or if I have any complications!!

 

[returnofsid]

Forgot to mention one concern I have. I purchase this Family Pk, used. It contains 2 disks, 32 and 64 bit upgrades. I'm really hoping that the fact of it being a used product doesn't cause any issues. I do have the original packaging and original disks, along with activation codes. I guess I should have asked questions on here about this concern BEFORE making the purchase...lol.

 

[Brink]

If you have any problems with doing the normal online activation since it had been installed on another computer prior, then you should just be able to do a phone activation instead.

 

[returnofsid]

Ummm, wow, that was QUICK and EASY!! I booted from DVD and chose custom install, formatted HD Partition and a few minutes later, was done!! Activation is complete and everything. Now comes the long process of re-installing all of my backed up items...lol. Thank you so much!!

Sooo, now, how do I go about optimizing Win7 for the best and most secure performance?

 

[Brink]

They did a pretty good job of having Windows 7 optimized out of the box, but these can help further improve the performance.

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/11728-speed-up-performance-windows-7-a.html

For security, I like MSE and Avast Free Antivirus.

 

[returnofsid]

So now I have another couple of questions, not related to the upgrade. In the past, I've kept all of my pictures, 75 Gb and growing, and all of my music, aproximately 7Gb, on my desktop's 160 Gb HD. I have an external 300 Gb HD that I backed everything up to. I created a "Master Picture" and "Master Music" folder on the external HD. I'm wondering about keeping my pictures and music on the external HD and directing Photoshop Elements and WM Player to those "Master" folders. This would free up my desktop's HD space, which I would think would allow my desktop to run faster. The only time the desktop would have to access the external HD is when I'm working with pictures or playing music.

Any thoughts? Pros/Cons? Suggestions?

 

[zigzag3143]

So now I have another couple of questions, not related to the upgrade. In the past, I've kept all of my pictures, 75 Gb and growing, and all of my music, aproximately 7Gb, on my desktop's 160 Gb HD. I have an external 300 Gb HD that I backed everything up to. I created a "Master Picture" and "Master Music" folder on the external HD. I'm wondering about keeping my pictures and music on the external HD and directing Photoshop Elements and WM Player to those "Master" folders. This would free up my desktop's HD space, which I would think would allow my desktop to run faster. The only time the desktop would have to access the external HD is when I'm working with pictures or playing music.

Any thoughts? Pros/Cons? Suggestions?

Its aoways a good idea to have your data on a different drive just in case. Many factors come into play. Which HD is the faster? Is the external USB 2.0?

Having more space on the OS HD wont make you faster, but win 7 does grow pretty quickly. My win 7 ultimate 32bit has never needed to be wiped and re-installed and I install tons of apps. Its currently clocked in at about 30 gigs.

Ken

 

[returnofsid]

Hmmm, I have no idea which HD is faster...lol. Any tips on figuring that out? The external HD is USB 2.0 AND I have a firewire that I could use, but am currently just using a USB cable. I do also back up all of my photos to my Flickr Pro acct. Losing the music wouldn't bother me any, but I keep backups of ALL of my photos. I just figured that the desktop would run better without the extra 80some gigs of storage being filled up.

 

[zigzag3143]

Hmmm, I have no idea which HD is faster...lol. Any tips on figuring that out? The external HD is USB 2.0 AND I have a firewire that I could use, but am currently just using a USB cable. I do also back up all of my photos to my Flickr Pro acct. Losing the music wouldn't bother me any, but I keep backups of ALL of my photos. I just figured that the desktop would run better without the extra 80some gigs of storage being filled up.

DO you have a shortcut to the internal HD on the desktop? I nust be missing something here. do you have a folder on your desktop that is 80+ gigs?

 

[returnofsid]

DO you have a shortcut to the internal HD on the desktop? I nust be missing something here. do you have a folder on your desktop that is 80+ gigs?

No, when I said "desktop," I meant desktop computer internal HD, as apposed to external HD. Should have made that more clear.

Basically, instead of putting all of my music and pictures on my internal HD, I've left them on my external HD, which is connected to my computer, through USB 2.0. When Adobe Photoshop needs to access pictures, it accesses them from the external HD. Same thing happens when my music is accessed.