Clean Install while keeping data and apps?

OK - I'm not overly Techie I'm afraid. Just considering the upgrade from Euro version of Vista to W7 E. This means a clean install, I'm happy with the whole partitioning thing, but how do I get all my old data and apps onto W7 once it's up and running? I've got many many gig of data and some excellent apps that I need working without a whole lot of grief. How does this happen? If this is a matter of an entire manual re-load of all this data etc, I'm simply not going to do the upgrade. Can anyone help?

Lexlacey said:

OK - I'm not overly Techie I'm afraid. Just considering the upgrade from Euro version of Vista to W7 E. This means a clean install, I'm happy with the whole partitioning thing, but how do I get all my old data and apps onto W7 once it's up and running? I've got many many gig of data and some excellent apps that I need working without a whole lot of grief. How does this happen? If this is a matter of an entire manual re-load of all this data etc, I'm simply not going to do the upgrade. Can anyone help?

Hi and welcome to SF

Im confused you say you want to buy the upgrade edition and say you cant use it to do an upgrade. I think you want to do an upgrade and thats what the upgrade version is for. Am i missing something?

Ken

Hey Ken - What I mean here is that I'm looking at buying the full version for it's release in Oct, but as I'm in Europe and running Vista, I have to do a full clean install mainly due to the joys of EC rulings!

So I just want to know if there's a relatively pain free and easy way to clean install without killing off all my data or apps, or at least what the least painful way would be. I was considering setting up a dual boot, but again I@m not sure how to pull teh data and apps across to work on the new OS after the install... or even if this happens automatically. Hope that clarifies.

Lexlacey said:

Hey Ken - What I mean here is that I'm looking at buying the full version for it's release in Oct, but as I'm in Europe and running Vista, I have to do a full clean install mainly due to the joys of EC rulings!

So I just want to know if there's a relatively pain free and easy way to clean install without killing off all my data or apps, or at least what the least painful way would be. I was considering setting up a dual boot, but again I@m not sure how to pull teh data and apps across to work on the new OS after the install... or even if this happens automatically. Hope that clarifies.

Ok full version Im not really familiar with EU win 7 but. A clean install is a PITA, I hate them, but they are strongly prefered. there is a method (search sevenforums) that will let you upgrade. Your choice. Me Im kinda the clean install kind.

Hope this helps

Ken

The data will be easy to retrieve as long as you do not format the hard drive. You can always buy a backup drive and back everything up before reinstalling. Or, like you said, you could dual boot. However, there are very few applications that can be easily transferred by any means that I have heard of.

Every time I clean install, I transfer all my files over the network to my server computer, then I write down all the applications I have installed and I reinstall them once I load the new OS. Also, as long as you have the product keys for your applications, even if you have misplaced the cds you can just download the programs off of some torrent site and use your keys.

I also vote for the clean install.

Clean install allows you to get clutter that builds up in places like the registry and such out, completely.. My friend's netbook was running slow so I did a clean install of XP on there for her, and its infinitely faster.

I don't recommend running the upgrade mode as that can cause problems further down the road. (Weird glitches, hang ups, restarts, etc.)

What I do is partition my internal hdd with a 30 gb partition for WoW, a 200 gb partition for movies/music/pictures/documents, and a 30 gb partition for my W7 OS...It works really easily because I take about 2 hrs to reinstall all my apps and reconfigure settings, then I just have to point my libraries at the locations on the other drives.

Sorry for my rant, hope its helpful.

Thanks all - you've definitely clarified the PITA job ahead. At least I've got until end of Oct to get it all sorted!

as for partitioning... you may be able to use some hard drive tools to move all the data to one end of the drive and then add a partition. This could help if you don't have an extra drive or a bunch of dvd's.

Oh, come on... clean installs are fun. I did one yesterday for 7600. It's great having a really fast, clutter free computer with only the applications that you actually need :)