Solved Plugging in an external drive to Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit?

[ombra2105]

Hi,

I'm looking to upgrade my Windows 7 OS from 32-bit to 64-bit. I have checked that my processor supports a 64-bit OS, which it does.

My question is this:

I have an external drive with about 1.6TB of purchased iTunes data currently plugged into my laptop running Windows 7 Ultimate 32-bit. After I finish upgrading to a 64-bit OS, when I plug this drive back in (or any USB drive for that matter), will it prompt a re-format before letting me use it in Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit?

Thanks,

Andrew

 

[zigzag3143]

Only the operating system is either 32bit or 64. The file system is NTFS and will be just fine when you have 64bit installed.

Just remember 64 bit uses a bit more resources, but then you get to use the remainder of RAM in your 4 gigs which you cant now.

 

[bobkn]

As ZigZag posted, there will be no change to the external HD needed.

One potential problem: because there is no in-place upgrade from 32 bit to 64, your OS drive will essentially be cleared.

I'm not an iTunes user. Where is the DRM information for purchased music stored? I have no idea, but it may not be in the same archive as the music files. Make sure to back that up, so that you can recover it when you re-install iTunes.

 

[Hanna 1]

Welcome to the forum Ombra
Beside those suggestions;
1-Try to connect your 1.6TB on one of your friends machine running the 64bit to see if it's working.
2-visit the manufacturer site of your External drive and see on their forum if there is a case like your's .
3-I think the 64bit will detect your 1.6 and auto download the needed drivers and updates.
Good luck

 

[seavixen32]

Providing there is nothing wrong with your external hard drive, Windows will recognise it as soon as you connect it and install a driver for it.

Whether the operating system is 32-bit or 64-bit won't make a scrap of difference.

You cannot upgrade from a 32-bit version of Windows to a 64-bit version. It will have to be a clean install, so backup anything important and make sure you have all the installation discs for your applications.

 

[ombra2105]

Thanks guys. In the same vein, can you restore data of a 32-bit back up to a 64-bit installation?

 

[seavixen32]

It depends what you backed up.

If you mean data such as music, photos, videos and suchlike, yes, they can be copied back onto your 64-bit system no trouble at all.

If you are talking about 32-bit executable files such as applications, they will have to re-installed.

If you mean a full system image backup then that's a no.

 

[ombra2105]

Just finished installing the 64-bit version of the OS. All the updates are done and programs reinstalled. Thanks for your help guys!

 

[Barman58]

You may also need to take ownership of the files on the external drive and give your user on the new 64bit system explicit rights to the Drive. This is to prevent any potential access issue in future

 

[ombra2105]

What do you mean by taking ownership of the files?

 

[Barman58]

All files on an NTFS drive are Owned by a user, the files also have permissions attached that allow different users to process the files in different ways, Read Write, Modify, Delete, Etc.

This information is actually written to each file, and survives a change of operating system.

Because the user ID used to write this information is in a digital code that relates to a user name, it can mean that a new OS user that has the same name as the Old OS user is treated as a different user and thus does not have the rights needed to manipulate files.

This shows itself by the user seeing a "You do not have permission to access this file or folder" error, when working with a file or folder.

Depending on how the security was set on the old system you may see these errors with accessing files on the external drive, you may not.

If you do have any errors there is a tutorial on the site that explains taking ownership http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/1911-take-ownership-shortcut.html?ltr=T which should be able to walk you through it.

Hopefully you will not have any issues with this, but if you do we are here to help you