Upgrading to 64bit

[Perrybucsdad]

Okay Gang, I finally found a solution to what held me back from going to 64bit, but now, how should I do it without much pain.

One thought I had was setup a second partition for the 64bit OS. That is straight forward enough. Now, how would I go about copying all of my profiles over since the transfer utility will not allow you to migrate between 32bit and 64bit? Is it as simple as dragging the user folder from one partition to the other? I have to think there is more to it than that. How would it know the user accounts, etc?

Any help from you gents would greatly be appreciated.

 

[sup3rsprt]

where did you get that information about Easy Transfer Wizard not supporting 32-bit to 64-bit? because as far as I can tell that is incorrect.

 

[Perrybucsdad]

Well, I know it can't be used to go from 64 to 32, as was stated on this forum someplace, and from personal experience with Vista I was unable to use it to go from 32 to 64. So I guess I am making a wild assed assumption that you still can't. Now if I'm wrong, I'd I'd sure like to be, please let me know. The last thing I want to do though is flame my C drive and not be able to recover my user information.

What I am really after though is how would one manually do the transfer if you wanted to. Assume that feature doesn't exist. Do I just Robocopy the users directory or is there more to it than that?

 

[sup3rsprt]

From what I've gathered, the transfer wizard should work going from 32 to 64. But I've never had to use it so I can't say for certain.

you can probably copy most of the stuff from your old user account folder into the new one. But I imagine that overwriting the entire folder is not going to work very well, and is probably not a good idea if you want to maintain a stable system.

 

[DeaconFrost]

Why even bother setting up a second partition? It's time to put this fear of x64 aside on the dusty shelves, along with the feeling that dual booting is necessary. Back up your data, install W7 x64, and you'll be good to go. K.I.S.S. should be followed a lot more than it has been!

 

[Perrybucsdad]

DeaconFrost, It's not that I am afraid to upgrade to 64, it's transfering all of my user files, and settings. Once setup, the 32bit partition will go away. The problem I am having is transfering the user settings.

 

[zigzag3143]

Okay Gang, I finally found a solution to what held me back from going to 64bit, but now, how should I do it without much pain.

One thought I had was setup a second partition for the 64bit OS. That is straight forward enough. Now, how would I go about copying all of my profiles over since the transfer utility will not allow you to migrate between 32bit and 64bit? Is it as simple as dragging the user folder from one partition to the other? I have to think there is more to it than that. How would it know the user accounts, etc?

Any help from you gents would greatly be appreciated.

Perry

Im sure you cant upgrade 32 to 64bit. I would think the profiles would be different too, but im not sure.

sorry I cant help

Ken

 

[DeaconFrost]

DeaconFrost, It's not that I am afraid to upgrade to 64, it's transfering all of my user files, and settings. Once setup, the 32bit partition will go away. The problem I am having is transfering the user settings.

I never bother transferring user settings, as they can be quickly configured on the new system. I don't have faith in an application to tell me my data has been transferred, when I can do it myself, as I know where my data is stored, and what's important to me...not some software.

All you need to do is back up what is important to you, wipe the drive, install x64 and then restore your data back.

 

[Perrybucsdad]

I hear what you are saying Deacon, it's just a pain in the ass to do. I personally don't care with my profile, but the wife is a little more touchy if it doesn't look and feel exactly the same.

 

[DeaconFrost]

Wives can certainly throw a kink in the best laid upgrade/migration plans. Mine started working in IT about two years ago, and I had hopes of that making things easier. Now, instead of just letting me do the work, she tries to do it without talking to me first, and usually ends up making a few minor mistakes along the way. She's getting there, but the process hasn't been as smooth as I had hoped.

 

[Perrybucsdad]

That's one of those decisions you have to make. Would it be easier for me to do it right the first time, or have someone fark it up and then you spend 500% more time correcting the problem.

 

[Perrybucsdad]

Update: I used the transfer wizard going from 32bit to 64bit and no problems. I thought it would also transfer all the programs too, but on the first try it did not. Going to go the custom route this time and see if transferring all program files and program data will do the trick. If not, it's no big deal, I only have Office, Photoshop, Firefox and a few other programs.

 

[wallyinnc]

Perry, Easy Transfer will not transfer the programs. It can transfer settings that are in the User's profile (or Documents and Settings in XP), but you have to reinstall the programs themselves. So, I would do both what you did: run transfer wizard and reinstall the programs.
Good luck

 

[Perrybucsdad]

Yep, that's what it looks like Wally. Oh well, at least it should retain some of my settings I hope.

I'm very grateful that going from 32bit to 64 bit you can use the transfer wizard as it will at lease "appear" the same to my lovely wife. Desktops, and the such seem to be the same, but the programs are missing.

I also seem to be missing the quick launch buttons, but I know that is hidden someplace and should be able to get it back.

Thanks to everyone for the help!