Clean Install with a Upgrade Windows 7 Version

Right. I just re read Option Four. Got it, and thanks for your patience, Brink.

I would upgrade the hard drive first. fss casper 7.0 - you should get the bootable ISO, so license requires you must get the windows version and also pay the extra $10 to get the ISO version. so total $69.95 I think. recommended dock(s) are the ICY Dock MB981U3-1SA. it has a detachable module and it's USB 3.0/2.0 and handles up to 4TB, SATA, 3.5" IDE, and 2.5" ide. ICY DOCK MB981U3-1SA 2.5"/3.5" USB 3.0 SATA Docking Station with IDE Adapter - Newegg.com
https://www.fssdev.com/products/casper/

it will auto-grow the partition(s).

Britton30 said:

jmichae3 said:

I would upgrade the hard drive first. fss casper 7.0 - you should get the bootable ISO, so license requires you must get the windows version and also pay the extra $10 to get the ISO version. so total $69.95 I think. recommended dock(s) are the ICY Dock MB981U3-1SA. it has a detachable module and it's USB 3.0/2.0 and handles up to 4TB, SATA, 3.5" IDE, and 2.5" ide. ICY DOCK MB981U3-1SA 2.5"/3.5" USB 3.0 SATA Docking Station with IDE Adapter - Newegg.com
https://www.fssdev.com/products/casper/

it will auto-grow the partition(s).

Upgrade the hard drive?
This tutorial needs no purchases. If you mean make a back up of the drive, then we use the free Windows backup of free Macrium, but that is another tutorial, not for the Upgrade install.

Imaging with free Macrium

oops - sorry, not sure what I was thinking, good solution, but for totally different problem unrelated to this thread. this is only for the need to get a bigger hard drive or replace a hard drive. it does backups too, but I don't use it for that.

Thanks once again for these instructions. I had a migrating problem with the BSOD related to my Nvida drivers and other issues I never tracked down, as well as 251 shell extensions running. Instead of trying to troubleshoot the problems, I first decided to do a no format, non-destructive repair install to see if that would help. Since the drivers are all retained in the repair, the fix did not resolve the issues. So, I just did a clean install using my upgrade version and this tutorial. It worked like a charm and I'm spending a few hours this rainy morning reinstalling selected programs.

Brink said:

swamped said:

So after the completion of #1, I will have already installed the device drivers, and Windows Updates?

Not being picky, I'm just having a hard time wrapping my head around this idea of a double installation process.

Nope. You would do step 1 in OPTION FOUR to just have a clean install without it being activated, or anything else installed.

Then you would do the upgrade install, activate, and install your drivers, programs, and such. :)

Brink, I'm back. Haven't done the reinstall yet. My new SSD is arriving today. But in reading through these instructions again I find I don't yet fully understand. Why do you suggest doing the upgrade install after the steps in Number Four? I don't still have Vista on this machine. This is a W7 Upgrade Re-install. The reason I'm doing it is because my system is slow and running out of C drive space. So I'm going from a 75GB SSD to a 256GB SSD. I just want to be very clear in my thinking before I begin. Thanks.